Even as J&K grapples with the rise in COVID-19 cases, people have been forced to remain indoors during the pandemic but the worst affected are the daily wagers and other labourers. Though Govt is taking every possible step, yet, the labourers, especially the daily wagers, seems to have gotten the raw end of the deal. If the lockdown is extended beyond the period envisaged now, the economically underprivileged sections of the society, particularly landless labour, will undergo suffering. This was observed by former Minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla while continuing ration distribution on Tuesday in various parts of Gandhi Nagar constituency among needy and poor families.Bhalla in this regard on Tuesday distributed Ration items at Bahu Fort in Ekta Nager ,Paccka Talab ,Kaccha Tlab . Prominent among those who accompanied Bhalla included Pawan Kumar, Deewan Chand ji , Latish Sharma, Sahil Shavotra, Aman Bawa, Inderjeet Nargotra , Sunny Kumar , Jarnal Singh , Dea Raj Kumar, Minder Pal , Balvinder Shavotra , Bittu Shavotra,
Farmers have complained of a lack of workers to harvest crops while snarl-ups of thousands of trucks not allowed to move because of the lockdown have hampered food transport. Government data shows that 65.49 million people live in 13.92 million slum households in 2613 slum-reported towns spread across 31 states/Union Territories. An Indian Council of Medical Research study has suggested that one Covid-19 patient can infect 406 people in 30 days if he/she doesn’t adhere to lockdown.
The impact on informal workers generally— daily wagers, those with insecure contracts; regular workers with micro and small enterprises that are having to shut shop; self-employed people — is already devastating as the lockdown has already meant loss of income that they cannot afford, and such workers typically have very little savings to draw upon. Farmers are already facing massive problems because of closure of mandis and breaking of transport links, and other farm income sources like poultry have been badly hit by virus fears. An immediate safety net of massive proportions is essential if hunger and related problems do not result in even more tragic outcomes than the virus itself,Bhalla added. This should include: public provision of free food rations for the next few months and adding to basic foodgrains, other necessities like pulses, cooking oil and soap; immediate cash transfers of Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000 per month for the coming months to those known to be more vulnerable (the list could include Jan Dhan account holders, those registered with MNREGS, those receiving public pensions, beneficiaries of Awas Yojna and Ujjwala schemes, etc.). Pending payments for MNREGS wages and other dues should be immediately transferred. There should be a moratorium on tax and interest payments until the lockdown is over, added Bhalla.
A majority of India’s population is based in rural areas and 22% live under the poverty level, according to official data. A large segment lives in economically weak conditions and without institutional support, more than half of Indians would not be able to afford to stay at home without work. Amid the crisis has risen an outpouring of empathy from ordinary people across India led by the civil society, who have stepped up to help migrant labourers, domestic helps, construction workers, and small scale workers who were left jobless because of the nationwide lockdown. From every part of the country, Indian are coming forward with donations, big and small, on crowd funding sites, with online transfers, and even good old cash left in envelopes at their gates helping Govt to deal with Covid-19 emerging situation, said Bhalla.
India’s ongoing lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus is threatening the agriculture sector as it overlaps with the time of harvest. The lockdown has derailed harvest preparation and lack of agricultural labour to help in harvest and restrictions on transportation of produce despite being given waivers as essential services. Farmers are very anxious. Even though the government has allowed the movement of combine harvesters under essential services, the order has not reached the people on the ground, asserted Bhalla. He emphasised that what needs to be understood is that agriculture cannot be under lockdown. “We may not feel that there could be a food crisis because of our abundant food stock. However, what can be disastrous is the mismanagement of the system. We need to properly support farmers,” he said.
“While the other sectors in the economy are facing shutdown it is agriculture that will continue. It is the only sustainable part of India’s economy. Unlike other industries, farmers can’t pull the shutter down and stop farming. If that happens, the economy will collapse. The reality is that we are ungrateful to our farmers even when we realise that during this lockdown the only thing that we want is food,” said Bhalla. With this lockdown, the income of farmers has also gone under a lockdown. This is harvest season and farmers need money. I fear that when the lockdown would lift the price of the crops may crash and that will further impact the farmers. The worst part is that there is no roadmap with the government on how to deal with it,” said Bhalla.It is correct that the rural economy is suffering. In addition, there is a general problem of unemployment, both skilled and unskilled. We are at the moment not adequately prepared to deal with the pandemic. This, however, can be dealt with by mobilising our institutional infrastructure, starting with the panchayats (democratic institutions), and including institutions providing technological support, mainly for market-driven skills development, said Bhalla.
Bhalla on Tuesday demanded immediate evacuation of J&K residents, including students and labourers staying away from their homes within and outside the country.He urged the government to take urgent measures in order to ensure availability of food, shelter and medicines to such stranded J&K residents, including students and labourers who are stuck in different parts of the country amid COVID-19 lockdown.”I appeal to the Union government to take concrete measures for their safe evacuation and till then, make all arrangements through the receptive state governments for their shelter and sustenance,” Bhalla said.He said hundreds of students, traders, especially dealing in handicrafts, and labourers from J&K are stranded in different parts of the country including Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, who have sent distress calls to their families.”I am told that most of these stranded students and labourers are facing immense difficulties, including shortage of money due to the lockdown. The Central government must take concrete measures to address their woes,” Bhalla said.Former Minister said if the evacuation of J&K stranded students, traders and labourers from the rest of the country and outside is not possible at the moment due to the unprecedented situation, the minimum the government could do is to reach out to them with the help of respective state governments and embassies in different parts of the world wherever such people are stranded.