CHANGING COMMUNITIES
Issue:
What are the challenges faced by the migrants during the COVID 19 pandemic, and what were they overcome?
Introduction:
I was drawn to this topic because the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic has caused a number of complications for migrants in Goa (where I reside), causing them to move back to their hometown or country of origin, which is a matter of concern. In view of the fact that the majority of migrants play an important role in construction work, household work, and most of the manual jobs that makes local people dependent on them.
One of the biggest examples I had was in my own house. During the COVID 19 pandemic, my maid who hails from Udupi, Karnataka had to return to her hometown because the secretary of the society had restricted the entry of all residing outside the society. Thus, she had no income generated, which forced her to stay in her hometown for about 2 months and work on a farm there.
Throughout the lockdown, I had seen and heard about numerous migrants in India, returning back to their hometown, either by foot or by extremely crowded buses and trains. Some could not even return, so they were on the streets begging for food. These scenarios left me deeply shocked and distressed. Therefore, I will focus on the problems migrants faced due to COVID 19 Pandemic, in my essay.
Global Perspective:
Migration occurs throughout the world. There are roughly 46.2 million migrants in the United States of America, including both legal and illegal migrants. They account for 14.2% of the total population (1).
However, many of them had been laid off as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic. Within the United States, there are around 27.3 million migrant labourers. During the pandemic in 2020, the rate of unemployment was greater among migrants [about 15.3%] than among US-born [roughly 12.4%] (2). There are a variety of reasons for this, including a lack of educational qualifications or official authorization by the government due to the fact that there are some migrants who enter the nation illegally. The unemployment rate fell in 2021 but the rate for migrants remained higher [5.9%] than locals [5.8%].
Besides unemployment, migrants faced a wide range of issues in addition to unemployment. This was a problem that also existed in other countries. According to the source, around 30% of the migrants in European countries (OECD) live in poverty and stay in high-density housing areas in which it’s far very hard to social distance or isolate and that they had an excessive chance of contracting the Coronavirus than the locals (3).
The COVID 19 pandemic also had a negative impact on the children of migrants. The closing of schools resulted in remote learning which necessitated the use of resources such as a computer, a stable Internet connection and a quiet environment. These aspects were extremely difficult for a migrant to arrange due to a lack of fund. There was also no physical interaction between the student and the teachers. They didn’t have anyone to assist them with their academics. This is due to the fact that the migrant’s native languages differ from the host country’s. Approximately 40% of migrant children do not speak multiple languages at home (4).
Migrants in the Gulf among the hardest hit. According to the United Nations, the Gulf countries are home to 35 million migrants, the most of them are from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. These migrants account for 80% of the population of the United Arab Emirates, 70% in Kuwait and 55% in Bahrain. However, even after gaining a majority, they continue to face difficulties. They live in overcrowded places, similar to Europe, where they have a higher risk of contracting the virus. In the Gulf, the majority of the COVID-19 cases were among international migrants.
Due to the closure of numerous enterprises and workplaces in the Gulf, the economy shrank by 7.6% resulting in unemployment among these migrants. They had a hard time surviving due to missed salaries. They could not even return to their home country due to lack of money or travel bans. Approximately 250,000 of Lebanon’s migrant workers remained unpaid and abandoned by their employers (5).
National Perspective:
India, a developing country, employs 139 million migrants, who are white-collar workers. Excluding these, about 500 million migrants live in poverty who are mostly blue-collar workers (6). During the pandemic, the blue collar-workers suffered more than white-collar workers because the main manual work which they mostly do could not be operated from the comfort of their home and they could not go to their workplaces due to lockdowns imposed by the government (7).
As a result, the migrant workers had to return to their hometowns. Life there during pandemic had become unaffordable for most of them, as their workplaces were closed and some of them were also with their families. Most of them hailed from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. They had emigrated India’s two most important metropolitan cities, Delhi and Mumbai, in search of work.
Through interviews and surveys, it was concluded that they returned home for free accommodation, free food, and agriculture. Due to unemployment in the cities, they were planned to engage in agriculture in their hometown (8). This year, with more people and effort, a good harvest was achieved in rural areas.
About 62 lakh migrants have to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. A total of 1.23 crore migrants, including the migrants from states of Rajasthan and Orissa returned to their hometowns (9).
The migrants were facing problems such as food, health care and transportation shortages due to low or no income (10). They wanted to go home, but they could not afford transportation. For this reason, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had arranged special trains which were known as Shramik trains which was a good initiative. The tickets for these trains were distributed free of charge at railway stations (11).
A similar situation was in Delhi. In 2021, as the number of cases of COVID 19 cases decreased in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party government led by Arvind Kejriwal declared “Delhi Unlock 2021” and reopened workplaces such as factories and construction. As a result, the migrant workers returned to work (12).
Local Perspective
Living in Goa, I realized that there is one of the highest migrant populations in Goa. There are around 100000 workers in Goa hailing from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who are mostly blue-collar workers and about 90000 migrant workers from the neighboring states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. (13)
During COVID 19 these migrants faced problems as well, mostly the migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar because they were daily-wage workers and could not survive without everyday work. Hence, they wanted to go return back to their hometowns. Mainly they stayed in rented homes, but since they did not have any money to pay the rent, they were asked to vacate the house. (14)
Thus, about 80000 migrant workers sets out to return to their hometown because they were unsure about the reopening of their workplaces. They were standing in queues outside the Vasco-da-Gama railway station to get in the Vasco-Patna express. The queue was pretty long to buy tickets because the train runs only once a week Most of them were also travelling on an empty stomach. (15).
After a couple of months, when the situation was better Dr Pramod Sawant, the Chief Minister of Goa urged those migrants to stay back. This is because the closure of major activities, such as construction, fishing and industrial activities in the State led to the downfall of the economy and it had to be revived again. (16)
However, Goa’s migrants were not completely abandoned. In North Goa, there were Government relief camps operated by Goa police. These were organized to provide food and necessities to migrants who had no access to these supplies. In addition, about 200 migrants were provided with accommodation. These relief camps were held in the villages of Calangute, Baga and Peddem, Mapusa. (17) This was a good initiative.
Personal Perspective
I think COVID 19 has devastated the lives of everyone in this world, but immigrants faced even more problems. But I believe that well-to-do and wealthy people should have helped people in the best possible ways they could, besides the government. This counts for rich people in India as well as abroad.
Some of them, like Mr. Srinivas Dempo, helped immigrants by providing them with food and money for the train tickets to return to their hometowns. Me and my family did everything we could. My father has an optician shop in Panjim, Goa where the employees are Maharashtrians. We gave them salary even during the pandemic, when the shop was closed which helped them run their household. We did the same for our maid.
I also felt that some of convenience stores were at an advantage during the pandemic. This because of lack of essentials in the country. Therefore, they sold them at a higher price, which was incorrect for the people who could not afford the increased prices. I also feel that there should have been sufficient awareness spread by the government to educate migrants about the precautionary measures to be taken during COVID 19. They ought to have additionally been supplied with free masks and sanitizers, that might have improved their condition.
Due to India’s high GDP and tax rates, the government should have also provided free train or bus tickets to the migrants since these things are affordable for the Indian government.
During pandemic, I had talked to my neighbour’s child “Shubham Kumar” who came from a lower middle-class family. He was a student. He dejectedly told me that he was unable to attend online classes due to lack of electronic gadgets such as smartphone and internet router, which cost quite a lot. He also told me that the WIFI broadband company was charging additional money during the pandemic, which was unaffordable. There must be many more children in a situation similar to Shubham.