'...Initially isolated from the epidemic that has swamped the capital New Delhi and financial center Mumbai, rural areas were exposed when millions of migrant workers who lost their jobs in the cities when the government implemented a strict nationwide lockdown on March 25 went home. The states of Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh received the most number of returning laborers — now they are also witnessing the sharpest rise in new cases in the two weeks to June 8, according to internal government estimates seen by Bloomberg.
'Even as the Supreme Court has asked the Central and state governments to facilitate the return of migrants to their home states in a fortnight’s time, initial data on reverse migration triggered by the national lockdown has shown that more than 67 lakh such people have already reached their home across 116 districts from various urban centres...'
'Rural parts of India have begun to see a surge in novel coronavirus infections, as millions of migrant workers returning from big cities and industrial hubs bring the virus home with them, according to data collected from seven Indian states. Officials said the spike in cases was a fresh challenge for the country’s health authorities, even as they struggle to check the outbreak in cities amid the easing of a months-long lockdown. Confirmed cases in India crossed the 200,000 mark on Wednesday. Some experts say that a peak remains weeks away...'
'...A full 222 out of 293 (76%) of Chandigarh’s COVID-19 cases have surfaced in the congested Bapudham alone. The colony is located in Sector 26 in east Chandigarh, close to two of the city’s iconic attractions – Sukhna Lake and Rock Garden. Bapudham has emerged as the biggest hotspot not only in the Union territory of Chandigarh but also in the region, including the three neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Murmurs among the city’s elite blame the people of Bapudham for discrediting their posh city.
'After being promised a higher pay, Anju Bibi (32), a domestic help, left her job at one of the houses in Noida’s Sector 50 and took up work at a house in Prateek Wisteria in Sector 77. Fifteen days later, she was fired by her new employer. “When the lockdown was implemented, I was given Rs 1,600 and told to leave. Now, no one is hiring… we do not know when we will get jobs again,” said Bibi, who used to work at four houses but was only paid her dues by two employers. Bibi lives in Sarfabad Village in Sector 75, where most of the women work as domestic helps in nearby housing societies.
'A 46-year-old migrant labourer died on a Shramik Express train on Saturday after having had nothing to eat or drink for 60 hours, a nephew who was accompanying him has alleged. Raveesh Yadav said no food or water was served on the train — in violation of railway regulations — which he and uncle Jokhan Yadav had boarded from Mumbai to travel home to Machhlishahar in Jaunpur district, Uttar Pradesh...'
'An 11-year-old boy, Tabaarak, pedalled a tricycle cart for nine consecutive days to transport his parents from Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi to their village in Bihar’s Araria, a distance of around 600 kilometres, amidst the lockdown. A video of the same went viral on Twitter with users taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) catchphrase...'
'As many as 7 Indian states have diluted labour laws. The excuse is that the steps have been taken to “boost the economy”. Many more states are expected to follow suit... Even as the COVID19 lockdown has targeted India’s most vulnerable, migrant workers who have been forced to take to walking hundreds of kilometres back home, the Central Govt and many states have used this period to snatch what little legal protection they had at work. There have been some tears some shed, and some stories told of a section of India that Indians, state and society, had invisibilised these workers.
'What has the BJP-led government of Narendra Modi done since 2014 that does not suggest it wishes to destroy the informal economy, also known as the unorganised sector? While the ‘unorganised’ informal economy now accounts for roughly half of India’s GDP – and is shrinking relative to the share of the private and public corporate sector – it accounts for 80-90 % of the workforce. It includes agriculture, despite the fact that land titles are registered, except for plantations, which are regarded as ‘organised’ despite their unravelling workforces.
'Testing of migrant workers returning to Bihar is underlining the twin challenge that public health experts have warned about — the virus is being carried in and many of the carriers are asymptomatic. Until May 18, Bihar tested a total of 8,337 samples of migrant workers and about 8% were found to be Covid-positive — double the national average positivity rate which is about 4%. Of the 835 samples taken from migrant workers who returned from Delhi, as many as 218 were Covid positive. This works out to a positivity rate of over 26%, while the rate in the national capital is about 7%...'
