The Domino Effect of the Pandemic on the economy Part II
By Malini Shankar
Digital Discourse Foundation
Facing starvation, they risked everything to go back to their native homes. Most of the migrant workers hailed from poorer states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and were working in the more prosperous states of Maharashtra, Karnataka Kerala and Tamilnadu.
Talking of the north south
demographic divide in India Professor Amita Bhide tells Digital Discourse Foundation “This
is a clear reflection of the spatially uneven development of the country
post-independence and a continuity of the trajectory of colonial economy. The
West and South with relatively more investments in education, industry and
greater decentralisation has become the area of development and with more opportunities;
and hence triggered migration from North and East which have been reduced to a
position of beggars”.
“Even though I own 4 hectares of ancestral
agricultural land in my home town of Bhadrak district in Odisha, the
agricultural yield (including fruits, vegetables and sometimes flowers,) does
not justify the high expenditure involved in farming. I earn more as a part
time cook in Bangalore” says Ajith Kumar Behera, sinking his teeth into a
fleshy ripe mango after a sumptuous breakfast at his part time employer’s house
where he cooks for 2 hours every day for a part time salary of 7000 Rupees about
a month or $ 93 / € 83 in one household.
I manage to repatriate five to
eight thousand Rupees or about € 60
- € 100 / $ 66 - $ 107 every
month from my earnings in Bangalore. The lockdown meant I could neither go back
home nor could I work in all the households where I work as a cook in Bangalore
- it affected my earnings. I had to take a loan to pay the rent of the house
that I share with other migrant workers even during the Lockdown. Sharing a
toilet with six other migrant workers for the sake of livelihood security is a
humbling compromise” says a cynical Behera.
Such are the bleak scenarios of
food security and livelihood security in India. Behera must atleast be grateful he did not
have to endanger his own life walking across thousands of kilometres to his
hometown. “My employers in Bangalore are thankfully kind people. They gave me
my salary even though lockdown rules disallowed me from working in their
houses.”
Adds Professor Meenakshi Rajeev, Professor
of Economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Policy Institute for Social
and Economic Change in Bangalore “Employment growth in India is not keeping
pace with the economic growth- giving rise to disguised unemployment or under
employment. Jobless growth is becoming a major concern for the country.”
Faced with starvation and
unemployment, some penniless migrants started trekking cross- country to their
native places hundreds or thousands of kilometres away given that trains,
flights and inter-state surface transport had all come to a halt. The summer
heatwave and lack of tourist friendly infrastructure enroute made the poignant
situation pathetic.
With all means of public
transport coming to a halt, farm supplies threatened food security for the
white collared worker too.
With social distancing likely to
stay, everything from shop counters to public transport busses have to be
redesigned, with public transport requiring redesign to accommodate only 1/8th
of its designed capacity.
Corruption is so systemic in
India that no politician dares to practise the welfare state ideals enshrined
in the Constitution. “Development is a way of magnifying vulnerabilities and
increasing the sufferings of the marginal and minorities. The crisis today is
the crisis of the paradigm and not of bad application. Economics has no notion
of vulnerability or suffering. What we need is a new mode of thinking which
combines justice and understanding of suffering” says Shiv Vishwanathan, a
social scientist based in New Delhi.
India enacted disaster mitigation
legislation in the immediate aftermath of the Asian Tsunami back in 2005. India
has state / legislative infrastructure to implement Disaster Risk Reduction
measures at the national, state, district and village administrative council
levels. Yet, 15 years after legislation of the National Disaster Management
Act, there seems to be no installation of village task forces or ward level
volunteer task forces, so necessary to comb the hinterland especially during
the Pandemic.
Andaman Nicobar Islands,
terrorised by the Asian Tsunami reads disaster as a monstrous Tsunami. While
the Islands are indeed well [prepared for the next monstrous Tsunami perhaps
900 to 1000 years from now, they are unprepared for other disasters like
cyclones, epidemics, terrorism, fire etc. However to the credit of the UT
Administration of Andaman Nicobar Islands village / volunteer Task Forces are
in place in every ward / village council atleast in the Nicobar district /
Nicobar Islands.
Work From Home will be largely
ornamental until the economic production from WFH is not traded. How much or
for how long can any Government subsidise?
Captains of industry and commerce need to think out of the box to run
the economy from home fronts. In other words sustainable economic development
is the answer.
Lessons to be learnt:
- One toilet must cater to a maximum of 3 people in every village in every taluk, every district of every state / union territory in India per day.
- So for a population of 1,32,00,000 people of India there should be 44,00,000 toilets spaced out proportionately.
- Per capita water consumption for flushing and sanitation needs to be calibrated around the precepts of recycled and fresh water per day per head for each of these 44,00,000 toilets across the country.
- Governments must create markets for products manufactured by cottage industries. That would be true realisation of work from home.
- There must be at least one industry sourcing its raw material locally, one school, one college, in every village in every taluk of every district in every state / Union Territory in India. Similarly there must be atleast one hospital, one bank, one private sector company, one public sector industry, in every single village in in every taluk, every district of every state / union territory in India. Why is this simple clear task so difficult to achieve?
- There must be atleast one University - in every Taluk - in every district - in every state in India.
- One agricultural market, one spinach market, one spice market, one currency market, one bullion market one share market, one forex market, in each necessary in every district of every state / union territory in India.
- . Banking sector must be serviced in a three tier system – nationalised banks, cooperative banks and private sector banks with one branch of each branch housed in every village of every taluk, of every district, in every state / union territory of the country / subcontinent.
- Thereafter welfare state measures and optimum utilisation of human and natural resources will expedite development sustainably.
- Volunteer brigades / Volunteer Task Forces must be appointed to serve the needs of every 1500 people, / 1 square kilometre in India. Such task forces must be tasked with supply of essential commodities, attending to medical needs of the communities they serve, assist in policing – without being vigilante, assisting differently abled people, geriatric population networking different service personnel to people who need their services and so on. In effect the Volunteer Task Forces must be the link between the community and the State.
Comments
Post a Comment