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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat's Dussehra speech on Sunday, delivered on the eve of the Bihar elections, was met with cheer and some relief by the BJP. He not only praised the NDA's response to the dual challenges of coronavirus and China, but sought to wrong-foot the Opposition by inveighing against 'divisive' forces masquerading as 'champions of secularism'.

From the BJP's perspective, the underlying political current of the speech and the function itself were both unexceptionable. Only 50 persons attended and social distancing was visibly maintained. And nothing that could spook Bihar's voters was said (unlike 2015, when his remark on rationalising quotas put the BJP on the defensive). Quite the reverse.

Bhagwat predictably valorised India's tough handling of the Chinese threat on the Ladakh border. The armed forces' resolute and brave stand, he hinted, was a departure from a hitherto 'weak' response. It came as a surprise to China and an example to the rest of the world, which is now well aware that India is no longer a pushover.

His implication being that the NDA government has demonstrated its capability both in dealing with the ever-present menace at the border and in diplomacy aimed at shoring up a united front (both global and regional) against Chinese aggression. Thus, given that a cornered China might retaliate in unpredictable ways, citizens can repose their faith in the current dispensation.

Another notable theme of the address, liberally interspersed with quotes and phrases in English, was the threat to internal security from the unhappy convergence of political and extremist forces the so-called tuke tukde gang. This, he said, was blatantly obvious during the campaign against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Bhagwat strongly condemned the opposition to the CAA, which he maintained was patently aimed at including (new citizens) and not excluding (existing ones). He observed that while the abrogation of Article 370 related to Jammu and Kashmir and the Ram Janambhoomi verdict were met with peaceful restraint and good sense, the CAA triggered an atmosphere of tension.

In a clear broadside against centre-left parties, he said that politico-extremist forces masquerading as protectors of secularism had sought to embrace the grammar of anarchy by dividing society, instigating violence and undermining national unity, instead of taking the democratic path.

Bhagwat asserted that promoting separatism, while spreading rumours against 'hindutva', was the modus operandi of these forces. He drew a stark contrast between their egotism and identity politics and the Sangh's commitment to emotional integration, pluralism and mutual tolerance.

The economic, social and political impact of the Covid-19 pandemic naturally informed a considerable portion of Bhagwat's address. The mahamari, he observed, had suppressed if not eliminated the negativity of the preceding months.

He made it a point to heap unstinted praise on the frontline health and sanitation workers. The latter, it may be pointed out, are traditionally drawn from the most disadvantaged communities. In an oblique reference to the lockdown, he said the administrative response may have seemed a tad over-the-top, but inculcated a necessary sense of caution.

Bhagwat skimmed over the migrant crisis by celebrating the great Indian spirit of self-reliance and community bonding, which had come to the fore during the pandemic. The society had pulled together and the principle of thy need is greater was adopted, with the afflicted aiding those who were even worse off, all of which fostered a spirit of unity and was a testimony to India's social capital.

The sarsanghchalak also took the opportunity to advocate the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' policy while not referring to it directly. The pandemic had shown that globalisation without self-reliance was not viable for any nation. While foreign investment and technology is welcome, it should be on India's terms, he said.

He pointed out that the pandemic had showcased the advantages of swadeshi in every sphere: self-reliance for farmers in seeds and other farm inputs, a cleaner environment, less conspicuous consumption. He also acknowledged the need for protecting farmers and small-scale industries, re-skilling workers and job-creation in the wake of the pandemic. All of this was possible in the current circumstances, he observed.

All in all, in summing up the turbulent events of the last one year, he managed to give the ruling dispensation a good report card. Whether Bihar's voters will take note remains to be seen.

Disclaimer:The author is a senior journalist. Views expressed are personal.

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Bhagwat Gave BJP a Good Report Card in Dussehra Speech. But Will it Sway Bihar Voters Towards Saffron? - News18

Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar is eyeing an enviable fourth term in the state. He is pitted against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)s chief ministerial face, the 30-year-old Tejashwi Yadav. Lalu Yadavs son served as the deputy chief minister in the Nitish cabinet till 2017 for about two years. Nitish Kumar broke away from the newly formed alliance with his bte noire Lalu that had secured a thumping victory in 2015 and went back to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). This facilitated Nitish Kumar to continue as the chief minister, but Lalus children lost power despite winning the maximum number of seats in the 2015 assembly polls.

2019 was a particularly bad year for the RJD. With Lalu Yadav languishing in jail since December 2017, his party drew a blank in last year's Lok Sabha elections in the state. It was said the RJD could not do anything without Lalus charisma and Tejashwi was inexperienced.

Lalu Yadav is still in jail and the 2020 assembly elections could well be the last opportunity for Tejashwi to emerge from his fathers shadow and establish himself as a political force in Bihar.

37-year-old Chirag Paswan is also looking for his own political identity in the state after the demise of his father Ram Vilas Paswan. His Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), part of the NDA, had won 6 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. But he has decided to go solo in the assembly elections and has walked out of the NDA in Bihar.

Can Tejashwi and Chirag Undo the Spectacular Lok Sabha Performance of BJP-JD(U) Combine?

It seems the Covid-19 crisis in Bihar has provided the two young leaders with a fighting chance: for Tejashwi, to prove his political mettle, and for Chirag, to save his party and to establish his name. Many critics say the Nitish Kumar government has not been able handle the pandemic situation well and both Tejashwi and Chirag would love to cash in on it.

Can Covid-19 Write the Fate of Bihar Assembly Polls?

Nationally, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate touched a high of 23.5% in April and the Indian economy shrank by 23.9% in the first quarter because of the lockdown clamped to curb the coronavirus spread.

Migrant workers were the worst hit: they became jobless and most had no places to stay. They were forced to return home and find a new way to earn a living, if possible, in local farmlands or depend on government programmes like Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), and they knew it would not last long. Daily wage workers, hawkers and small traders were hit hard. CMIE said this category lost 91.2 million jobs in April alone.

Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar said last month that over one crore migrants headed home during the lockdown period, many of them by foot. The minister added that the maximum number of migrants returned to their homes in Uttar Pradesh, over 32 lakh, followed by Bihar, which saw the return of 15 lakh migrant workers. 13 lakh migrant workers returned to West Bengal.

But according to many other estimates, over three million Bihari migrant workers returned home. The homecoming of migrant workers in such large numbers can easily affect the electoral process anywhere and Bihar is no exception.

The central government's Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan (GKRA) was launched on June 20 and 32 districts, out of the 116 selected nationally, were from Bihar. Rs 50,000 crore was to be spent during 125 days in the districts in six states with the maximum number of returned migrant workers to help them with livelihood options like MGNREGS.

According to an estimate, till October 16, Rs 33,378 crore was spent in the scheme with Bihar cornering 28% of the share based on the maximum number of districts selected.

Bihar has already used over 91% of Rs 2,886 crore in the first April-June quarter itself and it had just 8.45% left. The result, many workers did not receive wages as the second quarter ended with a negative balance of Rs 159 crore. According to the report, GKRA fund was not used for MGNREGS in districts selected for GKRA to fill the shortfall.

The rationale behind allocating a particular amount for different welfare schemes after the Covid-19 pandemic is unclear. But if we go by the official number that around 15 lakh migrant workers returned to Bihar (other reports quote figures as high as 32 lakh), the amount allocated is bound to disappoint people who are already jobless.

According to the People's Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) NREGA Tracker and MGNREGS data, Bihar issued over 13 lakh MGNREGS job cards between April 1 and October 15, yet only 4,551 families could complete 100 days of MGNREGS work. PAEG adds that the Bihar government claims to have provided employment to 34 lakh households. Under MGNREGS, an adult member of a rural household is given 100 days of paid employment every financial year.

And these 32 lakh migrant workers may represent a population base of around 1 crore people in Bihar if we include their family members. They would form a significant portion of the registered 7.29 crore voters in the state.

The post-Covid unemployment rate rose to 46.6% in April in Bihar as per CMIE data. Another data by the agency mapped how Bihar ended up with an unemployment rate twice the national rate, at 10.2% in the year ended in June 2019. The national rate was 5.8%. Add to it the millions of migrants workers who returned home. The state still has an unemployment rate of 11.9%. The RJD has promised to create one million jobs if it forms the government.

How Bihar has handled the Covid-19 crisis under the Nitish Kumar government could well become a decisive factor and leaders like Tejashwi Yadav and Chirag Paswan would hope to take advantage of it.

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Battle for Bihar: Covid, Migrant Crisis Give Ammo to Young ...

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi atta-cked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday over the central governments strategy to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi insulted soldiers who died in a bloody June clash in eastern Ladakh by claiming that the Chinese didnt intrude into India.

Addressing his first rallies in the ongoing Bihar assembly election campaign in Hisua and Kahalgaon, Gandhi also attacked chief minister Nitish Kumar for not helping migrant labourers and failing to provide jobs.

They [Chinese] have seized 1,200 sq km of our land. But when the Chinese army intruded, why did our Prime Minister insult our soldiers by saying that nobody entered into the Indian side? Gandhi asked the crowd in Hisua, Nawada district. You ask any army jawan and he will tell you that today the Chinese army is standing in the area which we used to patrol earlier. Our land has been snatched away from us, he said.

The question is, Modi ji, when will you throw out the Chinese soldiers sitting in our territory? he added.

Gandhi referred to the ongoing border tensions with China that peaked on June 14 when 20 Indian soldiers many of them from the Bihar regiment and an undisclosed number of Chinese troopers died in violent clashes in Galwan. In his speech earlier in the day, Modi paid tribute to the soldiers.

At Hisua, Gandhi shared the stage with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, who repeated his promise of one million government jobs if elected to power. Our CM (Kumar) has become tired. No wonder, he is offering excuses to justify Bihars backwardness, said Yadav, who is the chief ministerial candidate of the Grand Alliance, comprising the RJD, Congress and Left parties.

Gandhi hit out at Modi and Kumar for not doing enough to help migrant workers. Initially, PM Modi had said that the fight against Covid-19 would be won in 22 days. But everyone knows what happened. Migrant workers had to trudge for hundreds of kilometres (km) on foot with their children and belongings on their laps, said Gandhi.

At the second rally at Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur district, the Congress leader took a jibe at the BJPs manifesto offering jobs to 1.9 million people. What happened to the PMs promise of 2 lakh jobs each year, he asked.

Gandhi also responded to PM Modis attack on the Grand Alliances promise of one million government jobs. Can those who look at government jobs as a means for taking bribes ensure creation of jobs? PM had asked.

Gandhi alleged that Kumar and Modi were responsible for the acute economic hardship during the 68-day Covid lockdown, and said the BJPs promise of 1.9 million jobs was hollow.

How long will he (PM) keep lying? Empty rhetoric does not work. He has done nothing for farmers, youths, and workers, the Congress leader alleged.

The former Congress chief also said the 2016 demonetisation and the patchy implementation of the goods and services tax were massive blows to the economy. Yadav invoked his father, former CM Lalu Prasad who is in jail on corruption charges, and said his tenure as Union railway minister helped in the development of the region.

Elections will be held for 71 seats in the first phase of the elections on October 28. The RJD and the Congress are contesting in 42 and 21 seats, respectively, in the first phase of the 243-member assembly. The Left parties are contesting in 8 seats.

State BJP general secretary Devesh Kumar said Rahul Gandhi was in the habit of indulging in unsubstantial talks. Even the Supreme Court had reprimanded him for raking up baseless charges in the Rafale deal, for which he had to apologise. India is under safe hands of PM Modi and the opposition leaders need not worry about condition on the border.

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Oppn mounts attack against BJP over migrant crisis, LAC ...

Condition of migrant workers during the ongoing COVID-19 viral pandemic in India

Indian migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic have faced multiple hardships. With factories and workplaces shut down due to the lockdown imposed in the country, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of income, food shortages and uncertainty about their future.[1][2] Following this, many of them and their families went hungry.[3] Thousands of them then began walking back home, with no means of transport due to the lockdown.[4] In response, the Central and State Governments took various measures to help them,[5][6][7] and later arranged transport for them.[8][9] More than 300 migrant workers died due to the lockdown, with reasons ranging from starvation, suicides, exhaustion, road and rail accidents, police brutality and denial of timely medical care.

There are an estimated 139 million migrants in the country, according to the World Economic Forum.[10] The International Labour Organization (ILO) predicted that due to the pandemic and the lockdown, about 400 million workers would be poverty-stricken.[11] Most migrants in the country originate from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, followed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The cities of Mumbai and Delhi attract the highest number of migrants. While most men migrate for work, women migrate due to marriage.[12]

Migrant workers majorly comprise of daily-wage labourers working in the manufacturing and construction industries. They are often denied adequate healthcare, nutrition, housing and sanitation,[11] since many of them work in the informal sector.[13] They are mostly from rural areas but live in cities for work for most of the year. Many have no savings and lived in factory dormitories, which were shut due to the lockdown.[14] Additionally, there was no central registry of migrant workers, despite the existence of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979.[15]

According to research published in the Royal Geographical Society, the workers who have been treated the worst are from areas like Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, in which the indigenous population's natural resources were extracted by outsiders. Further, workers paid the least for the hardest work belong to the backward classes, mainly from the Dalit and the Adivasi communities. The research also indicated that the families of the migrant workers supported them by maintaining their houses and taking care of them, either when seasonal work is unavailable or when they are no longer able to work.[16]

Maharashtra has the largest number of migrants, according to the 2011 Census of India. Its state government imposed a lockdown on 20 March in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Nagpur, leaving the migrant workers with no work. Thousands then gathered at the train termini and bus stations, seeking transport to their hometowns. With the nationwide lockdown, all transport facilities were closed.[4]

According to government reports, there was enough food grain stocked up in the FCI godowns to feed the poor for at least a year-and-a-half.[17] While government schemes ensured that the poor would get additional rations due to the lockdown, the distribution system failed to be effective as the ration cards are area-specific and fair price shops were largely inaccessible. Additionally, the 'One Nation, One Ration Card' system has been implemented in very few states, as of mid April.[18] While the scheme allowed migrant workers to retrieve foodgrains for free anywhere across the country, very few were aware of the scheme. In addition to this, the scheme also required biometric authentication, which was discontinued due to fears of spreading the virus through common fingerprint sensors.[19] In Telangana, many could not avail of the ration due to a lack of Aadhaar cards.[20] As such, many were left without food and money due to the lockdown.[21] A survey published by The Hindu states that 96% migrant workers did not get rations from the government, and 90% of them did not receive wages during the lockdown.[22]

With no work and no money, and lockdown restrictions putting a stop to public transport, thousands of migrant workers were seen walking or bicycling hundreds of kilometres (or even more than a thousand kilometres) to go back to their native villages, some with their families.[23] Many did so while hungry.[24] Social distancing was not possible for these migrants since they travelled together in large groups.[25] According to some of them, they would rather die from the virus at their own village than starve because of no work in the city.[26]

Many were arrested for violating the lockdown, after being caught at inter-state borders, forests between states and even on boats to cross rivers.[27] Some of the migrants died of exhaustion.[28] Others died in accidents on the roads after walking or hiding in vehicles.[29] On 31 March, as many as 120 migrant workers were allegedly beaten up by the police in Gujarat and forcefully rounded up in a single lorry and dropped in Maharashtra, despite being wounded.[30] In Aurangabad, 16 migrants were killed on 8 May after a freight train ran over them while they were sleeping on the tracks, exhausted from walking.[31] 26 migrants were killed in an accident between two trucks carrying migrants in Auraiya on 16 May.[32] Later in May, a 15-year-old girl carried her ailing father on a bicycle for 1,200 kilometres (750mi) from Bihar to Gurugram over the course of a week. She was later approached to try out for the National Cycling Academy by the Cycling Federation of India,[33] and received praise from Ivanka Trump.[34]

Later in May, despite the launching of special trains and buses by the government, the migrant workers chose to either travel together in large groups in the cargo compartments of trucks and containers, or travel by foot. They did not wait or their turn to board the government-arranged transport, mainly due to starvation.[35] Additionally, they felt that going back to their hometowns, they could return to farming and take up small jobs under the MGNREGA.[36]

The consumption of mobile and broadband data under BharatNet more than doubled in rural areas.[37]

Despite government promises and schemes to generate employment in rural areas, some migrant workers began going back to the cities due to lack of employment in their hometowns, as lockdown restrictions were reduced as part of Unlock 1.0 in June. A large number of these were returning to Mumbai.[38] The reopening of the regular services of the railways also helped facilitate this.[39] The cities, too, reported major shortages of labour, especially in the construction industry.[40] A study conducted in April-May stated that 77% migrant workers were prepared to return to cities for work.[41] The return of the migrants to cities is expected to help revive the economy, which had sustained an impact.[42] Some employers sponsored the travel of migrants back to their workplaces. This included taxis, trains and even flights.[43]

On 27 March, the Home Ministry ordered the states to ensure that migrants would not move during the lockdown, permitting the states to use the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for providing food and shelter to the migrants on 28 March.[44]

On 29 March, the government issued sweeping orders directing that the landlords should not demand rent during the period of the lockdown and that employers should pay wages without deduction. It also announced that those who violated the lockdown were to be sent to government-run quarantine facilities for 14 days, and that it had asked state governments to set up immediate relief camps for the migrant workers returning to their native states.[45][46] However, the order regarding payment of wages was withdrawn in the guidelines for the lockdown extension issued on 17 May.[47]

On 16 May, the government announced the National Migrant Information System (NMIS), an online database created by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). This was to help streamline the movement of the migrant workers. It will help states find the current number of stranded migrant workers and their location. The government planned to keep the workers updated by feeding their phone numbers in the system.[48]

On 14 July, the Ministry of Human Resource Development requested the state governments to create a database of children in rural areas who have migrated.[49]

Soon after the central government directive in late March, state governments set up thousands of camps to house lakhs of migrants and stop the exodus.[5] Delhi government provided free food to 4lakh people every day, as of late March.[50] Over 500 hunger relief centres were set up by the Delhi government.[51] By 5 April 75lakh people were being provided food across the country in food camps run by the government and NGOs.[52] As of 12 April, 37,978 relief camps and 26,225 food camps had been set up.[53]

To cater to the needs of the migrants and prevent them from leaving the camps, the government of Kerala changed the food being provided by adding north Indian dishes to the menu, providing carrom boards and recharge facilities for phones, as well as provide other medical essentials such as masks, sanitizers, and medicines.[54]

As of 28 May 91 lakh migrants had travelled back home in government-arranged transport facilities.[55] However, according to the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN), migrants were confused about the exact procedures to register themselves for travel. Additionally, many state registration portals were either in English or the local language of the states they lived in, which very few migrants could understand. Further, general lack of information from the government to the migrants had resulted in them paying large sums of money to register themselves.[56]

In late March, the Uttar Pradesh government decided to arrange buses at Delhi's Anand Vihar bus station to take the migrants back to their villages for free. Large crowds then gathered at the bus station.[57] However, with the extension of the lockdown, many remained stranded till the last week of April, when the state governments were permitted by the central government to operate buses, but not trains.[8] As of 23 May 40 lakh migrants had travelled to their homes by buses.[44] Condition in the buses is generally poor, with social distancing being impossible due to overcrowding and higher fares being charged than promised.[58]

On 1 May, the central government permitted the Indian Railways to launch "Shramik Special" trains for the migrant workers and others stranded.[9] On 3 May, the Ministry of Home Affairs mildly reprimanded the state governments for hurriedly requesting for trains to transport migrants, stating that the trains were primarily mainly meant for those who were stranded due to the sudden lockdown, and not the migrants.[59] Additionally, this service was not free, with additional charges over the normal fares.[60] The central government then faced criticism from the opposition, with the Indian National Congress promising to sponsor the tickets of the migrants on 4 May.[61][62] The government then announced that the Railways would offer an 85% subsidy on the train fares, with the state governments funding the remaining 15%.[63] However, the migrants were still forced to pay an undisclosed amount in some cases. The central government initially declined to share the details regarding this with the Supreme Court,[64] but later confirmed that it was not paying for anyone's fare.[65] Additionally, the central governments directives regarding which states should pay for the migrants' travel resulted in disagreement between Maharashtra and other states.[66]

A few days after the Shramik Special trains were introduced, the Karnataka government cancelled the trains (reportedly supporting the construction industry)[67] and the Bihar government did the same to trains coming from Kerala (refusing to provide a No-Objection Certificate).[68] The two states later reverted their decisions.[69][70]

Further, migrants faced many hardships while travelling by these trains. Many reported to have no food and water arranged for them while they travelled.[71][72] A train from Goa to Manipur reported a 58-hour delay, no proper food or sanitation facilities on the train, and stone pelting.[73] Others who received food packets and water reported that the provisions were simply dumped at the entrances, leaving workers fighting with each other for their share.[13] Some migrants also died during the train journeys,[74][75][76][77] but the Railways stated that most of them had existing illnesses.[78] According to Railway Protection Force, there have been almost 80 deaths on board the Shramik Special trains between 9 and 27 May. [79]

50% of the coaches converted into COVID-19 care centres were used for these trains. As per a report given by the Indian Railways on 23 May, migrant labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh comprised 80% of the train travellers. Additionally, it was expected that 36 lakh migrants would be travelling in the ten days after the report.[80] 4,277 Shramik Special trains had transported about 60lakh people, as of 12 June.[81]

Soon after the nationwide lockdown was announced in late March, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a 1.7 lakh crore (US$24billion) spending plan for the poor. This consisted of cash transfers and steps to ensure food security.[82] By 3 April, the central government had released 11,092 crore to states and UTs under the NDRF, to fund food and shelter arrangements for migrants.[44] To help provide jobs and wages to workers, the average daily wages under the MGNREGA were increased to 202 (US$2.80) from the earlier 182 (US$2.60), as of 1 April.[83] 1,000 crore from the PM CARES Fund was allocated for the support of migrant workers on 13 May.[84] On 14 May, FM Sitharaman further announced free food grains for the migrant workers, targeting 80million migrant workers by spending 35 billion (US$490million).[7]

The government of India launched the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan initiative to tackle the impact of COVID-19 on migrant workers in India. It is a rural public works scheme which was launched on 20 June 2020 with an initial funding of 50,000 crore (US$7.0billion) for 116 districts in 6 states.[85][86][87]

The governments of Uttar Pradesh,[88][89] Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat sought to temporarily revise their labour laws in early May with the purpose of attracting industries and investments. Labour unions criticized this as being harmful to the migrant workers while giving more authority to the employers.[90] Ten of them then wrote to the ILO on 14 May regarding the same, to which the ILO responded by reassuring them that it had contacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[91]

Many states reported high numbers of positive cases of COVID-19 among the migrants returning home as lockdown restrictions eased.[92] State governments opened thousands of quarantine centres to house them,[93] with some states imposing mandatory institutional quarantine. States also imposed strict measures for migrants to follow, either while leaving or after entering state borders.[94]

"In the cities they treat us like stray dogs. Why would they treat us any better now?"

A migrant worker describing the treatment he received on a "Shramik Special" train[13]

Migrant workers who decided to stay back during the exodus faced assault from their neighbours, who accused them of being infected with coronavirus. They thus could not venture out to buy food. Many also faced police brutality if they ventured out of their homes.[95]

Upon their return to their hometowns and villages, they were treated with either fear or a "class bias", being hosed down with disinfectants or soap solution in some cases. They were feared to be carrying coronavirus from the urban areas where they had been employed.[14] They faced assault and harassment from the people of their hometowns.[96] Since many of them belonged to the lower castes, they had to face caste slurs.[97] Thousands got into property disputes.[98]

Migrants travelling by Shramik Special trains reported that food and water provisions were either not provided or simply dumped at the entrances of the trains, leaving workers fighting with each other to get their share. Passengers then hurriedly filled their water bottles at the railway stations that the trains stopped at.[13]

Many migrant workers expressed a fear of returning to their old jobs in the cities, after facing unemployment during the lockdown.[99][100] Companies reported labour shortages from mid-April. Estimates state that this would last for at least another six months.[101]

The Supreme Court of India agreed to hear a petition on behalf of the migrant workers on 30 March.[102] The Court asked the central government to file a status report with respect to the situation of migrant workers.[103][104] In its report, the central government stated that the migrant workers, apprehensive about their survival, moved in the panic created by fake news that the lockdown would last for more than three months. The court added that it was satisfied by the government response thus far.[105][106]

A plea requesting payment of minimum wage was rejected by the Court on 21 April, on the grounds of workers already being provided free meals.[107]

On 16 May, the Supreme Court rejected a PIL to direct the District magistrates to identify and provide free relief and transport to the migrant workers, stating that it was the responsibility of the state governments. Speaking about the workers killed sleeping on the Aurangabad railway tracks, the Court stated that it could not have been prevented. Further, the central government stated that inter-state transport had already been provided to the migrants and requested them to wait their turn instead of choosing to walk.[108]

On 26 May, the Supreme Court admitted that the problems of the migrants had still not been solved and that there had been "inadequacies and certain lapses" on the part of the governments. It thus ordered the Centre and States to provide free food, shelter and transport to stranded migrant workers.[109] Hours before this ruling, senior lawyers from Mumbai and Delhi wrote a strongly-worded letter to the Court, regarding its "self-effacing deference" towards the government thus far.[110]

"The rich will get all the help, getting rescued and brought home in planes from abroad. But we poor migrant labourers have been left to fend for ourselves. That is the worth of our lives."

A weeping migrant worker stuck in Delhi, who could not see his dying son in Bihar[111]

Due to the lockdown, more than 900 deaths were reported [112] , with reasons ranging from starvation, suicides,[113] exhaustion,[114] road and rail accidents,[115] police brutality[116] and denial of timely medical care. Among the reported deaths, most were among the marginalised migrants and labourers.[117][118] 80 died while travelling back home on the Shramik Special trains, in the one month since their launch.[119][120]

Notably, on 8 May, a freight train killed 16 migrants who had stopped to rest on railway tracks near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. On 14 May, eight migrant workers were killed and nearly 55 injured when the truck they were in collided with a bus near Guna, Madhya Pradesh.[121] On 16 May 24 migrant workers were killed and many more were injured when a trailer carrying migrants (along with sacks of lime) rammed into a stationary truck, also carrying migrants, in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh.[122] According to data collected by SaveLIFE Foundation, an NGO working in road safety, 198 migrant workers were killed in road accidents, as of 2 June.[123]

Thousands of migrants have since protested across the country, for reasons ranging from demanding transport back home,[124] quality of food served,[125] not being allowed to cross the border,[126] and against government directives preventing them to walk home.[127] Some of the protests turned violent.[128][129]

Labour unions organised nationwide protests to protest the changes in labour laws, with the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh organizing one on 20 May[130] and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions and the All India Trade Union Congress organizing another on 22 May.[131] Seven left parties wrote to the President to intervene in the issue.[132] Ten labour unions wrote to the International Labour Organization (ILO) regarding the labour laws, on 14 May.[91] In response, the ILO expressed "deep concern" to PM Modi and requested him to instruct the central and state governments to uphold commitments (towards labour laws) made by India.[133]

Negative comparisons have been made between the situation of many domestic migrants and Indians abroad: Shekhar Gupta criticized the media and Modi for focusing on the Vande Bharat Mission and thus the more affluent at the expense of the working class.[134] Some politicians criticised the central government for not focusing enough on migrant workers.[135][136] NITI Aayog CEO, Amitabh Kant, admitted that the migrant workers could have been better taken care of and stated that it was the responsibility of the state governments.[137] Economist Jean Drze stated that the lockdown had been "almost a death sentence" for the underprivileged of the country, further stating, "The policies are made or influenced by a class of people who pay little attention to the consequences for the underprivileged".[138]

In May, Manoj Muntashir composed a poem on the plight of migrant workers.[139] Later in June, Javed Akhtar also composed one on the same.[140]

NL Interview: Barkha Dutt on covering migrant crisis, the media economy, and falling out with promoters

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Indian migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic ...

Three years after the Trump administration started separating immigrant families arriving on the southern border, lawyers say they still havent been able to reach the parents of 545 affected children, according to court documents filed Tuesday night.

Some of the children involved may never see their parents again. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union said that they still cannot find the parents of 283 children despite thorough on-the-ground searches, and dont expect to be able to reach them by telephone, meaning that the families may never be reunited.

Many of the families involved were separated in 2017, before the Trump administration began separating immigrant families routinely, hoping to deter immigrants from crossing the border without authorization.

The children have been released to sponsors, who are typically family members or friends, but also include foster families. Their parents, two-thirds of whom were deported before a federal judge ordered that they be identified and reunited with their children in 2018, either have not been located or have not been successfully contacted.

The group Justice in Motion is continuing to work to locate the parents in Mexico and Central America, though that has become more difficult amid the pandemic.

While we have already located many deported parents, there are hundreds more who we are still trying to reach, the group said in a statement. Its an arduous and time-consuming process on a good day.

The news underscores the devastating long-term effects of the Trump administrations policy. But even in cases in which lawyers expect to be able to find the parents eventually, families may never fully recover from the long-term psychological harm.

Beginning in mid-2017, the federal government ran a pilot program in El Paso, Texas, under which it began filing criminal charges against anyone who crossed the border without authorization, including parents with minor children even though many of them intended to seek asylum in the US, which is legal.

Parents were sent to immigration detention to await deportation proceedings. Their children, meanwhile, were sent to separate facilities operated by Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement and, in some cases, released to other family members in the US or to foster homes. (Previous administrations, in most cases, would have simply released the families from detention.)

The Trump administration formalized the policy in May 2018, which it dubbed the zero tolerance policy. At least 5,000 families were separated before a California federal court ordered the federal government in June 2018 to reunify the families affected and end the policy.

The federal government, however, neglected to link the children to their parents in its databases, making the reunification process difficult, especially in the hundreds of cases of children who were under the age of 5, including one who was just 4 months old.

Unlike the Trump administration, the Obama administration did not have a policy of separating families, but it did try to detain families together on a wide scale and deport them as quickly as possible during the 2014 migrant crisis. Cecilia Muoz, director of the Obama administrations Domestic Policy Council, told the New York Times in 2018 that the administration had briefly considered pursuing family separations but quickly dropped the idea.

We spent five minutes thinking it through and concluded that it was a bad idea, she told the Times. The morality of it was clear thats not who we are.

Senior Trump administration officials, including former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, have repeatedly denied that they pursued a policy of family separation. Nielsen told Congress in December 2018 that the administration never had a policy for family separation. It was later revealed that she had, in fact, signed a memo greenlighting the practice, which clearly stated that DHS could permissibly direct the separation of parents or legal guardians and minors held in immigration detention so that the parent or legal guardian can be prosecuted.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the administration has tried to carry out what immigrant advocates call a new kind of family separation. It pressured parents already detained within the US to voluntarily separate from their children by presenting them with what the administration has called a binary choice: Either allow their children to be placed with relatives or a foster family in the US while the parents remain detained, or stay together as a family in indefinite detention and risk contracting the coronavirus.

The US government has long known the psychological harms associated with separating family members. These harms would only add to the anxiety created by the pandemic as immigrants and their children fight for their release from detention.

Commander Jonathan White, who previously oversaw the governments program providing care to unaccompanied immigrant children, told Congress that, beginning in February 2017, he had repeatedly warned the officials who concocted the policy that it would likely cause significant potential for traumatic psychological injury to the child.

A September 2019 government watchdog report confirmed those effects, finding that immigrant children who entered government custody in 2018 frequently experienced intense trauma and those who were unexpectedly separated from a parent even more so.

Each child reacts to family separation differently. But psychologists have observed three main kinds of effects: disruptions to their social attachments, increases in their emotional vulnerability, and, in some cases, post-traumatic stress disorder, Lauren Fasig Caldwell, director of the American Psychological Associations children, youth, and families office, said.

Those symptoms could be short-term or they could persist; they could also not even manifest until a child enters their teen years or adulthood. Any of them could significantly hinder a childs later success in academics and in the workplace.

Parents who were separated from their children have experienced their own trauma which may manifest in symptoms similar to those that researchers observe in children and may not have the mental and emotional capacity to be able to provide what their children need.

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Lawyers cant find the parents of 545 migrant children after separation by Trump - Vox.com