Ration woes, expenses lay bare the migrant distress since lockdown

Four out of five migrant workers in India have not had access to government ration since the lockdown began, according to a report released on Friday.
 

Although the Centre last month announced an economic package catering to all sections, the situation of migrants hasn’t improved, said the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN).
 

From May 15-June 1, it received 821 distress calls corresponding to nearly 6,000 workers, which suggested that food distress was as high as during March-April.
 

Between May 15-June 1, about 76 per cent of the workers who made calls said they had less than Rs 300, while 72 per cent had less than Rs 200, and 63 per cent had less than Rs 100 left.
 

About 57 per cent made SOS calls on behalf of 820 people who had run out of money or ration, the report added. These findings are based on interactive voice response (IVR) calls.

SWAN called back the migrants, and of the 1,963 workers who were part of the IVR survey, only 33 per cent had gone home. Two-thirds (1,166) were in their city of residence.
 

However, the migration back home is unlikely to slow down. About 55 per cent of the stranded people wanted to return immediately, much higher than the 33 per cent at end-April. Unemployment remains a major factor, with 1,124 of the stranded respondents (75 per cent) having lost their jobs.
 

A silver lining, the survey noted, is that 75 per cent of the workers were not being threatened by their landlords of eviction. Among those who returned home, 44 per cent took buses, 39 per cent Shramik trains, and 11 per cent via arranged trucks and lorries. The remaining 6 per cent went on foot.
 

In an interim order dated May 28, the Supreme Court had said that migrant workers cannot be made to pay for travel. However, the survey reported that above 85 per cent workers in transit had to incur expenses.

This is the third report on migrant workers by SWAN. Last month, SWAN — along with other signatories — had written to the home ministry urging the government to create a common portal for migrants to register their travel requests.
 

The report released on Friday pointed out that the home ministry had released an order a few days earlier, giving details of a National Migrant Information System under the National Disaster Management Authority.
 

However, it alleged that portal was only meant for administrators, suggesting it was a mean to merely collect information.
 

“While there are some merits of scheduling travel through a single portal, a solely technological solution to what is a massive logistical, institutional and humanitarian crisis, is highly insufficient,” it noted.
 

Reiterating its demands raised in requests to the government earlier, the SWAN report stressed on the need for a smooth travel registration process, greater transparency, and awareness about train and bus schedules.