Qatar, host nation of the 2022 World Cup, is still doing little to improve conditions for migrant workers despite promising reform last year, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the government wrote to Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha conveying it's decision and seeking their consent for receving the workers, official sources said.
"We are not able to find any work due to the prevailing situation," say migrant labourers who are being forced to move out owing to the unrest.
Hardworking people who toil from dawn to dusk and beyond speak about their everyday lives and what they want from the sarkar as Bihar prepares to vote.
Shah said not allowing trains to reach West Bengal is "injustice" to the migrant workers from the state.
The migrant workers were walking along the rail tracks apparently to escape the attention of police. A video clip from the scene of the tragedy shows the bodies of migrant workers lying on the tracks and nearby with their meagre personal belongings scattered around.
The top court also directed authorities to consider withdrawing all cases against migrant workers for alleged violation of lockdown norms under the Disaster Management Act.
'The US slump could hit our hosiery market hard since 40 per cent of our exports go there.' 'Job losses could be severe if the government doesn't step in fast.'
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's office on Tuesday said the Uttar Pradesh government has demanded that the 1,000 buses the party wants to ply for ferrying migrant labourers back to the state be handed over in Lucknow on Tuesday morning and alleged that the move is politically motivated. It also alleged that the demand shows that the UP government lacks the intention to help those stranded at the state's borders.
"Hundreds of stranded people, who wanted to go to their hometowns, gathered near hotel Rippon Palace, and demanded that a special train be arranged for them to go to their native places," police said.
PM Modi, BJP president J P Nadda, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have all expressed grief over the incident.
'I need 3-4 lakhs for the wedding. All prospective grooms demand a motorcycle which costs 1 to 1.5 lakhs, then you have to also give a bed, cupboard, utensils, fridge,' says Kamala, her wrinkled forehead furrowing with despair.
The migrants were ferried to their villages in sanitised buses arranged by the Jharkhand government to take them home after preliminary medical screening at the station, officials said.
A Mumbai Police official said the actor was stopped by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) when he reached the station on Monday night to meet some labourers, and added that they have not received any complaint so far in this connection. The migrant labourers were supposed to take the Shramik Special train from Bandra Terminus to Uttar Pradesh.
All of them were sent to a shelter for medical examination and a bus was being organised for their further transit, he said. A video of workers emerging from the small hole of the cement-mixer in the presence of police has gone viral on social media.
'Our clients need business. For business you need workers and so we decided to help'
The accident took place at Kolwan village around 3.30 am when the bus was on way from Solapur to Nagpur railway station where the labourers were supposed to board a Shramik Special train to reach their native places in Jharkhand, Additional Superintendent of Police Noorul Hasan said.
The Western Railway in a statement later said a Shramik Special train was scheduled for Purnia from the Bandra Terminus in which passengers registered with the state authorities were to travel. However, many people, who were not registered and not called by the state authorities, gathered on a road and a bridge near the station, it said.
On December 16, an industrial worker abducted the girl when she was playing near her hut. He took her to nearby bushes, where raped her and fled the spot, leaving her injured, according to the police.
The bench agreed to hear the matter at the end of the board during the day itself.
Six migrant workers were killed and 95 others injured in separate road accidents in Uttar Pradesh when they were returning home during the ongoing lockdown to combat the coronavirus outbreak, the police said on Friday. The accidents have taken place in Barabanki, Jalaun, Bahraich and Mahoba districts since Thursday evening, they said.
Labour ministry guidelines say workers returning to cities must get housing, health insurance, facemasks. The Centre has also asked states to issue guidelines to employers to take care of the needs of migrant workers.
The International Organisation for Migration has urged nations to frame comprehensive and cooperative policies to ensure protection of the rights of migrants and temporary contractual workers and for successful management of global mobility.
Appearing impatient to return to their native places, migrant workers pelted stones at police in Surat district of Gujarat on Monday, leaving nearly a dozen personnel injured, one of them an IPS officer, and also held protests elsewhere during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, officials said.
"The Right to Life as guaranteed by Article 21...gives the right to every human being to live a life of dignity with access to at-least bare necessities of life. To provide food security to impoverished persons is the bounden duty of all States and Governments," the top court observed while issuing a slew of directions on a plea of three activists.
Those killed include eight women and a migrant worker from Madhya Pradesh, police said.
As various social media content of alleged attacks on migrant workers from Tamil Nadu have turned out to be fake, Chief Minister M K Stalin has alleged the "lies spread" regarding such assaults in the state was a fallout of his recent call for opposition unity to dislodge the ruling BJP at the Centre next year.
The area has been cordoned off and a hunt launched to nab the attackers.
'New announcements are made every day which brings tremendous amount of instability and uncertainty.' 'Relying on America has become a big problem.'
According to the 2021 England and Wales Census data, of the 915,855 citizens born in India, 49 per cent (444,500) said English was their main language, followed by 41 per cent (373,583) who said another language was their main language but that they spoke English very well or well.
In a two-pronged strategy to secure migrant workers, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to set up a migration commission for the employment of such labourers in the state and made it clear that any state that wants them from UP has to seek its permission.
Targeted killings in Srinagar and in South Kashmir have inspired fear among migrant labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh plying their trade in the Kashmir Valley.
The decision was praised by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who said it would be an inspiration for everyone.
'Today, the State looks at everyone with suspicion.'
'Politicians's slogans on social distancing, showered like petals from their ivory towers, mock every single moment of pain and distress imposed on the vulnerable down below, at migrant labour stuffed like chickens on goods trucks, trying to get home at all costs,' observes Veenu Sandhu.
Thackeray said he was in constant touch with the Centre over the issue of running more trains to ferry migrant labourers, stranded due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, to their native places.
Australia, Canada, US and UK are restricting immigration, but other countries are opening their doors.
'A large number of people from Sindh province will now opt to migrate to India as they would be granted citizenship through an easy process.'
A large number of migrants were waiting for food and transport on MP-Maharashtra border for hours.
The FIR has been lodged against Prashant Kumar Umrao, a lawyer, whose verified Twitter handle says he is a spokesperson for Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including those for provocation with intent to cause riot, promoting enmity and hatred, provoking breach of peace and statement leading to public mischief, police said.
