'The middle class needs to be made aware of the migrants's plight.'
With the lockdown extended till May 3 to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the little money daily wagers had is mostly gone and so is hope.
"Darr to lagta hai par bhook say zyada darr lagta hai (I am scared but I fear hunger more than death)," he said as he pointed to his kids adding "back home we won't be able to find two square meals".
Sule, citing Railway Ministry documents, said the largest number of Shramik Special trains -- 1033 -- were operated from Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra (817) and Punjab (429).
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 the midst of all the self-flagellation at our collective inability to assist the country's migrants through their misery, at least one person (or a group of people) decided to do more than just chest beating. Anjuli Bhargava traces the tale of how a relief effort in Goa is transforming into a movement to drive long-term change.
Thousands of migrants were stranded in places across the country since the lockdown was enforced on March 25, many even attempting to walk home.
The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of a horrific incident of chopping off the right hands of two migrant labourers from Odisha by a contractor from Andhra Pradesh in December last year.
The terrorists lobbed a grenade at a tent housing labourers at Gadoora village in Pulwama, a police spokesman said.
Manish Kashyap, a YouTuber wanted by the Bihar Police for allegedly sharing fake videos of 'attacks on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu', surrendered before the law enforcers in West Champaran district on Saturday, a statement said.
'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.
'HEADLINE HUNTING. A NUMBER -20 LAKH CRORES. NO DETAILS'
Migrant labourers in South 24 Parganas who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown are left with nothing due to the monstrous cyclone now.
However, demand was still much higher compared to the previous years, underlining the scheme's vital role in providing employment to the rural poor, a vast majority of whom are migrants.
Buoyancy in the real estate sector along with improved construction activities created jobs and facilitated the return of migrant workers to cities, the Economic Survey for 2022-23 tabled in Parliament on Tuesday said. This assumes significance in view of loss of jobs due to lockdown restrictions imposed in various parts of the country from time to time amid different waves of pandemic since March 2020. The survey points towards sustained recovery in the economic activities during 2022-23 fiscal year.
Dipak Brahma, a resident of Dhantola Mandaria, a forest village in Kokrajhar district, had recently returned from Gujarat, where he worked as a labourer. He was jobless and finding it hard to support his family, according to an official of an NGO working against human trafficking.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention on Wednesday in the alleged "whimsical" functioning of the railways in sending Shramik Special trains to West Bengal and urged the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre not to pursue politics when the state is battling a dual crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic and trail of destruction left behind by Cyclone Amphan.
Ushering in a big wave of reforms by implementing the four labour codes, setting up the national social security fund to cover over 38 crore informal sector workers and improving the ease of doing business will top the agenda of the labour ministry in the New Year. In a major move, the ministry launched the e-Shram portal on August 26, 2021 for creating a national database of over 38 crore informal sector workers. It will help the government to ensure last-mile delivery of benefits of various social security schemes to the informal-sector workers.
The opposition has been critical of the Centre's handling of the situation, accusing it of not doing enough to ease the hardships of the migrant workers, many of whom have lost their jobs during the lockdown which started on March 25.
Asked during a press briefing if special trains and private vehicles will also be allowed to transport these people as demanded by some states and others, Joint Secretary in the Union home ministry Punya Salila Srivastava said the orders issued at present were for 'using buses and for group of persons'.
Rampukar Pandit, whose mournful face became emblematic of the tragedy faced by poor migrants currently, is currently in hospital, but all he wishes is to return home.
Australia, Canada, US and UK are restricting immigration, but other countries are opening their doors.
A 48-page report by Amnesty, Reality Check 2021, said that practices such as withholding salaries and charging workers to change jobs was still rife, despite labour reforms in 2014, as the country prepares to host the soccer tournament next year.
'Yogiji is saying he is doing good work, but when you go on the ground you will see the reality.'
Two German broadcasters have reportedly alleged that they were detained and imprisoned by Qatari Police while they tried to investigate the plight of migrant labourers working in the preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The implementation of four labour codes in one go from April 1 next year will usher in a new wave of reforms in industrial relations and also help in attracting more investments but employment generation will remain a key challenge in 2021. This year has also been a challenging year for the work force as well as for employers due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government imposed a nationwide lockdown from March 25, which had an adverse impact on economic activities and resulted in exodus of migrant workers from large cities to their homes in the hinterland. Many migrant labourers lost their jobs and it took months for them to return back to their work places from their native places.
Many of the tragedies occurred in the dark, which is when it is cooler to walk, and many people were caught in their sleep. The combination of no traffic and speeding vehicles has led to havoc, endangering the lives of those who found themselves without work or money in the coronavirus-induced lockdown and were frantic to get home, any which way.
'I like it when my daughter talks in English fluently. She is smarter in maths too than her village friends'
Ten central trade unions on Friday gave a call for a nationwide strike on May 22 to protest against the suspension of labour laws by some states during the lockdown period, and also decided to take the matter to International Labour Organization (ILO). "The joint platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) in their meeting held on May 14 , 2020 took note of the critical situation for the working people in the country during the lockdown period and decided to enhance united actions to meet the challenge," a joint statement by 10 CTUs said.
He had uploaded a video on social media in which he demanded that the Maharashtra government make travel arrangements for migrants, who are stranded due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown and want to go back to their native places.
'Why has this turned out to be one of the greatest humanitarian crisis that has caught the Centre and the states in a bind with no answers to this unexpected tsunami?' asks Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
'New announcements are made every day which brings tremendous amount of instability and uncertainty.' 'Relying on America has become a big problem.'
'Today, the State looks at everyone with suspicion.'
The Philippines' foreign ministry confirmed in a statement that one of its nationals had died while working at a resort south of the capital Doha. It said its embassy was "working with legal authorities to ascertain more details of his passing".
'For them life is very difficult since there has been no universalisation of PDS.' 'And let's understand that there are people who need ration instead of cooked meals.'
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan on Monday demanded a thorough probe regarding the alleged attack on Bihar migrant workers and bring the culprits to book, and ensure a hospitable atmosphere for the workforce in Tamil Nadu.
Unlike the other Bharatiya Janata Party-led governments, Assam has not proposed doing away with most labour laws for a certain number of years. Instead it has proposed introducing fixed-term employment to help both workers and industries, and seeks to take more firms out of the ambit of laws governing factories and contract workers.
Clashes also broke out at several places in Kashmir on Tuesday, leaving several persons injured.
No one has any objection to offering of namaz on the occasion of Bakrid outside the temple town in reverence to it, he said.
'COVID-19 is just an excuse to pass anti-labour laws.'
