Just like the Covid times, one of the worst sufferers of the communal tension and curfew restrictions is the daily wager who live hand to mouth. During the Covid pandemic, the state government tried to help the market women and street vendors with loans and working capital under various schemes, but there are no allowances or any form of support for the daily wagers and workers in the unorganised sector.
The message of appropriate Covid behaviour then was not helping them to ease the hunger in the stomachs. Every day, scores of such daily wagers throng near the Khwairamband Bazar in the hope of finding work, any work which involves manual labour. But, not everyone find work and they have to return with empty pockets and dejection.
The lasting legacy of Covid-19’s impact on India would be the devastating impact it have had on the lives of millions of poor and jobless. One remembers the plight of workers and daily wagers who had to walk home from the city centres for miles and miles with no hope and utterly dejected during the pandemic.
We had raised the plight of internally displaced persons staying in the various relief camps as a result of the present communal tension which shows no signs of respite. Life in the relief camps is difficult and with most communication facilities with family members and relatives cut off.
While many of the camps face shortage of drinking water and basic amenities, health, sanitation and hygiene is of main concern. Most of the relief camps are overcrowded which makes it difficult for organisers and volunteers to deal with the numerous problems particularly among the children and women.
Normally, we see volunteers of the Indian Red Cross Society who had experience in such situations, helping around with aid and expertise.
Most important of all, it is the collective trauma and state of mental health among the internally displaced persons especially among the small children who have had to bear witness to parents and relatives beaten up or killed and being on the run from the marauding mobs assisted by armed militants.
The state seems to be preparing for a longer stay of the refugees at camps as MLAs are seen scouting for semi-permanent shelters with adequate facilities instead of the schools and community halls.
Yet, no one seems to be bothered about helping the poor and needy especially the daily wagers, street vendors and workers in the unorganised sector.
The state labour department should be the one who should be collecting data and identifying such daily wagers and workers in the unorganised sector.
In the case of street vendors, Municipal Administration, Housing and Urban Development (MAHUD) has been continually collecting the data and many of them had benefitted from government schemes during Covid times.
What is now lacking seems to be the data on daily wagers and unorganised workers. Some enterprising people had come up with a platform for availing daily work to such persons and it would be of some help. But, what is required now is the initiative of the state government.
