COVID-19 Webinar Series: Voices from the Margins
3rd Edition – Interstate Migrants in Erode and Tirupur, Tamil Nadu
Press Release-3
Situation of Interstate Garment Workers
It has been three weeks now since the government announced a lockdown across the country which has now been extended to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The Central and the State Governments have been making attempts at mitigating the existing scenario where several schemes are being provided to communities in order to lessen the impact on their livelihood.
Praxis and PiC (Partners in Change) as a forefront to the existing scenario has initiated together the COVID-19 Pandemic – Voices from Margins” Webinar Series. The focal point of this webinar series is to provide a platform for the marginalized groups that are impacted during this pandemic to voice out their experiences in these difficult times and explore solutions.
The PiC Team in collaboration with New Hope India organisation had conducted a rapid survey in Bargargh, Odisha. Interviews were conducted with 22 BPL() Below povery line) families having at least one family member working as a migrant from the villages. The families belonged to five villages (Adgaon, Tora, Jamurda, Sarla, Saharapali) and one urban pocket Bargargh. The interviews were conducted with the respondents (19 of whom were men and 3 women) between April 12th and 13th, 2020.
The research team did the assessment keeping two main objectives as the focus:
- Coping mechanisms of the families left behind during the COVID-19 lockdown
- Access to government schemes, such as Public Distribution System (PDS), Ujjwala scheme, loans and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNERGA).
Findings from the rapid survey of Family members working as migrant in Bargargh Odisha
Wages – All families stated that, their family members were working in Tamil Nadu, as of 13 April 2020, have received wages only for working days. 15 reported that the family member approached their employers/ contractors with the request of payment for the lockdown period but yet to receive response while other 7 did not know if the family member approached anyone for the payment for the lockdown period.
Further, all families stated that the family members staying without any work as most of the work places observing lockdown. They expressed fear how their family members would pay the house rent in the absence of work for the past two weeks. Majority of the families mentioned that the sudden lockdown not only left their family members without work but also spoiled their attempt to return home. The Prime Minister has requested employers to pay salaries to all workers even for the lockdown period but that does not seem to be happening anywhere here.
Indebtedness – Of the 22 families interviewed, none of them have taken a loan during the lockdown period as they have received money from the family members working in Tamil Nadu. But they expressed fear, in the absence wage for lockdown period and extended lockdown period, it will be difficult for them to meet the family expenses with the government schemes.
Right to Food – Of the families interviewed, all of them have been able to have all three-square meals a day. None of them have gone hungry yet. Two out of the 22 had at least one family member who was ill, which means that the family also requires money for medicines. The Government of Odisha proposed to reach out 95 lakhs beneficiaries through the Public distribution system, and provide 5 kgs of rice per person per month for next four months and also provide Rs 1000 to each ration card holder families.
In Bargargh, all the 22 families we interviewed had PDS cards. Except one, all families availed PDS and also stated that they got the extra ration of 5kgs of rice. At present, most villagers are surviving with the ration for the next three months. None of the villagers stated that they accessed food through other individuals, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Panchayat and the local MLA. This means that the state is able to ensure right to food for all its citizens across the state.
COVID-19 RELIEF ENTITLEMENTS –
Jan Dhan Account – All 22 families interviewed have a Jan Dhaan aacount. Of that, all but one woman stated that they received Rs.500. The Government has claimed completing the transfer of first instalment of Rs.500 to about 20 crore women in Jan Dhan account holders.
Old Age or Disabled ex gratia payments – Among the 22, 18 families have at least one person registered under the scheme and all of them have received this month’s pension along with 3 months advance allowances as announced by the Odisha Government. Besides this pension, they reported of receiving Rs 1000 ex-gratia amount.
Ujjwala Scheme – Of the 15 villagers who were aware about the Ujjwala scheme, 10 shared that they are part of the scheme. Of the 7 registered during the lockdown period, 5 of them had received free cylinders, which shows that lockdown did not affect the provision of essential services. The central government has announced that gas cylinders free of cost would be provided to 8 crore poor families for the next three months.
Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme – Of the 22 interviewed, none of them were holding any land, therefore they were not eligible to receive the relief amount.
MNREGA – All 22 villagers have a job card but none of them have got any payment or any job for the last few months. The Centre has stated that MNREGA wages would be raised to benefit 5 crore families. Every worker will get an additional wage of Rs 2,000 over the next 3 months. The centre has just released Rs. 4431 crores to clear pending wages due for MNREGA workers. However, none of the villagers seem to have benefitted from this announcement which indicate that the local governance could not generate any work in the recent past.
One of the researchers mentioned his interaction with the families of workers who had migrated to Tamil Nadu for work: “The migrant members from our family are in need of money and have been asking us to send them some money. The government has asked the authorities to pay the full salary but they have not received any money. But we ourselves are in a difficult situation. How do we send them anything?”
Rabin Sardar, who has migrated from South 24 Parganas in West Bengal to work as a daily wage labourer with a dyeing unit talks about the risk of indebtedness. “We have not yet taken loans as we are managing with the money we have. We received salary for the 16-17 days that we worked in March. But we have to pay our rent of Rs 2000. We also need to send money hone to our old parents. How do we do that?”
While those the team interacted with in Odisha had received some of the relief measures promised by the government, their family members back in Tamil Nadu were not as lucky.
“We got around 10 kg of rice and dal from the NGO (READ) here. But besides that nothing. Of course, we want to go to our families. But as of now we have no money. The trains are also not plying. So even if we want, how do we go?’ Deepali, a young woman working as a fabric finisher in a garment factory in Erode said. She has migrated from a Cuttack district of Odisha two years ago and has been working in the unit since then. She added that this was the plot not just of her family, but all the 50 families who lived in the area as all of them were migrants from different parts of the country such as Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
The effort is a part of the COVID-19 Pandemic “Voices from Margins” Webinar Series, wherein, a group of organizations {Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices (www.praxisndia.org) and Partners in Change (http://www.picindia.org/), the National Alliance Group for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic communities (NAG), Vaanavil Research Collective (VRC) and Krishnagiri Development Programme (KDP)} have joined together to get the real picture from the ground through continuous and periodic rapid assessments and support communities at the margins to access government and non-government relief programmes during the COVID – 19 lockdown.
For details, please write to anushac@praxisindia.org (+91 9611827200) or stanley@picindia.org
English