Dalit-Online: Failure to feed needy

Dalit-Online

Bi – weekly

Editor: Nagaraja.M.R.. Vol.16.....Issue.31.........16/04/2020

Editorial : Failure to feed needy

- An appeal to Honourable Supreme Court of India

At the outset we salute all health care workers , doctors , nurses and police for ensuring health care of all and containing spread of Corona virus. Both central and state governments are putting their maximum efforts to feed the needy. Please read the following articles.

However these efforts are getting derailed by greedy people :

1. PDS shops are collecting money for ration. The weighment of ration provided is also less and all ration items are not given.

2. Government is disbursing relief aid based on BPL data. Most of the BPL card holders have got BPL card by their political connections and they are capable of feeding themselves. Still they are getting reliefs from government, NGOs. Whereas those who really need relief aid don't have BPL card ( as they don't have political connections ) and are denied relief.

3. Government is transferring relief aid to Jan Dhan accounts. Here also many of the account holders are well off.

The intention of government is good. However greed of man know no bounds. There are people who have cars, rented out houses, lending money in lakhs still they have BPL card , Jan Dhan account , old age pension and get all the benefits associated with it. They have political connections.

These greedy fellows are literally snatching away food meant for the needy. Hereby we request the honourable supreme court of india to order authorities :

1. To give relief aid to the needy even if they don't have BPL card , Jan Dhan account.

2. To take action against errant PDS shops.

3. To identify fake BPL card, Jan Dhan and old age pension holders and recover money from them.

4. To initiate criminal prosecution of public servants who issued BPL cards , old age pension , Jan Dhan accounts to rich , unfit people.

5. We offer our conditional support to SCI to identify fake BPL card holders, fake old age pensioners, fake Jan Dhan account holders.

6. By denying BPL card, Jan Dhan account , Old age pension to needy whereas giving the same to undeserving rich persons concerned public servants are violating “ Right to Life “ of poor.

If SCI doesn't act now, needy will starve to death whereas greedy will snatch away relief meant for needy. It is robbery of tax payers money. We request honourable SCI to protect poor people's Right to Life ie right to food & medical aid. Jai Hind. Vande Mataram.

Your's

Nagaraja Mysuru Raghupathi.

Survey finds 94 per cent of construction workers ineligible for funds transfer

By Divya Trivedi

The question of inadequate relief measures for migrant workers left stranded in more ways than one by the COVID-19 lockdown was brought out starkly in a survey done by the non-governmental organisation Jan Sahas.

While the Labour and Employment Ministry asked all Chief Ministers and Lieutenant-Governors to release funds directly into the accounts of construction workers using the cess collected by the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Boards, the Jan Sahas survey, conducted between March 27 and 29, found that 94 per cent of labourers did not have BOCW cards, making them ineligible for any transfer. Further, 14 per cent did not have ration cards and 17 per cent did not have bank accounts.

“If our dataset is representative of the 55 million labourers currently employed in the construction sector, then more than 51 million labourers will not have access to any benefits,” the NGO said. Its members conducted telephonic interviews with 3,196 migrant construction workers from north and central India and found that the status of unregistered labourers remained precarious.

As many as 51 per cent of those surveyed mentioned that they had loans and would find it difficult to repay them without employment. Jan Sahas suggested that one way to prevent indebtedness or debt bondages and consequent bonded/forced labour was to use the PM CARES Fund to grant income assistance to labourers taking into account the real loss in wages and the stipulated monthly minimum wages for at least three to six months. It is to be noted that the details of how the PM CARES Fund will be utilised has not been made public.

More than half the labourers surveyed earned between Rs.200 and Rs.400 a day to support a family of four. As many as 42 per cent of those contacted said they had no ration left for the day, let alone for the duration of the lockdown. Thirty-three per cent of the workers were still stuck in destination cities with little or no access to food, water and money. A staggering 90 per cent had lost their source of income in the three weeks since the lockdown.

Given the precarious condition of migrant workers and to mitigate their risk of indebtedness, the government should issue directives to waive off or reschedule loans from banks and Self Help Groups, the NGO suggested. The government should direct moneylenders, contractors and recruiters to not harass workers to repay debt and defer repayments for two-three months, it said. “Under both MGNREGA and BOCW laws there are provisions that allow the state to pay unemployment allowance. Increase allocations from the Center for States to activate these provisions in the law and announce these measures including detailed provisions,” said Jan Sahas.

The construction sector contributes to around 9 per cent of India’s GDP and employs the highest number of migrant workers. Each year, nine million workers move from rural areas to cities in search of work at construction sites and in factories.

Despite having one of the world’s strongest PR machineries, which broadcast the Prime Minister’s thali-banging and lamp-lighting events very successfully, information about welfare measures to assist the needy has failed to reach the workers. As high as 62 per cent of the respondents did not have any information about emergency welfare measures provided by the government and 37 per cent workers did not know how to access existing schemes. The absence of assurance of any state assistance added to the fear and confusion felt by a worker.

Owing to non-portability of ration cards, concrete efforts must be made to ensure that those stranded in destination States, who are holders of ration cards in their source States are provided a seamless delivery of ration. Those without ration cards should also receive free ration for the next three to six months, said Jan Sahas.

Not surprisingly, the majority of the migrants belonged to the Other Backward Classes (39.9 per cent), Scheduled Castes (23.1 per cent) and Scheduled Tribes (18.6 per cent). The mass reverse exodus proved that if unable to work, then there was nothing left for a migrant in a city and they had no social community to fall back on.

Commenting on the general status of migrants in a society, Jan Sahas concluded, “It is also symptomatic of the exclusion of the migrant population from all social safety mechanisms. It is further unacceptable that the welfare of migrants was not mentioned even once in any of the directives issued by State agencies until it became impossible to avoid the videos and pictures of large groups of migrants walking in deplorable conditions.”

India's 'hidden' home garment workers feared losing out on coronavirus aid

By Anuradha Nagaraj

Millions of "hidden" home-based garment workers in India who help prop up the global fashion industry risk missing out on aid during the coronavirus pandemic, labour rights campaigners said.

From cutting sleeves and stitching shoes to putting the finishing touches on clothes, home workers are increasingly being used by factories to sub-contract work but have no right to a minimum wage, social security or healthcare from employers.

Lacking proof of employment, home workers could struggle to access support pledged for the country's poorest during its 21-day COVID-19 lockdown, according to two workers' rights groups.

India - which has about 4,070 confirmed cases and at least 107 deaths - has pledged a $23 billion stimulus to provide food and cash to millions of its poorest citizens, along with $4 billion drawn from a welfare fund for construction workers.

It has also asked companies not to fire workers or cut pay.

"Home workers are last in line to benefit from any help being provided by brands, manufacturers or governments," said Janhavi Dave, international coordinator for HomeNet South Asia, a network of home-based worker organisations.

"There is no focus on them in this crisis and they remain hidden," she added. "The sense of fear ... among the workers ... has been growing. Many have not been paid since February and they are not expecting work for at least six more months."

India's garment sector employs at least 12 million people in factories, but millions more work from home - mostly women and girls from minority or marginalised communities - according to a 2019 study by the University of California.

About 85% of home workers exclusively work in supply chains that export to the United States and European Union, it found.

HOMEWORKERS LEFT IN LIMBO

India's garment factories closed suddenly last month after the government announced a lockdown to run until Apr. 14, and officials have hinted at an extension until the end of April.

Home worker Anitha Nandakumar has been calling her factory agent every other day to find out when she will be paid for the work she completed in February stitching leather shoe uppers.

"Initially, he answered and told me to wait," Nandakuamr said by phone from her home in Ambur, a town in southern Tamil Nadu state where home working is particularly prevalent.

"Now he has stopped taking the calls."

Despite the poor pay and long hours, several women said they had seen little choice but to work from home as their familal responsibilities meant they were unable to travel to a factory.

For those who were widowed or had a sick husband, the work provided the family's only source of income, said Sonia Wazed, head of programme for the Society for Labour and Development.

"In this situation, homeworkers are not a priority for brands or manufacturers, who may only try and sustain factory workers. The rules for aid need to be relaxed to include them."

The central labour ministry was not available for comment but a senior official last year said exploitation of home garment workers was "rampant" and that the government planned to provide them with benefits and assistance by the end of 2019.

Yet such aid has yet to materialise, leaving home workers like 18-year-old Indumathi Rangasamy in a struggle to survive.

The mother-of-one was awaiting a payment of 1,000 rupees ($13) and fresh work when the virus struck, and does not even have a ration card to receive free groceries from the state.

"I can't even take an advance (on wages) because I am not a factory worker," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from her home in Tirupur, a garment manufacturing hub in south India.

"I am unable to feed my child properly," she addded. "If this continues, we will not be able to live."

Thousands of Unregistered Workers in India Cannot Get Government Emergency Relief Aid; Driven to Starvation

The RSS labor wing Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh has called the lockdown an emergency like situation where 10 percent of the unorganized and migrant workforce is being driven towards starvation.

Coming under the RSS umbrella, the BMS raising the plight of stranded workers and seeking a package from Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumes significance.

The letter to Modi by BMS General Secretary Virjesh Upadhyay flags the issue of lakhs of workers who are hungry, out of work and many are now starving.

It also brings to light that while some packages for relief have been announced by central and state governments, thousands of these workers in the unorganized sector are not registered in official records and therefore ineligible for cash or food aid.

The labor union said that lakhs of workers have run out of work because of the lockdown. A vast number of them are daily wage earners, contractual workers, migrants, construction workers, all kinds of scheme workers, handloom workers, agricultural workers and others.

"Chances are that lakhs of them are not even registered with the government/welfare boards. The workers of the unorganized sector, which constitutes around 93 per cent of the country's workforce, are the worst hit. The government must come up with additional steps to identify those in need," BMS said.

It pointed out that while state governments have announced relief packages but barring a few like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Tripura most of the states have not yet transferred any amount. In Tamil Nadu the situation is worse.

BMS said that almost 10 per cent of the population is being pushed towards starvation. "It is an emergency like situation and the Centre must intervene,” it added.

Migrant workers who are stuck in different parts of the country must be provided relief packages. They are one of the worst-hit groups.

"Once the lockdown is over and industries restart, they will face labour shortage. Keeping this in view, lockdown should be lifted in phased manner and migration back to the workplace must be facilitated", the union demanded.

The pandemic has had worse effects on the world economy including India, BMS said. "Once the pandemic ends we will rush to revive the economy. It can't be ruled out that investors will try to run out, be fearful of investing, migration will be slow and labour may not be available immediately after the lockdown is lifted", BMS said while expressing concern.

"Therefore lockdown must be lifted in a phase wise manner, giving enough time and confidence for industries and workers to return to work. A tripartite/tripartite plus committee should be formed to monitor and direct the economic revival and re-growth,” it added.

Karnataka: Mandya district suspends three fair price stores over misuse of ration

The Mandya district administration has suspended three fair price shops at Nagamangala taluk in Mandya district for misusing free rations given by the government in view of the lockdown due to Covid-19.

Similar complaints have been received in Mysuru district too against not just fair price shop owners but even some private persons who are raising funds and essential commodities for the poor. A case has also been registered against a milk booth for selling free milk supplied by the government.

According to deputy director of the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Kumuda Sharath, complaints have been received from ration card holders against fair price shops that they were being extorted for supply of rations. Following an inspection, the admin suspended, under the Karnataka Essential Commodities Public Sistribution (Control) Order 2016, three fair prices in Mandya district. And they have strictly warned that licences will be cancelled if any such complaints are received from ration card holders.

In Mysuru too, deputy commissioner Abhiram G Shankar said the joint director of the department of food has received complaints of misuse by certain fair price shops in Hunsur and H D Kote taluks. Some fair shops are taking Rs 20-50 from ration card holders to supply essential foods. And though it has been clarified that even if there is an issue with the OTP, rations should not be withheld, dealers continue to do so at some places. During a meeting with the Mysuru district minister S T Somashekar, elected representatives of the district raised the issue. If there are any such complaints, the fair price shops will not just be suspended, but they will also book cases against owners of those shops under disaster management act, they were told.

And a few MLAs of Mysuru district have complained that private organizations are raising money or rice to be distributed to the poor but are keeping half the proceeds for themselves. If such complaints are received, criminal cases will be booked against such people, the minister said.

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