India has been put under lockdown, people have been told to stay indoors but for many daily wage earners, this is not an option.
The world’s biggest lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic has stalled work under the rural jobs guarantee scheme, leaving daily wage workers with little to fall back on.
Work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme—which guarantees 100 days of work to daily wage earners in rural areas—has come to a standstill due to the lockdown in India, a government official told Bloomberg Quint. Some ongoing work that involves priority and comes under essential service like for hospitals is still going, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
The lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening means they are now facing no prospect of income for the next three weeks. The likelihood is, some will run out of food in the coming days.
Waging a desperate battle for survival, they are the invisible millions who eke out a precarious living as construction workers, painters, food vendors and a host of other jobs suddenly rendered redundant in these COVID-19 days.
As India grinds to a halt with a three-week nationwide lockdown in place to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, the unorganised working force on the margins of society might be the worst hit with no savings and therefore completely dependent on what they earn each day.
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According to state government sources, Bengal has an unorganised workforce of around 90 lakh, including hawkers, rickshaw pullers, bus drivers and tea garden workers.
In Uttar Pradesh, too, the government has said around 35 lakh labourers in the state will get Rs 1,000 each as financial aid while free ration for one month will be provided to 1.
Several state governments, including Uttar Pradesh in the north, Kerala in the south and the national capital Delhi, have promised direct cash transfers into the accounts of workers like Mr Kumar. Prime Minister Modi’s government has also promised to help daily-wage earners affected by the lockdown.
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