Is It Too Tough To Get The Data?

We, the people of India, often feel so perplexed that we can’t decide whether we should be boasting of the efficiency of our government and bureaucracy or be ashamed of them. Can you recall the Balakot air strike? The government could measure the exact number of terrorists killed there within a few days only by counting number of mobile connections. NTRO system reported that there were 300 mobile phone connections there and hence the damage could be measured easily. Who can dare question the credibility of the government? But this time we are really baffled to know that the government has no data regarding death of migrant labours during lockdown. Minister of state for Labour and Employment, Santosh Gangwar, has clearly stated in the Parliament that there were no data available to the government till date. Given the fact that these migrant workers are responsible for 10 percent of India's GDP, government can't ignore or brush aside their importance in economy.  Had there been any initiative to get their data in so many months? Has there been any initiative by the Central Government to contact the states or the family of the victims regarding the data? Or it is the sheer apathy of the government to get the statistics?     

To prevent the spread of deadly virus Central Government had announced the country wide lockdown on 24th March for a period of 21 days. Later the hazardous lockdown continued in several phases. Though it was planned to save the millions of Indians, it has another facet. As the millions of workers lost their job their life became extremely uncertain and therefore the country witnessed a mass exodus  all across the country. According to World Economic Forum there are about 139 million migrants in our country. Most of them are daily wage earners. During this lockdown they suffered the most. International Labour Organisation predicted quite early that due to this strictest lockdown in India about 400 million of those workers would plunge into the depth of poverty. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy(CMIE) has estimated that 122 million people lost their job only in April.  Eventually after the announcement of country wide lockdown the migrant workers, who had been living thousands of kilometre away from home and had no means for livelihood. Hence they decided to go back to their native village. They thought that they might get some job in their native villages. But as there were no means of transportation they came on the road and walked tirelessly to cover the long distance. All the relief measures taken by Central and State governments were neither adequate nor extensive. Moreover there were grim pictures in media showing the police arresting migrant workers at inter-state borders. There were even allegations against the Gujarat police that as many as 120 migrant workers were dumped in a container truck in an effort to push them out of the Gujarat.

There were wide spread agony over the pain over the death of sixteen migrant workers who had been returning their home in Madhya Pradesh on foot and were killed on May 8 by a goods train between Jalna and Aurangabad districts. The South Central Railway officials reported that 14 of them were killed on the spot while two of them died of injury later on the way to the hospital. All of them worked in a steel plant in Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporations in Jalna district. They were so desperate to reach their home that they were trudging along the rail line and being tired slept on the railway line. Therefore they couldn’t escape the unfortunate aftermath. On 16 May 26 migrants were killed in an accident between two trucks carrying migrants in Auraiya in Uttar Pardesh. Safe Life Foundation, founded in 2008, has been working on Road Safety. According to the NGO’s data there have been 750 deaths due to road accidents during lockdown, of which 198 migrants died comprising 26.4%. Its state-wise data reveals that the highest number of road accidents has taken place in Uttar Pradesh.

On 1^st May which was eventually the International Labour Day Government of India gave permission to the Indian Railway to launch Shramik Special Trains for the migrant workers. According to data given by Railway Protection Force and reviewed by Hindustan Times nearly 80 migrant workers died of starvation and sickness between May 9 and May 27 while travelling on special trains to their home villages. Wasn't it possible to get those data from the Railways? 

Can anybody forget the tragic death of Jamlo Makdam? The 12 year old girl who had gone to work in chili fields at Kannaiguda village in Telengana. While coming back from Telengana she lost her life because of dehydration after trudging a long distance of 150 km on foot.  

All these reports are still very much available in public domains like news and social media platforms. But in reality they are only in news not in statistics. Has there been any effort to reach their families and get the first hand data? Whenever such endeavour demands some sorts of sensitivity and responsibility, it is unfortunate that Centre looks for the state governments and otherwise seldom bothers for them. Even after the so many years of independence the real picture of country's workforce is still elusive.