Question

Give some examples and explain how the C0VID-19 has affected already disadvantaged groups.

Answer 1

Among these sections are the migrant community, the urban homeless, residents of informal settlements, workers dealing with biomedical waste and landless farm labourers. The shutdown has intersected the pre-existing drawbacks, taking disparities, inequality and anxieties to the forefront. In spite of the Government's best efforts, given the current unpredictable circumstances, it is unavoidable that social disparities and inequalities will explode alongside the pandemic

As for urban migrant workers, the difficulties caused by the lockout have begun to collide with their current vulnerabilities. We were unable to live there, or return to their homes. Many of them did prefer to go back, though. Many have walked mind-boggling distances with public transport stopped, and the rest remain on the way.

It is imperative that the Union and the governments of the state set up a special task force to recognize large public spaces such as stadiums, public halls to educational institutions to provide shelter. Food and medical assistance could be provided through government funds, NGOs and other volunteer groups that are available locally. This will not only ensure a dignified stop-gap living for them but also ensure their confinement, which will translate into preventing possible asymptomatic carriers from infecting others among them. The costly migration brings about the political imperative that in future urban planning and policy discourses the urban migrant community can not be ignored.

As can be seen during this lockout, many of the informal settlements tend to do conservation work such as sweeping and segregating, and waste disposal. The high risk of these workers being contaminated is overlooked. We would choose financial security in their convincing physical health trade-off. Again, in the eyes of governments, when it comes to homeless and informal settlers, there are just the general groups among them, and when it comes to "conservancy jobs," the total workforce of the local body must be recognized.

Unlike the urban poor, migrant settlers and hospital workers who are still at work, the farm labourers have lost their jobs, as the lockout has put a grinding halt to all farm operations and to the agricultural supply chain. The landowners are on the verge of financial collapse as bulbs, nuts, vegetables and the Rabi crops remain unharvested, more crucially. While the government has exempted some groups from the lockout, the farming sector faces an acute dearth of the labourers who either left for their homes or preferred to stay at home.

All in all, creative approaches could be raised to the requisite additional cash transfers that would meet the urgent needs of the above four vulnerable areas. As most government machinery remains closed during the lockdown, the quantity of motor fuel and saved power bills could be developed using mathematical modeling and used as feeder funding for direct cash transfer and vulnerable incentives. Maybe now is also the perfect opportunity to invite black money hoarders and others who have secretly deposited money for voluntary disclosure in international bank accounts and donate assets instead of long-term benefits.