Kractivism
-Bridge the Gap Bring the Change
Don't Tell Me….
Mera Sayaa
Dohari Zindagi
प्रेम या हिंसा ?
बम्बई की बारिश और चार चिटकनियाँ
You have the right to remain silent
Ban on Rohinton Mistry's " Such a Long Journey"
Draconian Laws
Soni Sori
Sudhir Dhawale
Threat to Democracy through the Draconian Laws
#India – Death penalty is not justice
USA – States without Death Penalty Have Lower Murder Rates
Faking Happiness- Competition
Faking Happiness- Nakul Sawhney
Faking Happiness Animations- Surya Shankar Dash
Faking Happiness Animations- Kamayani Bali Mahabal
Petition to PM Modi to take responsibility of transporting migrant workers back home
Working Peoples' Charter
The petition to the Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, endorsed by over 4,000 signatories including eminent scholars, retired civil servants, former members of the judiciary, public figures, labour activists, labour organisations and concerned citizens from across India has called upon the Government of India to fulfil its constitutional obligations and facilitate the safe and dignified movement of millions of migrants attempting to reach home by using central forces, facilities, and resources.
A copy of the petition sent to the Prime Minister is enclosed with this press note. Also enclosed is a list of some of the eminent signatories who have endorsed this petition. The petition was live online till about 3:30 pm today, the 27th of May 2020. Some of the eminent signatories to this petition, include.
Ever since the lockdown was announced, a humanitarian crisis unprecedented in India's modern history, has severely disrupted the lives of India's migrant workers. Millions of migrants have found themselves stranded without food, cash, and shelter, trying to get home. They have been subjected to violation of their fundamental rights under Articles 14, 15, 19, ans 21 and often to severe police harassment on interstate borders. Many have reportedly died as a result of the lockdown, due to exhaustion en route home, starvation, suicides, police excesses, illnesses, and rail and road accidents. As per reliable sources, as many as 667 non-COVID deaths have occurred across the country. 205 of these have occurred among migrant workers en route on foot, and 114 due to starvation and financial distress. Meanwhile, the current response strategy with the provision of shramik trains, has been inadequate at best. Over 2,000 shramik trains have reportedly carried over 300,000 migrant workers in the last week. This accounts for about 30% of the total population. Further, this does not include those who are en route and on foot, or those who are stranded in shelters or on interstate borders, or elsewhere. As of this moment, the government of India does not seem to have any estimates on the total number of people stranded and/or en route home across the country nationally as revealed in a recent RTI.
This petition appeals to the Prime Minister and the Government of India to fulfil their constitutional responsibility for the issues of inter-state migration and inter-state quarantine, listed as Item 81 in the Central schedule. It urges the central government to take leadership in this critical hour, in co-ordination with states, to ensure a safe and dignified transportation of migrant workers, including the provision of assistance in their pre-departure and post-arrival arrangements. The safe transportation requirements of this magnitude are only possible if the forces and facilities at the disposal of the Government of India are immediately deployed to bolster the grossly inadequate efforts being currently left to inter-state coordination, with meagre logistical support in providing safety, food and water to migrants on the move.
There are several strong reasons that form the basis of the appeal:
First, the current predicament demands the same resources of the central government as would any natural disaster. In the wake of the COVID-19 spread, the National Disaster Management Act has been invoked to implement emergency measures such as the lockdown. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that the threat to life and livelihood, and the projected rates of starvation, illnesses, and wage loss, warrant responses befitting a nation-wide disaster. Defence experts and scholars have previously argued for the same. In 2018, Ganesh Kumar and Brigadier Ravi Dimri of the Indian Military Academy published an important paper, elucidating why the deployment of central forces is warranted in such situations, and how the timely deployment in the past has helped mitigate several challenges.
The National Disaster Relief Force along with other Central Forces should be included in the process of managing this humanitarian crisis, even if for a limited time, to support the state and central government machinery.
Second, in the current operations set up for the return of migrant workers, coordination between the centre and the states, and that between states has been rife with confusion and mismanagement. Notwithstanding the numerous orders, corrections, and revisions over guidelines on the Shramik special trains, the total number of trains have been insufficient. During the three weeks of Shramik trains operations only 30% of the migrants have returned home and in deplorable conditions during transit. The shortage of trains and a labyrinthine set of procedures have led to heightened desperation and subsequently rampant overcrowding at stations, rumour mongering over train schedules and the emergence of ticket sales in black across cities. Migrant workers are having to ask their families back home to send them money to pay for their travel. There are also reports of trains cancellations, diversions, prolonged delays in arrival. Trains have also been running without staff, amenities, food, and water over multiple days of commute. The situation has been compounded by the recent Amphan cyclone. According to estimates, despite the provisions made by governments and millions of migrants walking home, at least 20 percent are still stranded in different locations.
Various ground reports have claimed that around 4 to 6 million workers would need to return to Uttar Pradesh, and 1 to 3 million workers to Bihar alone. It is clear therefore that little has been done or can be done with the shramik trains arrangement so as to match supply to demand. There are just too many migrants and incidentally too few trains, aided with extreme lack of coordination and mismanagement.
Third, not all states have the same resources to manage the ongoing and projected scale of migrant returnees. In Bihar for instance, 119 trains brought 1,96,350 migrant workers on a single day. The government of Bihar has on a number of occasions said that it does not have the resources to bring everyone back to the state. The appeal urges the GOI to use all resources at its disposal and provides financial support to states for transportation and rehabilitation of migrants upon arrival. In this the facilities and resources of the central forces can provide a crucial buffer to the states.
The migrants need safe passage, food, water, and medical assistance in transit all of which is utterly failing them this crucial time. The proven logistical acumen of our central forces and the presence of its facilities and infrastructure across the country can offer the much-needed emergency transit support and medical help to migrants else they will continue to suffer acute hardship.
This appeal notes that the coordination and transit of internal migrants stands in stark contrast to the procedures adopted by the government to bring back migrants and Indian citizens stranded abroad. In their case, the procedures were extremely streamlined. Moreover, resources of our central forces, were efficiently used to transport stranded persons from foreign countries, and for medical help and quarantine facilities.
Finally, and importantly, there is a need to intervene beyond just provision of transportation. It is vital that the overall well-being of migrant workers is safeguarded as they attempt to reach home without jobs and savings. This includes emergency income transfers for a certain period and an urgent provision for employment and rehabilitation.
It is worth noting that Admiral Ramdas, former Naval Chief, Admiral Arun Prakash, former naval chief, and Mr. E. A. S. Sarma, former Union Finance Secretary are among those public figures who have in communications addressed to the Prime Minister or in media interactions, also recommended a similar course of action in this dire humanitarian emergency.
A compilation of recent media reports from across the country covering movement related delays, deaths, rioting, scams, and hardships to migrants is attached here in support of this appeal.
The Honourable Supreme Court has taken suo moto cognizance of migrants' plight and has instructed the Centre and States to provide information on their provisions to support the migrants who are facing such extreme hardships. This is arguably a unique opportunity to act swiftly and to commission the services of central forces to save millions of mobile lives on the edge of complete disaster.
For more information on this petition, please contact: Anhad Imaan (Aajeevika Bureau): +91 98118818284 Chandan Kumar (Working Peoples' Charter): +91 9717891696
This petition has been carried out on the platform Jhatkaa.org. For more information, please contact: Nimisha: +91 7760609014
Malnutrition deaths in India's tea gardens highlight worker abuses
Waiting for the Assassin - आततायी की प्रतीक्षा #NOMOre_2014
Kashmir - Handwara girl seeks SWC help for release from police detention #FreeHandwaraGirl
Bhima Koregaon Case : NIA Court refuses medical bail to four Bhima Koregaon accused
kamayani
Kamayani Bali – Mahabal – A Kractivist with Multiple Personality Disorder ( MPD) which encompasses a clinical psychologist, journalist, lawyer and activist.
Advocacy, Announcements, Health Care, Human Rights, Justice, Kractivism, Law, Politics
#TestKaroNa #COVID-19
https://www.kractivist.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/candle-1.mp4
Categories Select CategoryaadhaarAdvocacyAnnouncementsCaste DiscrmininationCensorshipCinemaDisabilityenvironmentHealth CareHuman RightshumourJusticeKractivismLawmediaMinority RightsPoetryPolitical PrisonersPoliticsPress ReleasePrisonReligionTechnologyTribalsUIDUncategorizedViolence against WomenWomen Rights
In Midnight Raid, Bihar Cops Thrash Farmers Sleeping At Home
Global hunger is now more a problem of price than availability
K.P. Sasi: A Tribute
Solidarity Statement condemning malicious slandering of activists fighting against Adani International Seaport at Vizhinjam, Kerala
Ela Bhatt: A gentle revolutionary who changed millions of lives #RIP
POCSO Act Insufficient, Sexual Abuse of Children Rampant
Kis Kis Ko Qaid Karoge- "Dangerous Brain: G. N Saibaba and Others"
The rise of India's dystopian surveillance state
Why India's landmark abortion ruling could echo around the world
Delhi -Woman gang-raped over property dispute in Ghaziabad
'Inquilabi salam' un-Nehru, Umar Khalid stays in prison
Bombay High Court refuses bail to activist Jyoti Jagtap in Elgar Parishad case
75 years of India's Independence, but dalits still wait for equality: Martin Macwan
Ambedkar, Buddhism and Dalit Liberation
Dignity in death? Karnataka govt lays groundwork for Dalit graveyards
Archives Select Month January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012
© 2023 Kractivism — Powered by WordPress