IASbhai Daily Editorial Hunt | 12th May 2020
Dear AspirantsIASbhai Editorial Hunt is an initiative to dilute major Editorials of leading Newspapers in India which are most relevant to UPSC preparation –‘THE HINDU, LIVEMINT , INDIAN EXPRESS’ and help millions of readers who find difficulty in answer writing and making notes everyday. Here we choose two editorials on daily basis and analyse them with respect to UPSC MAINS 2020.
EDITORIAL HUNT 79:“Playing out live, a narrative of discrimination“
Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it all away from you.– Mark Cuban
SOURCES: THE HINDU EDITORIAL/EDITORIALS FOR UPSC CSE MAINS 2020
Brinda Karat
Brinda Karat is a member of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau and a former Rajya Sabha MP
HEADLINES:
Playing out live, a narrative of discrimination
CENTRAL THEME:
The war on the pandemic is turning out to be an undeclared war against the workers of India, especially Adivasis
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 1:3:Tribes : Wage Laws : Labour Code
MAINS QUESTION:
Adivasi migrants across India have started the long and painful march back often avoiding highways, travelling through forests and side roads to avoid the police.Discuss possible solutions and a constructive criticism too -(GS 1)
LEARNING:
- Some insights to migration of adivasis
- Poverty issues vs Healthcare vs Infrastructure
- Schemes which are not relevant much these days have been discussed.
INTRODUCTION:
- Adivasi migrants, since they are not part of the so-called mainstream cultures, are even more vulnerable to the general hostility towards the poor displayed by state agencies, particularly the police.
- During the lockdown, unable to get assistance and despairing of any free travel home,
BODY:
KEY INSIGHTS INTO MIGRATION
- The government gave a tentative estimate of there being 10 crore migrant workers in India but admitted to many being largely undocumented and unregistered as workers.
SOCIAL COMPOSITION :
- The last National Sample Survey Office migration survey, which was published more than two decades ago (2007–08), the proportion of migrant households among Scheduled Tribes (STs) was higher than among all other communities.
- The same data showed that STs were the single largest group among female migrants.
- Since then, the number of Adivasis dependent on wage labour has increased in comparison to those dependent on cultivation.
- In the name of ease of business, the last several years have seen an accelerated process of displacement and dispossession of Adivasi communities and a takeover of their land and forest-based resources, increasing the numbers of migrant workers from Adivasi communities.
EMPLOYMENT PATTERN :
- MIXTURE OF ALL : The patterns of Adivasi migration are somewhat different than those of other workers — they are short term, often seasonal, and circulatory in nature both within the State and inter-State.
- MANUAL WORK : Adivasi migration is mainly for seasonal agricultural and construction work, work in brick kilns or as manual workers in urban areas.
- UNUSUAL SHIFT : In Maharashtra, large numbers of Adivasis migrate for fishing work.
- FEMALE COUNTERPARTS :This is apart from young Adivasi women who migrate to urban areas as domestic workers.
- BONDED SYSTEM : Contractors often advance payments and the workers are then treated as bonded to the contractor.
LAW AND RIGHTS
- The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979, the only law for migrant workers, is on the way to being scrapped as part of labour reform.
- Although the 1979 law is inadequate since it deals only with those migrant workers in the contractor system and excludes workers who migrate on their own, for Adivasi migrant workers employed through contractors, its implementation would have ensured payment as well as free travel back home.
- DILUTION OF LIABILITY : State is legally liable to ensure free travel home since it is responsible for the termination of the work because of the lockdown.
CAUSE OF SUFFERING
- ENDLESS JOURNEY : Having suffered two months of the lockdown without work, Adivasi migrant workers will return home penniless.
- UNAWARE POLICIES : But they are totally ‘invisibilised’ in the government policies in the package announced.
- IRREGULAR PDS : The functioning of Public Distribution System in Adivasi areas, particularly in the hilly regions, is generally irregular.
- POVERTY AT DOORSTEP : Now, at the time of lockdown, ground reports point to a looming emergency of hunger and starvation in many Adivasi areas.
THE OLD SCHOOL SCHEMES :
The Central government gave permission for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme work only from April 20.
- DISTRIBUTION : At present, there are hardly any MGNREGA works in Adivasi areas, except to some extent in Chhattisgarh.
- KICK- START : It is critical to start projects in a mission mode if communities are to be saved from destitution.
- This will be a labour subsidy for Adivasi women who mainly do this work and can help relieve the acute distress.
- Even though the government did announce revised rates for minor forest produce, in the absence of purchasing centres, the distress sales to middlemen have meant little or no income.
INFRASTRUCTURE AND HEALTH:
- The lockdown has caused more suffering to Adivasis than the virus.
- Most Adivasi habitats have so far been free of the virus.
- But what happens to Adivasi migrants when they get home is a major concern as the health infrastructure in these areas is extremely poor.
- The shortfall in the number of doctors is as high as 27%.
- Many of these areas are mineral rich.
IASbhai Windup:
UTILIZING FUNDS :
- The District Mineral Fund which is meant for the development of mining affected people had a total of ₹35,925 crore.
- Till January this year only 35% had been spent and that too only on infrastructure which would help mining companies.