Stranded workers face unemployment, penury, starvation, finds SWAN survey report
Mumbai: About 67 percent of the migrant workers continue to be stuck at their work places, away from their homes, post four lockdowns and 55 percent of those stuck up, wanted to return home, according to a survey report by the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN). This is the third report by SWAN on the state of stranded migrants during lockdown, in which they telephonically surveyed 1,963 migrants from across the country in collaboration with gramvaani.org from May 15 to June 1 through interactive voice response calls.
The SWAN survey revealed that 6% of those surveyed, walked back home, 30% managed to get trains, while 11% had to hitch a ride in trucks and other vehicular transport to reach their native places. Titled To Leave or Not to Leave: Lockdown, Migrant Workers and their Journeys Home, the survey found 85% of workers had to spend their own money on transportation costs.
It found that only 33% had managed to make their way back home, while 75% of those stranded at their work locations, had already lost their jobs. It also found that about 15% of workers surveyed had already in debts of over Rs 8,000, while about 48 % had taken debts between Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 for travelling and to meet their needs. The network received 821 distress calls in this period, of which 57% said that they had no money or rations in hand, while 63% said that they were with their last Rs 100.
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The survey report was accompanied by many case studies of workers, who revealed how they made their way back home post-lockdown in difficult circumstances with very little support from government. The report contradicts the union government view that all most all the migrants were already back to their native places and Shramik trains are no more needed.
Their findings were also corroborated by another survey of over 5,000 households in ten states by the Azim Premji University that found about 77% workers had consumed less food than before, and 47 % could not afford rations beyond a week. Another survey of 5,046 households across 15 states by Indus Action found one in six households in dire need of food. “Every survey, including the insights from SWAN’s own relief work paints the same picture of dire hunger, starvation and lack of money to buy basic essentials. And yet, the ruling dispensation continues to turn a blind eye to the stark realities,” observed the SWAN report.
