Even as it struggles to flatten the coronavirus curve, India finds itself on the cusp of two tectonic shifts – both concerning the future of migrant workers. They appear to be moments of crisis and yet, they are both opportunities in disguise.
India, the second most populous nation in the world and with the sixth highest number of Covid-19 infections, is currently seeing an exodus within its borders while being at the receiving end of one from outside of them.
The nationwide lockdown, called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, led to a complete closure of all economic activity, forcing millions of migrant workers out of jobs and money while being separated from their families.
In their desperation, many of them are moving out of the cities, where they form the backbone of its labour force, to return home to the hinterlands.
While these images played out, something similar was happening across the Arabian Sea. Thousands of Indian migrant workers from around the world, but especially from the Gulf countries, were being brought home in special flights during the past four weeks. Thousands more are expected over the next one month. At least one-fifth of those flown back are migrant workers and indications are, thousands more are waiting to return.
On the face of it, both events signal grave challenges to India’s social fabric and its economy.
India has the distinction of sending out the most number of emigrants – its diaspora is 17.5 million-strong, according to the UN. In many ways, both tangible and otherwise, migration is very crucial for the country. It not only brings in the money – India received $83.1 billion in remittances in 2019, the highest in the world – but also acts as a safety valve for job seekers while allowing its citizens to pick up skills, cultures and knowledge.
However, with global financial systems set to go into a tailspin due to the pandemic, migrant workers will inevitably suffer job losses, forcing them to return home. Kerala, according to one estimate by an expert with the local government, might see up to 300,000 workers returning from West Asia alone.
Apart from having to provide jobs to these returnees at a time when the country’s unemployment rate is at 24 per cent, the exodus will also burn a massive financial hole.
Remittances account for 2.8 per cent of India’s gross domestic product and there are indications that this will go down by at least 20 per cent, the World Bank has estimated.
Their invisibility of India's millions of migrants is best captured by the fact that in its eighth decade of being independent, the country is yet to have precise data around the number of the workers
Something similar is likely to unfold on the domestic front.
This week, many states across India gradually started opening up and reversing restrictions imposed during the lockdown. But as the country emerges from its lockdown and industries open their shutters, many businesses are discovering that the migrants who ran their assembly lines are no longer around.
Already beset by losses, enterprises are struggling to resume production. Cheap labour, often employed in casual jobs without any security or social cover, ensured that businesses could operate at low costs. Without them, businesses are staring at hard choices.
After all, migrant workers form the backbone of the labour force, especially in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi. Academic work estimates that India has at least 100 million temporary and seasonal migrants who, typically, migrate for short durations. In all, they contribute to about 10 per cent of national GDP, estimates from the United Nations Development Programme show.
It is gloomy – but it does not have to be.
India’s links with its migrants have yielded plenty of fruit and yet, these links have always been tenuous, built as they are on an unequal relationship.
The truth is that for decades, the Indian state has made itself invisible in the process of migration, leaving its citizens to navigate much of the arduous, frustrating and even exploitative journey by themselves. From seeking information on possible jobs to skilling themselves, from figuring the journey to integrating into a new life, the Indian migrant has, for the most part, been alone.
On the domestic front, these workers – whose value urban India is today discovering, in their absence – have been marginalised for decades. Their invisibility is best captured by the fact that in its eighth decade of being independent, the country is yet to have precise data around the number of the workers.
Brushing aside the invisibility, they have pervaded every aspect of daily life in the cities – from driving Uber cabs to helming hotels and restaurants to street-vending essential commodities.
Over 400 million – more than the population of the US – are informally employed in India, according to the International Labour Organisation. Many of them are migrants. They are employed in jobs with little security and, often, are paid less than the measly minimum wage of roughly $3. Workers are rarely even registered in either the source or destination states and, as a result, remain invisible, with little social security. Forced to survive on little savings, a casual firing from their jobs leaves them exposed to hunger, disease and penury.
It would be wrong to blame the pandemic for their suffering – it has only made it visible.
However, this is India’s chance to rectify the situation.
As migrants return to its shores, India should not just welcome them but also ensure they are re-integrated into social and economic life. The lack of institutionalised mechanisms has meant that they face disappointment and disillusionment as their skills and knowledge find few takers, particularly the blue-collar workers.
Rafeek Ravuther, the director of the Kerala-based Centre for Indian Migrants Studies, tells me that the need is for their skills to be acknowledged and respected. “So, when these workers come back to India now, we must urgently understand their skill-levels by collecting their data and then facilitate their re-entry into economic life here so that both the migrant, as well as the country, could benefit.”
A start has been made. Governments at various levels are drawing up plans, from conducting skill surveys to institutionalising simple such measures as registering all migrant workers. States such as Kerala are also looking at ways to re-integrate them.
It has taken India more than seven decades and a pandemic to realise how crucial migrant workers are. The question is: will it make long-lasting changes that benefit its migrants and market?
Kunal Purohit is a Mumbai-based journalist who writes on issues at the intersections of development, politics, gender and migration
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Profile of Whizkey
Date founded: 04 November 2017
Founders: Abdulaziz AlBlooshi and Harsh Hirani
Based: Dubai, UAE
Number of employees: 10
Sector: AI, software
Cashflow: Dh2.5 Million
Funding stage: Series A
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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SPECS
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The%20specs
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Company%20profile
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Where to buy
Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
Friday's schedule in Madrid
Men's quarter-finals
Novak Djokivic (1) v Marin Cilic (9) from 2pm UAE time
Roger Federer (4) v Dominic Thiem (5) from 7pm
Stefanos Tsitsipas (8) v Alexander Zverev (3) from 9.30pm
Stan Wawrinka v Rafael Nadal (2) from 11.30pm
Women's semi-finals
Belinda Bencic v Simona Halep (3) from 4.30pm
Sloane Stephens (8) v Kiki Bertens (7) from 10pm
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
POSSIBLE ENGLAND EURO 2020 SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope, Dean Henderson.
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kieran Trippier, Joe Gomez, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Tyrone Mings, Ben Chilwell, Fabian Delph.
Midfielders: Declan Rice, Harry Winks, Jordan Henderson, Ross Barkley, Mason Mount, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Forwards: Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi.
DUNE%3A%20PART%20TWO
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AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Tim Paine (captain), Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner