There are no labour-day rallies, celebrations or meetings this year as everyone is under lockdown, fighting the coronavirus through physical distancing. Nevertheless, it is a day for totting up what has been lost and what the future holds.
This has been a painful year for workers. The world has been turned upside down due to the global pandemic. Worse, however, for the millions of workers in India, was them being forced to stay in camps or cramped accommodation, foregoing the comfort of family, food, and mental peace. It is a cruel irony that after the sacrifice they have been asked to undertake, they don’t even get the safety of physical distancing. Workers have lost hard-won rights, despite labour being the biggest contributor to the Indian growth story. As they spend May 1 waiting to get home, the Central government that did so much to get Indians abroad back home has only just allowed migrant workers to go home, along with many conditions, leaving it to the states to facilitate their return.
Those who benefited most from this growth see this workforce in utilitarian, rather than human terms. The privileged must understand that if they do not want to be affected by impoverishment and insecurity that has afflicted these workers, a minimal level of livelihood security will have to be guaranteed to labour, farmers and workers in the informal sector. It is myopia of the worst sort to fight the spread of COVID-19 by wishing away a massive humanitarian crisis. The solution lies in assuring all Indians a measure of livelihood and income security.
The existing entitlements under MGNREGA need to be taken seriously. Work must be “guaranteed” on demand. The government must put its own counsel to the private sector into practice and use the MGNREGA budget to pay full wages to all active job card holders during the lockdown. Under a legislation that is designed to provide livelihood security, workers were restricted by a lockdown backed by a strong legal mandate to stay indoors, with no exemption from the Ministry of Home Affairs for MGNREGA work. The Act even makes a provision for unemployment allowance, when the state cannot provide work.
MGNREGA has helped build rural infrastructure through approximately 10 crore families. But because of the superimposed resource constraints, many could not access the entitled 100 days of work. Migrant workers coming back home will swell the already desperate demand for work. The government has existing provisions for expanding MGNREGA work by another 50 days in situations of any calamity. The expansion of the Employment Guarantee Act must, therefore, be effective and open-ended. The 100 days per family must expand to allow access to any adult seeking any number of days of work during the period of recovery from the COVID crisis.
The programme is designed to incentivise participation of agricultural labour, not just farmers. MGNREGA, thus, has the potential of boosting incomes across all sectors of the rural economy. Finally, contrary to the widely held perception that MGNREGA has merely resulted in “digging holes”, the scheme has played an important role in improving productivity on agricultural land. A majority of work done through MGNREGA is on developing farm land (for instance, constructing irrigation facilities, livestock sheds) owned by small land owners. Improved land productivity can in principle raise farmer incomes and stimulate demand for agricultural labour, thus planting the seeds for a longer term revival
In fact, an Urban Employment Guarantee should also be put in place. The shock of the lockdown, and the loss of employment will be countered only with guaranteed tenure and security of income to help persuade workers to return to their former place of work. As industry revamps and struggles to restart, many casual, and even regular workers in various industries, will need fallback employment.
Apart from the regular public works which must continue with sufficient safety measures, home-based activities must be permitted in the expanded employment guarantee programme to enable “work from home” for this class of workers as well. Labour in their own farms and kitchen gardens can be used to expand productivity. Selected services, and production activities, such as making masks, soaps and sanitisers, will help deal with the challenge of COVID-19.
Comments