Beyond the respite

The Ministry of Home Affairs sanctioned the return of migrant workers to their home states subject to a set of protocols. The inter-state travel by road comes as a relief for the stranded migrant workers who have been bearing the brunt of the national lockdown with empty pockets. The livelihood crisis has compounded problems not just for them but for host states as well since the latter's resources have been strained due to the additional burden of feeding the former. Not just food bill, the fact that these workers have been residing in cramped up accommodations, biding time to see out the lockdown period, with poor social distancing in itself presses for their swift return. The threat of any single person contracting the virus and transmitting it to several others looms large and hence, the Centre's bid to finally send them to their homes comes as a highly anticipated relief for both states as well as migrant workers. But the same would be done in accordance with rules to ensure that in pursuit of sending them home, the government does not commit any blunder that could cost the country dearly. Well-sanitised buses with social distancing norms and medical assessment of each person travelling both at source and destination states would be mandated to ensure that those returning home do not carry the virus along. Since migrant workers are mostly stranded at big urban centres such as Mumbai and Delhi, the probability of them being asymptomatic carriers cannot be ruled out. They would be coming from areas with a high incidence of COVID-19 and as such should be subject to home quarantine upon their homecoming. The MHA advisory elicits all safeguards but it is the implementation of those norms that requires attention. The step is a huge logistical and safety exercise for the government. Transporting millions would require days of constant monitoring and coordination between states with overall vigilance of the Centre. However, it will solve a big problem that has been persisting since the imposition of lockdown back on March 24. With these workers reaching their hometowns, there arises another crucial requirement that the Centre ought to take note of beforehand. Since these migrant workers were stranded in the urban centres majorly for livelihood, their quest for work does not end even if they reach home. They would still be in need of work to earn bread.

Given how the MHA will ease restrictions to allow economic activity tor resume in green zones post-May 3, the onus falls on the government only to better utilise the homecoming of millions of migrant workers. And, as it so happens, the government already has an answer to that in MGNREGA. The demand-driven rural employment scheme can be the most-effective tool for the government during this period of crisis. But the government must tweak MGNREGA to suit the requirements of a pandemic-hit society. 100 days of guaranteed work can well be increased to 200. The Centre should also provide compensation wages for the loss of workdays in April, largely due to lockdown, besides also increasing average wages from current Rs 209 to provide relief to nearly 7.6 crore active job-card holders of the scheme. And, the increase should be substantial, more than Rs 20 that was announced under the PM Garib Kalyan Relief Package. MGNREGA anyway has it as one of its objectives to decrease the migration of labour from rural to urban areas. These migrant workers can be utilised in a variety of work, helping restore disrupted supply chains. The administration has to come up with work and if not, must provide compensation wages as per the norms of the scheme. The 2020 Budget estimate of MGNREGA — Rs 61,500 crore — must also be expanded to accommodate the dramatic rise in demand for rural employment that the country could witness this year. Hailed as the world's largest anti-poverty programme, MGNREGA can be a most-effective tool for the government in present circumstances if utilised to its full capacity.