This is an urgent appeal for assistance to migrant workers who are unable to reach their homes due to the current lockdown – free food, medical care and sanitation at the very least.
The sudden imposition of a 21-day all-India lockdown on 24 March 2020, at just 4 hours’ notice, has led to horrific consequences for many. This decision, taken without proper planning, completely overlooked the disastrous impact it would have on 90 percent of our labour force. Extremely disturbing reports of the plight of lakhs of migrant labourers in different parts of the country keep pouring in. Many of them are stranded and starving in the industrial belts where they work. In the absence of any transport, many are walking hundreds of kilometres to their villages on a hungry stomach. Others, in desperation, are packing themselves in lorries, at the risk of contracting or spreading the virus.
We make this urgent plea to the Central Government to pay heed to the situation immediately. The government must use the network of anganwadis, panchayat bhavans, government schools, government colleges, railway stations, bus stations, community halls, block offices, district headquarters etc to set up feeding centres to arrange free cooked food, medical care and sanitation. Foodgrains to the tune of 585 lakh metric tonnes are available in godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Central Warehousing Corporation (even before the wheat harvest). Some of it can be used to prepare cooked meals and/or take-home rations in these centres. This assistance should be available to all unconditionally, without any paperwork. This will still leave more than enough food in the godowns to fulfil the Finance Minister’s announcements and maintain adequate buffer stocks.
We also urge the government to immediately arrange for sanitised bus and train services to enable stranded workers to reach home safely. Others trapped at their distant workplaces must be assured of a secure living space with enough food, soap, sanitary pads and medical care. This is a national emergency and lakhs of people are in danger of perishing in hunger and trauma. We therefore make this urgent appeal for an immediate response to the humanitarian crisis, to prevent it from snowballing further.
The following people may be contacted for further information and clarification.
Amit Basole (9619649958), Anindita Adhikari (9871832323), Debmalya Nandi (7294184845), Jean Dreze (9471130049), Nikhil Dey (9414004180), Rajendran Narayanan (9620318492), Rakshita Swamy (9818838588)
Endorsements (in alphabetical order of first name)
- Aaditeshwar Seth, Gram Vaani and IIT Delhi
- Aarti, Biologist, Hyderabad
- Abey George, Associate Professor, Kerala Institute of Local Administration
- Abhijit Sen, JNU
- Abhiman Das, IIM Ahmedabad
- Aditya Bhattacharjea, Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics
- Akash Bhattacharya, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Akoijam sunita, Independent writer
- Akshaya Tankha, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Toronto
- Alex Thomas, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Alisa Blinova, USA
- Alok Laddha, Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai
- Ambarish Rai, National Convenor, RTE Forum
- Amit Basole, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Amrita Johri, Satark Nagrik Sangathan, Delhi
- Anand Shrivastava, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Anand T. Vaidya, Reader, TIFR Hyderabad
- Anindita Adhikari, Doctoral Student, Brown University
- Anivar Aravind, Bangalore
- Anjali Bhardwaj, Satark Nagrik Sangathan
- Anjali Noronha, Concerned Citizen, Bhopal
- Anjor Bhaskar, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Ankita Aggarwal, Doctoral Student, City University of New York
- Ankur Paliwal, Land Conflict Watch, Independent Journalist
- Ankur Sarin, Faculty, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
- Annie Raja, National Federation of Indian Women, Delhi
- Anuradha Dutta, Concerned Citizen, Delhi
- Anwar Jafri, Samavesh , Bhopal
- Apar Gupta, Internet Freedom Foundation
- Aparna Vaidik. Associate Professor, Ashoka University, Kundli, Haryana
- Apurva Barmezai, Doctoral Student, University of Pennsylvania
- Ardhendu Sen, Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
- Arif Ghauri, Former Governance Adviser, DFID, Govt. of the United Kingdom
- Arjun Jayadev, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Arun Maira, Management Consultant and Former Member, Planning Commission
- Aruna Roy, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan
- Arundhati Dhuru, Social Activist, NAPM Uttar Pradesh.
- Ashish Ranjan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan
- Ashok Kotwal, Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia
- Ashok Kumar Sharma, IFS (Retd.), Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia
- Ashwini Kulkarni, Pragati Abhiyan, Nashik
- Atanu Sen, Vikramshila, Kolkata
- Avani Chokshi, CPI (ML), Bangalore
- Bobby Mahapatra, Texas A&M University
- Brinda Pancholi, Freelance Consultant, Bangalore
- C P Chandraskhar, JNU
- Chakradhar Buddha, LibTech India
- Chandrika R, Software Engineer
- Cheryl Dsouza, Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms
- Danish Khan, Concerned Citizen, Bhopal
- Deb Mukharji, IFS (Retd.), Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal
- Debjani Sengupta, Professor, Delhi University
- Debmalya Nandi, Social Activist, Bangalore
- Debraj Ray, Professor, New York University
- Deepika Joshi, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Chhattisgarh
- Dipa Sinha, Ambedkar University, Delhi
- Dr Sylvia Karpagam, Public health doctor and researcher, Karnataka
- Dr Vasu H V, Jagruta Karnataka and Gauri Media
- Dr. Rama V. Baru, Professor, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
- Dr. Sanjaya Baru, Former Advisor to Prime Minister of India
- Dr.Asifa Nisar, Women’s wing, AIMPLB Bengaluru
- Dr.K.V.Ramaswamy, Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research
- Farman, Concerned Citizen
- Farzana Afridi, Associate Professor of Economics, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi
- G. Balachandhran, Retd IAS, Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
- G. Sankaran, IC&CES (Retd.), Former President, Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal
- Gabriele Dietrich, Penn Urimay Iyakkam, Madurai, NAPM Tamil Nadu.
- Gaurav Datt, Associate Professor of Economics, Monash University
- Gaurav Singh, Right to food Campaign, Chhattisgarh
- Gautam Mody, General Secretary, National Trade Union Initiative
- Geetha Menon, Stree Jagruti Samiti, Bangalore
- Geetha Thoopal, IRAS (Retd.), Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata
- Harsh Mander, social activist
- Himanshu, JNU
- Himshi Singh, Social Activist, Himachal Pradesh and NAPM.
- Indrajit Bose, Climate Change Researcher
- Indrani Gupta, Professor, Institute of Economic Growth
- Indrani Gupta, Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi
- Ishita Aggarwal Choudhary, Consultant
- Jasmeeta Dubey, Concerned Citizen
- Jawahar Mehta, VSK, Palamu,Jharkhand
- Jayati Ghosh, JNU
- Jayati Sarkar, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai
- Jean Dreze, Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, Ranchi University
- Jitendra Rathod, Social Activist, Ahmedabad
- Jyothi Krishnan, Social Accountability Resource Unit
- K. Nagaraj, Adjunct Faculty, Asian College of Journalism
- Kade Finoff, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Kalpana Kannabiran, Professor & Director, Council for Social Development, Hyderabad
- Karen Coelho, Associate Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai.
- Karuna DW, Visiting faculty, Azim Premji University
- Karuna M, Rural Development Consultant, Chennai
- Kavitha Srinivasan, Bangalore
- Koninika, National Federation of Indian Women
- Kripal Singh Mandloi, Khudai Khidmatgar, MP
- Kshiraja Krishnan, Bangalore
- Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava, Land Conflicts Watch
- Leela Visaria, Honorary Professor, Gujarat Institute of Development Research
- M.G. Devasahayam, IAS (Retd.), Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana
- M.R. Sharan, Doctoral Student, Harvard University
- Madhu Bhushan, Gamana Mahila Samuha, Bangalore
- Maheen Mirza, Independent Awards Winning Filmmaker, Bhopal
- Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor, Department of Economics, London School of Economics
- Manjula, General Secretary, Karnataka Sex Workers Union,
- Manohar Elavarthi, Swaraj Abhiyan, Bengaluru
- Mashqura Fareedi, Bangalore
- Mausumi Das, Associate Professor, Delhi School of Economics
- Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan and NAPM.
- Meena Gupta, Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI
- Meena Seshu, Sangli, Maharashtra
- Meera Sanghamitra, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), Telangana
- Monica Thomas, Consultant Neurologist, New Delhi
- Nachiket Udupa, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan
- Nalini Nayak, Retired Associate Professor, PGDAV(M) College, Delhi
- Naman Aggarwal, New Delhi
- Naman Garg, research scholar, Columbia University
- Nandini Nayak, Ambedkar University, Delhi
- Narendra Gupta, Prayas, Rajasthan
- Naresh Saxena, Retired bureaucrat and former Member, Planning Commission
- Navdeep Mathur, IIM Ahmedabad
- Navrekha Sharma, IFS (Retd.), Former Ambassador to Indonesia
- Nawasha Mishra, Right to Food Campaign, New Delhi
- Neeta Hardikar, Anna Suraksha Adhikar Abhiya, Gujarat
- Nikhil Dey, Jan Sarokar
- Nirmal Kumar Shukla, Concerned Citizen, Hoshangabad
- Nitin Desai, Former Chief Economic Adviser
- Nitin Sethi, Independent Journalist
- Nupur Samuel , OP Jindal Global University, Sonepat, Haryana
- Odisha khadya Adhikar Abhiyan
- Paaritosh Nath, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru
- Padmapriya, Delhi
- Pallavi Gupta, Independent Consultant- Public Health, New Delhi
- Pankti Jog, RTI activist, Gujarat
- Parth Shah, President, Centre for Civil Society
- Paschim Bongo Khet Majoor Samity
- Piyuli Ghosh, Concerned Citizen, Bhopal
- Poonam Muttreja, Population Foundation of India
- Prabhat Patnaik, JNU
- Pranab Bardhan, University of California at Berkeley
- Pranab Mukhopadhyay, Professor of Economics, Goa University
- Prarthna, Ghareloo Mahila Kamgar Adhikar Sangh Bhopal, Bhopal
- Prashant Bhushan, Lawyer and Activist
- Pratip Chatterjee
- Praveen Jha, JNU
- Pritha Dev, IIM A
- Priya Iyer, Concerned Citizen, Bangalore
- Priya Pillai, Mahan Sangharsh Samiti & NAPM (Madhya Pradesh)
- Pulin Nayak, Retired Professor of economics, Delhi School of Economics
- Pushpendra, Professor and Chairperson, Centre for Development Practice and Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
- Rahul De, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Rajendran Narayanan, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Rajesh, Sangama, Bengaluru
- Rakshita Swamy, Lead Coordinator, Social Accountability Resource Unit
- Ram Singh, Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics
- Ramachandra Guha, Satish Dhawan Chair Visiting Professor, Indian Institute of Science
- Rammanohar Reddy, Editor, ‘The India Forum’
- Ravinder Kaur, Professor, IIT Delhi
- Reetika Khera, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Management
- Ria Singh Sawhney, Advocate
- Rohini Pande, Professor of Economics, Yale University
- Rohini Somanathan, Professor, Delhi School of Economics
- Rohit Azad, JNU
- Rohit Thakur, Narmada Bachao Andolan and NAPM.
- Rosey Mukherjee, Individual Volunteer, Bangalore
- Rupayan Pal (IGIDR)
- S. Mahendra Dev, IGIDR, Mumbai
- S.M. Vijayanand, Retired bureauacrat, Former Chief Secretary, Kerala
- S.Q. Maqsood, Social Activist, Hyderabad
- Saba Khan, Ayurvedic Doctor, Rajgarh
- Saba, Insani Biradri, Bhopal
- Sachin Jain, Right to Food Campaign
- Sakina Dhorajiwala, LibTech India
- Sandeep Pandey, Social activist, Socialist party of India
- Santosh Panda, Retired Professor, Delhi School of Economics
- Saptarshi Guha, Mozilla,San Francisco
- Sarika Shrivastava, Action Aid, Bhopal
- Savvy Sowmya, Oxfam India, Delhi
- Sayandeb Chowdhury, Assistant Professor, Ambedkar University, Delhi
- SC Behar, Retd IAS, Madhya Pradesh
- Seema, Mahila Manch, Bhopal
- Shankar Singh, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan
- Shekhar Singh, Founder Member, National Campaign for People’s Right to Information
- Shikha Nehra, Stanford University
- Shivan,i concerned citizen, Indore
- Shivani Taneja, Muskaan, Bhopal
- Shreekant Gupta, Professor, Delhi School of Economics
- Shreya Shrivastav, Lawyer
- Siraj Dutta, Right to Food Campaign, Jharkhand
- Smita Gupta, JNU
- Sreenivasan Subramanian, Madras Institute of Development Studies
- Srijit Mishra, Professor of Economics, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research
- Subrata Sarkar, IGIDR, Mumbai
- Sudha N, Independent Researcher/Activist, Bangalore
- Sudha Narayanan, IGIDR, Mumbai
- Sugata Bag, Delhi School of Economics
- Sujata Visaria, Hong University of Science and Technology
- Sujatha Singh, Former Foreign Secretary, GoI
- Sumukh Athreya, Software Engineer, Bangalore
- Sundar Burra, IAS (Retd.), Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
- Supriya Nayak, Odissi dancer
- Surabhi Agarwal, Socialist party (india), Delhi
- Surashree Shome, Concerned Citizen, Bangalore
- Surender Kumar, Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics
- Swathi Seshadri, Researcher, Bangalore
- Sweta Dash, Right to Food Campaign
- T. R. Raghunandan, ex-IAS and development consultant
- Tasqeen Machiwala, Concerned Citizen, Bangalore
- Tridip Ray, Professor of Economics, Indian Statistical Institute
- Utsa Patnaik, JNU
- V.P. Raja, Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission
- Venkat Srinivasan, Data Scientist, Bangalore
- Vijay Kelkar, Chairman, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi
- Vikas Rawal, JNU
- Vivek, Software Professional, Hyderabad
- Y J Rajendra, PUCL Karnataka
- Yogendra Yadav, President, Swaraj India
- Zehra Mehdi, Columbia University, New York City
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