The Covid-19 pandemic has struck India hard, breaking the breaking backbone of the whole country. The stories that came up during the lockdowns were mostly of the migrant workers.
Central Government imposed the lockdowns without any prior notice, proper planning, and execution leaving millions of the migrants and daily wagers helpless and stranded in various cities of the whole country.
Almost all the small and part-time workers in the unorganized sectors were laid off with no pay and future prospects. Many of them had hardly any savings forcing them to trek back to their villages on foot.
The lucky ones were those who met groups of donors mostly from Gurudwaras and hospitals. However, most of them trudged back for days before reaching their roots.
Article 14 of the Indian Constitution clearly states, “The state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.”
However, these ‘Migrants’, so-called by a cluster of people and media were neglected by the state governments and were treated improperly.
Article 15 of Equality Rights (Articles 14-15), secures citizens from every sort of discrimination by the state on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place, or place of birth. But during the lockdowns imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, many state governments clearly violated both Article 14 and Article 15.
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The daily wage workers, generally considered as the root of the economy were treated like a worthless class of people.
Amid the lockdown, the poem penned by Gulzar, “Marenge To Wahin Jaa Kar Jahan Par Zindagi Hai” went viral which depicted the plight of the daily wage during the country-wide lockdown.
During the nationwide lockdown, the country faced a national crisis in the economy and it needs to be mentioned that during the lockdown the economy of the country was brought back to normal by the liquor business.
The liquor business contributed more than 25 percent of the state revenue in the country. The alcohol business played an important role in terms of saving the languishing finances of the states.
As per an RBI 2019-2020 report, the country budgeted a total of Rs. 175,501 crores from the state excise on liquor.
Recently another new strain of Covid-19 virus commonly known as UK Virus has been discovered. Till now the new Covid strain has infected 96 people in India. It has been speculated by many that there will another nationwide lockdown.
However, the availability of the COVID vaccine now can be termed as a positive statement.
The main debate that now arises due to the recent discovery of the UK variant virus are-
- Is the Central government ready for another nationwide lockdown?
- Do our daily wagers and migrants have to face similar hiccups and obstacles again?
- Will India be able to heal from another blow to the economy?
4. Will the government once more show its dependence on the liquor business if another economic crisis hits?
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