Sonia, Rahul and her loyal are fighting their last war as a survived lot with very obvious things as their demands. The government is already concerned and trying to mitigate all these issues and other problems. Nitin Gadkari, one of the most respected ministers for successful implementations of many policies of national priority, is taking all steps to see that MSMEs or migrant labourers and those in unorganised sector don’t suffer. What is the greatness in Sonia’s appeal for Rs. 1 lakh crore for MSMEs, Rs. 7500 cash for each poor family, and then asking the government to withdraw its temporary suspension of the DA increase of government employees? Are these all not being done or it is just to tell people that they still are in existence with the media giving good space for all their statements. I wish Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram who claim to be the best finance ministers would come forward and suggest also how to get sufficient money in public exchequer in detail without creating chaos. This is a critical testing time for any government in any poor highly populated country with the largest chunk as low middle and poor or even destitute. I wish all these persons who as individuals are rich enough to forego their remuneration and perks for the period of this calamity and set an examples for all such crorepati representatives of people in legislatures and encouraging them to do the same. At least now they must tell that all people of all communities must follow the discipline required though their actions for fighting the Covid-19 and win. Let their active members work on ground and spread the right message and help to do away with many myths that are still existing and flourishing in the country. The governments in so many years have failed to stop the growth of slums and those in power never asked their rich industrialists friends to take humane look at their grassroots employees, and never came out a with some guideline for keeping the ratio of earnings of the topmost and lowermost employees within an expected level something like dearness index or some suitable measures. The highly paid HRD executives and officer of the business establishments would have shown some concerns at least about the quality of living of the people working in those establishments at grassroots level. Unfortunately, it all started getting neglected after the great reform of 1990s of Manmohan Singh. Before that all manufacturing companies used to invest a lot for creating housing, hospital, schools, playgrounds, markets for their employees as part of investment. Hindustan Motors, Birla Jute Mills, Tata Steel, Bata, Tata Motors, Modi Industries and all at that time had that. With reform coming, some good alternatives would have been designed and mandated. It would have resulted in lesser miseries that we are seeing today because of Covid-19. Recently the great America based economists, and industrialists such as Rajiv Bajaj have been critical about the unplanned total and sudden clamp down and troubles caused by that. Could it be done by democratic processes? Perhaps never, and by now India would have been in the same horrible conditions as US and other European very much advanced countries are witnessing. Instead let the government and industrialists, town planners and corporations ponder over the suggestion coming out of Ratan Tata about the growing slums. https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/ratan-tata-says-redesign-slums-for-poor-moving-them-away-not-a-solution-better-quality-of-life-needed/1934083/
It is strange that a company like Maruti Udyog built its huge plant in Manesar in Haryana as the second location or in Sanand as third in Gujarat, but without any planning for the residential accommodations of their employees who directly maintain and run the plant with huge lot of machinery and infrastructure. Their highly paid young workmen also are living in some chawl-like accommodations with four or more persons in a small room. And all these chawls belong to small moneyed unscrupulous rich persons.
Solution: Provide free housing for these workers in millions under Prime Minister Awas Yojana creating townships at the periphery of the industrial towns such as clusters of MSMEs, special economic zones with export-oriented units. What is the point in making 100% of these houses in villages when it will be used for older parents there or those with no work living on the money sent by the migrated members of the family? Suggestion is meant for the situation after the lock down of Covid-19 that reported that ,”There are around 1.4 million workers residing in 26,476 relief camps in various states. Around 1 million migrant workers have already gone back to their villages, either by some mode of transportation or on foot.” There will be certainly a millions more living in the places where they lived earlier, may be ‘chawls or jhuggies present in different forms around integrated villages in Noida where the owner past land holders built them for exploiting these least earning unorganised labourers such home maids, security guards,sho assistants, delivery boys almost in all cities and towns of India in tens.
Can someone take this issue right up to PM through their media friends?
Constructive Views Invited on irsharma@gmail.com