CPI(M)-CITU Survey Report :
A whopping *65 per cent of the workers had not received any form of food support from the government*, either in the form of dry rations or cooked meals. (Take a pause, and read that sentence again. Let the gravity of the situation in the national capital sink in.) Among the 35 per cent who received food support from the government, 68 per cent said the amount they received was inadequate.
The survey was conducted by activists associated with the CPI(M) and CITU involved in relief work in Delhi over the last one month. The contacts of CITU leaders in Delhi were passed on to workers in distress, and within a few days, these numbers were shared among many hundreds of workers who in turn passed them on to other workers stranded in Delhi.
Until April 23, the CPI(M) and CITU have contacted around 20,000 migrant workers to whom direct relief has been given in the form of kits which included food grains, edible oil, salt, sugar and soap.
Along with providing direct relief, workers are also being assisted to access the COVID relief programmes of the Delhi Government. It was found that many of these workers did not have ration cards, many did not have Aadhaar cards. Many of the workers did not have enough money even to recharge their mobile phones.
The survey brings out the insecurity of work for the migrants. 58 per cent of the workers are casual workers with no guarantee of the number of days of work they can get.
They have no savings to fall back on, and hence their desperation to go back home. 13 per cent are self-employed with very fluctuating incomes.
*The monthly income of 91 per cent of the workers is Rs. 15,000 or less.* The monthly income of 56 per cent of the workers is Rs. 10,000 or less.
27 per cent of the workers are those who (even pre-lockdown) could send no money to their families back home, because their incomes are too low to have any savings.
With such low incomes, the life of migrant workers is extremely difficult in a city like Delhi where the cost of living is very high. Because of high rents, most workers live together in small rooms sharing the rent. These are mostly in buildings with little ventilation, water scarcity and poor sanitation. (And of course, no possibility of physical distancing.)
*29 per cent of the workers had no stock of rice with them.*
*51 per cent of the workers had no stock of atta (wheat flour).*
52 per cent had no stock of pulses.
54 per cent had no stock of cooking oil.
To make it easier for themselves, different groups of workers gave the name of one contact telephone number, a sort of group head who coordinated the relief work for that group. For the purpose of the survey, a questionnaire was prepared and a team of 40 volunteers was organised to conduct the survey over telephone. This telephonic survey was conducted with the 506 “group leaders” representing 8870 workers.
The Aam Aadmi Party which is leading the Delhi government seems to be more adept at tall talk rather than action on the ground. Its strategy of relying on NGOs to provide relief turns out to be utterly inadequate to reach the people in need during a crisis.
*Read the full survey report here:*
