Government seems to be taking a lot of proactive measures to check the spread of corona virus, the flip side of all this does not look bright. The plight of thousands of migrant workers walking back to their native places from major cities can be felt and seen on television channels by every- one. Earlier, they walked on highways but when police at some places started harassing them, they took to walking along railway tracks. Tired, weary migrant workers walked the same straight line along the railway track!

This recently resulted in a tragedy of a train running over 16 migrant workers. One of our colleagues was feeling so sorry while reporting the incident that he asked if the story of a ”New India’ ‘would be written in the blood of those starving? It’s not the tale of a handful of migrant workers.

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Thousands of them are still on the roads, walking hundreds of kilometers with children and their meager belongings. The stories of the disenfranchised working people lost in the grip of the administration’s indifference and lockdown is nothing new today.

Shocking visuals also keep appearing on television screens… one such video was of a man and a bullock tied to the yoke of a bullock cart carrying family members of a migrant worker. The migrant family, consisting of two brothers, the wife of the elder one and children, was on its way to their native place at Pathar Mundla near Indore from Mhow, nearly 25 km away. It reminded many of our old films in which cruel ‘zamindars’ used to force landless farmers to pull carts or till the fields. The scenario in particular can be relates with a Hindi-language drama film “Do Bigha Zamin”1953 ( ‘Two bighas of land’) directed by Bimal Roy, based on Rabindranath Tagore‘s famous Bengali poem “Dui Bigha Jomi“.

Today, when the world is infected with the deadly disease corona virus, we are trapped in a house of life-threatening, deadly cries, we still see a group of people wandering the streets without food and shelter, walking mile after mile to at least return to their native homes. Somewhere on foot, somewhere hiding in a truck or riding a bicycle trying to return to their home state.

The problem faced by the migrant workers due to the lockdown is natural, because a majority of migrant workers have not only lost their jobs but they are not even getting two meals a day despite claims by the central and state governments that everyone is being provided food. The path is getting bloody in the blood of their feet as they walk.  Many of them have lost lives while walking under the scorching sun without food or water.

Meanwhile, the economic situation is also alarming. We do not know where the future will hold us. After this difficult time of corona virus has passed, perhaps a terrible time is coming in the economy.

Empathising with them, another colleague remarked, ”migrant workers may survive corona virus but they will indeed die of hunger and starvation”. The post COVID-19 situation does not look all that promising. “If we keep our eyes on the next time, we will see a giant black shadow of famine in the chest of India.” he added.