The indispensability of labour in reviving India’s economic engine | Opinion
Hindustan TimesMigrant workers are like nowhere people. It is a silent army of migrant workers, working day and night with no job security, no social safety net, and poor living conditions — yet, theirs are not the names we see on the billboards or the foundation stones of these shining symbols of India’s economic progress. This will increase, for villagers can sustain themselves and rely on informal safety nets and social networks Invisible, taken for granted, they are treated with indifference in the best of times and callousness and cruelty in the worst, as the spectacle of migrant workers walking hundreds of miles on hot and dusty roads to go back home showed. While average incomes are lower in rural areas, villagers can eke out a living easily and rely on strong informal safety nets based on social networks. Therefore, we see attempts like the construction industry lobbying a state government to cancel trains to stop migrant workers from heading back home.
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