Image Courtesy:indiatoday.in
After mainstream news media channels and some elements on social media started targeting minorities, solely attributing them for the Covid-19 outbreak and turning the issue into a communal pandemic, the ripple effect of the same is being felt by some of the most marginalized.
Migrant hawkers who work as daily wagers in the city, are already feeling the pinch due to the lockdown due to agricultural services being hit and supply being limited. Due to the lockdown, some prefer to order essentials online due to the scare of the infection and that already has revenues of such hawkers dwindling.
Add to this woe, is the racial profiling they have become the targets of after the insinuation of the media. In this regard, the Anand Parvat Daily Hawkers’ Association (APDHA) which is affiliated to the Workers’ Unity Centre, India (WUCI), has issued a press statement demanding strict action against those Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) which are profiling hawkers based on communal lines.
The press statement read, “It is unfortunate that the street hawkers are being identified along the lines of communal identities, as several RWAs in the capital, and across the country, have barred the street hawkers from entering the colonies and localities. APDHA strongly condemns the said action of RWAs who are in the time of Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, resorting to communal profiling of hawkers and preventing them from providing services to the common people.”
The association also criticized the new directive from the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs which said that only those hawkers with ID cards and Certificates of Vending would be allowed to serve people. Signed by Mr. Lalit, a member of the executive committee of the association, the statement read, “This is discriminatory as earlier there was no such standing order. This would penalize not only the many hawkers who do not have ID cards or such certificates would be deprived of their livelihood, but the people would be greatly inconvenienced due to such discriminatory orders. APDHA also urges the state governments to implement measures to apprehend the persons spreading communal hatred during lockdown.”
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