As these elderly persons can barely look after their own needs, these children get neglected. They do not go to school and roam around aimlessly. Tragedy struck twice recently as three such children of this hamlet were drowned, two in a pond and one in a canal. This caused widespread distress in the hamlet.

Urmila, a deeply sensitive dalit woman of this village was already involved with a voluntary organization Vidya Dham Samiti (VDS). With its help she decided to open an informal school in which these children could come get some education and care.

For over a year now she has been teaching these children for about two hours per day. Depending on the migration cycle, the number of children who attend this school can range from 20 to 35. The school hours were 4 to 6 earlier but with the onset of winter have been changed from to 3 to 5.

Urmila is one of the very few women here who is a graduate. She divides children according to age group and teaches them the basics of English, Hindi and Math. Saturday being sports day is eagerly awaited. Keeping in view the recent tragedies, children are alerted regarding safety precautions. They also learn about good health and hygiene.

Urmila has not yet been able to arrange a room or properly covered place for her small school, so rainy days sometimes become off days while occasionally someone provides a covered place. She hopes that some more durable solution can be found soon.

Meanwhile Urmila has already succeeded in integrating some of her students in the mainstream school, although problems caused by the frequent migration of their parents will persist.

Urmila gets a lot of affection from children, as is evident from the fact that those going to the mainstream school still insist on coming to her school too. Urmila does not believe in punishing children. When these children or their grandparents experience any serious health or other problems, Urmila tries to arrange some help from neighbours, or from VDS and its sister organization Chingari.

Several such schools have been started by VDS without having any project support for this by raising small donations. These can play a particularly important in villages where migration levels are high, or where there are very high levels of poverty and the nearest school is some distance away and the path is not safe. Such informal schools may not be adequate for meeting educational needs, but these fulfil an important need. To explore various options, in one such school nutrition is also provided, despite the difficulties faced in this due to the non-availability of any project funds.

For the school in Missouri village a beautiful small bamboo room has been created near a lotus pond for the children who assemble here for about two hours every day for education. Here some nutrition is also provided on daily basis. Jitendra, the teacher in this school, is a talented youth of this village. One of his arms was crushed in an accident, but several people say that this accident was deliberately caused by a dabang (ruthless person) of the village who was angry with Jitendra for being assertive. Jitendra remains very quiet but his mother was very agitated when I spoke to her. Jitendra is very committed to teaching children, even though only a small honorarium could be arranged for him. Coming to meetings and inter-acting with many people has given him a new confidence and he has also re-joined his own education along with teaching children.

Even at a very small scale, such efforts have given heart-warming results which testify to the eagerness of children themselves to have at least some access to education. One hopes that with more support becoming available, these efforts will be able to expand and improve in the near future.

Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Man over Machine and A Day in 2071.  

Courtesy: CounterCurrents.org

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Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah emphasized the urgency of the situation, stating, “Hungry cannot wait”. The bench has also directed states to file an affidavit detailing the identification of eligible persons who have yet to receive ration cards.

The bench in its order directed that “all such persons who are eligible (entitled for Ration Cards/ food grains as per the NFSA) and have been identified as such by the respective States/Union Territories, must be issued Ration Cards before 19.11.2024. They shall also be provided with the food grains forthwith.”

However, the bench restrained itself from issuing contempt notices and granted last chance to the Central and State Governments to comply with its direction issued in this regard and the previous order of the court.

Background and importance of the case

In year 2020, when nation-wide lockdown was imposed due to Covid-19 on March 25, 2020, the Supreme Court of India took suo-moto cognizance on May 26, 2020 over the problems and miseries of Migrant Labours who were stranded in different part of the country. In which the three-judge bench, consisting Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M.R expressed their concern with the lack of food and water provided by the administration while they are stranded or traveling along highways. While taking cognizance over the crisis of migrant labourers during the situation of lockdown, the bench directed the Centre and State Governments to provide adequate arrangements, immediately food and shelters free of costs to the migrant workers affected and issued notice to the Union and all the States to submit their response.

Later, the suo moto proceedings before the Supreme Court has been expanded to provide Ration Cards to migrant and unorganised labourers, who are registered in the e-Sharm portal of the Government of India but do not have ration cards and to those not covered under the NFSA on grounds that the right to food is protected under Article 21.

On June 29, 2021, the division bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and M.R. Shah while disposing the suo moto petition “ In Re Problems and Miseries of Migrant Labourers”, underscored that the Right to Life as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution and gives right to every human being to live a life of dignity with access to at-least the bare necessities of life and to provide food security to impoverished persons is the bounden duty of all States and Governments.

The concern regarding no-supply of dry ration to large section of migrant workers, who are not covered under the National Food Security Act, 2013 and who do not possess a ration card, raised by the intervenor, Advocate Prashant Bhushan before the Court. Following this, the bench through its judgement dated June 29, 2021 directed the Centre and States government to provide dry ration to those who have been identified as beneficiary under National Food Security Act, 2013 as per the Centre and States’ Schemes. The bench also stated that in event, a migrant labour is covered under the National Food Security Act, 2013 and had been issued a ration card under the Act, he is entitled to access the dry ration wherever he is, at his work place also, in accordance with scheme of the Central Government namely “One Nation One Ration Card”.

The bench issued the following eight directions to the Centre and States governments: –

1. Direction to the Central Government to develop the portal in consultation with National Information Centre (NIC) for registration of the unorganized labours/migrant workers and the process of registration of the unorganized labourers/migrant workers is completed at the earliest, but not later than 31.12.2021.
2. Directed the Central Government, Department of Food and Public Distribution (Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution) to allocate and distribute food grains as per demand of additional food-grains from the States for disbursement of dry food grains to migrant labourers.
3. Directed the States to bring in place an appropriate scheme for distribution of dry ration to migrant labourers for which it shall be open for States to ask for allocation of additional food grains from the Central Government, which, as directed above, shall provide the additional food grains to the State.
4. The State who have not yet implemented “One Nation One Ration Card” Scheme are directed to implement the same before 31.07.2021.
5. The Central Government may undertake exercise under Section 9 of the National Food Security Act, 2013 to re-determine the total number of persons to be covered under the Rural and Urban areas of the State.
6. All the States/Union Territories to register all establishments and license all contractors under the Act, 1979 and ensure that statutory duty imposed on the contractors to give particulars of migrant workers is fully complied with.
7. The State/Union Territories are directed to run community kitchens at prominent places where large number of migrant labourers are found for feeding those migrant labourers who does not have sufficient means to procure two meals a day. The running of the community kitchen should be continued at-least till pandemic (Covid-19) continues. (Para 80 of the Supreme Court judgement dated June 29, 2021)

The judgement of Supreme Court dated June 29, 2021 may be read here

Subsequent Orders by the Supreme Court

On April 18, 2022, the division bench of Justices M. R. Shah and B. V. Nagarathna directed the Union government to file a compliance report on the directions passed on June 29, 2021. Subsequently, the same bench on July 21, 2022 asked the Union to come out with a scheme/policy to ensure that the benefits under the NFSA are not restricted as per the 2011 census as the right to food is a fundamental right and restricting anyone would cause injustice. The bench observed that NFSA scope requires to be re-determined and asked the Central Government to take appropriate steps to remedy the situation

In January 2023, the same bench revisited the matter and while hearing the Miscellaneous Application No. 94/2022 in SMW(C) No. 6/2020 filed by activists Harsh Mander, Anjali Bharadwaj and Jagdeep Chhokar alleging non-compliance by Union and certain States with the Court’s directions issued in 2021, to provide dry ration, open community kitchens for migrant workers stranded in NCR, the bench directed the Union and State governments to inform whether the 28.60 crores migrants/unorganised workers registered on the E-Shram portal are having the ration cards? And whether all of them are given the benefit of food under the NFSA?

Subsequently, On April 20, 2023, the division bench of Justices M.R. Shah and Ahsanuddin Amanullah on the basis of the information provided by the Union, observed that 28.60 crores migrants/unorganized workers are registered on the e-Shram portal which is a commendable job. However, out of 28.60 registrants on e-Shram 20.63 crores are registered on ration card data. Meaning thereby, the rest registrants on e-Shram are still without ration cards. Without the ration card a migrant/unorganized labourer or his family members may be deprived of the benefit of the schemes and may be the benefit under the National Food Security Act. The bench directed state governments to grant ration cards to migrant or unorganized workers who do not have them but are registered on the centre’s e-Shram portal, within three months. This portal is primarily made for enrolment, registration, collection, and identification of the required data of all unorganized workers.

SC directed to issue ration cards to 8 crore migrant workers in March, 2024

On March 19, 2024, the bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah directed the State Governments and Union Territories to grant ration cards to 8 crore workers within two months to the unorganised sector who, despite being registered under the centre’s e-Shram portal and do not have these ration cards. The bench added that at the e-KYC of all 8 crore ration cardholders that are required to be updated must not come in the way of the issuance of ration cards.

Subsequently, on September 2, 2024, the Supreme Court’s division bench of Justices C.T. Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol, directed the Additional Solicitor General, Aishwarya Bhati to file an affidavit with respect to the steps taken so far and to comply with the directions of the court in the main judgement passed on June 29, 2021 and the subsequent orders passed by the court. The bench further directed that this exercise shall be done within a period of three weeks.

Patience may be a virtue, but ours is nearing its end: SC

The Supreme Court through its order dated October 10, 2024 has run out of patience with States that have failed to provide ration cards to migrant workers despite identification of number of beneficiaries. The bench expressed that “Patience may be a virtue – but ours is nearing its end”

In a stern warning, the court has given them a final deadline of November 19, 2024, to issue the Ration cards.  The bench directed that “for the States where in spite of identification, Ration Cards have not been issued on or before 19.11.2024, the concerned Secretary/IES (Food and Civil Supplies) shall remain present in person before this Court on the next date of hearing, to explain as to why Ration Cards have not been issued despite the identification, and in spite of repeated orders in this regard.”

“Why Ration Cards have not been issued despite the identification, and in spite of repeated orders in this regard?”

The bench further directed that if States fail to comply, the concerned secretaries of Food and Civil Supplies will have to appear in person before the court to explain the delay on the next hearing.

The matter is listed on 19.11.2024 for next hearing

The order of the Supreme Court dated 04.10.2024 may be read here

However, the Supreme Court’s suo moto proceedings, initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide rations to migrant workers, have now been expanded to cover migrant and unorganized labourers registered on the Government of India’s e-Shram portal who lack ration cards. This move also aims to benefit those not protected under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), based on the principle that the right to food is safeguarded by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Now the issue revolves around the National Food Security Act (NFSA), which restricts the number of persons eligible for ration cards. However, the court has made it clear that the right to food is a fundamental right and should not be restricted.

The court’s directive emphasizes that hungry individuals cannot wait, and it’s imperative to ensure food security for all, regardless of their eligibility under the NFSA. While underscoring the importance of the issue and the objective embedded under the National Food Security Act, the Supreme Court has ordered states to verify and provide ration cards to eligible migrant workers and unskilled labourers registered on the e-Shram portal. The Supreme Court’s suo moto action on issuing ration cards to migrant workers represents a significant step in safeguarding the right to food, as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. By addressing the plight of those registered on the e-Shram portal but lacking access to essential resources, the Court underscores the government’s responsibility to protect vulnerable populations through judicial power.

Related:

Food, Housing, Health- limitations of post Covid-19 Migrant workers’ related policies

Fake News Regarding Situation of Migrant Workers in Tamil Nadu Being Made Viral

3 migrant workers burned alive in Meghalaya, CM Conrad Sangma condemns the incident

The post “Hungry Cannot Wait”: SC sets final deadline for Ration Cards to Migrant Workers appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
In the 2014 elections, there were 834 million registered voters out of which 280 million people did not vote. That’s roughly the entire population of Indonesia.
 
This time, there were 900 million eligible voters and voter turnout was still abysmal. While some chose not to vote, there were many who could not vote because they were not present in their registered constituency.
 
Why does the world’s largest democracy lag behind in voter participation?
 
According to an analysis by Business Standard, the global median of voter turnout stands at 68.03 per cent from 184 elections held across the globe, while India had recorded about 66.4 per cent in the 2014 general elections.
 
So what stops an Indian voter from voting?
 
Understanding absentee ballots
Absentee ballots are the vote cast by someone who is unable to go to the polling station. The system is designed to increase voter turnout.
 
In some countries, the voter is required to give a reason for not going to the polling station, before participating in an absentee ballot.
 
In India, a postal ballot is available to only some citizens. The Representation of the People Act, 1950 allows heads of states and those serving in the armed forces to vote through postal means.
 
The Lok Sabha recently passed a Bill to allow proxy voting for NRIs. However, domestic migrants and absentee voters in India cannot cast postal votes.
 
Internal Migration
With over 300 million migrants, India has the world’s largest migrant population. A significant number of these migrants are seasonal and temporary migrants. In fact, the key characteristic of out-migration from India is semi-permanence wherein migrants move back and forth between their home and destination regions throughout their working lives, a report by Firstpost said.
 
Section 20 of the Representation of the People Act says a person can be registered as a voter in any constituency where s/he is “ordinarily resident”.
 
However, most Indian migrants are seasonal and temporary migrants for whom enrolling at a destination is not an attractive option as they return home often. At the same time, the cost they incur while travelling to their registered constituencies is too high and thus miss out on voting in their home regions altogether. At destinations, the process of enrolment in a new constituency requires adequate proof of new residence, which is rarely possible given the informal nature of migrant housing, the report said.
 
Studies have found that states with higher rates of migration are associated with lower voter turnouts.
 
For many of the urban poor, the act of enrolment itself is a difficult endeavour given the casual nature and piece-rate daily wage nature of the work they do. In fact, poor urban migrants have the lowest recorded voter turnouts.
 
Indian migrants are only going to increase in numbers, as India moves towards middle-income status, they will also increasingly come from minority and disfranchised backgrounds and their destinations both within and abroad are going to diversify. We already see a significant increase in migration to South India from the North and North Eastern states and both regional and national political parties are taking notice, the report said.
 
“According to the 2011 Census, 51 million migrants moved within India for economic reasons, constituting nearly 10% of the labour force. This gives rise to a concern about the political voicelessness of these migrant workers who are unable to practise their voting rights because of economic migration. There are no statistics available on how many migrant workers have changed their constituency to vote at their current work location. Yet, it is intuitively understandable that economic realities—such as daily wage-based work arrangements, and the time and cost of travel to their domicile—will exclude them from the participatory process of voting, which is their constitutional right,” EPW reported.
 
Though the freedom of movement is a constitutional right of all Indian citizens, for the migrant workers, the very nature of their work disrupts the execution of this right by trapping them in their destinations of work. The main issue faced by workers is the economic strain of quitting even a day’s work to go back to their hometown and vote, the report said.
 
Besides sending remittances, there is also the pressure of expectations from family and peers that the migrants will bring back gifts from the cities during their home visits. While such gifts are signs of prestige to the families, to the migrant worker these are economic dampeners of their decision to travel to their home constituencies for voting, the report added.
 
In February, the Indian government’s push for the passage of a key bill allowing proxy voting rights for India’s 25 million-strong diaspora — also known as non-resident Indians or NRIs — has shone the spotlight on millions of migrant workers within India who remain removed from the voting process.
 
Proxy voting rights will allow India’s overseas demographic to vote from the country where they are currently based, a privilege that still remains elusive to internal migrants.
 
Civil rights groups feel that domestic migrants, who are direct stakeholders in the country’s future, deserve attention over the privileged NRIs, who have a lesser stake in India’s good governance and are only at best only fringe beneficiaries of its policies.
 
A 2011 study on the political inclusion of seasonal migrant workers by Amrita Sharma and her co-authors found that 22 per cent of seasonal migrant workers in India did not possess voter IDs or have their names registered in the voter list. The study noted that “many migrants leave their home at an age as early as 13-14. The voter ID is issued at an age of 18 or more. When they become eligible to get a voter ID, their work life is at its peak and their trips to home short in duration.”
 
Many migrants are reported to not have the time to get their voter IDs made and a staggering 83 per cent of long-distance migrants reported missing voting in elections at least once because they were away from home seeking better livelihood opportunities. Because of this, migrant workers are often left unable to make political demands for entitlements or seek reforms, states the report.
 
Internal migration — an exponentially growing phenomenon — shapes the economic, social, and political contours of India’s 29 states. Studies suggest that roughly 25 per cent to 30 per cent of Indians are internal migrants who have moved across the district or state lines, a staggering number for a country with a population that tops 1.3 billion, The Diplomat reported.
 
“According to Ravi Srivastava, an economist at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, as many as three out of every 10 Indians have moved away from their homes, usually in search of a better job. That’s why many have called for absentee voting to become available to all of India’s 814 million-strong electorate,” The Diplomat reported.
 
“Internal migrants in India largely comprise married women moving to their new marital homes in different cities or villagers relocating to urban areas for better economic opportunities due to growing distress in the farm sector. A sizeable portion of these migrants are contract workers who have no job security and are usually far removed from the government’s social and structural framework. They also cannot access social welfare benefits either in their homes or in their current places of residence,” the report stated.
 
Election Commission expressed its difficulty in tracking the movement of such migrants and the inability to extend alternative voting rights to domestic migrants on the lines of overseas Indians, the report said.
 
Those who can’t vote have the most to lose
“The Election Commission of India (ECI) has in the past made efforts to increase voter participation of internal migrants, but only in exceptional cases. In 1996, 1998 and 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the ECI introduced postal ballots for Kashmiris staying in transit camps for an indefinite period. The ECI also made special provisions for communities displaced due to violent conflicts — Reang voters in Mizoram in 1999, and Jammu’s Talwara migrants in 2014 (although no arrangements were reportedly made in 2019 polls). Thus, the response of the ECI to political participation of internal migrants is highly selective,” a report in The Print said.
 
“Moreover, women comprise the largest group of internal migrants, although they migrate mostly after marriage, as noted in multiple academic and news reports. In other words, internal migrants come from a population that is expected to receive huge benefits from good governance. When this group does not vote, it stands to lose the most,” the report said.
 
“The internal migrants continue to be forgotten during the biggest democratic exercise — of electing their representative. Although merely being able to vote is not the cure — the interface between voters and their elected representatives continues to be poor — it is the fundamental claim to citizenship that eludes internal migrants,” the report said.
 
Disenfranchisement
Watchdog organisations have said that around 120 million voters appear to be missing from the electoral rolls in India. They accused some politicians of deliberately leaving out their rival parties’ supporters.
 
Furthermore, for many states, such as Uttar Pradesh, the question is also one of the disenfranchisements of minorities given the large proportions of their Muslim and Dalit migrant populations.
 
Around 125,000 “D” or “Doubtful” voters in Assam were deemed ineligible to vote by the authorities, who say they were not provided with sufficient evidence of their Indian citizenship. These people have been accused of being undocumented immigrants from the neighbouring country of Bangladesh, a long-running issue in the state.
 
Khalid Saifullah, founder of the Hyderabad-based initiative ‘Missing Voters’, told Al Jazeera that around 65 million of these missing voters are women.
 
Among the 120 million people Missing Voters suggests are not included on the rolls, Saifullah further estimates that around 40 million of them are Muslims while 30 million are Dalits.
 
Saifullah’s estimates are based on discrepancies he says he found between the number of single households in census data and the election commission’s data. The numbers include those who may not have registered to vote in addition to the names that may have been deleted.
 
The Election Commission of India denied reports that a large number of voters was missing from the rolls.
 
After advocating proxy voting for NRIs, ruling BJP objected to giving such a right to domestic migrants. In an all-party meeting called by the Election Commission in 2018, BJP had said while “genuine domestic migrant voters should be identified” through a proper process, “no proxy or absentee mode be adopted and therefore in the garb of migrant voters no bogus voting should be permitted”.
 
Internal migrants and the disenfranchised voters could not exercise their rights in 2014 or 2019. The picture looks bleak for 2024 as well.

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