The seminar will be hosted on a virtual platform from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Please note that registration is on a first come, first served basis. If your registration is successful, you will receive a confirmation email and the link through which you can join the webinar.
The outbreak of the pandemic has engulfed all the countries around the world in its clutches. Compulsory lockdown, which demands the suspension of all economic and social activities to avert public gathering, has been the only way of preventing the spread of the contagion. India, like many other countries, declared a nationwide lockdown last month in its attempt to fight the humongous health crisis that COVID-19 posits. Soon after the declaration of the lockdown, millions of migrant workers had thronged the empty streets, bus stands and railway stations of the major urban conglomerates where they worked in India. These vulnerable sections of people, who hail from rural and semi-rural areas, engaged in menial labour in the urban cities, wanted to return back to their native homes as they lost their work in the wake of the lockdown. So, they had hit the streets of the cities in Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala and in other states in a bid to reach their homes, subjecting them to great suffering and pain. As soon as the realisation dawned upon the state that sudden lockdown have triggered such chaos and paranoia amongst these migrant workers, certain measures were taken by the central and the state governments to arrest the crisis. However, the question of the fate of these migrant workers, who constitutes a major workforce in India, still lingers in uncertainty. As the ensuing crisis have brought their marginalisation at the forefront, time is ripe to delve into the question of the rights of these migrant daily wage earners in this crisis situation as well as in a post COVID-19 socio-economic order. Against this milieu, this panel discussion intends to unfold some critical issues while dealing with the situation of migrant workers in India.
Baijayant Panda, National Vice President and Spokesperson, Bharatiya Janata Party
Subir Bhaumik, Veteran BBC Correspondent, Author and presently Editorial Director of the Asian news website, The Eastern Link
Manish K. Jha, TISS, Mumbai
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury, Senior Fellow, ORF Kolkata
