“Why just 20, we can stay back for 50 days. Just give us food to eat,” said Hemant Poddar, 30, a labourer, when Gaon Connection asked him about the extension in the lockdown. Hemant is a resident of Katihar district in Bihar and works as a construction worker in Bandra, Mumbai. He is stuck in Mumbai. Along with him 600 labourers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand are stuck too. They all live in the same locality — Kherwari Naka – in Bandra, Mumbai.

Hemant said: “In the course of this lockdown, the biggest problem for us, labourers, has been food. Our savings are getting exhausted. We don’t have ration cards, so we can’t get the ration provided by the government.

He added: “There is a government camp far away from here. They provide food. When we go there, the police confront us. By and large, we are going on the half-filled stomach. We may actually die of starvation even before corona could kill us.”

Just like Hemant, who is stuck in Bandra, Suresh, a labourer, is stuck in Manesar, Ehsaan is stuck in Noida, Vikas Yadav is stuck in Delhi and Atmaram is stuck in Surat. They are labourers who had migrated from their villages to big cities in search of food. Ironically, during this time of the lockdown, they are starving.

After the announcement of the lockdown, the central government had announced that they would be providing 5 kg of additional wheat or rice and 1 kg dal to about 80 crore poor people of the country under the Public Distribution System (PDS) scheme besides the regular ration quota of every month. Ram Vilas Paswan, the Union Food and Public Distribution Minister, had said that this will benefit more than two-thirds of the country’s population during these challenging times.

But since the lockdown, many stories of migrant labourers are emerging which are presenting a different picture altogether. The benefits of this free ration facility are not reaching those who either don’t have ration cards or are stuck in other cities. There are a large number of migrant labourers who have room to shelter themselves during the lockdown, but due to the unavailability of food or ration are forced to sleep hungry or partially hungry at night.

Sandeep Raj, a migrant labourer from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, who is stranded at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, informed Gaon Connection: “We are about 60 people who belong to Muzaffarpur and Motihari in Bihar. We have nothing more left to eat. Although sometimes we eat at a government camp, it remains overcrowded. Only after queuing for 3 to 4 hours, we manage to get one meal. We request the government to either provide us ration or send us back to Bihar. Instead of living in such confinement, it is better that we reach our home and face consequences there.”

When contacted, Atmaram, 52, a resident of Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, who is stuck in Surat, said: “Our difficulties are increasing by the day. There is nothing to eat. While we are stuck here, our wives, children and families are suffering in the village. The government should either arrange ration for us or arrange to send us to our village. Even if we have to stay away from them for 14 days, at least, we will be close to them.”

Many organisations that are working for these migrant labourers feel that the government should provide free ration to these labourers for one year. It should also eliminate the requirement of ration cards so that no one has to sleep hungry.

After the lockdown was extended, there have been instances when migrant labourers have taken to the streets demanding food, ration or have asked the government to send them back home.

Ajeevika Bureau, an organization working for the rights of migrant labourers, has prepared a charter of demands keeping in mind these migrant labourers. One of the points highlighted in the demand mentions: “The government should provide free and low-cost ration to migrant workers at the earliest. The labourers shouldn’t be asked to show any identity card or residence certificate. The relief announced by the central and state governments is for those who have ration cards. Migrant workers do not have ration cards in the cities where they work.”

The charter of demands also says that the government should eliminate all the hurdles so that all the necessary assistance can be provided to the migrant labourers at this time of crisis.

As per the survey conducted by Jan Sahas, an organization that fights for the rights of migrant workers, 2.3 per cent migrant labourers are no longer left with any ration, while more than 80 per cent of the migrant labourers are struggling to get ration after the lockdown was extended.

Recently, an institution named the ‘Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan’ had written to the Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan demanding that everyone in the country has a ‘right to food’. So, the government should be providing free ration to all without demanding any documents. The letter also says that at least 10 crore needy and poor people of the country are not registered under the Public Distribution System (PDS), so such people are not getting the benefits of the government relief scheme.

However, many state governments are talking about giving ration to the needy in their states without ration cards. But either this process is made very complicated or the kotedar at the local level, out of choice, is giving ration only to the card holders.

For example, the Delhi government has talked about giving ration through e-coupons to the migrant labourers and the needy, but it is becoming very difficult for these less-educated labourers to get e-coupons by downloading apps from the internet.

Similarly, the Uttar Pradesh government has been providing free ration to migrant labourers, rickshaw pullers and the needy without asking for ration cards, but there have been cases of arbitrariness by the ration distributors at many places in Uttar Pradesh. Jamil Khurshid, who lives in the Sant Kabir Nagar district, said: “There were people whose names were mentioned in the original list, but some names went missing after the whole process was digitized. They are not getting any ration now.”

The central government had also said about two weeks back that it is considering to provide ration without asking for ration cards or identity cards, but even after two weeks, there is no clarity on this.

As per a report by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), India currently has three times more grain storage than required. Further, the buffer stock used in the times of emergency or distress is also stocked up in the godowns.

“The central government should work with the state governments to address this issue at the earliest, otherwise people will die of starvation and not corona!” said Dr Vandana Prasad, who is associated with the Public Health Resource Network.”