Amid the economic crisis arising out of the Coronavirus pandemic, the governments in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab have announced relief measures for daily-wage earners, street vendors and construction workers.

The Punjab government has announced an immediate relief of Rs 3,000 to each registered construction worker in the state. The money would be transferred to their bank accounts by March 23. The Uttar Pradesh government shall provide an allowance of Rs 1,000 per month to 20.37 lakh construction workers and 15 lakh daily wage earners to help them meet their daily expenses. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has said that the assistance will go directly to the bank accounts of these labourers.

The Yogi Adityanath government’s move has been welcomed by trade unions in the state. They said it is in the interest of labourers at a time when they are not getting any work. However, they have questioned the number of labourers who have been included and said the number of unregistered labourers in the state, in fact, spills into crores.

According to the state government data, out of the 20.37 lakh workers registered with the Labour Department, only 5.97 lakh workers have bank accounts. In addition, there are also millions of workers who are not registered anywhere. So, this raises a big question as to how will they benefit from the scheme.

Experts are divided

“This is, of course, a commendable decision. But the question is how many labourers will be given money because the number of unorganized labourers is more than one crore. Will the scheme include labourers from small, micro and medium industries as are affected too,” asked Sukhdev Prasad Mishra, the national executive member of the Indian Trade Union.

Premanth Rai, the general secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), also welcomed the government’s move, but added that it has to be seen as to how the government is going to implements the scheme, as there are many construction workers who are not registered with the labour offices. According to him, there are more than 50 lakh such construction workers in the state, while the government is pegging them at only 20 lakh.

The state government has said accounts will be opened for those labourers who don’t have one. In addition, a database of bank detail of about 15 lakh labourers – like hawkers and street vendors — will be made and Rs 1,000 will be deposited directly to their bank accounts.

Earlier, the state government had, on March 18, constituted a three-member Committee under the chairmanship of state finance minister Suresh Khanna to decide as to how to provide assistance to daily wage earners. All the recommendations of this Committee have been accepted by the government.

Several trade unions have whole-heartedly welcomed the state government’s decision. The Uttar Pradesh Gramin Majdoor Sangathan’s head Tularam Sharma told Gaon Connection: “The government’s move is definitely welcome as the workers have already been hit due to the slowdown earlier. Now, because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the workers in the unorganized sector are on the verge of starvation. This step taken by the Yogi government is welcome at this point in time. Other states should also take such decisions at the earliest.”

The government will also give free ration

The state government has also said that 1.65 crore poor and needy families in the state would be given free ration (equivalent to one month’s ration). This includes 20 kgs wheat and 15 kgs rice. Such people will get this ration through the Public Distribution System (PDS) shops. He has also asked the concerned authorities to order more ration from the local administration to help labourers in rural areas. In addition, he has said that free food grains will be given to street vendors.

However, there are labourers in urban areas who do not have ration cards. The government has said it help them get ration cards at the earliest so that they can avail the benefit of this scheme.

The government has also said that the state will immediately pay the dues of those who get paid through the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), so that there is no economic burden on the poor. In addition, those availing pension through schemes like the senior citizen pension scheme, divyang pension and widow pension will receive advance pension for April and May next month.

The number of such people in the state is above 83 lakh. According to the state government data, the number of people availing old age pension is 46.97 lakh, disabled pensioners, 10.76 lakh and widow pensioners, 26.10 lakh.