JOIN USDaily wage workers feeling the pinch: Rohit Pawar
Saying that daily wage earners are facing the pinch, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar's grand-nephew and Karjat-Jamkhed MLA Rohit Pawar urged the Maharashtra government to look for as many innovative solutions as possible to tackle the economic fall out of COVID-19.
In a Facebook post, Pawar said the daily wage workers have begun to feel the pinch of social distancing as they are fast losing their source of income.
Upholding the cause of daily wage earners and labourers who were the worst hit by the Coronavirus outbreak, the NCP MLA said that while social distancing has become increasingly important to curb the spread of the virus, it brings along a host of challenges as the labour force is fast losing its source of income and things will start getting worse for it.
"Expecting citizens alone to tide over the crisis could be disastrous. While tackling the health emergency, the government should focus on the economic emergency as well. Several options can be explored like temporary provision of minimum basic income for those who stand the risk of being worst affected. Reskilling the unorganised workforce for other temporary jobs could also be a viable option," Pawar wrote on the FB post.
Pawar had put out a Facebook post along with a screenshot of a WhatsApp story which urged people to pay the daily wage workers more than the actual fare in order to see them through the day. The cab driver was close to tears, saying he was his first customer in the last 48 hours. 'He showed me that he has been driving around for 70 kilometers since his last customer. Please pay your cab drivers, street vendors, etc. a little more. You might just be the last customer for the day,' the WhatsApp story read.
Rohit also stated that good samaritans would go a long way in boosting the workers' morale and that it was a good opportunity to help each other in whichever way possible. "The Indian spirit of brotherhood is something that will come in very handy in emerging through this epidemic," he said.