From militancy to floods and now coronavirus: migrant workers from the Northeast stuck in their long fight for livelihood

Jagadish Roy and three of his roommates walked about five kms amid the hills on Saturday morning in Padanthaza in Kerala's Kannur district to fetch two kgs of potato and some vegetables. "If we take the road, police will catch us. So we walked amid the hills," Roy, a migrant worker from western Assam's Kokrajhar district told DH over the phone. "We have money, but there is no food items around to buy. We can't go back home either due to the shutodwn. We are scared about coronavirus but are compelled to move out to buy food items," he said.

About 15 years ago, Roy, a resident of Kartimari village in Kokrajhar district, had moved to Kerala when militancy in Assam was at its peak.

"There was no job near us. Otherwise, who would leave the family and move out?" he asked.

Nearly 400 workers like him from Assam and neighbouring Meghalaya are stuck in and around Padanthaza since the Kerala government asked everyone to stay indoors amid the virus outbreak.

"We are scared because we heard that some people about 10 to 15 kms away got infected. We faced serious floods here last year. We were not scared then. But now, we are really scared of coronavirus. Our family members want us to go back for good but there is no job in our villages even today," Jagadish, father of a baby boy, said. Jagadish, who mainly repairs tractors earns about Rs 1,400 per day. "There are thousands of workers like us across Kerala," he said.

Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have become the source of livelihoods for thousands of migrant workers, who left their homes due to issues of militancy and lack of employment in the Northeast. "When I came 15 years ago, we used to get Rs 95 per day in stone mining units. Now the labourers earn Rs 1,000 daily," said Sahadeb Roy, a neighbour of Jagadish.

Many migrant workers are taking to Facebook and making an appeal to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to either help them get food items or bring them back to their homes.

"Please do something, or we will die starving. We may also be infected with the virus if we move out in search of food," said Ketab Ali, one of the migrant workers, who uploaded a video on Facebook on Friday. At least 20 others were seen lying on the floor or weeping as Ali pleaded in front of the mobile phone camera.

Although there is no official data about the number of migrant workers, a minister in Assam recently said an estimated five lakh people are working in Kerala, Karanataka and Maharashtra. They mostly work as labourers in mining industries, mechanics, drivers, security guards, cooks, waiters in restaurants, sell vegetables or work in poultry units.

"Assam and many other parts of the Northeast saw an exodus of young workers as these states have remained troubled by militancy. Floods wreck havoc in most of their villages almost every year. Floods eroded thousands of acres of agricultural lands in Assam districts like Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar and Morigaon. Many of their families were left homeless and are still taking shelter in embankments. Farmers lost their agricultural land and so their sons had no option but to move out in search of jobs and livelihoods," said Ranjan Kumar Baruah, founder of North East Youth Foundation, an NGO based in Guwahati.

Thousands from Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh are also working likewise, mostly in South Indian states. "Many youths were lured by militant groups to join them. But those who did not want to take the path of violence, left their villages in search of jobs. Those with Mongoloid feautures witness racial attacks and harassment in places like Delhi," he said.

Cries for help:

As the cries for help by migrant workers during the lockdown grew louder, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Friday wrote to his counterparts in other states to take care of those from Nagaland, who are stranded due to the shutdown.

"The CM assured that steps are being taken to ensure that people from other states residing in or visiting Nagaland are safe and protected. Likewise, Rio requested his counter parts to take care of people from Nagaland who may be stranded in their respective states and could be in need of food, accommodation or medical assistance.

The CM also appealed to his counterparts to guard its people against any instances of discrimination or profiling on account of race, religion or region," said a statement issued by Rio's office.

Migrant worker fear:

Two COVID-19 positive cases have been reported so far in the Northeast – one each in Manipur and Mizoram. But most states fear that the virus could spread from the large number of migrant workers who rushed back from coronavirus-hit states like Karnataka, Kerala and Maharastra. Nearly 1,000 such workers, who came back following the coronvirus outbreak have been stopped near the Assam-West Bengal border at Srirampur. They are being provided food, shelter and safety measures there.

"These people will be brought to the quarantine centre we are constructing in the Sarusajai sports complex in Guwahati. Otherwise, they will go back to their homes and may not follow the 14-day quarantine norms and thereby spread the virus," Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters on Thursday.

Racial attack during coronavirus fear:

The Rights and Risks Analysis Group, a New Delhi-based rights group on Thursday released a report in which it said that Mongoloid looking people from the Northeast were increasingly facing racism and dicrimination in rest of the country since the coronavirus outbreak. It cited at least 22 instances of such attacks linked to the coronavirus outbreak. Many are suspected t be Chinese and are accused of spreading the virus, it said.