India, like the rest of the world, is in the middle of a pandemic caused by Covid 19. The casualties are small - just 3000 odd. The numbers are not staggering. This has been the result of a really strict lockdown imposed by the government.
But there is a really curious phenomenon unfolding here.
Since March, we have had lakhs of migrant workers travelling home on foot.
The earliest report I found on this phenomenon was this one, published on March 27th
Since then, the story remains the same. People without resources, walking hundreds of kms, falling ill, dying, reaching home to find that there is nothing to eat.
The other side of this story is that literally thousands of people came forward to help - individuals, NGOs, spontaneous initiatives, just popping up out of nowhere. People were helped on the roads, they were helped once they reached the villages, they were helped before they could leave. At literally every step, people thronged to help.
This question, however, needs an answer - WHY WERE THEY WALKING?
The answers in various media reports were similar - we have no money. We have no home to go to. But here's the thing - they had no money where they were going either. there is NOTHING to eat back home. That's why they left their villages in the first place. They knew that.
But here's the thing: Imagine you lost your job. But there are NGOs that are giving food in the slums. There is a minor support system - some ppl from the same village.
On the other hand, is the village - far away, with no means to travel there (because of the lockdown). You have no money to make that journey. At the destination, what is waiting for you is a 15 day quarantine and more hunger (because there are no jobs in the village. None at all. That was why you left in the first place). On the way, is the risk of hunger, starvation, heat, and Covid.
As the poorest of the poor, would you:
A. Try to find an NGO that is giving food in the city and live on the footpath with your family
B. Try to leave on foot with your little children - with hunger, heat, and disease on the way, and no guarantee of actually reaching home.
Which of the two will you choose? Why?
It is obvious that a person will NOT subject their children to disease, heat, and starvation at this time. Yet, millions did just that. Which means that the information they received, somehow changed the options to:
A. Stay in the city and starve
B. Leave for the village and MAYBE you will survive there.
Please note - both the options are PATENTLY UNTRUE. Very few ppl are starving in the cities. Workplaces are opening up. NGOs and individuals are providing food and dry rations. Why did they think they'd starve?
The village is dry. And starved. Reaching the village only means that you will live in a house instead of the footpath. But there is nothing to eat. The NGO structure is even more overburdened and the ppl who reach there are completely dependant on the NGOs even for their 2 basic meals. People are getting infected on the way. They are getting heat stroke. Its not "going home" .
2 things happened here:
A. Pervasive misinformation
B. Action based on that misinformation.
But here's the thing: Imagine you lost your job. But there are NGOs that are giving food in the slums. There is a minor support system - some ppl from the same village.
On the other hand, is the village - far away, with no means to travel there (because of the lockdown). You have no money to make that journey. At the destination, what is waiting for you is a 15 day quarantine and more hunger (because there are no jobs in the village. None at all. That was why you left in the first place). On the way, is the risk of hunger, starvation, heat, and Covid.
As the poorest of the poor, would you:
A. Try to find an NGO that is giving food in the city and live on the footpath with your family
B. Try to leave on foot with your little children - with hunger, heat, and disease on the way, and no guarantee of actually reaching home.
Which of the two will you choose? Why?
It is obvious that a person will NOT subject their children to disease, heat, and starvation at this time. Yet, millions did just that. Which means that the information they received, somehow changed the options to:
A. Stay in the city and starve
B. Leave for the village and MAYBE you will survive there.
Please note - both the options are PATENTLY UNTRUE. Very few ppl are starving in the cities. Workplaces are opening up. NGOs and individuals are providing food and dry rations. Why did they think they'd starve?
The village is dry. And starved. Reaching the village only means that you will live in a house instead of the footpath. But there is nothing to eat. The NGO structure is even more overburdened and the ppl who reach there are completely dependant on the NGOs even for their 2 basic meals. People are getting infected on the way. They are getting heat stroke. Its not "going home" .
2 things happened here:
A. Pervasive misinformation
B. Action based on that misinformation.
In any mass movement like this, many people being influenced is key. How did that happen? Inertia is the default state of humanity, even more so of those who are underprivileged. In fact, the privileged depend on this inertia to remain in power. So, it does need escape velocity for misinformation to read the tipping point where it becomes action. Massive escape velocity.
The key question is - HOW DID THAT TIPPING POINT HAPPEN?
Here is my assertion:
The Indian migrant labour has been the victim of a mass scam. A pernicious and malicious campaign was run to ensure that this migrant labour - millions of them, take to the streets.
In my head, that is a crime. A genocide. To send people to ill-health, financial distress, and potentially, death. If that is not a crime, I don't know what is.
Like all previous campaigns, this one was done in the subterranean layer, no one can tell who was behind the program, and no one can trace the chain of whatsapp forwards. No one can trace the trail of misinformation.
Just like the other malicious campaigns by opposition parties, this one will go unnoticed and untraced too. But not forgotten. There is no evidence. But there is a pattern. In this case, it is not the evidence of this case that gives the perpetrator away. It is the unfailing pattern of the perpetrator. Always the same thing.
2 comments:
Home has a great pull, when there is no hope elsewhere. That's not an answer and I don't have one.
When I have been asked about life in England, one question has always been about wages. The minmum wage sounded a lot in rupees but I explained that prices were much higher, especially rents and that the weather was cold in winter and heating is very expensive (this was in Tamil Nadu where it's not as cold as in the north). But I could see that it was only the first statements that were listened too, not the explanations.
Yes, I heard that answer. But the thing is, would you, as a rational person, put your family on the road (NOT the home, but the road) where there is Covid and hunger and no money? For some reason, I don't think I would do that to my family. So I dnt get it.
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