Of Mumbai and her Migrants
By: Jay Shah
Tags: India, Migrants, Mumbai, Co Vid, Labor

Status-Quo

Fast forward to June 8, 2020, day one of the Post Co-vid Unlock 1.0 in India. Today, the streets that emulated a scene from Will Smith’s I Am Legend until just a week ago, were thronged with cars from all parts of the city, belonging to business owners who’ve been in a pandemic inflicted hiatus for the past two months, and are in need of some serious grooming.

As the aforementioned businessman reaches his shop/office, he doesn’t remember the last time he did what he was about to do. He stuffed his bag under his arm, bent down and squinted as he tugged at the shutter while his quarantine inflicted gut came in the way. An involuntary swear makes way. Earlier that morning, he decided to leave his house and take the gamble against this system paralyzing virus. But as he straightened his back, gasping for breath, he realized that he was up against an equally painful challenge, that he could already feel.

Mumbai had lost its wheels. Her migrant labor population was gone.

The Backbone

Migrant labor can be generalized into two categories. Firstly, the ones who work on a wage, daily or project-based, and usually live at the worksite. And then there are those who work for themselves or are salaried employees. Cumulatively, they make up nearly ~13 million out of the 21 million people residing in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Nearly 40% of them come from within the state and the rest from other states of the country. A hefty chunk of these migrants reside in slums or a marginally fancier alternative to that. Keeping a small % aside, the majority of them makes less than $3,000 per annum. Statistics such as per capita numbers, which put Mumbai’s average income per person at ~$16,000/annum just throw light on the amount of inequality right in our backyard. Individuals such as the one who is writing this, the ones who are reading this, and the ones sitting in that grotesque skyscraper on Altamount Road skew this per capita scale dramatically to the right.

Broken

As the pandemic stalled India, beginning March, millions of workers, especially from the lowest rung of these salaried migrants, left Mumbai within the first three weeks of lockdown 1.0. But as states closed borders and modes of transportation were rationed, a lion share of these workers, especially the rozgars (daily wagers), were stranded in the city. More recently, in the weeks that led up to the 8th of June, unofficial sources pegged that nearly 3 million daily wagers made their way home in the most inhumane way possible.

Pictures and news clippings of these migrants broke the hearts of many awoke folks on social media. It was tragic to see that it took a global pandemic of this size for us to truly recognize and realize the lesser-known, often ignored, yet the most vital force that continues to make Mumbai what it is today.

Despite interacting and operating with numerous such migrant workers, I, too, was oblivious to so many intricacies that are part of their efforts to sustain life in this city. And as I sat on my desk and phoned, in an attempt to persuade them to resume work, I was given a window into some of these atrocities.

Food

Leaving the obvious aside, consider something as simple as food. Most migrants have either brought their families to the city, or are living with other migrants who’ve left their families back in their gaon (village). Generally, these households light up their stoves twice a day and cook for the entire house at once. But when not at optimum capacity, such as in times like these, rent, ration and cylinders may not make the most economic sense. The cost and effort that goes into preparing food for two people in place of eight cannot be justified.

Their next option is the street vendors, who as of now are few and far away. Due to a lack of business, most of them have gone back to their own villages.

Eventually, these migrant workers cut it down to one meal a day from something that looks like a restaurant(for the lack of a better word). The caloric balance sheet has a major deficit, and this makes them susceptible to other health issues.