"The migrant worker distress has also exposed the inherent fractures of the “one nation” narrative that is one of the unique selling propositions of the BJP government. While it goes against the grain of the idea of India that has a rich tradition of pluralism, it is also meaningless from a governance standpoint. Migrant workers don’t carry their ration cards and so haven’t been able to avail of government rations in the states where they are stranded. The employers, s mostly, have largely abandoned them without paying them wages. Consequently, they are left to scrounge for food and are left without money. In many cases, they are stranded without knowing the local language. [...] However, the richer states have neither extended any financial support nor forced employers to pay wages to the workers. Worse still, on May 5, , , cancelled trains for migrant workers from Bengaluru to their home states. [...] This was not only insensitive but a violation of the right to live with dignity (Article 21), right to freedom of movement (Article 19) and prohibition of forced labour (Article 23). The government decided to restore the train services only after protests."
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Rajendran Narayanan, Locked down in distress (May 9, 2020), co-written with Sakina Dhorajiwala, '
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Labour in India
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