It would be really shocking to see that Middle class, which according to Modi, never survives on someone’s mercy and lives with dignity and is that strata of the society which contributes the most when it comes to running the country, be forced to live a life of recluse. It is irony that the middle-class which as per Modi is always involved in the development of a nation would have to strive for its existence.

The Congress, Modi had alleged, had called the middle-class “greedy and selfish” and had nothing for it in its manifesto. He said Ayushman Bharat was the largest such scheme for them in the world.

Nevertheless if the market trends are to be relied a major chunk of this Indian middle class would lose its class rank and may be relegated to the position of wage earners. Already the International Labour Organization (ILO) in its recent report “ILO Monitor 2nd edition: COVID-19 and the world of work”, has painted a grim picture of the job prospect. It described coronavirus pandemic as "the worst global crisis since World War II" and cautioned that around 400 million people working in the informal economy in India are at risk of falling deeper into poverty due to "catastrophic consequences". A major chunk around 70 percent of this work force constitutes of the unskilled and daily wage earners.

The middle class workforce is set to face severe cut in the job not only in the domestic market but in a major way in foreign countries which employ around 2 crores of Indians. The Arab countries employ around 90 lakhs of Indians. Around 30 lakh of this work force is engaged in carpentry, construction and other jobs, the rest are in skilled jobs. With the oil producing companies not in the position to increase their production in near future, these workers are facing the threat of losing their job and eventually coming back to India. If the market sources are to be relied they are waiting for resumption of air services.

Financially the domestic and the international market will not be in the position to sustain the existing work force for at least a year. The workers would have to suffer as the pandemic set to wipe out 195 million full-time jobs or 6.7 per cent of working hours globally in the second quarter of this year. Workers and businesses are facing devastation, in both developed and developing economies.

ILO Director General Guy Ryder cautioned; “We have to move fast, decisively, and together. But it does not appear that the political leadership, the decision makers are moving in the right direction.” He was not far away from the reality.

The two top government leaders ought to realise that even before their political mission acquires a shape, India would be pushed to the quagmire of famine and starvation. It is really horrendous that these two people have not been paying any attention to the distress warnings. If they had acted in right manner Indians must not have been faced with this crisis.

Migrant workers' plight has prompted the UN to give a call for ‘domestic solidarity’ in coronavirus battle. This is a major departure from the policy of social distancing theory as propounded by world leaders including Indian PM Narendra Modi.

High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet said “Many of these people’s lives have been suddenly uprooted by the lockdown, placing them in very precarious situations. This is a time for domestic solidarity and unity. I encourage the Government to draw on India’s vibrant civil society to reach out to the most vulnerable sectors of society, to ensure no one is left behind in this time of crisis”.

In India, with a share of almost 90 per cent of people working in the informal economy, about 400 million workers in the informal economy are at risk of falling deeper into poverty during the crisis. Current lockdown measures in India have impacted these workers significantly, forcing many of them to return to their villages". In future large reductions are foreseen in the Arab States (8.1 per cent, equivalent to 5 million fulltime workers), Europe (7.8 per cent, or 12 million full-time workers) and Asia and the Pacific (7.2 per cent, 125 million full-time workers).

Huge losses are expected across different income groups but especially in upper-middle income countries (7.0 per cent, 100 million full-time workers), far exceeding the effects of the 2008-9 financial crisis, the report warned. More than four out of five people (81 per cent) in the global workforce of 3.3 billion are currently affected by full or partial workplace closures, it said.

A report from World Food Programme (WFP) published on Tuesday estimated that 135 million people face “crisis-level” hunger 2020. According to the WFP the pandemic could push an additional 130 million people to the brink of starvation.

There is no doubt that the way Narendra Modi has handling the pandemic has heaped more misery on the country’s poorest. His move has pushed nearly 20 crores of poor on the verge of starvation. His announcement of lockdown resulted in largest restriction of movement the world had ever seen. The consequences for India, where tens of millions live in poverty, work thousands of miles from home, around 50 labourers lost their lives while on reverse migration.

Indian economist Jayati Ghosh described the lockdown as a disaster. “We have never had a situation where the government has simultaneously shut down both supply and demand, with no planning, no safety net and not even allowing the people to prepare,” she said. Ghosh warned that the food shortages recently reported across India would only become more severe and widespread over the next two weeks.

Ghosh said; “They knew it would have this impact but obviously did not care,” she added. Even if a lockdown this brutal is necessary, they could have arranged a week in advance for people to be able to safely travel back home. What kind of arrogance and insensitivity does a government have to have to give the country four hours’ notice, at night, for a lockdown that is this draconian and this brutal?”

The world will take years to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned. Angel Gurría, OECD secretary general, said the economic shock was already bigger than the financial crisis. It is absolutely clear that world's biggest economies would fall into recession in the coming months. If the economists are to believed India faces the threat of severe recession with starvation and famine like situation staring at it.
(IPA Service)