This refers to your cover story What After Home? (June 8). The lockdown, like demonetisation, was necessary, but the implementation of both was ruthless and ill-conceived—there was no proper planning nor consultation with stakeholders. India is a diverse country in terms of cultures, incomes and population density. Yet, policymakers failed to realise the enormity of resources needed to keep millions of poor people in lockdown for weeks. Shramik trains and chartered buses with proper social distancing norms from the first day of the lockdown could have eased the pain of millions of migrant workers. The implementation and effectiveness of the lockdown can be endlessly debated, but the fact remains that it brought misery and suffering to poor people.
Kanak R. Nambiar, Kannur
A pandemic is not the best time to engage in political brinkmanship, but the Gandhi scions don’t think so. Their show of empathy for migrants may make for striking photo-ops, but doesn’t have many takers. On the contrary, it adds to the growing popularity of Modi as the overall narrative still lies with him despite his apparent failures.
Vijai Pant, On E-Mail
The tragic tales of migrants returning home, with some not even making it, have been rightly juxtaposed with the abysmal failure of the state in owning up to its responsibility for their safe passage. What takes the cake is the complete absence of foresight, botched planning, thoughtless execution and lack of coordination between the Centre and states while dealing with the exodus of the labour force. Kudos to the Outlook team for not just bringing their painful journeys to light, but also tracing them in their native places to let the readers know that their ordeal is far from over. Despite negligible livelihood avenues, most migrants would rather eke out a living in their hometowns rather than a government machinery that turned its back on them during an extremely difficult time.
Kamna Chhabra, Gurgaon
Current Affair This message in a bottle was consigned to the sea on Chinese Valentine’s Day, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, in 2012. A lady and her daughter found the bottle at Portobello Beach in Scotland. It is not known if the bottle was dropped in the sea near China, from where it would have to travel thousands of kilometres with oceanic currents to reach Scotland, or somewhere closer.
This refers to the cover story The Gulf Boomerang (May 25). The reverse migration of Indians from Gulf is nowhere close to the mass reverse migration of daily bread earners from Indian cities to their native places. After the bitter experience, these migrants are unlikely to go back to their former workplaces. Governments would have to generate work for them where they are and industries will face a shortage of manpower. Will our governments be able to address this issue?
M.C. Joshi, Lucknow
Indians have been toiling in the Gulf for decades, but all of a sudden, found themselves without salaries or social security support to sustain themselves. In these circumstances, they were left with no alternative except to rush back at the earliest opportunity. It has not happened in countries like Canada and Australia, where Indians are in more paying professions and get social security and dignity. Within India too, migrant labourers are rushing back in hordes from Maharashtra, Punjab and other states. Such a reverse trend is not visible in states like Kerala, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. It is reported that the migrants in these states have been paid their dues and not asked to go home. Their needs are being taken care of during the lockdown. Workers cannot be treated like cogs in a machine for the benefit of their employers.
M.N. Bhartiya, Goa
This refers to Do We Really Know Our Kids? (May 25). The BoisLockerRoom incident affirms the disturbing truth that rape culture begins early. Even though the digital world has taken over our lives, it may not be the only reason for our children going awry. We need to understand that it is the ethos at home that has the most abiding influence on children. Boys from homes with gender parity are less likely to be brutal to women vis-a-vis those where misogyny is the norm. It is not uncommon to see a group of boys (that is what they like to call themselves even if they are senior citizens) cracking jokes about women and bragging about their real and imagined romantic liaisons, peppered, of course, with indecent fantasies and anecdotes. A sense of entitlement spurs them to talk irresponsibly. Such attitudes stem from deep patriarchy and colour our children’s minds. Coupled with this are the pressures of modern life, which impact parent-child relationships. Dear fellow parents, it’s time we led by example!
Sangeeta Kampani, New Delhi
This refers to your cover story The Flu Shot. As the world watches COVID-19 cripple economies all over, India is more than breathless. A deep slowdown is inevitable—this is one crisis that just can’t be shoved aside. The number of deaths in India have been beguilingly low. There are many hypotheses offered by way of explanation, but mere common sense is enough to see that all is not well. To add to our troubles, we know that it is not just the COVID-19 outbreak that caught our economy by surprise. It was already gasping for breath, but with the pandemic, it is in the emergency room. Considering the magnitude of the mess we are in, we need to act urgently. The Rs 20-lakh-crore package has a long-term horizon and is not likely to provide succour to the vulnerable who have lost their jobs and wages. This period will go down in history for how monumentally we failed the underprivileged.
Abhimanyu K., New Delhi
