Wati Longchar
According to ILO, the number of international migrants globally reached an estimated 272 million in 2019, an increase of 51 million since 2010. They comprise of 3.5 per cent of the global population. They are mostly from the lower strata of society. The global unjust economic system forces some communities to sell their labour as a commodity. They have no option except to sell their labour in the cities. The majority of them are from vulnerable communities who left the country due to poverty and political violence, oppression, and exploitation. Many of them are informal, casual, and daily wagers. Even skilled workers are on casual work. Many of them live in deplorable living conditions – indecent housing, congested living space, and without insurance, they face harassment every day and sometimes labour with no pay. Some people are forced to work from early morning till midnight. Without adequate food and nutrition, they suffer from many diseases. The migrant workers are considered as modern day slavery. Every day they are forced to work 3Ds – dangerous, dirty and demeaning works, without proper rest and food.
All the development works are concentrated in urban areas. Rural areas are neglected; one will notice that even basic amenities such as dispensary, power, and water supplies are not provided. There is no road connection and people have to walk for miles. There is a strong notion that investment in rural areas is a waste of resources. The development planners advocate that smart cities are the only paradigm of civilization; moving to and settling in the urban cities should be the prime objective in one’s life; the rural area is projected as uncivilized and primitive. This wrong understanding and negligence have contributed to urban population growth. The urban population has grown rapidly from 751 million in 1950 to 4.2 billion in 2018. As of 2018, around 7.6 billion people are living in the world (4.2 billion in urban and 3.4 billion in rural areas). Tokyo city has reached a population of about 40 million, and Delhi, Shanghai, Mumbai, Beijing, Dhaka are approaching and some have crossed a population of 30 million. While numerous metro cities in Asia are over-populated, the majority of the population survives by selling their labour and many of them live and work like slaves. The urban cities will stay with us, but the way it is developing is unhealthy. The Covid-19 challenges us to rethink population redistribution. Due to the negligence of rural places, no one is interested to work and live there.
Our education system promote elitist urban consciousness. The education curriculums are also designed and controlled by the urban elites to gather the need of urban dwellers. Graduates do not want to work in rural places. The worst is that those who cannot get an opportunity to work in an urban setting or acquire white-collar jobs are looked down upon as incapable, ones who cannot compete with other colleagues. This elitist paradigm of education is a serious mistake in human civilization. Many pandemics, including Covid-19, are spreading due to overcrowding and unhygienic living conditions in urban locations. The Covid-19 originated in Wuhan City, China, and it is said that about 80% of Covid-19 infected people in the world are from the cities. The Covid-19 challenges us to re-examine our urban concept, consciousness, and education.
A healthy world is not possible without developing rural contexts. The Covid-19 has exposed to us that the future of human civilization lies in rural transformation, and not only on the development of urban cities. After the Covid-19 outbreak, millions of migrant workers across the world have travelled back to their respective countries. It is said to be the greatest exodus in human history. Is not Covid-19 calling us to relook at the urban centred development and life? Is not Covid-19 challenging us to transform rural places?
The Covid-19 opens up the opportunity to re-start a new beginning. Our dear brothers and sisters who have returned home and are in different states/provinces and villages. They need to rebuild a new life. They need food, home, and a job to earn their living and some of them do not have land for cultivation. If we do not care for them, we will face more problems in our society. Being driven by poverty and frustration, they will indulge in substance abuse, robbery, and will engender social unrest and commercial sex works. Resettlement requires long term intervention. It requires redistribution of land, dismantling of unjust economic system, elitist mindset and education system.
