Larger relief funds need to be channelized to help urban poor and migrants during ongoing COVID-19 surge

Daily spikes in incidents of COVID-19 infections, caseloads on health facilities, active cases, and deaths have been worsening every day since the first week of February 2021, and so more and more stringent containment measures are being put in place to control the outbreak day after day.

Within four weeks from now, the present trajectory suggests, the daily infection could be 2.5 times and death around three times, which are now around 2.17 lakhs and 1185 a day respectively. To defeat this assessment, India will have to implement even stricter measures sooner than one may expect.

The urban poor and the migrants, who are already between the two grinding stones – the disease and the poverty – may find themselves between the devil and the deep sea.

As the government of Maharashtra, the worst affected state in the present second wave of COVID-19 staring at a full-blown medical crisis, has written the Prime Minister of India, two major concerns have clearly emerged. The first is the safety of life from the disease, and the second is surviving the poverty.

Among the urban poor, the unorganized daily wage earners including migrant labourers, are not able to afford or arrange the cost of treatment if infected on the one hand, and due to total loss of earning cannot survive the poverty on the other. Just imagine the condition of a person without food and without treatment.

Uddhav Thackeray, the chief minister of a state that headquarters the economic and financial capital of the country, has now been facing such a situation, which has prompted him to write to the prime minister.

Almost all states are showing worsening trend of the second wave of COVID-19, and if it is not reigned in, others stated would be sending similar letters to the prime minister for help.

It would be therefore wise to prepare a plan now to provide greater help to the urban poor both in terms of medical relief as protection from the disease and financial relief as protection from vagaries and miseries that are typically triggered by poverty. It must be thought of as a part of a comprehensive containment measure.

Modi government can do much more than Uddhav Thackeray has urged, but it would require political will on part of the government. The pandemic is yet to be declared as a natural disaster, and therefore the available funds under the National Natural Disaster Fund, or the State Natural Disaster Fund could not be used beyond what has already been allowed last year when several stated demanded more funds to tackle the first wave of the corona pandemic.

This is why the chief minister of Maharashtra has urged the Prime Minister to declare the pandemic a natural disaster and give economic relief to those most affected.

Given the acute shortage of oxygen, Thackeray, in his letter had appealed to the Centre to take action under the National Disaster Management act to supply the same. His demand is worth noting, especially for highlighting the need of the people and an appropriate immediate plan to fulfil the same, though the scope of making the National Disaster Management Fund available for the purpose is restricted by its nature.

Moreover, India is one of the most vulnerable countries of the world on account of climate change that is likely to bring devastation in the form of floods and famines every year. It necessitates very careful use of the fund.

We have other funds that can be used wisely, such as PM Relief Fund or the PM-CARES. PM-CARES was created last year to get donations for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. The handling of the fund has always been controversial due to lack of transparency. The country knows only a little about its handling and we cannot say exactly what is happening to the funds, except the statements made by Modi governments about this.

It is outside the jurisdiction of our national auditor, the CAG. It has just been reported that Modi government plans to use PM-CARES fund to ‘plug’ medical oxygen gap in the country. It may be a good decision, but any overlapping is bad. All health related issues and requirements must be handled by the Ministry of Health, while assistance and relief measures should be handled by other ministries and departments.

We have many other schemes in the country for assistance of the poor in general and relief in distress, such as food security or employment guarantee programmes. All the programmes must be coordinated in such a way that no person in the containment zones goes empty stomach and without medical care.

The best way one can conceive at this moment is to provide basic minimum income, at least in the containment zones, where strict measures disrupts the movement of the people and thereby they may be losing their earnings. All help must reach to their doorsteps, and it is possible, as we have seen in Delhi and elsewhere for some of the programmes.

Political will is the only requirement for such steps.

Another suggestion by Uddhav Thackeray is also worth noting. He has said that his state may be allowed to pay relief of Rs 100 per adult per day and Rs 60 per child per day under Antyoday Anna Yojna and Priority House Hold combined. Such a demand hints at possible joining of several existing programmes.

For minimum job loss, small enterprises and business may be helped in several ways including extension of filing GST returns and providing loans on easy terms and repayments. There could be many possibilities through which the Centre and states, in coordination with each other, could provide assistance and relief to the urban poor and the migrant workers. It is urgent, and we must have contingency and comprehensive plans before the situation goes out of our control.

(IPA Service)

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