Summary

The article reflects on the humanitarian crisis faced by migrant workers in Delhi, India, questioning the nation's collective humanity and responsibility towards its people.

Abstract

The piece, titled "Are We Being Human As A Nation?" and responding to the April 2021 cultural prompt from Blue Insights, delves into the author's personal encounter with a group of impoverished migrants in Delhi. These individuals, driven from their villages by poverty, live in cramped conditions, lacking education and skills, and face existential challenges due to the absence of proper identification documents. The author highlights the plight of these workers, who are forced to sleep in shifts and struggle to survive amidst the pandemic, questioning the nation's role in ensuring their right to a dignified life. The narrative underscores the importance of education and the need for policies that address the basic rights of the underprivileged, prompting readers to consider their own roles in fulfilling the essence of 'Being Human'.

Opinions

The author questions the nation's humanity in failing to provide basic living conditions and rights to its migrant population.
There is a sense of personal guilt and responsibility expressed by the author for not doing enough as a nation to care for the poor and uneducated.
The author views the situation of the migrants as a failure of the economy and development, highlighting the issues of uneducated, unskilled, and unemployed workers in an ever-increasing population.
The author believes that small acts of kindness, such as teaching the migrant children to write, can contribute

Cultural Prompt April 2021

Are We Being Human As A Nation?

People are human beings but do they all live like a human

Background In a country where there is a multitude of human beings the question arises are we being human towards them? Do they have the right to live?

Sometimes I question myself are they human beings? Are we being human towards them as a nation collectively? What is it that we can do for them?

Like many other people, I shrug my shoulders and I am indifferent that I cannot think of the world, people have to think of themselves.

After I see these people, their thoughts linger on and I cannot somehow forget them so I want to project their plight to you. I want to bring this to the forefront and see how can we do something for them. Can we fulfill the role of ‘Being human’?

Maybe in small ways, we can help but as a nation, we need policies and strict adherence to certain things which will help to give people a right to live properly.

Story of migrant population from villages to the city of Delhi I would like to narrate a story of a clan of people that I visited just before the pandemic situation.

In Delhi, the capital city of India we have a large number of people who are migrants. They have come from their villages in order to work and get some food to eat as they were very poor in the villages and poverty drove them to the big city.

There is a big temple of Krishna that is called ISCON Temple East of Kailash in New Delhi. Near that, a clan of labour class resides and puts starch on clothes in rollers. (In India, it is called charak )

I had given some saris for roller starch so when I went to collect it I found that six or seven people directed me to a dingy rickety winding staircase to these people residing on the third floor. They were sitting idle. Little kids with running noses and half-naked were sitting with flies around them. One person directed me into a room and took out the rollers.

He opened the rollers, took out my saris and gave them to me and I gave him the money. I curiously asked why people were sleeping at 11.45 AM when it was time to work.

He said that eighteen people resided in that small room. People slept in shifts both in the day and at night.

Some people slept and others stayed out in the verandah. Then the next lot went to sleep. They all shared one bathroom as well. At one not more than four people with young kids could sleep in the same room.

This was an eye-opener. I asked them why they left their villages and they said that they were very poor. They had nothing to eat. In Delhi, as a family, with extended members, they engaged in starching clothes or in getting sporadic day labour jobs. They were not educated and had no skills either.

I left but the thought lingered in my mind. For several days I felt guilty that as a nation we were not looking after our people. Their plight was a type of failure for the economy of the country as well. There could be no development if we had so many uneducated, nonskilled, unemployed workers and an ever-increasing population.

My contribution A few days later, I went back and I asked the kids over there if they wanted to learn to write their name and a few sentences in English. They all clamoured around me. Not only kids but adults too. Three of those people got their children to join a school.

I asked them why the children did not go to schools or they did not have bank accounts? The answer was that they had no permanent addresses and so no ID proofs. They used to bribe and get ID’s issued. This was another thing that should not be encouraged but it goes on in India.

Last thoughts: Where are the migrants now? During the lockdown period when the COVID sickness became a pandemic, these people had no work and no food to eat. Where did they go? I went to ask. No one in the vicinity knew except for the fact that they could not pay rent and were thrown out by the landlord. I do not have any contact with them and no phone numbers.

These people are faceless and homeless. No one knows what happens to them. They are uncounted, uneducated and unskilled. Are we being human? Are we taking care of people as a nation? These are some questions we are left with thinking of the theme ‘Being Human’

This is in response to the cultural prompt of ‘Blue Insights’.

Thank you Gurpreet Dhariwal for the Cultural Prompt on Being Human for April 2021

Being Human

Blue Insights Cultural Prompt — April 2021

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