Life of daily wage workers: in this Pandemic

   In today’s world, people are so advanced and modern, there are lots of professions out there and some philosophers say that you can be whatever you want. But is it a valid statement? Because we all know there are three main types of classes we have in our society Upper class, middle class and lower class, most probably the upper-class people can be whatever they want, the middle class there are lots of struggle but they still can, but in the lower class or backward class, is it possible for them to be whatever they want? I am not talking about those few people who belong to the lower class and have been successful, I am talking about the rest, those who are daily wage workers. You must have seen lots of daily wage workers in your daily life like a labourer, individual traveling salesman, street vendors, etc. According to data in Lucknow showed the mean monthly for labour work fell 62%, from Rs.9,500/- per month in pre-pandemic times to Rs.3,500/-per month now.

   Think about them, how can they manage to live life daily? Like most of the people who have jobs and fixed monthly salaries, they always have assured about the amount of work they will get daily but the daily wage workers don’t have fixed monthly salaries nor assurance that they will have work daily. They have to struggle daily just to survive with their families, there are no holidays or Sundays for them, they have to earn daily to get at least two times meal, in pre-pandemic or before the Coronavirus crisis, they used to manage to get work because before pandemic, there were lots of work opportunities for them like work on construction sites, renovation of houses and offices, govt. projects, street vendors were able to sell their products easily, etc.

   But now in this Pandemic, the situation of daily wage workers is so horrifying, they have no work to do, because of the lockdown, all types of constructional and renovation works have stopped and street vendors are not allowed to roam in the streets and if they still manage to do selling then people are not buying from them because of safety issues or people have also a limited amount of money so they are spending it wisely, as we all know that they have to work daily to have at least two times of meal and now it is difficult for them to get even work for 2 days a week.

   Now let’s talk about their children, how does a daily wage worker manage to nurse their children? Don’t their children have dreams? They have to compromise in every moment of life, in this Pandemic when they are not even getting work, they have to take loans on heavy interest from Lenders, which they are unable to repay, and because of this they suffer, even they have already so many expenses like rent, children’s school fees, meal expenses, and if their working site is far from home than the traveling expenses, etc., in short, they have more expenditure then earning.

   Most people who have a fixed salary or a fixed source of income don’t give too much attention to inflation, due to inflation, the number of products are drastically decreasing but the prices are still the same, inflation doesn’t bother much the privileged people but it would make them think (daily wage workers). In this The covid-19 situation, many people are being so intellectual that according to them no one should go outside,  stay at home, don’t go outside if not necessary, just tell me, what is more necessary than filling the family’s appetite? And, what is more necessary than surviving? Staying at home is not the same for everyone, the daily wage workers don’t have backups and they are not even sure that what they are going to have in dinner, so staying at home is definitely not an option for them, I know that staying at the home protocol must be followed by everyone in this covid-19 situation to stay safe, but they are not risking their life by their choice if they will not step outside and find work then how will they feed their families.

   So the question will arise, what should be done for them? To make sure that they will be safe in this pandemic and also they will have food and other necessary items, there are a lot of people who are helping needy people but they have limited reach, they can only help according to their capacity, so how will the help or the scheme reach to all the daily wage works? We all know that only government body has the power to reach all the needy people and solve their problems, there are already some schemes running by the government body for the daily wage workers or labourer but only making scheme is not enough, you have to make sure that your schemes are reaching to those needy ones. Like in the lockdown, the government announced free food supply (ration) for everyone who holds a ration card or has to registered themselves on the government's official website. But what about those who don’t have any ration card and also don’t have any technical knowledge. It’s not about how many schemes we have, it’s about, are schemes reaching to the ground roots?

   We should not only depend on the government for everything because deep down we all know about our government bodies, there are so many flaws that have to be improved. So for now, we can also help needy people in this pandemic situation and can save them from suffering, you just have to make sure about your neighbours and nearby people, do they need something? Or are they seeking help from anyone? By doing just this small gesture you can make someone’s life easy and save them from suffering, it’s not about are you capable to help them or not, it’s about how heartily you want to help someone. In this pandemic, be someone’s angel and don’t let humanity die.

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