The year 2020 ushered in a new decade for the millennials . However, since it’s inception itself, it has can be seen fraught with omens of colossal proportions. After having barely evaded the clutches of horrendous Bush Fires in Australia that claimed the lives of nearly one billion living organism, the speculations of World War 3 loomed at large. What emerged as the biggest abomination to have been welcomed, or rather say unwelcomed, by the Planet was undoubtedly the Corona Virus Epidemic. Classified as a cross-species viral infection, this deadly disease transmitted rapidly throughout cities, countries and continents, leaving thousands dead and millions sick in it’s wake. With the global tally of COVID-19 related cases standing at a monstrous 2.87 million (As of 25 April,2020), economies are dabbling to contain this unprecedented health scare. The case of India saw no different narrative.In a valiant effort to stop community spread of this fatal virus, On 23rd of March Prime Minister Narendra Modi , imposed a nation wide lockdown, with regular commercial activities coming to a complete halt and only essential services functional on a restrictive scale. This move by the Government was a well-scouted and well implemented mitigation plan to restrict the mass-spread of the virus. Almost all means of bodily communication were curtailed and public transport systems stopped. The law enforcement agencies worked, and are still working, round the clock to make the nation- wide lockdown an overall success, by not just restricting traffic from moving to and fro , to engaging in community service, thereby supplying essential services to the people affected by the closure of markets.
Over-riding exercise of power by the state
The shutdown of the economy was deemed necessary for the ‘welfare of the public’, had it not been conceived of, the epidemic could, and by all means would, have produced much severe outcomes. The decision, however well-thought it may be, has left a few loose ends. The most visible drawback of this plan is undoubtedly the haphazard situation among the general populace, especially the poor, destitute and momentarily displaced workers, job-seekers and students. The quarantine measures ,derived from The Epidemic Diseases Act,1897 (EDA) , an archaic legislation of historic usage permiting segregation of individuals those who have been exposed to the infection from others , as part of Quarantine measures. Such measures have come in handy while combating such health crisis’s in the country’s immediate past – The swine flu ,cholera, malaria etc. While the EDA provides such remedial measures, the IPC and CrPCfurther accentuate an enabling environment for effective implementation of such provisions. Section 3of the EDA, red0 with joint conjunction of S. 188,269,270 and 271, prescribes both fine and imprisonment for indulgence of any act deemed “dangerous to life”by way of transmitting any infectious disease by any person. It is noteworthy, however, how extensive the impact of The EDA has been, since the central Govt. envokedthe same on 11 March,2020 ,has been on the 1.3 billion residents of India.
Impact of Quarantine and lockdown measures on the marginalized community
The decision, however well-thought it may be, has left a few loose ends. The most visible drawback of this plan is undoubtedly the haphazard situation among the general populace, especially the poor, destitute and momentarily displaced workers, job-seekers and students. With state borders sealed, public transportation culled and almost all means of conveyance affected by saturatory powers, these people were left scuffling to find refuge.According to an estimate, as many as 300,000 migrants might be displaced and are still on the move, amid such a tight scenario. With immigrant states like Maharashtra and Gujarat shedding off large numbers of migrant laborers, these massive hoardes of inter-state migrants were left to fend for themselves on the roads. A day after the nation - widelockdown was put into full effect, owing to the worsening situation of stranded labour, the Government of Uttar Pradesh deployed 1,000 buses to ferry the migrant laboures form Delhi at the Anand Vihar Bus Terminal situated on the Delhi-UP border. The turnout was overwhelming. Similar developments were seen a few days later in Surat, where thousands of workers employed in the city’s diamond industry showed resentment over being stuck between the inability to move to their hometowns and the scoff of their land lords over non-payment of rent. To combat such vast influx of migrant population, This plight of migrant laborers was reflected In the case of AlakhAlok Srivastav vs Union of India,2020 .
Special Trains
Sighting the gravity of the situation, the Indian Railways stopped all regular commercial services were abruptly stopped for an indefinite period. Few thousand lucky passengers managed to board the last trains that continued raking even after the lockdown and managed to reach their destination. Others, however, were left thousands of miles apart from their home.It was seemingly impossible to operate commercial train services in a period of highly contagious state that had gripped the country.Takin in consideration the escalating migrant labour conundrum, The central Govt. gave nod to run a specific set of Special Trains to ferry migrants across states known as ShramikSpecial.The First batch of these special trains was flagged off on 1 May, and so far the total number of migrants that have benefitted from such emergencycommutation of 2600 trains are roughly 35 lakh. The travel fee of such trains was stipulated to be borne out of the funds of Central as well as respective state governments.However, the journey undertaken by the poor migrants brought much misery and inconvenience, rather than a sigh of relief that it was supposed to be.Abrupt cancellation of these trains remained a major factor that dashed the hopes of long-waiting passengers. Trains originating from Karnataka, Telangana ,Maharashtra headed northwards were had to run empty as passengers were denied boarding right at railway platforms and scuttered away by police. Those who managed to get onboard somehow, were faced with innumerable hardships like lack of food and proper drinking water , congestion, irregular running schedule and exorbitant delays. What’s the worst od the lot was misdirection of trains due to possible technological failure and human negligence, perhapas all due to non-conventional train-running methods and introduction of supplementary routes. As a result , several trains were diverted to grossly large distances , including a shramik express which detoured into Odisha, almost 750 kms away from it’s destination in Bihar.
