The plight of migrants in the country is being well documented, but their distress continues to increase exponentially. Government schemes meant to help them have been shoddily handled, they’ve been forced to walk 1000s of kilometres, and the aid they are getting is from individuals or groups of citizens, which is meaningful but not Centralised. At the end of the day though, if a government really cares about the poor, it will manage to help them regardless of the situation.
Jharkand, one of India’s poorest states, has managed to procure planes to send its suffering migrants back home. On Thursday, 180 workers stuck in Mumbai were transported to Ranchi by a flight.
The initiative was a joint effort by the alumni of National Law School of India University, the Tata Group, and the Jharkhand state government.
Jharkand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, of the Janata Mukti Morcha party, had said he would deploy service planes to bring back migrants, as the Centre was not helping out in this regard.
With the help of the NLSIU alumni, this worked out. The NLSIU alumni raised almost ₹12 lakh, after which they connected with the Tata Group, who provided the flight as it owns a majority stake in Air Asia. 180 migrants successfully reached Ranchi, where the Jharkhand state government arranged their further movement.
The success of this initiative, wherein migrants were not only able to go back home, but were brought back in comfort, without long delays on buses and trains, is highly inspiring. This is an example of how the current crisis needs to be handled. Let’s hope the powers that be are listening.