Covid-19: A Malediction on the Survival of Daily Wage Labourers

Abstract

COVID-19 has come with a single knock as a guest and has settled down as the host who owns
everything: life, income, happiness, togetherness, etc. The pace with which the victims of COVID-19
are increasing day by day has become gruesome for the government to control and oblivion for the
people to accept as they were hardly conscious of the global situation. The worst victim of this
situation is the ‘daily wage labourers’ whose life and family runs because they work on “per day
wage system”. In the midst of lockdown in our country, the condition of daily wage labourers has
become bad to worst and they are coerced to be stuck in the situation of extreme poverty, hunger,
myriad death due to lack of food and complete restlessness. Their life has been seriously jeopardised
because of lockdown. The announcement of government’s help is just a relief to the ears but not in
actuality as the government herself doesn’t have relevant data of the number of people engaged as
daily wage labourers and hence her help does not get channelized appropriately to the needies. The
pertinent question that arises here is- Who is responsible for their pathetic situation? The COVID-19?
Or the government and her actions? Or the public distribution system which functions here? Or the
daily wage labourers themselves?

Keywords: COVID-19, Daily wage labourers, Ignored sector, Malediction, Abject poverty, Myriad
death, Economic stigma, Overpopulation, Dilemma, Illiteracy