The wait

DOWN TO EARTH’S VIVEK MISHRA HAS WALKED FROM DELHI TO SHRAVASTI IN UTTAR PRADESH TO CAPTURE THE PLIGHT OF WORKERS RETURNING HOME AFTER LOSING LIVELIHOODS DUE TO THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN. THIS IS THE SECOND OF THE TWO-PART REPORT DOCUMENTING HIS 600 KM JOURNEY

- VIVEK MISHRA

I LEFT DELHI on May 16 and after three days of walking and hitching rides, reached Ratanpur Kunda village in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on May 18. A group I met on my way had allowed me to accompany them to their village. Brij Kishore and Jagdish, brothers working in Haryana, were returning with their families and friends. I was curious to see what awaited those who returned to their villages after travelling hundreds and thousands of kilometres. We reached their home in Ratanpur Kunda at about 11:30 pm and crashed.

MAY 19: SHAHJAHANPUR

9:00 am: My interactions with the family made me realise that the main source of work in the village at a short notice could only be daily wage jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Rajbir, who lives next door and returned to the village from Delhi in March, told me that a road was being laid on the outskirts of the village and people were being employed to work under MGNREGA. He decided to go and I accompanied him. We reached there to find that the contractor needed just seven-eight people. The village has about 500 families and almost each has a member who returned after the lockdown and would require a job.

12:00 noon: Rajbir and I returned home empty-handed. I inquired about people who were earning from other means. I visited Ram Gopal, 70, who lives nearby and earns ₹200 a day by tilling land. I also chatted with Sarju, one of the relatives to return with Brij Kishore and Jagdish after the lockdown. Sarju had returned from Delhi after getting four fingers of his right hand severed in an industrial accident in December 2019. His employer had paid for his treatment and the fingers had been reattached but the grip was somewhat lacking. The lockdown started as he was trying to begin work again and he had to return.