Protests took place across the country on September 5, the day of the assassination of Gauri Lankesh, under the ‘If We Do Not Rise’ campaign. Dr. E. Rati Rao, National President of the All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) writes about some of the issues, especially relating to women in the unorganized sector, that this campaign attempted to address.
The life, livelihood, and democracy of citizens especially of the informal sector during this pandemic time have been affected adversely. Every section of the unorganized sector suffered numerous hardships due to the lockdown.
3. The Unorganized Sector
The lockdown that was announced without any prior indications on March 22, shocked the Nation. 80 to 90 percent of the unorganized sector comprises of marginalized women. Women, sexual minorities, urban and rural labourers, Safai Karmacharis, ASHA workers, Midday meal workers, Anganwadi workers, nurses, housekeepers, daily wage earners, domestic workers, street vendors, vegetable vendors, teachers, Ayahs, contract employees, and the like suffered the most due to the unscientific lockdown. The industries in general started retrenching the labourers in huge numbers.
The Corona Warriors
Doctors and the medical staff of both government and private hospitals have been treating COVID-19 patients on a war footing. The contractual staff of hospitals, including nurses, Ayah’s, and housekeeping staff, had to work overtime. The ASHA workers who make up the link between hospitals and society had to move around, checking the population for fever or collecting samples for COVID-19 testing. Sanitation workers went around cleaning the hospital and entire cities. The police were on 24-hour duty, looking after the containment zones.
The safety of these workers lies in the provisions of protection gear, hand sanitizers, protection coats, and masks. Unfortunately, many of them did not receive this protective equipment. Doctors, nurses, and other warriors died due to infections contracted during their work. Police & other warriors also died during this pandemic. While families of some sanitation workers who died received compensation of Rs 10,000, many are yet to receive it. In contrast, compensation for a doctor’s death Rs 1 crore. This discrimination is unacceptable. All workers who worked during the pandemic and the lockdown should be treated equally in a democratic country. Many sanitation workers did not receive wages for more than five months.
