Our efforts on ground
The COVID-19 pandemic has given us the opportunity to finish the unfinished agenda of entitlements and advancement of the informal workers. Portable identity across state borders along with universal social protection including living wages, pension, maternity, health entitlements, and unemployment allowance are urgent needs of the hour. In the absence of this, the current state of informal workers in India looks bleak. Absence of urgent economic support will only further their already existing vulnerabilities, marginalization, and exploitation. They will continue to be treated as disposable and stateless persons.
The ILO reports that the COVID-19 crisis would push around 40 crore workers in India’s informal sector — comprising a bulk of the country’s economy — deeper into poverty, including ITS migrant workers.
Media coverage
The Working Peoples’ Charter has issued a statement addressing the coronavirus crisis in India, and the workers affected by the lockdown.
Measures must protect our people, in particular the most vulnerable — including the elderly, the sick and the poor.
