“No human masterpiece has been created without great labour.” – Andre Gide. International Labour Day, as we know, is to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago, on 1st May. There was a general strike for the eight-hour workday. In India, the first Labour Day or May Day, was celebrated in the year 1923. It was the Labour Kisan Party who had organised the May Day celebrations in Chennai (then Madras). Today, World Labour Day is an official announced holiday by the United Nations, for both organized and unorganized sectors.
Over the years. With technological advancements, the labour force has reduced, causing unemployment. There are still people out there educated, but still don’t have a job. It’s all about digital taking over physical aspect. In order to overcome such issues in the near future, we must emphasize on improving the manufacturing and the marketing sector, and try to develop more opportunities.
In the light of Covid, we’ve seen many who were unemployed and lost their source of livelihood. We are indeed, going through some really harsh times, and we must try our best to help those in need. Especially the labour. It is indeed very risky to step out, and come in contact with the virus, and the chances of infecting one’s own family members also increase. For the same, many medical professionals have resigned. Also, the kind of negativity against the frontline health workers is more like a harassment and less human. There are many individuals who were let go by their respective companies, in order to cut down on several costs. In India, a lot of labourers had migrated from cities to their respective villages, when the lockdown had been announced.
In the case of Bihar, where there’s a natural disaster every year, and the people living the prone areas, lose their livelihood. For the same reason, they have no other choice but to migrate in order to earn their daily bread. However, ever since lockdown, they have suffered immensely, as they currently have no income source. And if the primary earning member of the family dies of Covid, then the family has no backup. Keeping in mind such factors, we, as a society, must act together in trying to generate opportunities for such helpless people. We can do this by offering them employment in offices, or at least by referring them to our known ones. We can also help them by purchasing their products that they put their heart and soul in making. Donating is yet, another factor that can help them in their financial stability. A very good help that one can do, or volunteer for, is to prepare food and buy medicines for the affected families due to Covid. This has already been going on in a lot of areas.
It is sad, but true that the current situation might go on for another 1-2 years, and when all this is over, there will be recession for some time. And in that very time, the chances of crime to increase will be high. In order to prevent this, we must focus on initiating help for the labour in advance. For children who might not have access to education, we can provide them with free tuition, so that they don’t lose their curriculum.
This Labour Day, let us all pledge to empathetically understand each other’s problems and must overcome challenges together. It’s not just about immunity, but humanity as well, to fight against this pandemic. Inculcating good human values can surely be very rewarding, and one cannot encash it, as stated by Dr. Shubham Shree, a mental health professional and a social worker based out of Patna, Bihar.
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