By Dr. Gyan Pathak
India have been listening PM Narendra Modi and his supporters claiming the “great work done” for the workforce in the country, especially during the pandemic. However, the revelation made by Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav in the Lok Sabha on February 13 is quite shocking. A total of 1.12 lakh daily wage earners committed suicides in three years during 2019-2021.
Bhupender Yadav made this statement during the Question Hour, while admitting that Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008 has mandated the government to provide social security to workers in the unorganised sector, including the daily wage workers, by formulating suitable welfare schemes on matters relating to life and disability cover, health and maternity benefits, old age protection, and any other benefit as may be determined by the central government. However, the alarming rise in the number of suicides clearly indicate that the centre has miserably failed in fulfilling its responsibility.
Union Minister of Labour and Employment said that 66,912 housewives, 53,661 self-employed persons, 43,420 salaried persons and 43,385 unemployed persons also committed suicide during the period. As many as 35,950 students and 31,839 persons engaged in the farming sector such as cultivators and agricultural labourers also committed suicide in three years — 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Though the records were both saddening and shocking the minister tried to cover up the centre’s failure in protecting the lives of daily wage workers when they were locked in to their houses as part of corona restrictions, and also there were no work for them due to closer of the very places where they could have found employment. The help promised by the Modi government could not reach the victims and they committed suicides.
Even though in his audacity, the Union Minister of Labour and Unemployment said that the life and disability cover is provided through the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY).
The minister said that the PMJJBY is available to the people in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a bank or post office account who give their consent to join or enable auto debit. Their consent to join or enable auto debit. He said that the risk coverage under this scheme is for Rs2 lakh in case of death of the insured, due to any reason, at an annual premium of Rs436 which is to be auto debited from the subscriber’s account. As on December 31, 2022, about 14.82 crore beneficiaries have been enrolled under the scheme, he informed the parliament.
What his statement tries to conceal is the details of the actual steps taken to reach the victims before they were forced by circumstances, partly created by the orders of the central government, to commit suicides. It must be noted that the insurance coverage has nothing to do with the government’s efforts to reach the workers in distress with helping hand. Moreover, the PMJJBY, requires, the workers to spend money for their insurance, and therefore it is not a help in time of distress when they did not have even money to eat. How can one expect them to deposit money for their insurance?
Union government has even been trying in the past to blame COVID-19 for increase in suicides, which is not the whole truth. The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data for the year 2014 and thereafter shows that suicides by workers is not a new phenomenon.
Suicides due to unemployment have been on the increase ever since PM Narendra Modi came in power in 2014. A total of 2,207 suicides were recorded that year. In 2015 the figure rose to 2,723 and dropped to 2,298 in 2016 which was still higher than the 2014 level. However, after 2016, especially after demonetisation of November 8 that year which led to closure of millions of MSMEs and reduction of production level up to 25 per cent in millions of them making millions of workers out of job, suicides have been steadily rising. In 2017, the number of persons who died by suicide due to unemployment rose to 2,404, which increased to 2,741 in 2018 and 2,851 in 2019.
Apart from unemployment as a cause of suicides, bankruptcy or indebtedness are the top associated causes. In another reply in the Parliament, the government has informed last year that between 2018 and 2020, 16,091 people died by suicide due to bankruptcy or indebtedness. In 2018, much before the pandemic struck the country, a total of 4,970 people died by suicide due to bankruptcy and indebtedness while in 2019 the figure rose to 5,908.
In 2020, a total of 5,213 people died by suicide, less than in the previous year, which proves that putting the blame on COVID-19 is not totally correct. Rather it is Centre’s bad policies and failures in providing help to the workers in distress is the chief cause of suicides of workers.
Even in such a saddening background of suicides, the Union Budget 2023-24 has betrayed workers. Employment guarantee scheme for rural areas MGNREGA has been slashed by 33 per cent this year as against 25 per cent cut is budget allocation for 2022-23 in comparison to revised estimates.
Moreover, MGNREGA workers are not getting even their wages in time in spite of the provisions of law and the Supreme Court’s 2016 judgement calling this practice “forced labour”. There is no employment guarantee programmed for the urban areas. All India unemployment rate at present is 7.7 per cent with urban unemployment at 8.1 per cent and rural employment at 7.5 per cent as per CMIE data.
Union Government have been claiming that the Centre runs a number of programmes aiming at job generation and stress management for preventing suicides. However, alarming rise in workers’ suicides suggest their failure. There is a serious distortion in the job market. Labour participation rate in January 2023 had fallen below 40 per cent. Workforce in the country therefore need immediate social security coverage or jobs, without that the stress management technique to reduce suicides has no meaning. (IPA Service)
