SECOND OPINION: April 2020

BY APURVA RAI

THE second decade of the 21^st century has seen an unprecedented event; you may call it a scare, you may call it a pandemic or you may even call it a war or a biological war, to be precise. The entire world is fighting an unseen enemy, coming from the Wuhan province of China, posing danger to human lives all across the globe. Every single person on earth today lives in fear, feels threatened, finds himself helpless to the wrath of nature and runs away from even his near and dear ones to run for his life. The enemy, which crosses the boundaries and lines of control of all nations without fear, passport or visa, seems invincible.

The enemy, which poses danger to the entire human race, has challenged all progress, developments and technological advancements that the modern world has made. The enemy number one to mankind today is known by the name of Corona Virus or Covid 19.

Corona has brought the entire world to a standstill-- all offices shut, factories closed and shops forced to bring down shutters. Almost every country is in a state of health emergency with complete lockdown and full restriction on human movement. You stay where you are, but, stay away from all others, no matter if they are your friends, family or relatives. The idiom 'Proximity breeds contempt' may be revised as 'Proximity breeds disease' in today's global scenario.

In India, too, a 21-day complete lockdown was declared on March 25, 2020 by the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nobody was allowed to go anywhere as rail, road and air traffic was completely shut. Highways were closed for vehicles, trains halted and flights grounded-- everyone was stuck where he or she was. The fast paced life in the cities of Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru suddenly came to a halt forcing people to stay indoors and work from home, wherever possible. The people were asked to stay indoors and get groceries delivered at their doorstep.

But the facts of life are different-- not everyone can work from home. Thousands of labourers and other workers were suddenly left with no work, no income, no earnings yet all expenses intact. Millions lost work overnight. There was panic and a large number of them rolled their beds, packed their bags, took their families and set out for their hometowns. Yes, they all started trekking under scorching sun in the absence of any conveyance. All appeals to stop them fell on deaf ears.The distance to be covered ranged between 100 kilometres to a thousand kilometres without any means of transport or food for the children. Still they were willing to traverse and prepared to face any amount of hardship that would come their way.

Within a day of lockdown India was witnessing a massive exodus from metropolitan cities to the hometowns. The migrants were seen in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi/NCR. The entire purpose of lockdown, to implement social distancing, stood defeated. Migrants were on road, carrying their belongings on their heads, beating social distancing, hunger and starvation, facing hardships together. They started walking all their way to their hometowns, mostly in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Rajasthan.

India had never seen such a mass migration of human population in the 21^st century; it was, perhaps, the first for many of us. Delhi's bus terminus at Anand Vihar became assembly point for lakhs of such migrants where the state governments arranged several buses to ferry these workers so that they do not have to walk. Arrangements, however, did not seem sufficient and thousands of these workers stood in despair waiting to get a vehicle for their home.

Complete chaos at the bus terminus, assembly of people in large numbers and walking on foot together only increased the chances of corona virus infection. People risked their lives as they saw no hope. Many felt even if corona virus does not kill them they will die of hunger and starvation.

Corona made the modern day life difficult be it the people following social distancing to break the chain of virus from spreading or others who fought for their existence every day. Modern India was facing mass exodus in the most primitive manner. It was like history repeating itself when the world had witnessed similar mass migrations on several occasions at different times.

Come, let us recall some of the mass migrations that the world has seen before, including India.

What is Mass Exodus

This means migration of large groups of people from one geographical area to another. This, however, does not include seasonal migration, which may occur on a regular basis.

Causes of Mass Migration

The reason for migrating are complex but people usually flee from their home due to war, persecution, climate crisis, water degradation, land rush, crime rate and food poverty. Today it would be apt to refer to an epidemic or pandemic too as one of the causes of mass migration.

IN INDIA...

It is not for the first time that India has seen mass migration. The first was at the time of Independence when India was divided into West Pakistan which is commonly referred as Pakistan and East Pakistan which is now known as Bangladesh. The mass migration was witnessed when people shifted from India to Pakistan and vice versa.

1) India's Partition: Following the partition of British India into Pakistan and India, some 15 million people found themselves stranded in the 'wrong' part of the land, Hindus in Pakistani territory and Muslims in Indian territory. Thus began the greatest international migration in history with Muslims migrating towards eastern and western wings of the newly formed state of Pakistan and Hindus crossing over to India.

Emotions ran high and terrible atrocities were committed on both sides ranging from damage to property, arson, killing and mob violence. Ordinary peace loving Hindus and Muslims became so enraged with each other that they committed such atrocities they would never have considered themselves capable off.

UNHCR estimates 20 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were displaced during the partition of India, the largest mass migration in human history.

2) Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits: The Hindus (also known as Pandits) of the Kashmir Valley, were forced to flee the Kashmir valley as a result of being targeted by JKLF and Islamist insurgents like Hizb-ul Mujahideen during late 1989 and early 1990. Of the approximately 300,000 to 600,000 Hindus living in the Kashmir Valley in 1990 only 2,000–3,000 remained there in 2016.

Inflammatory speeches were made from loudspeakers of mosques and posters were stuck on the houses and shops of Kashmiri Pandits ordering them to either embrace Islam or leave the valley. They were threatened with their lives.

January 19, 1990, is widely remembered by Kashmiri Hindus as the tragic "Exodus Day" of being forced out of Kashmir. Most families were resettled in Jammu, Delhi/ NCR and other neighbouring states.

What happened on January 19, 1990: A curfew was imposed by the then governor, Jagmohan after he had dismissed the state government. Militant groups JKLF and Hizb-ul Mujahideen were exhorting people to defy the curfew.

Inflammatory slogans were relayed from mosques all day long. One of them said: ‘Kashmi mei agar rehna hai, Allah-O-Akbar Kehna hai’.

Kashmiri Pandits are known for their significant contributions to a variety of spheres, including Shaivism, philosophy, theology, literature and poetry, music, and the arts and sciences.

... AND THE WORLD

Apart from India several nations in the world have also witnessed mass exodus due to various factors. A 'second look' at some of them.

1) Great Atlantic Migration: The largest migration in history was the so-called Great Atlantic Migration from Europe to North America, the first major wave of which began in the 1840s with mass movements from Ireland and Germany.

2) Italian Diaspora: The Italian Diaspora refers to large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy. There are two major Italian diasporas-- the first began around 1880, two decades after the Unification of Italy, and ended in the 1920s to early-1940s with the rise of Fascism in Italy. The second started after the end of World War II and roughly concluded in the 1970s. According to an estimate between 1880-1980, about 15,000,000 Italians left the country permanently.

Poverty was the main reason for leaving, specifically the lack of land as property became subdivided over generations; especially in the South of Italy. Secondary reasons were internal political and economic crisis, organized crime and difficulties in the former Kingdom of the two Sicilies.

3) Migration in America: The United States of America experienced a wave of mass migration like never before from 1850 to 1920. Between 1880 and 1914, over 20 million Europeans migrated to the US, at a time when the country only had 75 million residents.

According to a study, "In 1850, at the onset of the Age of Mass Migration, over 90 percent of the foreign born living in the US were from either Great Britain, Ireland, or Germany. By the end of the Age of Mass Migration, in 1920, this figure was only 45."

It was one of the greatest migrations in human history. From 1846 to 1940, about 55 million Europeans migrated to the United States and South America seeking a better life. The result was that the governments in Europe from Vienna to Prague came out with strong messages and punishment to prevent the spread of the so-called 'America Fever'.

4) Great Migration: The United States not only witnessed mass migration from different nations, mainly Europe, it also saw internal migration which occurred during the industrial revolution. According to some estimates over a 60 year period, from 1910 to around 1970, more than seven million African Americans moved from rural areas in the US, to settle in the more industrialized cities located in the Midwest and Western regions.

Due to the massive number of people involved in the migration, historians refer to the phenomenon as the Great Migration.

5) Resettlement of Europe after Soviet Domination: At the end of World War II changes in the map of Europe meant that many people found themselves living in hostile territory. Majority of these people were Germans who were expelled, evacuated or fled from Central and Eastern Europe to the new Germany. This evacuation is known as the largest single instance of ethnic cleansing in recorded history.

6) Potsdam Agreement: This agreement was signed by the victorious nation at the end of World War II. The agreement led to one of the largest migrations, involving almost two crore people, ever witnessed within Europe's borders.

One of the communities that were significantly affected was the Germans living in Eastern Europe. Estimates indicate that more than 16,000,000 Germans were forced to move from nations in Eastern and Central Europe back to their native home in Germany.

7) Russian Civil War: The period of this war is described from November 1917 to October 1922. It was one of the bloodiest war in Russia's history as it resulted in the death of close to 8,000,000 people according to some estimates.

To escape the bloodshed, more than 3,000,000 people fled from Russia. Some of the communities that fled the nation were the Poles, the Russians, and the Germans.

The civil war occurred because after November 1917 many groups had formed that opposed Lenin’s Bolsheviks. These groups included monarchists, militarists, and, for a short time, foreign nations and they were collectively known as the Whites. Te Bolsheviks, on the other hand, were known as the Reds.

The Red Army won this war because it was better-organized and held the best territory. After this war, the communists established the Soviet Union in 1922.

8) From Rural China to Urban Centers: Grinding poverty was always a problem for rural China. During the regime of Mao Zedong rural population was not allowed to migrate to urban areas. In 1982 the people's communes were dissolved which led to mass exodus of hundreds of millions of people from China’s countryside to its fast-growing cities. In 1984 permission was given to peasants to move to towns of 100,000 inhabitants or less. Thus China saw creation of surplus labour.

Since then Urban population in China has increased enormously helping the country to strengthen its economy.

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NOTE:
Read my another article in Hindi on Corona virus.

Copy/ paste following link.

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https://apurvarai.blogspot.com/2020/04/blog-post.html