Indian migrant workers have faced numerous sufferings during the COVID-19 pandemic. With factories and workplaces shut down owing to the lockdown executed in the country due to COVID 19, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of income, food shortages and doubts about their future. Following the lockdown, many of the workers and their families initiated the journey back to home with no means of transport.

The Government considered multiple options to help these migrant workers in any means possible. The central government ordered to set up thousands of camps to house lakhs of migrants with proper arrangement of food and other necessary items. PM Narendra Modi Launches Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, Applauds Gram Pradhans, Aanganwadi and ASHA Workers For Their Work During COVID-19 Lockdown.

In other efforts by the govt. the central government permitted the Indian Railways to launch "Shramik Special" trains for the migrant workers. And according to National Transport’s report more than 1,600 “Shramik Trains” ferried over 21.5 lack migrants back to home.

There are many other countless efforts which have been taken by the Govt. to provide the best possible services to the Migrant Workers in this Pandemic situation.

The Govt. has been trying hard to deal with the migrant crisis and in a recent effort of providing work to the migrant workers, PM Modi launched “Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan” an employment scheme for migrant workers who returned to their home states during the Covid-19 lockdown. The scheme was launched weeks after lakhs of migrant workers returned to their home states following loss of employment in urban centres due to the nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of COVID-19.

The “Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan” will provide work for 125 days, the government would touch 25 rural-centric employment generation schemes mode in 116 districts of six states -- Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha -- that received the maximum numbers of migrant workers back. According to the Ministry of Rural Development, these 25 works are related to rural housing for the poor, plantations, provision of drinking water through Jal Jeevan Mission, and construction of panchayat Bhavans, community toilets, rural mandis, rural roads, cattle sheds and Anganwadi bhavans.

Under this scheme, the basket of a wide variety of works will ensure that each migrant worker can get an opportunity of employment according to his skill in the coming 125 days, according to the official report the programme will also prepare for expansion and development of livelihoods over a longer-term. And as it goes, all is not lost until we give up. And giving up is what, at this hour we cannot afford.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 24, 2020 10:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).