ABSTRACT
India entered lockdown on 23 March to minimise the spread of the Coronavirus. The Muslim coolies of Canning Street complain bitterly about the quality of food served by the police. The packets are getting smaller, they say, the khichdi is nothing more than rice made yellow with turmeric. A coolie in Canning Street says that even crows had leaders and raised a racket when attacked, but the migrant labour has none. That is why the police can serve them sub-standard food. The labour in Burrabazar have bank accounts and use them regularly, but they believe the one-time grant of Rs 1000 that the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, has promised to all unorganised sector workers, will not reach their accounts. The Covid-19 epidemic shows, once again, that the failure to integrate migrant workers well into our social fabric puts the entire community at risk.
