As the threat of a recession looms large both globally and at home with the onset of the coronavirus, will India be able to set an example to the region and the world by rehabilitating the economically vulnerable who stare at grim prospects of losing their jobs and livelihoods?

To mention just one instance, there are reports of plumbers returning to their native villages in  Kendrapara  and many western Odisha districts, making it extremely challenging for the district administration and the local residents to identify and effectively  quarantine them. Many such instances can be mentioned in this hour of crisis. While labour laws provide protection to these migrant workmen during normal times, the corona moment is not so. Therefore something special will have to be thought about them.

In our not too distant neighbourhood, Singapore has set an example by making government ministers take a pay cut, followed by ministers and legislators in the Maldives, while frontline workers who are most vulnerable to the virus are being given a premium for facing the challenges.

We must realise that more than half of the country’s GDP comes from the toil of about 420 million workers in the unorganised sector, which constitutes about 93% of the country's total workforce. It is this segment of the workforce which is most vulnerable to the economic vagaries of a downturn. Many years ago, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was serious discussion on putting in place an unemployment insurance, but these discussions did not go forward on the question of who would foot the bill; the worker or the employer. Most felt that employers would not be able to bear the costs and, therefore, the discussions died a slow death.

Now is the time to think about such out of the box measures to tide over this corona moment. But since 1918, when the famous Spanish influenza occurred, we have seen at least five such pandemics, the last being the SARS scare of 2009. So it is not as if these moments can be glossed over as acts of God where we blame it on the natural forces and plead our helplessness. It is a real human moment and all steps would need to be taken to ensure that the livelihoods of the vulnerable sections are protected during such pandemics.

While the unemployment insurance proposal needs to be revived, this is not the time to dwell in detail on it but what is needed is an immediate relief measure for workers. Some states have already started working on it but, as a thumb rule, it could be stated that one month's minimum wages for the defined trade - plumbers in the example given above - should be the least that the state must be willing to pay the workers. The period could be extended after a review, depending on which direction the virus pandemic takes. Where there are no minimum wages laid down, the state minimum wage for all workers must definitely be thought of as an immediate relief package, to tide over the crisis of the very vulnerable sections.

There is an immediate need to call a video-conference by the central government with all state governments to discuss the proposal, as it not only involves apportioning of funds but also a fool-proof mechanism to identify the affected workers and arrange for online payments to them through their bank accounts. It is indeed a big challenge, but one that is worth taking, thereby setting a national  example in this corona moment.

(The writer is a retired Indian bureaucrat. He can be contacted at ppmitra56@gmail.com)