A house submerged in Assam after the 2019 flood. Photo: PTI.
I felt as if I had fallen into an ocean, said Moharshi Chaudhary, a 52-year old farmer in Churu, Rajasthan, as he watched an army of locusts cover the sky, two hours before sunset one evening this May. He had been warned by neighbours, so he had rushed to his field with drums, plates and crackers.
As hundreds of thousands of insects descended on his cotton crop, the farmer lit crackers, but the grasshoppers didnt budge. In five minutes, the locusts ate my dreams and hard work, Chaudhary said, Can you imagine the impact that had on me?
This May, armies of locusts hormonally charged grasshoppers flying from Iran and Pakistan chomped on over 200,000 hectares of farmland with standing crops of cotton, pulses, vegetables and oranges. It is the second consecutive year of locust attacks.
Chaudharys locust tragedy has its roots in three cyclones that hit a remote and barren Arabian Peninsula desert in 2018. The moisture and new vegetation created fertile breeding and feeding grounds for them. Some swarms flew south, towards Yemen and the Horn of Africa, while the other groups flew north into Iran.
In early 2019, torrential rains in Iran, one of the heaviest downpours in decades, helped locusts multiply, leading to even bigger swarms flying eastwards to Pakistan and India. The unusual cyclones and frequent and intense rainfall, scientists say, owe themselves to climate change.
At the end of May in North and Central India, a scorching heat wave made stepping out in the sun to chase locusts nearly lethal. In Churu, for example, the temperature touched 50 C.
As extreme weather events, made more likely by climate change, pummel the planet with increasing force and frequency, they are reinforcing long-standing inequalities of caste, class and gender in poor and marginalised communities.
When temperatures hovered at around 45 C in Churu in May, Vikas Regar, a brick-kiln labourer, was still working. Regar is paid 20 rupees for every tractor he loads. He spends several hours stacking bricks in the tractor. Then he spends several hours baking bricks. Its like I am putting my hand in the oven, Regar told me about working with a kiln that can be fired up to 1,100 C.
At the end of a 14-hour day, the 26-year old, who is paid per unit of work, takes home about Rs 300 to his wife and infant. Although Indias wage code requires employers to set a fair piece-work rate pegged to the minimum wage, brick-kiln owners routinely exploit workers by setting low piece-work wages, forcing them to work faster and for longer hours, even in the heat.
One oppressively hot afternoon that week, Regars head ached, his eyes burned. I was resting and then I started to vomit, he said. When Regar started to feel giddy after throwing up several times, his wife took him to the doctor.
The doctor gave me an injection, four litres of water and some glucose, said the man with blisters on his palms and feet from working in the sun. Because of the blisters, I cant hold a cup of tea in my hand. But my boss doesnt care he hasnt even paid the doctors fees. On May 28, after a two-day break, Regar returned to the kiln.
Workers are not able to take breaks in many piece-work jobs, including in brick-kilns, Vidhya Venugopal, a professor at the department of environmental health engineering, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, said, This is because employers set impossible daily targets for workers to complete.
A 2017 paper Venugopal co-authored, on climate-change-induced heat risks for labourers in brick kilns, recommended that any technical improvements to reduce pollution or mitigate heat stress must be accompanied by measures to end human rights abuse and slavery on site.
Addressing heat and climate change without considering human rights and ecological injustices ignores the obvious elephant in the room, the paper noted.
Some 1,600 km east of Rajasthans Churu, and two days after Chaudhary saw locusts destroy his crop, Cyclone Amphan triggered heavy rain, fast winds and storm surges in Bengal. South 24 Parganas, a district that extends across the Sundarbans delta in India, is one of the worst-hit. It is a devastation I have not seen in my life. Nearly 99% of South 24 Parganas district has been wiped out, said Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal.
For decades, rising seas and violent storms have swept mud homes, breached embankments and flushed saltwater into fields. One in five households in the Sundarbans has a family member who works elsewhere; 64% of migrants said economic or environmental factors have pushed them out. Close to nine in 10 households are either landless or own land less than an acre big.
Within the Sundarbans, there is a particular geography of inequality, Megnaa Mehtta, an environmental anthropologist who specialises in the Sundarbans, said in a recent interview. The people who are the poorest and often landless live on the rivers edge. These are people who live right next to embankments and are the first to be hit.
Sundarbans workers fleeing one climate catastrophe will likely face another this decade: rising heat. A little over 2% of total working hours, an equivalent of 80 million full-time jobs, will be lost to warmer weather by 2030, according to a 2019 International Labour Organisation report that examined the impact of heat stress on labour productivity. This report noted that high rates of vulnerable employment will put workers at greater risk of heat stress.
After adopting the UN Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction, Indias released its national disaster management plan in 2016. It mentioned women, children, the elderly and the disabled as groups vulnerable to natural disasters. The policy identified Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as groups-at-risk only in 2019, when the plan was revised.
Policy statements for vulnerable groups dont go far enough. We need funding and staff to develop and implement an operational framework for marginalised communities, said Lee Macqueen, senior programme manager at National Dalit Watch of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, a civil society group that monitors the exclusion of Dalits and other marginalised communities in disaster situations.
For example, using Indias census data, the state and central governments can identify vulnerable groups by their caste, the quality of their homes, their livelihoods, their access to electricity, water, their migration status and disabilities, Macqueen said. The government can overlap this data with Indias hazard maps, and develop focused strategies to protect and build resilience of families in high-risk situations.
In the aftermath of Cyclone Fani in Odisha and the 2018 Kerala floods, National Dalit Watch interviewed over 3,900 affected individuals in both states. Marginalised communities in Kerala and Odisha, both reports found, were likely to be poorer when disaster struck; are more likely to be in harms way; are more likely to suffer damages; and are likelier to receive delayed relief.
As the planet heats and Himalayan glaciers supplying rivers begin to melt, some of the subcontinents perennial river systems that support over a billion people could dry up for months each year, spurring further conflict.
In Lucknows Manak Nagar slum, Pallavi Tharu and her family of seven live in a 150 square-foot mud hut. This May, the hand-pump in their settlement the one that Tharu and over a thousand plus residents depend on broke down. As temperatures breached 47 C, Tharu had to cycle a kilometer to a railway officers colony to use their water tank.
On one of her trips to the colony in late May, she was shoved by a policeman: He pushed me as I was filling water and kicked my bucket. Tharu said the officer told her that she did not have permission to fill her buckets in the colony. They said I was spreading the coronavirus and threatened to lock me up in jail, she said.
The Tharus, like many in the settlement, have voter and ration cards but dont have electricity. A group of economists and scientists this May, via an article in Nature Climate Change, urged governments to ensure continuity of basic services. They said providing electricity, water and other utilities will be critical to limit loss of life during heat waves, wildfires and hurricanes.
The locust outbreaks are expected to get worse this year, according to Indias Locust Warning Organisation. In Churu, Moharshi Chaudhary doesnt think he will be compensated for his losses. He is probably right. The Centres locusts relief package for Rajasthans farmers in 2019-2020 was restricted to only four of the 12 districts that reported losses.
In the four districts, compensation could be claimed for up to two hectares of land, lower than the average landholding size of 2.73 hectares. Payouts per hectare were capped at Rs 13,500 less than half of the farmers average cultivation costs.
With his cotton profits, Chaudhary was going to repair his house. His brother Omkarmal was going to have a kidney operation. I dont know what I will do now, he said.
Amit Mishra is a community journalist in Lucknow. Nikhil Eapen is a freelance journalist and a researcher at Equidem, a labour-rights organisation.
Here is the original post:
How Inequality Is Aggravating the Impact of Climate Change for Millions in India - The Wire
- Why are Jamaicans forced to live in poverty? - Jamaica Gleaner - October 29th, 2023 [October 29th, 2023]
- The ultimate price - The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting - October 29th, 2023 [October 29th, 2023]
- Cornyn, Cruz lead another GOP delegation on border tour of RGV - Brownsville Herald - October 29th, 2023 [October 29th, 2023]
- Landworkers' Alliance Report: Debt, Migration, and Exploitation - Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants - October 29th, 2023 [October 29th, 2023]
- Searching for wholeness in a nation fractured by capitalism and ... - Kansas Reflector - October 23rd, 2023 [October 23rd, 2023]
- Explainer: The State of Poverty and Slavery in Ecuador - JURIST - October 23rd, 2023 [October 23rd, 2023]
- That AI You're Using Was Trained By Slave Labor, Basically - Futurism - October 23rd, 2023 [October 23rd, 2023]
- Bibb Announces Ten Winners of $5000 Restaurant Grants to ... - Cleveland Scene - October 23rd, 2023 [October 23rd, 2023]
- Sugarcane Burning Is a Plague on These Black Floridians Mother ... - Mother Jones - October 23rd, 2023 [October 23rd, 2023]
- 18 of the Most Haunted Places in Alabama - AZ Animals - October 23rd, 2023 [October 23rd, 2023]
- Immigration Health Surcharge: equality impact assessment 2023 ... - GOV.UK - October 23rd, 2023 [October 23rd, 2023]
- Books The common cause - Morning Star Online - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Search warrants executed in alleged human trafficking and slavery ... - ACT Policing News - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Modern slavery and human trafficking: identifying and reporting ... - GOV.UK - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Report: Government needs better policies to help narrow economic equity gap - Yahoo News - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- New Zealand criminal investigation into systemic migrant worker ... - WSWS - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- What back to school means in the era of PragerU - Reckon - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- The Jacksonville Shooting and the Far Right - Left Voice - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Build support for today's union struggles The Militant - The Militant - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Work requirements wont affect the debt ceiling but they will stir up ... - The Boston Globe - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Ten Percent of North Koreans Forced To Work as Slaves: New Report - The New York Sun - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Anti-Slavery Commissioner visits the Coffs Coast - News Of The Area - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Former Server Says Customers Should Tip If They Ask Questions - The Daily Dot - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- New exhibition looks at the UK's role in indenture labour - ianVisits - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- UNITED WE STAND: THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW - Savannah Tribune - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- No, MLK Was Not a Christian Nationalist - Word and Way - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Fact check: Tipping began amid slavery, then helped keep former Black ... - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- Slavery - Wikipedia - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- Social class - Wikipedia - December 23rd, 2022 [December 23rd, 2022]
- Author Ibram X. Kendi speaks in Portland on legacy of slavery and the tipped wage - Press Herald - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- As a Nation, We are Doomed to Fail if the 'Original Sin' of the Past is not Reconciled in the Present - CT Examiner - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Lincolnshire car wash owners handed 10-year slavery order - Lincolnshire Live - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- "Under The Banner of King Death" puts pirates in their place in the history of workers' rights - Boing Boing - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Forrest Hylton | To the Lighthouse LRB 18 October 2022 - London Review of Books - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Aussie Brands Among Most Improved in 2022's Ethical Fashion Report But There's Still a Long Way To Go - Broadsheet - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- DC voter guide: 2022 election what you need to know - WTOP - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Exploring the Fault Lines in Mental Health Discourse: An Interview with Psychologist Justin Karter - Mad in America - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Iran: 'Society has risen to overthrow the Islamic Republic' - Green Left - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Slavery by any name is wrong: the push to end forced labor in prisons - The Guardian US - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Abortion, Marijuana, Slavery: 11 Themes to 2022 Ballot Measures - The Epoch Times - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Visions of Progress tells tales of two Charlottesvilles, Black and white - Bristol Herald Courier - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Miss Malini's job advert puts spotlight back on 'exploitative bosses' and a 'pittance' as salary - Moneycontrol - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- As Hurricane Ian Threatens Florida's Southwest Coast, What's Happening On The Ground - KPCC - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Truths about student debt, college costs, and corporate freeloading on the backs of students. - Daily Kos - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- The Kohinoor, Cullinan and the enduring demand for reparations across the colonial world - The Indian Express - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Divine Politik: The rise of robots should be the downfall of capitalism The Daily Free Press - Daily Free Press - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- Stop romanticizing the lives of 1950s housewives - Halifax Examiner - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- Domestic workers, long excluded from labor protections, call for codified rights - The 19th* - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Pierre Poilievre Claims He's a Friend of the 'Working Class'. He's Spent Years Attacking Canadian Workers. - PressProgress - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Stockard on the Stump: Governor declares he didn't violate the Little Hatch Act Tennessee Lookout - Tennessee Lookout - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- How Central American immigrants played a vital role in the U.S. labor - Fast Company - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- The unity imperative: Lessons for building the anti-fascist alliance - People's World - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- How FrontLine Farming Is Using Land to Grow Food and Heal Generational Trauma - 5280 | The Denver Magazine - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Queen Elizabeth II Reigned For 70 Years: Here Are The 10 Longest-Reigning Kings And Queens Of The UK - Forbes - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Ballot initiatives to watch in 2022 midterms, from abortion to slavery - USA TODAY - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- 10 Songs That Deal with Labor Rights and Hating Your Job - MetalSucks - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Conflict and modern slavery: the investment perspective - Schroders - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- The Santa Cruz County boom town that went BOOM - The Mercury News - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- This Labor Day, buy produce grown only on farms that respect workers rights - The Hill - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- The unity imperative: Lessons for building the anti-fascist alliance - Communist Party USA - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Agency visits US to share efforts to end fisher abuse - - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- High income tax in PNG is a disincentive - POST-COURIER - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- For women of color in care work, racial and economic inequities abound, report shows - The Boston Globe - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Opinion | Behind the Rise in Union SupportAnd the Challenge Ahead - Common Dreams - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Slavery and Trafficking Risk Order imposed on Lincolnshire car wash owners - Forecourt Trader - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- Opinion | The Tide Is Turning: US Congress Finally Considers a National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights - Common Dreams - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- Edited Transcript of ADH.AX earnings conference call or presentation 22-Aug-22 1:30am GMT - Yahoo Finance - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- Conservatives Explain Why They Are Preparing For A Civil War - The Onion - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- 10 Black Millionaires Who Got Busted By The IRS For Failure To Pay Taxes - Moguldom - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- 34 Great Records You May Have Missed: Spring/Summer 2022 - Pitchfork - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- Amazon Hit by Strikes Across the Globe - Novara Media - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- The Past, Present, and Future of Work - YES! Magazine - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- National Trust members: get ready to choke on your carrot cake - The Guardian - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- Lost Yet Connected in Time: Brown, Peltier, Melaku-Bello, Abu-Jamal, and Assange - LA Progressive - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- Mondelz commits to living wage for cocoa farmers and invests in education programmes for children - ConfectioneryNews.com - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Opinion | The Supreme Court Has Too Much Power and Liberals Are to Blame - POLITICO - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Breaking the stranglehold of speculative property ownership | interest.co.nz - Interest.co.nz - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Why fashion should act now to legislate living wages in the supply chain - Drapers - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Georgia's six-week abortion ban goes Into effect, an attack on... - Liberation - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- 10 years on, what is the true legacy of the London 2012 Olympics? - Metro.co.uk - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]