On January 19, the collision of a truck and a tractor 50 km north of Surat resulted in the deaths of 15 migrant labourers who were sleeping on the footpath by the road. Twelve of them died, including a 1-year-old girl.
According to reports, all except two were from Rajasthan.
The incident received wide coverage in the media. For many, the incident evoked memories of the 16 migrant workers who were run over by a train as they slept on the railway tracks in Aurangabad in May as they were attempting to walk home during the Covid-19 lockdown. The lockdown made it clear that India’s cities are by design exclusionary for its 150 million-strong migrant workforce.
But now, it is imperative for governments, the media and society at large to have newer conversations around such tragic incidents. We must ask not about the specifics around such accidents, or merely the lapses in shelter policy, but who the dead were, where they came from – and why they had to seek work far from…