We  are raising funds to help migrant daily wage workers in India who are in great distress due to COVID-19.

India  adopted a sudden and strict lockdown – public transport was shut down overnight – which meant hundreds of thousands of poor migrant workers are unable to reach their villages and are stuck in big cities where they cannot afford shelter and even food. A recent BBC news report covered the story of a migrant worker Manoj and his mother Kalibai <https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-india-52360757>

Many are so desperate to get back home that they have set off on foot – following rail tracks to reach their villages. Ranveer, a 39 years old migrant, died from heart failure after walking 300 kms halfway from home <https://scroll.in/latest/957570/covid-19-lockdown-man-collapses-dies-halfway-while-walking-home-300-km-away-from-delhi>. There are several others like him. Tired from exhaustion and lack of food some migrants slept on rail tracks not expecting trains to be running and were killed by a goods train <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-lockdown-maharashtra-aurangabad-migrant-workers-killed-train-6399556/>

The Indian Government has started to arrange transportation (trucks, buses and some trains) in various states to get the registered migrant workers back to their villages. However, back in the villages, migrant families face the grim prospect of starvation as they wait for wages that will never arrive. There will be more deaths and more misery if nothing is done.

We are Supriya Garikipati and and Shree Mandke. A little about us. Supriya: I am from the city of Liverpool, where I live with my husband and two children. I am a development economist at the University of Liverpool, UK <https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/management/staff/supriya-garikipati/>. Shree: I live and work in London with my partner. I have over 20 years of experience in establishing and managing outcome driven strategic partnerships in India among other places <https://www.linkedin.com/in/shree-mandke-a6281911/>.

Over the years, we have had several research projects in India – using these networks we have identified several small grassroots organisations with inspiring and passionate leaders that believe in the cause of service to humanity. We will be working with these organisations for quick action as they are not saddled with bureaucracy and overheads. Our immediate aim is to:

1) Get emergency cooked food delivered to known migrant worker clusters in the cities and villages. 2) Get durable high nutrition food items to migrants (like puffed rice, puffed lentils, peanuts, jaggery) 3) Distribute a survival kit including a thick plastic sheet, blanket, towel, soap and clean water to these migrants. 4) If required negotiate shelter for migrants in empty schools, temples, churches, mosques and gurudwaras. Where necessary, pay for the costs of utilities. 5) Where possible identify travelling migrants and get durable food and survival kits delivered to them.

Many of the grassroots organisations have offered to work on voluntary basis but some very small ones have requested some costs to be covered (like fuel). To ensure that every penny that you donate goes to migrant workers,  we have decided to bear these costs. With the generous support of our families, we are also able to take on the justgiving fees to fundraisers as well. Each organisation has also pledged to keep receipts for all purchases so we can take personal responsibility for the spend. Please donate from your heart. The more money we raise, the more migrants we can reach. If we act fast, we may be able to avert a terrible human tragedy.