Frontlist | Jaipur Literature Fest: Harsh Mander's book speaks of migrant workers' sufferings during lockdown

Frontlist | Jaipur Literature Fest: Harsh Mander's book speaks of migrant workers' sufferings during lockdown
on Feb 22, 2021

The Jaipur Literature Festival, that is known as the greatest literary show on Earth, is a sumptuous feast of ideas. Each year, several world's greatest writers, humanitarians, politicians, business leaders and entertainers are welcomed on one stage to champion the freedom to express and engage in thoughtful dialogue. This year, Dailyhunt and OneIndia are the proud partners as live streaming partner and digital media partner respectively for the Jaipur Literary Fest In the previous session, Journeys from the Margin: Annie Zaidi and Deepa Anappara were in conversation with Shahnaz Habib. This session was on two novels, that unblinkly examined the alienation across the Indian society. In today's session, Harsh Mander, an Indian author, columnist, researcher and social activist who works with survivors of mass violence and hunger, as well as homeless persons and street children, held a discussion about his latest book Locking Down the Poor: The Pandemic and India's Moral Centre. In his book, he spoke about the problems that migrant workers suffered when the Centre called for a nationwide lockdown in 2020. The author also raised his voice against the government for not making much arrangements for the migrants to reach their hometowns. I was asked to start off very briefly about my book. But many people asked me why and when did I write this book? The book took seed in my mind and heart on that evening that changed India. When our Prime Minister announced the lockdown, Harsh Mander said. In an interaction with Arun Maira, Harsh Mander said, Most of us here, except those who lived through partition and the great Bengals, will see this once in our lifetime. And this humanitarian crisis, had nothing to do with the virus, but how we chose to respond to it. Read more: ‘Scam 1992- harshad mehta story wins dadasaheb phalke award Source: One India