UPSC CSE Mains Syllabus: GS-2- Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

India’s gaze has, for the first time, been turned towards the “migrant labourer”. They have suffered to a larger extent in this lockdown.

For Indian democracy to learn the right lessons from the plight that a sudden lockdown caused this vast section of Indians, one crucial element must surely be to secure to them the right and facility to vote.

Their voting trends: 

Portability in our system: 

Including migrants with in it: 

Way forward: 

Ensuring this fundamental freedom to the Indian migrant worker, regardless of caste, gender, creed, ethnicity or faith, therefore, is a constitutional obligation of the ECI. The failure to ensure that this “class of Indians” is legitimately allowed to exercise its franchise is tantamount to invisibilising their security, dignity and overall well-being from the political discourse of the country.

Ambedkar’s prescience on right to vote for “Untouchables” bears note. He had observed that, “the right of representation and the right to hold office under the State are the two most important rights that make up citizenship”. India would do well to extend this vision to a long invisibilised section of Indians to ensure that they, too, are educated into political life.

Source:”Indian Express/The Hindu”

POSSIBLE UPSC CSE MAINS QUESTION:

The right of representation and the right to hold office under the State are the two most important rights that make up citizenship. In this regard, discuss the difficulties faced by the migrants in exhibiting their voting rights. What could be done to ensure their full participation?