Comparing the Kuwait rescue operation of 1990 and the current inter-state labour migration crisis is important to gauge the ideological shift in Indian polity.
The news today reads that India’s Forex Reserves have reached an all-time high of over Rs.49,000 crore USD. This is in addition to the Gold Reserves and the IMF’s SDR (Special Drawing Rights) holding. Financially, the present situation is thus a comfortable position for the government when contrasted with the “Balance of Payment (BoP)” situation 3 decades ago.
In the midst of that precarious situation in 1990, things were set to get worse due to Iraq’s actions to invade Kuwait. Saddled with a sinking economy, Saddam Hussein decided to press for war with neighbouring Kuwait to settle long-standing border disputes and take over critical oil reserves. Along with the threat of financial bankruptcy, the minority government of V.P.Singh was also facing immense political uncertainty due to alliance compulsions. But these issues notwithstanding, the plight of the lakhs of Indian citizens stuck in Kuwait was taken up on high priority. Tacit manoeuvring by the then foreign minister I.K.Gujral had convinced both sides of the war to make a pass-way for the Indians to leave the region.
V.P.Singh, and I.K.Gujral - third and fourth from left
With proactive support from influential Indian businessmen in the region, numerous buses were arranged to evacuate people from Kuwait and bring them to Jordan by road (a journey of over 1400 Km via Iraq). Then, Air India was asked to deploy two of its massive carriers from its already limited fleet to ferry the 1.7 lakh Indians from Jordan. Overall, the airline flew about 484 back and forth flights to bring them all back. The exercises last for over 50 days, and earned the “Guinness Record” for the most people rescued by a civilian airliner. All Indians were rescued well before “Operation Desert Storm” that was launched by the US to push back the Iraqi military from Kuwait territory. Despite all the financial and political turbulence back home, the aspect of charging the evacuees for the operation never even crossed the mind of the V.P.Singh government. Ironically, despite the phenomenal feat that the then government pulled off, the recent Akshay Kumar movie on the Kuwait rescue depicts a different picture, which is indicative of the current post-truth times.
Kuwait Evacuation - Indians boarding the flight back home at Jordan
With a huge forex surplus, we have come a long way since the financial crunch of the 1990s. In terms of political ideology too, we have also come a long way, and demanding government’s intervention during a crisis is no more a right but a paid service. Unlike the external factors that drove the Kuwait rescue, the corona lockdown was a preemptive state intervention. Hence, in contrast to the former, the latter provided a lot more avenues for the government to handle the fallouts. Despite this, every daily wager who wanted to get back home was made to pay for his ticket. The adherence to social distancing norms meant that workers at many places had to pay the price for two tickets. There seems to be no recognition from the government that these folks have been unemployed for over 2 months with little money in hand. More disturbing visuals though were of those walking 1000s of miles to reach home, with their little ones and belongings.
Corona Lockdown - labourers on their way back home
Even for governments that are truly committed to free-market economics and are ideologically opposed to subsidies, humanitarian compromises have been the norm. But in the Modi government’s case, there seems to be an uncompromising and unshakably strong belief in the quote that “There are no free lunches”. The extension of the same belief is what clouds the massive 20 Lakh crore corona relief rhetoric, which has only a paltry budgetary allocation. Contrary to the opinion of many experts who vouched for pumping direct cash to citizens by running budget deficits, the corona relief package is largely an advisory to banks for liberalizing loan disposals and other such non-budgetary actions that can push up money circulation a little.
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