Heartfelt

Coercion- indirect, implied and an unsaid impact of Covid-19

(-by Sonali Bakshi, 28th of May,2020, Delhi)

Today morning, sitting on my couch and having my coffee as usual I glanced over a newspaper article. Reading about the daily change in dynamics pertaining to the GDP, global economical situation,the increasing number of Covid patients in one of the articles I came across the word 'coercion' which got my mind clock ticking.

"Coercion", is one of the grounds to make any contract void and is defined in section 15 of the Indian Contract Act as;

"Coercion' is the committing, or threatening to commit, any act forbidden by the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) or the unlawful detaining, or threatening to detain, any property, to the prejudice of any person whatever, with the intention of causing any person to enter into an agreement."

In a layman's language coercion is "the action or practice of persuading someone to do something by force or threat."

There are inexhaustible resources to find the definitions, expressions, language, terms pertaining to anything that we desire to acquire knowledge on. But what does it feel to actually experience one of these terms or expressions happening to us? How does coercion affect a person in reality where there is no actual contractual agreement legally executed on paper and yet a person has to do things beyond his choice and control?

The present situation of chaos and distress that has arisen due to Covid definitely makes us ponder that the constitutional rights, equality and justice for all etc etc, is much more of a theoretical concept than a practical one. The plight of the daily wages migrant workers who are situationally coerced to walk miles and miles without proper food just to ensure their existence and survival is reflection of such a sorry state of humanity which proves without a doubt that the "system" definitely is unable to function for the rights of all. The Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest or in the present scenario survival of the financially established and mighty still holds true.!

I remember a news report i saw on the television 2-3 days back showing that a handful of domestic helpers who being rendered jobless and penniless have been situationally coerced to undertake work such as cleaning of sewage of which they have no prior experience but "necessity being the mother of all inventions" has taught them to do anything it takes to provide for their families and ensure their lives are saved from this threat of poverty and its undesirable repercussions which this situation has landed them into.

The Government did announce that free meals would be distributed to the economically backward people and they need not worry nor run away from the cities however, one must think that on an average a domestic helper/unskilled labour earns around ₹10,000 to ₹15,000 on monthly basis by his/her hard work. To reduce such a person's self respect to the extent where he/she has to hold utensils, stand in line and wait for getting free food or wait for a mere amount of ₹500/-(₹1500 in all, to be given in three monthly instalment) to be transferred in the Jan Dhan account, what exactly this entire situation has coerced their existence to turn into?

One of my friends shared that the private sector company in which her husband is working has imposed a 30% cut in salaries without the consent or opinion of the employees stating the present Covid pandemic to be the reason, now isn't it an indirect coercion for the employee to agree to the company's decision only to retain his job even if it's an unsuitable decision to his own pre-existing set of liabilities?

So, coercion as I understand is not only existing on papers as a definition in one of the sections of the Indian Contract Act. The present Covid-19 situation has very much brought it into our lives in different ways and to different extents to which we all have to quietly agree in order to safeguard ourselves from the threat of being pushed into undesired poverty or being wiped away from our mere existence on Earth.

Another "C" word like cough, cold, congestion, corona, covid, caution, etc "coercion", in my mind is added to the list of words causing worry to all in the present lockdown and Covid-19 pandemic phase. Only the acceptance of the "new normal" is a quid pro quo for staying alive.!