A baby born to a migrant worker couple during India’s coronavirus lockdown, might just get a peculiar name. Reportedly, the parents of the baby born “during a train commute”, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, want to name him “Lockdown Yadav”.
According to Indian media reports, the 32-year-old mother, Reena, was travelling with her husband Udaybhan Singh Yadav on a Shramik Special from Mumbai to Uttar Pradesh. After she went into labour on the train, her husband said he contacted the railway helpline. Officials helped them alight at Burhanpur, and Reena was taken to a district hospital where she gave birth to her baby, late Friday night.
According to a video tweeted by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the mother told news reporters: "He has been born in such a situation that we want to name him Lockdown Yadav.”
While some social media users who shared the report are finding the name hilarious, others have said, the new parents will never forget the struggle they went through due to the pandemic.
Other similar cases of babies being born on Shramik trains were shared by Indian Twitter users.
Meanwhile, people also shared a video that went viral earlier this month, suggesting more such names, including “Corona Pal Singh” “Social Distan Singh”.
According to reports, District Collector Praveen Singh Adhayach said the mother and newborn were doing well, “and the administration had provided Rs5,000 (Dh241.72) as assistance besides clothes, medicine and food”.
Adhayach added that the family was sent to their destination in Uttar Pradesh, by a private vehicle.
However, Facebook user Ranveer Sharan highlighted: “I hope the government can see that while some poor migrants are slightly lucky be delivering babies on trains and in hospitals, there are many mothers delivering on roadsides.”
Migrant mother delivers baby after walking 100km; child dies
Highlighting the same, many tweeps shared news reports about a migrant labourer's pregnant wife, who walked over 100km from Punjab, delivered a girl child after reaching Ambala in Haryana, but the baby died shortly after birth.
The father, a poor migrant worker, Jatin Ram had lost his job amid the lockdown. While thousands of poor labourers in India took the roads to walk long distances in a bid to reach home before starvation could kill them, Ram and his wife, Bindia, waited for the country’s government to come up with a solution.
It took India more than a month after the lockdown, to arrange trains to ferry back poor workers to their villages.
However, due to the low frequency and difficulty to get seats on the train, many continued to walk. Reportedly, Bindia and Ram, both in their early 20s, had also set out from Ludhiana last week for their village in Bihar, after they did not get registration on the train.
Also read:
- Coronavirus: A seven-month-pregnant Indian migrant worker walks 500km to her village in Maharashtra, amid lockdown
- COVID-19 India lockdown: So what if you give birth on roads and die on rail tracks, dear migrant workers? We are blind.
- Coronavirus: Poor Indian migrant worker walks over 1200km with child on her hip due to lockdown, social media upset
Reportedly, he said that Bindia was very weak as she was unable to get proper food. When they reached Ambala City, from Ludhiana, after walking more than 100 km, Bindia started having labour pain and police helped Ram take her to the civil hospital. The woman gave birth to a baby girl, their first child, who died immediately after.
Reacting to the news, tweep @hate_stopper posted: “Horror. No pregnant woman should be put through this nightmare. The government had no plan whatsoever before announcing the lockdown. The migrant families are experiencing a magnitude of difficulties in this poorly legislated lockdown.”
And, tagging the country’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, @Adarshanurag_ tweeted: “Sir, we had lots of hope from you… that India will rise now. But, sorry to say, this ignorant behaviour of yours towards migrant labourers has really made many of us ashamed on choosing you. Not done right.”
The couple performed the last rites in Ambala City.
An NGO at Ambala Cantonment made arrangements for their stay and food, and assured the couple they would also make arrangements for their safe travel in a Shramik Special train to Bihar.
