In the absence of adequate social security for migrant workers, the recession induced by the COVID-19 pandemic forced the mass return of millions of circular migrants who were supported by their rural households of largely left-behind women. In addition, the recession rendered destitute small traders and operators of microenterprises, and reduced the incomes of small-scale farmers. Based on a study of food supply chains, this paper concludes that gendered rural households functioned as safety nets during the severe recession in the Indian economy, which highlights the weakness in state policy and the lack of resources in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the recession did not only result in a temporary loss of income but also increased inequality and strengthened the oligopoly structure of the Indian economy.

In the absence of adequate social security for migrant workers, the recession forced the mass exodus of millions of circular migrants supported by their rural households of largely left-behind women. Our article looks at what happened after that. How did the returned migrants manage to survive and retain their capacity to work till they were required back in urban employment? This article argues that gendered rural households functioned as safety nets in the severe recession in the Indian economy which highlights the weakness in the state policy and lack of resources in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were safety nets not only for workers directly working in food value chains but also for reverse migrants. Overall, the recession did not just result in a temporary loss of income but also increased inequality and strengthened the oligopoly structure of the Indian economy.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while balancing the three dimensions of sustainability, are latent about the pathways to achieve it. The transition may involve trade-offs between the different dimensions of sustainable development, like balancing the socio-economic dimension with environmental limits. The paper attempts to demonstrate some of these channels for the leather value chain in India, which is a conspicuous source of precarious labour and polluting industrial processes. Interacting the firm's objectives with value chain governance, we introduce four quadrants for the transition to sustainability. Combining voices from the field with a novel dataset, we provide evidence of the intersections between socio-economic and environmental sustainability illustrative of countries in the global South. The precarity of work and inadequate upgrading of the production process co-exist in most firms. We find that firms tend to hover around baseline economies of lower costs, work precarity and hazardous processes while exhibiting inertia for a transition. However, a few units are either transitioning or have nearly attained decent work practices and progress to cleaner technologies. The sustainability transition demands engagement in the social and economic upgrading of production processes and organisational practices. It is multi-dimensional, ameliorating precarious labour and upgrading to cleaner technologies.