Crisis Within a Crisis: Migrant Workers’ Predicament During COVID-19 Lockdown and the Role of Non-profit Organizations in India

Abstract

This article explores the role of non-profit organisations in mitigating crisis for the urban working poor during the pandemic in India. We focus specifically on the humanitarian crisis around the interstate migrant workers that resulted from the Indian government’s efforts to contain the pandemic by imposing a nationwide lockdown. Through in-depth interviews with leaders of non-profit organisations in India, who were actively engaged in relief work during the migrant crisis, we explore the role of poverty and inequality in exacerbating the pandemic’s impact. Our findings indicate that multiple dimensions of inequality combined to aggravate the effects of the lockdown on interstate migrant labourers in India. The government’s initial apathy towards this vulnerable group, delay in addressing the unanticipated consequences of the pandemic response, and its ineffective crisis management efforts resulted in a humanitarian crisis in the country concurrent to the pandemic. In this context, the non-profit sector played a critical supporting role in mitigating the migrant workers’ crisis during the pandemic.

Humanitarian management strategy for interstate movement of migrant workers in India during COVID-19 pandemic: an optimization based approach

“…In the context of India, as noted in the introduction, COVID-19 related lockdown measures led to migrant workers moving to their state of domicile from the workplace states before the pandemic. The following were researched: the general state of the art of the crisis (Suresh et al, 2020 ; Misra & Gupta, 2021 ), human rights (Kumar & Choudhury, 2021 ), risk of spread of infection due to planning issues (Pal et al, 2021 ), implications for transportation (Maji et al, 2020 ), social and health implications (Iyengar & Jain, 2021 ; Jesline et al, 2021 ; Choudhari, 2020 ), and the role of non-profit organisations (Barhate et al, 2021 ) among others. The economic implications of the migrant worker movement due to COVID-19 have received somewhat limited attention.…”

Assessment of Disruption of Routine Childhood Immunization in Developing Countries Due to Pandemic

“…The sudden closure of schools is concerning since these locations are crucial for providing young children with various health treatments, including vaccinations. Due to the lockdown, all the workers in big cities migrated back to their hometowns for basic survival [ 27 ]. The workers moved back to their hometowns along with their families.…”

A human resources development professional's framework for competencies during COVID‐19 and unrest

“…The uncertainties threatened business continuity due to an imbalance in the organizational finances, which led to organizational restructuring and changed priorities. As a result, employees faced uncertainties concerning their continued employment with the organization, affecting their well‐being and mental health (Barhate et al., 2021 ). Organizations thus engaged in sensemaking to understand the uncertainties, the pandemic's impact on the organization and employees and then develop and apply necessary solutions (Kniffin et al., 2021 ).…”

“…Organizations thus engaged in sensemaking to understand the uncertainties, the pandemic's impact on the organization and employees and then develop and apply necessary solutions (Kniffin et al., 2021 ). To meet the rapidly changing organizational needs and ensure employee safety, organizations had no choice but to rapidly evolve and adapt to the changes forced by the pandemic (Barhate et al., 2021 ; Dirani et al., 2020 ).…”