Manufactured Maladies: Lives and Livelihoods of Migrant Workers During COVID-19 Lockdown in India

Abstract

The 68 days of lockdown in India, as a measure to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, unlike any other in the world. In the first half of the lockdown, migrant workers were stranded with no food and money with severe restrictions on movement when a mass exodus of workers back to their hometowns and villages began. In the second half, the workers’ woes were compounded with a series of chaotic travel orders and gross mismanagement of the repatriation process. In this article, we draw on the work of Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) with more analysis and perspective. SWAN was a spontaneous relief effort that emerged soon after the lockdown was announced in March 2020. In addition to providing relief, SWAN concurrently documented the experiences of over 36,000 workers through the lockdown. We highlight the inadequacy of the government and judicial response to the migrant worker crisis. We present quantitative data elaborating the profile of workers that reached out to SWAN, the extent of hunger, loss of livelihoods and income. We also present qualitative insights based on interactions with workers and discuss multiple, non-exhaustive, dimensions of vulnerability to which migrant workers were exposed.

Risk of COVID-19 Transmission and Livelihood Challenges of Stranded Migrant Labourers during Lockdown in India

“…Two months after the lockdown, the government had taken some initiatives to overcome the issues of migrant labourers. But, few studies have focused on the issues of stranded migrant labourers during the first two months of lockdown (Adhikari et al 2020 ; SWAN 2020 ; Rajan et al 2020 ). However, few if any studies have focused on the risk of COVID-19 transmission among stranded migrant labourers, their livelihood challenges and access of governmental or non-governmental assistance during lockdown in India.…”

“…Indian migrant labourers have encountered multiple hardships compared to general people during lockdown (Bhagat et al 2020 ). After the initial stage of lockdown, the economic crisis, food shortage and insecure future have seen an unusual turn among migrant labourers (Adhikari et al 2020 ). The anxiety of transmitting the COVID-19 disease and the absence of a caregiver or family have boosted the prevalence of mental illness among the migrant labourers during lockdown (Choudhari 2020 ).…”

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Labour Supply, Wages and Gross Value Added in India

“…The present shock has potentially affected the Indian economy more profoundly than the Financial Crisis of 2008-2009, thereby accentuating the already saddened state of the economy existing even before the COVID-19 pandemic started (Kumar, 2020;Patnaik, 2020). The support extended by the government of India, claimed to be 10% of the GDP, is hardly enough to match the extent of losses (Adhikari et al, 2020;Ghosh, 2020;Ray & Subramanian, 2020). This precarious situation is compounded by the informal nature of the Indian economy in general and labour markets in particular.…”

The protracted exodus of migrants from Hyderabad in the time of COVID-19

“…As such, the wider approaches of the governments, the belief systems that have underscored such approaches and the institutional arrangements to address the crisis have evolved over time. This is of critical importance in countries like India, where COVID-19 is not just a public health crisis, but a pandemic with socio-economic consequences of an intensity that has pushed millions into poverty and distress (Kesar et al 2020 ; Ceballos et al 2020 ; Mishra 2020 ; Adhikari et al 2020 ; Chen 2020 among others). While several data points have captured this, the most visible account has been presented by the migrant crisis that India witnessed in the early months of the pandemic (Ray and Subramanian 2020 ).…”