Manufactured maladies: Lives and livelihoods of migrant workers during COVID-19 lockdown in India

Adhikari, Anindita and Goregaonkar, Navmee and Narayanan, Rajendran and Panicker, Nishant and Ramamoorthy, Nithya (2020) Manufactured maladies: Lives and livelihoods of migrant workers during COVID-19 lockdown in India. The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 63 (4). pp. 969-997. ISSN 0971-7927

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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.

Item Type:	Article
Authors:	Adhikari, Anindita and Goregaonkar, Navmee and Narayanan, Rajendran and Panicker, Nishant and Ramamoorthy, Nithya
Document Language:	Language English
Subjects:	Social sciences > Economics > Labor economics > Labor force and market Social sciences > Economics > Labor economics > Labor force and market > Discrimination in employment, labor shortages, unemployment > Unemployment Social sciences > Economics > Macroeconomics & related topics > Factors affecting income and wealth Social sciences > Economics > Macroeconomics & related topics > Factors affecting income and wealth > Poverty
Divisions:	Azim Premji University - Bengaluru > School of Arts and Sciences
Full Text Status:	Public
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/7200
Publisher URL:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-020-00282-x

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