Thousands of migrant labourers have headed home on foot after national lockdown, which has created an acute shortage of labourers in major agrarian states. The inter-State migrant worker community, thousands of these migrant labourers have been leaving cities, even on foot, for their towns in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and elsewhere.

After days of uncertainty following the lockdown, nearly 1,200 migrant workers from Odisha, stranded in Kerala will undertake a journey to return home

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Hardship faced by migrant labourers:

• Between 100 million to 125 million people leave their villages, families and homes to find work far away wherever they can find it; their invisible hands harvest the crops and feed us, clean streets, run factories, build roads, and construct our houses.
• The migrant workers are largely dependent upon casual and daily wage labour and unorganized retail.
• The lockdown would severely affect their livelihood opportunities.
• Citing the uncertainty of employment, and therefore of money and resources, these migrant labourers sought the comfort of the social net in their towns and wanted to return back.
• Most of the migrant workers live in cramped spaces where it would be difficult to maintain physical distancing.
• The lack of hygiene and sanitation facilities makes this section highly vulnerable to such epidemics.
• An analysis of the migration trend shows that a major portion of the rural-urban migration constitutes the migration of men to cities in search of better employment opportunities.
• They are generally the primary breadwinners, and the survival of their families back home is entirely dependent on these migrant labourers. The anxiety of being affected by the virus drove many to return to their families.

Issues faced by migrant lockdown due to Government lockdown:

• The Central government announced the lockdown with just a four-hour notice, making it even harder for the migrant labourers to figure out ways to face the challenge of a lockdown.
• The lockdown has a disproportionate impact on the socioeconomic conditions of the poor and unorganized sector.
• The lack of social security among the poor makes it difficult for them to practice social distancing. They are mostly dependent upon daily and even hourly wage earnings. The lockdown would lead to an income security challenge to them.
• There have been suggestions that given the prior warnings of COVID-19, the situation could have been handled much better. There have been concerns that the decision was arbitrary, unplanned and ill-prepared.
• The lockdown was not accompanied by practical and necessary relief measures.
• The movement of the labourers towards their hometowns was not aided by the government.
• There have been some sections which have argued that if the government was willing to evacuate Indians from other countries, why similar intent is not being shown to make sure that the poor migrant labourers reach their hometown.

However, the Government’s measures were necessary:

• The need for a very short notice before lockdown was considered essential given the fact that a larger time lag would lead to large scale movement of people and make it difficult to contain the spread of the epidemic.
• The decision for a lockdown at the earliest was considered necessary given the examples of other countries like Italy and Spain where a delay in lockdown had substantially increased the number of cases. The intention was to announce the lockdown and then taken necessary actions for easing the pressure on the citizenry.
• The first priority during such a crisis has to be tackling the health challenge, which can be followed by other measures. The economic package by the government in the form of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana was directed at easing the pressure on the vulnerable.
• Given the daunting scale of tracking that would be required if the migration was allowed, the government chose not to allow migration of the labourers to their hometowns. The possible spread of the virus in the rural hinterlands would be beyond the carrying capacity of the Indian health system.

Measures needed:

• The proposed quarantine camps must be well equipped with sufficient supplies of essential items for all.
• Governments must use schools and college hostels for the migrants to stay and also utilize the Public Distribution System to provide food.
• Governments must show resolve, commitment, and compassion to deal with the migrant crisis.
• Civil society must come forward and support the most vulnerable.
• For the migrants already enroute to their places, there should be proper screening en route and they should be informed of the practical health protocols to be practiced during the first 14 days.
• These migrants need to be put under observation, further screening, isolation, testing, and quarantine where required.
• The affected families also have to be given minimum guarantees of food, health, and some income by the government during the lockdown.

Way forward: