May 2020, South Asia
When they came home: Migration and responses to COVID-19 in India
ESHA SINGH  and MEERA MISHRA

With most of the world sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Labour Organization estimates that about 2.7 billion people – 81 per cent of the global workforce – are currently affected by full or partial workplace closures. Governments are racing to mitigate the resulting economic pain, which threatens to push 49 million people worldwide into extreme poverty and exacerbate global hunger. Workers in the informal sector are the hardest hit, and migrants are especially vulnerable. Thirty per cent of India’s 450 million migrants work in the informal sector, and they are no exception.

When the Government of India announced a national lockdown, many migrant workers decided to travel back to their homes, struck by uncertainty and confusion as their incomes dwindled. They hoped that back in their home villages, they would have access to regular meals, agricultural income and social protection programmes, while saving on expenses like monthly rent. Apart from sparking concerns that the pathogen would spread to India’s rural areas, this sudden exodus from the cities also created a different emergency – one in which all levels of government had to scramble to safely and humanely isolate both returning and stranded migrants.