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.

Keywords: COVID-19; India; Inequality; Labour; Lockdown; Migrants.

Fig. 1

Percentage of SOS calls over time. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 2

Distribution of stranded workers based on distress calls. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 3

Distribution of daily wages by employment category before lockdown. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 4

Origin states of workers. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 5

Number of stranded workers who received rations throughout the lockdown. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 6

Percentage of workers who received rations during the lockdown, calculated using a ten-day average. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 7

Number of days of rations left for stranded workers throughout the lockdown. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 8

Weekly average percentage of people with access to cooked food over time. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 9

Percentage of people who did not receive rations over time. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 10

Percentage of people who did not receive cooked food over time. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 11

Weekly snapshot of the percentage of workers who were paid during lockdown. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 12

Amount of money remaining over time. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 13

Percentage of people who had to take loans (IVR survey). Source: Data Collected by SWAN team

Fig. 14

Percentage of workers who required medical assistance. Source: Data Collected by SWAN team