The nationwide lockdown imposed by the Indian government last week to contain the coronavirus pandemic has brought the country to a standstill. Simultaneously, it has created panic in the lives of India’s migrant workers and labourers. The images of them walking hundreds of kilometres to reach their homes have etched themselves in our minds. Since the lockdown, over 20 migrant workers, including children, lost their lives to hunger, exhaustion, or in-road accidents on highways.
What is compelling them to make this arduous journey home on foot? What are their vulnerabilities? Were these taken into consideration when the state announced the lockdown? And are we now doing enough to alleviate their concerns and ensure that they do not bear the disproportionate brunt of this lockdown?
In the second episode of the podcast on the coronavirus pandemic, Yamini Aiyar, President and Chief Executive at the Centre for Policy Research, discusses the issue with Partha Mukhopadhyay and Mukta Naik, Senior Fellow and Fellow, respectively, at the New Delhi-based think tank.
Mukhopadhyay and Naik discuss what makes the migrant worker invisible to India’s policymakers, how the state has failed to address their needs repeatedly, and how that has led to an inherent mistrust of the state among migrant workers. They recommend winning back this trust with open and honest communication, abstaining from coercive means of enforcing the lockdown, and ensuring safe passage home for migrants who want to go home.
This is the second in a series of episodes by the Centre for Policy Research on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. You can follow the Centre’s work on Covid-19 on Twitter or visit www.cprindia.org. You can read Mukhopadhyay and Naik’s opinion piece on the migrant crisis here, and listen to all the episodes in the Coronavirus Conversation series here.
