Capitalist agriculture and the creation of the circular migrant: Understanding COVID-19’s impact on internal migrants in India

Abstract

COVID-19 has affected the internal migrants in India badly. When the government announced a lockdown with a 4-hour notice, millions of these migrants, who were a part of the vast unorganized labor force to be found in urban areas, were left stranded. In our article, we analyze the structural factors that underpin this crisis. We argue that the migrant crisis that unfolded in the urban areas has its roots in India’s embrace of globalization, the rise of capitalistic agriculture, and the increasing casualization of labor work in the urban labor markets.