Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Indian Migrant Workers

Abstract

The coronaviruses are responsible for a variety of conditions like severe acute respiratory syndrome, common cold, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. Recently a new corona virus that was named later as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was responsible for an outbreak that happened in Wuhan, China. The disease that the virus causes has been named as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) which has been declared by the world health organization as a global pandemic later in March 2020. The COVID-19 crisis is having an unprecedented impact on global economies, businesses and workers. Migrant workers are mostly from rural areas but live most of the year in cities for work. Many have no savings and lived-in factory dormitories, which were shut due to the lockdown. Indian migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic have faced multiple hardships. With factories and workplaces shut down due to the lockdown imposed in the country, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of income, food shortages, and uncertainty about their future. Following this, many of them and their families went hungry. Thousands of them began walking back home, with no means of transport due to the lockdown. In response, the Central and State Governments took various measures to help them, and later arranged transport for them. With public health catastrophe unfolding because of the disease as well as economy, the need of the hour is to include all migrant workers in government initiatives and provide equitable access to treatment, detection and treatment measures besides economic and vocational assistance.