The COVID-19 Pandemic and Human Dignity: the Case of Migrant Labourers in India

Abstract

Being one of the badly affected nations by the novel coronavirus, the Indian government had rolled out a set of strategies to contain the transmission. While measures like the lockdown inflicted significant damage on many sections of society, the interstate migrant labourers’ plight across India was nothing less than disastrous. While the privileged sections of the society could afford the strict restrictions laid down by the state, the migrant labourers stuck in different parts of the country found themselves to be second class citizens. This research is an ethical discourse on the human dignity of migrant labourers in a welfare state during the pandemic context. Data gathered from reports on the subject matter in media licensed by the state were analysed under the theoretical lens of violation of human dignity. The outcome of the research involves a critical appraisal of the human dignity of the marginalised in a so-called modern welfare state.