Published Paper Details:

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major shock to the Indian economy and has disrupted the growth of almost all the sectors. The imposition of lockdown has brought economic activities to a standstill and created widespread unemployment especially in the informal sectors. One of the worst hit in this scenario are the migrant workers. Migrant workers are the backbone of the economy of this country. They provide their labour to several sectors of industries in the urban areas and keep them running. Most of them work in informal sector. The plight of the migrant workers and the inhuman conditions they were facing, was clearly visible when the lockdown forced lakhs of them to walk miles after miles towards their homes on foot. The reverse exodus of migrant workers proves that they are not considered at par with other citizens and are valued only for their labour power. Therefore with loss of work, the cities had nothing to offer to the migrant workers. They were left with no work, no food, no housing and even no transportation for coming back to their hometown. In this situation they prefer to die from the virus in their own village rather than starving for an indefinite period in their workplace.