Migrants’ Vulnerabilities in India During the Pandemic

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Date
2023-06Author
Pramanik, Santanu
Banerjee, Bipasa
Shepherd, Andrew
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Abstract
Migration promotes agglomeration of economic activity in more productive
locations and improves employment opportunities for households in less developed regions, alleviating poverty and boosting shared prosperity through
remittances. Most internal migrants’ livelihoods are characterised by circular
mobility, mandatory physical presence at work, temporary or seasonal nature
of work, and informality. Beside their temporary residential status and lack of
access to government welfare schemes, most migrants are vulnerable workers.
The Covid-19 pandemic made them more vulnerable due to its mobility
restrictions and total shutdown of the economy during lockdown. The extent
of precarity migrants faced depended on existing policies, and how agile
policymakers were in responding to the crisis and introducing new policies to
protect vulnerable migrants.