Impact of Migration of Labour Force Due to Covid-19 Pandemic with reference to India

This article discussed the effect of epidemics like COVID-19 on the migrant population. These impacts are most troubling for low income households, which are less well positioned to cope with earnings losses during this pandemic, have no alternative earnings and have no social security available. Migrant workers constitute quite a large population of such vulnerable population. Millions of migrant workers have lost their jobs due to the lockdown and subsequent fear of recession in India. Many of the migrant workers have returned to their villages, and many more are just waiting for the lockdown to be lifted. The lockdown is likely to first hit contract workers across many of the industries. On the one hand, lockdowns and social distancing measures are drying up jobs and incomes, whereas they are likely to disrupt agricultural production, transportation systems, and supply chains on the other. This poses a challenge of ensuring food security and controlling already rampant malnutrition, particularly among children, which is likely to result in increased infant and child mortality. There is a need to relook at the national migration policies, which should accommodate the assistance and protection of migrants arriving from, or faced with the prospect of returning to, areas affected by health crises. Also, there is a need to establish resilient food systems that could reduce food insecurity and the pressure to return to origin among migrants. There is a need to relook at the national migration policies, which should accommodate the assistance and protection of migrants arriving from, or faced with the prospect of returning to, areas affected by health crisis. Also, there is a need to establish effective food systems that could reduce food insecurity and the pressure to return to origin among migrants.