MIGRATORY DILEMMAS

As the monsoon clouds enveloped Kerala, thousands of workers from across India were migrating to their villages. Even though they had been surviving on daily wages, May is the month they would normally return to their original—and seasonal— source of livelihood: farming.

On the contrary, India’s monsoon season has begun with a deluge of woes—for workers, farmers and farming. And this is going to be the most devastating spill over of the covid-19 pandemic.

Amid the lockdown—India’s 68 days is the longest in the world—the country not only reported a consistent rise in covid-19 cases, it also willingly reconciled to live with the virus. By May 31, most of the restrictions were lifted but gave rise to another crisis of a much bigger scale.

Forced Migration

For the past few months, millions of workers were forced to return to their villages. But this was not the usual monsoon reverse migration; they were left unemployed due to the cessation of economic activities in cities and towns. It was found there were more people on the roads than in the villages.

According to the report collected by officials travelling with the migrant workers, it was seen that around 31,424 migrants between April 11 and May 20 returned to their villages. Of the 24,681 stranded adults, 37 per cent were daily-wage earners, followed by industrial labourers such as construction workers (30 per cent), farm labourers (26 per cent), and labourers employed in the service sector (7 per cent).

It is estimated that 100 million workers have moved away from

urban areas in these two months. Hence making it the largest

movement of people in India’s history. But it is also the most disruptive economic development. India’s villages were already economically weak, forcing people to migrate to towns and cities for livelihood. Now, with millions returning to the villages, an urgent expansion of the rural economy is required to sustain this transition.

To begin with, each of these workers has a family to sustain.

Together, these informal workers contribute around 10 per cent to India’s GDP. With this the agriculture sector’s contribution

to GDP is 15-16 per cent; which also primarily comes from these workers.

Putting together, these workers decide the economic fate of the country.

The challenge now is how to reinvent an economy of such scale

immediately to sustain the homecoming workers.

For instance, since January unseasonal rains and extreme

weather condition resulted in the damage of the winter cash crops. Due to a low demand in the markets, farmers were not even earning a fair price for their produce, thus taking a further cut in their meagre earnings. Around 100 million informal workers in India have returned to their villages due to job loss because of the lockdown. 

DISPLACED PEOPLE, MISPLACED MINDSET

 Internal displacements because of disasters like cyclones and floods are common in India. There were more than 5 million new displacements in 2019—the most in the world—according to Geneva based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (idmc). And the bulk of the displacements were triggered by extreme weather events that are linked to climate change. In terms of scale, India saw the wettest monsoon in 25 years in 2019, which triggered 2.6 million new displacements. Cyclone Fani was responsible for another 1.8 million new displacements in the same year. Similar trend was noticed as the Cyclone Amphan swallowed around 80 individuals and causing a severe level of destruction.

However, the lockdown—coinciding with the harvesting season for winter crops—means that the farmers are losing a significant chunk of their earnings. More than half the farmers who harvested their crops this year suffered a lower yield during the nationwide lockdown, compared to the last season of sowing the same crop, says the survey of 1,500 farmers in 200 districts across 12 states. The lockdown also forced 55 per cent of farmers to store their crops as they were unable to sell them.

The top six industrialised states in India, which account about 60 of industrial output, have been severely affected by the covid-19 lockdown. These are the states that have reported the maximum outflow of workers. This means that employment generation would be very difficult in these states in the near future.

So we can easily say that as the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic continues to have widespread impacts on workforces globally, migrant workers are among those bearing the brunt of the crisis.

Komal Wahi for Ecobuzz