Crushed in first wave, migrant workers have few jobs, little support again

Little attention has been paid to relief and social protection to migrant workers during state lockdowns this year, study says.

Migrant workers were weeks from running out of food, struggled to access healthcare and faced acute livelihood problems during the partial lockdowns imposed by states to limit the second surge of the Covid-19 pandemic, shows a recent survey conducted by Aajeevika Bureau, a labour rights organisation.

Unlike the migrant crisis of 2020, covered extensively in the media, little attention has been paid to the provision of relief and social protection to migrant workers during state lockdowns, the study found. Since the restrictions this year were partial, some migrant workers chose to return home in the early days of the wave.