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10Контактная информация: e-mail: evgeniyamoiseeva@mail.ru; ORCID ID: 00 00-00 01-7571-2369; Scopus Author ID: 57214717819; Web of Science Researcher ID: X-6836-2019; RSCI Author ID: 665294.
Статья поступила в редакцию 14.07.2021; принята в печать 17.09.2021.
Авторы прочитали и одобрили окончательный вариант рукописи.
RETURN MIGRATION: THE SECOND MAJOR OUTBREAK DUE TO COVID-19 IN INDIA
Shraddha Agarwal
RUDN University, Moscow, Russia E-mail: agshraddha.8@gmail.com
DOI: https://doi.Org/10.19181/demis.2021.1.4.9
For citation: Shraddha Agarwal. Return Migration: The Second Major Outbreak due to COVID-19 in India. DEMIS. Demographic Research. 2021. Vol. 1. No 4. P. 115-128. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/demis.2021.1.4.9.
Abstract. COVID-19 pandemic made a severe impact on the developing countries. According to the "World Economic Situation and Prospects" report by the United Nations, as of mid-2021, this global crisis has clearly worsened poverty and within-country inequality, and it is expected that it will leave long-lasting scars on labor markets while reversing progress on poverty and income inequality in many economies. The context in India, in this sense, is complex. The article corresponds to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on internal migration. The rapid spread of the pandemic shook nations across the world, bringing about a broad lockdown that cinched down on versatility, business exercises, and social communications. In India, the pandemic encouraged an extreme emergency of portability, with transient workers in many significant urban areas looking to get back to the places where they were initially from. Their frantic attempts to get back using any and all means accessible delivered the lockdown incapable in a few regions, provoking conflicts with authorities, last-minute approaches, alleviation, and, in the end, unplanned transport measures. This paper expects to reveal insight into the weakness of India's internal migrants as far as their gender, mobility, and emotional wellbeing. As COVID-19 was India's first significant outbreak in 2020, the "reverse migration" proves to be the second major outbreak.
Keywords: migration, return migrants, social protection, labor laws, gender, government policies.
Introduction
Migration is a feature of social and economic lives across the countries and the oldest action against poverty. However, the profile of migrant populations varies considerably. In part, this is because of the variety of sources of migration. While in India, the relocation is more instigated by push factors like penuriousness, joblessness, provincial inconsistencies, family development, marriage, regular cataclysms, those in developed countries are more draw factors like opportunity, freedom, wellbeing, and so on. The correspondence examines COVID-19 set off switch movement in India. India has seen the second biggest mass relocation in its set of experiences after the Partition of India in 1947, wherein an excess of 14 million individuals were dislodged and moved to India and Pakistan separately, contingent upon their strict beliefs. The assessment portrays the movement pattern and related impacts on the migration just as the country is on the loose.
This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migration within India. Furthermore, it aims to shed light on the vulnerability of India's internal migrants in terms of their mobility, gender, and mental health. It critically analyses the limitations of public policy in addressing migrants and suggests recommendations for the way ahead. In India, COVID-19 was a misfortune in which transient workers were regularly slandered and unfairly faulted for spreading sickness. However, as a matter of fact, they were one of the most
affected groups. The pandemic's impact on India's domestic migration was extreme, and the poor and marginalized were the most brutal hit. Migrants died due to reasons ranging from starvation, suicides, exhaustion, road and rail accidents, police brutality, and denial of timely medical care [1]. Regardless of the volume of business, all business entities were forced to stop, resulting in job losses in most sectors. This labor market shock has deeply impacted internal migrants. In India, the pandemic precipitated a severe 'crisis of mobility,' with migrant laborers in many major cities seeking to return to their hometowns. During the first lockdown, after the declaration of the 21-day-country-wide lockdown because of COVID-19 in India, there was an unexpected assembling of tens of thousands of migrant laborers from across the Delhi city, walking towards transport terminals to reach their home villages, towns in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and different states. The lockdown announcement triggered mass exodus and reverse migrations of unskilled and semi-skilled laborers from major urban cities who walked back to their villages without food and money. Few women gave birth to children on the road and continued walking with the newborn, while few died on the way walking in the scorching heat, with no food and water availability1. This reverse migration of millions of migrant workers to their native villages had a very adverse impact on their physical, mental, and economic wellbeing. An estimate putting together the numbers of short-term seasonal/ circular and long-term occupationally vulnerable workers gives us about 128 million workers whose livelihoods may have been adversely impacted with the onset of COVID-19 [2]. At first, government authorities had halted all the public transportation and emphasized 'staying at home,' needed to decide to permit individuals to arrive at transport terminals and city borders and organized many modes of transport into service.
Further, the Central government asked State governments to take measures to forestall a mass transient of migrant laborers in the wake of the public lockdown. A mass departure of migrant laborers from urban communities in a few states to their towns raised worries that the COVID-19 episode turned into a humanitarian crisis. Drawn by the gravity of the issue, the public authority dispatched another plan, in particular "Migrant Workers Return Registration." This current plan's primary maxim is to check the number of everyday workers and transient laborers stalled out in different states. This scheme also directed to provide them with 14 days of quarantine places after they arrived at the places where they grew up. Approximately 1.45 million migrants who originated in Uttar Pradesh filled the form under "Migrant Workers Return Registration" to reach back their hometown in Uttar Pradesh2. State governments the nation over dispatched their entrances and amassed the information of their kin (day-by-day workers and transient laborers) so they could be moved to the places where they grew up without any problem. An enormous number of transports were orchestrated their highway development. The Indian Railways likewise presented Shramik special trains for migration laborers, sightseers, pioneers, understudies, and others. In April-May 2021, as COVID-19 roared back in India, migrant workers who had just started to resettle in the cities they left during last year's outbreak are packing to return to their villages again.
There is a fear that COVID-19 restrictions in India can take a premium human cost that expands well past brief profit misfortunes for jobless laborers. The investigations on prior
1 India's Migrants Flee to Their Villages as Covid-19 Prompts New Lockdown // The Wall Street Journal. 14.04.2021. URL: httpsV/www.wsj.com/articles/indias-migrants-flee-to-their-villages-as-covid-19-prompts-new-lockdown-11618392602 (accessed on 15.04.2021).
2 14.75 lakh migrant workers register as UP govt plans to employ them in MSMEs, other industries // The Economic Times. Newspaper. 26.05.2020. URL: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/14-75-lakh-migrants-workers-register-as-up-govt-plans-to-employ-them-in-msmes-other-industries/articleshow/76012686.cms (accessed on 01.06.2020).
downturns propose that the work misfortune during a plunge sometimes brings about long-haul unemployment and wage difficulties, crumbling the soundness of jobless laborers and expanding destitution. These effects are generally alarming for low-pay families, which are less very much situated to adapt to profit misfortunes during a downturn, have no elective income, and have no federal retirement aide accessible [3]. Migrant laborers comprise a colossal portion of such a vulnerable population. In this article, we will discuss some of the significant issues concerning the impact of a pandemic like COVID-19 on the migrant population using the literature accessible on migration, scientific studies, newspaper reports, survey data issued by the government of India, comparing the surveys based on the latest data available of census 2011.
Effect on Labor
There have been confirmations in the past about what a downturn means for the labor force. During the worldwide monetary emergency of 2008-2009, an expected 22 million individuals had lost their positions, as per the International Labor Organization (ILO). In the same way as other nations, India needed to confront the downturn in 2009. An investigation conducted by UNDP [4] uncovered a few realities about what the downturn meant for the transient specialists in India. As indicated by UNDP, work misfortune was around 40,000 from the designing sector, 100,000 from pearls and adornments, and 500,000 from clothing. Most of these business industries were mainly situated in Gujarat, Ludhiana and Tirupur. Around 20,000 development laborers lost their positions in the Gulf coast region. Such work misfortunes were more seen in the unorganized sectors. The downturn of 2009 recommended that cutting back antagonistically influences the individuals utilized in unorganized ventures and those utilized in collaborative undertakings, however, whose business contracts are casual [4].
Another investigation on the effect of the downturn in Kerala [5] showed that more than one-fifth of the total displaced people got back because they lost their positions because of the monetary emergency, while another 3.3 percent came because they were necessarily localized. Another 11.5 percent of the migrants announced that they got back because their agreement had terminated and was not restored. Including all, the all-out level of exiled people who got back attributable to the monetary downturn was around a day and a halfpenny (around 63,000 wanderers) in the territory of Kerala. COVID-19 has all the earmarks of being more genuine than what we looked at in the 2009 downturn. The ILO has assessed that up to 25 million individuals may get jobless worldwide because of the effect of COVID-19, running between 5.3 million occupation misfortunes on a 'low situation' and 24.7 million on a 'high situation'3. The effect may vary from one country to another. During the pinnacle of the COVID-19 in Wuhan, very nearly 5 million individuals in China lost their positions in January and February 20204. A review from the Angus Reid Institute tracked down that 44% of Canadian families have encountered some sort of occupation 29km fortune5. Almost 900,000 laborers lost their positions in Spain since it went into lockdown
3 ILO World Social Protection Database (WSPDB) // International Labour Organization [site]. URL: https://www.social-protection.org/gimi/WSPDB.action?id=15 (accessed on 05.06.2021).
4 Cheng E. Roughly 5 million people in China lost their jobs in the first 2 months of 2020 // CNBC. Television channel. 16.03.2020. URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/16/china-economy-millions-lose-their-jobs-as-unemployment-spikes.html (accessed on 05.06.2021).
5 COVID-19: Canada layoff tracker // Maclean's. Magazine. 30.04.2020. URL: https://www.macleans. ca/economy/covid-19-canada-layoff-tracker/ (accessed on 05.06.2021).
in mid-March 20206. In March 2020, more than 10 million Americans lost their positions and applied for government help7. As per the early gauges, many transient laborers were left jobless in India before the finish of March 2020 because of the lockdown8.
Patterns of Internal migration in India
By and large, financial emergency in the objective diminishes the number of migrants, lessens settlements, and disturbs migration systems [6]. According to the Economic Survey 2016-2017, more than 9 million individuals relocate yearly inside the country, and most of such migration is for jobs, education, or marriage. While Delhi, followed by Mumbai, is the top destination city for migration, numerous individuals are moving to the urban areas in the South of India, like Bangalore, Chennai, and so forth. The most significant number of these transients sets off from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam. The Census 2011 information shows that, in India, a vast extent of relocation of the laborers is within the district and to different locale intrastate (Figure 1). Around one-fourth of the whole movement is interstate. The relocation of laborers is more in metropolitan regions because of the accessibility to better life chances.
Global movement establishes around 2.6 percent of the complete relocation9. According to ILO 2018 report, more than 30 million Indians abroad, with more than 9 million Indian migrants amassed in the GCC locale (presently known as the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf). More than 90% of Indian migration laborers, most low-and semi-talented specialists, work in the Gulf area and Southeast Asia. The commitment of migration laborers, both profoundly talented and low gifted, has prompted India to turn into the top beneficiary of settlements on the planet, with over US$62.7 billion remittances received in 201610.
Internal migrants structure a pivotal piece of India's economy. The Economic Survey 2016-2017 assessed an expected 100 million inward migrations in India, which make up around 20% of the all-out labor force. They contribute an expected 10 percent of India's monetary yield11 and assume a significant part in its economy. Large numbers of the internal transient migration from less fortunate states, for example, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the north to work in the modern centers of more created states like Gujarat and Maharashtra in the south, or to the metro urban communities.
As indicated by Census 2011, around 65 million migrant laborers worked in different occupations, barring cultivators and farming workers (Table 1). As per word-related classification, the investigation of non-farming migration laborers shows that many are
6 Keeley G. Spain sees historic rise in unemployment as nearly 900,000 lose jobs since coronavirus lockdown // Independent. Online newspaper. 02.04.2020. URL: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ world/europe/spain-coronavirus-lockdown-unemployment-job-loss-update-a9442146.html (accessed on 05.06.2021).
7 Weissmann J. 6.6 Million Americans Filed for Unemployment Last Week // Slate. Online magazine. 02.04.2020. URL: https://slate.com/business/2020/04/unemployment-jobs-numbers-economy-coronavirus. html (accessed on 05.06.2021).
8 Hungry, desperate: India virus controls trap its migrant workers // Al-Jazeera. Television news channel. 02.04.2020. URL: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/4/2/hungry-desperate-india-virus-controls-trap-its-migrant-workers (accessed on 05.06.2021).
9 2011 Census Data // Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India [site]. URL: https://censusindia.gov.in/2011-common/censusdata2011.html (accessed on 10.06.2021).
10 ILO World Social Protection Database (WSPDB).
11 Hungry, desperate: India virus controls trap its migrant workers.
occ upiid vcitli creating acK related exc han ges or as plant and mac hine admini strctors and construct ing agents.
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
61
38,1 45,5
29,5 29,3 28
1 24 1 25,2 1 1 1
12,3
^ 3,2 2,6 1
Migrated from other Migrated from other sides Migrated from other country district within state
■ Female «Male Total
Migrated within district (intra-district)
Fig. i. Distribution of migration workers in India by type of migration, 2011, %
Source: 2011 Population Census12
Table 1.
Subsector-wise industriel employment trends in India, 2018
Sector Nsmbeo(Mln) Percentage
Manufacturisg sector
Food and beverages, tobacco products 9.2 16.3
Textiles, wearing apparel 18 31.9
Leather, wood, paper products, printing 5.8 10.3
Petroleum products, chemical prodects 1.5 2.7
Robber and plastics, non-metallic products 5.1 9.0
Basic metals, fabricated metals 4.6 8.2
Machieery equipment, electric andelectronic machinery 4.0 7.1
Motor vehicles and other transportation 1.5 2.7
Furniture, recycling, jewellery and sports goods 6.8 12.1
Manufacturing total 56.4 100.0
Non-manufacturing sector-
Mining and quarrying 2.0 3.4
Electricity, water, gas 2.8 4.8
Construction 54.3 92.2
Non-manufacturing total 58.9 100.0
Source: [7].
12 2011 Census Data.
0
The migration information of 2011 Census additionally showed that an enormous number of transients are showing up in various metropolitan zones, especially metro urban communities from various states. For example, in Delhi, an enormous extent of migration is coming from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Uttranchal, Rajasthan and Punjab. They withdraw from far off towns looking for work in huge urban areas to help families whom they for the most part abandon. In Delhi, around 39% of the transients came from Uttar Pradesh alone. Bihar likewise had around 12% offer in the all-out movement to Delhi.
A new report by the Centre for Sustainable Employment (Bangalore) [7] assessed that around 115.3 million individuals are occupied with mechanical work, of which the assembling area business represents 56.4 million, while the excess 58.9 million are in the non-assembling work (Table 1). In the assembling area, the biggest extent ofwork is in materials and attire, trailed by food and refreshments. A vast dominant part (92%) of the individuals who are working in non-assembling business are occupied with development work. Around 144.4 million individuals are utilized in the assistance area. Of these, more than one-fourth are occupied with retail exchange aside from engine vehicles (Table 2). Land transport represents around 15% ofthe complete assistance area. Almost 6% ofthe absolute individuals are utilized in inns and cafés, while around 12% of the all-out individuals in assistance area are occupied with the instruction area.
Table 2.
Sub-sector wise service employment trends in Int ia, 2018
Sub- sector Number (mln) Percentage
Sale, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles 3.6 2.5
Wholesale trade except motor vehicles 6.1 4.2
Retail trade except motor vehicles 37.3 25.7
Hotels and restaurants 8.7 6
Transport and communication 27.7 19.2
Financial intermediation, insurance and pension funding, activities auxiliary to financial intermediation 4.8 3.4
Education 17.5 12.2
Public administration and defense 7.5 5.2
Renting of machinery/equipment, computer and related activities 3.5 2.4
Health and social work 5.6 3.9
Other social services (art, entertainment, R&D) 16.5 11.4
Total service sector employment 144.4 100
Source: [7].
Considering that the enormous urban communities in India have countless transient specialists coming from various states, it is also essential to comprehend under what conditions they work. In the investigation, assessed that around 260 million individuals are working in the non-ranch area [7]. More than 101 million individuals are working in the unorganized sectors, which is around 71% of the individuals working in the nonranch area, as demonstrated in Table 3. A vast lion's share of the laborers occupied with non-ranch business is working in the casual (83.5%) and the private areas (87%). The extent of individuals working in unorganized, casual, and private areas was greater regardless of whether they were occupied with assembling, non-assembling, or administration areas.
Table 3.
Types of employment in the non-farming sector in India, 2018, number in million
Organized Unorganized Formal Informal Government Private
Manufacturing 18.1 38.4 00 7 47.7 1.2 55.3
Non- manufacturing 15.4 43.5 3.1 55.9 6.3 52.7
Services 43.2 101.3 31 113.4 26.4 118.0
Source: [7].
A report introduced by the public statistical office of National Statistical Office, in [8] uncovered that among standard salaried representatives in the non-agribusiness area, almost 71% had no composed occupation contract, and such extent was higher among guys than females (Table 4). Around 54% of customary salaried representatives in the non-agribusiness area were not qualified for paid leave. Besides, almost 50% of them were not qualified for any government-backed retirement advantage.
Table 4.
Employment situation in India, 2018, % of salaried employees_
Items Male Female Total
Have no written contract 71.1 72.3 66.8
Have no eligibility for paid leaves 54.2 55.2 50.4
Have no eligibility for social security benefits 49.6 49.0 51.8
Source: [8].
The Sarvekshana report likewise showed that more than 68% of the laborers in non-agribusiness areas were occupied with the casual area. The portion of casual area among male laborers was 71%, while the relating figure for females was 55%. Thus, the casual area comprises a vast extent of the absolute labor force in the country.
The most significant effect on the little and medium business, especially in retailing, the migration industry and transportation, and so on the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) showed that the more significant part of the migration industry and neighborliness industry can go wiped out with a potential loss of an enormous number of occupations if recuperation in the business extends past October 2020. It would likewise influence the independently employed workers. The new companies, which are on developed stage, would likewise be influenced, as their interest will probably get following the lockdown. For one year, any unnecessary recruiting will back off in any business, as the corporates will adopt a moderate strategy towards work and development. As indicated by the Retailer Association of India13, around 40 million individuals in the casual area and 6 million individuals in the conventional area are used by the retail area alone. Indeed, even in the conventional area, around 3-4 million individuals are used on a legally binding premise. Thus, if there should arise an occurrence of COVID-19 circumstance additionally, an enormous number of migration laborers are at impending danger of losing their present place of employment, for a brief time or forever. The danger is significantly more remarkable for the individuals working in the unorganized sectors, those who do not have essayist contracts or those
13 Nahata P. Coronavirus Impact: Fear of Contract Job Losses Prompt Cash Transfer Calls. Bloomberg Quint. Indian news media. 19.03.2020. URL: https://www.bloombergqumt.com/busmess/fear-of-conlract-job-losses-prompt-cash-transfer-calls (accessed on 15.06.2021).
whose agreements are on the verge of termination. The lockdowns and resulting downturn will probably hit contractors across a considerable lot of these businesses initially.
Gender-based
Stories of the COVID-19 battles of Indian transients have either been overlooked or downplayed from the gender orientation viewpoint. The experience and effect of COVID-19 on women migrant laborers are pretty similar to their male counterparts in the course of migration.
While women outnumber men in internal migration in India (Figure 2), it is distinguished as a component of a marriage or associational migration. This generalization is one of the inborn purposes behind the invisibility of female migrants. It is clear that marriage and related migration as a component of the social act of patri-locality and expanded care work liabilities are the main reasons behind most women pulling out from the workforce. Nonetheless, the functional status of women after marriage migration is exceptionally misjudged and misestimated because numerous women report marriage as the justification of relocation, although they promptly go into work in the recently migrated region. Similarly, a study reveals that the movement of women migrants is oriented towards struggle with social, economic, and political forces along with the policies that influence internal migration patterns and their outcomes for women.
44,6
43,1 43,9 41,2 37,4
30,6 30,3 27,4 30,6 22,6
19 17,6 14,6 17,5
1971
1981 1991 2001
Total ^"Male Female
2011
Fig. 2. Internal migration and gender patterns in India, 1971-2011, %
Source: [9]
Each calamity Iras an unequal gender orientation sway. According to a survey, within two months of the lockdown during tire first wave, four in each ten working women lost their positions, which are more than 17 million. The reverse migration movement due to the overnight losr of occupation ohteavelers ran slow down the economy for 15 years14, change
14 Nair Si. K. Reverse migration to villages has set economy back by 15 years, says JNU professor // The Hiadu. Newspaper. 25.05.2020. URL: https://wwhw.thehindu.com/buriness/irsonomyrreverses migration-to-villages-has-set-economy-back-by-15-years-says-jmi-profassor/article31671389.ece (accessed on 15.06.2021).
the elements of advancement, and reset relocation conditions for women. The destined to-be-expected extraordinary worldwide financial downturn resulted in the cutback of jobs and widened gender gaps up to an exacerbated level.
Now, it is crucial to analyze all the categories of the predominant vulnerability in the women's case. The narratives have failed to capture the issues faced by single women labor migrants. The so-called standard customs and norms devalue women working outside the domestic boundary. The most silent in this narrative is the single women who moved from rural to urban areas. Many women are working, ranging from live-in domestic help to women working at construction sites, bricks kilns as farm laborers, salesgirls, waitresses. To a lot among these women concerning to North-East of India were targeted and harassed for their looks. Their workplaces were considered the danger zones for COVID-19 infections. They lost their jobs permanently, and their return and struggle were not covered in the media. On the other hand, women migrants who chose to stay back at their place of employment are working with a massive fall in their wages15 and missing out from the government's COVID-19 relief programs16.
Women migrants who were visibly taken into accounts were the ones who migrated with their spouses and children. The media has extensively reported many men and women walking hundreds of kilometers back to their native land carrying children. Few women gave birth on the way; few continued walking with the newborns, some died on the way [10]. A considerable number of them tested COVID positive. There were unfortunate incidents of trains running over them, killing 16 migrant laborers, sleeping on the railway track, and tired of walking17. Many women died on the Shramik railway.
The government takes policies
The public authority concerning migration took steps during the lockdown Measures taken by the public authority to help migrants remember from March 28. The focal government-approved states to utilize the State Disaster Response Fund to give convenience to voyaging migration. States were encouraged to set up help camps along interstates with clinical offices to guarantee individuals stay in these camps while the lockdown is set up.
Transportation
Between May 1 and June 3, Indian Railways ran 4,197 Shramik trains. More than 5.8 million transients were moved through such special trains, and 4.1 million were moved through road transport. The basic information delivered by the Central Information Commission following a rap from the CLC reported 2,617,218 migration laborers spread the nation over. Chhattisgarh has the most significant number of laborers, which accounted around 10.85 lakh, followed by Kerala, accounted 2.86 lakh, Maharashtra, accounted 2.01 lakh, Tamil Nadu, accounted 1.93 lakh, and Andhra Pradesh, accounted 1 lakh.
15 Thomas C., Jayaram N. Pandemic Crisis: 'Migrant Home-Based Women Workers Work 8 Hours/ Day For Rs 10-15' // IndiaSpend. Data journalism initiative. 23.07.2020. URL: https://www.indiaspend. com/pandemic-crisis-migrant-home-based-women-workers-work-8-hours-day-for-rs-10-15/ (accessed on 25.06.2021).
16 Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund-COVID CARE FUND // Relief Commissioner Office Govt of Uttar Pradesh [site]. URL: https://rahat.up.nic.in/upcovidcarefund.aspx (accessed on 25.06.2021).
17 Indian migrant deaths: 16 sleeping workers run over by train // BBC. British Broadcasting Corporation website. 08.05.2020. URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52586898 (accessed on 25.06.2021).
Food Distribution
The Indian government reported the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKB), a $22.6 billion help bundle, in March 2020 for migrants. On April 1, the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs guided state governments to set up alleviation camps for migrants with plans for food, sterilization, and clinical benefits. On May 14, under the second tranche of the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, the Finance Minister declared that free food grains would be given to migrants who do not have a proportion card for two months. The action is required to profit 80 million transient laborers and their families. The Finance Minister additionally proclaimed that the One Nation One Ration card was executed by March 2021 to give convenient advantages under the PDS. This permitted admittance to proportion from any Fair Price Shop in India to migration. The World Bank reported $1 billion in financings to accelerate social security support, to a limited extent through the PMGKB. This help would work close by prior measures like the Public Distribution System (PDS), which covers 800 million individuals, and Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT). This money infusion could help address one of the critical difficulties confronting India's piecemeal and lopsided social insurance programs - insufficient subsidizing. India's spending on open social assurance barring wellbeing is only 1.3% of the GDP 19. The government reported an extra 5kg of wheat or rice per individual on the Public Distribution System rundown, and 1kg of heartbeats per PDS family, for a very long time, and Free Liquefied Petroleum Gas chambers for 86 million Ujjwala conspire recipients (who are all Below Poverty Line families) for a very long time.
The Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan likewise dispatched a plan for Affordable Rental Housing Complexes for Migrant Workers and Urban Poor to give affordable rental lodging units under PMAY. The plan intends to utilize existing lodging stock under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Housing Mission (JnNURM) just to persuade public and private organizations to assemble new reasonable houses for lease. In addition, additional assets have been dispensed for the credit associated endowment plot under PMAY for center pay groups. Since lodging is a state subject, there is variety in the approach of States towards moderate housing.21 5.4. Monetary guide: Some state governments (like Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh) reported onetime money moves for returning migration laborers. UP government pronounced an upkeep stipend of Rs 1,000 for returning transients who were needed to isolate. The legislature of India declared Rs.500 each month, for a very long time, to an expected 200 million Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY) female record-holders (half of them are held by ladies), and money moved Rs.2000 to 87 million ranchers under the PM Kisan conspire. An exgratia installment of Rs.1000 to helpless senior residents, widows, and disabled people. Guarantee free credit of up to Rs. 2 million for female self-improvement gatherings.
MNREGA scheme benefits
During the pandemic emergency, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS) ensured to create employment and job generation in rural India. Central Statistical Organization (CSO) indicated that the third development gauge of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2019-2020 remained at Rs. 47 lakh crore, of which 17% is procured by flexible work, 21% by standard compensation representatives, and 62 percent without help from anyone else utilized laborers. The lockdown will influence every one of these specialists unexpectedly. As indicated by the Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) information for 2017, 25 percent of all-out specialists in India are easygoing workers (around 93 million individuals), procuring about Rs 1,754 every week. Another 23% are
standard breadwinners who get an average of Rs 4,063 every week. The rest, 52% specialists, are independently employed who acquire about Rs 3,460 every week. The total lockdown will influence easygoing workers the most. It is assessed that the Indian economy will confront a pay loss of Rs 1.7 lakh crore each week during lockdown18. The legislature of India expanded «rustic business ensure» everyday compensation, from Rs.182 to Rs.202 for MNREGA laborers. In April 2020, just 3.4 million families were utilized in the MNREGA, contrasted with 17 million in April 2019. An extra $5.33 billion to be dispensed to MNREGA work, well beyond the previous spending assessment of $8.13 billion for the fiscal year 2020-21. Essentially, it appears to be that the Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY) accounts were not open to the more significant part of their holders either because they leave excessively far from the closest financial point or in light of private matters. The legislature of India reported a subsequent help plan which addressed 10% of India's GDP - that is, Rs.20 trillion, or $270 billion; however, it was not of much assistance to transients.
Challenges faced to available policies
First of all, the epidemic showed that the government of India had limited resources to be able to implement the lockdown. Further, there were severe flaws in the policies issued, and availing them was out of reach for many migrants. After implementing a sudden lockdown under the relief scheme for migrants, the government doubled the ration quota for all poor people enrolled under PDS (Public Distribution scheme). The PDS is generally can be availed via a ration card. Since many of these poor migrants did not have one, and they could not avail the scheme. Alternatively, they simply excluded from government counting as per the number of ration cards issued. According to a survey report, out of 11000 migrants, 70% could not avail cooked ailments, and as many as 96% could not avail the PDS scheme. Several experts argue that many migrants were not taken into account due to a lack of accurate data on internal migrants, making it impossible to direct policies for all. Critics argue that over 100 million people were excluded from the coverage due to dependency on the 2011 census report for calculating state-wise coverage of the National Food Security Act19. While the most significant gap was felt in the State of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (Figure 3).
At least 28 million people from Uttar Pradesh and 18 million people from Bihar were excluded from the counting of the National Food Security Act, which we clearly see in the table above. Jan Dhan Aadhaar Mobile (Aadhar is a unique identification card for Indian citizens, connected with the bank, phone no, email, and address), under the online Subsidy Jan Dhan Yojana, the government aimed to transfer the direct benefit to the account holders without any cut-outs. It turned out that many of these accounts are inactive or a zero-balance account. Or the mobile number was not connected with the Aadhaar card of these migrants. Digital literacy, factors such as non-accessibility of mobility, or other institutional facilities such people were left out from availing the benefits of the cash transfer scheme.
18 Coronavirus outbreak will set back India's growth recovery // The Economic Times. Newspaper. 17.03.2020. URL: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/outbreak-will-set-back-indias-growth-recovery/articleshow/74663633.cms (accessed on 25.06.2021).
19 Outdated census data deprives over 10 crore of PDS: economists // The Hindu. Newspaper. 15.04.2020. URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/outdated-census-data-deprives-over-10-crore-of-pds-economists/article31350648.ece (accessed on 25.06.2021).
400
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■
■
■ ■ _
■ ■
Uttar Pradesh Bihar ■ 2011 population Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Maharashtra ■ 2020 population Estimated under coverage
Fig). 3. Estimated population covered and uncoveredby the Public Distribution System in Indian States, 2020, hundred thousan d people
Source: based on the data by economists J. Dreze, and R. Khera20
While critically examining the policies aiming; to provide benefits to wo men, found a Sack of intersectional approach. A few of the blind spots and the common problems were no Bank accounts, Unique identification cards (Aadhar cards), or insufficient documents unmarked these poor migrants from availing; of the scheme. Data on transgender communities are not available officially separaeely Such migrants were usually neiiher taken under the accounts of government programs nor their home provided them any identity.
No bank account
No Aadhar card
Unaware
Insufficient documents
Migration
Documents and bank account linked are not with Aadhar
19
28
3 6
63
83
89
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Fig. 4. Reasons for not availing government schemes at the time of lockdown, %
Source: [11]
20 Ibidem.
Validation of this can be assessed by the report made by the ActionAid committee in the year 2020 on taking into account 177 returnee migrants from the state Bihar. Moreover, it was found that 89% of the time, these migrants could not take any benefits from the government scheme due to the non- linkage of their Aadhar cards with their bank accounts (Figure 4). And fewer times due to no self-awareness. While these gaps were wider among women migrants.
Conclusion
This paper gives a holistic view of the migration crisis which occurred in India with the outbreak of noble COVID-19 by examining the conditions of the internal migrants. The lockdown hit rural migrants the most. They fronted social pressure, went through degradation of health and wellbeing, loss of livelihood, stigmatization. Furthermore, this paper also gives evidence of the failure of a proper system in the country, which already existed before the outbreak, as many migrants lack Unique Identification Cards. Such were excluded from the benefits. The government made an effort to help these migrants, it came late, and many lives were lost by then. The government however on the need to prioritize internal migration in policymaking additionally needs to be incremented. There is a further need to alter the derogatory perception towards internal migrants.
References
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Bio note:
Shraddha Agarwal, Postgraduate Student, Researcher, RUDN University (Peoples' Friendship University of Russia), Moscow, Russia.
Contact information: e-mail: agshraddha.8@gmail.com; ORCID ID: 0 0 0 0-0 003-3960-4832.
Received on 29.06.2021; accepted for publication on 02.09.2021. The author has read and approved the final manuscript.
ВОЗВРАТНАЯ МИГРАЦИЯ В ИНДИИ КАК НОВЫЙ ВЫЗОВ
ПАНДЕМИИ COVID-19
Агарвал Шраддха
Российский университет дружбы народов, Москва, Россия E-mail: agshraddha.8@gmail.com
Для цитирования: Агарвал Шраддха. Возвратная миграция в Индии как новый вызов пандемии COVID-19 // ДЕМИС. Демографические исследования. 2021. Т. 1. № 4. С. 115-128. DOI: https://doi.org/l0.1918l/demis.2021.1.4.9.
Аннотация. Пандемия COVID-19 оказала серьезное воздействие на развивающиеся страны. Согласно докладу Организации Объединенных Наций «Мировая экономическая ситуация и перспективы», по состоянию на середину 2021 г. этот глобальный кризис явно усугубил бедность и неравенство внутри страны, и ожидается, что он вызовет долгосрочные серьезные последствия для рынков труда и обратит вспять прогресс в борьбе с нищетой и неравенством доходов во многих странах. Ситуация в Индии в этом плане является сложной. Статья посвящена оценке влияния пандемии COVID-19 на внутреннюю миграцию. Быстрое распространение пандемии стало потрясением для всех стран мира и привело к всеобщей изоляции, которая ограничила мобильность, деловую активность и социальные коммуникации. В Индии пандемия спровоцировала чрезвычайную ситуацию в сфере миграции, когда временные трудовые мигранты из многих городских районов стремились вернуться в те места, откуда они прибыли. Их отчаянные попытки попасть домой, используя любые доступные средства, привели к невозможности установить локдаун в нескольких регионах, спровоцировали конфликты с властями, принятие ими скоропалительных решений, смягчение ограничений на перемещения и, в конце концов, вынудили принять незапланированные меры на транспорте. Цель настоящей статьи - определить точки уязвимости внутренних мигрантов в Индии с точки зрения их пола, мобильности и эмоционального благополучия в контексте пандемии. Первая вспышка COVID-19 произошла в Индии в 2020 году, а спровоцированная ей волна обратной миграции стала второй крупной проблемой.
Ключевые слова: миграция, возвратная миграция, социальная защита, трудовое законодательство, гендер, государственная политика.
Сведения об авторе:
Агарвал Шраддха, аспирант, научный сотрудник Российского университета дружбы народов (РУДН), Москва, Россия.
Контактная информация: e-mail: agshraddha.8@gmail.com; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3960-4832.
Статья поступила в редакцию 29.06.2021; принята в печать 02.09.2021. Автор прочитал и одобрил окончательный вариант рукописи.
