32 Days and Counting: Covid-19 Lockdown, Migrant Workers and the Inadequacy of Welfare Measures in India

On March 25, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of Covid-19. Two days later, on March 27, volunteers associated with the Right to Food Campaign (a network of individuals and organisations in India) and the Samaj Parivartan Shakti Sangathan (an organisation that works on accessing government programmes in Muzaffarpur, Bihar) formed the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) to respond to distress calls from migrant workers in different parts of India.This is their second report, which documents information collected from the calls of 1,531 groups of 16,863 stranded workers, up to April 26, 2020. SWAN’s first report – 21 Days and Counting: Covid-19 Lockdown, Migrant Workers and the Inadequacy of Welfare Measures in India – was released on April 15, with data on 640 groups of 11,159 stranded workers up to April 13, 2020.This second report discusses the demographic profile of the migrant workers, the ‘Rate of Hunger and Distress’ and the ‘Rate of Relief’ and ‘Social Security as a Right’. It includes region-wise data on migrant workers stranded in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa; Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala; Delhi and Haryana; Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir; Rajasthan; Madhya Pradesh; West Bengal; Assam and Odisha.It contains recommendations for the government on food security, wage compensation, social security, housing and shelter, transport facilities for migrant workers, and rural and urban employment guarantees.