The Pandemic—Migrant Workers a Major Casualty

Abstract

Migrant workers are the primary drivers of the SDG goals. The MSMEs are run by migrant workers with over 50% overall work-force; almost 80% of India’s economic activities are based in the MSMEs that are a major contributor to the national GDP. However, the pandemic has exposed the disregard for and the discriminatory treatment meted out to the intra-national and inter-state migrants by the state authorities both in the host state and in the source state. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the horrendous nightmare the hapless undocumented migrants faced and the anguish and helplessness of those who watched them on their television screens during the lockdown. The bureaucracy caught napping and in a state of inaction, the imposition of the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, a statute that still reeks of the colonial past, combined with intense politicization rather than empathy and action led to a virtual breakdown in administration vis-à-vis workers’ welfare and their rights. This paper highlights governance failure that could have been avoided if the government had acted with alacrity, taken professed commitment to SDGs seriously and balanced the containment of the pandemic with the economic needs of the workforce of the country.