In the last two days different sets of policemen have beaten me and my co-workers more than four times. One constable made me crawl on the road because I was violating the lockdown. In many villages that we have passed through, people have thrown stones at us, saying that we are carrying the virus. We do not have any money left with us and we have not eaten anything for the last one day, but we are going to continue walking, because we just want to reach home [1].

India Development Review, March 29, 2020

Loss of dignity, livelihood, and starvation were hardly reckoned when the world’s largest democracy declared a historically unprecedented 21-day lockdown on March 24, 2020, in a bid to protect its 1.3 billion people from the coronavirus disease. A decision taken at such a monumental scale with little insight and brazen unpreparedness impacted the nation’s public health response forcing the pandemic to take a back seat. More importantly, however, it resulted in human rights violations. A migration frenzy never seen since the Partition of 1947 was triggered as millions of inter-state migrant workers were stripped off their livelihoods and were forced to flood the roads across the country in a last, desperate bid to return home as their basic human rights were threatened. This utterly unjustifiable state of affairs inadvertently facilitated by the government went on to reveal that India grossly lacked a humanitarian and rights-based response in its fight against COVID-19.

An accumulation of migrant experiences, which was across all media platforms during the COVID-19 lockdown, was what it took for us to finally take note of the following truth: Ninety-three percent of India’s workforce is the informal sector and a large proportion of it is comprised of inter-state migrant workers who constitute 20% of India’s workforce. They are vital to every economic sector, including micro-, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that form almost 50% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) [2, 3]. This faceless majority, whose labor is vital to urban life, forms the economic backbone of the country. They are also among those that are the most exploited, impoverished, and powerless workers in India. For such a community, with no economic or social security, surviving on the barest means away from home, mistreated by employers and contractors, and disregarded by the government, the COVID-19 lockdown—implemented in the hastiest of manner—was the ultimate stroke that severed their fragile thread of day-to-day life.

Suspension of all modes of transport, closure of private, commercial, and industrial establishments throughout the country, enforcement of the Disaster Management Act of 2005 on the night of March 24, 2020, with merely four hours of notice, set off not just one wave but an endless series of mass movements of migrants to their hometowns that continued through many months. On the very first night, thousands of migrant workers, many with their families, gathered the little belongings they had, carried them in bundles on their head or in makeshift trolleys, and began their journey of thousands of miles. Convinced of their inability to brave the 21-day lockdown in their settlements, the fact that many chose to walk for days and weeks on end with hardly any resources for travel indicates how little support or economic assurance they had from their employers and contractors. They could not rely on government services as most of them lacked a ration card and had no access to the Universal Public Distribution System (UPDS).

I just want to go home. I want to go to Bihar. The police here are beating us, and we are not getting a bus to go home. We have been here for the last three days [4].

A young migrant boy from Bihar to an NDTV reporter in New Delhi, March 24, 2020

Viewing the deprivation-driven movement of migrants as predominantly a law and order issue, on March 29, 2020, the government ordered that all state borders be sealed to suspend the movement of migrant workers returning home. The state governments were directed to provide temporary shelter and food for those stranded. This order, despite its overarching intent to contain the spread of disease and alleviate the hardship of migrant workers, only managed to provide an impetus for police brutality. Migrants were harassed, humiliated, and lathi (stick) charged for ‘violating social distancing and lockdown measures.’ Those who were already close to their home states were denied entry and turned away from the borders. Two days later, the government made an audacious claim to the Supreme Court that all stranded migrants have been taken off the road to the nearest shelters and ‘as of 11AM on March 31, nobody is on the road’ [5]. Disregarding its role in instigating fear and mass hysteria, the government went on to criticize ‘fake and/or misleading news/social media messages’ for causing panic and triggering the large-scale movement of migrants.

While there is no end to allegations one may democratically raise against the government, it is equally important to acknowledge some of its decisions that helped alleviate the distress of the inter-state migrant workers. A series of mitigating approaches adopted by the government were hailed as essential, but at the same time were widely criticized for their inadequate and often reactive nature. On March 26, 2020, the Ministry of Finance announced a Rs. 1.7 lakh crore (22.6 billion US dollars) relief package for the poor and launched a food security welfare scheme which assured minimal provision of food to migrants, regardless of the availability of ration cards. This was taken a step further when local panchayats, in many states, mobilized food resources for the migrants stranded in their areas. Despite the central government’s care packages and grassroots-level interventions in many areas, the provisions failed to fully meet the demand. Migrant laborers began to trade off their belongings to deal with starvation. When the lockdown measures were not lifted after 21 days as proposed and continued through the months, more and more migrants lost hope and chose to walk home as their little savings had dried up and they could no longer pay rent or afford a meal. Left to fend for themselves and deprived of any human or worker rights, the danger of COVID-19 seemed inconsequential to them as the only safety net within their reach was the comfort of their home village which was thousands of miles away.

As this mass exodus set in motion a tremendous logistical enigma, many state governments announced the dispatch of bus services to take them to their villages which led to hundreds of thousands of migrant laborers thronging the bus stations. This flicker of hope in finding a way to go home, however, did not last for many. In places like Delhi’s Anand Vihar bus terminal, where the number of migrants far exceeded the number of buses available, their apparent inability to keep calm or practice social distancing attracted harsh crowd policing. A similar sense of desperation and anguish ensued when the Indian Railways introduced ‘Shramik Special’ trains in the month of May for migrants carrying e-passes to return to their home states and districts. While the e-pass was intended to streamline transport and avoid overcrowding in trains, it ended up serving as another barrier. Migrant workers were forced to rely on a third-party that often demanded money to register and book travel. Many prepared to continue walking rather than waiting indefinitely for their turn as the trains, despite covering over 5 million migrant workers, failed to meet the endless rush.

Lack of food, water, and sanitation facilities in train journeys as long as 60-h was the price that the migrant workers had to pay to reach home. Within a month of functioning, the Railway Protection Force reported around 80 deaths in the Shramik Special trains, many of which were due to exhaustion, heat, and hunger. A study by independent researchers which covered the period between March 19 and July 4 charted COVID-related deaths through data collected from newspapers and other reports (not including deaths by infection). It revealed that some 216 deaths occurred due to starvation and financial distress, 209 deaths were due to accidents during reverse migration on road, 12 deaths were due to police brutality, 48 deaths were due to exhaustion and standing in lines, 49 deaths occurred in quarantine centers, and 133 deaths were by suicide due to fear of infection, loneliness, lack of freedom of movement, and inability to go home [6]. Behind these statistics lie a significant number of migrant laborers that none can ignore. Disturbing reports continued to emerge of migrants crowding in oil and milk tankers desperate to return home and many being hosed down with disinfectants, bleach, and soap water in their hometowns, not to mention the harassment and stigma that they were subjected to alongside the pressure of unemployment. The nightmare that ensued during the first lockdown has not fully seen the end of day as many migrant workers still continue to struggle. Bedraggled, starved, and exhausted, the exploitation and hardship that they were forced to endure along with their families, children, and cradled infants, are a never-ending tale that requires voluminous documentation to pin accountability for its unfathomable human rights violations.

The fact that this scenario played out despite the government’s best claimed efforts indicates that there is a larger problem that needs to be addressed at many levels primarily by the labor contractors and employers who constitute both MSMEs and major industrial sectors. It also points to the questionable implementation by the government of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act of 1979. The Periodic Labour Force Survey of 2018–19 revealed that more than 69.5% of the informal migrant workers did not have a written contract, 53.8% were not eligible for paid leave, and 51.9% did not have any social security benefits [7]. A right to information (RTI) filed by an activist revealed that of the estimated 2.1 crore inter-state migrant workers in India, only 84,875 were registered under the act. The migrant crisis could have been largely averted if most of the migrants had been registered and if the legal provisions were strictly adhered to through the guarantee of livelihood and accommodation, wage reimbursements, travel allowances, and legal assistance. Recession looms in India as returning migrants search for employment. The greatest human rights threat would be the total roll back of the labor laws and workers’ rights which the governments of Uttar Pradesh and some other states have already pushed to implement for the benefit of business and industry. Fueled by this decision, if large-scale industries continue to neglect the welfare and rights of their own migrant laborers, no amount of corporate social responsibility directed elsewhere will undo this social injustice.

‘Inequity defines our time,’ a saying that has historically been relevant, is progressively gaining new significance alongside development and progress. It necessitates a conscientious and rights-based approach on the part of the government and other stakeholders to avert conditions that normalize social inequity and aggravate human rights violations. In contrast, India’s lockdown measures, at the time of implementation, lacked proactive foresight and stayed blind to the concerns of the communities, thereby unraveling a humanitarian crisis.

I made some decisions that caused you suffering, my poor brothers and sisters. But for a nation like India, this was necessary [8].

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the nation on Mann ki Baat, March 29, 2020

One cannot accept this justification and half-apology provided by the Prime Minister. Yes, a country-wide lockdown was necessary for India. But not haphazardly, at the cost of bringing suffering to the poor, whom the lockdown had intended to protect. If the nation’s fight against COVID-19 necessitates such a social injustice, then sadly what we have is no ethical public health response. It is high time the country owns up to its responsibility and considers the upholding of social justice as its highest duty.

The migrant crisis in India drew the attention of world media as it was a unique consequence of the COVID-19 lockdown never witnessed anywhere else in the world. In addition to all the grave concerns it embodied, the crisis also brought our attention to the altruism and public benevolence of ordinary folks, volunteers, non-governmental organizations, and civil society who enthusiastically attempted to fill the gap that the government and commercial sectors had failed to cover. Of course, their interventions can in no way resolve a crisis of such magnitude. Nevertheless, it leaves us with a sense of optimism that in a time of any crisis, the concerned public will step up, self-organize, and coordinate a response holding hands with the public institutions. India has time and again been testament to this.