Lessons from First Lockdown

Context: With Covid’s second wave assuming alarming proportions, it’s high time there is a meaningful action plan based on robust data to alleviate the problems of migrants.

Impact of pandemic

• Disrupted supply chains;
• Led to a considerable decline in output growth;
• Increased unemployment;
• Reduced earnings and savings; and
• Jeopardized the food and livelihood security of millions of workers in the country;

Impact of the pandemic on migrant workers: Data based on research done by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)  in six states — Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal

• Impact on the earnings and savings:
  • Reduced household incomes:
    • More than 38.6% reported having no work after returning to their native place.
    • Household incomes of migrants fell by as much as 85% during the first wave.
  • Contraction in income levels even after remigration: Although the migrant’s household income has increased after remigration, there was still a contraction of 7.7% relative to pre-pandemic.
• Benefits by government bypassed the migrants: in the following areas -
  • Work: Only 7.7% of the migrants reported being engaged under the MGNREGA or any other public work at their native place.
  • Food: Almost 74% of migrants had access to some form of subsidized cereal (rice or wheat), but only 12% got access to subsidized pulses; also reported a fall in the quality of food consumed.
  • Skill development: Only 1.4% of the migrants reported getting any skill up-gradation or training under the Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana (GKRY) at their native places.

Way Forward: Important policy lessons from the first lockdown:

• Need to digitize all data: in case another mass exodus starts.
  • Create a local digital platform: at the gram panchayat level to register and connect the migrant workers and employers so that they get an opportunity to work closer to their home.
  • Skill mapping of the migrants: could be conducted through the portal at the gram panchayat or block-level to employ on a demand-driven basis under the GKRY.
  • Maintain periodic database on migrant workers, say every five years, for any meaningful policies and action plan based on this data.
• Need to prioritize portability of entitlements and social safety nets: E.g. One-nation, one-ration card; with an option to receive cash or grain in kind, or by providing health insurance and treatment.
• Broaden the scale of work: E.g. The scale of work under the MGNREGA can be extended to absorb a wide range of skilled and unskilled migrants.
• Need a massive reconstruction programme: To build infrastructure, agriculture markets, and rural housing and alleviate distress migration in the medium to long run.
• Revamp the production of vaccines to inoculate the most vulnerable population.