Risk of COVID-19 Transmission and Livelihood Challenges of Stranded Migrant Labourers during Lockdown in India

Socio-Economic and Health Consequences of COVID-19 on Indian Migrants: A Landscape Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has hugely affected the world and human lives, the economy, and lifestyles. The pandemic control measures, such as lockdowns, forced many people to migrate from their destination to their source in various states, leading to increased vulnerability of migrants. The present review aimed to explore the different health, economic, and social impacts on internal migrants of India during the pandemic. The publications on internal migration and COVID-19 from India were retrieved from PubMed and Google Scholar using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A total of 159 articles were extracted, of which 28 were reviewed. The articles published after March 1, 2020, were included in the review, irrespective of the design. Out of 28 articles, only half were original studies; the rest were either perspective, opinion, and review studies or editorial and commentary papers. Depression, anxiety, and stress due to job loss and lockdown were the major health issues documented. There was livelihood disturbance due to loss of income, such as inability to pay rent, loans, borrowing from relatives, and fear of its consequences. The migrants also faced stigma and discrimination from the villagers. The review also highlighted that although the government implemented various schemes to help the migrants, the majority were left out due to the non-availability of identity proof and ration cards. The safeguarding measures for these unregistered migrants must be facilitated to access health, economic, and social protection. Although various publications have focused on the mental health of the migrants, the socio-ecological aspects have been least explored, which calls for further studies. The literature on the impact of COVID-19 on other vulnerable populations like women and children and access to healthcare services is also scant, which needs to be explored further.

Determinants and Effects of International Remittances: Evidence from Ratnagiri District of Rural Maharashtra

International emigration and remittance inflow is not a novel phenomenon for India. The present study examines the factors influencing emigration and size of remittance inflow. It also examines the effect of remittances on the economic wellbeing in terms of expenditure of the recipient households. In India, the remittance inflows are important source of funding for the recipient households in rural India. However, the studies focusing on the impact of international remittances on rural household wellbeing in India are rarely found in the literature. The study is based on the primary data collected from the villages in Ratnagiri District, Maharashtra, India. It uses logit and probit models to analyse the data. The results show a positive association between inward remittances and economic welfare and subsistence of the recipient households. Findings of the study show a strong negative relationship between the education of the household members and emigration.

Humanitarian management strategy for interstate movement of migrant workers in India during COVID-19 pandemic: an optimization based approach

India faced a unique situation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic when millions of migrant workers, in different states had to be transported to their home states as workplaces shut down. The governments in respective states faced challenges of minimizing economic impact while ensuring that the risk of infection was also kept under control. This paper develops models based on various secondary data from governmental and relevant non-governmental sources, trying to minimize the economic impact while keeping the rate of infection low and determining whether the migrant workforce should be allowed to stay in their workplace state or allowed to return to their home state. We found that the number of days of lockdown had a significant impact on the results. Fewer days of lockdown resulted in workers remaining in their work state as the preferred outcome, while a higher number of days of lockdown implied that people traveled to their home state and remain there. The proportion of workers who were willing to return to their work state played an important role on the results too. Beyond the threshold percentages of migrant workers returning to their work state, it became optimal for the government to encourage the workers to travel to their home state. However, this was mostly visible for moderate number of lockdown days as the effects on results were dominated by the impact from the number of lockdown days for too high or too low number of lockdown days. There is also an important trade-off between the budget and infection rate 'R' for the governments to consider. Minimizing the risk of infection requires an additional budget.

Measurement and Spatial Differentiation of Farmers' Livelihood Resilience Under the COVID-19 Epidemic Outbreak in Rural China

Livelihood resilience is the ability of individuals, families or communities to withstand external shocks based on existing resources. It is an important research paradigm in sustainable development studies. The outbreak of COVID-19 and strict epidemic prevention policies have greatly impacted the production and life of rural farmers in China. The resilience of farmers' livelihoods during the epidemic is crucial to the sustainable development of their livelihoods and regional stability. This study uses classic buffer capacity, self-organization ability, and the capacity for learning a three-dimension livelihood resilience framework using the comprehensive index, OLS, and geographical detector methods based on Hubei province and neighboring Anhui and Chongqing. Rural household survey data investigate the background of epidemic hit the livelihood of farmers resilience and its spatial distribution pattern and identify the key influencing factors. The results show that the livelihood shock faced by farmers was higher than the risk of disease, and the overall level of livelihood resilience was low after the pandemic. Financial capital and social capital can effectively help farmers to eliminate livelihood difficulties. In contrast, natural capital has a limited driving force, and physical and human capital have no obvious impact. The spatial agglomeration differentiation is obvious, indicating that the impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods was closely related to the degree of local socio-economic development and geographical location. The results of this study provide targeted recommendations for the development of epidemic prevention and livelihood resilience policies tailored to local conditions, emphasizing the importance of boosting livelihood recovery at both the government and household levels.

Indian female migrants face greater barriers to post-Covid recovery than males: Evidence from a panel study

BACKGROUND

India's abrupt nationwide Covid-19 lockdown internally displaced millions of migrant workers, who returned to distant rural homes. Documenting their labour market reintegration is a critical aspect of understanding the economic costs of the pandemic for India's poor. In a country marked by low and declining female labour force participation, identifying gender gaps in labour market reintegration - as a marker of both women's vulnerability at times of crisis and setbacks in women's agency - is especially important. Yet most studies of pandemic-displaced internal migrants in India are small, rely on highly selected convenience samples, and lack a gender focus.

METHODS

Beginning in April 2020 we enrolled roughly 4,600 displaced migrants who had, during the lockdown, returned to two of India's poorest states into a cohort observational study which tracked enrolees through July 2021. Survey respondents were randomly selected from the states' official databases of return migrants, with sampling stratified by state and gender. 85% of enrolees (3950) were working prior to the pandemic. Our difference-in-means analysis uses three survey waves conducted in July to August 2020, January to March 2021, and June to July 2021. Our analysis focuses on a balanced panel of 1780 previously working enrolees (the 45% of respondents present in the first wave that also participated in the subsequent two survey rounds). Primary outcomes of interest include labour market re-entry, earnings, and measures of vulnerability by gender.

FINDINGS

Before the March 2020 national lockdown, 98% (95% CI [97,99]) of workers were employed in the non-agricultural sector. In July 2020, one month after the end of the lockdown, incomes plummet, with both genders earning roughly 17% of their pre-pandemic incomes. 47% (95% CI [45,49]) were employed in agriculture and 37% (95% CI [35,39]) were unemployed. Remigration is critical to regaining income - by January 2021, male re-migrants report earnings on par with their pre-pandemic incomes, while men remaining in rural areas earn only 23% (95% CI [19,27]) of their pre-pandemic income. Remigration benefits women to a lesser extent - female re-migrants regain no more than 65% (95% CI [57,73]) of their pre-pandemic income at any point. Yet men and women struggle to remigrate throughout - by July 2021, no more than 63% (95% CI [60,66]) of men and 55% (95% CI [51,59]) of women had left their home villages since returning. Gender gaps in income recovery largely reflect higher rates of unemployment among women, both among those remaining in rural areas (9 percentage points (95% CI [6,13]) higher than men across waves) and among those who remigrate (13 percentage points (95% CI [9,17]) higher than men across waves). As a result, we observe gender gaps in well-being: relative to male counterparts, women across waves were 7 percentage points (95% CI [4,10]) more likely to report reduced consumption of essential goods and fared 6 percentage points (95% CI [4,7]) worse on a food insecurity index.

INTERPRETATION

Displaced migrants of both genders experienced persistent hardships for over a year after the initial pandemic lockdown. Women fare worse, driven by both lower rates of remigration and lower rates of labour market re-entry both inside and outside home villages. Some women drop out of the labour force entirely, but most unemployed report seeking or being available to work. In short, pandemic-induced labour market displacement has far-reaching, long-term consequences for migrant workers, especially women.

FUNDING

Survey costs were funded by research grants from IZA/FCDO Gender, Growth, and Labour Markets in Low Income Countries Programme, J-PAL Jobs and Opportunity Initiative, and the Evidence-based Measures of Empowerment for Research on Gender Equality (EMERGE) program at University of California San Diego.