INTRODUCTION:

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease) outbreak of December 2019 from Wuhan City in Hubei Province of China continued to spread globally, and WHO characterized the virus as a pandemic on 11 Mar 2020. Due to the infection, India’s first death was reported in Karnataka on 13 Mar 2020 (The Economic Times, Mar 2020). The Indian government announced its first travel advisory on 11 Mar 2020, consisting of various public health measures for travelers, specifically those visiting China, and also brought in international travel restrictions considering the global spread of the virus (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, 2020).

On 24 Mar 2020, the Government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a nationwide lockdown for three weeks (21 days), limiting the movement of the entire 1.3 billion population of the country as a preventive measure against the pandemic (The New York Times, Mar 2020). The initial stage of the lockdown effectively slowed the growth rate of the spread. Still, the positive cases increased later, making the Government put into operation the second nationwide lockdown until 03 May 2020.

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Indian Economy:

The lockdown of activities and movement of people worldwide was considered a prevention measure and was adopted by all countries. India was not an exception to this, but it halted the functioning of the various sectors of the economy, leading to the threat of unemployment and lower income. Acuité Ratings (the SEBI approved rating agency) reported that the Indian economy would lose over $4.5 billion every day of the lockdown and around $100 billion during the first nationwide lockdown period (BusinessLine, Apr 2020). The lockdown impacted almost all Indian sectors, and the most affected sectors with crucial impacts were MSME, tourism and hospitality, aviation, automobile, and real estate. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report, India’s lockdown order recorded a spike in the unemployment rate from 21 percent to 26 percent in mid-April and a weekly decline in labor market participation. Around 14 crore people lost employment, and more than 45 percent of households across the nation have reported an income drop compared to the previous year (The Economic Times, April 2020). The nationwide lockdown witnessed a massive impact on corporate, where major companies in India reduced and suspended their operations significantly, resulting in a major reduction of the labor force participation (Financial Express, Mar 2020).

Migrants in India:

The Indian labor force is predominantly characterized by migrants from rural to urban due to the seasonal nature of agriculture and lack of jobs in the place of origin. This created short-term migration in large numbers, mostly inter-state or intra-state, composing daily wage earners seeking employment in the economy's unorganized and informal sectors. These features of the migrant workers, coupled with illiteracy, made them the most vulnerable to any crisis due to natural calamities, pandemics, or economic disturbances.

Table 1: Relationship between Sector and Type of Employment (UPSS), All Workers 1999-2000 and 2004-2005

Sector/Worker	Total Employment (Million)
Sector/Worker	Informal / Unorganized Worker	Formal / Organized Worker	Total
1999-2000
Informal/Unorganized Sector	341.3 (99.6)	1.4 (0.4)	342.6 (100.0)
Formal/Organized Sector	20.5 (37.8)	33.7 (62.2)	54.1 (100.0)
Total	361.7 (91.2)	35.0 (8.8)	396.8 (100.0)
2004-2005
Informal/Unorganized Sector	393.5 (99.6)	1.4 (0.4)	394.9 (100.0)
Formal/Organized Sector	29.1 (46.6)	33.4 (53.4)	62.6 (100.0)
Total	422.6 (92.4)	34.9 (7.6)	457.5 (100.0)

Note: Figures in brackets are percentages

Source: NSS 61^st Round 2004-2005 and NSS 55^th Round 1999-2000, Employment-Unemployment Survey computed in the NCEUS Report 2007.

The inter-relationship between the organized/ unorganized sector and organized/unorganized employment is shown in Table 1. The economy's total employment has increased from 397million to 457 million between the two NSS rounds. This data implied that the entire increase in employment in the organized sector over this period had been informal, i.e., without any job or social security.

State of Migrant Workers in the Unorganized Sectors:

The National Commission for Enterprise in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) in 2008 cited that the regional imbalances in development within India, along with widespread unemployment, have led to a significantly accelerated pace of domestic/internal migration (Pattanaik, 2009). According to the World Economic Forum citing the Economic Survey of India 2017, the total number of internal migrants in the country (accounting for inter-and intra-state movement) is a staggering 139 million. Besides, the latest India 2020 publication reported that India's unorganized sector accounts for 93% workforce. Therefore, in a 130 crore Indian population, these 130 million+ migrants are the most affected in the current crisis (Business Today, Apr 2020).

COVID-19 added more fuel to the plight of the millions of migrant workers in India's unorganized sector. The lockdown announcement left them clueless of “tomorrow,” as they were daily wage earners and seldom had savings or preparedness for the future. Recently, India witnessed a mass departure of migrant workers from the urban agglomerations (UAs) during the initial days of the 21-day lockdown (Moneycontrol.com, Apr 2020). The never-ending plight of migrant workers and the informal sector has certainly pushed other coronavirus-related issues in the background (The Wire, May 2020). The Government of India realized the shocking wave of these migrant workers looking at the alarming numbers for support immediately.

Literature Review:

Researchers and writers from India have made attempts to understand the plight of the migrant workers in India during the lockdown pronounced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some notable works that have highlighted the significant impact of the pandemic lockdown on the migrant workers are summarized to bring out the need for the present study.

Deshingkar and Akter (2009) pointed out the statistics of India’s internal migrant workers referring to official estimates, highlighting that about 100million internal migrant workers were present in various industries. Bhalerao, Patil and Swamy (2022) explored how the global COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted SMEs. A significant number of SMEs were unable to continue operating and, regrettably, had to close their doors as a result of the lockdown, which has impacted the manufacturing process and the supply chain for numerous products. By developing various programmes and regulations, governments all around the world are attempting to save the SME sector.

Bhardwaj and Tanwar (2022) in their paper on Pandemic and post pandemic impact on business have highlighted that the COVID-19 demonstrated itself to be gamechanger for economies and has had a global impact. The authors describe that the pandemic has posed challenges of adaptability and decision making to sustain businesses in order to boost growth. Srivastava et al (2020) opined that the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as one of the greatest obstacles to development of the world since the II world war, with its impact not only on the health and wellbeing of the people but also on the socio-economic parameters of income and employment.

Michael (2021) evaluated the psychological toll that the COVID-19 epidemic had on people and discovered a correlation between psychological toll and the demographic factors they had chosen (age, gender, religion, marital status, educational status, occupation, family type, income, area of residence, and housing type). The COVID-19 pandemic had a major psychological influence on people, and aside from educational status and occupation, there was no significant correlation between psychological impact and age, sex, religion, marital status, family type, income, location of residence, or dwelling type. Menon and Bhagat (2021) raised awareness of the importance of psychological assistance tele-therapy for people at home or at work by offering timely and cost-effective answers during times of crisis.

Wankhede (2020) listed a number of problems faced by Indians during the COVID-19 lockdown as the suspension of transportation services, with exceptions for the transfer of their necessary commodities like fire, police, and emergency services. The economy's growth pace was hindered by the suspension of educational institutions, industrial areas, and hospitality services. Rajput and Agrawal (2019) focused on understanding their role and how it helped in engaging personnel to increase employment, since; small-scale industries are crucial elements of the Indian economic system and the primary means of making living, creating employment opportunities, and eliminating poverty. Biswas and Bathla (2022) made a conceptual contribution to the understanding of the gig economy's increasing significance and influence on the workforce of today. The study started by looking into the characteristics and workings of the gig economy and found a link between the amount of unemployment on the job market and the shift of the workforce into the gig economy

Kanade and Shinde (2021) captured the major issues that farmers face, including the inadequate assistance, the decline in crop prices, the lack of transportation, the delay in receiving assistance, the need to repay loans, and other factors that have caused farmers to incur enormous debt and leave the industry. Gajpal and Gajpal (2018) emphasised that family migration has a negative impact on children's education and health because migrant workers lived in unsafe and unsanitary conditions in the migration locations. The majority of adolescents end up working as children in migrant places because of family migration. These circumstances produce a sizable uneducated and unskilled population in the native state, which is an impediment to the state's development.

Choudhari (2020) brought the various, interrelated, and interdependent predisposing and causative factors for the development of psychological ill-effects among internal migrant workers, as well as the interventions required to address it, to the attention of mental health professionals, general practitioners, and occupational health policymakers. Azeez, Negi, Rani and Kumar (2021) investigated the effects of COVID-19 on women migrant workers and their families through the analysis of qualitative interviews conducted in two locations each in Delhi and Gurugram, Haryana State. The information gathered from the interviews about the effects and experiences of women migrant workers was organized into six themes: compromises, captivity and the weight of responsibility, disrupted access, emotional geographies of COVID-19, lack of support, loss of livelihood and ensuing debt, compromises, captivity and the burden of responsibility. The report emphasized the miserable situation of women migrant workers and their families and makes the case for the need for immediate legislative actions to alleviate the destitution they were dealing with.

Barhate, Hirudayaraj, Gunasekara, Ibrahim, Alizadeh and Abadi (2021) concentrated on the interstate migrant worker humanitarian catastrophe that followed the Indian government’s efforts to contain the pandemic by enforcing a state-wide lockdown. The study examined how poverty and inequality contribute to the pandemic’s negative effects through in-depth interviews with leaders of non-profit organizations in India who were actively working on relief efforts during the migrant crisis.

Need For The Study:

Given the high density of the migrant population in the unorganized sector, there is a need to identify these workers’ tribulations and measures required to mitigate them during the current crisis. With this background, the present study is an attempt to understand the unorganized migrant workers of India in the context of COVID-19 with the following objectives:

· To highlight the creative social work practices in safeguarding the unorganized migrant workers in India through the COVID-19 lockdown.

· To emphasize the government of India's social security schemes for the migrant workers in the unorganized sector.

METHODOLOGY:

The study is descriptive with qualitative and quantitative data sourced from published reports, newspapers, and government websites. The creative social work practices to provide relief and care to the migrant workers amidst the lockdown were recorded and described. The government of India's social security schemes to protect the migrant workers in the unorganized sector were highlighted with the schemes' purpose.

DISCUSSION:

The study highlights the impact of COVID-19 on the unorganized migrant workers, who experienced turbulence due to the lockdown. Displacement of the workers in huge numbers to their place of origin due to joblessness and threat to life alarmed the government and people.

A. Creative Social Work Practices for Migrant Workers in Unorganized Sector:

The large influx of inter-state migrants caused a major challenge to the state governments in providing support and protection during this pandemic. The migrant workers of the unorganized sector were rushing back home amidst fear and poverty to lead their daily life in their places of destinations. People sought methods like walking, cycling, trucks, and like to return to their home town. With this background, safeguarding the migrant workers in the unorganized sector was to provide immediate relief as they have lost their livelihood and are displaced. This section highlights the efforts of various agencies in creatively providing social work to the migrants of the unorganized sector during the pandemic in India.

i. NGOs as Catalyst to Relief Measures:

NGOs throughout the country are selflessly working during the lockdown to ensure the well-being of the migrants. This particular section highlights the predominant and creative responses by the Indian NGOs.

Oxfam India responded with food, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), sanitation kits, and awareness initiatives in India's 14 states since Mar 2020. Their responses were focused on the Capacity Development of local stakeholders, Food Security and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), to ensure the Right to Survival for migrant workers and other vulnerable groups. Similarly, the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) relief/disaster management work initiated and supplied sanitizer, soap, precaution awareness, health care training for social distancing and supporting stay-at-home and groceries and vegetables to around 30% of migrant workers in Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool and Vikarabad Districts of Telangana. The non-profit Goonj, through a PAN India mission called Rahat, provided the essential goods for the migrant workers. In addition, this organization was involved in providing long-term rehabilitation of daily wage earners, who were likely to be unemployed for an unforeseen period due to the pandemic (Invest India, May 2020).

The Chennai Chapter of Udayan and the Golden Heart Foundation have organized a system to provide dry rations worth Rs. 750 and cash of Rs. 250 to the needy families in Erukancheri, Tondiarpet, Tiruvottiyur, Kodungaiyur, and Basin Bridge localities in North Chennai, Tamil Nadu. These NGOs also identified students from families whose monthly salary is less than Rs. 15,000 and supported them to complete their education. (The Hindu, Apr 2020). Mahila Arthik Vikas Mamandal (MAVIM) and around one lakh women Self-help Groups (SHGs) together manufactured and distributed face masks, sanitizers, and the provision of cooked food to the migrant workers in rural Maharashtra. They introduced digital ATM services in remote villages through trained workers. Also, these SHGs contributed Rs. 11.35 lakhs to the Chief Minster’s relief fund for the battle against COVID-19 (The Hindu, Apr 2020). Youth Feed India Program under SAFA Organization, the Hyderabad-based non-profit organization, works for the urban poor by introducing sustainable livelihoods through an area-based community model and establishing skill training centers for the youth. SAFA and other NGOs, including Cry, BGIF, and 15 others, joined hands in Youth Feed India Program and provided this response to various cities as a PAN India mission (Invest India, May 2020).

ii. Corporate Timely Hand to the Vulnerable Sector:

Corporate India helps the government fight the COVID-19 outbreak by donating crores of rupees, supplying medical equipment, and opening hospitals. Here are some of the business groups that extended their support to the migrant workers. More than 500 fuel Stations of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) came forward to help migrants with food and shelter. The Indian Hotel Company Limited (IHCL), which owns the Taj, Vivanta, and Ginger brand of hotels, provided meals for healthcare workers as well as stranded migrant workers in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, and Agra (The Indian Express, May 2020).

International companies have also extended hold to India fighting COVID-19. The American multinational technology corporation, Google, is working closely with MyGov on Google Maps, Search, and Google Assistant and in surfacing locations of food shelters and night shelters to help migrant workers and affected people across cities. It has also partnered with Pratham - Every Child in School and Learning Well (a non-profit organization) to do more online education for students. SAP (German multinational software corporation) had set up an India Solidarity Fund for migrant workers, vulnerable populations, infected patients, and senior citizens (LiveMint, Apr 2020).

Schwing Stetter India (SSI), a manufacturer of concrete mixers and concrete transport systems, ensured sustained creative efforts to motivate them morally, continuous medical monitoring by expert doctors, and regular access to food to monitor their nourishments and accommodation facility to ease their stress of livelihood. The beneficiaries included mostly the transport drivers and cleaners and workers (Business Line, Apr 2020). Rural Women Technology Park (RWTP) at Basani, Varanasi, supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), extended a helping hand to the migrant workers by training and engaging women migrants in making facemasks as per WHO guidelines, distributing food as well as hand sanitizers. This creative and timely approach had boosted the migrant-stranded workers' morale and gave a ray of hope for their life (Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, 2020).

Apart from supporting migrant workers during the lockdown, few companies adopted a combination of measures to bring back the workers to work right from convincing village heads and the workers themselves of their safety to arranging for their transportation. A Mumbai-based Pharma company with plants in the Western belt organized buses to get its employees back. JSW Cement also arranged for transport in mid-May to get a few groups of employees for some of its plants after obtaining the relevant permissions from the local administration. KEC International, with the help of its employee database, its supervisors, and the Sarpanch at villages, brought back the workers with an assurance that the workers and their safety will be taken care of on their return (The Times of India, Jun 2020).

iii. Empathetic Citizens and Philanthropists:

Extending a hand does not always come from a position of privilege. In Kaladera, near Chomu in Jaipur district, a community of printers and dyers has started a kitchen in a temple to help 900 migrant workers stuck nearby. “The local authorities give dry ration only to native villagers. Daniel Jacob, a human resource professional in an IT company, with the financial assistance of his friends, relatives, and volunteering groups has made arrangements to send the young couple along with a group of other stranded workers to Assam by hiring a private bus (The Hindu, May 2020).

A famous Indian film actor Sonu Sood’s creative initiative, “Ghar Bhejo,” is noteworthy mentioning a project that has taken efforts to send stranded migrants back to their homes safely. The project has flagged off 21 buses carrying migrants to India's various states with coordinated efforts from transport, government, and organizing food. This effort ensured hassle-free creative passage of migrant workers in the plight of their losing jobs and in stress. The actor also sponsored the meal kits for the migrants. (The Hindu, May 2020). Meanwhile, Farah Khan, film director, and choreographer has collaborated with Chef Vikas Khanna to donate 40,000 sanitary pads to women migrant workers (Republic World, May 2020).

An international group of photographers led by Sigga Marrow launched a creative initiative called “Prints for India” to raise funds to aid the migrants who were the hardest hit in India due to the Covid-19 crisis. The photos on sale included photographs shot in India by world-famous and emerging photographers, including Magnum Photos Martin Parr and Sohrab Hura. The prominent photographers who have donated work to the cause included Ed Kashi, Ken Hermann, Andrea Bruce, and contemporary Indian photographers Sanjit Das, Soham Gupta, Srivinas Kuruganti, and Swarat Ghosh. Sigga Marrow and his team of photographers have also partnered with an NGO called Goonj, a well-established Indian NGO that is currently running a PAN Indian mission called Rahat COVID-19, which aids the most vulnerable population the daily workers and the migrant workers (United Nations: Regional Information Centre for Western Europe, May 2020).

The Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN), a collective of 100 volunteers, has taken calls from 16,000 distressed workers from across the country. The SWAN works as a control room of relief, with volunteers divided into zones by the language they speak. All calls for help were entered into a first information sheet. Different sections then take on the work – either of transferring cash or getting local organizations to send food or directing people to the nearest center where cooked food is available or even making payment to gas agencies when workers have run out of cooking fuel (The Indian Express, May 2020).

B. Social Security Schemes by the Government of India:

The Government of India assessed the sufferings of migrant workers across India since the COVID-19 lockdown announcement. It came forward with measures to mitigate the impact of the lockdown on the migrants in India. Their necessities for life as food, clothing, and shelter, were immediately provided through various channels and announcements. The insecurity due to the job loss that arose from the lockdown was addressed with the distribution of relief materials in cash and kind to ensure them the base for their livelihood and to motivate them in this pandemic scenario.

i. Immediate Relief Measures by the Government:

Immediate essential help is very important in dealing with distress situations. The union Home minister assured support to migrant workers during the initial lockdown of 21 days.

· The State Governments were asked to use the state disaster response funds for relief measures for migrant workers.

· The Central and State Governments set up shelter camps for migrant workers and pilgrims along the highways, including tented accommodation, to ensure that they stay in the camps till the lockdown orders are in place.

· The shelters were organized in a holistic way to provide them with food and nutrition, clothing, primary health care, and preventive care, maintaining social distancing, counseling, and psychological support.

· Both the Central and State governments took initiatives to give wide publicity and create awareness, using public address systems and utilizing volunteers and NGOs' services, on the facilities being offered to migrant workers.

· Some state governments made arrangements for transport, accommodation, and food for migrating workers (India Today, Mar 2020). Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh's governments also organized special buses to bring stranded workers back to their home states.

· The Government of Kerala established COVID-19 care centers in all districts to accommodate non-resident migrant workers stranded by the national lockdown. Counseling service through innovative methods of teleconsultation and teleportal (e-sanjeevini) was adopted to address the needs of migrant workers.

· Technology was tapped to address the problem of migrant workers in Kerala with the help of WhatsApp groups to educate on key safety measures and the collection of information of stranded migrants in need of food. The community kitchen initiative coordinated with the WhatsApp groups to distribute millions of cooked meals and the provision of free ration as a well thought and immediate relief strategy.

ii. Schemes Introduced for Protection of Migrant Workers in Unorganized Sector:

· The Union Home Secretary provided an order with a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to facilitate worker movement for the migrant workers residing in relief and shelter camps. Procedures were issued for registration with the concerned local authority to enable skill mapping and determine their suitability for various kinds of work in their place of origin.

· The Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) scheme under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs was launched as a sub-scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) with an estimated expenditure of around Rs. 600 crores, aimed at covering nearly 3 lakh beneficiaries. The target groups included the migrant workforce in the unorganized sector from rural areas or small towns seeking better opportunities.

· A scheme called Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan was announced on 20 Jun 2020 specifically for employing migrants near their homes based on their skills. The ‘Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan’ will be implemented on a mission mode in 125 days in 116 districts of six states - Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Odisha, that received the maximum numbers of migrant workers back.

· Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was announced in Jun 2020 with special provisions for migrant workers from across states to offer health insurance benefits. As per the scheme, migrant workers with AB-PMJAY cards were eligible for a cashless health cover of as much as Rs.5 lakhs per family a year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. This scheme is a great relief to the vulnerable migrant workforce who have more exposure to starvation and health complication.

· Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rozgar Abhiyan was announced during Jun 2020 in Uttar Pradesh to promote local entrepreneurship and create partnerships with industry associations to provide employment opportunities to 1.25 crore migrant workers who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state government has already mapped the workers' skills to be employed as per their expertise.

CONCLUSION:

Migration was not new to India, but the degree of dependence of the migrant workforce in the informal sector on the growth process was certainly a learning path to India's people and government. This pandemic-led crisis was an eye-opener that helped realize the challenges of migration in the Indian labor market. The immediate relief and support by the Government, NGOs, citizens and employers provided temporary help to remove hunger for the day. The real challenge is the future of this large sector of the population, which calls for rethinking government policy. An inclusive model for the long-term problem solving of the migrants in the unorganized sector is the need of the hour. This necessitates the need for structural reforms in the labor market, policies to rebuild opportunities for jobs, analyze various forms of unemployment and create a talent pool by mapping skills and local employment for rural and urban areas.

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35. Unemployment rate improves to 21% from last week’s 26% (Apr 2020). Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/unemployment-rate-improves-to-21-1-from-last-weeks-26/articleshow/75437330.cms. Retrieved on Jul 2020. The Economics Times.

36. Voluntary groups help migrant labourers in their efforts to get back home (May 2020). Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/voluntary-groups-help-migrant-labourers-in-their-efforts-to-get-back-home/article31676572.ece. Retrieved on Jul 2020. The Hindu.

37. Why India’s migrants walked backed home (May 2020). Retrieved from https://www.livemint.com/news/india/why-india-migrants-walked-back-home-11590564390171.html. Retrieved on Jul 2020. Livemint.com.

38. Women in Varanasi extended a helping hand to migrant workers, villagers affected by COVID-19 pandemic (n.d.). Retrieved from https://dst.gov.in/women-varanasi-extended-helping-hand-migrant-workers-villagers-affected-covid-19-pandemic. Retrieved on Jul 2020. Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Received on 16.06.2022 Modified on 12.07.2022

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2022;13(3):125-131.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5828.2022.00021