Covid-19: Impact On Migration

Abstract

The Government of India declared Covid-19 as national disaster and imposed complete national
lockdown to contain the spread of outbreak and suspended transportation and all economic activities
and services. Migration is a livelihood strategy of millions of people in India. This brought turmoil in
the lives of millions who are primarily involved in the informal sector. They lost their livelihood
overnight and got stranded in different pockets. As speculated by ILO (2020), India is likely to face
the job crisis because of the Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown, and migrant workers and workers in
informal sector are likely to be badly hit. India is a leading country of origin of international migrants
with about 17 million emigrants according to the latest estimates released by the United Nations
(2019). India also continues to be the top remittance (USD 78.6 billion) recipient country as well
(World Migration Report, 2020). Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus the international migrants
from India and the major migration corridors India shares with the world. Therefore, protecting the
health of refugees and migrants through informed policies and interventions is critically important to
public health protection of all citizens.

Keywords: Covid-19, Disaster, Impact, Worker, Migration, Displacement, Environment