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.