This is an excerpt from the sixth edition of the India Exclusion Report, a collaborative effort involving institutions and individuals work...
This is an excerpt from the sixth edition of the India Exclusion Report, a collaborative effort involving institutions and individuals working with a shared notion of social and economic equity, justice and rights. The report seeks to inform public opinion around exclusion and the role of the state and to influence policy-making towards creating a more inclusive, equitable and just society. The annual publication is anchored by the Centre for Equity Studies and edited by its director, Harsh Mander.
Migrant workers across India took hazardous journeys back to their villages during the Covid-19 lockdown announced in March, despite all forms of transportation being suspended and inter-state borders being sealed. The central feature of the migrant workers’ crisis during lockdown was their inability to access wages in the urban work sectors that employed them.
The critical importance of wages to the lives of migrant workers and their families was evident during this period – without wages they were unable to meet basic needs such as food, water, shelter or healthcare in the cities where they worked, or send remittances to their rural households that rely on their income from migration.
Far from being merely a function of the market, wages assumed utmost socio-economic importance during...