Migratory Dilemmas

  • Around 100 million informal workers have returned to their villages.
  • Job loss due to lockdown.
  • Pandemic turned into an economic crisis.
  • Govt՚s revival package has offered them only more debt.
  • Is generally the month of May when most of the migrants return to their original and seasonal source of livelihood i.e.. farming.

Forced Migration

  • Millions of workers were forced to return to their villages for the past two months.
  • Not usual monsoon reverse migration.
  • Informal workers contribute around 10% to India՚s GDP.
  • Economic fate of the country is decided by these informal workers.
  • Agriculture contributes 15 - 16% GDP.
  • Unseasonal rainfalls and extreme weather events damaging winter cash crops further cut their meagre earnings.

Displaced People Misplaced Mindset

  • In India internal displacements are common due to disasters like cyclones and floods.
  • More than 5 million new displacements in 2019 in the World as per Geneva based Internal Displacement Monitoring System (IDMC) .
  • Extreme weather events triggered the bulk of the displacements being linked to climate change.
  • 2.6 million New displacements were triggered in India which say the wettest monsoon in 25 years.
  • Cyclone Fani further resulted to displacement of 1.8 million new displacements.
  • Due to lockdown 55% of farmers stored their crops as they were unable to sell them.
  • The IDMC Survey:
    • To evaluate the impact of lockdown on agricultural production and livelihood.
    • Conducted by Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Public Health Foundation of India and Centre for Sustainable Agriculture from May 3 to May 15,2020.
    • States participated in the survey include Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
    • Unexpected weather changes was also cited as a reason for the loss in yield by 80% of farmers.

Examrace Team at Aug 20, 2021