Covid 19 and migration

Abstract

Migration is a term used for the movement of people from one place to another. Some of the individuals migrate out of choice many others migrate out of necessity. In Asia, most of the people migrate to work abroad. They are attracted towards better job opportunities or a better income. The highly skilled migrant is always welcomed by a destination country. On the other hand the unskilled migrant often finds it difficult. People migrate more to Delhi and Maharashtra states because these states are highly urbanised and modern state which offers better standard of living. Migration is also related to increased urbanisation. Rapid urbanization and our interference with the nature for raising our standards of living, has created a disorder in the nature. The recent example is of Corona Virus or COVID19. Due to the lockdown imposed to contain the virus, thousands of migrant workers had to march back to their native places. They were left with the choice between live and livelihood. Many of them unfortunately even died before they could complete their journey and be able to reach their native place. The magnitude of this sudden reverse migration in the country was such that, even the best of the efforts of the Government of India, could not match the crisis.Migrant Workers are the ones who are responsible for doing most of our job. But before this pandemic we have never thought like this. Such plight of migrant's workers is there because they have no voting rights in states where they work, no health benefits, no employment benefit of MGNREGA in the cities, no right or protection against employers. Lack of data monitoring portal of migrant workers has resulted in mismanagement during this time of crisis.