key: cord-1017863-h4jttuor
authors: Mukhra, Richa; Krishan, Kewal; Kanchan, Tanuj
title: Covid-19 Sets off Mass Migration in India
date: 2020-06-06
journal: Arch Med Res
DOI: 10.1016/j.arcmed.2020.06.003
sha: 4a4eb9510d687b96f1aa388971f5cbfe70d3d8c6
doc_id: 1017863
cord_uid: h4jttuor

Abstract The communication discusses Covid-19 triggered reverse migration in India. India has witnessed the second largest mass migration in its history after the Partition of India in 1947, where more than 14 million people were displaced and migrated to India and Pakistan respectively, depending on their religious faiths. The opinion describes the trend of migration and related effects on the migrants as well as the nation at large.

The communication discusses Covid-19 triggered reverse migration in India. India has witnessed the second largest mass migration in its history after the Partition of India in 1947, where more than 14 million people were displaced and migrated to India and Pakistan respectively, depending on their religious faiths. The opinion describes the trend of migration and related effects on the migrants as The outflow of migrants to their respective states has been depicted in Figure 1 . According to a report by World Bank, more than 40 million internal migrants have been affected due to Covid-19 and around 50,000-60,000 individuals migrated from urban to rural areas of origin in a period of few days. This internal migration of reverse nature is reported to be two and a half times that of an international relocation (4).

In the absence of transport facilities, during lockdown, the panic stricken labourers and their families including infants, pregnant women and the elderly walked thousands of kilometres barefoot without food and money to reach their native places. Many of these migrants were left stranded mid-way, facing starvation and misery, and some even died before they could reach their destination. The extent of this sudden reverse migration was such that, even the best of the efforts of the Government of India, could not match the crisis. The authorities have developed shelters and quarantine homes for the deprived migrants and are looking after 600,000 migrants and providing food to more than 2.2 million individuals (5) Thus, the reverse migration is likely to hit the economy of the nation as well.

It would not be incorrect to state that COVID-19 triggered massive reverse migration is likely to have far reaching implications for the migrants as well as the country, unless adequate and timely measures are taken to address this issue. First and foremost, the government needs to ensure that the distressed Arch Med Res E20_848 4 migrants get back to their homes safely. At the same time, quarantine strategies need to be devised to prevent this migration led spread of infection to the remotest places of India. The migrants should be assured of safety and financial security and motivated to get back to work at the earliest possible time. SARS-CoV-2 is here to stay, and hence, it is recommended to follow due safety measures to combat its threat, at least till the time vaccine is developed. Let's learn to face novel Corona virus effectively with what we have instead of running from it.

The authors declare that the there is no conflict of interest and competing interests regarding this manuscript.

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The state of the world's refugees, 2000: Fifty years of humanitarian action-Chapter 3: Rupture in South Asia

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Kewal Krishan is supported by a DST PURSE grant and UGC Centre of Advanced Study (CAS-II) awarded to the Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.