Corona Pandemic, Sudden Visibility of Migrant Workers, and the Indian Economy

India's internal migrants and the first wave of COVID-19: The invisibility of female migrants

“…The published images of migrants returning to their villages—scores of people walking hundreds of miles, others alternating walking with ingenious means of travel including bicycles or handcarts—grabbed national, and sometimes even international, attention. This was a strange sight in itself because of the invisibility of these migrants prior to the pandemic ( Dasgupta, 2022 ). During the early months of the pandemic, mainstream media, usually resistant to stories of labor, became focused on this extraordinary movement of internal migrants, documenting in rich and vivid detail mainly accounts of distress, destitution, and deaths ( Dasgupta, 2022 ; Sen, 2022 ).…”

“…This was a strange sight in itself because of the invisibility of these migrants prior to the pandemic ( Dasgupta, 2022 ). During the early months of the pandemic, mainstream media, usually resistant to stories of labor, became focused on this extraordinary movement of internal migrants, documenting in rich and vivid detail mainly accounts of distress, destitution, and deaths ( Dasgupta, 2022 ; Sen, 2022 ).…”

“…Although migration has been a global phenomenon occurring for decades ( Upadhya, 2013 ), India has no official statistics of the total number of internal migrants, including their source and destination areas ( Dasgupta, 2022 ). The complex patterns of migrant mobility have hindered research and statistics.…”