COVID-19: Link between migrants,

development goals becomes more

clear
The curfew which was extended to stop the outbreak of virus, had
resulted in devastation of livelihoods of ordinary daily wage and
construction workers in urban areas and farmers and landless
labourers in rural areas. Migrant workers, including children and
the elderly in their families have left for their villages and home
towns with inadequate cash reserves from urban areas,
sparking a reverse migration crisis. India accounts for about 90
per cent of the total workers under the unorganised sector, of
which 150 million are farmers and 50 million are agricultural and
non-agricultural workers. Forty-eight million of these are self-
employed in rural areas, while about 55 million are self-employed
and 20 million are daily wage earners in urban areas. The
pandemic has affected women and children belonging to families
of the unorganised work force. They are, in particular, more likely
to suffer from lack of food and malnutrition. The pandemic
resulted in less care for women and children.

The debilitating impact of the pandemic on the dietary pattern of

informal sector workers has two aspects to it. First, loss of income
has resulted in less access to food, water, sanitation and shelter
which are the basic needs. Thus, reduced intake of nutritious
healthy food. Second, lack of transportation of food because of
constraints, including barriers on vehicle movement and
transportation at village and regional levels. Barriers in
transportation are expected to result in unavailability of and higher
prices for food products even after the pandemic is over. When
staple food items such as rice, wheat, pulses etc, become more
expensive, people tend to reduce their consumption of these
essential commodities without any option to substitute food items
rich in micro-nutrients and vitamins. Ultimately, the result is a
decline in the quality of diets. COVID-19 is expected to further
increase these problems in future and will prove to be a major
hurdle in the way of achieving Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) of reduced poverty, hunger and malnutrition problems by
2030.

It is difficult to find a research work addressing linkages between

food and nutrition security and type of labour in general and
unorganised labour in particular. There has also not been any
specific development programme for the welfare of the labours
working under the unorganised sector in developing countries,
including India. Since the economy of several under-developed
and developing countries are largely dependent on the informal
sector, it is crucial to quantify socio-economic loss in terms of
their employment, income, diets, nutritional deficiencies and
health. This will subsequently enable appropriate policy measures
that will, in turn, show significant progress in achieving SDGs.