An ‘invisible class’ of citizens made visible by India’s lockdown needs a support system based on Aadhaar The social and economic story of independent India has been intertwined with migration.
India has the world’s largest emigrant population, several hundred million domestic migrants, and a large immigrant population.
In the same way that Partition revealed the ugly side of a migration process that involved religious communities, the response to the pandemic has exposed the reality of urban-rural migration.
Cleaved from their livelihood, bereft of money and devoid of adequate nutrition, these exhausted walkers have held a mirror to the soul of an upwardly mobile nation and marred its claim of inclusive growth.