Caste Networks and Women Migrant Workers: Traps in New Normal Times

Abstract

The pandemic since the past one year has been one of the greatest teachers for all of us as well as thrown towards the people and the policy makers diverse ranging challenges stretching from socio-political, economic to individual challenges at the micro level. One of the major impacts of the pandemic and the lockdown that followed in India was the huge job loss experienced by the people in the unorganised sector as well as in the small scale and medium scale enterprises. As the lockdown was declared India was a witness to a heart wrenching event, the walking back to home of a million individuals, men, women and children, rendered jobless and in the absence of a safety net, with the government clueless about ways to manage the crisis, walking to a shelter. For the first time we were awakened to a category of people--the migrant workers. These were not to be taken as similar to the urban educated workers employed in high profile white collared jobs and who were successful in sufficiently getting themselves integrated with the local people. The migrant workers were poor, working in low wage jobs and often seen as job competitors by the local poor populace who weren't much different from them. The pandemic converted the city of their employment into a foreign land as they found themselves without a safety net as well as no money to purchase basics. Moreover, they were now put under the radar of suspicion, carriers of the unknown virus.