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Beyond Plastic Identifications
Due to centralised and infl exible infrastructures of state care involving upper-level bureaucratic decision-making and heavy reliance on documentary modalities, even the radically decentralised states such as Kerala are underperforming in their welfare responsibilities. A greater role for local governments needs to be re-envisioned.
During the COVID-19 pandemic that panned two years, 97% of India’s population is deemed to have become poorer in terms of income compared to before (Paliath 2021). The country’s informal sector, in particular, will have to piece itself together for years to come. Disaster was spelt in bold letters for the urban poor migrant workers, 96% of whom did not receive any rations from the government (Mander 2021). While a mass exodus from cities during the first lockdown drew migrants out of their “invisibility” (Suraiya 2020; Vasavi 2020), the crisis of stranded migrant workers was largely overlooked during the second surge of the pandemic and lockdowns in 2021. Their food reserves dried out, and in the absence of work and non-payment of wages during the lockdowns, so did the last of their savings. With all odds stacked up against them, the role of state care became crucial in the lives of migrant workers.
Migration in India
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