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?:abstract
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Informal workers, especially migrant labour from rural areas working in urban and peri-urban areas, have borne the major impact of the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India Their loss of employment and incomes threatened access to food and non-food essential items, notably rented accommodation In many cases, they were denied wage arrears for past work and lost their accommodation at their worksites Circular migrants, who have a weak or no foothold in urban areas and the destinations where they work, began to leave urban centres in large numbers even before the start of the formal lockdown After a few days of the lockdown, they emerged on the roads in large numbers out of hunger and dire desperation The Central Government then issued new guidelines on the closure of State and district borders and pushed migrants to shelters and quarantine facilities At the same time, the government\'s response, which is explored in this paper, clearly establishes that its strategy was to cancel inter-state public transport, which severely restricted the means by which migrant workers could go home In addition, labour laws were altered in the interests of capital
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