Reverse migration of 2020

Geography glossary

Also called: COVID-19 migrant exodus · Topic: Population of India: Distribution, Density, Growth and Composition · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The reverse migration of 2020 was the mass return of migrant workers from cities to their home villages during the COVID-19 lockdown. When factories, building sites and shops shut, many workers lost both their pay and their housing overnight. With trains and buses stopped, many walked hundreds of kilometres home. The event showed that migrant workers had almost no social security, which means protection such as rations, health cover or pensions. Their benefits were tied to their home state, so they could not use them in the city where they worked. It pushed the government to bring in One Nation One Ration Card, which lets people collect rations anywhere in India, and the e-Shram register of unorganised workers (2021).

Example

Workers in Delhi and Mumbai set out on foot along highways towards villages in UP and Bihar. Many of them came from the same districts that send seasonal migrants every year.

Don't confuse with

  • Seasonal migration: this is a planned, yearly trip home that follows the work calendar. The 2020 reverse migration was a sudden, forced return caused by a crisis.

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