Impact of the Lockdown on Urban Livelihoods

Most of the world’s informal workers are from developing countries, and most of them would be the worst affected by COVID-19. There are severe concerns for low-paid and low-skilled informal workers in low- and middle-income countries, where the industries and services have a high proportion of such workers, who account for 61% of the global workforce or two billion people, and they lack any social protection or safety net. This sudden loss of livelihood would be horrifying for them.

The Indian economy, especially the informal or unorganised sector, has been witnessing an unprecedented slowdown, downturn, and unemployment in recent months; this has aggravated due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the lockdown. In light of the vulnerable and life-risking situation of the migrant workers, the governments, non-governmental organisations, employers, and even the
Supreme Court stepped in to cater to the plight of those who work in informal sectors. As a result, 26,000 shelters (for 1.5 million migrant workers) and over 38,000 food camps were set up across the country in the initial weeks of the lockdown, which took care of more than 10 million people together for food and around two million for shelter, supported by the government, NGOs and employers as on 12 April 2020.