INDIA’S NEGLECTED ARMY

Shortly after the nationwide lockdown to arrest the spread of COVID-19 was announced, distressing images of countless migrant workers across India setting out to trudge thousands of kilometres to their hometowns started doing the rounds. The workers, who had travelled to cities in search of work and livelihood, suddenly found themselves unable to sustain themselves as the nation shut down around them. Men with backpacks, women with bundles on their heads, children and the elderly in arms or in tow, they inched towards the only certainty they knew—home.

The exodus continued throughout April and well into May. Special train services to get migrant workers home were finally started from May 1. On May 12, having run 468 specials, ferrying over 500,000 migrants, the Indian Railways stepped up the pace from an average 42 trains a day to a 100 daily. Other migrants with some resources, like their own rickshaws, hired cars or secondhand bikes bought hurriedly, made their own way home, taking circuitous routes around