The heart-rending migrant crisis after the first lockdown captured people’s imagination, compelling policy-makers to make certain provisions for them in the schemes announced for the assistance of the poor. The migrants’ crisis after the second wave was a silent one. While it was partly moderated by the continued operation of public transport, it nevertheless affected millions of migrants. It also came on the back of the first crisis, where the same workers who have suffered since the initial lockdown were confronted with a second spell of distress return migration and unemployment. Yet this crisis is only a part, albeit an important one, of the recurrent crises affecting the lives of the vast majority of informal workers, greatly deepened by the pandemic and policies that have followed it.
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