1 in 4 migrants went home on foot during lockdown: Survey

NEW DELHI: A comprehensive survey, covering 25,371 respondents in rural India, including households with 963 migrants who had returned during the lockdown, found that 22.5% or about one in four migrants interviewed said they undertook the journey on foot, while another 6.9% percent partly walked and used vehicular transport. About 2.6% said they cycled back to their villages.

While the survey does not share details of the distances travelled — relevant in terms of how far they were from native villages — their experience captures how economic distress, fear of Covid -19 and hunger led to people leaving cities in whatever mode of transport that was available. When asked if the local administration facilitated their return home, by giving money, train ticket, bus service or some other vehicle, some 409 responded in the affirmative and 554 said no. These were migrants who returned.
Of these migrants, 17.8% had returned to their villages by bus, 11.6% by train, 10.2% by car or jeep, 7.8% by truck and 1.5% by tractor. Once home, faced with hardships, many said they will return to cities after lockdown or when the epidemic subsided. One third (33%) said they would go back to cities and 16% weren’t sure.