Mobility, Translocality and Social Reproduction during Covid-19

Migrant Workers in Narela Industrial Estate, Delhi

Bibliographic Data

ID10940426
AuthorsTanya Chaudhary (0000-0001-7128-2496, Associate Fellow, Institute for Human Development, New Delhi, India., corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume52
Issue2
Pages223-238
Publication date2022-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0049-0857 • E-ISSN: 0976-3538
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00490857221094124
OpenAlexW4282548723
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited21

The reverse migration of workers at the beginning of the first lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic forcefully crystalised underlying issues such as poverty, hunger and the precarious lives of the working class in India’s megacities. With the easing of lockdowns, workers are again on the move. Against this background, this article aims to examine and unpack the reasons that have shaped labour mobility during the ongoing pandemic. It uses the framework of mobility studies and translocality which provide a strong analytical framework to understand linkages between rural and urban areas. In the process, the article highlights the politics associated with the mobility of workers. It draws on a case study of a peripheral industrial region of Delhi known as Narela. After briefly situating the study in the historicity of Narela with respect to the Industrial Relocation Policy of Delhi and resettlement of bastis, it highlights the lived experiences of the working-class population during and after the first lockdown of the pandemic. Based on detailed in-depth telephonic interviews, the article reiterates the crucial relationship between spatially stretched social reproduction and the social embeddedness of workers which suggests that there are a host of factors affecting workers’ mobility

Agriculture · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Geography · Livelihood · Megacity · Pandemic · Political science · Politics · Population · Relocation · Reproduction · Social distance · Sociology · Urbanization · Vulnerability (computing · Working class · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Urban Planning and Governance

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