-The Indian Express As the national lockdown entered its second week, The Indian Express travelled across four states to track this unprecedented exodus, examine what social distancing and isolation means in towns and villages off camera and off the highway — and what could await the first COVID-19 patients here. Morena (Madhya Pradesh): They built homes, offices, even cities. They worked in technology companies. They cooked the food we ate, cleaned the...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org With the COVID-19 driven lockdown, Chenakonda Balasami and other pastoralists in Telangana, on the Road for months, are finding it difficult to access food and new grazing grounds – or return to their villages Nalgonda, Telangana: “How are you? What are you doing? How many days is this going to last?” Chenakonda Balasami asks his son on the phone. “Is it that extreme? Are police there at our place? Are people...

-The Indian Express Invisible, largely, in the Census and in national sample surveys — and consequently to administrators — field studies have consistently claimed short-term labour mobility in India was significant. Of the many, many countries that COVID has now locked down, India stands, or rather, walks, alone. Bereft of transport, by Road or rail, people are walking home, to nearby districts, and to far-off destinations several hundred kilometres away, the mother...

-Scroll.in One man suffered a heart attack while walking along the Agra highway. Some others, including children, were killed in Road accidents. Thousands of migrant workers have been trying to get home, with many of them attempting to cross state borders, amid the 21-day lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Many of them have died. While the deaths of at least 22 such migrants are documented, the actual...

-The Indian Express Indeed, as many as four clarificatory notes had to be issued by the Home Ministry since the PM’s speech to expand the list of essential supplies and services. Caravans of migrant labourers walking hundreds of kilometres along highways and across shuttered cities, running out of food and the nationwide disruption in supply chains have exposed glaring gaps in the implementation of the 21-day Covid-19 lockdown the Prime Minister announced...