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Condition of migrant workers during the ongoing COVID-19 viral pandemic in India

Indian migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic have faced multiple hardships. With factories and workplaces shut down due to the lockdown imposed in the country, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of income, food shortages and uncertainty about their future.[1][2] Following this, many of them and their families went hungry.[3] Thousands of them then began walking back home, with no means of transport due to the lockdown.[4] In response, the Central and State Governments took various measures to help them,[5][6][7] and later arranged transport for them.[8][9] More than 300 migrant workers died due to the lockdown, with reasons ranging from starvation, suicides, exhaustion, road and rail accidents, police brutality and denial of timely medical care.

There are an estimated 139 million migrants in the country, according to the World Economic Forum.[10] The International Labour Organization (ILO) predicted that due to the pandemic and the lockdown, about 400 million workers would be poverty-stricken.[11] Most migrants in the country originate from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, followed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The cities of Mumbai and Delhi attract the highest number of migrants. While most men migrate for work, women migrate due to marriage.[12]

Migrant workers majorly comprise of daily-wage labourers working in the manufacturing and construction industries. They are often denied adequate healthcare, nutrition, housing and sanitation,[11] since many of them work in the informal sector.[13] They are mostly from rural areas but live in cities for work for most of the year. Many have no savings and lived in factory dormitories, which were shut due to the lockdown.[14] Additionally, there was no central registry of migrant workers, despite the existence of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979.[15]

According to research published in the Royal Geographical Society, the workers who have been treated the worst are from areas like Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, in which the indigenous population's natural resources were extracted by outsiders. Further, workers paid the least for the hardest work belong to the backward classes, mainly from the Dalit and the Adivasi communities. The research also indicated that the families of the migrant workers supported them by maintaining their houses and taking care of them, either when seasonal work is unavailable or when they are no longer able to work.[16]

Maharashtra has the largest number of migrants, according to the 2011 Census of India. Its state government imposed a lockdown on 20 March in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Nagpur, leaving the migrant workers with no work. Thousands then gathered at the train termini and bus stations, seeking transport to their hometowns. With the nationwide lockdown, all transport facilities were closed.[4]

According to government reports, there was enough food grain stocked up in the FCI godowns to feed the poor for at least a year-and-a-half.[17] While government schemes ensured that the poor would get additional rations due to the lockdown, the distribution system failed to be effective as the ration cards are area-specific and fair price shops were largely inaccessible. Additionally, the 'One Nation, One Ration Card' system has been implemented in very few states, as of mid April.[18] While the scheme allowed migrant workers to retrieve foodgrains for free anywhere across the country, very few were aware of the scheme. In addition to this, the scheme also required biometric authentication, which was discontinued due to fears of spreading the virus through common fingerprint sensors.[19] In Telangana, many could not avail of the ration due to a lack of Aadhaar cards.[20] As such, many were left without food and money due to the lockdown.[21] A survey published by The Hindu states that 96% migrant workers did not get rations from the government, and 90% of them did not receive wages during the lockdown.[22]

With no work and no money, and lockdown restrictions putting a stop to public transport, thousands of migrant workers were seen walking or bicycling hundreds of kilometres (or even more than a thousand kilometres) to go back to their native villages, some with their families.[23] Many did so while hungry.[24] Social distancing was not possible for these migrants since they travelled together in large groups.[25] According to some of them, they would rather die from the virus at their own village than starve because of no work in the city.[26]

Many were arrested for violating the lockdown, after being caught at inter-state borders, forests between states and even on boats to cross rivers.[27] Some of the migrants died of exhaustion.[28] Others died in accidents on the roads after walking or hiding in vehicles.[29] On 31 March, as many as 120 migrant workers were allegedly beaten up by the police in Gujarat and forcefully rounded up in a single lorry and dropped in Maharashtra, despite being wounded.[30] In Aurangabad, 16 migrants were killed on 8 May after a freight train ran over them while they were sleeping on the tracks, exhausted from walking.[31] 26 migrants were killed in an accident between two trucks carrying migrants in Auraiya on 16 May.[32] Later in May, a 15-year-old girl carried her ailing father on a bicycle for 1,200 kilometres (750mi) from Bihar to Gurugram over the course of a week. She was later approached to try out for the National Cycling Academy by the Cycling Federation of India,[33] and received praise from Ivanka Trump.[34]

Later in May, despite the launching of special trains and buses by the government, the migrant workers chose to either travel together in large groups in the cargo compartments of trucks and containers, or travel by foot. They did not wait or their turn to board the government-arranged transport, mainly due to starvation.[35] Additionally, they felt that going back to their hometowns, they could return to farming and take up small jobs under the MGNREGA.[36]

The consumption of mobile and broadband data under BharatNet more than doubled in rural areas.[37]

Despite government promises and schemes to generate employment in rural areas, some migrant workers began going back to the cities due to lack of employment in their hometowns, as lockdown restrictions were reduced as part of Unlock 1.0 in June. A large number of these were returning to Mumbai.[38] The reopening of the regular services of the railways also helped facilitate this.[39] The cities, too, reported major shortages of labour, especially in the construction industry.[40] A study conducted in April-May stated that 77% migrant workers were prepared to return to cities for work.[41] The return of the migrants to cities is expected to help revive the economy, which had sustained an impact.[42] Some employers sponsored the travel of migrants back to their workplaces. This included taxis, trains and even flights.[43]

On 27 March, the Home Ministry ordered the states to ensure that migrants would not move during the lockdown, permitting the states to use the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for providing food and shelter to the migrants on 28 March.[44]

On 29 March, the government issued sweeping orders directing that the landlords should not demand rent during the period of the lockdown and that employers should pay wages without deduction. It also announced that those who violated the lockdown were to be sent to government-run quarantine facilities for 14 days, and that it had asked state governments to set up immediate relief camps for the migrant workers returning to their native states.[45][46] However, the order regarding payment of wages was withdrawn in the guidelines for the lockdown extension issued on 17 May.[47]

On 16 May, the government announced the National Migrant Information System (NMIS), an online database created by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). This was to help streamline the movement of the migrant workers. It will help states find the current number of stranded migrant workers and their location. The government planned to keep the workers updated by feeding their phone numbers in the system.[48]

On 14 July, the Ministry of Human Resource Development requested the state governments to create a database of children in rural areas who have migrated.[49]

Soon after the central government directive in late March, state governments set up thousands of camps to house lakhs of migrants and stop the exodus.[5] Delhi government provided free food to 4lakh people every day, as of late March.[50] Over 500 hunger relief centres were set up by the Delhi government.[51] By 5 April 75lakh people were being provided food across the country in food camps run by the government and NGOs.[52] As of 12 April, 37,978 relief camps and 26,225 food camps had been set up.[53]

To cater to the needs of the migrants and prevent them from leaving the camps, the government of Kerala changed the food being provided by adding north Indian dishes to the menu, providing carrom boards and recharge facilities for phones, as well as provide other medical essentials such as masks, sanitizers, and medicines.[54]

As of 28 May 91 lakh migrants had travelled back home in government-arranged transport facilities.[55] However, according to the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN), migrants were confused about the exact procedures to register themselves for travel. Additionally, many state registration portals were either in English or the local language of the states they lived in, which very few migrants could understand. Further, general lack of information from the government to the migrants had resulted in them paying large sums of money to register themselves.[56]

In late March, the Uttar Pradesh government decided to arrange buses at Delhi's Anand Vihar bus station to take the migrants back to their villages for free. Large crowds then gathered at the bus station.[57] However, with the extension of the lockdown, many remained stranded till the last week of April, when the state governments were permitted by the central government to operate buses, but not trains.[8] As of 23 May 40 lakh migrants had travelled to their homes by buses.[44] Condition in the buses is generally poor, with social distancing being impossible due to overcrowding and higher fares being charged than promised.[58]

On 1 May, the central government permitted the Indian Railways to launch "Shramik Special" trains for the migrant workers and others stranded.[9] On 3 May, the Ministry of Home Affairs mildly reprimanded the state governments for hurriedly requesting for trains to transport migrants, stating that the trains were primarily mainly meant for those who were stranded due to the sudden lockdown, and not the migrants.[59] Additionally, this service was not free, with additional charges over the normal fares.[60] The central government then faced criticism from the opposition, with the Indian National Congress promising to sponsor the tickets of the migrants on 4 May.[61][62] The government then announced that the Railways would offer an 85% subsidy on the train fares, with the state governments funding the remaining 15%.[63] However, the migrants were still forced to pay an undisclosed amount in some cases. The central government initially declined to share the details regarding this with the Supreme Court,[64] but later confirmed that it was not paying for anyone's fare.[65] Additionally, the central governments directives regarding which states should pay for the migrants' travel resulted in disagreement between Maharashtra and other states.[66]

A few days after the Shramik Special trains were introduced, the Karnataka government cancelled the trains (reportedly supporting the construction industry)[67] and the Bihar government did the same to trains coming from Kerala (refusing to provide a No-Objection Certificate).[68] The two states later reverted their decisions.[69][70]

Further, migrants faced many hardships while travelling by these trains. Many reported to have no food and water arranged for them while they travelled.[71][72] A train from Goa to Manipur reported a 58-hour delay, no proper food or sanitation facilities on the train, and stone pelting.[73] Others who received food packets and water reported that the provisions were simply dumped at the entrances, leaving workers fighting with each other for their share.[13] Some migrants also died during the train journeys,[74][75][76][77] but the Railways stated that most of them had existing illnesses.[78] According to Railway Protection Force, there have been almost 80 deaths on board the Shramik Special trains between 9 and 27 May. [79]

50% of the coaches converted into COVID-19 care centres were used for these trains. As per a report given by the Indian Railways on 23 May, migrant labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh comprised 80% of the train travellers. Additionally, it was expected that 36 lakh migrants would be travelling in the ten days after the report.[80] 4,277 Shramik Special trains had transported about 60lakh people, as of 12 June.[81]

Soon after the nationwide lockdown was announced in late March, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a 1.7 lakh crore (US$24billion) spending plan for the poor. This consisted of cash transfers and steps to ensure food security.[82] By 3 April, the central government had released 11,092 crore to states and UTs under the NDRF, to fund food and shelter arrangements for migrants.[44] To help provide jobs and wages to workers, the average daily wages under the MGNREGA were increased to 202 (US$2.80) from the earlier 182 (US$2.60), as of 1 April.[83] 1,000 crore from the PM CARES Fund was allocated for the support of migrant workers on 13 May.[84] On 14 May, FM Sitharaman further announced free food grains for the migrant workers, targeting 80million migrant workers by spending 35 billion (US$490million).[7]

The government of India launched the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan initiative to tackle the impact of COVID-19 on migrant workers in India. It is a rural public works scheme which was launched on 20 June 2020 with an initial funding of 50,000 crore (US$7.0billion) for 116 districts in 6 states.[85][86][87]

The governments of Uttar Pradesh,[88][89] Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat sought to temporarily revise their labour laws in early May with the purpose of attracting industries and investments. Labour unions criticized this as being harmful to the migrant workers while giving more authority to the employers.[90] Ten of them then wrote to the ILO on 14 May regarding the same, to which the ILO responded by reassuring them that it had contacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[91]

Many states reported high numbers of positive cases of COVID-19 among the migrants returning home as lockdown restrictions eased.[92] State governments opened thousands of quarantine centres to house them,[93] with some states imposing mandatory institutional quarantine. States also imposed strict measures for migrants to follow, either while leaving or after entering state borders.[94]

"In the cities they treat us like stray dogs. Why would they treat us any better now?"

A migrant worker describing the treatment he received on a "Shramik Special" train[13]

Migrant workers who decided to stay back during the exodus faced assault from their neighbours, who accused them of being infected with coronavirus. They thus could not venture out to buy food. Many also faced police brutality if they ventured out of their homes.[95]

Upon their return to their hometowns and villages, they were treated with either fear or a "class bias", being hosed down with disinfectants or soap solution in some cases. They were feared to be carrying coronavirus from the urban areas where they had been employed.[14] They faced assault and harassment from the people of their hometowns.[96] Since many of them belonged to the lower castes, they had to face caste slurs.[97] Thousands got into property disputes.[98]

Migrants travelling by Shramik Special trains reported that food and water provisions were either not provided or simply dumped at the entrances of the trains, leaving workers fighting with each other to get their share. Passengers then hurriedly filled their water bottles at the railway stations that the trains stopped at.[13]

Many migrant workers expressed a fear of returning to their old jobs in the cities, after facing unemployment during the lockdown.[99][100] Companies reported labour shortages from mid-April. Estimates state that this would last for at least another six months.[101]

The Supreme Court of India agreed to hear a petition on behalf of the migrant workers on 30 March.[102] The Court asked the central government to file a status report with respect to the situation of migrant workers.[103][104] In its report, the central government stated that the migrant workers, apprehensive about their survival, moved in the panic created by fake news that the lockdown would last for more than three months. The court added that it was satisfied by the government response thus far.[105][106]

A plea requesting payment of minimum wage was rejected by the Court on 21 April, on the grounds of workers already being provided free meals.[107]

On 16 May, the Supreme Court rejected a PIL to direct the District magistrates to identify and provide free relief and transport to the migrant workers, stating that it was the responsibility of the state governments. Speaking about the workers killed sleeping on the Aurangabad railway tracks, the Court stated that it could not have been prevented. Further, the central government stated that inter-state transport had already been provided to the migrants and requested them to wait their turn instead of choosing to walk.[108]

On 26 May, the Supreme Court admitted that the problems of the migrants had still not been solved and that there had been "inadequacies and certain lapses" on the part of the governments. It thus ordered the Centre and States to provide free food, shelter and transport to stranded migrant workers.[109] Hours before this ruling, senior lawyers from Mumbai and Delhi wrote a strongly-worded letter to the Court, regarding its "self-effacing deference" towards the government thus far.[110]

"The rich will get all the help, getting rescued and brought home in planes from abroad. But we poor migrant labourers have been left to fend for ourselves. That is the worth of our lives."

A weeping migrant worker stuck in Delhi, who could not see his dying son in Bihar[111]

Due to the lockdown, more than 900 deaths were reported [112] , with reasons ranging from starvation, suicides,[113] exhaustion,[114] road and rail accidents,[115] police brutality[116] and denial of timely medical care. Among the reported deaths, most were among the marginalised migrants and labourers.[117][118] 80 died while travelling back home on the Shramik Special trains, in the one month since their launch.[119][120]

Notably, on 8 May, a freight train killed 16 migrants who had stopped to rest on railway tracks near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. On 14 May, eight migrant workers were killed and nearly 55 injured when the truck they were in collided with a bus near Guna, Madhya Pradesh.[121] On 16 May 24 migrant workers were killed and many more were injured when a trailer carrying migrants (along with sacks of lime) rammed into a stationary truck, also carrying migrants, in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh.[122] According to data collected by SaveLIFE Foundation, an NGO working in road safety, 198 migrant workers were killed in road accidents, as of 2 June.[123]

Thousands of migrants have since protested across the country, for reasons ranging from demanding transport back home,[124] quality of food served,[125] not being allowed to cross the border,[126] and against government directives preventing them to walk home.[127] Some of the protests turned violent.[128][129]

Labour unions organised nationwide protests to protest the changes in labour laws, with the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh organizing one on 20 May[130] and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions and the All India Trade Union Congress organizing another on 22 May.[131] Seven left parties wrote to the President to intervene in the issue.[132] Ten labour unions wrote to the International Labour Organization (ILO) regarding the labour laws, on 14 May.[91] In response, the ILO expressed "deep concern" to PM Modi and requested him to instruct the central and state governments to uphold commitments (towards labour laws) made by India.[133]

Negative comparisons have been made between the situation of many domestic migrants and Indians abroad: Shekhar Gupta criticized the media and Modi for focusing on the Vande Bharat Mission and thus the more affluent at the expense of the working class.[134] Some politicians criticised the central government for not focusing enough on migrant workers.[135][136] NITI Aayog CEO, Amitabh Kant, admitted that the migrant workers could have been better taken care of and stated that it was the responsibility of the state governments.[137] Economist Jean Drze stated that the lockdown had been "almost a death sentence" for the underprivileged of the country, further stating, "The policies are made or influenced by a class of people who pay little attention to the consequences for the underprivileged".[138]

In May, Manoj Muntashir composed a poem on the plight of migrant workers.[139] Later in June, Javed Akhtar also composed one on the same.[140]

NL Interview: Barkha Dutt on covering migrant crisis, the media economy, and falling out with promoters

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Indian migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic ...

Three years after the Trump administration started separating immigrant families arriving on the southern border, lawyers say they still havent been able to reach the parents of 545 affected children, according to court documents filed Tuesday night.

Some of the children involved may never see their parents again. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union said that they still cannot find the parents of 283 children despite thorough on-the-ground searches, and dont expect to be able to reach them by telephone, meaning that the families may never be reunited.

Many of the families involved were separated in 2017, before the Trump administration began separating immigrant families routinely, hoping to deter immigrants from crossing the border without authorization.

The children have been released to sponsors, who are typically family members or friends, but also include foster families. Their parents, two-thirds of whom were deported before a federal judge ordered that they be identified and reunited with their children in 2018, either have not been located or have not been successfully contacted.

The group Justice in Motion is continuing to work to locate the parents in Mexico and Central America, though that has become more difficult amid the pandemic.

While we have already located many deported parents, there are hundreds more who we are still trying to reach, the group said in a statement. Its an arduous and time-consuming process on a good day.

The news underscores the devastating long-term effects of the Trump administrations policy. But even in cases in which lawyers expect to be able to find the parents eventually, families may never fully recover from the long-term psychological harm.

Beginning in mid-2017, the federal government ran a pilot program in El Paso, Texas, under which it began filing criminal charges against anyone who crossed the border without authorization, including parents with minor children even though many of them intended to seek asylum in the US, which is legal.

Parents were sent to immigration detention to await deportation proceedings. Their children, meanwhile, were sent to separate facilities operated by Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement and, in some cases, released to other family members in the US or to foster homes. (Previous administrations, in most cases, would have simply released the families from detention.)

The Trump administration formalized the policy in May 2018, which it dubbed the zero tolerance policy. At least 5,000 families were separated before a California federal court ordered the federal government in June 2018 to reunify the families affected and end the policy.

The federal government, however, neglected to link the children to their parents in its databases, making the reunification process difficult, especially in the hundreds of cases of children who were under the age of 5, including one who was just 4 months old.

Unlike the Trump administration, the Obama administration did not have a policy of separating families, but it did try to detain families together on a wide scale and deport them as quickly as possible during the 2014 migrant crisis. Cecilia Muoz, director of the Obama administrations Domestic Policy Council, told the New York Times in 2018 that the administration had briefly considered pursuing family separations but quickly dropped the idea.

We spent five minutes thinking it through and concluded that it was a bad idea, she told the Times. The morality of it was clear thats not who we are.

Senior Trump administration officials, including former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, have repeatedly denied that they pursued a policy of family separation. Nielsen told Congress in December 2018 that the administration never had a policy for family separation. It was later revealed that she had, in fact, signed a memo greenlighting the practice, which clearly stated that DHS could permissibly direct the separation of parents or legal guardians and minors held in immigration detention so that the parent or legal guardian can be prosecuted.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the administration has tried to carry out what immigrant advocates call a new kind of family separation. It pressured parents already detained within the US to voluntarily separate from their children by presenting them with what the administration has called a binary choice: Either allow their children to be placed with relatives or a foster family in the US while the parents remain detained, or stay together as a family in indefinite detention and risk contracting the coronavirus.

The US government has long known the psychological harms associated with separating family members. These harms would only add to the anxiety created by the pandemic as immigrants and their children fight for their release from detention.

Commander Jonathan White, who previously oversaw the governments program providing care to unaccompanied immigrant children, told Congress that, beginning in February 2017, he had repeatedly warned the officials who concocted the policy that it would likely cause significant potential for traumatic psychological injury to the child.

A September 2019 government watchdog report confirmed those effects, finding that immigrant children who entered government custody in 2018 frequently experienced intense trauma and those who were unexpectedly separated from a parent even more so.

Each child reacts to family separation differently. But psychologists have observed three main kinds of effects: disruptions to their social attachments, increases in their emotional vulnerability, and, in some cases, post-traumatic stress disorder, Lauren Fasig Caldwell, director of the American Psychological Associations children, youth, and families office, said.

Those symptoms could be short-term or they could persist; they could also not even manifest until a child enters their teen years or adulthood. Any of them could significantly hinder a childs later success in academics and in the workplace.

Parents who were separated from their children have experienced their own trauma which may manifest in symptoms similar to those that researchers observe in children and may not have the mental and emotional capacity to be able to provide what their children need.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan went on another bombastic rant on Saturday claiming that his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron needs mental treatment.

What is Macrons problem with Islam and Muslims? He needs mental health treatment, Erdoan said at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) congress in central Kesareia (, Turkish: Kayseri) province.

What can be said to a head of state that treats millions of members of a religious minority in his country this way? First of all, (he needs) a mental check, Erdoan added, without sensing the irony of his continuous policy of converting Greek Orthodox Churches in Turkey into mosques.

Radical Islam has become an increasing problem in France with terrorist attacks increasing in volume, especially after the 2015 migrant crisis.

Last Fridays beheading of Samuel Paty for showing cartoons of Muhammed, Islams founder, sent shockwaves across France.

Shortly after the murder, French President Emmanuel Macron announced his country would dissolve the Cheikh Yassin Collective, a pro-Hamas group, following a video released by its founder thatinsulted the history teacher.

Avi Pazner, Israels former ambassador to France said:

Up until recently, France has been reluctant to deal with the problem. Even more so, every time there was a terror attack, they were afraid to articulate the words: Islamic terror, preferring to phrase it differently.

The feeling of discrimination created a fertile ground for Muslim radicalism because youths frustrated with their lack of integration first started seeking the company of each other and then they started attending Islamic centres and mosques that have been offering them quite a different solution to their problems, said the former diplomat.

In a bid to purge radical Islam from France, Muslim Brotherhood associated mosques have been shut down, the likely source of the Turkish Presidents wrath as he is one of the main backers of the extremist group.

Erdoan did not only leave his hate-filled rhetoric against Macron, but also took aim against his German allies and accused them fascism because of the police raid on a Berlin mosque.

European fascism reaches a new level with such attacks on their own citizens, he said.

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Erdoan Says Macron Needs Mental Health Treatment For Having A "problem With Muslims" - GreekCityTimes.com

Written by Om Marathe, Edited by Explained Desk | New Delhi | Updated: October 25, 2020 12:48:53 pmChildren stand by the sea at the Kara Tepe refugee camp, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. (AP Photo: Panagiotis Balaskas)

Greece on Monday said it would be extending a wall along its border with Turkey to prevent potential mass crossings by migrants into its territory.

The move, seen as the latest sign of fast deteriorating relations between Greece, a European Union member, and Turkey, a candidate for EU membership, comes months after a spike in border tensions after Turkey said it would not be stopping refugees from crossing into Europe.

Additionally, on Tuesday, the Greek foreign ministry was reported to have written to the EU to consider suspending its custom union agreement with Turkey, which has been in force since 1996. A Bloomberg report also said Greece had called on three EU partners, including Germany, to halt arms exports to Turkey.

Relations between the NATO allies, which have been contentious for decades, have nosedived this year; the two countries have been bickering over a range of issues, including refugees, oil exploration and the Hagia Sophia monument.

Since the beginning of the Syrian war in 2011, vast numbers of displaced Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey. According to the latest known figures, Turkey hosts some 37 lakh refugees from Syria, and is feeling the socio-economic and political strain of their presence in the country.

In 2015, the refugee crisis reached its peak as thousands drowned while attempting to cross over to the West using water routes. Around 10 lakh reached Greece and Italy.

In 2016, Turkey agreed to prevent migrants from crossing into the EU, and the bloc in return promised funds to help the former manage the refugees on its soil.

However, in February this year, Turkey said it would not be honouring the 2016 agreement, asserting its inability to sustain another refugee wave. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would be opening the doors with Greece for migrants to cross through.

Critics blamed Turkey for using the migrant issue as a means to bring its western allies on board with its military campaign in Syrias Idlib province, where hostilities had escalated in preceding weeks.

Greece said the migrants were being manipulated as pawns by Turkey, which in turn accused Greece of illegally pushing back migrants from reaching its island territories.

Subsequently, in March, thousands of migrants sought to enter Europe through Greece and Bulgaria, but numbers fell sharply due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and tougher border policing.

Now, the Greek government has said it would extend its already existing 10 km long wall with Turkey by an additional 26 km by the end of April 2021, spending EUR 63 million on the project.

Turbulent ties that are worsening

For centuries, Turkey and Greece have shared a chequered history. Greece won independence from modern Turkeys precursor, the Ottoman Empire, in 1830. In 1923, the two countries exchanged their Muslim and Christian populations a migration whose scale has only been surpassed in history by the Partition of India.

The two nations continue to oppose each other on the decades-old Cyprus conflict, and on two occasions have almost gone to war over exploration rights in the Aegean Sea.

Both countries are, however, part of the 30-member NATO alliance, and Turkey is officially a candidate for full membership of the European Union, of which Greece is a constituent.

Also in Explained | Why the US and UK believe Russia is planning a cyber attack on Tokyo Olympics

The Eastern Mediterranean dispute

For 40 years, Turkey and Greece have disagreed over rights to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, which covers significant oil and gas deposits.

Increasingly assertive under President Erdogan, Turkey in July announced that its drilling ship Oruc Reis would be exploring a disputed part of the sea for oil and gas. Greece responded by placing its air force, navy and coastguard on high alert.

After negotiations, the Turkish vessel retreated in September, but earlier this month resumed its voyage, conducting seismic surveys near the Greek island of Kastellorizo.

Athens, which considers the waters surrounding the island its own, has described the ships movements as a direct threat to peace in the region. A signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), it maintains that its continental shelf should be calculated while considering its island territories in the Eastern Mediterranean.

On its part, Ankara, which has not signed UNCLOS, argues a nations continental shelf should be calculated from its mainland, and maintained that Oruc Reiss activity was fully within Turkish continental shelf. Follow Express Explained on Telegram

The Hagia Sophia row

Greece was also irked this year after Turkey ordered the centuries-old Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage site, open to Muslim worship in July.

The Hagia Sophia was originally a cathedral in the Byzantine Empire before it was turned into a mosque in 1453, when Constantinople fell to Sultan Mehmet IIs Ottoman forces. In the 1930s, however, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, shut down the mosque and turned it into a museum in an attempt to make the country more secular.

Many Greeks continue to revere the Hagia Sophia, and view it as a key part of Orthodox Christianity.

On July 24, when Friday prayers were held at the Hagia Sophia for the first time in 90 years, church bells tolled across Greece in protest, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the sites conversion an affront to civilisation of the 21st century, describing Turkeys move as a proof of weakness.

Turkeys foreign ministry hit back, saying, Greece showed once again its enmity towards Islam and Turkey with the excuse of reacting to Hagia Sophia Mosque being opened to prayers.

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Explained: Why Greece wants to extend the wall along its border with Turkey - The Indian Express

Journalists Dibyaudh Das and Sruthin Lal travelled from Delhi to Lucknow in May to cover the displacement of migrant labourers in Uttar Pradesh. The stories the duo covered in their 600-km cycle journey that lasted 12 days have been released as a three-part documentary series, titled Corona Cyclips.

Sruthin and Dibyaudh hadnt cycled since their school days. The idea for a 600 km ride, the latter admits, was supposed to stay as an idea. I thought Ill just suggest this crazy idea in the newsroom meeting and thats it. But Sruthin (associate editor) was also excited about it. He came up with a workable plan. The company approved it. And, the two journalists were on their way.

The journey, amidst a heatwave and a raging pandemic, was expectedly arduous. My whole body was sore after the first day, says Dibyaudh, But we were live-blogging our journey. We shared stories of people who were in need of help. And, we noticed immediate feedback and a lot of people got help. So, that kept us going.

The reverse migration of labourers from cities to their hometowns was largely a story of heartbreak. Tens and thousands of them traveled over 100 miles on foot, without food, for days. The Guardian called it the greatest exodus since partition. The documentary, apart from capturing this, also covers moments of benevolence. Throughout our journey, we saw people -- Panchayat workers, officials, Dhaba owners -- providing food and water to labourers. In Vrindavan, for instance, we met some villagers who make tulsi malas for a living. Their livelihoods were hit badly due to the lockdown. But they came together to help the migrant labourers. They pooled in money and food grains and fed the people coming into the state, says Sruthin.

Sruthin says travelling in cycles helped them get such stories. He calls it slow journalism, wherein one stops, observes and investigates upon noticing something interesting. His colleague concurs. A lot of people helped us because we were on cycle. I think they could relate to us. Its not the same as getting out of an AC car and putting mics in front of them. It was also easy to access some villages that wouldnt have been possible with bigger vehicles. It saved us from the problem for looking for fuel as well during the lockdown.

Another concern that was at the back of their heads was the COVID-19 disease itself. Back in May, the villages were largely uninfected. Since we were travelling from cities and towns, we were doubly careful about not contracting the virus and spreading it in the villages, says Dibyaudh.

The entire documentary has been filmed using a mobile phone. We carried a tripod. But it wasnt needed much, says Sruthin, You dont need a lot of resources to tell a story. That was the biggest takeaway from our journey. All you need is a mobile phone. With social media, you can create an immediate impact as well.

The labourers stories, Sruthin feels, have been forgotten. The media and the people seem to have moved on from the issue. I hope this documentarys release serves as a reminder.

The three-part series of Corona Cyclips is available on Asiavilles YouTube page

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Corona Cyclips documents the 600-km cycle journey of two journalists covering the migrant labour crisis - The Hindu