A ground survey by Transforming Rural India Foundation raises alarm bells about the impending human catastrophe unfolding in rural India due to the coronavirus crisis

As more migrants from urban areas make their way back to their rural homelands, the human misery in India’s hinterlands could reach catastrophic levels. A ground survey of over 5,000 households in 47 districts of 12 states where most of India’s rural migrant emanate carried by Tata Trusts sponsored Transforming Rural India Foundation (TRIF) with the help of several non-governmental organisations found an unprecedented increase in food insecurity, distress sale of household assets like cattle, enhanced borrowing from usurious moneylenders and rising misery of women as their menfolk return economically devastated from the cities. What is perhaps more worrying is that the survey was completed on May 2, much before the government organised rail transportation of migrant human cargo began. With millions awaiting their turn to head back on the next train to their villages, the findings of the survey could just be the tip of the iceberg.