Source: www.barnabasfund.org
Date: March 31, 2020
Millions of Indian migrant workers, including many Christians, face unemployment and hunger after the government imposed a 21-day lockdown on 24 March to limit the spread of Covid-19 infections; India has 1,251 infections and 32 deaths recorded on 31 March.
Around 100 million migrant workers, who had left their villages to look for work in cities, are now stranded without income or food. Millions of desperate migrants, including Christians, are fleeing locked-down cities and attempting to return to their ancestral villages by foot, creating a secondary humanitarian crisis.
Many battle hunger and exhaustion as they walk hundreds of miles to their home villages. Some have already died due to malnourishment and fatigue-related illnesses or by being hit by vehicles as they walk along roads at night.
A Barnabas contact explained that many Christian refugees are also impacted. “The lockdown will adversely affect Afghan Christian converts and Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu. Chin refugees, which include many Christians, will also suffer,” he said.
The government has promised to distribute 5kg of wheat or rice and 1kg of lentils for all low-income families over the next three months. However, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) does not consider migrants and refugees, many of whom are Christians, eligible for this aid.