(a) What are the sociological reasons and implication of "reverse migration" during the recent pandemic in India ? (20…

Migration, tribal marginality, and untouchability reflect the structural axes of caste, tribe, and class that define uneven citizenship and social stratification in contemporary India.

Sociological Dimensions of Reverse Migration

The mass reverse migration during the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the structural vulnerability of India’s circular and footloose labour force. Sociologically, this exodus was driven by acute push factors: the instantaneous collapse of the urban informal economy, sudden wage theft and eviction, lack of social security, and perceived state abandonment during stringent lockdowns. Conversely, pull factors operated through traditional agrarian kinship networks and village safety nets, where ancestral land and community ties offered basic subsistence.

As scholars like Priya Deshingkar and Chinmay Tumbe observe, this vulnerability is deeply mediated by the class-caste nexus. The vast majority of circular migrants belong to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), performing precarious manual work without formal contracts or urban residential rights.

The structural implications were manifold. It triggered sudden de-urbanisation pressure, shifting the burden of social reproduction to the rural hinterland and severely straining MGNREGA funds. The collapse of urban-to-rural remittances intensified agrarian indebtedness. In the post-pandemic period, this disruption reconfigured urban informal labour markets, producing initial urban labour shortages followed by segmented, distress-driven re-migration under weakened bargaining power.

The Ghurye-Elwin Debate on Tribal Development

The tribal development debate between G.S. Ghurye and Verrier Elwin represents two contrasting visions of nation-building and cultural preservation. G.S. Ghurye adopted an assimilationist perspective, arguing that tribes were not distinct aboriginals but 'backward Hindus' who shared long historical, religious, and economic continuities with mainstream Hindu society. Ghurye critiqued British colonial preservation policies as divisive and advocated for full cultural and economic integration into the national mainstream.

Verrier Elwin initially advocated for protective isolationism through his 'national park' thesis, fearing that rapid, unregulated contact with caste Hindu society and colonial capitalism would lead to cultural genocide, loss of tribal autonomy, and exploitation by landlords and moneylenders. However, Elwin later revised his stance toward a synthesis—the 'middle way'—which shaped Jawaharlal Nehru's Tribal Panchsheel, emphasizing development along the lines of indigenous genius without imposed assimilation.

Post-colonial development outcomes demonstrate that neither absolute isolation nor uncritical assimilation succeeded. Constitutional frameworks such as the Fifth and Sixth Schedules, along with legislative instruments like the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996, and the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, attempt an institutional synthesis. However, continuing resource alienation, state-led displacement, and cultural marginalisation show that the tension between autonomy and integration remains unresolved.

Forms and Realities of Untouchability

Untouchability in India operates across spatial, occupational, and ritual domains. Spatial segregation confines Dalits to peripheral hamlets (Dalit bastis), segregating them from village commons. Occupational segregation enforces endogamous, degrading labour such as manual scavenging, tanning, and sanitation work. Ritual untouchability continues through the denial of temple entry, the persistence of the 'two-tumbler system' in rural eateries, and restrictions at village wells. During the pandemic, it adapted into sanitary and digital forms, where Dalits faced heightened exclusion from shared water infrastructure and health facilities under the pretext of hygiene.

Critically examining this phenomenon reveals its enduring nature despite constitutional abolition under Article 17 and statutory measures like the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Untouchability persists by mutating from explicit ritual prohibitions to everyday micro-aggressions and informal exclusions, punctuated by spectacular atrocities against upwardly mobile Dalits. While urban anonymity weakens overt ritual pollution in public transport and formal workplaces, it reproduces itself through rental housing discrimination and private associational networks. Furthermore, untouchability intersects sharply with gender and class, rendering Dalit women disproportionately vulnerable to domestic servitude, wage suppression, and sexualized caste violence.

In conclusion, reverse migration, tribal policy dilemmas, and persisting untouchability illustrate the ongoing friction between de jure constitutional equality and de facto social hierarchies, demanding systemic economic security and structural reform alongside legal safeguards.