Images
of migrants walking hundreds of kilometers to return
home are showing the extent of the government’s indifference
to the lives of millions. The almost complete privatization
of social reproduction in India has left its legacy
in the large-scale malnourishment that makes our population
uniquely vulnerable to the coronavirus.
*
Smriti Rao is a Professor of Economics, Assumption
College and a Resident Scholar, Women’s Studies Research
Center, Brandeis University.