As thousands of migrant labourers took to the streets in Bandra, Mumbai yesterday, as they had earlier in Delhi and Surat, it became impossible to ignore the harsh reality of this lockdown, and its crushing impact on over 70% of India’s population, a majority of whom are engaged in the informal labor force, and whose living conditions make it impossible to practise social distancing. 

After the Prime Minister’s announcement of a lockdown extension on April 14, we sat down with two of India’s leading development economists to discuss the socio-economic ramifications of the extension, and what we can do to mitigate the crisis for the urban poor and migrant laborers.