Once the cities came to a screeching halt following the lockdown, the millions of poor rural migrantsearning meagre daily incomessuddenly became redundant. Their single link to the neoliberal city — 'labour' — ceased to exist. Within minutes, they did not belong to the city.

For India's labouring poor, COVID-19 is not the great leveler. It is a mere reiterationof their disposability as workers, identity as the'other', and expendability as citizens. The global pandemic has catapulted the migrant labourer once again as subjects ofcharity, objects of (mis)governance and bodies of disease and stigma. The most glaring gap is the labour migrant falling through the cracks yet again, not included in the national response to a global pandemic.