The Corona pandemic and unprecedented lockdown by the central government have severely affected the labour market on various ways. It has brought uncertainties to thousands of people in India and left them in dire strait due to the complete loss of their livelihoods and regular job. Initially the major industrial developed states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka witnessed the higher incidence of corona positive cases, these state are considered as the major industrial hub centers in India. There is free flow of labour from indigenous sector to industrial sector, where millions of people were engaged in different sector for their livelihood especially eastern states (high surplus labour) like Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar and West Bengal. During unprecedented lock down due to spread of corona virus, the livelihoods of the marginal people under question mark. The present study is mainly focus on the broad objective of impact of covid-19 pandemic on the labour and employment situation in India. The data set for the present study is carried out by the help of CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) quarterly data for January 2020 to June 2020. Besides, it also used the various published report by ILO (International Labour Organization) and mainstream newspapers for analysis. These impacts are most troubling for low-income households, which are less well positioned to cope with earnings losses during a recession, have no alternative earnings and have no social security available. Most of these workers earn little more than a subsistence wage and have no other means to protect their incomes if they lose their jobs. Migrant workers constitute quite a large proportion of such vulnerable population.

Keyword: Covid-19; Pandemic crisis; Labour; Employment;