India, Oct. 24 -- This is a period of great celebrations with a slew of major festivals coming up one after the other. We have had Dussehra, the five-day Diwali festival and then the four-day Chhath Puja from 25 to 28 October. These are great times for family reunions and involve eager travel by the migrant labour and other working-class people rushing back to their native places, mostly to Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Nepal, amongst others. Indian Railways has scheduled more than 12,000 additional trains, and other means of travel by road and air are also being utilised. There is a rush to Eastern India, especially for Chhath Puja. An estimated 2.5 to 3 crore people will be travelling back and forth during this time.

Migrant wo...