Opinion: Blown off course: Cyclones and India’s precarious workers

Saving lives in a storm is vital — but rebuilding livelihoods after it will test true resilience. India must protect workers, not just restore assets

By Dr Sushanta Kumar Mahapatra, Madan Meher

Cyclone Montha made landfall on the eastern coast on October 28, 2025, causing widespread damage across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Odisha. Making landfall near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh with winds of 100–110 kmph, it moved through Ganjam, Rayagada, Koraput, and parts of Telangana before weakening. Fields were flattened, villages flooded, thousands were displaced, and significant crop losses reported.

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No Safety Net

India’s long coastline supports millions of informal workers — fishers, farm labourers, construction workers, and street vendors — yet few have any safety net. The Society for Policy Research Foundation estimates that 86-90 per cent of India’s workforce is informal, contributing nearly half to the GDP but living hand-to-mouth. In cyclone-prone Odisha, 32.6 per cent of people live below the poverty line — far above the national average — and most rely on fragile livelihoods like fishing and farming.

When Cyclone Fani hit Puri in May 2019 with winds of 180–200 km/h, it affected over 16 million people and caused USD 2.4 billion in losses. A government assessment found 6.8 crore person-days of work lost — about Rs 2,780 crore in vanished wages. Cyclones do not just uproot trees; they wipe out livelihoods.

The pattern repeats each season. Yaas (2021) affected over 13 million people in West Bengal and Odisha, flooding 2.2 lakh hectares of farmland and causing nearly Rs 20,000 crore in agricultural losses. Titli (2018) devastated 18 million lives across Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Most recently, Montha  ruined 38,000 hectares of crops in Andhra Pradesh and forced 21,000 fishing boats in Odisha to stay ashore — silencing incomes for weeks.

The burden of this devastation falls on those least able to absorb it:
• Farm labourers and smallholders: Lose entire seasons’ income when crops are flattened or saline floods ruin soil. Even betel vine and coconut workers face ruin when storms hit during harvest.
• Fishers and aquaculture workers: Lose boats, nets, and ponds. Shrimp farms are wiped out, embankments breached, and marine fishing bans halt earnings for weeks.
• Construction and itinerant workers: Face stalled projects and destroyed worksites. Reconstruction offers some temporary jobs, but recovery is slow.
• Street vendors and petty traders: See flooded markets and no sales. After Fani, a Rs 100 crore relief package provided Rs 10,000 to 30,000 vendors — a token against weeks of lost work.
• Artisans and MSMEs: Lose tools and raw materials. Post-Titli, small craft workers received just Rs 4,100 each for damaged tools — far below replacement costs.
• Gig and platform workers: Delivery riders, cab drivers, repair hands — are the newest victims. When streets flood, their apps go silent. No work, no pay, and no relief.

Climate-driven Migration

Cyclones also accelerate climate-driven migration. Repeated shocks push families from coasts to cities, joining the ranks of India’s 100 million inter-State migrants. Many leave behind degraded farms and fisheries only to face new vulnerabilities — debt, low-paid urban jobs, or unsafe housing. Climate disasters are quietly reshaping India’s labour geography.

Yet policy remains narrowly focused on infrastructure, not income. Rural workers can turn to MGNREGA — the rural job guarantee scheme — for post-cyclone employment, but States must seek special permission for disaster-related work. After Phailin, Odisha requested 150 days of guaranteed work and debris-clearing approval — both of which were granted only temporarily. Urban workers have no such fallback: there is no “MGNREGA for cities.”

Each cyclone leaves more than wreckage — it wipes out livelihoods. From fishers to gig workers, India’s informal labourer bears the storm’s hidden cost

Other support mechanisms are equally limited. Crop insurance under PMFBY and relief from State and national disaster funds (SDRF/NDRF) are slow and partial. During Yaas, although fatalities were low, 1.7 lakh hectares of crops and 18,000 cattle were lost — yet many farmers remain under-compensated. Fishers fare worse: their boats, nets, and gears are rarely listed as insurable assets.

In urban areas, informal and gig workers rely on ad hoc measures — food kits, token cash transfers — that barely replace lost wages. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued advisories for day labourers’ safety, but these do not guarantee income, credit relief, or loan moratoria. The result is predictable: the poorest workers bear the highest cost of resilience.

This gap reveals a deeper flaw — India’s disaster management frameworks protect property, not people’s work. A house can be rebuilt; a lost week’s wages cannot. Analysts note that “livelihood loss” remains an invisible statistic in official post-disaster accounting. Even when MGNREGA spending rises after storms, real wages stagnate, and indebtedness deepens. World Bank studies urge India to “build back better” — not just bridges and embankments, but income security itself.

Long Overdue Approach

A new approach is overdue. First, MGNREGA-style job guarantees should automatically activate in disaster-hit areas, providing extra days and prompt wages, especially for women and landless labourers.

Second, cities need a ‘Climate Works Guarantee’ — paid employment for debris removal, rebuilding, and green restoration. Third, financial tools must adapt: micro-insurance for fishers, gig workers, and daily labourers should include fast digital claims and be backed by emergency credit. Loan moratoria and interest waivers should be built into every relief package.

India’s climate finance system must also link aid directly to livelihoods. Global lenders like the World Bank and ADB already fund climate-resilient work programmes — India should channel similar resources to protect workers, not just rebuild assets. Recovery must be measured not by roads repaired, but by wages restored.

Cyclones are no longer isolated weather events; they are recurring labour-market shocks. Each landfall dismantles the informal economy — every fallen tree means a lost crop, every flooded street a day’s wage gone. Saving lives during a storm is vital, but reviving livelihoods after it will define true resilience. Under the storm’s shadow, India must ensure its workers — the invisible backbone of its economy — are not left to weather the next one alone.

(Dr Sushanta Kumar Mahapatra teaches at the Department of Economics, ICFAI School of Social Sciences, ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), Deemed University, Hyderabad. Madan Meher is a former Senior Research Fellow (UGC) at the School of Economics, Gangadhar Meher University, Sambalpur)