Much of the policy discussions and research on internal migration in India view the internal migrant as a purely economic actor shaped by structural forces of poverty, capitalism and agrarian distress. This perspective does not consider how the migrant actor is shaped by aspirations for class mobility, social integration or children’s education, among others. In this article, we identify the pandemic as a watershed moment that brings the complexity of migrant lives and aspirations into sharp focus. We analyse the experience of internal migrants during the pandemic through their observed responses to government policies and secondary research. We highlight the role of non-economic aspirations in shaping decision-making and experiences of internal migrants, as well as, the discrepancy between government policies and migrant aspirations. We argue that the processual view of aspirations should be applied to design responsive policy measures aligned with the lived realities of internal migrants.
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