The Integration of Interstate Migrants in India: A 7 State Policy Evaluation

Abstract

Interstate migration in developing countries is a key income generating strategy for lowincome households. In India, despite the importance of migration between states, interstate migrants continue to face significant integration barriers in their destination states. The impact of state borders on migration within India is significant and large. This study presents one of the first attempts at creating a set of indicators to understand the role of state-level policies for the integration of interstate migrants in a developing country. After illustrating the process behind the creation of this tool and the tool in itself, we compare seven of the major migrant destination states of India, based on their policy frameworks relevant to the integration of interstate migrants. Out of these states, we found that Kerala state is the most inclusive of interstate migrants but that overall, policymakers in the considered Indian states have a long way to go to improve the integration of interstate migrants.

Crisis Within a Crisis: Migrant Workers’ Predicament During COVID-19 Lockdown and the Role of Non-profit Organizations in India

“…Based on the migrant labourers’ caste, class identity, and state of origin, they experienced brazen exploitation in regions where they migrate (Shah & Lerche, 2020; Yadav, 2020). Aggarwal et al (2020) observed disparate labour policies among Indian states and the absence of standardised policies leave migrants open to exploitation. We used MIF (McKnight et al, 2018) to analyse the experiences of interstate migrant labourers in India and evaluate crisis management during the lockdown period.…”

“…Governments must address issues affecting migrant labourers by implementing comprehensive national programmes to provide financial, health, social security, and food security (Summerton, 2020). Local governments and federal administration should collaboratively consider problems faced by migrant labourers through different lenses and provide suitable short- and long-term plans to support them (Aggarwal et al, 2020). Governments need to thoroughly review their crisis response plans and prepare for any direct and indirect impact on vulnerable populations purely depending on daily wages (Julka, 2020).…”

“…As migrant labourers, they worked in tedious, physically challenging manual labour, with no employment security or health benefits in most cases (Aggarwal et al, 2020). Better wages promised by contractors did not materialise into financial independence.…”

“…We also found that migrant labourers lacked physical and legal security, another dimension of inequality that defined their experiences during the pandemic. Reliance on contractors for safe and independent housing outside their work premises rendered migrants vulnerable (Aggarwal et al, 2020) to evictions from their temporary abode on worksites during the lockdown. Being informal labourers deprived the migrants of legal protection or access to benefits with layoffs.…”

Beyond immigration: Moving from Western to Global Indexes of Migration Policy

“…For the sake of comparability, we decided to focus only on set of indicators/indexes on national policies for international immigrants and emigrants, although a few indexes have emerged on internal migrants and/or local integration policies (e.g. Aggarwal et al, 2020; Manatschal, 2011). Since this article is the first to analyse those topics for such a number of indexes, it is exploratory in nature.…”