suggestions on reverse migration of labour
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The usual pattern in rural migration to urban areas
Migrants, across states in India were calculated at 56 mn in the 2011 Census . Of above 40mn are those heading for the mega cities , and moving largely from the rural Hindi belt in North India. As further estimated, 79% of migrants to the urban cities were on daily wages, at construction sites or factories where they were employed. Another large number remained self-employed with low levels of incomes. Migrant workers as above are part of the ‘informal’ workforce which is 93% of aggregate labour force having hardly an access to benefits as still exist for workers in the formal organised sectors. It may be mentioned here that even enterprises in the formal sector of the economy more than one-half of jobs are there on an informal basis , say by using sub-contracting or by casualization. A substantial part of those are performed by migrants from rural areas.
We can point out here that barring abnormal times (as at present) the major part of the migrant flow in India has been from rural to urban areas, much exceeding those across rural or urban areas. Categories of such people, as aptly described by Sainath in one of his papers, include those who migrate on a ‘permanent ‘basis, having no plan to return; the ‘seasonal’ migrants who temporarily return, from urban areas to their villages in harvest times, and then go back to urban centres; and finally, the ‘footloose’ fetched from rural areas by contractors who have no means to decide on their future plans.
Tracing back the initial stages of migration which push people from rural to urban areas , much of such flows can be described as ‘mobility by default’. Reasons behind include the growing rural distress with agriculture failing to provide sustenance for the majority of cultivators –both with small land holdings and being dispossessed of land due to factors which include heavy debt burdens. State policies to support to the ailing rural economy proved both inadequate and ineffective . With steady losses of sustainable livelihoods there has been a continuing stream of out-migration from the rural economy, both seasonal and as ‘footloose’, often escorted by local contractors on basis of payments to cover the initial travel costs and also as cuts from the meagre wages received by migrant workers in the urban centres. Migration has also been facilitated by the prevailing familial links between the rural folks and the urban workmen.
Answer:
In India, the major drivers of both internal and international migration are the prevailing unemployment, competitive labour market and enhanced livelihood prospects in the destination state or country. However, the nationwide lockdown and the sealing of inter-state and international borders to control the COVID-19 pandemic triggered the reverse migration of informal migrant workers. This requires the central and state governments to collectively forge strategies to enable their reverse migration and smooth reintegration in the post-COVID economy. In this paper, we have focused on the inter-state migrants in India and returnee migrants only from Gulf countries as they account for two-thirds of Indian migrants living abroad. This study conducted a comparative analysis of the Indian government’s varied approach towards its internal and international migrants during their reverse migration, repatriation and reintegration after the announcement of the lockdown. Firstly, the paper compares the challenges faced by internal and international migrant workers during these stages with the help of in-depth interview data collected from migrants and social workers. Secondly, the varied governmental responses towards their repatriation are discussed. Thirdly, it analyses the obstacles in their economic reintegration to help frame suitable welfare policies for the Indian migrant community.
Introduction
India has a predominant share of internal migration and is also the top origin country of international migrants (De, 2019; UNDESA, 2020). The Indian Census (2011) data calculated the total number of internal migrants accounting for inter and intra-state movement to be 450 million, an increase of 45% since the Census 2001 (De, 2019). The Economic Survey of India 2017 estimated the inter-state migrant population as 60 million and the average annual flow of migrants between states was calculated at 9 million between 2011 and 2016 (Sharma, 2017). Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Rajasthan are among the major origin states, while Delhi, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu are among the important destination states for these migrant workers (Kamal, 2018).
India has the largest diaspora (18 million) with the number of migrant workers in Gulf countries alone accounting for 8.4 million (Ministry of External Affairs, 2021; UNDESA, 2020). Among the Gulf countries, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi
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