This book reconceptualizes migration studies in India and brings back the idea of citizenship to the center of the contested relationship between the state and internal migrants in the country. It interrogates the multiple vulnerabilities of disenfranchised internal migrants as evidenced in the mass exodus of migrants during the COVID-19 crisis. Challenging dominant economic and demographic theories of mobility and relying on a wide range of innovative heterodox methodologies, this volume points to the possibility of reimagining migrants as ‘citizens’. The volume discusses various facets of internal migration such as the roles of gender, ethnicity, caste, electoral participation of the internal migrants, livelihood diversification, struggle for settlement, and politics of displacement, and highlights the case of temporary, seasonal, and circulatory migrants as the most exploited and invisible group among migrants. Presenting secondary and recent field data from across regions, including from the northeast, the book explores the processes under which people migrate and suggests ways for ameliorating the conditions of migrants through sustained civic and political action. This book will be essential for scholars and researchers of migration studies, politics, governance, development studies, public policy, sociology, and gender studies as well as policymakers, government bodies, civil society, and interested general readers.

This volume is a multidisciplinary approach to the subject of Indian international emigration and comprises contributions by demographers, economists, sociologists, geographers, anthropologists and historians. The book highlights emerging issues such as the political economy of international migration, skilled and unskilled migration, body shopping, return migration, immigration policies in the Gulf and experiences of emigrants from the states of Kerala and Punjab. It focuses on the current dimensions like skilled migrants in the IT sector of Malaysia, the entrepreneurial ventures of Keralites in the UAE, household remittances, inequality and poverty in Kerala, the gender dimension of Indian migration (with focus on nurses and housemaids in the Gulf) and cross-border migratory movements connected to the European Union, with an overview of the migration of Sikhs and Tamils to France. Finally, it carries a discussion of the evolution of India’s public policies towards its diaspora.

This book examines identities, violence and conflict in the context of internal migration within India. As India prepares to count its citizens for Census 2011 with a proposal for a National Population Register and a unique identity card for every Indian citizen, the debate on internal and cross-border migration is significant. The second volume in this annual series, India Migration Report 2011 focuses on the implications of internal migration, livelihood strategies, recruitment processes, and development and policy concerns in critically reviewing the existing institutional framework. The essays provide a district-level analysis of the various facets of migration with a focus on employment networks, gender dimensions and migration–development linkages, with concrete policy suggestions to improve living and working conditions of vulnerable migrant workers who are a lifeline to the growth of Indian economy. This will be an invaluable resource for those in the fields of demography, economics, sociology, public policy and administration.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a mass exodus of India’s migrant workers from the cities back to the villages. This book explores the social conditions and concerns around health, labour, migration, and gender that were thrown up as a result of this forced migration. The book examines the failings of the public health systems and the state response to address the humanitarian crisis which unfolded in the middle of the pandemic. It highlights how the pandemic-lockdown disproportionately affected marginalised social groups – Dalits and the Adivasi communities, women and Muslim workers. The book reflects on the socio-economic vulnerabilities of migrant workers, their rights to dignity, questions around citizenship, and the need for robust systems of democratic and constitutional accountability. The chapters also critically look at the gendered vulnerabilities of women and non-cis persons in both public and private spaces, the exacerbation of social stratification and prejudices, incidents of intimidation by the administration and the police forces, and proposed labour reforms which might create greater insecurities for migrant workers. This important and timely book will be of great interest to researchers and students of sociology, public policy, development studies, gender studies, labour and economics, and law.

Myron Weiner's study of the relationship between internal migration and ethnic conflict in India is exceptional for two reasons: it focuses on intercultural and interstate migration throughout the nation, rather than on merely local or provincial phenomena, and it examines both the social and the political consequences of India's interethnic migrations. Professor Weiner examines selected regions of India in which migrants dominate the modern sector of the economy. He describes the forces that lead individual Indian citizens to move from one linguistic-cultural region to another in search of better opportunities, and he attempts to explain their emergence at the top of the occupational hierarchy. In addition, the author provides an account of the ways in which the indigenous ethnic groups ("sons of the soil") attempt to use political power to overcome their fears of economic defeat and cultural subordination by the more enterprising, more highly skilled, better educated migrants. In addressing the fundamental clash between the migrants' claims to equal access to their country and the claims of the local groups to equal treatment and protection by the state, Professor Weiner considers some of the ways in which government policy makers might achieve greater equality among ethnic groups without simultaneously restricting the spatial and social mobility of some of its own people. Originally published in 1978. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This book studies the politics surrounding Indian emigration from the 19th century to the present day. Bringing together data and case studies from across five continents, it moves beyond economic and social movers of migration, and explores the role of politics—both local and global—in shaping diaspora at a deeper level. The work will be invaluable to scholars and students of migration and diaspora studies, development studies, international politics, and sociology as well as policy-makers, and non-governmental organizations in the field.

Migration has emerged as an important issue in contemporary global politics and in the discourse around human development. This book highlights the role of migration in socioeconomic development and its interdependence with urbanization, employment, labour and industry. This volume identifies the challenges which migration and the subsequent dynamism in population and spatial parameters pose to land-use patterns, ecology, social politics and international relations. Through a study of migration patterns and trends in different parts of India, this collection analyzes the relationship of migration with social and occupational mobility, poverty and wealth indices, inequality, distribution of resources and demographic change. It also explores policy measures and frameworks which can bring migration into the fold of national development strategies. Timely and comprehensive, the book underscores the importance of migration and urbanization, sustainability and inclusivity to economic growth and development. It will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of migration studies, political studies, sociology, urban studies, development studies and political sociology.