COVID-19 and Labor Migration in India

This book, with articles by leading experts and researchers, explores the ongoing concerns of labor migration in India in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It studies various aspects such as:

• impact of COVID-19 pandemic on rural migrants
• gender implications of agrarian change and labor migration in out-migrating states
• geography of out-migrant husbands of women left behind home
• processes of international labor out-migration and remittances
• occupational mobility of migrants
• social exclusion, discrimination, and identity crisis of migrants in urban slums
• vulnerability of low-skilled migrants at the urban destinations and the implications of short-term economic shocks like demonetization and COVID-led lockdown and
• sociological implications of development, distress, and youth migration in India

Drawing on integrative frameworks that combine primary research and secondary sources from a variety of disciplines, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of demography, economics, development studies, public policy, sociology, and geography.

Kunal Keshri, faculty at International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai’s Department of Migration and Development, is a leading scholar on internal, temporary, and seasonal migration. His research spans caste, nutrition, ageing, urbanization, and public health, with notable work including Socio-economic Determinants of Temporary Labour Migration in India.

S. Irudaya Rajan is Chair of the International Institute of Migration and Development (IIMAD), Kerala, India. Dr. Rajan is the editor of two Routledge series – India Migration Report and South Asia Migration Report and the Founding Editor-in-Chief of Migration and Development (Sage).

Kirti Gaur Manager – Research and M&E at Salaam Bombay Foundation, Mumbai, has 15+ years expertise in population and development. Her research spans migration, adolescent well-being, and public health, with acclaimed publications, including her recent NFHS-5 based study on paternal migration and child stunting.