IIMAD

Skip to Content

IIMAD is set to launch its first Annual Migration Survey (AMS) in November and December 2024.

Call for Papers Theme: People on the  Move: International Migration as a Catalyst for Achieving the SDGs

Dr Ginu Zacharia Oomman, Visiting Professor and Founding Member of IIMAD, has been appointed as the Chairman of the State Food Commission.

Chair is a member of the Scientific Committee for the preparation of the 2025 International Forum for Migration Statistics (IFMS)

Special Issue: Climate and Development (hybrid open access journal): Publishes research on the interfaces between climate, development, policy and practice to make analysis of climate and development issues more accessible.

A food-sufficient India needs to be hunger-free too – S. Irudaya Rajan,U.S. Mishra

Webinar on Perceptions and Realities of Academics Abroad with special focus on Masters in UK on October 31st , 2024 at 7:00 PM IST

publications

COVID-19, Internal Transitions and Vulnerable Citizens: Narratives of the Migrant Crisis in India during the Pandemic

Published on May 16, 2024

Details

Abstract

This article illustrates how the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic led to an internal migrant crisis in India, making the country realise the presence of physical borders within itself. Through a narrative analysis of the chronicles of internal migrant workers and the migrant crisis published in print media during the first wave of COVID-19, this article elucidates how internal borders within a country became impermeable, affecting the rights and well-being of vulnerable citizens, who were labelled ‘disease carriers’. The discrimination and othering faced by migrants aggravated during this period, making them more prone to fall through the cracks of the crisis. Although mobility restrictions were important public health tools to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 infections, they undoubtedly exacerbated the pre-existing socio-economic inequities and vulnerabilities. Problematising these aspects of the migrant crisis during the pandemic, this article proposes migration policies and governance through effective public communication, inclusive decisions and human rights as a way forward.

Click to read more