Migrants at a crossroads: COVID-19 and challenges to migration

ABSTRACT

In my final editorial, as the Editor-in-Chief of Migration and Development, I look back at my time as a migration scholar for close to three decades and the ways in which the field has slowly expanded, giving rise to platform such as this journal for migrant scholars globally to showcase their ideas on the various facets of migration and development. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the future of migration and gaining a clear picture of the world at hand is imperative. What will be the effect of this virus on mobility across and beyond borders? This article examines the role of large scale migration surveys in understanding that future. Focusing on the example of Kerala, the article highlights the role of the Kerala Migration Survey (KMS) which has provided data on stocks of emigrants, return emigrants, cost of migration, use of remittances and migration corridors since 1998 The article shows how the Government of Kerala effectively utilized this data to manage the spread of the pandemic and its subsequent socio-economic impact on individuals, communities and society and organize policies and programs as well as to prepare for eventual return migrants for their integration and rehabilitation. Given that the KMS model has been successfully replicated in some of the major states in India, we proposed the KMS model to be replicated nationwide as an India Migration Survey and globally, given the challenges to come in terms of new emerging trends and patterns of migration in post-pandemic world.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• development
• Kerala
• migrants
• migration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See: https://www.thelede.in/write-in/2020/05/19/why-we-need-data-of-migrant-workers-kerala-style

2. See: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/kerala-cm-flags-covid-19-danger-for-migrant-workers-in-uae-seeks-pm-modi-s-intervention/story-eUgLtzaU6Yx7lsxA3qNKnI.html

3. See: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-indian-labourers-in-gcc-countries-are-in-dire-need-of-help-say-migration-experts-irudaya-rajan-and-ginu-zacharaia-oommen/article31318501.ece

4. See: https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/kerala-prepares-2-5-lakh-rooms-to-quarantine-returning-expats-1.4689751

5. The last estimate of incoming remittances into India by the World Bank, before the starting of the pandemic, was $ 83 billion. See: https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/coronavirus-2020-global-remittances-to-witness-sharpest-fall-in-recent-times-says-world-bank/article31407369.ece

6. See: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-south-asian-gulf-migrant-crisis/article32215146.ece

Additional information

Notes on contributors

S. Irudaya Rajan

S. Irudaya Rajan, Professor at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Kerala. He is the Chair of the KNOMAD thematic group on Internal Migration and Urbanization managed by the World Bank.  With more than three decades of  research experience at CDS, he has coordinated eight migration surveys in Kerala since 1998 (with K C Zachariah); conducted migration surveys in Goa (2008), Punjab (2011) and Tamil Nadu (2015). He is editor of two Routledge series, India Migration Report (since 2010) and South Asia Migration Report (since 2017). He works closely with the Ministry of External Affairs (erstwhile Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs), Government of India and Department of Non-Resident Keralite Affairs, Government of Kerala. He is also the elected chairman for the International Institute of Migration and Development. Additionally he is the Dean of faculty of Social Sciences, Kannur University, Kerala.