Labour Migration in India: Perspectives and Policies for Practice August 2024 Batch
Enabling practitioners to introspect on their work and interrogate a gender transformative approach in their programmes.
Internal labour migration is an overwhelming reality underscoring India’s developmental landscape. Millions of people are on the move across the country, in search of a livelihood and adequate means of survival. While migration opens up new vistas of work and employment, creating new opportunities for many, it also pushes people into unequal and highly exploitative work regimes.
On one hand, migration gives people an exit option from issues that ail a rural society (such as agrarian distress and caste violence), but on the other, migration has its methods of exploitation. The recent pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities of migrants’ lives even further, questioning their belongingness to the city where many have spent several years.
Despite migration being widespread, it remains poorly understood as a socio-historical, cultural and economic phenomenon. There is a compelling need to build a critical understanding of migration from different vantage points, locating migration at the cusp of the changing nature of work, market and state interventions.
In such a scenario, it is important to understand what migration means to the migrants themselves. What do different patterns of labour migration tell us about the changing nature of work and about migration itself? Can rapid urbanisation and the growth of cities become a beacon of hope for migrant workers?
These questions can help the participants dive further into the issues of working conditions, safe migration and strategies of organising the migrants, with a focus on women migrants and informal work. This will enable them to interrogate the State policies related to labour migration.
Keeping these issues in view, and the contradictions that surround labour migration, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru is offering a certificate course for development practitioners.
The course will explore critically, and in-depth, the debates and diverse viewpoints through which migration in India is understood and represented. The learning objectives of the course are to:
- Explore theoretical frameworks and empirical knowledge on labour migration.
- Critically analyze the dynamics of internal labour migration in India as a contemporary social and economic reality.
- Explore key development agendas from a migration lens and analyze the related policy frameworks.
Day | Session |
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Day 1 | Locating migration in India’s development story: political- economy of development and migration |
Day 2 | Locating migration in India’s development story: political — economy of development and migration – II |
Day 3 | Field Visit |
Day 4 | Debating the agency of the migrants |
Day 5 | New forms of collectivization |
Day 6 | State and policy response to migration |
This course is open to early and mid-career professionals who are working in the domain of migration and related domains like urbanisation, informal labour, labour rights and others interested in learning more about migration in India. Depending upon availability, some seats may be open to research scholars studying labour and migration. All applicants must possess a working knowledge of English. Applicants will be shortlisted based on their written applications.
The last date for submitting applications is extended to 20 June 2024.
The selected candidates will be informed by 22 June 2024.
Participants should expect a rigorous six-day program in terms of participation, self-learning and assessment. Participants will receive a ‘Certificate of Participation’ from Azim Premji University upon attending all the sessions.
Course Faculty
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Puja Guha
Puja is an MA in Development faculty member at Azim Premji University. Her post-doctoral work on Provincial Globalisation was a collaborative programme between the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru and the Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research (AISSR), Netherlands. She worked as a faculty member at the Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore Centre, where she taught Advanced Econometrics to Postgraduate and PhD students before her role at the University.
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Rajesh Joseph
Rajesh has more than 14 years of experience in the field of urban poverty dealing with issues of unorganised labour, financial inclusion, social security, migration, job placement, training and skill enhancement in the informal sector of the economy. He was previously associated with MAYA in their livelihood initiative, initiating Self Help Groups, Cooperatives, and Workers’…
Fee Structure
INR 4956 | Course fee (including GST)-for individuals |
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INR 1180 | Course fee (including GST) for partner organisations of Azim Premji Foundation, including Azim Premji University |
Accommodation fee: INR 2891 (including GST) per person for 6 days on twin sharing basis.
Food fee: Breakfast and meals are available at the cafeteria on a direct payment basis. (Approximately INR 225/- can suffice for a breakfast and two meals per person per day).
The course fee includes tuition, course materials and accommodation on course days. All other costs, such as, travel to and from Bengaluru/University, and meals must be borne by participants. Fee waivers are available for Foundation partners and alumni of Azim Premji University.
Additional waivers available based on financial need.