Labour Migration in India: Perspectives and Policies for Practice November 2026 Batch
Why this course?
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 the one hand, migration provides an exit from the structural challenges of rural society, including agrarian distress and caste violence. On the other hand, it can create new forms 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 an economic phenomenon. There is a compelling need to build a critical understanding of migration from different vantage points, locating migration at the cusp of 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 really 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 analyse the dynamics of internal labour migration in India as a contemporary social and economic reality.
- Explore key development agendas from a migration lens and analyse the related policy frameworks.
The course also offers the opportunity to learn from the organisations working with migrant labour in different sectors, through a one-day intensive field visit.
This course is open to early and mid-career professionals who are working in the domain of labour, particularly issues related to urbanisation, informal labour, labour rights, and others interested in learning more about migration in India. All applicants must possess a working knowledge of English. Applicants will be shortlisted based on their written applications.
Last date for submitting applications is 15 Sept 2026.
Selected candidates will be informed by 30 Sept 2026.
Certificate of participation
Participants should expect a rigorous six-day programme in terms of participation and peer learning. Participants will receive a ‘Certificate of Participation’ from Azim Premji University upon attending all the sessions.
Daywise sessions
| Day | Session |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Locating migration in India’s development story: Political- economy of development and migration — I |
| 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 collectisation |
| Day 6 | State and policy response to migration |
Tuition fee
INR 5000/- (including GST) – for individuals and INR 1180/- (including GST) – for University/Philanthropy partner organisations.
Accommodation Fee
INR 4200/- (including GST) per person for 6 days on twin sharing basis.
Food
Breakfast and meals are available at the cafeteria on a direct payment basis. (Approximately INR 250/- can suffice for a breakfast and two meals per person per day). 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.
For any questions, please write to migration.india@apu.edu.in
Course Faculty
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Anuradha Nagaraj
Anuradha Nagaraj has been a journalist for the last 30 years. Until recently, she was the Correspondent reporting on just transition, climate change, migration and labour rights, at Thomson Reuters Foundation, Chennai. Her reporting on politics, crime, human trafficking, climate change, labour rights, migration, just transition, and personal essays have also been published in Scroll, Open Magazine, Caravan Magazine, besides being used globally by subscribers of Reuters News.
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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’…