Climate Instability and Labour Migration in India

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According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Geneva, around 2.7 million people were displaced by disasters and extreme weather events in India in 2018.  In 2019, about 1.6 million people displaced by disasters were still in camps or living in temporary shelters.

Abstract: Climate-induced migration has put new emerging challenges for labour administration. Pre-existing regional inequalities, prevailing poverty levels, scattered and partial nature of existing labour laws, etc. alert us about further worsening of the vulnerable conditions of climate migrants.

The authors are Associate Fellow at the VV Giri National Labour Institute, Noida and Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Shyamlal College, University of Delhi, respectively. jatavjnu@gmail.com. The article should be cited as Jatav M. & D. Jajoria, 2019. Climate Instability and Labour Migration in India, Geography and You, 19(27): 12-17


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According to the International Organisation of Migration, emigration is defined from the perspective of the country of departure—the act of moving from one's usual residence to another country so that the country of destination effectively becomes his or her usual residence.

A cycle of migration by the same person between two or more countries is known as circular migration. It is temporary in nature and mainly undertaken for study or work.

Deportation is an act to force someone to leave a country, especially someone who has no legal right to be there or who has broken the law.

Repatriation is a personal right of a refugee or prisoner of war to return to their country of nationality under specific conditions laid down in various international and human rights instruments as well as in customary international law.

Diaspora is a large group of people with a similar heritage or homeland who have moved out to places and countries all over the world.

A cross border and internal monetary transfer by the migrants remittances are primarily personal money transfer or business payments. The term ‘remittance’ is derived from the word ‘remit’, which means ‘to send back’. Remittance refers to an amount of money transferred or sent from one party to another, usually overseas.