Assessment of challenges of reverse migration in India in the post-COVID economy

Abstract

Background: The present study was conducted for assessing the challenges of reverse migration in India in the post-COVID economy. Materials & methods: A total of 50 subjects were enrolled with whom telephonic interviews were carried out. Only those subjects were enrolled which were reverse migrants. These internal migrants belonged to different Indian states who had returned from the destination states. All the workers covered under this study belong to the low-skilled and semi-skilled workers category. A list of contacts of these migrants was prepared with the help of social workers and other researchers working with them. Telephonic interviews, which proved to be the most appropriate method due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, with all the migrants have been written as notes and analyzed. Challenges were assessed using SPSS software. Results:A total of 50 migrant workers were interviewed. Among them, 66 percent were males while the remaining were females. 54 percent of the subjects belong to the age group of less than 40 years of age. Due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, the working class, especially the low-income migrant workers, have been the worst affected.