Distress Migration and Involuntary Return During Pandemic in Assam: Characteristics and Determinants

Abstract

Novel Coronavirus disease and the resulting lockdown has created a unique situation of involuntary return migration among labourers in India. It provided a stage for conducting a retrospective study to analyse determinants of return behaviour among internal migrants upon their return. The aim of the paper is to carry out an empirical verification of socio-economic profile of migrant workers, information about destination, determinants of return migration, and future aspirations of the return migrants. Based on a telephonic semi-structured open-ended questionnaire-based survey conducted in February and March 2021 among 238 non-returnees and return migrants of Sonitpur District of Assam, we found that four states from South India, namely—Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, are the most attractive destinations for migrants from Sonitpur. The bulk of the migrants are young, unmarried men with minimal education, and majority come from households with no cultivable land. About 30% of the returnees went back to their previous destinations within a year, while a sizable portion of non-returnees are willing to return. Not all migrants returned home during pandemic. After controlling for all variables, it was revealed that the percentage of income sent as remittances, the availability of a job card by migrants' households, status of family migration, income, and the number of working days per week are all significantly related to migrants' decision to return. We suggest a hypothesis based on the observations that during times of crisis, migrants with other economic options at sources, such as a job card, are more likely to return.