Feb 15, 2021: From the Margins: Dialogue on Precarity and Social Protection of Low-Income Migrants in India
The webinar was organised by the research project team of ‘Beyond margins: Migrants’ health amid rapid Urban Transformations’ – a two-year project involving the University of Delhi (Prof Radhika Chopra), University of Edinburgh (Prof Jeevan Sharma), University of Essex (Prof Anuj Kapilashrami) and the North East Network. The ESRC-ICSSR-funded study examined the specific challenges faced by low-income migrants on arrival in cities in India, in particular, issues related to health care, violence, access to justice and civic rights.
A secondary objective of the project is to raise awareness among policy-makers, academics and others of their situation in cities across India, and to support the design of more targeted, inclusive urban policies that ensure protection of these groups.
The focus of the first webinar, organised as part of this project dissemination series, was to discuss the precarity of low-income migrants in Indian cities, and to deliberate evidence needed to advance the rights and protection mechanism for these marginalized populations. Speakers at this event – Prof Jeevan Sharma from the University of Edinburgh, Mukta Naik from the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and Divya Varma from Aajeevika Bureau – discussed the scope of current social policy and human rights infrastructure in India to protect the most vulnerable in the context of employment, income, housing, rights and urban transformation. Recording of the seminar is available here.
