Data on migrant workers collected during the pandemic has been poorly utilised to extend welfare benefits to construction workers in India’s most industrial state - Tamil Nadu Himanshu Upadhyaya Pic used for representational purpose only A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) states that not a single inter-state migrant worker has been registered by the Tamil Nadu Construction Workers’ Welfare Board (TNCWWB).  This is in a state which has at least 10 l

Countries can no longer plan climate adaptation in isolation. The India-Bangaldesh climate migration pattern shows the need for nations to build climate resilience solutions together Rishabh Shrivastava Pic used for representational purpose only It has been over a month since the ouster of the powerful prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina after persistent student protests. The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel peace laureate and social entrepreneur, is h

Low-income migrant workers are the first victims of domicile job quotas, which experts say is a populist approach to garner votes but overlooks the cascading impact such policies would have on livelihoods and state economies  Anuja File image.  Pic credit: Tanmoy Bhaduri  It took the Congress party-led Karnataka government less than 48 hours and a severe industry backlash to first clear  and later withdraw  a draft bill in July aimed at reserving jobs for locals. It mandated

Economic problems remain top priority for most voters, but climate change has become an important issue for young people everywhere. Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar Voters beating the heat at a polling station to franchise their vote at Haripal, West Bengal on April 22, 2006 Picture   Credit : Election Commission of India ( https://archive.pib.gov.in/archive2/photoright.aspx?phid=8294 ) 2024 is a year of elections. At least 64 nations headed to polls this year, from Indonesia in Feb

I n his recent Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi championed  India’s capacity to host the 2036 Olympic Games. “It is the dream of India,” he said.  Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar Hosting an event as large-scale and as prestigious as the Olympics is seen as a sign of arrival for developing economies, which is perhaps why Modi wants to make a bid for the honour. But a look at the history of the Olympics—including its latest green avatar on display at Paris this s

Poor countries bear the unequal burden of the impact of climate change, which is at the centre of the Global North versus Global South debate, which was a rare central theme in this year’s economic survey   Rishabh Shrivastava A coal processing unit in India. Pic credit: The Migration Story India in its recently released Economic Survey 2024 of India  has described the approach of the West towards climate action as “flawed and not universally applicable”. The survey said the

Millions of people in India live near the coastline, many depend on the fisheries sector for a living, and they will be the worst hit as marine heatwaves become more frequent. Nidhi Jamwal, Rishabh Shrivastava, Naveen Kumar Manoharan According to a recent study, the Indian Ocean is being pushed to a near-permanent heatwave state. This study, released in April 2024, was conducted by a team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune, India,

More than 70 percent of the global workforce, is likely to be exposed to climate-change-related health hazards, says report Rishabh Shrivastava At least 2.41 billion workers are exposed annually to excessive heat resulting in poor health, disability and even death, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) that has called for strengthening of occupational safety and health standards to protect workers from extreme heat. This image is for represe

Rising temperatures, sinking coastlines and increasing extreme weather events are major environmental factors that will force people to move

Ekata Bakshi, Anwesha Konar and Pranab Karmakar Illustration: Bhargabi Ghosh and Harshika Tripathi The 'Montages of Migration' series, by the Policy and Development Advisory Group (PDAG), showcases extraordinary stories of the resilience and determination of migrant workers. PDAG goes beyond the numbers in the Jharkhand Migration Survey, 2023, to tell the stories and amplify the voices of migrants who have faced adversities with courage and grace. Using graphics, maps and ill

Arunopol Seal, Vikesh Kumar, Rahul Kumar and Anwesha Konar Video credit:  Harshika Tripathi Rajesh Ravidas migrated from Jharkhand to Pune as a teenager to work in a fellow villager’s garage. Then 15, he picked up skills of denting and painting cars, eventually excelling at the job. But in the Pune garage, there were no wages paid, only food and shelter provided in return for the hard work Ravidas was doing. ​ Eight years later, he returned home. ​ Ravidas’s journey was captu

Bhasker Tripathi, journalist, talks about his reporting on farmers in a Indian village protesting against a biofuel plant

India’s construction industry employs nearly 60 million people but many lack skills to keep pace as the sector turns green Rishabh Shrivastava Picture by : Anindito Mukherjee The buildings and construction sector accounts for 25.6 % of greenhouse gas emissions and constitutes 30 % of the total energy demand in India, a recent study has shown. These emissions and energy demand are only expected to grow as most of the buildings that will exist in India in 2050 are yet to be bui

Biofuels are being seen as a green energy source to combat climate change, but what does it mean for farmers who are migrating as climate lo