Many felt that Delhi’s heatwave this year was not so intense but the workers in the wholesale vegetable and fruit market - Azadpur Mandi - have a different experience to share Sanskriti Talwar Ramakant carrying three sacks of peas across the open yard of Azadpur Mandi in Delhi in May-end on a day when the temperature in the capital was recorded as 40°C. The mandi is Asia’s largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market. Sanskriti Talwar/The Migration Story New Delhi : Ramakant

Indigenous communities like the Misings, living near the river banks for centuries, are particularly vulnerable.  Sanskrita Bharadwaj...

For Assamese migrants in Bengaluru, trauma caused by floods is an annual ritual. Maitreyee Boruah Koyes Ahmed Laskar from Assam's Hailakandi district stands in front of his cab parked at KR Market in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Maitreyee Boruah/The Migration Story   BENGALURU, Karnataka : Like any other June morning, the Krishnarajendra Market, better known as KR Market, in Bengaluru was bustling. It takes a moment to make sense of the myriad sights, sounds, and smells quintessenti

Aishwarya Mohanty From right to left: Kamala Kanhaiyalal, Badhu Narji, Kanku Laxman, and Ramila Ninama sit with their collection of sun-dried vegetables and seeds. This time-tested preservation practice, led by women, help ensure year-round food availability and resilience in the face of climate and economic uncertainties. Aishwarya Mohanty/The Migration Story BANSWARA, Rajasthan:  Earthen pots shut with clay lids line the corners of Kanku Laxman’s kitchen in her mud-walled h

River erosion in Assam renders tens of thousands landless every year. Rehabilitation is a solution, but the state’s promises and policies have not taken off, forcing many to migrate to urban centres in search of work  Mahmodul Hassan Seventy-year-old Abu Bakkar Siddique and his family evacuated from the land they had lived on for decades amid constant threat of erosion in Dhubri district of Assam. Mahmodul Hassan/The Migration Story DHUBRI, Assam: Anuwar Hussain’s family of

Surging tourism brings income and migrants — but also crowds, traffic, and climate strain — prompting new restrictions in a town...

The Migration Bulletin is a monthly round-up that compiles news and developments pertaining to India’s migrant workforce from across India.  In this month's bulletin, we track air conditioned lounges for gig workers in Chennai, a survey in Andhra Pradesh to curb illegal immigrants and in Telangana to enumerate migrant workers from Chhattisgarh and more. The Migration Bulletin is a monthly round-up that compiles news and developments pertaining to India’s migrant workforce fro

The gradual disappearance of these trees, a part of the union territory’s  heritage, has impacted the sericulture trade and led to migration, climate change and a way of life   Khursheed Ahmad Shah Silkworms feed on new mulberry leaves in a local villager’s home in Putshai village in Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir. Khursheed Ahmad Shah/The Migration Story KUPWARA, Jammu & Kashmir: In villages like Gundimancher, Audoora, Gazriyal and Shartgund Payeen, migration doesn’t always look

Scorching heat in Ludhiana grips migrant workers walking, cycling or taking buses to work – and even an early morning ride is a losing battle against heat stress. Anuj Behal A factory worker cycles to work in Ludhiana’s Industrial area-A in the early morning hours to beat the scorching heat. Rajneesh Verma/The Migration Story   LUDHIANA, Punjab: By 7 am, the sun is blazing and heating up both the asphalt and the bodies on the road. At the crack of dawn, Ram Kumar, 28, scramb

Workers in spinning mills suffer from headaches, dehydration, infections and worse due to intense heat, poor ventilation and a lack of...

As India incentivises electric vehicles to cut emissions, auto repair workers face uncertainty, with many at risk of being left behind in...

Mumbaikars living in the city's sprawling slums are spending more and more on air conditioners, coolers and exhaust fans, even they if...

Livelihoods in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region have been wrecked by the agrarian crisis, but collective dairy farming provides a viable alternative to farmers and migrants who returned during the pandemic Shekhar Paigude Angad Taur A local collection centre of Marathwada dairy near Satefal village in Beed district of Marathwada. Angad Taur/The Migration Story  KALAMB, Maharashtra : When dairy helper Ramkumar Machave returned home   to his arid Satefal village in Beed from Ahi

Fish hauls are in free fall as oceans warm, forcing fishermen, many of them migrant workers, to go deeper into the sea, often violating...

The dying art form of sankirtan mandalis , recently revived by the women of Odisha’s villages, is being enlisted by forest officials to spread awareness about protecting forests Roli Srivastava Rakhi Ghosh Members of  sankirtan mandali perform in the village before going to stage of Solah Prahari Yagyan. Ashutosh Maharana/ The Migration Story KEONJHAR/ANGUL, Odisha:  The women of Murgapahadi village in eastern India have for years managed farms and children, walked to forests

In Bengaluru’s low-income settlements, homes built with heat-trapping material, poor ventilation, irregular electricity and water supply,...

The recent conflict between India and Pakistan has left migrants in Kashmir’s border areas jobless, stranded and afraid for their future Tauseef Ahmad Sajid Raina Migrant workers take a break at a construction site in Nusoo village in Bandipora district on May 2, 2025. They came to work here after the roads to the Gurez Valley were closed in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. Majid Raina/The Migration Story BANDIPORA, Jammu and Kashmir, May 10, 2025: The narrow road

Once an agrarian settlement, Jagatpura, on the outskirts of Chandigarh and Mohali, has transformed into a dense hub of informal rental housing for  thousands of migrant workers who navigate precarious living conditions, high rents and exclusion from the city they help build. Anuj Behal Row houses built by migrants on land leased from the local zamindar , for which they pay a monthly rent in Jagaputra. Anuj Behal/The Migration Story JAGATPURA, Punjab: Akhilesh, 23, a daily wa

A unique water conservation project based on sharing resources in a drought-prone region of eastern India has revived farms and wells,...

Death of his brother on a railway track in Aurangabad district during the pandemic led to steel factory worker Birendra Singh vow to...