The missing link: Why India’s climate and migration policies keep talking past each other

A review of over 90 interventions at national, state and city levels to assess how well they address both mobility and climate risks found that only five explicitly address both climate change and migration

Swati Surampally

Aditi Apparaju

Pic credit: Padam Bhushan

India has long been a country on the move. For many households, migration is a vital livelihood strategy to manage risks, pursue aspirations, and diversify incomes. At the same time, India faces increasing climate change hazards, including droughts, floods, heatwaves, cyclones, and other extreme weather events. Together, migration and climate change are reshaping how people live, work and adapt. 

As climate stress pushes people out of rural areas, migration increasingly becomes a necessity rather than a choice. Yet, once in cities, migrants are often pushed to the margins, living in informal settlements prone to flooding or heat stress, and working in sectors with minimal protections. Despite their scale and vulnerability, migrants remain almost invisible in policies meant to protect them from economic and climate shocks.

Migrants living in precarious conditions in an informal settlement in Bengaluru.

Pic credit: S J Hemant Kumar, IIHS Media Lab.

In this context, the Climate Change Local Adaptation Pathways project at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) has been examining how local adaptation and labour migration interact to shape resilience.

Our recent report, Internal Migration and Climate Resilience in India: Are current policies and interventions providing adaptive social protection? reviewed 94 interventions at national, state (Karnataka and Kerala), and city levels (Bengaluru and Kochi) to assess how well they address both mobility and climate risks. Out of the 94 interventions, only five explicitly address both climate change and migration. Just four qualify as providing Adaptive Social Protection (ASP), a forward-looking approach that links social protection, disaster risk reduction, and climate adaptation.

Examples of interventions that address both climate change and migration, and those that offer adaptive social protection. Credit: Authors

Gaps in social protection and labour policies

Of the interventions reviewed, 64 overlook migrants and 73 neglect climate risks altogether. These exclusions are most visible in India’s labour policies. Key laws, such as the Contract Labour Act and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act (ISMWA,1979), do not apply to informal workers, leaving a significant portion of migrant labourers unprotected. Moreover, rigid documentation systems and domicile-based eligibility rules prevent migrants from accessing even basic welfare schemes.

At the same time, some migrants remain in informal employment to maintain flexibility, allowing them to balance work in the destination with agricultural responsibilities and family ties at the source. This raises a critical question: how can social protection systems support migrants who move in and out of informality by choice or necessity?

Climate/climate change and migrant-specific interventions in our assessment. Credit: Authors.

These tensions are evident in existing schemes. The One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC), once domicile-based, was reintroduced in 2020 to enable food security portability. While it allows families to draw rations anywhere in India, awareness remains low and corruption and discrimination at fair price shops that favour local ration cardholders limit their access.

Similarly, the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs), launched post-COVID to provide secure housing for migrants, integrates sustainability through rainwater harvesting, waste management, and solar energy in its design guidelines. Model-2’s Technology Innovation Grant (TIG) supports faster construction of resource-efficient and disaster-resilient buildings. Yet, older constructions lack climate-resilient features and implementation remains weak.

The Building and Other Construction Workers Act (BOCWA) (1996) include provisions for worker welfare, but registration hurdles and weak enforcement exclude most migrant workers who form the backbone of India’s construction sector. Crucially, these laws do not yet account for climate-related occupational hazards like extreme heat exposure, which threaten workers’ health and productivity. Most labour laws were drafted decades ago, long before climate change emerged as a defining risk. Updating them for the current realities is no longer optional but urgent.

This requires strengthening welfare provisions for climate-related health risks through a combination of regulatory, service, and financial measures. BOCWA benefits should cover heat-related illnesses, flood injuries, and other climate-induced health impacts. Employers must provide climate-safe worksites, including shaded and flood-resilient areas, protective gear and clear safety protocols. Training can equip workers and supervisors to manage climate risks, while compensation, paid leave, and temporary relocation support can mitigate the impacts of extreme events.

Further compounding these gaps, India’s earliest attempt to legislate migrant rights, the ISMWA reveals deep-rooted blind spots. Its language itself is gender-exclusive, referring only to “he,” “him,” or “workmen”. Beyond terminology, women migrants’ needs, such as safe housing, childcare, sanitation, maternal health, and workplace safety, remain overlooked. While BOCWA requires large infrastructure companies to provide worker housing, many avoid hiring women, perceiving the responsibility of ensuring women and children’s safety as an additional burden.

Climate policies that overlook migration

Beyond labour and welfare systems, climate policy also sidelines migration. From the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) to the two state climate action plans assessed, references to migration are largely tokenistic, with no actionable strategies. The Karnataka State Action Plan on Climate Change, 2021 notes,

“These direct physical parameters of climate change could also have indirect impacts on the fisheries sector e.g. sea level rise and intensity of storms could impact coastal communities and there could be displacement and migration of fisherfolk population.”

Kerala’s State Action Plan on Climate Change 2023-2030 similarly states, “Coastal areas are under threat from climate change as sea level rise is altering shorelines and coastal boundaries, resulting in seawater intrusion. This results in local population migration to other areas, which will have an impact on economic growth.”

These plans merely acknowledge that climate change can induce migration but do not outline any targeted measures to address it. They fail to recognise the heightened vulnerabilities of migrants in destination areas where climate risks intersect with precarious living and working conditions. Climate policies in India largely prioritises emission reduction in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement, with limited emphasis on adaptation. Although the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change was established in 2015, most sanctioned projects focus on rural resilience, despite migrants in urban areas facing significant climate exposure.

Small-scale innovations, big lessons from NGO action

In contrast, NGOs and grassroots initiatives are testing solutions that recognise migrants’ lived realities. Mobile health clinics, run by the Centre for Migration and Development (CMID), with the National Health Mission, provide healthcare at worksites and during off-hours, accommodating long workdays and language barriers. These efforts reflect an increasing adoption of a human rights lens.

In Bengaluru, Gubbachi Learning Community helps children of migrant workers reintegrate into schools through bridge learning programmes. SELCO Foundation has piloted climate-responsive building designs for bridge schools and worker housing. Surat has integrated migrants into early warning systems and established an Urban Health and Climate Resilience Centre focused on climate-related illnesses.

Many organisations are also adopting a corridor approach linking source and destination areas. The Safe and Responsible Migration Initiative by CMID, PDAG Consulting LLP, PHIA Foundation, and ISB, in collaboration with the Department of Labour, Employment, Training and Skill Development, has established Safe and Responsible Migration Centres (SRMCs) in source and destination states. Similarly, the Safe and Dignified Migration of the Rural Poor by Gram Vikas, CMID, Prachodhan Development Society, and ESAF Small Finance Bank provides holistic support for migrant workers and their families across the Odisha–Kerala corridor. These initiatives provide employment information, travel assistance, and documentation support at the source, alongside financial literacy, translation services, accommodation facilitation, and psychosocial counselling at the destination and livelihood support for women remaining behind.

Through these initiatives, NGOs demonstrate sensitivity, innovation, and a grounded understanding of migrant realities. However, their reach remains limited, dependent on donor funding and lacking sustained institutional support.

Towards Adaptive Social Protection

According to the Reserve Bank of India, climate impacts could cost India 3–20% of its GDP by 2100 and demand over $1 trillion in adaptation financing by 2030.

Some existing initiatives can form the foundation for adaptive social protection to build long-term resilience. The Karnataka State Disaster Management Plan, for instance, recognises how climate change increases the frequency of extreme events and priorities women, children, the elderly, SC/ST communities, and gender minorities. Yet, it makes no mention of migrants.

Social protection and its links to climate change adaptation. Credit: Authors

To make India’s welfare architecture more inclusive and adaptive, several measures are essential:

● Reframe the definition of “urban residents” to reflect migration realities and reduce reliance on proof or duration of residence.

● Ensure migrants’ access to disaster risk reduction measures and early warning systems, regardless of tenure or documentation.

● Embed climate-resilient infrastructure in housing and workplaces.

● Strengthen occupational safety standards to address heat and flood risks by mandating heat-stress protocols, safe work guidelines during heavy rainfall, protective gear, and clear employer accountability across all worksites.

● Invest in multi-sectoral services, particularly health and education, to meet the needs of mobile and transient populations.

● Scale effective NGO-led models through government partnerships to expand outreach and service delivery.

Ulimately, resilience depends on whether policies and interventions can move with the people they are meant to serve and adapt to the realities of a changing climate and economy.

Edited by Sofia Juliet Rajan

Swati Surampally and Aditi Apparaju are researchers at the School of Environment & Sustainability, IIHS.

This analysis has been co-published with CLAPs