An analysis of recovery from Covid-19 lockdown of Indian internal migrants: a case study of smart cities of Punajb State, India

Abstract

There is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has raved worldwide, and developing countries like India are no exception. Similarly, the same has disrupted global human mobility dynamics. In India, which has a sizeable number of migrants, the impact of COVID-19 has been more pronounced in the sub-section of 'migrant workers, particularly in socioeconomic and demographic terms. Thus, the present paper attempts to analyze the multifaceted impact of COVID-19 on Indian migrants' income, employment and consumption expenditure patterns. Moreover, the article also investigated some pulling and pushing forces responsible for post-lockdown internal migration in Indian Punjab. For empirical analysis, the study uses mainly primary data from 400 internal migrants collected from eight major cities of Punjab between May-November, 2022. The socioeconomic and demographic profile of migrants has been analyzed using chi-square and Mann-Whitney U test or Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test. Major determinants responsible for migratory decisions have been discovered using the logistic regression model. The post-lock-down empirical results of internal migrations show that urban-urban movement was also one of the leading migration streams besides rural-urban migration. The recent internal migration trend in Punjab is basically from economically backward regions of India. Most migrants were male, young, educated/skilled, and from lower (SCs) and upper communities (GCs). More precisely, bigger household sizes, better employment/income opportunities, marriage, modernization and better education and hospitality facilities are the principal motivating/pulling reasons for migration. In contrast, loss of employment, poverty, low agricultural productivity, unequal distribution of land holdings, and monthly per capita expenditure are chief pushing factors for migratory force. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has affected internal migrants disproportionately, it needs to be given high priority with specific policy intervention.