PROtecting the WELLbeing of MIGRANTS in India during the COVID-19 pandemic (PROWELLMIGRANTS)

• Applicant: Dr. Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson
• Subject Area: Human Geography ; Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology ; Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
• Term: from 2021 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 467477688

About a billion people around the world live in slums, including roughly 30–50% of the urban population in the Global South (Lilford et al. 2017). In India, similarly to other countries in the Global South, people often settle down in informal settlements upon their arrival in cites after having migrated from rural areas in search for seasonal work. Most of these migrant populations work in informal sectors and are left out of the healthcare and social safeguarding systems. Further, stigma, forced evacuations and structural mistreatment cause mistrust for the government (Ayeb-Karlsson et al. 2016, 2020). In India, the media already reported the first case of COVID-19 in a slum with 23,000 people in less than a square kilometre in Mumbai in March last year. Imaginably, WHO’s COVID-19 guidelines of two metres physical distancing and 20 seconds of hand washing with soap was almost impossible (Kluge et al. 2020).The aim of this research is to qualitatively investigate the impact of COVID-19 upon migrants’ wellbeing and mental health in India. Migrants (mainly seasonal and temporary) in India who form a crucial part of the national informal labour forces were severely affected due to the sudden lockdown. Many ended up homeless as they were evicted out of accommodation provided to them by their employing industries. As transportation services shut down, they were forced to walk for weeks and months to get home. The roadblocks ended up trapping them in between states forcing them to seeking shelter and food in overcrowded public squares. In this context, we (1) investigate how the overall COVID-19 response in India impacted the mental health and wellbeing of migrant labours; (2) Examine how shocks to migrant livelihoods impacted their wellbeing; (3) Propose policy and practice recommendations that can strengthen existing health systems and better support pandemic responses in the future.The Indian context and events represent an important case study to better understand the changes and shocks triggered by the pandemic upon societies in the Global South. The Indian Government was globally criticized for the way they responded to the pandemic, for their lack of social protection of their most vulnerable populations and for violating human rights. It will be crucial to rapidly and critically evaluate the immediate and longer-term impacts upon migrants with a specific focus on mental health, wellbeing and livelihoods. This will help draw out what support is required to address livelihood and mental health concerns now as well as how local, national and international responses can be improved in the future.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Denmark, United Kingdom
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Maxmillan Martin; Emmanuel Raju, Ph.D.