Transient Urbanism: Full Family Seasonal Migration to Mumbai from Rural India, Patterns and Implications

Shalini Sen, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)

This paper studies seasonally migrating families as a unit. Although studies have been conducted on family migration at an international level, in-depth knowledge about internally migrating families on this unique seasonal journey is lacking. The phenomena of seasonal migration is common and long-standing in the Indian subcontinent, but the act of migrating as a nuclear family and losing access to assets like free schooling and vaccination for children, safety of home and public distribution system is new. International organisations are well versed in the concept of full family migration in the context of family unification and related legislation. Still, there is a lack of understanding of internal family migration in India, where the family behaves as an economic unit and faces the causes and consequences of migration together. This paper delves into the causes of seasonal migration by studying village-level economics from the men of the family and the consequences of the same on the women and children by studying vulnerability at the site, school drop-outs, child labour and loss of access to public distribution systems at home.

Keywords: International Migration, Mixed methods research, Families, Unions and Households, Children, Adolescents, and Youth

See extended abstract.