Experts at a two-day national seminar started at Mahatma Gandhi University emphasised the necessity of a comprehensive study on inter-state migration in India. The seminar, titled Inter-State Migration: Challenges and Opportunities, was inaugurated by Vice-Chancellor Dr. C.T. Aravindakumar. He highlighted that the student-centred interventions by the University’s Centre for Migration Policy set a commendable example in this domain.

Presiding over the event, migration studies expert and Chairperson of the International Institute of Migration and Development, Prof. S. Irudaya Rajan, pointed out that the lack of precise data and credible references regarding inter-state migration in national policy documents and surveys needs to be revisited.

Prof. Nasreen Chowdhury, a Political Science professor at Delhi University, stressed the need for authorities to exercise special vigilance in safeguarding the rights of migrant workers. She also underscored the importance of this perspective in research on migration. Dr. Sadananda Sahoo from Indira Gandhi National Open University remarked that migration is not merely an economically driven process but a multifaceted phenomenon.

The seminar also featured discussions by Dr. Ravi Raman, a member of the Kerala State Planning Board; Dr. M.V. Bijulal, Chairperson of the Centre for Migration Policy and Inclusive Governance, Dr. P.P. Noushad, Joint Director of the Institute for Multi-Disciplinary Programmes in Social Sciences; and Dr. S. Sunitha. The seminar concludes today (November 7).