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Introduction

India’s migration governance excels in crisis response but remains fragmented across the migration cycle. This episodic approach overlooks structural vulnerabilities,  highlighting the need for a “whole-of-journey approach” for a comprehensive, continuous framework covering migrants’ entire journey ensuring resilience, dignity, and continuity for migrant workers.

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Gap in India’s Migration Cycle:

• Crisis-centric response: Focuses on evacuation/repatriation, not lifecycle support.
  Eg: Evacuation of 4.75 lakh Indians from West Asia shows strong response but limited pre/post support.
• Fragmented institutions: Multiple ministries handle parts, lacking unified oversight.
  Eg: MEA, Labour Ministry, and states operate separately without integrated migrant tracking.
• Invisible migration chains: Recruitment–work–return stages not cohesively governed.
  Eg: Workers move across districts/borders but remain partially visible to systems.
• Weak anticipatory capacity: Governance reacts after disruption, not before.
  Eg: COVID-19 migrant crisis exposed lack of preparedness for internal migrants.
• Data deficiencies: Lack of real-time, granular migration data limits policy planning.

Need for Whole-of-Journey Approach

• Rights Protection: Ensures migrants receive fair wages, safe working conditions, and dignity across all stages of migration.
  Eg: Overseas workers often face exploitation and unsafe conditions in destination countries due to weak monitoring (MEA reports).
• Reduce Vulnerabilities: Minimises risks of trafficking, fraud, and exploitation during recruitment and transit.
  Eg: Informal recruitment channels often trap migrants in debt and abusive employment situations.
• Policy Coherence: Brings alignment among fragmented laws and schemes to avoid duplication and gaps.
  Eg: Overlapping mandates of multiple ministries lead to inefficiencies in migrant welfare delivery.
• Better Coordination: Strengthens collaboration between Centre, States, and destination countries for seamless governance.
  Eg: Migration to GCC countries requires both diplomatic engagement and domestic policy support.
• Economic Optimisation: Enhances the productive use of migrant skills and maximises remittance benefits.
  Eg: Gulf countries contribute nearly 37.9% of India’s total remittances, highlighting economic significance.

Way Forward: Whole-of-Journey Governance

• Institutional Convergence: Build a unified and streamlined governance framework to manage migration across its entire lifecycle.
  Eg: Proposed Overseas Mobility Facilitation and Welfare Bill aims to integrate welfare, regulation, and facilitation mechanisms.
• Legal Safeguards: Strengthen enforcement of existing laws to ensure protection of migrant rights.
  Eg: The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act suffers from weak implementation, leaving many workers outside formal protection.
• Bilateral Frameworks: Deepen labour agreements with destination countries to secure better conditions for migrants.
  Eg: Labour MoUs with GCC nations help standardise wages, contracts, and dispute resolution mechanisms.
• Data Systems: Develop real-time, comprehensive databases to track migration flows and needs.
  Eg: Kerala Migration Survey provides a robust model for evidence-based policymaking and can be scaled nationally.
• Skilling & Reintegration: Support returning migrants with skill recognition and employment opportunities.
  Eg: Skill India initiatives can be leveraged to reskill and reintegrate returnees into domestic industries.

Conclusion

A whole-of-journey approach aligns with constitutional ideals of dignity, equality, and social justice. India must shift from reactive governance to continuous migrant support, ensuring mobility becomes a pathway to empowerment rather than vulnerability.

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