Context: International Migrants Day is observed every year on 18 December.

About International Migrants Day

• Origin: The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 18 December as International Migrants Day in 2010 due to the large and increasing number of migrants worldwide.
  • It was on this day in 1990 that UNGA had adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.
• Aim: The International Migrants Day is celebrated to highlight the socio-economic contributions of migrants and also the challenges faced by them.
• Celebration: On the occasion of International Migrants Day, people across the world attend events, conferences, and seminars that discuss the global migrant movement.
• Significance of International Migrants Day
  • Representation for Migrants: International Migrants Day gives representation to the migrant population, which constitutes around 3.6% of the world’s total population.
  • Role in Nation-building: The day celebrates the role of migrants, amplifies their struggles, and highlights their socio-economic-cultural contribution to the country.
  • Remove Negative Feelings: The day seeks to remove anti-migration feelings from the political class and make the migration process smooth.

Who are Migrants?

• Definition: According to the UN Migration Agency (IOM), a migrant is a person who is moving or has moved across an international border or within a State away from his/her habitual place of residence.
  • The reason for the movement could be both voluntary as well as involuntary.
• Migration Trends
  • With the advancement of communications and transportation, the number of people migrating from one place to another has grown significantly.
  • Recent data has shown that more people live in a country other than the one in which they were born. 
  • UN data has shown that an estimated 272 million people migrated in 2019, which is more than five times the number of migrants in 2010. 

Reasons for Migration

• Natural Disasters: Many people migrate from regions with frequent disasters to those that offer relative stability. Such regions are usually located in under-developed countries.
• Better Work Opportunities: Migration takes place for the sake of work opportunities. This can be both blue-collar as well as white-collar jobs.
• Poverty: Migration is an opportunity for people to come out of the cycle of poverty and start their lives afresh in areas that offer opportunities. 
• Quality of life: Migration helps people to improve their quality of life by getting access to good education, healthcare, and a clean environment.
• Higher Education: A large chunk of migrants are students, who relocate to different countries to pursue higher education.
• Escape conflict and Persecution: Internal civil war has forced many people to migrate to peaceful areas. Such wars are detrimental to the survival of minority groups. 
• Climate Change: Climate change is turning out to be a new reason for migration. People affected due to climate change are termed climate refugees.

Problems Faced by Migrants

• Cultural Assimilation: First-generation migrants are likely to face the challenge of cultural assimilation due to differences in lifestyle and habits.
• Anti-migrant Politics: Anti-migrant movement is at its peak in the world. Politics based on anti-migration beliefs are likely to affect the rights of the migrant class.
• Shortage of Resources: The host country may face a shortage of funds, because of which they would not want to allocate basic resources to migrants.
• Unemployment: The world is going through a recession, causing widespread unemployment. Migrants are likely to find it difficult to get employed easily.
• Lack of Social Security: The growth of migration is likely to put a financial burden on host nations. They may not be able to offer social protection to migrants.
• Criminal Stereotyping: Migrants are typically stereotyped as criminals, who indulge themselves in anti-social activities.
• Violation of Human Rights: Many migrants experience violation of their human rights by employers as well as authorities.
• Deteriorating Asylum Policy: The asylum policy of countries is slowly deteriorating. Instead of taking care of asylum seekers, they are deported back.

Way Forward

• Migrant-centric Policies: Countries have to be ready to implement migrant-centric policies so that their basic rights are upheld.
• Decentralized Growth: Economic and social growth must be decentralized evenly to curtail excess internal migration.
• Foreign Aid: Increasing foreign aid to countries under duress can go a long way in creating development locally, thereby reducing migration.
• Skill Enhancement: Efforts have to be made by governments and other aid agencies to enhance the skills of migrants through skill training camps to make them employable.

Measures Taken in India for Welfare of inter-state Migrants

• One Nation One Ration Card: This scheme enables migrant workers and their families to access the public distribution system (PDS) benefits from any fair price shop in the country.
• Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan: It is the Government of India’s massive rural public works scheme to empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens.
• Pradhan Mantri SVANIDHI Scheme: The scheme provides collateral-free working capital loans of up to Rs 10,000 of one-year tenure, to approximately 50 lakh street vendors, whose livelihood was affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Aatm Nirbhar Bharat: It is a campaign for India to play a larger role in the world economy, and for it to become more efficient, competitive, and resilient. A vital component of the campaign is to leverage India’s workforce for rapid economic development.
• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA): The Government of India seeks to provide free and compulsory education to the children of the 6-14 years age group under the Right to Education, including that of migrants.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana: It is a government-financed health assurance scheme, aimed at providing a health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care. It is targeted at the poor and people with lower middle income, including migrants.

Conclusion:

Migrants have a pretty big role in the development of a country and their contribution towards socio-economic progress cannot be discounted. It is necessary to take steps for migrants to easily assimilate into the society.