Urban Insecurity, Migration, and Social Protection: Mapping Access, Exclusion, and Identity Across Indian Cities
Funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR Sanction No. 28/2nd LSS/2025-1412-SOC/SOD), this longitudinal study examines how internal migrant workers navigate access to social protection, employment security, housing, education, and urban governance systems across India. Led by Principal Investigator Prof. (Dr.) S. Irudaya Rajan (CHRIST, Bangalore), with Co-Investigators Dr. Prerana Srimaal, Prof. Neetha N., Dr. Padmini Ram, Dr. Niharika Singh, and Prof. Kailash Chandra Das, the project is based on a cross-sector, collaborative model. The research adopts a mixed-methods design across six city-sector sites: hotel and restaurant workers in Thiruvananthapuram, domestic and personal care workers in Delhi, manufacturing workers in Hosur, food-delivery platform workers in Bangalore, auto-taxi workers in Mumbai, and construction workers in Pune. Each site targets a survey sample of 500 respondents, supplemented by in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and ethnographic case studies. The study investigates migrants' access to entitlements such as PDS and health insurance, conditions of informal employment, inclusion in urban planning, educational continuity for migrant children, governance and data gaps, and migrants' lived experiences and coping strategies, to be used as grounded evidence for policy formulations and recommendations meant to ensure that migrants have the Right to the Cities that they help build.