RETURN MIGRATION OF NON-RESIDENT MALAYALEES TO KERALA: A STUDY DURING COVID-19 PERIOD

Abstract

For many centuries migration has been a global- social phenomenon. Today, more people live in a country or a state other than the one in which they were born. Migration is the voluntary or forced movement of people from one place to another due to various reasons such as economy, occupation, sustenance, war; riot etc. Since earliest time’s people is in move for various reasons in order to survive. India has shown an increasing trend in migration for a long period of time. Kerala is one of the states in India, which have witnessed a large scale migration and large number of Keralites resides outside Kerala for their livelihood. The lives of nonresident malayalees are very much affected because of the pandemic situation called Covid-19. It has forced the people to return back to their home country. The uncertainty caused by Covid-19 across the world is very drastic and uncontrollable. It is multidimensional in nature. This research was an attempt to develop knowledge about the experience undergone by the nonresident malayalees on their return journey to Kerala during Covid-19 period. The researcher tried to analyze the major questions like the difficulties undergone by different members within the family during the journey, the reasons for return migration and their expectation about future. The researcher employed a qualitative case study design to collect in-depth subjective data and develop a deeper understanding about their experiences and expectations. This thesis is divided into seven chapters starting with introduction and review of literature where the researcher has identified the research gap in existing literature and tries to shed light into those overlooked areas. Later chapters include methodology used in the study, case presentations, analysis of the data and findings of the study and conclusions. The researcher through this study could understand that the return journey was not so easy for the respondents and it involved very risky and unexpected dimensions during this pandemic situation. The reasons which made them return back was the sudden loss of job and fear and insecurity they had to face at their location of current residence. The experiences of the family differed based on their social conditions and the mode through which they travelled. The future living for the returnees is a question mark which includes different challenges to overcome by them for the livelihood of their family. As the study is of inductive nature, it is difficult to generalize the findings of this study and it is not attempted at all.