| Abstract: | Seasonal and other temporary out-migration for manual work from India's rural areas is a major component of the livelihoods of poor rural workers and their employers in most parts of the country. However, members of India's population who migrate around the country looking for manual work challenge development policymakers because of the difficulty of including such people in geographically-based interventions. The number of temporary migrants has nonetheless increased during the 1980s and 1990s in western and eastern India. Seasonal migration in different parts of India is considered, while the author argues the need for a better understanding of social and economic relations and the circumstances under which migration can affect them to the benefit of poor migrant workers. Seasonal migration is both a part of and an outcome of those social and economic structures in the Indian countryside. |
