Revisiting reintegration policies for return migrants in Kerala: strategies for a post-COVID World

C.S. Akhil, Ashwin Kumar and V.C. Sabeer

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Kerala has long been the foremost source of international migrants from India, with remittances from abroad contributing more than 20 per cent of the state’s GDP. The COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the collapse in global oil prices, precipitated a large-scale return of Keralite workers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, adding to an already accelerating trend of return migration observed over the preceding decade. Drawing on data from the Kerala Migration Survey (KMS) 2018 and administrative records from NORKA-Roots, this paper examines the socioeconomic profile of return emigrants, evaluates the adequacy of existing state-level reintegration and rehabilitation frameworks, and identifies structural gaps in Kerala’s migration governance architecture. Comparative insights from the Philippines’ Overseas Filipino Workers reintegration model are used to benchmark best practices. The paper argues that effective reintegration requires a decisive shift from short-term financial relief towards sustainable, long-term interventions grounded in decentralised governance, comprehensive data collection at the grassroots level, expanded cooperative finance networks, and coordinated multi-ministry engagement. It further contends that Kerala’s experience can serve as a template for broader national policy reform in India.

Keywords: Return migration; Kerala; Reintegration; COVID-19; Gulf migration; NORKA; Philippines model; Labour market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J61 O15 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-11-27, Revised 2020-11-30
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