Report on the Webinar: ‘Migrants, Morality, Middle Class and Pandemic’ by Rakesh M. Krishnan

The current pandemic and the consequent travesty that the migrant labourers have had to face has generated an unprecedented response from Indian society. Most of the middle and upper class had come out on social media to contribute to the growing discussion about the plight of the labourers. However, most of these responses are short-lived, individual and singular in nature. The speaker Rakesh M. Krishnan put up a comparative picture where on one hand, middle class people share news articles about the labourer’s death and right after that, share pictures of some delicacy they have cooked along with the rest of their family in their protected homes. This dichotomy has existed for a long time in society but has probably become even more apparent in the present context. Hence, the narrative of ‘3Ms’ – migrants, morality and middle class in the backdrop of a pandemic that Krishnan builds is an important narrative which is bound to be uncomfortable but is also necessary. Sukanya Bhattacharya reports on the webinar organized by Christ University Trivandrum on 22^nd June, 2020.

Every Action Counts : Towards a Resolution of the Refugee Question- A report on World Refugee Day

On the occasion of World Refugee Day, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in association with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) India, ActionAid and University of Mumbai organised a webinar titled “Challenges to Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Stateless People in India: The Need for an Inclusive Approach” on 20th June, 2020. Annesha Saha reports.

MAPS OF RESISTANCE: MIGRANT RESISTANCE ACROSS INDIA- a report

Swapnil Dhruv Bose reports on a webinar with Behanbox and Migrant Workers Solidarity Network on migrant resistance across India, on 12th June 2020.

Chinatown Days by Rita Chowdhury: Fractured Histories of the Chinese-Indians in the Aftermath of the 1962 War

Elika Assumi locates the novel ChinaTown Days in the present moment of India’s border conflict with China and ongoing racist attacks on people from India’s North East. She writes of the eerie reminder of a conflict torn Nagaland and the history that we seem doomed to repeat.

My grandmother’s screwdrivers

On World Refugee Day, Somnath Baidya Roy remembers his grandmother, and pays homage to the resilience of refugees everywhere.

‘Oral Histories, Conflict and the Human Dimension’: A report

A short report by Nirajana Chakraborty on a webinar- “Mezzaterra: Conversations Sans Borders” with  Anam Zakaria, Oral Historian and Author, as the speaker,  organized by the Department of English, History and cultural Studies, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bannerghata Road Campus on 10^th June 2020. 

Report on ‘CoVid-19 : Public Health and the Sudden Visibility of Migrant Workers’

Migrant laborers are not an anomaly in Indian society and almost everybody is aware of their existence and the work they do. However, it is the current socioeconomic and health crisis brought on by the pandemic Covid-19 which has amplified our focus on these otherwise ignored migrant laborers and the difficulties they have to face. Social media, news as well as public opinion has varied greatly on the issue but there seems to be a consensus on the fact that India probably saw a great many deaths of these laborers before an equal number of people died due to Covid-19. Due to the sudden lockdown of all transport systems, lack of information and a great amount of mismanagement on the part of the states as well as central authority – many of these laborers have had to undertake inter-state journeys on foot with all their belongings on their shoulders. This has been extensively captured and documented by the media which has then shaped public opinion. In such a context where these migrant laborers are suddenly under the spotlight, Ranabir Samaddar and Samita Sen spoke in a webinar titled ‘CoVid-19 : Public Health and the Sudden Visibility of Migrant Workers’, organized by CRG (as part of its webinar series #bordersofanepidemic). Sukanya Bhattacharya reports on the webinar organized on 12^th June, 2020.

“On the Experience of Migration”: A report

Shail Jha reports on a webinar with Mohamed Shafeeq Karinkurayil as part of Mezzaterra -Conversations Sans Borders in which he talks about the lineaments of the migrant experience.

Living like a Phoenix: Rohingyas amidst the Covid crisis in Bangladesh camps

In the aftermath of the first postive cases of the novel CoronaVirus infection in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, Sucharita Sengupta reports on their present condition, fears and vulnerabilities.