Description
Introduction:
COVID-19 laid bare the vulnerabilities of migrants, emphasising their struggles in accessing social protection and welfare services. This study delves into the complexities surrounding access to state services for temporary migrants, particularly women and children. It highlights the inadequacies in portability mechanisms for migrants and aims to understand how temporary work-related migration impacts access to Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Focusing on Maharashtra and Bihar, two Indian states with significant migration dynamics, the research explores the multifaceted challenges faced by both migrants and frontline workers.
Methodology:
The study adopts an ethnographic approach and employs document analysis, participant observation and semi-structured key informant interviews. The study focuses on two key states: Maharashtra, a major destination for inter-state migrants, and Bihar, a significant source state with high outmigration. The inclusion and exclusion criteria ensure a nuanced understanding of the impact of temporary migration on accessing welfare services, particularly ICDS.
Results and discussion:
The study highlights the complexity of work-related temporary migration, emphasising its socio-economic and political dimensions. Unlike other forms of migration, the lack of control over destinations significantly constraints frontline workers and beneficiaries alike. Neglecting the marginal situations of migrants, the demand-based structure of ICDS places larger responsibility on beneficiaries to secure their entitlements.
The research highlights how the nature of mobility of temporary migrants limits access and hinders the efforts of ICDS workers. The need for more awareness about service portability among ICDS workers and beneficiaries indicates poor system capacity. Field narratives present situations when access is inhibited due to conflicting interests of migrants seeking ICDS services and employers. The program design does not cater to uncertainties surrounding migrant labour, which impedes access to crucial nutrition services.
Even the successful location of migrants by frontline workers does not guarantee service provision, as porting involves navigating documentation hurdles, infrastructural gaps, and capacity gaps persist, hindering effective service delivery. The study found that introduction of the Poshan Tracker application that supports AWC-level service portability has proven insufficient in addressing the systemic complexities of migration.
The research emphasises the physical and cultural distance between migrant residential sites and villages, making service delivery more challenging. Language differences pose barriers to communication between AWCs and migrant beneficiaries. Notably, the low honorarium and volunteer status of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) are justified by their status in the community, which excludes migrant workers due to cultural and linguistic differences. Migrants, essentially political outcasts at their destination, lack a voice in policy processes, rendering this invisible population even more marginalised.
Conclusion:
Digital technologies possess significant potential to transform health system processes. However, such tools per se cannot assure equitable access to socio-economically deprived populations such as migrants. Experiences showcase that attempts to circumvent system strengthening at multiple levels contradict the goal of improving service delivery. In this context, the study suggests important programmatic implications for nutrition policies, emphasising a transition from monitoring and enumeration to prioritising service provision. Further, viewing the migrant as more than an entity entitled to public services requires navigating the complex socio-political realities.
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