The two day National Seminar on "Labour Migration in the Post Liberalization Era" on 18-19 August, 2018, concluded at Indian Social Institute, New Delhi this afternoon. The Seminar was jointly organized by the Indian Social Institutes, Delhi and Bangalore. The Seminar began with Fr. Denzil Fernandes SJwelcoming the delegates and an Inaugural Address by Fr. George Pattery SJ, the President of the Jesuit Conference of South Asia (JCSA). The Keynote Address was delivered by the renowned Labour Economist, Prof. Ravi Srivastava, who spoke on "Recent Trends in Migration and its Implications". Though he explained the trends in Migration in India from Census and National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) data, he lamented at the inability of macro data to capture the status "undocumented" migrants. There were 18 papers presented at the Seminar from research scholars, professors and academicians from different parts of the country. Besides presentation of academic papers, there was also a sharing of the activities of Jesuits and other organisations working for migrants in India. During the consultation chaired by Fr. Martin Puthussery SJ, the delegates resolved to work on the issue of migrants at three levels, namely (1) direct intervention with migrants, (2) research and documentation, and (3) advocacy leading to policy change. This would entail networking and collaboration with Jesuits Centres, CBCI Labour Commission and other Church organisations, NGOs working for migrants, social activists, research scholars, academicians, policy makers, Government agencies, etc. The Seminar concluded with an address by Ms. Suneetha Eluri, a labour consultant, who summarised the main themes that emerged during the Seminar. Finally, Fr. A. Selvaraj SJ proposed the Vote of Thanks, where he expressed his gratitude to all the delegates and those involved in successfully organising the seminar. (For more photos go to our Gallery)

Denzil Fernandez