From the margins: Exploring Low-income Migrant Workers' Access to Basic Services and Protection in the context of India's Urban Transformation

印度城市吸引了相当数量的低收入移民，他们来自在国内经历困难经济、政治和社会条件的边缘农村家庭，他们为了生计和安全而移民。这些移民来自全国各地，以及来自尼泊尔、孟加拉国和缅甸的边境另一边，在一系列小规模的小额贸易、服务部门工作、运输和建筑工作中从事低收入体力劳动。低收入移民的生活和工作条件岌岌可危，往往被剥夺了基本的便利设施和基本权利。低收入、断断续续和不稳定的工作使他们很容易受到虐待、勒索或贿赂。许多这类移民，无论是国内的还是国际的，都没有证件和身份证明，无论是医疗保健、学校教育或选举投票等基本服务。他们处于边缘地位，与普通(非移徙)人口相比，他们获得保健服务和其他健康决定因素的机会更少，从而增加了他们对健康不良、虐待和虐待的脆弱性，同时损害了他们获得保护、法律支持或补救以及问责形式的能力。语言、外表和文化差异使许多来自国内或边境另一边的低收入移民面临骚扰和政治排斥。此外，尽管他们无处不在，但他们不稳定的生计、非正规性和隐形性使他们在城市规划、民间社会组织的工作和社会科学研究中没有受到注意。在这方面，这一合作项目旨在产生证据，以促进必须为低收入城市移民规划和提供的权利和保护机制。我们将探讨印度的城市转型对低收入移民、他们的融入和社会正义意味着什么：1.低收入移民对印度城市转型的看法，以及他们面临的机遇和挑战；2.低收入移民对自己的权利、索赔程序的看法，以及在生活和工作条件恶劣的背景下保护自己健康的尝试；3.低收入移民经历的暴力的普遍性和被排斥的程度，以及他们如何保护自己免受各种形式的暴力；4.印度城市对低收入移民的法律、发展、人道主义和人权对策。在印度增长最快的两个城市古瓦哈蒂(阿萨姆邦)和贾兰达尔(旁遮普省)开展的实地工作，旨在从印度境内和跨境的各种低收入移徙工人的角度，丰富我们对获得医疗保健的机会、健康的社会决定因素以及暴力、包容/排斥和诉诸司法的经历的理解。该项目将侧重于移民的看法和生活经历，并将产生证据，以推进必须为低收入城市移民规划和提供的权利和保护机制。低收入移民是流动的、分散的和看不见的，因此他们在方法上面临挑战，特别是在特定地区建立抽样框架或绘图方面。该项目的一个独特优势是，它采用了创新的方法来接触这些难以接触到的群体。拟议的研究将采用混合方法方法。为了揭示低收入移民经历的细微差别和复杂性，并将其置于贾兰达尔和古瓦哈蒂更广泛的城市转型进程中，我们将把民族田野调查与深入访谈、简短调查和参与方法(如PhotoVoice)相结合。

Indian cities attract a considerable number of low-income migrants from marginal rural households experiencing difficult economic, political and social conditions at home who migrate in search of livelihoods and security. These migrants come from around the country as well as across the border from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar to work in low-income manual occupations in a range of small-scale petty trade, service sector work, transport and construction work. Low-income migrants live and work in precarious conditions and are often denied basic amenities and fundamental rights. Poorly-paid intermittent and insecure jobs make them vulnerable to abuse, extortion or bribery. Many such migrants, both internal and international, lack documentation and proof of identity, whether for basic services such as health care and schooling or electoral voting. Their marginal position entails poorer access to health care provisions and other determinants of health than general (non-migrant) populations, thereby enhancing their vulnerability to ill-health, abuse and ill treatment whilst simultaneously compromising their ability to access protection, legal support or redress, and forms of accountability. Language, appearance and cultural differences exposes many low-income migrants from interior parts of the country or across the border to harassment and political exclusion. Moreover, despite their ubiquitous presence, their precarious livelihoods, informality and invisibility keep them unnoticed in urban planning, in the work of civil society organisations and in social science research. In this context, this collaborative project has been designed to generate evidence to advance the rights and protection mechanisms that must be planned and provided for low-income urban migrants. We shall examine what India's urban transformation means for low-income migrants, their inclusion and social justice by exploring: 1. Low-income migrants' views on transformations in Indian cities, and the opportunities and challenges that confront them; 2. Low-income migrants perceptions of their entitlements, claim-making processes and attempts to protect their own health in a context of poor living and working conditions; 3. The prevalence of violence and extent of exclusion experienced by low-income migrants and how they protect themselves from various forms of violence;4. The legal, developmental, humanitarian and human rights responses to low-income migrants in Indian cities. Fieldwork based in Guwahati (Assam) and Jalandhar (Punjab), two of India's fastest growing cities, aims to enrich our understanding of access to health care, the social determinants of health, and experiences of violence, inclusion/exclusion and accessing justice, from the vantage point of diverse low-income migrant workers, from within India as well as cross-border. The project will focus on migrants' perceptions and lived experiences and will generate evidence to advance the rights and protection mechanisms that must be planned and provided for low-income urban migrants. Low-income migrants are mobile, dispersed and invisible, so they present methodological challenges, especially for creating a sampling frame or mapping in a particular locality. A distinctive strength of the project is its innovative methods for accessing these 'hard-to-reach' groups. The proposed research will adopt a mixed methods approach. In order to unravel the nuances and complexities of low-income migrants' experiences and situate these within the broader processes of urban transformation in Jalandhar and Guwahati, we shall combine ethnographic fieldwork with in-depth interviews, a brief survey, and participatory methods such as photovoice.