top of page

Pic Credit: Prajjwal Thakur

Reportage

29 August 2025

Laboured resilience: Decades of migration builds a new future for a once-impoverished Odisha village

Workers ensure a flow of funds home to Kalahandi from Kerala, transforming lives of their families, with many aiming to save enough to build local businesses

Purusottam passport size photo (1).JPG

Purusottam Thakur

Screenshot 2025-08-27 at 3.44.38 PM.png

Video

29 August 2025

The crackdown that's emptying out Gurugram’s Bengali migrant hubs

In Gurugram, hundreds of Bengali-speaking workers, many of them Indian citizens, now live in fear after a police crackdown on “illegal Bangladeshi migrants”

Naila Khan.jpeg

Uzair Usmani.jpeg

Taxi-Kolkata (1).jpg

Pic Credit: Tanmoy Bhaduri

Photo Essay

22 August 2025

As Kolkata’s ‘visual icons’ fade, migrant drivers
hit roadblock

The yellow taxi isn’t just a vehicle—it’s a livelihood, a symbol, whose history has been carried by generations of migrant drivers in Kolkata. As they are phased out for clean air and modern mobility, drivers say the transition is not just—it is exclusionary.

Tanmoy Bhaduri

Reportage

2 3 4 5

Pic credit: Wikimedia Commons

Episode 29_Youtube.jpg

Podcast

22 August 2025

Bihar's ballot: SIR's impact on Bihari migrant workers

The ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) drive in Bihar has sparked a debate on the process and its impact on voter registration. In India's second highest outmigration state, the drive could have a disproportionate impact on low income migrant workers and their families.

anuja pix_edited.jpg

Reportage

18 August 2025

‘Pushed out of comfort zone’: As migrants flee, urban homes feel the pinch

The migrant workers’ exodus from Gurugram amid a crackdown by the police has disrupted domestic work and sanitation, with residents becoming aware of the growing fear amongst the poorest to prove their citizenship

Sanskriti Talwar_edited.jpg

Sanskriti Talwar

Image 1 (1).JPG

Pic credit: Sanskriti Talwar

Geneva Plastic Treaty.jpg

Video

18 August 2025

Waste Pickers vs Plastic Crisis | Inside the UN Treaty Talks in Geneva

Strap Line

2 3 4 5

Pic Credit: Ashutosh Pandey

Analysis

13 August 2025

Cloudbursts, Crowds and Chaos

The recent flash floods in Uttarkashi aren’t surprising for campaigners speaking up against rising pilgrim numbers, unchecked development, and recurring natural disasters in Uttarakhand’s sacred circuit

Rishabh Shrivastav

Rishabh Shrivastava

Podcast

13 August 2025

Bridging the Gulf

The continued suffering of migrants owing to extractive work practices and discriminatory legal and policy regimes in the Gulf explains why it is essential to collect more data on international migration?

namrata raju

Akshay Ramuhalli_edited.jpg

Akshay Ramuhalli

Episode 28_Youtube.jpg

Pic credit: Tulika Bansal

Manglajodi 1.JPG

Pic Credit: Aishwarya Mohanty

Reportage

11 August 2025

Coming home to roost: Of migratory birds and reverse migrations

In the Mangalajodi wetlands of Odisha’s, men migrating for work turn conservationists and guides for birding enthusiasts during tourist season

Aishwarya Mohanty

Aishwarya Mohanty

The Heat Shift_TitleTreatment-02.png

2 3

Analysis

11 August 2025

How heat divides by class

Dizzy spells, irregular periods and no access to medical aid. Delhi's scorching heat before the rains hit the capital impacted its informal workers the worst, documents a campaigner on the heat trail

Author pix_ Tulika Bansal.jpg

Gig worker_heat_Tulika_July 2025.jpg

Pic credit: Tulika Bansal

Pic Credit: Special arrangement

Analysis

06 August 2025

Recipe for disaster: Fast-Tracked Clearances, Paper Certifications, No Oversight

The carnage seen at Sigachi factory blast in Telangana is not the first where workers and their families have borne the brunt and will repeat itself elsewhere unless drastic steps are taken

Rosey Mukherjee

Rosey Mukherjee

By Invitation

07 August 2025

How Musahar women in Varanasi brick kilns are reclaiming the right to breastfeed

As the World Breastfeeding Week (August 1–7) concludes today, a peek into the brick kilns of Uttar Pradesh reveals how informed choices, community support, and mothers’ courage are building a healthier future for children.

Soha Moitra - Mugshot.JPG

Pic credit: File Picture

Analysis
& Data

2 3 4 5

Podcast & Videos

Video

31 July 2025

From dust to just: Indian coal and just transitions

Can we superimpose solutions from Western countries as we seek out these “Just Transitions” in the coal industry

namrata raju

Namrata Raju

Analysis & Data

28 July 2025

From Gurgaon to Chicago, a global wake-up call on floods

More cities are flooding under heavy rains, but drainage, zoning,
and warning systems lag far behind.

Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar

Monsoon_floods_in_Ambala,_2010.jpg

Pic credit: Wikimedia Commons

Kannada 3.jpeg

Reportage

24 July 2025

Kannada gottu: Belonging in Bengaluru

Speaking the local language is asafety net for migrant workers in a linguistically-charged metropolis, but learning it in a classroom is not an option for many

Maitreyee Boruah

Maitreyee Boruah

Pic credit: Maitreyee Boruah

By Invitation

24 July 2025

Carrier of culture of weapon of politics

‘Let governments rest assured that we as a people have remained beautifully unified through all these times. It is not language that has ever divided us’

Shanta Gokhale_edited.jpg

Untitled design-7.png

photo 3.jpg

Pic credit: Renu Desai

By Invitation

30 June 2025

The overlooked housing crisis of migrant workers

Migrant worker communities in cities occupy precarious residences, ranging from informal rentals, employer-provided rooms or squatting on vacant lands. Can cities be reimagined to provide them dignified housing?

Author_ Renu Desai.jpg

2

in

TOP IMAGE.jpg

Pic credit: Geeta Ramani

Photo Essay

20 June 2025

The Homecoming

A grandmother traces her grandfather’s migration journey from over a century ago to better understand her equal love for avial, payasam and litti chokha.

MY LATEST PROJECTS

This is the space to introduce the Project section. Take this opportunity to give visitors a brief overview of the types of projects they'll find featured in the showcase below. Consider adding an image or video to spark their interest.

Project Name

Project Name

Project Name

Project Name

Pic credit: Sarayu Subramanian

Analysis & Data

16 June 2025

The everyday servitude of domestic workers

Domestic workers, largely women, go from their family to another family system to slave. There is an urgent need to regulate their wages, working hours and working conditions

Author Geeta Menon.jpg

Author Ravi S.K.jpg

Podcast

16 June 2025

The big India melt: from heat stress to the politics of shade

As heatwaves sweep across large swathes of India, Aditya Valiathan Pillai, a doctoral researcher at King’s College London discusses Heat Action Plans of cities and the politics of shade

namrata raju

Episode 23_Youtube.jpg

Pic credit: T. Aruna

Reportage

03 June 2025

In furnace-like factories, the struggle for water and wage

The Heat Shift_TitleTreatment-02.png

Workers in spinning mills suffer from headaches, dehydration, infections and worse due to intense heat, poor ventilation and a lack of cooling, with little access to health services or time off

Author pic -Laasya.jpg

Pic credit: T. Aruna

Reportage

03 June 2025

In furnace-like factories, the struggle for water and wage

The Heat Shift_TitleTreatment-02.png

Workers in spinning mills suffer from headaches, dehydration, infections and worse due to intense heat, poor ventilation and a lack of cooling, with little access to health services or time off

Author pic -Laasya.jpg

Top image.jpg

Pic credit: Wikimedia Commons

Analysis

23 April 2025

India’s Urban Heat Plans Are Growing—But So Is Concrete

From green shades to cold wards, municipalities are experimenting with measures to cope with rising heat. But the long-term solution lies in more climate-sensitive urban development.

Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar

Pix 1.jpg

Picture courtesy: Rohit Chauhan

Reportage

11 November 2024

Exploited and abused: The alarming vulnerability of Gujarat’s migrant female workers

Tribal women working under the exploitative ‘bhagiya’ system in Gujarat are very often sexually exploited by powerful landowners and silenced by threats and gangs that force out-of-system settlements

Rohit Chauhan

WhatsApp Image 2024-10-10 at 4.43.35 PM.jpeg

Video

10 October 2024

Playing god

In the migrant neighbourhoods of New Delhi, workers don the role of characters from the Ramayana, enthralling audiences with their performances at the annual Ramleela. Workers and their families come together for a cultural experience resonant of life back home

Tanmoy_Durgapuja_Kolkata_Migrant (14).jpg

Photo Essay

07 October 2024

Work and Worship

Hundreds of people migrate from rural West Bengal to Kolkata to meet the spike in demand for labour during its biggest celebration of the year: Durga Puja. Away from their families, they are integral to the festivities - from pandal decoration to making idols and transporting them

Tanmoy Bhaduri

podcast template-2.jpg

06 September 2024

'Climate action must be mindful of zero poverty and zero hunger goals'

Climate scientist Anjan Ray unpacks India’s clean energy goals, the impact of green energy projects on local communities and what the future holds for the country's most vulnerable.

In Focus

2

Read All Stories

2

All Hands In

Support
The Migration Story- become a member!

bottom of page