Thursday, August 6, 2009

Counting the Migrants

During a meeting of Non-Profit Organizations serving the people affected by Cyclone Aila in South 24-Parganas District of West Bengal, I was faced with the severe problem of people migrating to other parts of the State and the country for livelihood options. Since these places are known for migration, but this time it seemed to be more in distress, I sat down to write a project to do a study on "Has Cyclone Aila led to increased migration--if yes, to what extent, and how this is socially, economically distributed? What are the implications of this on gender and children related issues?

The project was proposed to Catholic Relief Services, which has accepted to fund the study. And so a team has been formed to do it : The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) will support for three Panchayats, WWF will support with personnel for two, Palli Unnayan Samity will be the local coordinating partner, Ms. Bhaswati Thakurta of Women Studies Research Center, University of Calcutta, and Puthumai A. Nazarene for Data Management and Analysis. The team will begin its work from 6 Aug 2009 and the study is expected to be completed by 31 Oct 2009.

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