Sociological view of management of health of the migrant workers in kolkata nibedita bayen

Abstract

Kolkata, the economic capital of eastern India, attracts skilled and semi-skilled labourers, who migrate for a living. The migrants include sex workers, taxi drivers, shoemakers, porters, rickshaw pullers and child labourers. They migrate from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and different regions of West Bengal. Migrants, who migrate by taking the help of a village migration network, usually take shelter in slum areas. Such places are identified by the city administration as places of extra attention to prevent outbreak of diseases. The municipal corporation puts in place a robust malaria control plan in the city. The present paper would analyse how migrant labourers are governed by the city administration as a part of its malaria-control drive and how the perceptions of health and illness of these migrant labourers change in the process.