India moving: In the times of NRC, a look at where the migrants fit in

Census 2011 counted 14.2 crore migrants in the decade preceding it, intra-district to inter-state. Women moved for marriage, men for work, economic reforms drove the change, and Surat emerged as No. 3 destination while Chennai fell far behind.

Amidst a global rise of anti-immigration sentiments, riding on populism, this politics is also up close and central back home now.

In a country with a long and often violent history of sons-of-the-soil politics, migration is a politically fraught issue. From the attacks on south Indians in Mumbai in the 1960s and 70s to the Northeast’s identity debates, and the anxiety over “Bangladeshi influx” in West Bengal to the unsettled row over the National Register of Citizens(NRC), the changing numbers of its people are more than just a figure for a population on the move due to India’s robust economy, while competing for its limited resources.