The Centre, the state, and policy-based pain: A comparative study of India’s inter-state migrants and the COVID-19 lockdown in Kerala, Maharashtra, and Delhi
I received Departmental Honors recognition for writing an optional 50-page senior thesis on a development issue of my choosing. This track also allowed me to receive individual writing mentorship from a UCLA faculty member.
After a lot of deliberation, I chose to explore explore the policy-induced reverse migration in India during the onset of COVID-19. I started looking into the discourse around what it means to be an internally displaced person during the pandemic. In situations where people are left abandoned by their country, what is a nation's obligation to inter-state workers under international law? How can we contrast this with a state's commitment to international remittance-sending workers?
This paper ended up taking shape with a regional focus and an emphasis on center-state relations. It was supervised by History and Asian American Studies professor Vinay Lal. The International Institute chose to include it in their “Past Theses” page for future Honors students to read as reference.