SHRAM Research Portal and Data Repository is an online knowledge community on migration in South Asia with a specific focus on India. It will highlight the work done by NGO partners supported by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Allied Trusts and also showcase output from SHRAMIC initiative. The targeted users of the portal are researchers, young scholars, policy makers, social scientists and university teachers and students. The content is managed by IRIS Knowledge Foundation.

"Strengthen and Harmonize Research and Action on Migration in the Indian Context" (SHRAMIC) started as an initiative on migration and was supported by Tata Trusts. The initiative was anchored by IGIDR in collaboration with CPR, IRIS-KF, NIUA and the Tata Trusts' Migration Program Partners.

Objective

To improve understandings of:

• The extent and nature of migration in India
• The use of migration as a livelihood strategy by households
• The livelihood strategies of migrants, migrant workers and their families

Goal

• Create a conducive environment for migrants and recognize the contribution of migrants while formulating poverty reduction and employment strategies.
• Suggest evidence based policy prescriptions for protection of the rights of migrants.

SHRAM Key Questions

• What are the legal and structural impediments to migration?
• How effective is migration as a livelihood strategy?
• Given that India is becoming increasingly urban, what is the nature of urban livelihoods and what determines the ability of migrants to access livelihoods?
• What are the various types of migration flows captured by nationally representative data and localised studies in order to trace the source of the apparent disconnect in the estimates of migration rates and number of migrants based on nationally representative data (lower) and localized studies (higher)?

Distinctive Elements of SHRAM

• Survey instruments designed through a discursive process in order to build a body of knowledge which would find acceptance among academia and NGOs.
• Academic partners work with NGOs to incorporate their information and guidance to jointly design survey instruments that seek to address the key questions of interest.
• Academic partners acquire a better understanding of the actual experience of migrants, and NGO partners would be able to better appreciate the role and nature of the research methods of academic partners.