Migration flows have shaped some of India’s key sectors: labour, foreign relations, or education. Large scale internal migrations and labour mobility in particular have an historical association, which has been widely documented. While flows differ in duration, motives, and migrant profiles, their impact on households and communities also varies at places of destination and origin. Internal, seasonal migrations act as a ‘safety valve’ among the poorest communities, more often than not critical to the livelihoods of the most socially and economically vulnerable. Those belong in majority to tribal communities, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Class. In this context, the linkage between tribal migration dynamics and child malnutrition has emerged as a salient point from field observations in recent publications. The vulnerability of tribal communities to undernutrition is broadly acknowledged. Over a third —37% or 61 million— of under-five stunted children worldwide are found in India, and stunting rate in the country is highest among tribal children —54%. Previous studies have also shown that severe stunting was 9 percentage points higher in tribal children compared to non-tribal children (29% versus 20%). Household poverty, maternal factors (e.g. the age of the first pregnancy) and infant and young child care practices rank high among the core determinants for malnutrition in tribal children.
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