Abstract:
This report concerns emigrants who returned to Kerala between May and December 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. We document the experiences of 1985 return
emigrants (REM) through a quantitative survey conducted via Computer Assisted
Telephonic Interviews (CATI). While the REM have been a demographically, politically
and economically significant component of Kerala’s population, the COVID-19 REM
represent a unique case in history that has the potential to not only affect the economy,
society, and psyche of Kerala for many years to come, but to also provide valuable insights into the future of global labour migration governance.
