By Priyansha. Rohini and the IMN Team

Developed by the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs and Migration Policy Group, Belgium, the Migrant Integration Policy Index is an EU funded policy tool which assesses the immigrant integration policies of countries around the world, based on a number of policy areas such as Labour Market Mobility, Education, Family Reunion, Access to Nationality, Anti-Discrimination, Health, Permanent Residence, and Political Participation. We partnered with MPG to conduct the MIPEX 2020 assessment of India. 

India scores a 24/100 (the average score being 50), falling within the category of 'slightly unfavourable'. Although immigration numbers have not increased significantly in recent times, they stand at 5 million +. India is also a prominent source of the world's immigrants and therefore has a standard to set by way of policy. Unfortunately, as a deep-dive into the various policy indicators will show, integration of immigrants is yet to become a serious policy priority beyond existing ad-hoc frameworks for certain refugee communities.

WHAT IS MIPEX? 

MIPEX utilises aggregated scores across 163 vital policy indicators to assess a country's performance on a number of matters including Labour Market, Education, Access to Nationality, Family Reunion, Health, and Political Participation.
 

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MIPEX INDIA

India is a unique country for migrants, worldwide. Not only is it the source of the highest number of international migrants (17 million as per the World Migration Report, 2020), it is also a prominent destination country for immigrants, particularly from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Pakistan. While mobility agreements with Nepal exist, a majority of immigrants are vulnerable and require equal access to social and economic infrastructure. Given the importance of India as a destination country, it is important to assess the nature of integration policy for immigrants in India.

Listen to IMN's podcast where we are joined by IMN advisor, Dr Meera Sethi, Dr Ranjana Kumari (Director, Centre for Social Research) and Dr Thomas Huddleston (Research Director, Migration Policy Group). We discuss immigration into India, the Indian immigration policy framework, the plight of Bangladeshi and Rohingyas immigrants/refugees and explore how to benchmark integration policy for immigrants.

Click here to listen to the episode.