Migration as Constrained Adaptation: Climate Change, Governance Failures, and Gendered Vulnerability in India

Subject:Sociology \ Environmental Studies
Title:Migration as Constrained Adaptation: Climate Change, Governance Failures, and Gendered Vulnerability in India
Author(s):Sonali Singh
Published on:30th April 2026
Published by:Lyceum India
Name of the Journal:Lyceum India Journal of Social Sciences
ISSN/E-ISSN:3048-6513
Volume & Issue:Volume: 3, Issue: 5
Pages:136-145
Original DOI (if any):10.5281/zenodo.19690399
Repository DOI: 
Abstract:This paper explores the interconnections between climate change, migration and gendered vulnerability in India with the argument that environmental stress has become a structural factor contributing to internal migration. Although the economic factors have always been used to explain migration, climate related disturbances like extreme weather, land degradation and scarcity of resources are gradually defining the patterns of mobility. The paper theorizes the concept of migration as a limited way of adjusting to the environment instead of a choice using qualitative analysis of secondary data and policy frameworks. It illuminates how governance failures, including incoherent welfare regimes, low portability and informal labour make migrants more vulnerable, and gendered inequalities contribute to these effects.  The paper introduces migration as a multi-dimensional process that is influenced by structural inequalities and demands more inclusive policy solutions. 
Keywords:Migration, Climate adaptation, India, Gendered vulnerability, Migration governance, Climate-induced migration.  
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