Impact of Reverse Migration on The Average Income of Women in Kumaun Region of Uttarakhand

Abstract With the beginning of the coronavirus disease, there was a massive return or reverse movement of migrants across the country, particularly to those states having a high out-migration rate, such as Uttarakhand. Retaking to households also resulted in an impact on the household economy and earning potentials, especially with regard to women taking up income generation. This study aims at exploring the effect of reverse migration on the income of women in the Kumaun region of Uttarakhand. The main data has been gathered from six districts of the Kumaun region, representing women respondents, as the data is from respondents themselves. The number of women within reverse migrant households was 510, and they were analyzed according to households' income. The paired sample t-test is used to compare the income of women before and after the spread of the coronavirus from the recall method from the respondents. The study shows that the average monthly income of female laborers decreased from pre-COVID 23480 to post-COVID 18240, which is 22.3 percent. The conclusion is evident that women tend to move towards low-income groups in the post-COVID era. This is a paired t-test of pre vs. post income, demonstrating the difference is significant for pre- and post-COVID. The study shows that “reverse migration” has been a tremendous adverse impact on the women's income generation in the Kumaun region during the pandemic.