'God's own country' Kerala needs migrant workers to celebrate Christmas

Labour shortage, unusual to India, is characteristic of Kerala where labour migration is more a requirement of the state than that of the migrant workers themselves

Along the road flanking the sandy seashore of Thumba, a village about 12 km north of Thiruvananthapuram city, Christmas lights blinked amidst the festive spirit. Babul Das got busy in his kitchen, making Christmas goodies such as cakes and St Andrew’s halwa, the famous local version of a chewy sweet made of ghee, sugar and wheat flour.

Das is from Behrampur, a small town with over 355,000 people, on the east coast in Odisha state. He is part of a growing community of young migrants from his region coming in search for work in Kerala even as the state is