[Excerpt] The management of labor migrants has historically been a central concern of the state for a long time and has been studies in the realm of immigration studies for a long time. Similarly, there has been an increasing body of literature on the role of the state in managing labor emigrants out of their borders as well. Various strands of literature have focused on the nature of the “migration state”- as the state takes control of leveraging the migration of its citizens towards its own ends (Adamson, Chung, and Hollifield 2024), its role and aims (Gamlen 2008; Aeran Chung, Draudt, and Tian 2024) and the various forms it can take (M. I. Abella and Mangahas 1997). There has also been increasing literature on the various actors involved in this “migration infrastructure” (Xiang and Lindquist 2014). However, there is not much literature in the role of “skill” in managing migration. The World Bank has recommended, in its latest World Development Report in 2023 (World Bank 2023), that efficient skills-matching of labor migrants by sending and receiving countries can not only be used for developmental purposes, but can also lead to better protections for labor migrants themselves. Many sending states are now involved in such skill matching for their migrant laborers (Rodriguez 2010). Recently, The World Development Report 2023, emphasized the role that skills matching has in promoting efficient and harmonious migration corridors across the world (World Bank 2023).

But what does this mean for migrant labor themselves, and how does the migration state conceptualize and operationalize skill to make it happen at an institutional level? This study proposes to uncover this through a study of the largest labor migrant sending country in the world- India.