Paper short abstract:

This paper, based on the multisited fieldwork deals with the emic concept on 'risk' that exists among the Nepalese migrant workers living and working in the coal mines of Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya in Northeast India.

Paper long abstract:

The findings of the present paper is based on the multisited fieldwork in coal mines of Jaintia hills of Meghalaya, India. The perception of risk among the Nepalese coal mine migrant workers is anlaysed through the emic term 'jokhim'. The multiple risks they face in their everyday life such as risks of accidents, death in rat- hole mining as well as the risks related to their temporary living conditions in the make shifts camps have been discussed in this paper. It argues, Nepalese migrant workers speak more of their life in terms of encountering the risk while at work and camps but at the same time they manage their living and working in such conditions.

Jokhim, a Nepali word is synonymous to danger, is an emic term which not only means undesirable outcomes or future loss, but also the ever-present living and working conditions in the lives of Nepalese migrant workers.