Migration: The most nomadic exercise but the most modern problem
Before coming to the solutions for internal migration, we need to comprehend the elementary complexities hovering around the issue concerned. So here, Migration seems like a ‘Big Elephant in a room’ squarely for more than three decades. Inter-state migration in India took pace with the liberalization policy and it has negatively impacted the most people from the lower strata of our society. There are layers of exploitation connected to each other, which are important, to understand the gravity of the problem and for bringing out the proximal solutions to these problems.
Anecdotal image of the context
So I will start with an anecdote, where a man, Manguram, belongs to a big family of erstwhile zamindars, has acres of land in his home state Odisha. He had to forcefully leave his village for a metro city called Mumbai to work as a rickshaw puller in a vegetable market, so that he can feed his family of thirteen members, a square meal. Amidst these tumultuous hardships, he has to pay the school fees for his six children who are studying in a private school in a nearby town. Kids have to walk nearly fifteen kilometers daily to their school as his village has no proper roads to access transportation facility. While talking over phone, his eldest daughter Kaveri asking about his return said- Seema, my classmate, sadly said to me “my father working as a mazdoor in a ‘big city’ has not turned down to home for about three years”. Manguram calmly listening to her daughter, giggled and solaced her by saying “don’t worry I am not a mazdoor and I will reach home by next month”. But when I asked about agriculture and settling down in the village with his family, the only response he has is “not ample productivity and poor returns”.
But beyond productivity there are many issues that Manguram’s story speaks in volume, which ranges from poor infrastructure development to government policy failure; disproportionate rise in rural population to opportunity stagnation; high rate of rural unemployment to poor channeling of non-farming activities. In addition, there is one more dimension to this, which makes the whole scenario more complex and needs a cognitive approach for its addressal. This latent dimension can be a probable reason for their migration but the real question remains if city is a safe haven for them.
Contextual
analysis of the subject
These shackles can be gazed through the garb of gender. When it comes to the type of labor or employment the only choice women laborers are left with is to either suffer or challenge the preconceived patriarchal notion. This compels the policy makers to delve into the feminist notion on migration, whose demand is to constitute an establishment of a regulatory body for tackling the issues concerning the unorganized women workers such as gender neutral remuneration for their labor, health and educational facilities for their children, and safe and hygienic sanitation facilities, tackling sexual assault and etc.
This regulatory body should constitute of a retired judge, representatives of unorganized migrant women laborers, and representatives of unorganized migrant men. This body should have link with all municipal bodies, civil society organizations and NGO’s for timely redressal of their grievances.
Another important issue that evidently impacts the migrant laborers appertains with the caste, which appears to be the focal point for many of their exploitation in the urban centers. Many tribal people and dalits or people from the lower rung of the caste system, have a limited choice available to them, mostly manual or cleaning job, leave aside their skills or expertise in a particular profession. This really downturn their self- esteem and confidence to upgrade their living standard. Hence the aforesaid regulatory body for managing the migrant labor would help in enabling them to do their respective jobs. This body would have power to allocate, alter, or manage the laborers on the basis of their eligibility and qualification. Through this there are chances that the urban to rural migration may fulfill the demand for manpower in the rural sector as well. And ultimately this may reduce the instances of caste-based ‘selective employment’. This high level of irrationality needs to be resolved through proper learning system.
Physical
analysis of the subject
When it comes to education there is a need for more holistic and alternative curriculum which has to be integrated with the laboratories, think tanks, NGO’s, and other tech groups. There prime focus should be on the development of the technical skills of the migrant students, concerning majorly their rural problems, such as animal husbandry, dairy farming, agriculture and etc. and urban tools, such as technological and service sector skills. Along with that there is a need for systematic change in the education system as well, which includes provision such as education up to higher secondary should be free of cost for the girl child of these sections of the society; there should be a trained consultants for these children, who can attend to them, whenever they need any assistance.
Further, it is important to understand that migration happens out of compulsion, and majorly that is due to the financial insecurity resulting out of the unbalanced rural-urban development; this failure urges us to look at the reasons which lead to the unparallel development in the rural society, such as, rather than big industries, we need numerous sub-units in the multiple regions of our country, especially in the rural parts, which can be compounded with the agricultural and rural employments. Consequently, there would be more integration between the urban and the rural parts of our society, where both factions may develop respect for each other’s labor.
In addition to the financial insecurity there is another issue which is integral to this is rural unemployment. There is a need to revive the rural market culture with more skill-based product that can be sold not just in rural market but also in urban stores. But sadly, due to the poor product quality and inefficient training many traditional occupations are dying and left artists economically paralyzed, and compelling them to work as a labor or sometimes as a ‘bonded labor’, like Seema’s father, in a big crowded city. Hence there is a high need to develop albeit polish these skilled artists
with modern tools and knowledge, so that their market can be rejuvenated and get aligned with the world as most countries like China, Taiwan, and Germans are doing with their rural population and their traditional skills for years. And when it comes to forced labor, there should be a registration mechanism for these migrant laborers with annually renewal program to tackle issues like bonded labor, forced labor, labour trafficking and etc.
But one thing which we should not appreciate is the policy of ‘urbanization’; I believe this is not the solution of the problem of internal migration that we are looking for. As these people are not moving to work in an air conditioned office of a concrete tower in the centre of the city, nor they are going to shop in a big mall, all they want is an opportunity to work, to live a standard life, and to develop a respectful relationship with their fellow citizens. Thus, these opportunities which are stagnated for years in their place, needs to be revived with more inclusive policies such as infrastructure development, with well connected roads, so Kaveri in that remote village of Odisha don’t have to walk twenty-five kilometers daily to reach her school. This would channelize the movement between the city and the village; a standard medical institution decked up with required equipments in their place, so that they don’t have to travel hundreds of kilometers for a basic treatment. Universal card, similar to PDS facility, should also be made available for the medical treatment.
PC: THE TRIBUNE
At last, it is the food insecurity that has all the ears in recent decades and is considered one of the most severe problems in front of migrant laborers. For the past decade this issue is also on the executive table for bringing the pan India ration card so that migrants can avail the benefits of PDS, anywhere in India, this seems to be a promising idea, but along with this, there should also be a financial assistance program for people to go after their personal needs and to increase their purchasing power or alternatively their minimum wage should be decided by the respective state where they are working on the basis of labor time they are offering. This will also effectively reduce the poverty rate in India.
Psychological
analysis of the subject
Finally, the psychological implications on the children of frequent migrants is also needed to be taken care of, for whom it is both mentally, emotionally and physically frightful that can’t be repaired with financial assistance. Due to frequent migration children encounter numerous changes in their surroundings, climatic extremes and people who they find difficult to acclimatize with again and again, this eventually impedes their physical and mental growth, and subject them to a risk of psychological disorder for their life, hence for them, there is a need for constructive psychological exercises to be engaged in, so that children like Seema and her friend Kaveri can find some new topic to discuss, which can progressively develop their mind, family and society as a whole.
Way
ahead…
Thinking about the migrant issues, I think, we are also obliged to think about the reasons that lead to a situation of unilateral migration. My view also highlights the ways by which we can pullback this kind of situation and focuses on the approach which enables these poor migrants to develop their capacity to live a healthy and respectful life in whichever place they are willing to live in.
