The Migration Conundrum
As we watch the horrors of the COVID-19 pandemic wreak havoc on India’s poor migrant workers, it brings to fore the question of whether their Urban Dream is ever realized. Despite India’s rapid urbanization, its urban population lags at little over 34% (The World Bank) whereas over 55% of the world lives in cities today (UNDESA). I partially agree that rural to urban migration opens better employment and livelihood opportunities in India. Post-independence, abolition of the Zamindari system and introduction of Land Reforms triggered waves of evicted peasants migrating to cities. Decades later, agriculture continues to be an inadequate primary employer in India’s villages.
Droughts, erratic rainfall, reliance on expensive mechanized farming equipment ultimately leave small-time farmers and landless laborers grasping at straws. The choice for them is between potential urban poverty after migration and starvation in their village. The bulk of migration happens for reasons other than employment like marriage and family, and those who do come to cities looking for work are often pushed out. Cities provide better access to education, healthcare, nutrition, and social network to develop skills. Migrant women become independent when their toil is compensated monetarily and are often freed from oppressive social norms. A 2017 report of India’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation observed that employment access was not a direct barrier to migration from rural areas. A majority of migrants work in the Informal Sector and are not distinguishable from non-migrants working similar jobs.
The fact that India’s economy would come to a grinding halt without migrant workers is well acknowledged but has remained inconsequential to their welfare. The economic status of migrants remains tantamount to the urban poor, but with greater vulnerabilities. The majority of the migrants are seasonal workers. Due to domicile restrictions in their destinations, they are denied access to state-sponsored welfare schemes, unlike the urban poor. They also lack political leverage because they are unable to vote, given that the nature of their lives involves constant movement to and from cities based on the availability of work. SCs and STs are over-represented as seasonal migrants because usually, they lack social networks and ties that bring long-term employment. Cess to Construction Workers Welfare Board is collected but underutilized in most states. These migrants live in slums with other low-income non-migrants in uninhabitable conditions. To make matters worse, half of India’s slums are not recognized by the government and are prone to unannounced evictions. They have no security of tenure in uninhabitable dwellings.
Human migration in search of a better life is how every urban resident came to be. Despite the potential for migrants to achieve a significantly higher quality of life in cities, they seldom realize prosperity beyond basic survival.
