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Migrant
workers from various parts of the country, engaged in the major infrastructure
projects and construction industry across the State end up voiceless in the ongoing
Lok Sabha elections as most of them cannot afford to travel back to their home
State to exercise their franchise. They can’t join the festival of democracy in
other states as they do not have valid identity proof to register as voters. This
encapsulates the predicament of a strong migrant population of our country, estimated
to be over 100 million (8.1 % of our total population).
Why does circular migration come about?
Current and
prospective rates of job creation in Indian agriculture are poor, and the
non-farm rural economy tends to grow only where agricultural growth is strong.
For large parts of the country with unreliable farming or forest-based
livelihoods, migration, with all its risks, offers better returns and better
prospects for raising living standards than local employment. But there are new attractions: labour
intensive urban construction, manufacturing and mining, and a growing service
industry attract people to distant destinations despite the risks and isolation
from family that migration poses. There are also important non-economic reasons
for migration which have so far received little attention. These include
escaping oppressive caste relations and restrictive family environments, and
the desire to experience city life. The devastation of agriculture in the last
decade makes the problem more acute. Zero investment, collapse of employment, a
rise in debt all are factors that have pushed millions more into the footloose
army.
Majority
of the migrant workers are based in Maharashtra and Gujarat followed by Tamil
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and northern cities like Delhi and
Punjab. According to established migratory patterns, in late April, one can find
Biharis in Punjab/ Assam, Oriyas in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, people
from Tami Nadu on the road crews of Mumbai & workers from Rajasthan
struggling in Gujarat. Those from North Karnataka scour Maharashtra for
employment. In April-May, there are millions across India trying to scrape out
a living away from home.
In areas where agriculture is
dependent on Kharif, people leave in October and return before the rains, by
June. Many travel short distances to vote in the Panchayat elections but for the
Parliamentary elections, most of them do not return to vote. From Panchayat to Vidhan Sabha to Lok
Sabha elections, participation dips 10.5 per cent at each step, notes the
report ‘Political Inclusion of Seasonal Migrant Workers in India’. The
most prominent reason given for women’s migration is marriage though.
Political censure:
For voting in any
constituency, one requires a Voter ID card in which your address should be a
part of that constituency. So, the primary requirement for a Voter ID card is
an address proof.
Seasonal clash: Assuming that they hold voter ID cards, it is in
April-May that quite a few distressed regions see their largest exodus of
migrant labour. The timing of the polls ensures that none get to exercise their
right.
Unable to travel: Under informal working
conditions, labourers hardly have a luxury of leaving for an election holiday
which involves time, cost and an uncertainty of return. In a debt migration
situation where two or more family members work in a facility, the owner sends
the male member to return home for voting while he retains other members of the
family as collateral so that the work doesn’t suffer and the male members
return is ensured.
No address proof: Many migrants lack proof of
identity and proof of residence in the city. This is crucially linked to denial
of right to housing in the city. Owing to lack of proper housing facilities,
they dwell in informal settlements & are unable to obtain a proof of
residence. Also, since most of them work in the informal sector, they are
unable to get a proof of identity from their employer. This turns out to be the
biggest barrier to their inclusion. Owing to lack of proof of residence, many
are not included in the voters’ lists and cannot exercise their right to vote.
Lack of residential proof also leads to various forms of exclusion such as inability
to open a bank account, get a ration card and driving licence etc. These are
very important documents, because they give access to the benefits of different
government programs. The recent UID (Unique Identification) project also insists
on residential proof.
The easiest way of getting an address proof is the transfer
of ration card from the native place to their present residence. But most of
the workers have their family in their native village, which are dependent on
the subsidized provisions they get from the fair price shops. This makes it an
unfeasible option. An early departure from the village also means that
migrant youth lack all verifiable proof of their identity.
Holistic
exclusion:
Migrants
constitute a ‘floating’ and invisible population, alternating between source
and destination areas and remaining on the periphery of society. Internal
migration has been accorded very low priority by the government, and policies
of the Indian state have largely failed in providing any form of legal or
social protection to this vulnerable group. Owing to the highly mobile nature
of their employment, migrant workers get excluded from the scope of both urban
and rural policy design. This has a significant impact on their access to
public amenities and welfare schemes. Serious citizenship issues arise as the
state machinery does not allow a portability of basic entitlements. Regulations
exclude migrants from access to legal rights, public services & social
protection programs. They face numerous constraints, including inadequate housing,
lower wages, hazardous work & deplorable living conditions apart from a latent
political representation.
How can this be resolved?
Scheduling: School exam schedules are taken into
account while planning election dates, and rightly so. (Even though those
schedules are still based more on a British school calendar than on the Indian
agriculture season). Similarly, the migration patterns can be taken into
account. The time every rural Indian is most likely to be in his or her village
is during the harvest season. That is the best chance to receive their vote.
So, maybe, the election schedules can be weaved according to regional harvest practices.
Postal
Ballot: While, the facility of postal ballot for government
employees, police personnel involved in election duty & armed forces
guarding our borders is available, we are yet to evolve a system to facilitate
a level playing ground for the migrant labourers to cast their valuable vote. The
provision of postal ballot was recently extended, successfully, to the displacedvictims of Muzaffarnagar & Mizoram riots respectively. A similar
functionality could be availed by a transient & mushrooming migrant
population but this would require the governments to provide an identity to the
hordes of limbs bearing the state machinery.
Identity: Many of the
migrants come under the debt migrant system and being harbored illegally by the
middleman, they take an advance and move to the place of destination through
the labour agent who makes sure that the people complete their work as per the
agreement. Therefore, it becomes a nightmare for the receiving states to
identify & locate them to repatriate the people back to their native place
for voting or create a database for social & political inclusion.
Establishing an identity & including them in the government records is preliminary
to the social & political inclusion of migrants.
To assist the migrant workers & the government, several
NGOs are providing a variety of services:
·
Aajeevika Bureau is a specialised initiative
based in southern Rajasthan that provides services and support to rural
migrants. It is amongst the largest Indian migrant support programs covering 5 development
blocks of Udaipur, Rajsamand and Dungarpur districts and 4 destinations of
Gujarat and Rajasthan. These are regions from where seasonal out-migration is
high and there is a high dependence of rural households on wages earned from
migration. The services implemented by the Aajeevika Bureau include the
following: Identity/ Counselling, skill training and information/ Financial
services and inclusion.
·
PEPUS is a non-profit, non-governmental
organization which operates in the state of Uttar Pradesh. It is engaged in strengthening
the migrant community by providing them identity cards and counseling on the
basic precautions before they migrate through the established Shramik Sahayata
Kendra. Pepus is also imparting vocational training to the youth for creating
better livelihood alternatives.
Sources/
Further reading:
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