Chapter 2 Literature

Here is a review of existing methods.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Migration in the Indian Context According to census of 2011, more than two third of the population stay in rural India i.e. 69% almost 1.21 billion people. With the urbanization and fastest growing cities in the Nation, the movement of the rural-urban population has increased tremendously. Rural population does not find significant economic sources to support their family, to support the family, people always move out of rural areas and migrate to urban areas. According to National Sample Survey (NSS) there is an increased rate of migration in urban areas from rural areas that is approximately 35%. The census of 2001, presented that 19% of total Indian population had moved internally in India. Migration comprises of 70 percent of women and marriage is the primary reason behind the migration of women whereas men migrated mostly for employment related reason.
Emerging trends in migration, particularly in relation to the field of construction/real estate business Labourers, working in construction site are mostly migrated from rural areas. An agent always brings the migrant. It often happens that the labour does not know under whom they are working or for whom they are working. Historically, urbanization and migration are pertinent to economic development and transformation of the society. The growing contribution of cities to India’s GDP would be impossible, barring the contribution of migrant workers. The contribution of circular migrants constitutes 10 percent of the nation’s GDP. Addressing the numerous challenges faced by the migrants requires dealing with various facets such as their citizenship, gender, children, health, voting rights, etc. Among migrant construction workers, the nature of foot looseness is apparent. Interestingly, a study by Mukherjee, (2013) that explored migration histories of construction workers revealed that most of them, prior to getting into the construction sector because of pull factor such as higher wages, had a brief stint with small enterprises and engaged in activities such as laundry services, garment units, power looms and handloom units.

The migrant construction workers are mostly from places like Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orrisa and West Bengal

Figure 1: Migration Net Internal Migration in India in 2001

The Fig1 shows the major internal migration in the year 2001 related to construction site workers.

The map depicting the major net internal migration in India and the map depicting the out of school children, shows us a striking similarity, if we observe that the place where migration happens the most like places like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Karnataka, West Bengal ,Jharkhand Haryana has the most out of school children. It justifies the fact that one of the reason that these children are out of school of school is due to migration.

Figure 2: Out of School Children Rates 2006

Migration in India

Migration in India is of two types:

1. A long term resulting in the relocation of an individual or household

2. A Short term or seasonal/circular migration involving back and forth movement between source and destination.

One of the major contributions of Migration is that the proportion of rural population declined from 72.19% (2001 census) to 68.84% (2011 census). The construction sector in India is growing at an annual rate of 10%. It is a prominent centre of attraction for the huge unskilled labor force in the country. The total workforce that the sector employs stood at 41 million in 2011. These [unskilled] workers comprised of 83.3% of the total workforce employed in the sector and where there is predominance of migrant labor they are more exposed to exploitation and is vulnerable.

According to the The Neo-Classical Equilibrium Perspective, it sees migration as an inseparable part of development and asserts that the major causes of migration are economic in nature. The model is based on the presumption that, as long as rural-urban income differences outweigh the risk of remaining unemployed, the rural populace will be coming to the cities. The income differences will attract them despite the problems related to getting employed (Todaro 1969).

One of the major factors that seem to influence migration from rural areas is the prevalent poverty in most of the source locations. Most of the poorest states of India are also the ones with highest migration rates. The states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are some such states.

One of the key factors of migration are identified as lack of employment in the rural parts of the country. The lack of access to market and job opportunities and ever-increasing agricultural crisis often forces people to migrate from their rural native places to urban centers. Livelihood outcomes relate to more income, well being, improved food security, sustainable resource base and reduced vulnerability. The construction workers seemed to be working out of some compulsion

Vikas from Jharkhand says that

‘… He had land back home but the earnings from land were not sufficient enough to fulfill his desire of studying beyond 10th standard.’

This gives a reflection of a situation where even villagers having lands had to move out. The situation presented the insufficiency of land as an asset to build upon other assets such as education.

In view of agricultural decay and insufficient incomes from it, such workers were left with no other choice but to move out their rural settings in search of other options. These workers had worked for years as farm laborers because of which they did not have the chance of acquiring skills related to other types of work. Moreover, the level of education amongst such workers was less as already discussed above. Hence, they lacked assets in terms of education and skills. The only significant asset that they were left with was the capacity to perform hard unskilled labor

Role of the Government

The Govt. of India, lack’s efficiency in implementation of schemes to tackle the problem of migration and unemployment. In states like U.P. where rural poverty is above the national average and unemployment levels are quite high in the rural areas, the report highlighted serious under-utilization of funds allocated for MGNREGA. Also the ratio of women beneficiaries in states such as West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, J& K and Mizoram, the ratio was found to be less than 1/5th in these states. Such a finding represents failure of an intervention like MGNREGA in accommodating and addressing the issue of inclusion of women. The workers were either unaware or did not want to work under MGNREGA. The major reasons cited for the same were low and delayed wages, stigma attached with working in their own village and corruption by Panchayat officials

The lack of job opportunities and low wages at source were the major reasons for migration. 32% and 10% of the households claimed low agricultural income and repaying debts correspondingly as other reasons. Money for performing social functions and lack of suitable conditions for rearing the cattle (goats) constituted 2% of the responses.Therefore, there is the need for a new paradigm at the beginning of the 21st century, that recognizes that ‘government failure’ is a much more important problem than ‘market failure’. ‘Privatization’ of government services by its employees and government’s monopoly of power are the real problems today state should confine itself to managing the economy so as to accelerate employment and income growth in a self-sustaining manner, ensure that all citizens receive their basic entitlements of basic public goods and services and empower the poor so that they have equal rights (and responsibilities) with the better of citizens.

A 21-st century democracy must in fact gofurther and empowers the poor who cannot to afford to pay for their education. Government must ensure that all its citizens are literate and all children attain some basic level of education, which we currently define as primary/elementary level. Education not only empowers the public, but also ensures that the employed can do the productive jobs that open up and helps to sustain economic growth over the long term. Access to information is an important element of empowerment. The poor and their well-wishers must have the right to information about expenditures that are routinely justified in their name. The Internet and Internet telephony can play a role in breaking the rural areas’ informational isolation. The view of government as a ‘milch cow’or a ’mai-bap sarkar,’ must be replaced by a more self-reliant public that acts as a watchdog on the government.

An Old Paradigm user group that includes parents and grandparents of school-going children along with the teacher would have a much greater incentive to ensure proper functioning of the local primary school. A key insight into migration patterns globally and within India is that while migration is critical for the livelihoods of many households, it does not by itself produce structural change. People respond to opportunities, but these are structured by initial economic, political and even socio-cultural conditions. In many cases, migration reinforces these: inequalities within the areas of origin can be reinforced, substantial benefits go to the better-off and well-connected regions, and extreme exploitation including that of bonded and child labor may be intensified through the grip of labor contractors and moneylenders.

Living Condition of the workers in the construction site

The construction sites that was visited for the study were marked with temporary shelters made out of bricks, tarpaulin and plastic sheets. The workers themselves made these. The water pipes which were used in construction also formed the source of water for drinking, bathing and washing. There were women workers who carried their babies while working. There were even times when they had to leave their babies in the hot sun to perform some task. There were no urinals or latrines for the use of workers. No crèche or first aid facilities were visible, the lack of awareness about their rights as workers restricted them from raising any voice.

Under Contract Labor Act, 1970, any worker hired through or by a contractor for a work with or without the knowledge of the principal employer, is considered to be employed as contract labor. According to the act, the contractor is obliged to provide drinking water, urinals, lavatories, washing facilities and rest rooms to the workers. In addition, he has to provide first aid facilities, crèches for children below six years. A contractor is a person who undertakes to provide contract labor for any work at an establishment. The principal employer is expected to supervise the implementation of some of the provisions of the act by the contractor at his establishment.

The Inter-state migrant workers act, 1980 applies to any establishment that employs 5 or more inter-state migrant workmen… The act also stresses that the contractor should ensure (1) regular payment of wages (2) suitable accommodation (3) medical facilities. All the migrant construction workers interviewed expressed lack of awareness about any of the labor regulations or laws. Moreover, such workers were already out of their rural native places, as such, they seemed to be wary of any confrontation with the contractor or employer regarding facilities. This may have been due to the fear of losing employment They expressed very clearly that though working as migrant construction worker has not been able to contribute much in terms of bringing any significant changes in their lives, but there was no other option. The conditions at the worksite included long working hours, physically intensive labor, hazardous working conditions, inadequate safety standards, adverse climatic conditions, exploitative wages and inadequate health care facilities. 78.6% and 60.2% of the households used their remittances for household purposes and repaying debts respectively. 29.6% and 10.20% of the households spent their remittances on education and health. Social functions and others, which included building a house and alcohol consumption, constituted 7.14% and 4.08% of the responses respectively.

Impact on Children due to Migration

Most children who were left behind suffer from depression, low self- esteem which led to behavioral problems and an increased risk of poor academic performance along with interruption of their schooling (National Consultation on “Children and Internal Migration in India”, 2015). The impact migration can have on the parent-child relationship, especially if it takes the form whereby parents migrate, leaving their children behind temporarily and at other times, permanently. The effects of parental absence and therefore, parent-child separation because of migration on the children depend on the circumstances surrounding the parents’ movements – attributes of the migratory process. . Some are left largely under-protected and unfortunately fall victims to abuse and ill treatment by those who they were left in the care of (surrogate caregivers). Parents usually contribute to the material well-being of their children through the provision of money, food, or clothing to the children’s caregivers (i.e., those who take care of the children during the parents’ absence), and they maintain contact with their children through letters, phone calls, and personal visits (Sewell-Coker, HamiltonCollins, &Fein, 1985; Thrasher&Anderson, 1988. Elliston (1985) observed that families that emigrate as a unit tended to cope better with the demands of a new society compared with those that did not. The stress associated with separation and reunionmay sometimes lead to the disintegration of the family unit. Clinicians in North America and England note that the problems that bring immigrant West Indian families to mental health settings are frequently related to their separation–reunion experience (Baptiste, Hardy, & Lewis, 1997a; Christiansen et al., 1982; Prince, 1968). Common themes that emerge relate to issues of loyalty, identity development, discipline and authority, isolation, rejection and counter rejection, estrangement, abandonment, disillusionment, and bereavement (Baptiste et al., 1997b; Douglin, 1995; Glasgow &Gouse-Sheese, 1995; Gopaul-McNicol, 1998; GopaulMcNicol& Brice-Baker, 1997; Lashley, 2000). Serial migration was found to have negative implications for parent–child bonding as well as for the immigrant child’s self-esteem and behavior. Children still identified more closely with their caregivers than with their parents. Delinquencies were linked to more troubled parent/caregiver–child relationships. Hugo also emphasizes several negative effects for children with parents working away, including a higher incidence of mental disorders, lower levels of school performance and impeded social and psychological development (2002). These children are largely invisible as migration sites are located in remote areas, away from habitation and mainstream public view. In the absence of crèche, early childcare services and initiatives for pre-school and formal education, migrant children miss critical inputs necessary in their early years for their physical, motor, cognitive, language and psychosocial development. The vulnerability of migrant children is aggravated since they are cut off from care and security, health and nutrition, learning and exposure, and an overall normalcy of childhood.