Migrants struggle for dignity in cities of dreams

Without social support, job security and fair compensation, migrant workers become second class citizens in the very cities they help build

It is the worst of times in rural India. Plagued by stagnating incomes and climate events, agrarian communities have been enduring a crisis of epic proportions. This decade of distress means that over 4,000 farmers are quitting agriculture daily, according to estimates from the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute.  

Where are they heading? Syed Pasha*, a native of Hedgimadra village in Yadgir, has an answer: They are making their way to cities, desperate for jobs. For Pasha, the crisis has become stark this year. In 13 years, this is the first time that he has opted to stay in Bengaluru, continuing to be employed as a construction worker. “I used to cultivate on my three acres of land during the kharif season and would only come to Bengaluru for construction work during the summer.”

The rains have evaded Hedgimadra this year, and income from farming has come to be more erratic. “I have no choice but to work as a labourer to ensure that my family gets to eat,” he says. 

Crores of migrants find themselves in a similar state. According to the most recent census in 2011, about 37 per cent of the country, or 36 crore people, were internal migrants. Internal migration involves seasonal or long-term migration within the state or outside, in search of better economic activity. Experts argue that as the agrarian crisis shows no signs of receding and the frequency of climate catastrophes increases, seasonal and long-term migration are going to be mainstays for many of rural India’s residents.  

In cities, though internal migrants are vital cogs that keep urban centres running, they are often at the receiving end of xenophobia and among the last to receive access to basic amenities. A report sponsored by the National Human Rights Commission delineates how, for most blue-collar migrants, living conditions are cramped and access to health, education, and hygiene is poor. Even social security measures, designed to aid vulnerable populations, remain out of reach owing to issues with portability between states. Starting with construction, garment, information technology, and informal industries rely on the labour of migrants.

"If migrants returned to their hometowns, almost every sector would shut down,” says Benoy Peter, executive director at the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development. In fact, a 2020 International Labour Organisation report estimated that migrant workers contribute 10 per cent of India's GDP. 

To make matters worse, rather than improving access to basic amenities, several state governments promote narratives that demonise migrant communities, affirming the stigma that they face from locals. In states like Haryana, governments have gone on to even reserve 75 per cent of private formal jobs for local people. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have similar provisions or have proposed to put them in place, albeit on a smaller scale. 

In a similar vein, the Karnataka government sought a higher share of central tax revenues as a reward for its intake of economic migrants in August this year. The suggestions given by the state also feed into the larger political narrative that implies that northern and eastern states were dependent on southern and western states.

Working conditions 

Over 15 years ago, Shyam Sen* moved from Rajasthan, from his job in a stone-cutting factory to a steel rod factory in Bengaluru. The owner of the factory moved from diesel-powered kilns to coal-powered kilns. “The owner got himself into debt because of this upgrade and stopped paying workers regularly. Slowly, workers started running away from their jobs,” he says. The administrators got desperate, often physically compelling workers to stay on in their jobs without pay. 

“I had to jump from the second floor of the building and run away,” he says. There was no outcome he saw in which he would get the money owed to him. 

Through the 15 years he has worked in the city, all of his jobs, ranging from the hospitality industry to goods unloading and grocery delivery, have offered him little wage security. On the contrary, they have plunged him into precarious conditions — either at the worksite or his home.

Sen explains that there is little social, economic or political leverage to demand regular work hours and appropriate wages without consequence. Additionally, the highly fragmented informal work environments also make regulation and the recovery of wages difficult.

Syed Pasha, for example, takes home Rs 380 to Rs 450 daily. In order to make ends meet, he works more than 12 hours. 

Interstate migrant workers are also not paid the same as local workers. “Jobs with the most precarious work conditions that are not preferred by local populations are reserved for migrants. This results in a high rate of work-related mortality among migrant workers,” explains Peter. 

Food and shelter

The lack of job security and access to basic amenities was most apparent during the large-scale exodus of migrants from India’s cities following pandemic-induced lockdowns. This reverse migration exposed the unreliable nature of migrants’ access to food, shelter, and healthcare. Shriyanka* remembers the arduous journey back to her hometown in Odisha. She was one of the lakhs of migrants who returned through the Shramik trains. “We have always lived hand to mouth. It was only visible to other people during the pandemic,” she says. 

The pandemic also brought to light the reality that missing even a week of work makes it impossible for migrants to continue to live in receiving cities. “Safety nets are typically absent for migrants. Without savings, their daily wages are integral to paying rent and affording food,” says Peter. 

The result, Shriyanka explains, is that migrant communities come to depend on temporary housing — tents, shanties and tin sheds.“There is absolutely no security. There is near constant harassment by the police and pressure to move without even a day’s notice. Drinking water is rarely accessible,” she says. 

In other cases, male migrant workers share their living arrangements when they move without families. “These rooms are often cramped spaces where they share living quarters with others from their network. The spaces lack ventilation, hygiene, water supply and sewage connections,” says Kathyayini Chamaraj, executive trustee of CIVIC Bengaluru, a non-profit that works on urban governance.

Migrant labour is vital to infrastructure development in cities. In fact, interstate migrant workers make up 35.4 per cent of all the construction workers in urban areas, according to the 2001 Census. Contractors often use social networks and monetary incentives to persuade vulnerable communities to migrate to cities. 

Despite such demand, satisfactory housing arrangements are rarely made. Most often, in earlier phases of industrialisation, employers would provide housing, but this is no longer a widespread practice, explains Ravi Srivastava, an economist and the director of the Centre for Employment Studies at the Institute for Human Development, New Delhi. “Now, the responsibility has shifted to the migrants themselves, compelling them to find low-cost rental housing through agents and word of mouth,” he adds.   

A constricted vision of development — one that prioritises the infrastructure of cities —  is behind this exploitation, explains Chamaraj. Development is centred around a few cities and successive governments have failed to ensure that affordable housing options are made accessible to the people building these cities. 

There is an urgent need for the governing authorities to regulate the conditions of housing provided by employers and available for rent, Chamaraj added. 

In Karnataka, a 2020 government order directed the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board to use the cess funds collected from employers to provide decent housing and sanitation facilities for temporary and migrant construction workers.

It also directed the Board to install creches in such colonies for the benefit of workers' children along with mandating registration and issuing employment diaries so workers have proof of work. A beginning has been made in this direction with the Board setting up the first migrant workers' housing in Doddaballapur and setting up around 10 creches for workers' children in different areas of Bengaluru. However, there remains a long way to go in making these rights easily accessible to migrants. 

Food security

Similarly, experts point out that ensuring the efficacy of the public distribution system  (PDS) under the National Food Security Act is paramount. In recent years, rising food prices have also thrown household budgets off balance with quiescent wages. 

Already paid lower wages, interstate migrants have the additional responsibility of sending remittances to their hometowns. These competing priorities exert pressure on migrants’ expenditures on food and shelter. 

For instance, an intrastate migrant based in Bengaluru, Satish H*, spends about 30 per cent of his salary on food after sending a remittance to his family back in Yadgir. “I spend Rs 5,000 on paying rent for my PG and about Rs 1,200 on fuel for commuting between office and PG,” says Satish. 

A study published in the Indian Journal of Labour Economics details that the experience of migrants living in different housing arrangements is even more precarious, revealing that they spend between 45 and 50 per cent of their monthly incomes purchasing food and fuel.

With an aim to improve the portability of ration cards and other welfare measures for those who had ration cards in their hometowns, the Union government launched the e-SHRAM portal in 2021. Along with this, the government also put in place the One Nation One Card (ONORC) plan to enable the portability of the service. The ONORC allows intra and interstate transactions by enabling beneficiaries of the NFSA to use Aadhaar-seeded ration cards to access food grains at any fair-price shop (FPS) in the country. 

Social security measures 

Several activists have lauded the decision as a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, in order to benefit migrants meaningfully, according to a 2022 Dahlberg report, there is a need to increase awareness about the scheme among both beneficiaries and FPS owners. 

In fact, over eight crore households expressed a desire to use portability but did not know they could.

Regional differences in application only add to the opacity of the procedures. Shriyanka,  for instance, migrated from Odisha to Bengaluru in 2013 to work in the garment sector. She explains that the process was meandering and long-winded. 

“In the ten years that I have been in the city, I have had to shift without notice many times due to pressure from landlords and government officials. Officials ask me for proof of residence for my ration card,” says Shriyanka. Without stable housing, she has been unable to apply for a ration card despite having an Aadhar and PAN card.   

In addition to the NFSA, issues with portability also affect the reach of national maternal health programmes, the integrated child development services programme and the right to education. In fact, according to the report sponsored by the NHRC, 62 per cent of migrants in Delhi, 65 per cent in Gujarat, 61 per cent in Haryana and 69 per cent in Maharashtra reported failure in accessing entitlements under these government schemes. 

Barriers also remain in accessing the Centre’s flagship Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, which was launched to help 40 per cent of the lowest wealth quintiles (about 58 crore people). After five years of implementation, the Union government has issued only 24 crore cards, leaving 58 per cent of the target population without health insurance protection. 

“As usual, we are asked to provide Aadhaar, ration and PAN cards to sign up for the PMJAY. I have to run from one office to the other to get these schemes. This means that I am not able to work during the day,” says Shriyanka. 

Lately, Shiyanka does not visit the doctor unless there is a serious health condition to avoid added expenditure on healthcare. “I go to the pharmacist and tell him my health issues, he usually gives me something,” she says. 

Stigma and discrimination 

Apart from access to social security measures, migrating communities also undergo mental anguish as they are often on the receiving end of hostility and stigma. “There is this idea that we are stealing jobs from locals. Or that we do not understand the language, and hence are disrespecting the local culture,” says Manohar*, a migrant garment worker in Bengaluru. 

This is far from the truth, “we just want to take care of our families and have come to places with opportunity,” explains Manohar. 

Widespread agrarian crisis, fuelled by adverse climate events, has been compelling migration in recent years. Sitaram Sharma*, a Mumbai-based labour contractor, explains how erratic weather patterns have influenced changes recently. 

Of the total labourers who migrate to Mumbai or Pune during the summer, nearly 50 per cent of them would return by June to cultivate the kharif crops. However, this year, not even 30 per cent of them have returned, he explains. 

“The only reason they migrate to bigger cities is the fear that they may not be able to earn even a single rupee if they stay back,” says Sharma. Even a monthly income of Rs 10,000 in the source villages can prevent the need to migrate.

In fact, there is evidence that internal migration benefits both the region that people migrate to and where they migrate from. Peter cites the example of Ganjam, a district in Odisha with a high number of migrant families. The district alone accounted for monthly remittances of Rs 124 crore. 

Srivastava also explains that, apart from economic advantages, migrating allows the loosening of oppressive social structures. “Over time, migration also allows for greater autonomy and decision-making to migrant workers,” he adds. 

There are a multitude of reasons behind migration, but ultimately, there is no doubt that it is the future as climate change continues to impact agrarian and foraging communities.

To make receiving cities more hospitable and to ensure rightful improvements in living conditions, several policy interventions are paramount. 

To start with, Srivastava says that there is a serious requirement to provide housing and basic amenities and to make spaces safe and hygienic for the use of migrant communities. 

“There has also been limited success in ensuring the portability of social security. There is still a long way to ensure accessing education is made easier although admission for migrant children without school-leaving certificates has been allowed,” he adds.

It is also impossible to protect the dignity of migrating communities without sensitising residents and government officials in receiving cities to change discriminatory attitudes. “Cities are not doing a favour to internal migrants. On the contrary, the inverse is true and it is high time that this is realised in politics and the attitudes and behaviour of people,” says Peter. 

Of the 45 lakh labour cards issued by the Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board several are bogus. We have begun a screening process to eliminate the fake cards. Now 13 lakh people have applied for several benefits including assistance for education. To increase revenue to extend benefits we will be collecting pending cess from central government projects. This will increase our funding by Rs 2000 crores two-fold of what it is currently. We will also be using a geographic information system to map construction projects starting from 2008 and reconcile it with the taxes collected to see if there is any pending amount. Santosh Lad Minister of Labour Department of Karnataka

(Some names have been changed on request)

(With inputs from Pavan Kumar H in Hubballi)