A workshop was held on the Political Inclusion of Migrant Workers and their Access to Basic Services on the 10th and 11th of March, the event was anchored by Aajeevika Bureau and hosted by Sahbhagi Sikshan Kendra at their training campus in Lucknow. The highlight of the workshop was the sharing of a multi-location study on the theme of Political Inclusion of migrant workers done by 5 civil society organisations spanning 5 states (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat) covering 15 locations. In addition to this study, the workshop delved into questions related to access to food, shelter and financial inclusion of migrant workers. The main questions that the workshop tried to address were as follows:
- Do seasonal migrants in India vote? If not, how do they ensure that they remain politically relevant in the villages they leave behind?
- In cities, where migrant workers spend a large part of their working life, what are the ways in which they seek to get their voices heard?
- What are the struggles associated with enabling access to basic services for this vast amount yet floating population?
The key note address was delivered by Dr. Jagdip Chhokar, who is currently associated with the Association of Democratic Reforms. He said that the vast majority of seasonal migrant population is systematically excluded from elections which are the most institutionalized form of political participation in our country. He endorsed the 30- member strong community on migration and stressed on the need for more organisations to work in this space. He also emphasized on the urgent need for more empirical research on this theme.
The next presentation was anchored by Ms. Amrita Sharma who shared the results of the multi-locational study. The prominent results of the study were as follows:
- A significant number of migrants (82 %) reported to possess voter IDs or have their names in the voter list, 83% of respondents said that they had missed voting in elections at least once because they were away from home seeking livelihood options (when adjusted for short-distance movements). Out of the three-tiers in our democratic system, majority of the respondents considered Panchayats elections as the most significant. Close to 50 % of the respondents said that their return during elections was funded by the candidates.
- Only 10 % of the respondents reported to possess voter IDs at the destination and only 8 % had voted at the destination. The most common problems migrants referred to were harassment by police officials, harassment by municipality staff (in case of hawkers/vendors) and irregularity of employment. Some also cited problems of shelter and water. There weren’t many instances where people had attempted a resolution of their problems, either individually or as a collective; less than 11 % of respondents said that they had taken any step to resolve their problems. When asked who they reached out to in case of need or an emergency, most migrants cited their contractor or employer.
Representatives from partner organisations- Ms. Preeti Singh (GDS, Lucknow), Mr. Vikas Singh (GSVS, Ajmer), Mr. Milind Babar (Disha, Nashik) and Mr. Lalit Kr. Jha (GPSVS, Madhubani) also presented case studies on related themes like incentives for migrants during elections, feminization of voting patterns, instances of collective action and unionization among migrants. The single major take-away from the study was that the engagement of migrants with the city was predominantly economic and the few cases of collectivization that was reported were only to demand better wages/right to livelihood.
The presentation was followed by a panel discussion which saw the participation of experts like Dr. Amita Bhide (TISS, Mumbai), Dr. Yogesh Kumar (Samarthan, Bhopal), Mr. Ashok Singh (SSK, Lucknow), Mr. Rajendra Meher (YCDA, Boudh). The panel was moderated by Mr. Rajiv Khandelwal (Aajeevika Bureau, Udaipur). The major issues discussed included evidences of increasing political consciousness of migrant workers, myriad layers/dynamics of migration and the changing needs at each stage of the migration life-cycle, expanding the definition of political participation beyond merely voting and the visible behavioural changes in migrants when they are back at the source.
In the afternoon, there were two parallel sessions on the access of migrant workers to basic entitlements like food and shelter at the destination. The sessions outlined in detail, the complexity of these issues at the destination, policies of the state in this regard and the lacunae in the same, initiatives taken by various civil-society organisations in this space and concluded with a few recommendations for policy advocacy with the state.
The second day started with the third thematic presentation on financial inclusion of migrant workers. The first presentation was by Ms. Rupal Kulkarni, who presented the work of Rajasthan Shram Sarathi Association (RSSA), a Section 25 company promoted by Aajeevika Bureau. With the help of three case studies, Ms. Kulkarni highlighted some of the common issues in economic well-being of migrant workers- uncertainty of income at the destination, erratic remittances and the associated cash flow volatility at source, uncertainty of income at the destination etc. Subsequently, two studies analyzing the financial behavior across two key remittance corridors- Orissa to Andhra Pradesh and Eastern U.P to Mumbai were discussed in detail by Mr. Ajay Rai and Mr.Sindhu Bhaduri from Trust Microfin respectively. Both the presentations highlighted the issue of the inability of the migrant workers to access the banking system at the destination, due to non-availability of proof, as a result of which they used informal savings service providers such as collection agency, employer or kept it with the leader [mukadams], some of these options were even non-legal. The presentations discussed the entry of private players and technology into this space, and the need for financial literacy.
The last session in the workshop was a discussion on future research agenda. The session started with the partners in U.P, Orissa and Maharashtra presenting their research on socio-economic profiles of migrants, impact of male migration on women and health issues of migrant workers. The discussion went on to emphasise the need for balance between macro and micro studies, need to sharpen ones focus and conduct some programmatic research. There was also a call to conduct some studies with a special thrust on gender in migration. Numerous good topics were suggested for exploration and prominent among those were state level migration profiles. The session concluded with a discussion on various useful ways of knowledge dissemination that could be tried out, including a journal published by the coalition in partnership with some academic institutions.
For the detailed proceedings of the workshop - click here |
