India: Internal Flows and the Challenges in Indian Subcontinent
| Autor | Xavier Jeyaraj, S. J. |
| Páginas | 121-158 |
:
Xavier Jeyaraj, S. J.
Internal migration from one state to another within the Indian subconti-
nent, similar to that of migrants from one country to another in any part
of the world, cause great challenge due to cultura l, linguistic, ethnic dier-
ences. Some examples are:
•
More than people across six districts of Gujarat [Western
India] have been arrested for inciting violence against the state’s
migrant population, following the rape of a -month-old in
Himmatnagar district. Fearing a further backlash, migrants are
making a bolt for their home states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Madhya Pradesh [Central and North India] (Doval, ).
•
Assam [North East] migrant worker killed in Kerala [South]:
‘More than men watched… nobody bothered to help’ (Kashyap
& Phil ip, ).
• On October , Maharashtra [Western India] Navanirman
Sena (a regional political party) activists beat up north Indian
candidates who were appearing for the all-India R ailway Recruit-
ment Board entrance exam for the Western region in Mumbai
(Gaikwad, ).
•
On November , Assam tribals [originally from Central
India], who were demanding the tribal status in Assam were at-
tacked brutally, and around tribal s were killed , though the gov-
ernment claims that only two were kil led. A tribal girl was stripped
naked, molested and chased naked on t he street (Talukdar, ).
•
On December , migrant workers, predominantly from
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar [Central North], have been brutally at
-
tacked in the industria l town of Ludhiana in Punjab [North West
India] (Fazal, ).
One can prepare a litany of such attacks that have been going on in
many states in India. ese incidents are a symptom of a broader malaise
Xavier Jeyaraj, S. J.
taking place a ll over the world. On the one hand, we have globalization and
everyone talks of the world as having become a ‘global village’. Actually,
this interconnectedness is only for economic take over by multi-national
corporations or individuals li ke Je Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and so many
others. In terms of human relationships, the world is also becoming more
sectarian, cla ss-based and racist. Nationalist fervour and narrow parochial
sentiments have led to an increase in passionate and bitter conicts in the
last few decades.
On the other hand, human migration driven by natural calamities
like earthquakes, famine and drought coupled with humanmade calami-
ties like war and economic plunder has compelled people to seek out other
places to eke out a living. is is due to extreme distress because no one
likes to move away from the place of his birth. is forced nomadism has
increased dramatica lly ever since India embarked upon the ‘New Economic
Policy’ in . Economic liberalization and Privat ization has had aggravat-
ed and forced people to migrate due to extreme poverty, misery and lack of
employment oppor tunities. E conomic Globaliz ation with a ll its interrelate d
political, environmental and social factors has also substantially aected
and destroyed the entire planet, its ecosystems, biodiversity, land use, and
conserv ation policy.
is chapter looks at the status and patterns of interna l migration in
India from the perspective of how it has aected marg inalized communities,
particularly the dalits, tribals, unorganized sector, women and children.
e chapter will focus more on the inter-state ‘distress migrants’ and not
on ‘development migrants’ who move out of the state for economic progress.
Demography of India and the violent history of migrant workers
India is a sub-continent in Asia with a population of . billion by ,
the second largest in the world aer China. e country is divided into
Linguistic States and Union territories. Each state is like a country when
Dalit means ‘divided’, ‘broken’ or ‘oppressed’. While the Hindu caste system categorized the people
into varnas (classes or types), the people who were kept out of the caste ladder were called ‘avarnas’
meaning outside the caste (varna). ey were considered ‘untouchables’ and they were meant to do
the menial jobs. e Indian Constitution in grouped them as ‘Scheduled Castes’ (refer to . ).
On the other hand, ‘dalit’ is a name the oppressed people have given to themselves to arm their
identity and dignity.
India: Internal Flows and the Challenges in Indian Subcontinent
compared to Africa or Europe with a distinct language, cu lture, tradition
and social pattern. ere are la nguages spoken in the country, of which
only are recognised as ocial la nguages according to the constitution.
Aer independence in , the country was reorganised in ,
from the then existing princely states into States based on the languages
spoken by people in a particular a rea. Henceforward, language division be-
came the political borders for states oen impedi ng people’s ow from one
state to another, although the Constitution of India () [art. () (d) and
(e)] states, “all citizens shal l have the right … to move freely throughout the
territory of India; to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India.”
Naturally, jingoistic communalism based on language created biases and
murderous hatreds. e rst agitation to redraw borders for a separate state
on the linguistic pri nciple was in Mahara shtra, which succeeded i n .
As soon as this was achieved, t he attention turned to violent attack
and removal of lungiwalas (the Tamilians of South India, among whom
lungi is the form of attire among men) from the city of Bombay by political
opportunists. Eventually, Shiv Sena, a politica l party formed in by Bal
ackeray, a political cartoonist, spea rheaded the violent movement against
the South Indians whom he depicted as ‘ugly, grotesque gure’ and cal led
them ‘South Indian vu ltures’ (Hansen, , p. ).
e major complaint designed to raise negative emotions was that
the South Indians stole the jobs from the locals. e anti-migrant theme
sold well politically, although it did not stop the migration from other states.
Aer two decades, the a nti-migrant ire shied f rom South Indians aga inst
the bhaiyas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, whose mother tongue was Hindi.
However, the claim of ‘stealing the job of the locals’ was illusory since the
labour market in Bombay was strongly segmented on caste and class lines,
and the migrants could never enter into the jobs of native Marathi spe akers.
Yet, once the ugly jingoism began, such anti-migrant movement began to
spread over to other states such as Karnataka, Ass am and Gujarat.
In Assam, for example, the ‘sons of the soil’ movement became quite
violent too. Historically, Assam was a major area of settlement for tribals
from central India to migrate a nd work in the tea gardens and oil elds. e
Bengali Hindus occupied the bureaucracy and lived in urban areas, and
Bengali Muslims from Mymensingh se ttled as peasants aer clearing forest
lands. Biharis a nd Nepalis worked as labourers, and Marwaris and Pu njabis
went as traders. e migration was fur ther triggered when close to million
Bengalis from Bangladesh entered Assam between and (Tumbe,
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