Kerala’s migrant problem

Gulf News

Kerala’s migrant problem. The traditionally labour-exporting South Indian state of Kerala is struggling to accept workers from other parts of the country. Gulf News reporter Anjana Sankar visits Kerala to find out why so many migrants are attracted to the state and how the government is dealing with their influx.   See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00It's 8 in the morning and these streets are teeming with people waiting for their

00:09morning commute to work.

00:11Not an unusual scene in a township like Perumbavur in the Ernakulam district of Kerala in South

00:16India, known for its plywood factories and manufacturing units.

00:21But look closer and these faces and the languages that they speak set them apart from the native

00:27population.

00:29These are Kerala's migrant workers.

00:32Migration is currently an issue which is at the centre of political discourses across

00:36the world.

00:37Even in the southern Indian state of Kerala, migration is changing the socio-economic dynamics

00:42as hundreds and thousands of interstate migrant workers are pouring into the state.

00:48They are coming from places like West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand

00:53etc.

00:55And they have become the dominant labour force in the state.

00:58Perumbavur is Kerala's migration hub with more than 1.5 lakh interstate workers.

01:05But the Hindi-speaking, paan-chewing bhais, as they are called, have become a ubiquitous

01:10presence not only in Perumbavur but across the state.

01:15At the industrial hubs, at construction sites, at restaurants or even in the verdant hinterlands

01:20of this God's own country, they can be seen quietly turning the economic wheel of the

01:26state.

01:27In a communist stronghold where trade unions have flourished, it is but an irony that Kerala

01:32is at the mercy of its migrants.

01:35Without them, the state will come to a screeching halt.

01:57The kind of demographic scenario Kerala has, we actually have an acute shortage of blue-collar

02:09labour force, whereas there is high level of educated unemployment.

02:16Given the wage rates in Kerala, which are very high compared to some of those backward

02:21districts or backward states in the country such as Odisha, Assam, there is a huge migration

02:28happening as of now and it is estimated, though whatever crude estimates we have, it is estimated

02:34that there are about three to four million people working in Kerala from various states.

02:40Even in Kerala's traditional sectors like fishing, cashew and farming, migrant labourers

02:46are playing a major role.

02:48In a state that is around 50 million people, there is an estimated three to four million

02:54migrant workers and the numbers keep rising as dozens of trains are arriving in the state

03:00every week, carrying more migrants.

03:03For them, Kerala is their promised land, the biggest attraction being plenty of jobs, good

03:09salaries and better living conditions.

03:11We are poor people, we have come to work.

03:15Two children have left us at home.

03:18I have come to work in Kerala.

03:20I earn money and send it home.

03:23My parents are doing well.

03:26My brothers and sisters are studying in school.

03:29What will I do at home?

03:31I am poor.

03:32I don't have any work at home.

03:34What will I do?

03:37I get salary, I get a job.

03:40I get everything.

03:42I came here from my village.

03:45I don't have any money.

03:47I have a big brother.

03:49I have four sisters.

03:51Three of them got married.

03:53One is still at home.

03:55I don't have any money.

03:57That's why I came to Kerala.

03:59Most of the migrant workers have no complaints.

04:02Migrating to Kerala was an easy escape from poverty, social discrimination and even communal

04:08violence back home.

04:09But all is not well here.

04:11According to NGOs and migrant experts, these workers are not treated fairly.

04:16When you travel across the state, it is difficult to ignore their misery.

04:21Most of them live in unhygienic conditions next to their workplace.

04:25Often 10 or even 15 men share a room or a temporary shack.

04:29There are hardly any sanitation facilities.

04:32Those with families cram into one-room dwellings.

04:35Migrants are not even paid on par with the native workers.

04:40If a Keralite is paid 600 rupees, a Bengali or a Bihari will earn 450 rupees or even less

04:47for the same job.

04:48Overworked and underpaid, they are an exploited lot in Kerala.

04:53We are at a steel factory in the Kanjikode area of Palkad district.

04:58One of the major problems faced by migrant workers in Kerala is lack of access to health care.

05:04The government and various non-governmental organizations are trying to address the problem

05:09through targeted interventions like this one.

05:12According to NGOs and medical staff working with migrant laborers,

05:16many of them are vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases.

05:20The Salvation Army, an NGO that conducts monthly medical camps and screening programs at labor camps,

05:27says it is a pressing problem.

05:32In order to improve the living conditions of migrant workers,

05:35the government of Kerala has introduced an Apna Khar project.

05:39This one coming up in the Palkad district of Kerala is the first such labor accommodation in Kerala.

05:45This four-story building, when completed, can accommodate more than 700 workers.

05:50There are four floors and each floor has eight rooms and each room is meant for 12 workers.

05:56There are separate toilet and kitchen facilities.

05:59The next plan, the 13th 5-year plan of Kerala will also have solutions regarding the labor migration to Kerala.

06:07The planning board has constituted a working group particularly on this issue

06:12and experts including people who work at grassroot level are part of this working group.

06:21Kerala is not new to migration.

06:24Its people form one of the biggest diaspora in the Gulf countries.

06:29In UAE alone, there are an estimated one million Keralites.

06:33There are also huge numbers of Keralites living and working in India's metro cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Calcutta.

06:42But when it comes to accepting migrants from other states, Kerala is going into a dizzy.

06:48The local population resents the presence of migrants.

06:51They are often viewed with suspicion.

06:53We are very scared of migrants.

06:56When we came here in the 1960s, there were 300-400 migrants.

07:00We have not stopped working here.

07:03It has been a long time since they have come here.

07:06The government must bring some sort of control over the migrants.

07:12Otherwise, there will be more and more murders and rapes in our country.

07:20There is no way to say less.

07:22They are criminals.

07:25We can say that.

07:27The recent indictment of some interstate workers in ghastly crimes such as rape and murder

07:33has created a wave of anti-migration sentiments in Kerala.

07:38According to the State Home Department,

07:40a total of 1770 cases involving migrants have been reported across Kerala since May 2011.

07:50But there are many positive stories that prove these prejudices wrong.

07:55Basu Nayak from Odisha, who works in a packing company in Perumbavur,

08:00came to Kerala way back in 1998.

08:03His wife Manjulata and two children followed later

08:07when communal violence flared up in their state.

08:10Now both children go to school here and they can speak and write in Malayalam.

08:15We have come here because we have work to do.

08:19We have come here because we have money.

08:21There are so many children here.

08:23We don't have enough money to go to school.

08:26I would like to stay here.

08:28There is no good school here.

08:32If there is a good school here, I would like to go there.

08:37The attitude towards migrants may or may not change in the long run.

08:42But it's time Kerala wakes up to the fact

08:44that it cannot make noise on migrant rights elsewhere

08:48unless it walks the talk at home.

08:51Anjana Shankar for Gulf News.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended