Why Should People Leave Their Villages and Migrate to Cities?

This article deals with why there is a mass exodus of migration from rural villages to urban cities. It analyses both the push and pull factors that cause migration. It focuses on the distress of labour migrants and the apathy of the government at present. The article suggests various ways and means of possible intervention to alleviate their misery. It suggests the need for proactive enhancement and protective measures.

Introduction

The backbone of the Indian economy is agriculture. Nearly 80% of the Indian population living in villages are engaged in agriculture or agriculture-related work. Some own their land and engage in agriculture, while others work as agricultural labourers on others’ land. Unfortunately, the precarious and volatile climatic condition is badly affecting agriculture in India and forcing people to migrate from villages to cities. Migration is no longer a choice for the poor but has become a compulsion. Rural-to-urban migration is mainly due to the search for jobs or to take up better employment opportunities, while urban-to-urban migration is due to the transfer of service or acquisition of one’s own house/flat. Nevertheless, the issue of migration has both positive and negative impacts on migrants and their surroundings. According to Sahuet al. (2012), “the reasons for migration are mostly in search for employment, better employment, transfer of job, proximity to the workplace, pursuing further studies, after marriage, movement of parents or earning members, social or political problems, health, housing and other reasons” (p. 183).

Rao (2001) refers to three kinds of migration in his study of Ananthapur and Rayadurga districts in Andhra Pradesh. Type 1 is migration for coping and survival. Type 2 is migration for additional work/income. It takes place when the work in the village is over, generally after harvesting all crops. Type 3 is migration for better remuneration, a better work environment, or an opportunity to use or acquire new skills. Due to both pull and push factors, many people migrate to cities seeking better livelihood opportunities. Finally, they end up in cities, trapped in more struggles and misery. Until serious efforts are taken to improve the conditions of the agrarian economy in villages and create various livelihood opportunities for people living in villages, we cannot stop the mass exodus of people to cities. However, we cannot ignore those who have already migrated to cities. The state and civil society must provide migrant labourers in cities with basic facilities to live decent and dignified life. The migration decision involves “push” and “pull” factors. Push factors force migrants out of rural areas, while pull factors attract rural folks to the urban areas (Connellet al., 1976).

Most Important Push Factors Resulting in Migration from Villages

The agrarian economy of the villages cannot produce enough livelihood opportunities for the rural poor. Most households either do not have any land or have small plots of land from which they are hardly able to engender needed income for the households. Their agriculture activities are hampered by irregular rainfall, disrupted electricity supply and lack of irrigation facilities. There is a huge rise in the prices of inputs on land. Nowadays, investment in agricultural land is risky, and it is increasingly costly to continue agricultural work in villages. Due to urbanisation and the fast growth of the real estate business, vast agricultural lands are converted into housing plots. As a result, the marginal farmers are forced to give away their lands and leave their villages, moving towards cities.

Most of the rural population does not have access to credit facilities from banks. The cumbrous process of producing several documents in banks to access loans makes them easily disheartened and disgusted. Most of them approach local money lenders because they are familiar with them and are always ready to lend money at any time, provided they have agreed to pay the interest demanded. In a way, it is a blessing in disguise for the poor. On the one hand, they get easy access to loans; on the other hand, they are forced to pay high interest rates. Eventually, they are led to a debt trap. In such a situation, they are compelled to move to cities in order to search for a better job.

“Migration is often seen simply as a flight from poverty; there are no opportunities available locally, so people migrate to survive” (Skeldon, 2003, p. 71). At the village level, hardly any small-scale or large-scale industry can provide local people with employment. Industries are in decline; banks seldom come forward to provide loans to start any small-scale industry. Without alternative job opportunities in villages, there is less hope to continue agriculture. Hence, the rural poor are pushed out of villages to fend for their living by moving to cities. “This process is perhaps at the root of most migration, giving the impression that poverty is the driving force but, in reality, is the product of a desire to better oneself against new standards rather than the result of absolute deprivation. Migration is thus both the creator and product of poverty” (Skeldon, 2003, p. 72).

The rural poor in many parts of our country are brought under MGNREGS. However, the scheme flops to fulfil the real needs of the people in villages. The implementation and monitoring mechanism of the scheme has many loopholes. As a result, the poor labourers are underemployed and underpaid for the labour they contribute locally. In many places, MGNREGS is regulated by those actively involved in party politics. Nevertheless, the utilisation of MGNREGS is geared only toward strengthening the vote banks of politicians in rural India.

Often, child labour and child trafficking go unnoticed, unchecked and unpunished in rural areas. However, in a poor household, the labour contribution of children is considered vital support to family income. So, when elders migrate to cities for better jobs, children accompany them, and they are mostly deprived of education in cities.

Gram Panchayats are generally weak in their capacity to influence the migration process, either in prevention or facilitation. There is no data maintained in Gram Panchayats to regulate and monitor migration. The Gram Panchayat system does not guarantee social security and protection to those who are vulnerable to moving from villages to cities.

Pull Factors

Considering all the push factors that force rural people to leave their villages, we cannot rule out the pull factors that attract rural people towards cities.

All that glitter is not gold. However, the glitter of the city induces the poor to leave their villages and move towards cities. “Migration creates the conditions that lead to people feeling themselves poor, which in turn leads to further migration as they move to satisfy new-found aspirations” (Skeldon, 2003, p. 72). The cities promise them better job opportunities, increased wages, and decent and comfortable living conditions. Nevertheless, in reality, it is only a mirage!

The anonymity of the migrants in cities gives them more freedom to seek work wherever they want and to take up any work of their choice. If they are skilled workers, they are better placed in cities. They are ready to do any type of menial job to earn more money. This is not possible in their native villages, where the caste system prevents labour exchange and labour mobility. In Indian villages, most of the specific works are related to the caste identity of the people. Certain people are bound to do specific work assigned only to them. However, in cities, the migrants are anonymous, more accessible, and less inhibited from taking up any work!

Working in cities gives them high social status when the migrants return to their native villages. They are considered “city returned.” The others look up to them. Many youngsters are lured to leave their villages and migrate to cities due to the influence of the “city-returned” migrants. The youngsters in villages crave a cozy and comfortable lifestyle.

The influence of electronic media in the lives of the rural poor, especially smartphones, has made them completely ignore and not pay attention to the local indigenous art, song, dance, drama and other entertainments. Those who migrated to cities find more entertainment opportunities, which are hardly available in villages. Their mind is influenced and set by such lucrative desires to move towards cities.

Sometimes, the entire family migrates to cities, assuming their children will be placed in good educational institutions and get better health care in city hospitals. Of course, better educational and medical facilities are available in cities, but they are not affordable to the poor migrants. Tuition fees in educational institutions and medical expenses in city hospitals are exorbitant that the poor migrants cannot afford to pay and get it. Ignoring this reality, many people leave their villages and migrate to cities.

Labour migrants hardly ever realize their potential and capacity to stand on their legs. Most unskilled migrants are simply lured to cities with promises made by agents, brokers and middlemen. Threat, wage theft, blackmailing, confiscating vital documents and abandonment in critical situations by these middlemen and brokers are common recurrences in migrant localities. As they are brought into cities with an assurance of a bright future, they are scrupulously dictated and controlled by agents, middlemen, and brokers.

These are some of the pull factors that influence the rural poor to abandon their native villages and move towards cities. In reality, they languish in city slums, roads and pavements with a bleak understanding of their future. They are unable to break the shackles of bondage!

Conditions of Distress

While migration can improve the economic condition of households to some extent, it remains a risky proposition. There is no official government intervention in helping the poor during migration regarding awareness generation, better information sharing regarding where to migrate, what safeguard measures need to be taken and what to do in case they face health hazards at the destination places. Suppose death occurs to any migrant in an alien land. How are they going to handle such distress condition, when their life is isolated with fear, anxiety and uncertainty? They are at a loss!

Since the migrant workers are directly under the control of the contractors, most of them, especially those employed in the construction industry, housekeeping and security agencies, depend on their contractors for regular payments. During the pandemic and the post-pandemic period, there were many instances of denial and deprivation. Many migrants were denied their wages by their employers and contractors and evicted by their landlords. In such circumstances, most of these migrants were unable to reach the legal and civic authorities to ask for remedy and protection from their exploitative employers, contractors and landlords.

The migrants involved in garment work are less able to move companies – without local networks in an unfamiliar city, they are bound to their employers for security and accommodation. These migrants are forced to work longer hours for lower pay. Female workers face much worse conditions on the work sites. “The women live in isolation and have no contracts with local. ... The young girls are subjected to economic and sexual exploitation by the contractors. The hold of the contractor is very strong, and sexual exploitation is not discussed openly” (Schenk-Sandbergen, 1995, p. 10). It is the easiest and surest way of instilling fear and controlling women migrant labourers.

Most of the migrant labourers occupy roadside pavements and unauthorised wastelands in cities. They live in constant fear and anxiety since, at any point in time, they would be forced to vacate the place by civic authorities, citing the reasons, such as to maintain health and hygiene among the general public. Sudden demolition of the migrant locations is also carried out mercilessly when civic authorities begin the process of beautification of cities, road extension and construction of flyovers. “The poor are vulnerable because of insecure tenurial status, environmental conditions that threaten their health, changes in prices of basic goods, a lack of social networks, and violence in urban areas” (de Haan, 1997, p. 4).

In the recent past, several youths from migrant localities were brutally beaten up by local police, suspecting them as drug peddlers and involved in anti-social activities. Many are implicated in false criminal cases, arrested, tortured and imprisoned for no reason. They lack legal advice, support and protection. Hence, they continue to languish in jail for many months and years, and many of them die as under-trial prisoners. These migrant labourers are primarily illiterate and unorganised, and they do not come under any protective laws of the country. They lack social security and entitlements in cities. They are more vulnerable to being misused and abused by the police and local authorities. According to National Crime Records Bureau the suicide rate among migrants (mostly daily wage workers) is also rising every year (see Fig. 1). In 2014 against the total number of suicides the suicide rate of the daily wage workers was 15, 735. In 2021 the suicide rate of the daily wage workers has increased to 42,004. Fear, anxiety and uncertainty of life in their destination places are the main reason for this deploring condition of the migrant labourers.

Fig. 1. Rising suicide rate of the daily wage workers (Source: NCRB, 2022).

Their condition of distress is a challenge for us to hear their cry and respond to their needs. We can’t but think of migrant help at this juncture. A helpline that connects migrant labourers all over the country could be an anchor of hope in future. Yet, the operational modality of the helpline needs more discussion and clarity among the networking partners.

The Government Apathy

Considering the magnitude of migrant problems in every city, the Union and State governments are at abeyance. No doubt, Migrant efforts are the real engine of growth in several sectors, providing a cheap and flexible labour source; they remain without an identity and cannot claim State resources for education, health care, water and sanitation all the time that they are on the move. Women and children suffer the most from this kind of existence (Deshingkar & Start, 2003). When the discussion on migrants’ misery emerged during the lockdown in the Indian parliament, a central minister seemed to have stated that there was no data available from the government. Eventually, when the government made the decisions and policies during the pandemic, the views and opinions of the migrant labourers across the country were not considered. In retrospection, we observe the following:

1. The hasty announcement of the unprecedented lockdown just four hours before everything came to a standstill all over the country created havoc for the migrants who were stranded in towns and cities throughout India. The Government, both Union and State, hardly thought of the migrant labourers’ desperate need to go home safe and secure.
2. As the migrants moved on from the places of their work sites to their native places, the callous and worst type of treatment they endured from the police and government officials was unimaginable. They were suspected of potential careers of the virus, discriminated and treated ruthlessly by the police and civic authorities.
3. When social distance was strictly imposed on people, did they ever consider the migrant settlers living in city slums? How could it be possible for them to maintain social distance when all the households flocked together in a congested area and accommodated them in a small space in slum localities?
4. It was meaningless to instruct people to wash their hands as often as possible and use sanitizers from time to time to keep away from the infection of the deadly coronavirus when people would find a shortage of water throughout their lives in the city slums.
5. “Work at home” sounded good. However, millions of people in India possessed no home for themselves. How could an ordinary domestic worker, street vendor and casual labourer remain at home and work? Did this “work at home” concept make any sense to them?
6. Prevention is better than cure. However, when the medical professionals instructed the infected persons to be quarantined at home, given that the spread of the deadly virus had been curbed, did they ever think of the slum dwellers? Usually, an entire family share one bedroom in the city slums and villages. Where would the rest of the household stay if that one room is used for an infected person to be in isolation?
7. Interstate mobility and, in some places, movement from one district to another was restricted as a precautionary measure. All communication channels were digitalised, and online registrations were introduced. Obtaining a travel pass (e-pass) was made mandatory. In such circumstances, the poor migrants were the ones who were the worst affected in those days. They did not know how to apply for an e-pass to get permission from the concerned authorities to travel from one place to another. When violations occurred, the police and civil authorities were brutal to them by levying fines or confiscating their vehicles. The migrants were the worst affected lot.

Our Possible Interventions

If we perceive that migration is a problem that has to be addressed, then we have to look at both the source and destination point of migration. Based on the general problems listed above and considering the inability of the government to face such problems, the following could be our possible interventions:

1. Union and State Governments need to develop a migration database so that appropriate planning interventions can be made regarding the problem of distressed migrants. The migration-prone districts need to be identified, and appropriate financial allocation should be made to reduce migration from these districts.
2. A comprehensive District-level or Panchayat-level plan is required to boost irrigation and power supply to the rural villages and city slums. So that agriculture and civic amenities can be improved in villages and slums. State Government can provide at least some subsidies through the Gram Panchayats so that the input cost of agriculture could be reduced.
3. The union/state government needs to develop a plan to incentivize small-scale entrepreneurs to start industries and develop rural and urban areas. So that more full-time/part-time jobs could be created in the villages and city slums.
4. More branches of rural banks should be opened so the rural poor in villages can access formal credit facilities. A push is required regarding the formation of self-help groups in the villages so that loans can be given at a lower interest rate to the deserving rural poor. Support from NABARD and help from distinguished Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) could be sought for this purpose.
5. Union/State Government should come forward to provide grants to Gram Panchayats to support migrants through awareness generation and capacity building. Creating awareness among migrants about their rights is crucial to protect themselves against exploitation (on work time and wages). Similarly, creating awareness among migrants about health risks and the dangers of trafficking of children and women needs to be given priority (Deshingkaret al., 2006, pp. 36–37). The Union/State government should concentrate on helping migrants who have fallen ill at the destination point and helping families who have suddenly lost their migrant member.
6. Gram Panchayats should be given the authority to certify a migrant worker before he/she leaves for the destination point. He/she has to be issued a certificate and an ID card with the necessary phone numbers that he/she could call in case of any distress at the destination point.
7. Gram Panchayats should also be allowed to prohibit and declare the migration of persons below 18 as illegal. Panchayat should be given the power to issue certificates to permit migration only to adults.
8. Local Police nearest to villages where migration takes place should be empowered and given instructions to take serious actions to stop child and woman trafficking in the region.
9. Special attention has to be given to women by the Government NGO organizations. Improving awareness of HIV/AIDs and STDs and helping in approaching health professionals for support on sensitive issues related to sexual health are very important. Help should be rendered at times when their husband/son who has migrated to faraway places either dies or does not keep relations with them anymore.
10. There is an urgent need to take appropriate measures to improve the implementation of MGNREGS. The Union government needs to give the State government, and the State government has to give district administration the flexibility regarding guidelines required to improve this scheme’s performance. Union and State governments should consider giving the workers a certain amount in advance so they can tide over the problem of delay in wage payment.
11. Capacity-building measures also need to be taken seriously. Concerned authorities should also ensure adequate staff in the Gram Panchayats to implement the scheme. Improve migrants’ bargaining power through skills enhancement programmes and certification through partnerships with NGOs and government in their destination places (Deshingkaret al., 2006).
12. Union and state Government/Donor Agencies should allocate funds for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to play a greater role in the migration process. Such organizations should be involved in awareness generation, providing information to the migrants on good employers in different destinations. Providing hand-holding support to the migrants while migrating and keeping in touch with them at the destination point to ensure they get the facilities they deserve.
13. Helpline services should be initiated at the source and destination points. Equip the helpline services with needed infrastructure and adequate personnel.
14. The migrant workers, although huge in number, are primarily unorganized. Trade unions, Kisan Sabhas, and appropriate ministries/departments must find ways to organize and train migrant workers to understand their rights.
15. There are several small-scale examples of organizations trying to improve the lives of migrant workers. Mosseet al. (2002) argue for a rights-based approach to guarantee minimum wages, avenues for protection and redress, freedom from bondage and sexual exploitation, as well as compensation for injury and death suffered by migrant labourers. All these need to be documented and replicated.

Need for Proactive Enhancing and Protective Measures

Concrete measures must be worked out to ensure the socio-economic and citizenship rights of the migrant workers by the Union and State Governments. A number of recommendations were already in the public domain. The need of the hour is the ‘political will’ to make the right choices in consonance with the values enshrined in the Constitution of India despite narrow electoral and political agendas. Primarily, the Union/State governments must recognise that migrant workers are major contributors to the economy and must take all steps to strengthen the agency of the migrants.

Proactive Enhancing Measures

We need to ensure the dignity of labourers so that no one is deprived of food, primary healthcare and shelter, especially migrant labourers. We need to increase the purchasing power of the poor by directly transferring cash to them. Revival of the rural economy is non-negotiable in preventing migration from rural areas to urban settings. Encourage investments in MGNREGS, agriculture, animal husbandry, and employability skills among the youth. We must encourage rural micro entrepreneurship with subsidised loans with minimum interest and no collateral security. Providing entitlements and strengthening social security measures such as pensions, maternity benefits, and nutritious food for children and women is highly necessary. Payment of wages has to be in tune with the understanding of minimum wage, just wage and living wage concepts. The implementation process has to be strictly monitored and thoroughly reported to the concerned authorities in time.

Proactive Protective Measures

Guaranteeing minimum protection for every individual is a constitutional duty. Art. 21 of the Constitution of India affirms the “right to life for all,” including migrants. At the policy level, we must bring laws to ensure a universal minimum income for all poor households in every migrant locality. All migrant workers must be registered through a simple registration process and digitisation of records. All these unorganised migrant labourers must be registered in the E-Shram portal introduced by the Government of India. Migrants source States must be proactive. Digitisation must be linked to facilitating inter-state portability of benefits, including delinking individuals from households as the context warrants. Continuous presence for six months in a State must be considered proof of residence in the place of work to enable the migrants to access entitlements such as social and food security, educational, health benefits and voting rights. Initiatives should be taken to establish social security welfare boards in all the major cities. Setting up mechanisms to improve the workers’ collective bargaining power is paramount in today’s context. Self-reliant India needs sensitivity to the pains of the migrant workers. When concrete help to the migrants is the need of the hour, we hear lectures on the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign. What does this mean to a migrant worker who cannot put food on the table and is looking for ways to survive? The Union and State governments must act, and the collective conscience of the citizens must continue to monitor the implementation process.

Conclusion

The issues related to migration are an open secret that policymakers try to avoid. The migration-related issues urgently deserve the attention of policymakers; only when policymakers at the national and state levels accept migration to be an important phenomenon within the country will it be possible to formulate social security and welfare measures for migrant labourers all over the country.

No doubt, migrant labourers live and work in harsh and dangerous conditions. They are economically poor, socially segregated, culturally alienated and politically vulnerable. However, they need to be protected, and their rights to be safeguarded. Of course, migration is an important route out of poverty. However, the impacts of migration on poverty reduction and the contribution that migrants make to the economy are ignored and under-recognized. Though migrants contribute around 10% to the National GDP, nearly all sectors employ migrant labourers (including children) through a complex system of brokers, contractors and agents who exploit them thoroughly. The lack of data and the laxity in implementing labour laws indicate the harsh and bitter reality of political will and the lack of commitment to improve the lives of migrant labourers. India seems to be struggling with the instruction from ILO that labour laws need to be made more stringent. At the same time, neo-liberal economists observe that the existing labour laws are too rigid and are stifling productivity. However, human rights violations will not be tolerated, and India needs to take a stronger position on protecting migrant labourers. The immediate need is to change the policy-level discourse on migration. We need to transcend the understanding and language that portrays migration as bad and something that must be stopped. Only through recognising the urgent need to support migrant labourers and reduce their vulnerability by improving their access to education, housing, and health programmes can we improve the living conditions of migrant labourers in India. Attending to the needs of the migrants, both at their origin and destination point is very important. The instant need to formulate policies that affirm the inclusion of the excluded (migrants) is the clarion call that resounds everywhere in India today.