Labour Migration

   

Seasonal migration of labour is just a routine in Indian states. Kashmir’s for centuries have been moving out of the valley, mostly to Punjab, during harsh winters to make a living. A Kashmir Life report.

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Most of the seasonal migrations out of Kashmir mostly comprise of those hawking various handicraft products. But what has changed over the years is that Kashmir has become a major destination for a reverse migration, mostly during summers. Apparently better wages, a cool environment and enough of work have been the main driving forces for the migrant labourers who number between 200 thousand to around half a million at the peak of summer.

Department of Sociology in the University of Kashmir carried out a survey about socio-economic status of this section of labourers. With Prof B A Dabla as the principal investigator and Dr Sofiya Hassan Mir as supervisor, there were seven research assistants (Shreen Tramboo, Anam Ganie, Shimalia Rather, Shugufta, Sabia Yousuf, Zeenat-un-Nissa and Usma Yousuf). 75 students went to the field in 2010 and met 4200 migrant labourers. Here is what they found out:

The Age Group
55.92% of the migrant labourers were in the age group of 19-30 years, about 20.64% belonged to 31-45 years and the rest (17.80%) were in 8-18 years age group. 79.85% were males and 1.95% were females. While 57.73% were married, 43% were unmarried.

Income Background
34% belonged to below Rs 5000 per month economic group and 55% had below Rs 10,000, a month. While 7.16% were making Rs 15,000 a month, 1.57% were in the 10-20,000 per month band. Only 0.38% were in the Rs 20,000 plus category.

Literacy
27% are literates and 73% illiterates

Language
They spoke varied languages: Hindi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Urdu, Nepali, Kashmiri and Bihari.

Origins
46.93% of the migrant labourers belonged to Bihar followed by 15.33% from UP. 8.86% belonged to Gujarat, 8.60% from Rajasthan, and 8.14% from West Bengal. From neighbouring Punjab there were 3.45%, from Nepal 0.83% and 0.31% from Jharkhand From all other places there were 13.69%.

Patterns
Only 5.97% of these labourers come to Kashmir for work during 1980-90 era for the first time. 20.19% came during 1990-2000 and most of them 51.19% started coming during 2000-2010.

Occupations
23.85% are unskilled labourers. Skilled include 17.40% of masons, 10.06% each are carpenters and painters, 3.40% are hairdressers, 1.23% are vegetable sellers, 1.05% are salesmen. Besides, 0.42% are agriculture labourers, 0.05% are cobblers, 0.23% are constructors, 0.95% are tailors, 0.53% are ice cream makers as the remaining 22% comprises of many other skilled lot that make small factions of the whole.

Motivators
51.16% – the majority of them came on their own but in 16% cases the ‘agents’ got them here. In 10.07% the employers brought them here and in 17.21% of the cases the contractors engaged them and got here. As many as 48.03% claimed they felt exploited.

Investments
28.04% of the labourers said their earnings in Kashmir are spent to improve the overall economy of the household back home, 14.99% spent it on constructing their houses,5.40% purchased land, 12.86% spent it on educating their children, 5.48% saved with banks, 5.84% spent on marriage, 3.07% spent on health and rest spent it on various family activities.

Wage improvement
In 72% of the cases, the labourers interviewed said they are earning better as compared to past at other places but 24% said they are making less than earlier. Due to an increase in their income, 61% said they are experiencing higher mobility.

Local Expenditure
Of whatever they are spending in Kashmir during their stay, 20% goes as rent, 19.52% on food, 20.45% on transport, 19.03% on the dress and 21% on other requirements.

Interaction
62.71% labourers say they have a positive interaction with the locals but 30.47% say it was not very positive. 63.47% like Kashmir culture while 2.52% disliked, the remaining 39.04% skipped responding to the query. 25.58% felt positive impact of the migration on their health unlike 33.47% who negated the idea. 12.66% felt moral/ethical problems in Kashmir while 46.74% faced no such problem. The rest remained non-committal.

Problems
The problems they faced included on account of accommodation (30.45%), health (14.53%), beggary (11.93%), wine consumption (9.05%), drug addiction (9.06%) and child labour (13.10%). 11.42% said they faced other problems.

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