Varun
Aggarwal
With
the world’s largest emigrant population, hundreds of millions of internal
migrants, and one of the largest immigrant populations in the world, India’s
development story is deeply interlinked with migration.
Systemically,
important industries like textiles and construction are almost entirely
dependent on migrant labour, while remittances form the backbone of economies
as diverse as Kerala and Bihar. No social or economic policy area or the developmental programme can function without engaging with migrants.
Yet,
there is no comprehensive migration policy framework at the central or state
level in India. Even the non-profit sector and civil society in general, have
not engaged with this issue in a direct and sustained manner, with some notable
exceptions such as Aajeevika Bureau and Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development.
There
are many interventions and policies that support migrants, albeit indirectly.
And unfortunately, most of them exist in silos.
“There
is no comprehensive migration policy framework at the central or state level in
India.”
As
a result, most interventions and policies are unable to fully grasp the
particularities of migrant lives and decision making. For instance, initiatives
targeting migrant workers often ignore their families (both at source and
destination). Policies to prevent human trafficking focus only on
intermediaries (contractors, sub-contractors, and recruiters) while ignoring
the role of employers, and the overall shortage of decent and safe jobs in the
economy. As a result, such policies are not only ineffective but also
invariably curtail people’s ability to migrate.
One
natural solution is the inclusion of migrants themselves in designing and
implementing projects. A recent ILO report on the lessons learnt from their
Work in Freedom programme has excellent insights on this front.
At India Migration Now, the organisation I lead, we engage with many non-profit,
industry, and government organisations to better understand how migrants are
supported in India. Based on these interactions, I would like to make three
interdependent suggestions to ensure policies and interventions for migrants
are more effective:
Place the migrant household at the centre of any initiative to support migrants
Migration
is one of many important livelihood strategies utilised by migrant households.
Such households tend to be multi-locational i.e. they are located at source and
destination(s). By placing multi-locational households at the centre of their
approach, policies and intervention can be more in tune with migrants’ own
aspirations and decision making.
It
is important to remember that a migrant is an important contributing family
member but not the only contributing family member. Invariably, families at
both source and destination (often multiple destinations) work together to
maximise the benefits of migration.
For
instance, the initial cost of migration is often borne by the whole household.
Focusing only on individual migrant workers, as is the case for most
initiatives in India, also invisibilities the role of women and children
(whether migrants or left behind). This amnesia is best personified by
government schemes such as those under the Building and Other Construction
Worker Act (BOCW), which solely focus on family members at destinations. As a
result, many construction workers (most of whom are migrants) do not see any
value in registering to avail BOCW benefits.
Factor in the entire migrant life cycle
The household-level approach has to be combined with the entire migration life
cycle: pre-departure, journey, destination, and return. We need to factor in
the challenges and opportunities at every stage for migrants and their
households when developing interventions and policies. Only such an approach
can exhaustively address migrants’ needs.
“We
need to factor in the challenges and opportunities at every stage for migrants
and their households.”
For
instance: globally, today, 1 in 4 migrants is a return migrant. In fact,
increasingly many Indian migrants abroad, especially those in the Gulf, return
home; the current estimate of return migration in the state of Kerala alone
ranges between 1.2 and 1.5 million. But little has been done to reintegrate and
utilise the opportunities these returnees have to offer, in terms of skill,
capital or experience. Most policies (such as the Emigration Act) and
programmes in India have focused only on pre-departure and destination with an
overwhelming focus on the number of remittances received. This has curtailed
the developmental impact of migration in India.
A
great initiative to emulate on this front is the Tres Por Uno or 3×1 Program for Migrants in Mexico, which incentivises Mexicans living abroad to channel
their remittances into projects and investments benefitting their home
communities in Mexico. For every peso sent by migrants, the federal, state and
municipal governments add 3 pesos each, hence the name: 3×1.
Understand, engage, and coordinate with all stakeholders
The
complexity of migration is primarily driven by the diverse multitude of
stakeholders involved. Whether at the source (households, migrant welfare
organisations, local/state/central government, non-profits, home communities,
labour markets, political parties, etc), the destination (employers, native
workers/unions, governments, investors, host communities, political parties,
etc.) or globally (multilateral institutions and policymakers, multinational
companies, etc), each stakeholder influences and is impacted by different
stages of the migrant life cycle.
Comprehensive
stakeholder mapping is essential to isolate all the relevant stakeholders for policies
and programmes that support migrants. The roles and needs of each stakeholder
also need to be identified and understood exhaustively. Based on this
assessment, a strategy that aligns stakeholders’ interests and enables
collective implementation will give all the relevant stakeholders a sense of
ownership in the migration process. Such an approach can exponentially increase
the uptake, impact and scale of policies and interventions.
Despite
their numbers and centrality to the developmental process, migrant lives
throughout India are characterised by increasing informality, unsafe work
conditions, income shocks, and labour market discrimination. The inequalities,
hierarchies and uncertainties driving migration are being reproduced at
destinations—for instance, migrants from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
continue to be employed in the most unsafe and lowest paid occupations in
cities.
It
is essential that the government and the development sector develops policies and
interventions that fully address the needs of migrants and their households.
Understanding migrant lives and decision making is the first step towards this process.
Varun
Aggarwal is the founder and lead at India Migration Now, a migration research,
policy, and advocacy organisation.
This article was originally published on India Development Review and can be viewed here.
