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Circular migration: looking at both sides of the debate

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• General Studies 1: Human & Economic Geography.
• Tags: #GS Paper – 1, #GS Paper – 2, #Indian Diaspora, #Circular Migration.

Why in the news?

Recently a study has been conducted in India regarding Internal Migration, internal migration, which is migration within a particular country or State, has almost always been circular. With rapid industrialization, there has been a huge flow of migrants from rural areas to urban cities.

Circular Migration

• Circular migration is a repetitive form of migration wherein people move to another place (the destination country) and back (country of origin) according to the availability of employment.
• This effectively means that instead of migrating permanently or temporarily (moving for a period of time to complete any contract-based labor) to another location, people move to different locations for a brief period of time when work is available. It is a phenomenon mostly among low-income groups who migrate to avail of seasonally available jobs in another country, city, place etc.
• Circular migration became quite popular in the 60s and 70s with the advent of globalization and development. Increased access to modern forms of transport and communication, social networks and the growth of multinational corporations have aided the advent of circular migration.

Migration can define as circular if it meets the following criteria — 

• A temporary residence in the destination location
• Possibility of multiple entries into the destination country
• Freedom of movement between the country of origin and the country of destination during the period of residence
• A legal right to stay in the destination country
• Protection of migrants’ rights
• A healthy demand for temporary labor in the destination country.
• One is called a circular migrant if you have completed at least ‘two loops’ between two countries.

According to census 2011

• Rural to Urban migration was 20.5 million
• Rural to Rural migration was 53.3 million.
• Urban to Urban migration was 14.3 million
• Urban to rural was 6.2 million
• Apart from these streams of internal migration, India also experiences immigration from and emigration to the neighboring countries.
• Indian Census 2011 has recorded that more than 5 million persons have migrated to India from other. 

Circular migration within India

• In India, internal migration, which is migration within a particular country or State, has almost always been circular. With the advent of jobs in the manufacturing, construction and services sector, there has been a huge flow of migrants from rural areas to urban cities.
• Between 2004–2005 and 2011–2012, the construction sector witnessed one of the largest net increases in employment for all workers, specifically for rural males. This has led to rural populations and their economy dwindling and urban spaces, while booming, witnessing infrastructural collapse as they are unable to properly house incoming populations.
• In India, the uneven development post-liberalization, has led to a lot of inter- State migration, with States like West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar having some of the highest rates of outmigration.
• Initially, while most of the migration was to Delhi, nowadays it has increased to southern States as well. Some reports have even stated how women get more autonomy and decision-making power in the family due to the absence of men who migrate.

Issues with circular migration within India 

• However, in such migration, especially to southern States where the language barrier is a big obstacle, rural circular migrants are often at the mercy of middlemen or brokers. They are made to work in unhygienic and unsafe conditions with little to no protective equipment.
• Additionally, indigenous wage groups and unions resent these migrants as they are seen as taking away their jobs by agreeing to work for lower wages.
• The study also says that this kind of migration is merely subsistence migration — it’s the bare minimum. The migrants are able to barely provide for themselves and their families, with no scope for further asset creation or savings.

Impact

Positive Impact

• Labor Demand and Supply: Migration fills gaps in demand for and supply of labor, and efficiently allocates skilled labor, unskilled labor, and cheap labor.
• Economic Remittances: The economic well-being of migrants provides insurance against risks to households in the areas of origin, increases consumer expenditure and investment in health, education and assets formation.
• Skill Development: Migration enhances the knowledge and skills of migrants through exposure and interaction with the outside world.
• Quality of Life: Migration, enhances chances of employment and economic prosperity which in turn improves quality of life. The migrants also send extra income and remittance back home, thereby positively impacting their native place.
• Social Remittances: Migration helps to improve the social life of migrants, as they learn about new cultures, customs, and languages which helps to improve brotherhood among people and ensures greater equality and tolerance.
• Food and Nutrition Security: According to the 2018 State of Food and Agriculture report by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), outmigration often leads to improved food and nutrition security for migrants.
• Demographic Advantage: As a result of outmigration, the population density of the place of origin is reduced and the birth rate decreases.
• Climate Change Adaptive Mechanism: Migration has also emerged as a possible adaptive mechanism in the context of climate change and the occurrence of extreme weather events like floods, droughts, and cyclones. 

Negative Impact

• Demographic Profile: Emigration in large numbers can alter demographic profiles of communities, as most of the young men move out, leaving only the women and elderly to work on the land.
• Political Exclusion: Migrant workers are deprived of many opportunities to exercise their political rights like the right to vote.
• Population Explosion and the Influx of workers in the place of destination increases competition for the job, houses, school facilities etc and a large population puts too much pressure on natural resources, amenities, and services.
• Illiterate and Under-skilled Migrants are not only unfit for most jobs, because of a lack of basic knowledge and life skills but are also prone to the victimization of exploitation, trafficking, psychological abuse, and gender-based violence in the case of female migrants.
• Increased Slum: Mass Migration results into an increase in slum areas, compromising quality of infrastructure and life at the destination, which further translates into many other problems such as unhygienic conditions, crime, pollution, etc.
• Brain Drain: Source state suffers from the loss of human capital. 

Challenges

• Inclusion and Integration of Migrants: Internal migration is not viewed positively in India and policies are often aimed at reducing internal migration, as a result, there is a lack of integration of migration with the process of development.
• Psychological and Emotional Stress: Any person migrating to a new country faces multiple challenges, from cultural adaptation and language barriers to homesickness and loneliness.
• Employment challenges: Foreign labor migrants often face unacceptable treatment from their employers. For instance, some labor migrants are paid below their contract wage and may be forced to work long hours and denied regular time off. Systems like reservation of jobs in many states and countries for the locals (visa barriers in US, Saudi Arabia’s Nitaqat law) pose as the main hurdle.
• Contract Wage System: The problems faced by migrants in destination countries range from contract violation, non-payment of salary, long working hours, and poor working conditions.
• Health Hazards: The poor and harsh living conditions coupled with difficult and risky working conditions, lack of information, and lack of medical health support also leads to several health problems of the migrants.
• Lack of Information: In spite of the challenges and problems faced by the migrants in the destination countries, low tendency to seek assistance from the diplomatic missions in the destination countries were also observed due to lack of knowledge, information about the role of diplomatic missions, trust and effectiveness to enhance access to justice.
• For internal migrants also there is the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act (1979), enacted to prevent migrant workers from being exploited, but it is rarely invoked and the penalty is minimal.
• Exclusion from social benefits: The need to provide proof of address, ration cards, Voter IDs and Aadhaar cards, which is difficult due to the fluidity of their lives, deprive them from accessing welfare schemes and policies. 

Conclusion

• It is high time that States start actively formulating policy to understand the extent of circular migration. While some states like Kerala have announced health insurance schemes for migrant workers (Awaz Health scheme), there needs to be more effort to ensure migrants rights. The precarity of workers needs to be addressed and there should be more efforts to integrate them in the destination States.

Source: The Hindu

Mains Question

What is Internal Migration? Discuss the challenges in addressing internal labor migration issues in India? What are the government policies taken to protect internal migrants?