Understanding migration and bridging the gap with policymakers

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Jan. 11 (EMN): During the last decade, indigenous youth from Northeast have migrated in large numbers to metropolitan cities in India to find work and to study. Prolonged armed conflicts, militarisation, stagnant economy, corrupt and ineffective governance structures, and harsh conditions of subsistence agriculture in their home villages or small towns have impelled youths to seek opportunities outside their home.

This was the context put forth in the book “Leaving the land: Indigenous migration and affective labour in India” co-authored by Dolly Kikon and Bengt G Karlsson.

Kikon is a senior lecturer in Anthropology and Development studies programme at the University of Melbourne and Karlsson is a professor of social Anthropology at Stockholm University.

The book illustrates, “the migration is facilitated by new work opportunities in the hospitality sector, mainly as service personnel. English language skills, a general cosmopolitan outlook as well as a non-Indian physical appearance have proven to be key assets in securing work within the new hospitality industry”.

‘Leaving the land’, according to the author, traces the migratory journeys of the youth, engages with their new lives in cities, and throws light on the hospitality world through the eyes of the migrant workers from the Northeast, with the idea of being global.

During an interaction event with the author, she pointed out that migration in the city was ‘thrice more than what we assume and none of the migrants wish to return to their land’. The event was organised by Heritage Publishing House, Morung foundation and The Morung Express on January 10 at the Don Bosco Institute for Development and Leadership in Dimapur.

According to a Press Trust of India 2010-11 study, 66% of Northeast youth migrates to cities for education but only 5% return to their land, Kikon wrote in her report. She asserted, “Today if a Naga identifies as an entrepreneur first and a farmer later, then there is transformation.”

The author, responding to a question on migration, said the book ‘Leaving the land’ was a gift for the community. It raises concern on the migrant’s aspirations to grow in life, which in return has affected their health because of the working hours. She also raised concern on migrant workers who are exploited at their workplace, which are not addressed, adding that it was time policy makers think on the issue.

Kikon, responding to “the push and pull factor of migration”, noted that the pull factor in Nagaland was visible. “We have become a pull factor for other cities as we are cheap labour. We are not producing anything and that has pushed labours from outside to Nagaland. Push and pull has become a vicious cycle,” she asserted.

The author drew attention to the situation of researchers in the state and opined that the government of Nagaland needs to recognise research works. “We need to make research visible,” she opined.

The publisher of The Morung Express, Akum Longchari observed that the book raises issues that are “fundamental and when our needs are urgent, it seems easy to be persuaded and pursued”.

The book, he said, narrows the gap between speculation and fact; and expressed hope that the policy makers will “comprehend and participate so that we have participating policymakers”.