Socio-Spatial inclusion of migrant labourers in Surat city, Gujarat

Abstract

Migration in urban areas is one of the major problems, in fact the root cause of many urban issues but yet gets unnoticed in terms of policy and institutional setup to plan for migrant population. Millions of people migrate to urban areas especially in search of employment. This section of the population keeps floating between their origin and destination states throughout the year, hence providing services and facilitation of schemes and projects become difficult. Migrant labourers in any city are a very vulnerable section of the population and yet contribute significantly to the city’s growth in terms of GDP. This population of migrant labourers have no form of social security, job security, lack of housing and accommodation facilities, poor access to education and health care and, most importantly, poorly protected in case of legal disputes regarding work and wage, poor living standards and inequitable opportunities and wages. They are in more than one ways excluded in terms of social and spatial fabric of a city. The thesis does not specifically deal with the migration problem as a whole but focuses on to the very cause of migration related issues in terms of social and spatial inclusion of migrant labourers in the city. Considering the fact that millions of migrant labourers are present throughout India and almost in every metro city, selecting a study area for migration studies has to have some characteristics. Surat city in the state of Gujarat is well known for its industries and growth, is also the city with the highest percentage of population i.e.58% of the total population Surat city are migrants. The city’s textile industry and construction sector employs the highest percentage of migrant labourers. More than 70% of the total workforce in Surat city id constituted of migrant population. The Ministry of Rural development under a scheme Deen Dayal Upadhaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana conceptualised Migration support centres as an innovative step towards provision of migrant labourers’ related services to the labourers who migrate from rural areas to urban areas in search of job. Migration Support Centres were assigned a set of roles and functions as well as certain key services to be provided which would drastically improve the living conditions of migrant labourers in the city. Migration support centres would provide Socio-Spatial inclusion of migrant labourers in Surat city, Gujarat v acclimatization support, help line service, counselling, and training and resolve legal disputes for the migrant labourers, access to information and targeted services to vulnerable migrant labourers. These centres were aimed to be set up at both at source location of migrant labourers as well as at destination to where they migrate to find employment. Based on the efficiency and working of these Migration support centres in Surat city with respect to the migrant labourers inclusion in the city is assessed in the study to find the level of social inclusion in the city. Based on the indicators and parameters identified through the functions of migration support centres, social inclusivity has been assessed in the study. Through the visit to the site and primary surveys it was found out that there are 2 migration support centres in the Surat city run by two different NGOs. Thus the social inclusivity was assessed as a composite of both these migration support centres’ efficiency with respect to their target population. Migrant labourers have some specific spatial needs and infrastructure requirement in a city and the proximity of these infrastructures to their living places is an important aspect on how spatially inclusive the city is for migrant labourers. Based on the mapping these related infrastructure and the 22 identified locations of migrant labourer concentration in the Surat city, spatial inclusiveness was assessed. Through the process of detailed primary survey and analysis of the migrant labourers in the city, issue identification was done and it was found out those migrant labourers in textile labourers are facing much legal issues in terms of working and living condition along with poor wages and no job security and thus are feeling socially excluded in the city’s fabric even after contributing heavily to the world famous textile industry of Surat. The construction sector labourers on the other hand face more spatial exclusion as they have no form of accommodation arrangement or any formal setup for rental housing for them due to lack of proper identification proofs. Also vulnerability has increased in case of construction labourers as they migrate with families to the city as compared to the textile labourer who mostly migrate as bachelors. Socio-Spatial inclusion of migrant labourers in Surat city, Gujarat vi Considering the various issues of the migration labourers in the city the reasons were analysed and it was found that the most important reason being the neglect of the authorities and stakeholders. The poor implementation of the assigned function by MSCs as well as the negligence by the related departments at the city level to embrace their duties and implement the schemes and projects properly have been the most important finding of the study and has to addressed through the proposal and recommendations in the form of identification and enhancement of implementing authority and enforcement of acts and schemes, whereas the spatial issues have been tackled by the implementation of an innovative step of providing a project for rental housing and hostels for the migrant labourers as was provided in the state of Kerala . In order to better implement the recommendation suitable locations were also identified for the implementation of the project within the city with respect to the working places, health care facilities and other related infrastructure of the migrant labourers. There is a strong need to develop a institutional framework and setup institutions and authorities especially Migration support centres to dedicatedly work for the better inclusion of migrant labourers in all aspect of city’s growth from social , spatial to financial, and political inclusion. Cities like Surat which is one of the fastest growing city in the world in terms of GDP has to clearly look after the needs and serve the functions soon with respect to migrant labourers and their socio-spatial needs because of the various issues like poverty, unemployment and illiteracy induced through the non governance of migration will choke the city’s growth and development and can result in the deterioration of the overall standard of living of the city as well as affect the growth of the nation itself. Social security aspect, migration planning strategies and grievance addressing institution should be made an important part of the inclusive growth for metro cites. Vulnerable migrants need to be protected against exploitation and access to decent living conditions should also be given prime attention to utilize the maximum potential of migrant labourers in the cities and move towards a sustainable urban growth process.