Sukhvasin : the migrant woman of Chhattisgarh 8774400141

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GRAD HD 6190 . C45 S461 1995

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All 0208950 Code l-E-%903083 15 UNIVERSITY OF MICHI6AH

SUKHVASIN The Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh

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Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

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First Published in 1995 Copyright © Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 1995

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No part of this book may be reproduced without proper authorization by the publisher. ISBN 87-7440-014-1

Published by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (India office) D-9, South Extension, Part-II, New Delhi - 1 1 0 049. Designed, Typeset and Printed by New Concept Information Systems Pvt. Ltd., H14/16, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi-1 1 0 017.

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Contents Acknowledgement

vii

Foreword

ix

Glossary

xi

Introduction

3

The Problem

3

Why Women

4

Data Base and Methodology

4

The Setting: Chhattisgarh

7

General Background

7

History of the Region

8

History of Migration

9

Natural Resources and Industrial Development

10

Major Issues Affecting the Rural Poor

13

The Ecological Background to Migration

19

The Ecological Crisis: Deforestation, Decrease in Rainfall and Crop Failures

19

Migration Considered as a Response to the Ecological Crisis and, Alternatively, as an Independant Variable

21

The Process of Migration in the Past

23

The Beginnings in Jute and Tea

24

Recruitment

25

Travel Conditions

27

Working Conditions at Destination

28

Adjustment and Backward Linkages

30

The Present Process of Migration

35

The Volume and Mechanics of the Present Day Migration

35

Recruitment

36

Travel

37

Social Conditions

39

Work and Wages

40

Contract Labour and Bonded Labour

42

Women's Experience of Migration

45

Women's Economic Role

45

Porterage in the Wholesale Market of Nagpur

45

Women Carpet Weavers from Surguja

47-

Working Conditions, Technology used, and Wage Differentials

48

Economic, Social and Health Issues of Migrant Women

50

Lai Kuan, Delhi

50

Cultural Pressures

55

Social Security for Migrant Women

56

Migrant Workers Need Social Security

56

Specific Social Security Demands of Migrant Workers

58

Migrant Women as Victims and as Subjects

60

iv

Conclusions Migrant Workers in Relation to the Total Political Economy

61

Migrant Women's Integration into the System

61

Changes in the System as a Reflection of Larger Changes in the Political Economy

62

Migration Streams as a Continuum

63

Policy Issues, Action Alternatives, and Organizational Structures

63

Bibliography

v

61

67

Acknowledgements This study focuses its attention on seasonal outmigrating workers, especially the women, from the Chhattisgarh region of Eastern Madhya Pradesh. This book has taken a long time in conceptualizing and writing, and it owes a great deal to many people. In largest measure my thanks are due to the many migrant women who have allowed me to peep into their lives and have shared with me their experiences and strengths, their joys and sorrows, the excitement and the trauma of their lives. Many people have helped me with their time and their insights. To all of them, and to the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, India office, I offer my sincere thanks.

Foreword Migration within and between countries is a widespread phenomena. As a consequence of widening disparities in economic opportunities and rising poverty, especially in rural areas, migration is often a response to socio-economic stress. It is usually necessitated by need rather than choice. In India, villages in all parts of the country can be found partially abandoned during the lean agricultural seasons. Lack of income and employment, land shortage and environmental degradation, droughts, etc. have forced an increasing number of people to give up their livelihoods — either permanently or temporarily — in search of better living conditions. While earlier, migration was higher among men, there is nowadays a significant rise in the proportion of women among migrants. Finding employment only in the unorganised sector, migrants, particularly women, endure extreme physical and social insecurity and working conditions are highly exploitative. However, in many countries seasonal migration has become an essential part of the national economy, with industries such as construction and brick-making depending heavily on migrant labour. This study takes a historical view of migration in a specific region of India viz., Chhattisgarh in Madhya Pradesh. It is an indepth analysis of changes — both of working and living conditions of migrant workers — that have occurred over time. It examines the harsh conditions caused by migration, as for instance the absence of education and health facilities for migrant workers and their families. The focus of the research is on women's experience of migration, pointing out the specific problems faced by female migrants, such as physical hardships, sexual vulnerability and lack of social security. The study does not limit itself to a detailed analysis of seasonal migration in Chhattisgarh, but discusses alternatives

of .action as means of breaking out of the vicious cycle of poverty and exploitation. Apart from educational and awareness-oriented strategies, the need for organisational structures as a support for migrants is highlighted. Though situated in the specific context of Chhattisgarh, the issues raised and experiences analysed here are possibly also valid for other places in which migration is determining peoples' lives. The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is a private, non profit, public interest institution committed to the ideas and values of social democracy and the labor movement. Besides undertaking educational work, research and policy oriented advisory services in Germany, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung endeavours to contribute to the strengthening of pluralistic democratic structures and socio-economic development in developing countries and fosters international understanding. In close cooperation with partner organisations FES carries out comprehensive programmes in areas such as industrial relations, civil society, empowerment of women, communication and media, regional cooperation and environmental issues. In order to facilitate the discussion on crucial issues related to the development process in India the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung publishes a number of contributions, of which this publication is a part. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

Luise Riirup Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung New Delhi June 1995

x

Glossary Chhattisgarh

Group of Seven Districts in Eastern Madhya Pradesh

Sukhvasi/Sukhvasin

Male and Female Migrant Worker

Dakshin Kosala

Southern Territory of the Kingdom of Kosala

Raj Guru

Priest in the Royal Household

Zamindari and Malguzari Systems

Systems of Land Tenure based on Revenue Collection by a Class of Land Owners Introduced into India by the British

Benami

In False Name

Kamia/Kamelin

Male and Female Agricultural Bonded Labaour

Malik

Master

Satnam

Monotheistic Religion that Developed in Protest against the Caste System

Satnami

Follower of Satnam

Savama

High Caste

Guru Gaddi

Seat of the high Priest

Surya Vanshi

Descended from the Sun (euphemism)

Bahujan Samaj Party

A National level Political Party

Tonhi

Witch

Arkatti

Recruitment Agent xi

Coolie

Male Unskilled Worker

Khet

Fields

Deuta

Father (Form of Respectful Address for Elders)

Munshi

Record Keeper

Sardar/Jamadar

Contractors' Agent

Pardesh

Foreign Parts

Khuraki

Subsistance Allowance

Ghamela

Large Bowl for Carrying Headload

Jarhi Booti

Herbal Medicine based on Roots and Barks

Ramgarh Pahar

Ramgarh Hill Range (in Surguja, M.P.)

Jhuggi

Temporary hut

.

1

Setting off to Work

1 Introduction The Problem his is an attempt to study the problems set off by the chronic outmigration in search of livelihood of poor people from the area known as Chhattisgarh in eastern Madhya Pradesh. In particular it is an attempt to draw the focus on the situation and problems of women migrants. Migrant people are locally referred to as Sukhvasis, or 'Happy People', an ironical reference to their propertyless status, who, having nothing to protect, are happy. In local derivation, the woman migrant would be Sukhvasin - hence the title of this study.

T

The seven easternmost districts of Madhya Pradesh are collectively known as Chhattisgarh. Today there is a well organized system of large-scale migration of poor people from this region to the more developed parts of northern India for working there in the 'unorganized' sector labour markets. Some of this migration is seasonal (annual) and some periodic (i.e. for a period of several years at a stretch). Men, women, children, entire families sometimes, participate in this process, and the recruitment is made through a complex chain of agents operating at different levels from the national to the village level. Outmigration from Chhattisgarh has an old history, and it appears that in earlier phases the pattern was for the migration to be of a more permanent nature. The present study tries to trace the beginnings of this phenomenon, to study its present day manifestations, to look for possible causal linkages in structural and ecological factors, and to relate the phenomenon of widespread outmigration to the 3

Introduction dominant development paradigms of the past and the present.

Why Women? We have said earlier that we have tried to draw special attention to the situation of women migrants. This is done for several reasons, the most important of which are as follows: • Migrant women form a large proportion of the total number of workers who migrate, yet their specific needs, concerns, and resources are largely neglected. • Migrant women are often important, and sometimes the only providers for their families, and need to be given recognition in their own right as well as the opportunity to gain financial independence. •

Migrant women offer vital resources contributing to the stability of the migrant community in general and to the physical and social nurturing of the next generation of an important segment of the working people of India.

•

Migrant women are prone to sexual violence and intimidation before, during, and after their actual migration.

•

Within their own communities, and outside, migrant women suffer different kinds of oppression based on their gender identity.

•

Migrant women are rarely provided equal opportunities to work and wages, and are systematically denied equal access to food, health, education and training opportunities.

Data Base and Methodology The main source of data on population, including population migration in India is the decennial Census Series which is available from the late nineteenth century onwards. However, migration data is collected and tabulated according to place of birth, which means that, in any given geographical 4

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh area, (at the lowest level of the district) it is possible to get statistics segregated by sex for persons bom outside the district. The most recent census has attempted to refine the data system by tabulating this data by length of stay at place of enumeration. However, computation of the converse phenomenon, i.e. statistics on the number of persons bom in a. district, who are enumerated beyond the borders of thedistrict are not yet available. We have tried to use census data on migration through indirect calculation to estimate the number of persons bom in • Chhattisgarh districts who are enumerated elsewhere in the state. This gives us a small idea of the extent of the volume of migration, and is only an indicator of the magnitude of the problem. To gain an understanding of the extent and nature of migration out of Chhattisgarh in the past, we have used secondary data like the Famine Reports and Annual Administration Reports o f the Central Provinces and Berar which were published by the British administration. For special sectors, relevant sectoral documents like the Reports of the Indian Tea Association have been used. Among other secondary documents consulted, we can mention the District Statistical Handbooks and Gazetters of the Chhattisgarh districts where they have been available. However, the major data source of this work is primary data collected from the field. Once the study design was worked out, extensive interviews were conducted with migrant workers, men as well as women; district administrators and labour department officials; social activists; recruitment agents, employers and others. It is this data that forms the backbone of this study. The contents page provides an indication of the way we have categorized the data. In the core section, viz chapters 3, 4, and 5, the analytical sections are illustrated with case studies that highlight the issues we are discussing.

5

2 The Setting: Chattisgarh General Background hhattisgarh is the name given collectively to the seven easternmost districts of Madhya Pradesh, viz., Rajnandgaon, Durg, Raipur, Bastar, Bilaspur, Raigarh and Surguja. Culturally, and linguistically, the region forms a fairly homogenous whole, although outlying areas in Bastar, Surguja and Raigarh display heterogenous characteristics. Over large parts of the region, 'Chhattisgarhi' is the common spoken language. In terms of physical terrain, the region comprises of a central plain in the valleys of the rivers Mahanadi and Shivnath, known as the rice bowl of Madhya Pradesh (so named as it traditionally grew some of the best rice in the state), bounded by the Satpura and Maikal ranges to the west, north and east, and the age old Gondwana plateau to the south.

C

Before proceeding further, certain basic demographic characteristics of the region may be worth keeping in mind. The 1991 census of population gives us the following demographic profile: Table 2.1: Demographic Features of Chhattisgarh District

Area (1000km) Surguja 22.3 Bilaspur 19.9 12.9 Raigarh Rajnandgaon 11.1 8.9 Durg 21.3 Raipur 39.1 Bastar

Population 20,82930 37,96553 17,24420 14,39524 23,98497 39,02609 22,70472

Sex ratio Literacy rate (in percent) 964 24.00 993 28.06 1006 34.00 1020 36.00 47.00 980 1007 39.14 20.00 1003 7

The Setting: Chhattisgarh The population is, on the whole, highly tribalized. The proportion of Scheduled Tribes and Castes to total population in these districts is as follows: Table 2.2: Scheduled Caste/Tribe Population in Chhattisgarh. Districts Surguja Bilaspur Raigarh Rajnandgaon Durg Raipur Bastar

S.T (per cent) 54.8 23.4 48.5 25.4 12.6 18.6 67.8

S.C (per cent) —

17.3 10.7 9.4 11.8 13.8 —

History of the Region There is no unanimity among scholars about the origins of the name Chhattisgarh. One common explanation is that the name is derived from 36 garhs or forts ruled by chieftains in the outlying hills surrounding the Mahanadi-Shivnath plain. A few of these garhs do remain upto the present day. We know very little about the early history of the region, although the ruins of ancient Buddhist temples at Sirpur on the Mahanadi, within the borders of the present district of Raipur, at Bhongapal in Bastar, and at Jogimara in Surguja indicate a flourishing Buddhist settlement in the region around 600 A.D. In Puranic literature the area of present Chhattisgarh is referred to as Dakshin Kosala, and like many other parts of central India, certain historical sites exist which are identified with the mythology of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. In historic times, the valley areas were controlled by the kingdom of Dakshin Kosala with its capital at Ratanpur near Bilaspur, and semi-independent chiefs ruled in Bastar, Surguja, Jashpur (Raigarh), Rajnandgaon, and a few other 8

Sukhvasin the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh -

centres. These territorial units apparently co-existed in relative harmony with each other, for the kingdom at Ratanpur was one without an army, and fell like a pack of cards to the armies of the Maratha king of Nagpur when he was on his way to invade Bengal in the mid-eighteenth century. Under Maratha rule, the old kingdom was divided into two Subas with centres at Ratanpur and Raipur respectively, while the many feudatory states continued to exist in relative independence. Although few written accounts of the period exist, Maratha rule is reputed to have been rapacious in the matter of tax collection and lasted less than a century. With the fall of the Bhonsle kingdom to the British, the area came under British domination. With the formal rule of the crown being established in 1857, the area became part of the British Indian 'Central Provinces and Berar'. Several feudatory states continued to exist on the fringes of the area, under overall British suzerainty. The original inhabitants of the area were probably the many sub-sects of the Gond, Kamar, and Halba tribes in the south towards Bastar, and the Oraon, and other tribes in the north and north east. The penetration of the middle level Hindu peasant castes appears to have been a gradual process. It is known for certain that the region did not have an indigenous Brahman population, for the kingdom of Ratanpur, as well as the rulers of Bastar, Kawardha and Rajnandgaon, are known to have imported Brahman Rajgurus (royal priests) from/Mithila, in present Bihar. The small Chhattisgarhi muslim population is supposed to have descended from soldiers in the Bhonsle armies who stayed on in the region. History of Migration It is apparent that over the years there has been a gradual process of inmigration into the region. This process has been accelerated by the kind of industrial development that the region has undergone in recent years, as we shall see below. It 9

The Setting: Chhattisgarh is more difficult to be exact about when outmigration as a recognizeable phenomenon began. We can trace it in modem times to the major famine years of 1899,1900, 1901 and 1902. Since this was also the period when the British administration was recruiting workers for the tea estates of Assam, it was natural that the Tea Districts Labour Association (TDLA) should open a branch at Bilaspur among other places in the Central Provinces and Berar, and that the administrative records of the period should make reference to the large recruitment from this particular depot. One should however note that the administrative records refer to areas under direct British rule only, and that we do not know what the conditions were like in the area covered by the feudatory states. In this connection an interesting reference in the Annual Administration Report for 1911 is to be recalled which comments that drought was extremely severe and the distress great in Bilaspur, while the conditions were, "much better in the adjoining feudatory states of Korea and Chang Bakhar". We can only speculate that the famine conditions and rural distress may have been due, at least in part, to the agrarian disturbances caused by systemic changes under Maratha and British rule. Chhattisgarh continued to be a major source of recruitment for tea, jute and coal mining industries of eastern India until almost the end of the forties. (Sources: Mishra, 1980; and CP & Berar Administrative Reports 1899-1926.) Natural Resources: Development

Forests, Minerals and Industrial

Chhattisgarh presents a contrast in richness and poverty; great richness of natural resources, and great impoverishment of its rural masses. Of Madhya Pradesh's total forest area of 155414.39 sq. km, 44537.41 sq. km or 28.65 per cent lies within the borders of Chhattisgarh. Some of the best teak and timber from Madhya Pradesh is produced within this area. The area is also rich in mineral resources. In 1989-90, 45.56 per cent of the total mineral revenues (mines royalties) of the state of Madhya Pradesh was contributed by the Chhattisgarh districts. Based on these resources, the region has seen, in the 10

Sukhvasiti the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh -

post-independence years, rapid heavy industrialization, and is earmarked for further industrial growth. A district-wise account of the major mineral resources, present and prospective industrial development is given below: Table 2.3: Mineral Resources and Industrial Development in Chhattisgarh. Major Minerals

Present Industrial ' Undertakings

Prospective Industrial development

Three major and other cement plants

Two major cement plants

Raipur Limestone

Exploitation by MNC concern

Alexandrite Durg Iron Ore

Bhilai Steel Plant Steel foundry and engineering

Limestone

Cement Plant

Dolomite

Iron & Steel Industry -do-

Quartzite

expansion of sectors -do-

Rajnandgaon Fireclay

Refractories

Uranium

GOI, Dept of Atomic Energy unexploited -do-

Fluorite Soap stone

expansion

11

The Setting: Chhattisgarh

Major Minerals

Present Industrial Undertakings

Limestone

-do-

Prospective Industrial development

Bilaspur Bauxite

BALCO Bharat Aluminium Company

Coal

South Eastern Coal Fields, NTPC unit, Korba

Dolomite

BSP and private feeder units

-

Limestone

large cement plants

-

Raigarh Coal Bauxite Limestone Radioactive metal

Not yet adequately exploited or estimated -do-do-do-

Surguja Bauxite

BALCO

Coal SECL Graphite Radioactive metal Dept.of Atomic Energy, GOI. Bastar Iron ore

12

Exported to Japan and used in the Vishakhapatnam Steel Plant.

Steel Plant in private sector

Sukhvasin the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh -

Major Minerals

Present Industrial Undertakings

Tin Bauxite Corundum

MP State Mining Corpn. -do-do-

Bauxite Quartz

Prospective Industrial development

-do—

Dolomite Limestone

—

Proposed plant at Raoghat.

(Source for all above information: Department of Geology and Minerals, Madhya Pradesh) Despite this impressive record in mineral and industrial development, the people of Chhattisgarh continue to be among the poorest in India, and have reaped little of the so-called gains of development. The reasons for this lie precisely in the lopsided growth that has taken place, placing greater premium on statistics of GDP rather than on social development indicators. Major Issues Affecting the Rural Poor The major issues affecting the rural and urban poor in the region, as we understand, are the following: 1.

A highly skewed landholding structure in the rural areas, a hangover from the zamindari and malguzari systems of landholding that prevailed over large parts of Chhattisgarh until independence. In some areas, eg. the eastern most parts of Raipur district, adjoining Orissa, single families control upto 700 acres in some villages, while the large majority of people in the villages have marginal holdings or are totally landless. This observation is difficult to quantify, since primary data on landholdings is not easily available. It is also 13

The Setting: Chhattisgarh common for large landholders to hold land in benami holding. However, the records of the Commissioner of Land revenue, as compiled by the Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (The Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur) reveals the following picture. Table 2.4: Landholding Pattern in the Chhattisgarh Region (1)

District

Raipur Durg Rajnan­ dgaon Bilaspur Surguja Raigarh Bastar

(2)

(3)

(4)

Total No. of 3 as holdings small & %of marginal 2 holdings (< 4 Acr.) 526654 275693 202834

377147 189600 116048

575381 282283 230603 257602

443228 164289 135740 115927

(5)

Total Area

71.61 68.77 57.21

1035815 604106 563063

77.0315 8.20 58.86 45.00

898351 707675 619434 971857

(6)

(7)

Area 6 as holding % of small & 5 marginal farmers 278419 26.88 142948 23.66 95308 16.93 285243 138025 109202 100711

31.75 19.50 17.63 10.36

(Source: 1GKVV, 1987) Note: On a micro scale, surveys done by NGOs in their own working areas give us an inkling of the extent of the problem. For eg., a survey done in the Basna, Pithora and Saraipalli blocks indicates, that in a sample of 235 villages, 9 per cent of families own 70 per cent of the entire cultivable land. (Source: Sail, 1987.)

2.

14

Most of the agricultural land in the rural areas is single crop monsoon-fed land. The percentage of area under irrigation is very small. Only 12 per cent of the cultivated area is irrigated. In 1990-91, within the area, Raipur district (33%) and Durg (31%) had a relatively higher cultivated area under irrigation, whereas Bastar and Surguja had only 1 per cent and 3 per cent

Sukhvasiti - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh of their cultivated areas under irrigation respectively. The percentage of the total irrigated area under cultivation (all sources) in the other districts is as follows: Bilaspur: 26.81 per cent, Raigarh: 6.51 per cent, and Rajnandgaon: 13 per cent. Rapid industrial growth has led to the diversion of much of the irrigation water for industry, the most notable examples being the diversion of the Tandula and Kharkhara reservoir resources of Durg district to the Bhilai Steel Plant. 3.

In certain areas, most notably parts of Raipur and Raigarh districts, a form of agricultural bonded labour existed until very recently in the form of the kamia system. The kamia system is an institution peculiar to Chhattisgarh, in which farm servants are tied to landholders in a system of debt bondage that exists for years and even generations, because debt interests are calculated at a compound rate so high that it is impossible for a kamia to pay off the principal amount and interest in his lifetime at prevailing wage rates. Although the kamia strictly defined is generally, a male farm servant to provide year long service (period extendable until the debt is cleared), all members of the kamia's family are liable, in practice to provide service in the home and lands of the malik (master) when called upon to do so. It is customary for the wife of the kamia (Kamelin) to work in the house of the malik, and for his children to graze the malik's cattle. For this extra payment is seldom given, but some coarse food grain (lakhri or kutki) may be served once a day. The kamia family, thus finds it impossible to redeem its debt because all able bodied hands are tied up in the service of one malik. Although under decline now, as a result of the increasing government and NGO pressure to eliminate the bonded labour system, it continues to exist and thrive even today.

15

The Setting: Chhattisgarh 4.

16

Large proportions of people, especially the marginal or landless in rural areas, belong to the scheduled castes. Caste oppression has historically been very severe in Chhattisgarh, and in the nineteenth century a caste based social protest movement, the Satnami movement gained ground in the region. Guru Ghasidas, the founder of the Satnam movement converted, in the mid nineteenth century, almost the entire Scheduled Caste population of the area to a new monotheistic religion to protest against caste oppression and to assert the basic dignity of the oppressed. In a bid to gain social position, the Satnam panth laid down strict rules for the personal lives of the followers, stressing simplicity, monogamy, and high ethical values. The Satnamis became a strong organized force over large parts of Bilaspur district in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The fact in Chhattisgarh as elsewhere was that the 'low caste' people were marginalized in terms of control of resources, so that one of the first things that happened was that the Satnamis made a bid for not only social but also economic power. Over much of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, large parts of Bilaspur district reeled under Satnami-Savama agrarian clashes. Subsequently, internal dissentions in the community over succession to the 'guru gaddi' (traditional hereditary community leadership) decimated the strength of the movement, although in the 1950s new efforts were made to regain its strengths. Other scheduled caste communities like Suryavanshis in Bilaspur got organized during the twentieth century, and the political leadership of the dalits of Chhattisgarh became a major issue, with the Republican Party, the Congress and others vying for this leadership. Caste tensions continue to this day in the Mahanadi valley, and is responsible very recently, for the inroads made into politics by the Bahujan Samaj Party in large parts of Bilaspur.

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh 5.

Communications, and the coverage of the Public Distribution System, of health and educational services continues to be extremely poor especially in the outlying areas. As a result of this , and of poor water supply and living conditions, parts of Bastar are known to suffer every year from epidemics of gastro-enteritis and bloody dysentry that claim many lives each year.

6.

Land alienation and displacement in the wake of development projects, with little or no compensation or resettlement, has been a major problem in the area. The people displaced during the building of the Madamsilli and Rudri dams on the Mahanadi were given almost nothing and even today, 50 years later, are fighting for their rights to settle on forest land. Those displaced in the building of the Bhilai Steel Plant were given a pittance.

7.

Most of the employment generated in the course of the industrialization of the region in the technical or supervisory jobs have gone to immigrants to Chhattisgarh from the more developed parts of India. Local people, especially the poor and disadvantaged in terms of education and other resources, have got only the most menial of jobs, if any. Many of the latter are also, in the unorganized or contractual establishments in large undertakings. The conditions of employment in these undertakings are extremely exploitative, and flout all legal norms. The Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) document Tall Chimneys, Dark Shadows (1991) describes how basic rights of workers to minimum wages, maternity benefits, leave, working hours etc. are flouted with impunity in many of these establishments.

8.

The cultural dimensions of this paradigm of development in Chhattisgarh are equally serious. On the one hand, we have the growing criminalization of life in industrial towns like Bhilai and Korba. The

The Setting: Chhattisgarh number of registered crimes in 1989, just to give an example, was 8484 in Raipur, 8895 in Durg, and 10080 in Bilaspur districts. These are the more industrially developed districts. In contrast, the corresponding figures are 2870 in Rajnandgaon, 2183 in Raigarh, 3835 in Surguja, and 3538 in Bastar districts. (Source: Police Department, Govt, of M.P.). On the other hand we have the destruction, in the span of a single generation, of the cultural mores and socialization patterns of the people. The impact of this culture shock are most starkly visible in the tribal areas like Bastar. 9.

The position of women in Chhattisgarh society deserves special attention. Unlike women in other parts of India, women here do not use purdah and take full and equal part in public production. This is the case in agriculture, minor forestry, and the unorganized sectors/contractual establishments in industries. In the more sophisticated industries however, women have not found a place because of so-called skill disabilities. Wage discriminations however, do exist in agriculture and unorganized industry. Although women here can enter into or leave marital relations with relative freedom, they do suffer from discrimination in their personal lives according to traditional legal systems. For example, child custody on mother's remarriage passes to the father and the mother is assumed to have no rights over the children. In rural areas, also, there is a strong prevailing faith in magic and witchcraft, and like in the Jharkhand area, women are supposed to possess supernatural powers which they use to harm others. An elaborate system of identification and persecution of witches who are called Tonhis, exists. In a secular perspective, it is possible to recognize all of these as ways of establishing social control over women. NGO work in

18

Sukhvasin the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh -

Chhattisgarh has thus, found it relatively easy to mobilize women for public programmes, but breaking the particular nuances of women's cultural oppression in this region has been an uphill task. 10. In Chhattisgarh, it is not strictly possible to distinguish the problems of rural and urban poverty. This is partly because major urbanization is a relatively new phenomenon. In many places in the plains of Chhattisgarh, rural and urban settlements form a continuum. With the exception of the newly settled skilled workers, traders and bureaucracy, many industrial workers and unorganised workers in industry or services in the urban areas have rural roots that are still viable. Similarly many marginal households in rural areas have a few of their family members working as wage labourers in urban areas.

The Ecological background to Migration The above section identifies some of the reasons why a poor, assetless, depressed caste, 'unskilled'worker, male or female, may be forced to seek temporary work outside the region. A major reason for outmigration must however be sought in the ecological crisis that has engulfed the region in the wake of the developmental paradigm chosen. The Ecological Crisis: Deforestation, Degradation and Crop Failure Industrial development and deforestation in the Mahanadi valley have led to general environmental degradation, and in the last few decades, the area has been subjected to repeated droughts and near famine conditions, causing great hardship to its landless and marginal rural population. The records of the Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur show that between 1954 and 1987, annual rainfall in the region has gone down from 65 to 52 days, and rainfall levels have fallen from 1311.0 mm to 1056.6 mm.

19

The Setting: Chhattisgarh Apart from decline in absolute levels, the rainfall in the area also displays fluctuation in intensity, as the following data, tabulated on the basis of data available at the Metereological Survey records at IG K W reveals. Table 2.5: Annual Average Rainfall at Raipur Year

Rainfall(mm)

1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1987

1492.30 1264.10 1362.80 1356.40 1881.50 1104.90 0826.70 1379.30 1310.00 1824.40 0907.00

Decline in rainfall can also be noted in the survey published in Deshbandhu for 19.6.91, on the basis of a survey carried out at other metereological stations in the region. This can be seen from the Table below. Table 2.6: Decline in Decadal Rainfall in different blocks of Raipur district (Annual, in mm.) Block

1950-59

1960-69

1970-79

Dhamtari Baloda Bazar Bhatapara Mahasamund Pithora Gariaband

1311.0 1205.0 1274.4 1495.8 1400.0 1309.0

1181.9 1101.9 1084.6 , 1178.8 1289.2 1133.9

1137.8 1070.6 985.4 1020.5 1161.9 1065.6

(Source: Deshbandhu, Raipur)

20

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh After 1981-82, there have been repeated crop failures in the area, every year except 1986-87, and the current year for which statistics are yet to be compiled.In 1981-82, Shri Keyoor Bhooshan, MP, stated in parliament that out of a total of 4009 villages in the plains of Raipur and Bilaspur district, 2900 were drought affected, and over 20 lakh people were affected by the drought. (Source: Lok Sabha records quoted by Deshbandhu, Raipur). A survey in Bilaspur in 1989 revealed that piped or deep tube well water was available in only 50 per cent of all the villages in the district, and that out of 199 drought affected villages surveyed, relief works did not exist at all in 106. The same survey revealed that government's distribution of interim relief for the drought affected was inadequate. In 1989, cases dating from 1971 had still not been settled. (Source: Deshbandhu 8.11.89) Migration Considered as a Response to the Ecological Crisis and as an Independent Variable It can quite convincingly be argued that it is as a response to this kind of insecurity in agriculture, that the people of the region, particularly in certain pockets of Bilaspur and Raipur, have adopted a strategy of large scale seasonal outmigration to the brick kilns and construction sites of north India. As a matter of fact, as we shall demonstrate in the subsequent chapter, migration out of Chhattisgarh did begin as a reaction and a response to the series of droughts and famines that affected public life in Chhattisgarh at the turn of the last century. However, today the equation is no longer as simple. Out-migration is today a well established link in the political economy of this underdeveloped region. As an extension of this argument, it is possible to view the use of migrant contractual workers as an essential part of the total political economy of India's development. In Chhattisgarh, where chronic migration out of the region is a burning (if sometimes latent) political issue, there are facile attempts among the intelligentsia to link each individual case of migration to an 21

The Setting: Chhattisgarh ecological variable, and when this fails, to bemoan that "these people are now habitual migrants. Even if all facilities exist in the home environment to subsist there, they will still insist on travelling out". Well meaning public servants are liable to reel out a list of developmental measures and irrigation schemes that have been sanctioned in the migration prone areas, and which they believe once complete, will stop the process of migration from the area once and for all. In the later chapters we will argue that migration out of the area, and the exploitation of migrant workers will continue in the foreseeable future, and that remedial measures in the long and the short run will require political and economic foresight.

22

The Process of Migration in the Past he history of migration from Chhattisgarh is linked with the history of droughts and famines in the area towards the closing years of the nineteenth century, and with the completion of the Bengal Nagpur Railway main line between Asansol and Bilaspur in 1891 which facilitated mobility. The years between 1877 and 1897 were all years of moderate to severe famines when birth rates fell and mortality rates spiralled due, in addition to everything else, to an outbreak of cholera.

T

The 1901 census reported that in Raipur district, the population fell by 144,000 persons or 9 per cent during the previous decade. The registered increase of deaths over births was 33,000, and the census showed a decline of population by 111,000 over this number. The district gazetteer of 1909 refers also to the migration of over 10,000 people to Assam. (Source: Nelson, 1909). In Bilaspur, the situation was even worse, with the district showing a decrease of 151,168 persons or 13 per cent in the intercensal decade. Emigration to Assam is estimated to have been around 33,000. (Source: Nelson, 1910). The Annual Administrative Reports for the Central Provinces and Berar between 1896 and 1908 speak of six famine years of moderate severity, and two of extreme severity during the period. During these years, the price of rice, the staple food of the people of Chhattisgarh, more than doubled. In seers per rupee, the quantum available declined from an average of 17 to eight. The classes particularly affected are said to be the weavers, who produced in advance

23

The Process of Migration in the Past in anticipation of being paid in grain at the harvest, and the village servants. All records consulted indicate that systematic and large-scale outmigration from the region began at about this time for the conditions mentioned above. We shall try to piece together the various strands of the story, using the migration to Tea (Assam) and Jute (Bengal) industries to illustrate our point. The migration to the coalfields of Raniganj Jharia followed a similar pattern.

The Beginnings in Jute and Tea One of the first sectors to attract migrant labour on a large scale was Tea. Assam and Dooars in North Bengal were the main 'labour markets', and workers were taken there in large numbers from Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) and Chhotanagpur. The Tea industry was introduced into the Assam area by the British from China, and in the early part of the nineteenth century, labour and tea makers were brought from China. The Assam Company made an attempt in 1841 to recruit labour from Chhotanagpur, but was unsuccessful as the first batch of emigrating workers suffered a severe depletion in numbers owing to cholera. (Source: ABITA, 1989.) With the rapid growth of the Tea industry, however, the demand for labour become an urgent one. The formation of a Tea District Labour Supply Association (TDLA) with its headquarters in Calcutta is first noted in 1892. In time, once the TDLA had set in motion a well oiled recruitment scheme with a network of activities spreading from Nasik to Tinsukia, and Bastar to Vizag, the TDLA became the main labour suppliers not only to Tea but also to Bengal's expanding Jute industry, and other industrial undertakings coming up on the banks of the Hoogly river near Calcutta. The Jute industry in the Calcutta region gained prominence after 1850-51, on the basis of raw jute grown in the eastern part of Bengal. Companies like Jardine Henderson, Dunlop, Thomas Duff, and Fort Glouscester who were responsible for laying the commercial foundations of the 24

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh British empire opened mills along the river bank, to ensure regular supply of jute brought by waterways upto the Hoogly estuary. TTie industry tried to work with local labour, but finding them too closely entrenched in the exigencies of the agricultural calendar, opted to go in for migrant workers after 1880. (Source: Das, 1988).

Recruitment The TDLA set up its recruiting depots at many places in the Central Provinces and Berar including Jubbulpore (Jabalpur) and Bilaspur. For a short time a depot functioned at Raipur too. The Chhattisgarh workers were all made to sign up at the Bilaspur depot, and thus the acronym 'Bilaspuria' came into common usage in describing their origins. The description is still loosely used for migrant labour from Chhattisgarh by many people in north India, and many migrant workers' descendants in Assam refer to their place of origin loosely as 'Bilaspur'. To complement the network of depots, TDLA spread its branches wide in the rural areas of Chhatisgarh and Chhotanagpur and operated through a large team of 'arkattis' (Telugu word meaning agents). It was this army of arkattis who actually cajoled, threatened and sold dreams to the people of the drought and hunger affected villages, and brought them to the depots for recruitment. Since the arkattis were paid a commission for the number of workers they brought in, the system was open to abuse, and soon the arkatti gained notoriety as a kidnapper and child lifter that passed into the folklore of the people. The general rule was for entire families to be recruited. At the depots, there were a number of TDLA officials, including medical personnel, who examined the recruits, got their contract papers ready, and readied them for the journey ahead. Here again, there was room for corruption and manipulation. The TDLA was under pressure from the employers' lobby to supply the largest number of workers possible, and there are indications that the rules were often 25

The Process of Migration in the Past overlooked for operational expediency. The administrative Reports of Central Provinces and Berar speak, of a few cases of forcible recruitment that had come to light in 1897, 1898, and in 1902. This in itself is an indication that coercion was known to be used to recruit workers. The Assam Branch Indian Tea Association (ABITA) records tell us that the recruits to 'tea' came from various communities, namely Mundas, Cheras, Kol, Kheria, Asur, Santal, Sawra, Oraon, Paidi, Odde, Gonds, Koya, Parja, Dom, Majhi, Godaba, Tanti, Mala, Turi, Telenga, Bhuiya, Kohar, Bawri, Gowala, Kurmi, Ahir, Panka, Rajwar, Muchi, Kaur, Kewat, Kamar, Lohar, Kumar and others. Of these, Gonds, Majhi, Rajwar, Gwala, Ahir, Panka, Kewat, Kumhar, Kamar, and Lohar are communities found in Chhattisgarh. The TDLA issued licenses to arkattis and sirdars (gang leaders who assisted the arkatti, sometimes doubled for him). The Sirdars sometimes travelled with a group of new recruits, and acted as 'shop floor' supervisors at destination. The TDLA's annual reviews make interesting reading today. For example, the review of the 1917-18 season reads: "When the season under review opened, it was thought that nothing short of an entirely unfavourable monsoon would suffice to maintain recruiting operations at what might be called a normal level.... The factors adversely affecting recruiting operations in 1916-17 continued. They were:- (1) Excellent crops and an active local market, (2) Government recruiting operations on attractive terms... (presumably for the ongoing world war) and (3) Restricted consignment of sirdars. (Source: TDLA Handbook, 1919). The last recruitment by TDLA was done in 1950. Shortly after this, the Association was disbanded, and although for sometime, the TDLA converted its depots to repatriation depots, most of the migrants to the tea and jute industries stayed on in Assam and Bengal.

26

Sukhvasin the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh -

Travel Conditions It is interesting today to trace the route of the early migrant families. Following recruitment at Bilaspur, they travelled by train, by the regular route of the Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) upto Howrah, but interestingly, did not cross over to the east bank of the Hoogly there. This may have been done to avoid hurting the sensibilities of the genteel town folk. Instead they were made to change to the Eastern Railway at Howrah, and then taken to Bandel, and from there across the Jubilee Rail Bridge to Naihati on the east bank. The TDLA had a large transit depot at Naihati, on the site of what is today the Rishi Bankim College, a premier educational institution of the area. (Source: Bhupati Ranjan Das, personal interview). At this camp, selection and separation of recruits for the mills and tea estates, took place. Those being employed in the jute mills went to the work places directly. Those going to Assam boarded the Darjeeling Mail at Naihati, which train, in the old Bradshaws, had a scheduled time of arrival, but no scheduled time of departure from Naihati. They were brought by train to Sara, on the main channel of the river Ganges now in Bangladesh, from where, those going to upper Assam, went by river craft through the Padma and the Brahmaputra. Those going to the Surma valley (lower Assam), took the Surma railway through the territory of modem Bangladesh. It is difficult to get direct evidence of what travel conditions must have been like, since none of the actual protagonists are around today. Workers in the tea gardens (Bhuribai, Bamunbari T.E., Dibrugarh; Ratan Majhi Bonomalee T.E. Sibsagar), however speak of heavy mortalities in the long and arduous travel, particularly in the riverine stretch leading to upper Assam. The only surviving person I could meet who had actually made the trip to Assam and had subsequently returned to his village in Arejhar, Durg district, spoke of a long 'sea' voyage and of his and others' illness on the trip. (Source: Halal Khor, village Arejhar, personal interview). 27

The Process of Migration in the Past

Working Conditions at Destination The migrant workers in Jute, and in Tea, were settled in 'Coolie lines' on the fringes of the estates. In both Jute and Tea it was common for the Coolie lines to be divided into blocks, and for worker families to be settled there depending on their place of origin. For example a typical 'line area' of a jute mill would have a Bilaspuria line, a Madrasi line, a Gaya line etc. The pattern in Tea was similar, and in this way, in the first few years of migration groups from the same place stayed together, spoke their own language, and maintained some cultural cohesion. However, some of the smaller mills did not provide accommodation, and in these the arkattis or gang sirdars built lines of mud and straw huts for the workers, and collected a small rental from them in addition to commissions and perks they were paid by the managements. Of the fifty two odd jute mills bordering the Hoogly on both sides, workers from Chhattisgarh dominated in Bhadreshwar's Victoria Jute Mill, the adjoining Angus Jute Mill, and at the Ganges Jute Mill, Bansberia. All these mills are situated on the west bank. Work at the mill was organized in gangs under gang sirdars who were almost all men. These sirdars were responsible for maintaining discipline in the gangs, for transmitting management directives, and in time, these were the people who were transformed into shop floor and mill level trade union Readers whose role of interpreting management to the workers and workers to the management took on new dimensions. The jute industry went into decline in the 1920s, and suffered further and more serious reverses in the post-independence period, when the jute producing areas of East Bengal were severed from the country leading to shortage of raw material, in addition to a marketing crisis that was the result of the advent of plastics on the packaging scene. The mill managements adopted various strategies to cope with the crisis, like layoffs, lockouts and management orchestrated strikes. It was perhaps the result of this set of factors, that made many of the migrant workers diversify into 28

Suklwasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh petty trade and small jobs around the mill areas, and many of them are to be found today in suburban West Bengal, in different areas of the unorganized sector. In Assam, the plantation workers were housed very similarly to those in Jute, but unlike jute, here female labour was in high demand, and all eligible female hands, including girls were given employment as pluckers, while the men worked in pruning, weeding and maintenance sections. In many estates, the workers had to clear jungles before beginning work, and there were many casualties due to snake bite, cholera, and malaria in the early years. (Source: ABITA Centenary Volume). Moreover, the only legislation regulating the working conditions of tea garden labour was Section 492 of the I.P.C. and Act XIII of 1859 (Workmen's Breach of Contract Act) which was in favour of the employers and did not have the interests of the workers central to it. Even the British Raj at the time felt so, and in 1863 passed the Inland Emigration Act (Bengal Act HI). This required the licensing of labour contractors and registration of recruits to ensure that they were volunteers. However, the Act did not protect the workers upon their arrival in the garden. Throughout the early years of the twentieth century, the condition of tea garden workers occupied the thought processes of the progressive intellectuals of Assam. They lived in encampment—like barracks, were paid abysmally low wages, worked long hours, and whatever the legislation said, were effectively debarred from leaving the estates. There was no health coverage, no educational facilities provided by the companies who built multi-million fortunes out of the tea sales. The Assamese writer, Lokkhikanta Bezbaruah, stirred up a great public controversy when he published the article 'Saha Bagisar Kuli' (Tea Garden Coolie) in the magazine MOU edited by him. It was only gradually, and largely in the post-independence era, that agreements took place between ABITA and the Assam Chai Mazdoor Sangha (The Assam Tea Worker's Union), their recognized union, which regularized 29

The Process of Migration in the Past plucking rates, holidays, and negotiated perks like the utilization of fallow lands of the estates (khets) by the workers, the provision of subsidized rations, and the rights to firewood collection, and warm clothing for the winter.

Adjustments and Backward Linkages The migrant workers who left their homeland in the last century provide a very interesting example of assimilitation and retention of roots. In the West Bengal jute areas, since direct rail communication exists between Calcutta (Howrah) and the major urban centres of Chhattisgarh, and also because the industry has not offered regular work for uninterrupted periods for a long time, there is much traffic between places of origin and destination. Nanram Gwala, a worker of the Ganges Jute Mills, Bansberia, visited his village of origin, Sakhrali, in Raigarh district, five times in the last two years. He is married to a Bengali woman, but maintains close contact with his cousins in his village of origin. In the jute mills, it was common for the management to run Hindi medium schools for the migrants' children, although Bengali is taught as a language, and spoken fluently by people of all ages in the jute mill areas. Because of the recession in jute, many workers of jute factories who had been laid off moved to rickshaw pulling, shopkeeping, and other occupations, while continuing to occupy the housing provided by the mills. This has given the working class, a particular cross cultural richness in many parts of industrial West Bengal. In the Tea growing areas of Assam, the situation is a little different. For one thing, communications with Assam from Chhattisgarh has always been difficult. Thus one finds many migrant families who have completely lost contact with their places and families of origin. The oldest migrant worker from Chhattisgarh I met in Assam was Parvatibai, in a Tea Estate adjoining Dibrugarh town. She had come to Assam as a young girl from Surguja. Today she is completely bent, and has cataract in both her eyes. Her one lament is that she wanted to see 'Ramgarh Pahar' (a low hill range in Surguja 30

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh

Four generations of Sukhvasins in Assam

31

The Process of Migration in the Past

-i "S

0 fc

5

i

C h an g e s in Com m un ic at ion patterns: A S h ift from Hindi to Assamese over time

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh district) again before she died. This was an uncommon lament, for the second and third generation workers I met, seemed perfectly integrated into the culture of the tea gardens. The language had also undergone a change and had assimilated speech patterns and words from Mundari, Telugu, Sadri, and the other languages spoken in the gardens. As a matter of fact, a common 'Tea Tribe' culture and language had emerged in the Assam gardens, in which all the migrants had borrowed from each other and certain cultural forms like the jhumar dance had emerged in the popular consciousness as a heritage of the garden workers. As far as formal education was concerned, Assamese had emerged as the common medium of instruction in school, perhaps for political reasons, on account of the Assam movement. This had led to the younger generation abandoning the use of Hindi in written communication and switching to Assamese. In the home of Bechendas Mahant of Balijan T. E., one saw faded letters from Madhya Pradesh written in Hindi and recent communications from his nephews and nieces in other Tea gardens in Assamese, addressing him in the Assamese style as Deuta. Marriages in Assam were within the community and regional boundaries in the second generation, but have tended more and more to be mixed, with other migrants groups to Tea, and also with local Assamese population. Bharati, a teacher in Dibrugarh who in speech, dress, and appearance, is indistinguishable from an Assamese woman but who has a mother who is clearly an immigrant garden worker is typical of the new generation among immigrant workers in Assam. There are village settlements of migrant people, such as Bamunbari in Sibsagar district, which were settled by clearing forests, and land deeds etc. were regularized later. These are settled by retired and other former garden workers, who chose not to work in the gardens down the generations but to practice agriculture and follow other occupations. This was possible perhaps because Assam was for long a land of unlimited opportunity and no land hunger. 33

The Process of Migration in the Past Out-Migration from Chhattisgarh

MIGRATION S TR E A M S Sr.

Period

Destination

Industry

1

Currant

Detil, UP Punjab, Haryana

Brickwork, Carpet uonstrucoon.

2

1930 • 1950

Vldartoha. Maharashtra

3

1900 • 1940

Assam Tea, Coal, Jute Bihar, Bengal Steel

INDEX D T . BOUNDARY TE H S IL BOUNDARY RAILWAY

............

T/D T. HQ

•

MIGRATION C O R E AR EA M IGRATION S TR EAM

34

J i l l l i t ! ■ * 1

- - - * - *T uoostrucuon Wage labour

4 The Present Process of Migration he migration of Chhattisgarh workers continues to this day. To understand the dynamics of the present pattern of migration, we undertook a field study that covered Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg and Surguja districts. On the basis of this, we can analyse the present day pattern of migration out of Chhattisgarh.

T

The Volume and Mechanics of Present Day Migration It is difficult to make a comprehensive quantitative assessment of the volume of present day migration. This is Table 4.1 Male and Female Outmigrants from Chhattisgarh in the rest of Madhya Pradesh. District of Birth

Surguja Bilaspur Raigarh Rajnandgaon Durg Raipur Bastar

Females of total enu­ merated elsewhere in State 21738 135386 64231 71131 117744 143671 18519

Percentage

3.90 23.68 11.22 12.42 20.56 25.09 3.23

Males of total enu­ merated elsewhere in State

Percentage

6748 95601 32000 4334 63115 70513 10186

2.39 33.84 11.33 1.53 22.34 24.96 3.61

(Source:- Census of India 1981, M.P series D Migration Table) 35

The Present Process of Migration because of inadequacies in the data base as has already been explained. However, through indirect methods it is possible to arrive at certain pointers to the true volume of migration, although not to figures of the actual migration. It is to this that we turn now. According to the 1981 census the number of men and women from the Chhattisgarh districts who were enumerated elsewhere within the state are presented in the foregoing table. A few observations on these figures can be made. From the above data it is apparent that female migrants outnumber male migrants. A certain proportion of this is due to neolocal residence patterns of married women. However, women workers migrate along with the rest of their families as well as separately as we shall show below. Secondly, Bilaspur and Raipur districts (in that order) account for the largest number of out-migrants. Our researches show that the "core area" of out-migration is a transverse belt stretching across Bilaspur and Raipur districts and the northern-most parts of Durg and Rajnandgaon.

Recruitment The mechanics of widespread out-migration today are well organized, although they often by-pass visible state machinery and appear, superficially, to be unorganized. Most of the Mahanadi belt today is under a single rain fed crop of rice. Recruitment nowadays begins shortly after the Kharif harvest and the Diwali festivals. The old recruitment depots from where workers were recruited for jute mills, coal mines and tea estates do not exist any more. However, large labour contractors, and their Munshis and sardars (record keepers and contractors) run the operation today at the village level. The office of the Collector, Bilaspur maintains a register of official contractors who are allowed to take labour out, although by common admission there are many more unregistered contractors than registered ones. The contractor or Munshi operates through an agent or Jamadar (sometimes called Sardar) who is a resident of the 36

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh same village and who actually recruits the workers against specific offers of employment from the village. Sometimes, the recruitment is made against cash advance and this is deductible with interest from the wages the migrant worker is to receive at site. Many workers recruited against cash advance ultimately become bonded to the contractors for they are unable to shake off the loan and its spiralling debt interest charges. Thus the problem of migration has a dimension of bondage as well. According to official policy which is reiterated every lean season, migration out of the Chhattisgarh districts is now 'legally' possible only through licensed labour contractors. The Bilaspur district collectorate supplied us with a list of 29 such licensed contractors. However, the truth is that for every licensed contractor, there are at least five unlicensed ones, and the unlicensed ones operate with total freedom. Dubraj Nag, a former contractor's agent from Saraipali, Raipur district's main labour supplying area, told us that the contractors budgeted for greasing the palms of labour inspectors, police officials, and other bureaucrats at fixed rates for the number of workers being taken(personal interview).

Travel Nowadays, the migration is mostly towards north India, to the quarries and brick kilns of the Ganges delta in Uttar Pradesh, where the Bilaspuria workers have a good reputation as expert brick makers, and to the construction sites of housing estates, development projects and public works in Haryana, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir. Travel is now mostly by rail, and favoured trains are the Utkal Express which covers the Bilaspur-Delhi stretch, and Samath Express which goes from Durg to Varanasi. Some migration also takes place by road; the MP State Road Transport Corporation runs direct buses to Allahabad from Raipur and Bilaspur. Large number of families, of obviously poor background, travel together and they are forced to squeeze into inadequate railway coaches, and break railway rules like not travelling in 37

The Present Process of Migration reserved coaches, etc. Because of this, they are constantly harassed by railway staff and the Railway police. The contractor's agents, when they travel along with the workers, try to pay their way out of this situation, but lately, with the overt insistence on licenses for contractors, this is sometimes not possible. The most weird incidents sometimes happen, that would upset a genteel family and disrupt its routine totally. Savita Bai of Baghoda village near Naila told us about a time when she, at age 25, was travelling with her husband and two children to Uttar Pradesh. As their contractor was not licensed, they had been advised to board the train in different coaches, and not travel all together in a group. Thus the gang of 40 odd people from the village spread themselves out all over the train, and lost whatever security they might have had in numbers. At Bilaspur station, her husband got off the train to get some water for the children, and the rail police stopped him for enquiries (and extortion). They took him into the -thana, the train left, and he did not get on it. Savita arrived at the kiln near Gonda, somehow settled into work as she had no choice, and her husband turned up a month later, having spent three weeks in police lockup as he had had no money to pay the fine that the police were demanding from him. Workers who do or do not take advance money, sign on for a specified peripd and then they depart for their place of work for periods varying from nine months to two years. The only piece of legislation to regulate migrations is the Inter-State Migrant Workers' Act, 1979, a tentative document tentatively applied. The provisions of the Inter-State Migrant Workers' Act provide for railway fares as a liability of the employers but only a few large contractors actually provide this. In most cases workers travel at their own expense along with entire families, and expenses, if advanced, are deducted from their wages. Once workers reach Nagpur, Delhi, Pathankot or their other destinations they are housed in camps over which the jamadar exercises effective control. In most cases again, the huts in the camp are leased to workers on the basis of a cash payment, again deductible from their wages. 38

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh

Social Conditions Men and women's work lives as well as social lives are regulated by the Jamadar, who receives a special pay or a commission from the contractor for services rendered. The camps by and large consist of enclosed groups of 40-50 houses (jhuggis) sometimes with a common water connection for the whole camp. Facilities for health and education are by and large non-existent, and the contractors assume no responsibility for these although they are bound to by the Act. From our surveys in the migration-prone villages we found that it was common these days for families to live in "pardes" (foreign parts) for 10 -1 5 years, before some of them moved back permanently to their villages of origin. Sometimes parents traded their own work for the work of their grown up children, and their sons (generally) continued to work in the places vacated by their parents. This practice was earlier very common among migrants to the Raniganj, Jharia coal mines and to the Bengal jute mills. Within the camps, society is patterned very much on the pattern of the villages from where people go, for as a general rule people from one village are recruited for work at a common site. Throughout the period that families live away, they maintain very close links with their villages and there is frequent coming and going by family members. Marriages are generally celebrated during annual or bi-annual visits home, and despite Chhattisgarhi workers' propensity to work so far from home, marriages into other communities are relatively rare. The brick kilns of Uttar Pradesh, where, at a conservative estimate about half the migrants go, are usually far from human settlements, and workers live there in semi-internment conditions. The local weekly markets are far, and in many places a separate market with rates of all essential commodities hiked up, is held after pay day and only for the migrant Bilaspuria workers. (Source: Paramanand and Urmila Barik, migrant workers; personal interview). The atmosphere

39

The Present Process of Migration at the camps is generally one of distrust, and most workers come back with stories of having been cheated at least once, if not several times, in their lives. Some of these stories would outclass any conventional con-man story: Old Bhaktin Bai of Baghoda village in Bilaspur went alone to the brick klins after her husband died. She worked for over two months, and at the end of the period, her wages were settled by the munshi. However, it was late evening by the time she got paid, and the munshi advised her to let him keep the money in safekeeping until the morning. With some uneasiness, she agreed. When she woke up in the morning, he had absconded with her entire wages.

Work and Wages Chhattisgarhi workers are classified as unskilled workers, and work in gangs for brick making, and at construction sites: In brick making the contract is usually with a group of about 10 to 15 workers, and the rates are settled per thousand bricks. The total payment is divided among the members of the group. However, this is done only at the end of the total contract period (sometimes the employer contracts them by the number of months they are to work, and sometimes by the number of bricks). During the actual time they spend there, they are given weekly subsistence advances called, khuraki, which along with any expenses on travel, medical aid etc. are deducted from the final wages. The commonly held standard rates for brick making in the summer of 1993 and 1994 ranged from Rs 35 to 50 for 1000 bricks. The counting of 1000 acceptable bricks is made after deducting the damaged or defective bricks, which are at the worker's account, and for which no payment is made. In construction sites, contracts are usually computed at daily rates, but here too, it is common to make the payments to the workers at the time they are going home. This withholding of wages is a mechanism for controlling the workers, and for seeing that they stay on site as long as they are needed. The latter sometimes exceeds the stipulated 40

Sukhvasin - the Migrant YJoman of Chhattisgarh contract period, but the workers are in no position to go home until their dues have been settled. In construction and in brick making, there is a rough, although not a universal sexual stereotyping of jobs. Women usually carry headloads of earth or other material, and do other heavy manual work, whereas the more skilled operations, like masonry work, or actually filling in the brick blocks, is done by men. One of the major problems that migrant workers face with regard to their working conditions is in the area of liability are for accident compensation. Migrant workers work in unprotected and insecure work sites, and accidents due to fall, site collapse, or vehicle mishap are fairly common. Whenever such incidents involving loss of life or limb take place, fixing responsibility for the accident is a matter of passing the buck from principal employer to contractor and vice-versa. In the process, the worker's right to adequate compensation is often totally bypassed. As an example of this kind of situation, we can quote an incident in which, in a 1983 house collapse in an army camp in Poonch (Jammu & Kashmir), three workers from a village near Champa in Bilaspur lost their lives. Seven others were seriously injured. The contractor fled overnight, and the workers who needed treatment, were taken to hospital by the army authorities. Within a week, the army authorities arranged to repatriate the workers at their (i.e. army's) expense to their village, but neither the injured workers nor the families of those who were killed, have to date received a single paisa from anyone by way of compensation. Legal proceedings are apparently in progress in the court at Poonch, but they have no knowledge about its current status. According to the provisions of the Contract Labour (Abolition and Regulation) Act, the ultimate responsibility for compensation in such cases rests with the principal employer, in this case, the army. Not only did the army not accept this responsibility, it also, by providing some immediate relief, tried and succeeded in getting out of a tricky situation on the cheap. 41

The Present Process of Migration The safety of children on worksites is another major problem. Since women as a rule do not have access to any childcare facilities, they are forced to keep their children close to them while at work, sometimes totally unsupervised, and sometimes under the inadequate supervision of older children. Accidents to children and child fatality at migrant worker camps are also common, and once again, no system exists for accepting the responsibility for them.

Contract Labour and Bonded Labour Labour outmigration as it is practised in Chhattisgarh violates all the provisions of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act. It is also closely linked with the system of bonded labour, and this link is seen to be operating in public sector undertakings in addition to the private. A major problem is that of legal violation by contractors and principal employers, with regard to terms of employment, wages, benefits, compensations in cases of accident/injury of migrant workers. These issues can be illustrated with the following case studies: In September 1989, 19 migrant workers from village Khamharia, Tahsil Champa, Bilaspur, were released from bondage in Beejpur, Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh. They were working with a construction contractor who had undertaken a building assignment for the National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC) Singrauli project. The release followed a complaint lodged with the Collector Bilaspur by relatives of the workers held in bondage who had been to visit Beejpur when the workers did not return to their village at the time when their contract was over. The release was effected with the collaboration of the district administration, of Bilaspur and Mirzapur and social workers. It was found that the local recruitment agent had overdrawn an advance from the contractor for the supply of labour, and since he had not produced the promised numbers of 42

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh workers, the contractor was illegally detaining the 19 workers who had gone, even though the stipulated six months period for their work was over. The contractor was able to do this as the workers were made to live in a barbed wire enclosed camp from which entry and exit was regulated by NTPC guards, and since he was refusing to give final payments to the workers. During the tenure of their employment workers had been paid a weekly khuraki (living expenses) and dues were to be settled only at the time of the workers departure, a system in general use with migrant workers. Although the UP government, filed a case against the said contractor, we have no record of his prosecution; NTPC as the principal employer was not named in the suit, nor did it accept any responsibility for the incident. Certainly no enquiries were ever made by the UP police from the released workers. The 19 workers included seven women and a total number of 35 persons (19 workers, seven adult women family members and nine children) formed part of the group that was released. More recently, in November 1992, Shri R.P. Singh, Deputy Collector Bilaspur was deputed by the district administration to Pratapgarh, UP, following reports from three different villages that a private brick kiln owner was holding in illegal bondage 36 workers and their family members. Following his visit to Pratapgarh, and with the cooperation of UP authorities the workers were released. The group consisted of 18 men and 18 women workers and was accompanied by 15 unemployed family members. On release the workers were brought back to Bilaspur under police escort and they reported illegal detention and non-payment of wages. The women in particular reported that they were not allowed out of the camp even for shopping and also that they were the subject of sexual advances by the guards at the camp. Once again we have no records of prosecutions. 43

The Present Process of Migration In both these cases above and in our research in general we find that employers violate with impunity the slender legal provisions. The legislation that exists for the regulation and protection of migrant workers is the Inter-State Migrant Workers' Act, 1979. This Act provides for the payment of travel expenses, maternity leave and benefits, medical and educational expenses (for children of migrants). It also provides for legal redress and adequate compensation in case of injury or accident.

5 Women's Experience of Migration he special experience of women as migrants is determined both by the underlying socio-economic developmental context and the existence of gender asymmetries in all spheres of life.

T

Women’s Economic Role Contrary to the sometimes prevailing view among demographers that female migration is largely explained as a function of neo-local residence of married women, women migrants, do play a major economic role. Many women migrants are the principal or major wage earners in their respective households, and they migrate both singly, and together with the entire family. At the same time, they continue to be subjected to socio-cultural discrimination. This can be illustrated through the case studies below. Porterage in the Wholesale Market of Nagpur At Nagpur and at nearby Kamptee in Maharashtra a very large group of Chhattisgarhi migrant workers have settled. Many families have lived here for 15-20 years, yet they all maintain links with their native villages even now and many visit their villages annually where they still have marginal land rights. While the men work mainly in construction and porterage (handcart pulling), the women concentrate in working as porters in the various city markets. One of the largest of these markets is the Dhanyagan Kalamna wholesale market in Nagpur and the women porters there are organized under the Maharashtra State Hamal Bhapari and Bhaathadi 45

Women's Experience of Migration Mahila Shramik Sanghatana, Nagpur. This union has women members only, and we interviewed several of them. Bhuribai works in the Kalamna Market and is a shop floor trade union leader. Her family came from Rajnandgaon district. Her in-laws, also in Rajnandagaon district, owned some land and Bhuribai, now almost 60, remembers a time many years ago, when they produced 25 quintals of rice on their fields. However, with her father-in-law's death, division of the property and repeated droughts, Bhuri and her husband could live off agriculture no longer and came here 20 years ago. Bhuribai has worked in the market for over 15 years. Her husband did odd jobs until about five years ago, but today is completely dependent on her earnings. Although her daily earnings show some variation, Bhuri makes an average income of Rs. 400/- per month. After paying for rent and food, they are barely able to manage, yet once every two years or so, Bhuribai visits Rajnandgaon and goes to her natal and marital villages. Her two daughters are married today, and her son aged 14 works as an itinerant labourer from time to time. Her younger son is eight years old. None of the children have studied. Punia Bai is 44 years old and lives along with her three married daughters, all of whom work in the market with her. She came here with her children from Murhipar in Durg district after her husband's death. She has been here for at least 25 years. She has two sons as well, but none of the children have gone to school. Her income is around Rs. 300-400 per month. Her daughters earn independently and maintain visiting relationships with their marital families which are in the same neighbourhood, but which, nevertheless take the incomes they earn. Punia and children have constructed a small hut on encroached public land at Mini Nagar Jhopra, a suburb of Nagpur. She does not spend on rent, but her other expenses—food, treatment (on which she spends around Rs. 50), protection money to the neighbourhood toughs, keep her in debt permanently. She now has no links with her natal or marital family. 46

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh Women Carpet Weavers from Surguja Surguja is the northernmost district of Chhattisgarh. Large portion of the terrain is hilly and the population is mainly tribal except for recent immigrants who are concentrated in the towns and plain areas. Mainpat, the highest range in the Maikal hills is in Surguja, and to the north of the district are the forested areas of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. The involvement of Oraon women from Surguja in the carpet industry of UP can be traced to the settlement of Tibetan refugees in Mainpat in 1962. Once settled there the Tibetans began their traditional work of wool making and carpet weaving. Large developmental loans and inputs were made available to the Tibetan settlers at this point. While most of the carpet weaving units in Mainpat were co-operatives, some were individually owned and managed. The Tibetans began to employ Oraon women as weavers, and within a span of 10-15 years, Oraon women of Surguja developed a skill in carpet weaving. At this time, around the mid-seventies, the carpet industry in Uttar Pradesh, the main centres of which were Bhadoi, Varanasi and Mirzapur, was in a crisis because of bad management and labour problems. Once the expertise of Oraon women who were willing to work for far lower wages than prevalent locally, became established, they began to be recruited for the UP carpet industry around 1979-80. The connection has flourished ever since because for the tribal community the wages earned in carpet weaving mean a lot, particularly since, with industrialization and growing national control over forests, their traditional lifestyles are increasingly in disarray. We interviewed seven women from village Khasgona, Kamleshwar, and Keshgaon in Ambikapur Tehsil who had gone to Varanasi or Mirzapur for periods of one or two years. They all reported economic compulsions as the main motive for this migration. All were locally recruited by agents from the carpet weaving companies, and transported there in groups at the entrepreneur's expense. Once in the unit, they worked in groups of three or four. It took one group about 47

Women's Experience of Migration

two months to weave one full size carpet. Women were paid by the square metres they wove and by the wool they consumed, the cost of which was deducted from their wages. The wool was however supplied by the entrepreneurs. A women made an average income of Rs. 250-350 per month. The women lived together in large camps or dormitories and were controlled tightly by the company. They had no leave to go out of the premises, had no holidays and their wages were not paid to them in full until the maturity of the contract. However, the contract was by and large honoured and once it was over they were paid their full wages and either allowed to leave or sign on for an additional period. Two of the women, Beri Bai, aged 40, and Bari Bai, 22, reported that the entrepreneurs and their agents made sexual advances to the women, who customarily travelled alone, and not with entire families as is common elsewhere in the region. An estimated number of 30,000 Oraon women work today in the carpet centres of UP which are controlled by capital through a nexus of contractors and sub-contractors. While it is customary to use women's labour in expanding phases of the economy, once an economic crunch sets in, women are the first to lose their jobs. This is clearly illustrated from a study of the West Bengal Jute industry, currently reeling under recession. From field visits and Indian Jute Manufacturers' Association (IJMA) records we know that Chhattisgarhi migrant workers-men and women-worked in six major jute mills on the Hoogly banks viz. Ganges Jute Mill, Bansberia, Anglo India Jute Mill, Jagaddal, Victoria Jute Mill, Bhadreshwar, Angus Jute Mill, Gourhati, Naihal Jute Mill, Hajinagar and Hukumchand Jute Mill, Halishaher. Today the number of Chhattisgarhi male workers in the jute industry is less than 2000, and not a single women worker is to be found.

Working Conditions, Technology used, and Wage Differentials It has already been mentioned that women workers today are found doing the most ardous and repetitive jobs in the 48

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh sector, the carrying of endless headloads of earth, and other building material. The headloads, each weighing about 8 to 10 kilograms are carried in a ghamela, up and down inclines, makeshift ladders, and across wooden plank gangways. The material is refilled after emptying, using ordinary shovels and spades. Working hours are usually long, and can extend upto 10 hours. It appears that today, in the sectors in which Chhattisgarhi migrant workers predominate, there is little recognition that women are a highly skilled and highly creative workforce. This was not always so, for in the Assam tea estates, female labour was highly prized, and women were selectively employed as pluckers because of their dexterity in plucking the leaf and bud, while not damaging the plant. The pluckers carry conical baskets on their backs, into which the leaves are dropped. When full, the baskets are taken to the processing section, known as factory, for weighing, and processing. This appears to be an early application of the 'nimble fingers' theory. In the Jute industry, although women workers are negligible in numbers now, they worked earlier in the stitching, colouring, and winding departments. In the construction gangs and brick making groups, payments are generally made to the gang sardar, and in turn, the sardar distributes it to the individual members. Where husband and wife work together, it is common for the earnings of the couple to be handed over to the husband, and thus married women have little control over the fruits of their labour. Women are paid separately when they are working on their own, without a male partner. In either case, the calculation of women's contribution is priced at about Rs. 2/or 3/- below the calculation of male contribution. This distinction is apparently maintained regardless of actual wage levels. (Source: Lalbai, Khamharia, Champa). In the Tea industry, a similar wage differential is to be seen. According to the agreement dated 29.6.1967 between the Assam Branch, Indian Tea Association, Assam Branch Tea Association of India, the Bharatiya Chai Parishad, and the 49

Women's Experience of Migration Assam Chai Mazdoor Sangha, plucking rates in the gardens have been fixed as follows: Rate per kg. of leaf plucked Zone 1

Zone 2

Male worker

58

37

Female Worker

56

35

Child Worker

24

14

(Source:Assam Chai Mazdoor Sangha. List of bilateral Agreements between the ACMS and all Employers' Associations upto 26.5.89. Dibrugarh.) The basis of this discrimination is obviously gender related, since a kilogram of leaf is a kilogram of leaf, regardless of who it is plucked by. One can mention here also that the child workers are almost all female, and the list of officials of the Chai Mazdoor Sangha does not include a single woman, despite women outnumbering men 3:1 among garden labour.

Economic, Social and Health Issues of Migrant Women, All migrant workers, but particularly migrant women, are vulnerable in many ways. Women's health needs, and their obstetrical needs, are unfulfilled. Being women, and at the bottom rung of the labour market, they are socially and politically oppressed by more powerful forces from within their own community as well as outside. These observations can be illustrated by the following case study. Lai Kuan, Delhi Lai Kuan is on the and after Faridabad, Chhattisgarhi workers Chhattisgarhi workers 50

Mehrauli-Badarpur Road near Delhi, offers the largest concentration of in the National Capital Region. The there are mostly from Naila and

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh Champa in Bilaspur district and they live in nine camps opposite the highway after crossing Tughlaqabad Fort when we go from Delhi. The camps are named after the respective Jamadars (agents) who have recruited and settled the workers. Phulsingh's camp, where we conducted our survey, has 40 families. Phulsingh himself, the resident jamadar today, is about 60. He has been in Delhi since 1978. He first left his native Bhaiasda near Naila in 1962 and worked for sometime in Dabra near Gwalior. Hearing that the money was better in Delhi he moved to Faridabad, and eventually found work with the Kalkaji Stone Crushing Company at Lai Kuan. He himself and all other male camp residents are employed by the same company. The company's quarries are close to Faridabad and its stone crushing operations are at Lai Kuan. Phulsingh earlier lived in camp No. 3. He emerged as Jamadar in 1981-82. However, of the 40 families, only 20 odd were recruited by him from Naila — the others came on their own by hearsay and agreed to work under his jamadarship before they moved into the camp. The men in the camp work in the crushing plant, as well as in the mines. About 20 men work in the plant. While those in the crushing machine earn a daily wage, those who work in the quarries are piece rated. Those in the quarries earn a rate of Rs. 62 per truckload of ore that they fill. It takes four men five to six hours to fill a truck load. The gang has first to drill a four feet hole, put explosives in it and fire the charge. The expenses for these are deducted from their wages. However, only 12 men work in the mines. Women do not do blasting work. By and large they are responsible for removing the overburden and stone splinters in baskets as headloads and to dump this outside. Women from the camp work in the mines. They are also piece rated, but make an average wage of Rs. 350-400 per month. A total of 2000 families from Bilaspur live in the various camps at Lai Kuan. Phulsingh camp is relatively small, housing 40 families only. The largest camp is at Badarpur, 51

Women's Experience of Migration

52

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh

The long trek for Water

Filling headloads 53

Women's Experience of Migration where over 1000 families live — Surja camp and Prahladpur camp neighbouring Phulsingh camp. In all three camps, the only source of water is provided by six public taps. Phulsingh camp and Prahladpur camp also have hand pumps. Surja camp does not even have this. The houses were built by Phulsingh with assistance from the company and the cost of their building is recovered from the workers when the houses are leased to them. The only facility the company offers to the homes in the camp is a free electricity connection. The women from Phulsingh camp who go to work in the mines leave by the company trucks early in the morning around 7 a.m. and get back around 6 p.m. Unlike the men, the women are not compensated if work is not available to them at site. This often causes great hardship, for once they report for duty, they have no transport back until evening, regardless of whether the company can provide them work or not. Although most of the women — those who work in the mines or those who do not — have male wage earners in the family, there are three women-headed households in this camp, where women are the principal wage earners. An important problem that women in the Lai Kuan camps face is with regard to health and ante natal care. Neither the contractor nor the State provides for any form of social security or welfare. The workers are assumed to be here at their own volition and own risk. Medical costs, when necessary, are to be met by them on their own. Sonkali Bai, whose daughter-in-law died last year in child birth, and all other women here are totally without health support services. Many families when they leave home, bring their own supplies of Jarhi Booti (herbal remedies for common ailments) from Bilaspur. Much like the western tourist in the Third World, they fall back on these resources when they need to, for they cannot afford and cannot trust the facilities that are commercially available. Women assist one another in deliveries. The doctors in Lai Kuan market charge a consultation fee of Rs. 15/- per visit and are only resorted to 54

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh in emergencies. Predictably, infant and maternal mortality are high in the camp. Out of the 13 families that we interviewed, 11 had lost at least one woman in childbirth during the last 10 years. All had lost over two children under age five. One marvels at the stamina of these people, who despite such conditions, and despite leaving their hearts at home, continue to work and to struggle for existence. Many of the women migrants we have spoken to, have spoken of sexual abuse and molestation by contractors, and security guards at the big construction sites. A group from Khamharia reported that one of the women from their group was abducted and never heard of again, when they were working near Allahabad. Several children were also lost during travel, quite apart from the death of children due to malnutrition, disease, and lack of medical care. A family from Charbhata lost their only daughter in Ludhiana railway station, and were able to trace her three years later in a state orphanage.

Cultural Pressures Apart from the blatant discrimination and exploitation women suffer from, they are also the victims of the cultural backwardness and patriarchial norms of their own communities. As an example of this, we can relate the following incident. Jhagru and Nirmala are a Kurmi couple, aged respectively 27 and 23. In 1989 a Jamadar from a neighbouring village approached them with offers of daily wages of Rs. 9/- in Uttar Pradesh. At that time the prevailing wage rate in the area was around Rs. 5/-, so the couple along with their six year old daughter and a sister of Jhagru left together with 13 other families from the village. They went upto Delhi by Chhattisgarh Express and the Jamadar paid their outward journey fares. From Delhi they went to Parpa in UP. They had been promised construction work, but having arrived there they found they had to do earth work and dig pits from 5 a.m. till sunset. There were many other workers from Chhattisgarh 55

Women's Experience of Migration in the camp where the Munshi gave them a Jhuggi (hut) on lease. However even after all three of them (i.e. all except the six year old child) had worked for a month and a half, their accounts were still not done. The pits were not measured and they were not paid their proper wages. All they received was Rs. 20/- per head per week as maintainance allowance. At about this time a child fell ill in the camp, and did not get well despite the parents attempts with country and western medicare. One of the workers supposedly had supernatural powers. He was consulted and gave his opinion that the child was under a witch's spell. That evening all the women in the camp were made to sit in a circle with their hair open. At the centre of the circle a fire was lit and the smoke blew in the direction of the wind, which happened to be where Nirmala was sitting. She was at once identified as the witch and all the men present rushed out to beat her. It was with great difficulty that her husband managed to save her. After this the couple was ostracized — they wanted to leave but were afraid that this would point to Nirmala's guilt. Fortunately the child did get better after about a week. The couple left for another work site. They were cheated out of approximately Rs. 500/on the accounts. They managed to make about Rs. 700/- on the new worksite and come home. On the way home, at Delhi station they were approached by recruiting agents to work in Kashmir. However other groups of workers sitting there cautioned them against this, so they came home. Once home they all fell ill, and whatever they had saved got washed away in medical bills.

Social Security for Migrant Women Migrant Workers Need Social Security It is apparent from the discussion above that migrant workers have a dire need for adequate social security support. The concept of social security is more important for them because they are functioning usually away from any kind of community security, which in more traditional lifestyles they may have enjoyed. 56

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh Existing legislation that may offer protection to migrant women workers can be enumerated as follows: a) Inter-State Migration Act (1979): This Act provides for registration of employers and contractors with the state labour departments, provision of accommodation, creche and travel reimbursement to migrant workers and for the extension to migrant workers of all statutory benefits and rights. Its major weakness is that it is applicable only when migration is across state borders. b) Contract Labour (Abolition and Regulation) Act.(1970): This act provides for payment of statutory minimum wage to contract workers, for the extension of statutory benefits like creche, rest rooms, separate toilets for men and women workers, as well as for regular monthly payment of wages. It is unclear about the extension of maternity benefits to contract workers. c)

Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, (1976): This Act provides for the release and rehabilitation of bonded labour.

d) Workmen's Compensation Act (1923): This Act makes it obligatory for the employer to provide for adequate safety provisions at worksites and to provide compensation in case of bodily injury or death to the worker due to conditions of work. e) Maternity Benefits Act (1961.): This provides for special privileges of maternity to working women before, during and after childbirth at the employers' expense. Its extension to migrant workers is not adequately established in theory or practice. f)

Apart from these specific legislations, certain other legal safeguards like the laws relating to rape and abduction can be said to have relevance for migrant workers, although practical modalities for establishing

57

Women's Experience of Migration this application are a long way from being worked out There is a very large gap between the existence of statutory provision and the effective realisation of social security rights in practice. The problems are at two levels. One is that the protective statutory legislation for workers in India was meant for the organised sector of workers in formal industry, and often their legal applicability in unorganised work situations, such as migrant workers are often involved in, is not clearly established. Migrant workers often work with contractors, who are performing piece rate jobs as part of a large enterprise, and the responsibility of contractors is not clearly defined with regard to the legal machinery and to the workers themselves. Secondly even when it is clearly stipulated in law that the principal employer (i.e. the one giving out the contract) is responsible for any damages, as is the case in the Workmens' Compensation Act, it is difficult to secure this right to damages in practice. This is because the legal provisions and rights are seldom known to workers or their leaders, and also because no strong organization exists of migrant workers which can fight for even the existing rights under law. Specific Social Security Demands of Migrant Workers From the above discussion one can proceed to formulate some concrete demands for social security that migrant workers urgently need. 1) Demand for safe, comfortable travel to and from the worksite, at the employer's expense. 2) Demand for safe, adequate housing and safe water supply at the worksite. 3) Demand that there is a secure distance between actual worksite and accommodation site, and that there is, at accommodation site which is suitably removed from zuorksite, safe play space and supervised child care

58

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh facilities. This is a particularly important demand for women workers. 4) Demand that statutory rights of equal and fair wages for men and women, and maternity leave and benefits for working women, be extended to migrant workers in all work situations. 5) That the employer be liable for all expenses to provide accident coverage and compensation. Specifically that the worksite security is ensured by a competent body, and that accident insurance at the employers' expense be made mandatory. 6) Demand that suitable structures be evolved to ensure such workplace security and the working of accident compensation or insurance. A possible model which can be followed with or without modification is that proposed in the draft bill for the protection of construction workers that was proposed by the Tamil Nadu Construction Workers' Union in 1981, viz. protective measures be supervised by a tripartite body consisting of representatives of employers, workers, and government (labour department). (See Geetha Ramakrishnan, "The Tamil Nadu Construction Workers' Union", in Sen, 1990.) 7) Demand that medical needs of all workers, their immediate and accompanying families and dependent children be met by employers as a statutory part of the employment contract, and that the obstetrical needs of working women be similarly met, at the employers' expense. 8) Demand that wages be paid regularly, to the actual worker in his/her own hand and that final settlement of wages be made in accordance with the terms of the contract, at the proper time, and not deferred. 9) Demand that a tripartite body with representatives of employers, employees, and labour department officials supervise the working conditions of migrant 59

Women's Experience of Migration workers, and institute legal proceedings, in case of breach of law. 10) In addition to all the above demands, a demand that a special body appropriately constituted, be set up to institute adequate action in all cases where women workers are subjected to abuse and humiliation, be it physical, economic, or social.

Migrant Women as Victims and as Subjects Having gone through this long account of the stresses, to which women are subject in the process of migration, it is possible to develop a mindset which views migrant women as victims of an unjust system and its many manifestations. However, such a view is liable to be a partial one, for the mere fact that migrant women have been able to survive the conditions in which they have been forced to work and live, speaks a lot for their strength. Many women have lost six, seven, children in infancy, due to the conditions of travel and living. Many have faced rape and sexual molestation, many have been conned out of wages; others have been forced to live through situations that have totally taken the element of trust out of human relationships. Yet the working women of Chhattisgarh — and migrant workers make up a very large proportion of them — retain a basic dignity and confidence that one can only admire. This is in no way an argument for the status quo. The very fact that we are analysing the problem of migrant women is a first step in seeking to change the equations that oppress and marginalize such a large section of workers. However, for the process of change to begin, we need to assess the strengths we have to build on, and not only count our obstacles. In this context, we can point out also that migrant women have played an important role in preserving the cultural values of mutual help and self help, and traditional knowledge systems with regard to social mores, diet, herbs and medicines. This has helped an oppressed group like the sukhvasis to continue to stake a claim to a share in the national economy. 60

6 Conclusions e began this analysis with an attempt to understand the causal processes that set off the migration stream from Chhattisgarh. We found that ecological factors probably played an important part in triggering off the process initially. However, today, we feel, it is not enough to posit ecological factors alone as correlates of the process of migration.

Migrant Workers in Relation to the Total Political Economy In every process of migration, there must be a pull factor in addition to a push factor. While there can be no doubt that the survival crisis set off by drought and famine acted as an important push factor, we need to identify the pull factors in the process as well. It is here that we need to take stock of the needs of the colonial economy that needed the kind of captive labour that the migrant workers provided, to expand its growing plantation, mining and primary industry sector. In other words, the plantations, factories and mines needed the migrant workers as much as the migrant workers needed the jobs in those sectors. Colonial political economy needed a resident, immigrant, and docile workforce that it could slave drive; a workforce that had no local linkages, did not speak the local language, and could not count on any local alliances in rebelling against its whip. Migrant Women’s Integration into the System Migrant women formed an integral part of this system. They were needed as a subservient workforce, and, equally important, as a force that would stabilize and nurture this vital sector of the colonial workforce. Colonial political 61

Conclusions economy needed the institution of the workers' families, and the migrant woman worker to bring up the next generation of workers and to stabilize any dissention within the migrant community. Women, being those primarily responsible for nurturing the family, would, it was assumed, act as a barrier to any disruptive trends, and thus, protect and uphold the system.

Changes in the System as a Reflection of Larger Changes in the Political Economy In post independent India, we have seen certain changes in the system. For one thing, no longer is group migration organized under state patronage systematically, as it was in the colonial period. Colonial policy actively encouraged family or women's migration. This too, is no longer the case, with there being theoretical freedom of choice for the individual migrant, man or woman, in the decision to migrate. Long term or permanent migration, as it happened in Assam, also seldom takes place now. Workers now migrate for shorter periods, a year at a time, or a period of several years at a time. The sectors of the economy to which migrant workers are going has also undergone a change. While earlier migrant workers w ere. found in the then central sectors of the economy, today they are found in what are technically the fringe areas. Many of these changes are explained as a result of larger changes in the political economy. The colonial State was engaged in a straightforward profit extracting enterprise, and thus could be more open about many things. The post independence State however, has to function under the burden of maintaining a facade of protecting the fundamental rights of the people, and thus is not in a position to organize the system in the way the colonial State and its affiliates did. The facade of protecting people's fundamental rights meant that the state had also to demonstrate its commitments to protecting workers' rights. In fact, however, the post independence state also depended upon the migrant workers 62

Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh like the pre-independence state, although it was less blatant about it. The post independence State had extended full legal and statutory protection to a small minority of workers in the organized sector, while totally ignoring the reality of large sections of unorganized sector workers among whom the migrant workers formed a majority. This, at least was the reality of State socialism as was practiced in the earlier phase of our post-independence economic history. Today, with the changes sweeping through the economy as a result of structural adjustments, many things are changing, and the entire working class is facing the disentitlement to basic rights which migrant workers have always faced.

Migration Streams as a Continuum We have concentrated our attention on workers migrating out of Chhattisgarh. It is however necessary here to point out that migration streams are a continuum. Chhattisgarh workers migrate outward for a complex set of reasons. At the same time, Chhattisgarh, particularly the urban centres of Raipur and Bilaspur attract many poverty stricken workers from Orissa's Kalahandi and Bolangir districts, who make up its urban unorganized workforce. The expanding economy of Chhattisgarh attracts skilled workers too, but these are from states like Kerala, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh, where levels of technical education are better. Differentials in skill levels, cultural acceptance of certain kinds of work, and the prevailing, expected and acceptable wage levels are important in understanding the nature of migration streams to and from any given geographical unit.

Policy Issues, Action Alternatives and Organizational Structures Will the process of outmigration end in the foreseeable future? Will the experiments currently going on in rural development, the increase in minor irrigation works, and the

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Conclusions political decentralization being tried out through the panchayati raj stop the flow of migrants out of the region? Trends in the macro and micro economy do not leave us with much room for optimism. With the coming of the New Economic Policy and the increasing privatization of the economy, one can foresee an increasing sub-contracting of jobs in the private and public sectors. This will create an expansion of demand for unorganized workers, precisely the slot that migrant workers have filled over the decades. Thus, while pull factors will continue, push factors too will continue to operate at the village level. With greater stress on resource intensive commercial agriculture, there will be greater concentration of resources in the rural areas, and as a mirror image, a greater marginalization of the already assetless. With increasing mechanisation of agricultural operations, the rural job market will shrink. These trends, and their adverse effects on the security of women's employment are already in evidence in many parts of the country. The increasing inflation, a correlate of the SAPs will mean a cash squeeze, and will necessitate people having to work harder, under harder conditions, to barely survive. With the burden of household sustenance resting squarely on women's shoulders in the present social system, one can actually forsee an increase in the numbers and vulnerability of the female migrant workforce. Is there, then, any way out of this grim scenario? In terms of action alternatives, there is room for a lot of work in terms of empowering migrant women to understand their legal rights and problems better. In this area, NGOs obviously have an important role to play. Similarly, special and innovative educational strategies need to be worked out and implemented to fulfil the needs of the children of migrant workers. A small beginning was made in this area through a series of empowerment training workshops for migrant women around Raipur. A training manual focussing on legal and health issues was also developed, although this will need

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Sukhvasin - the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh some regional adaptation locally, to suit the condition of specific groups. For such interventions to have even a remote chance of success, it is essential that we evolve organizational structures for migrant workers, and chalk out the platforms and parameters of action for them. Migrant workers are notoriously difficult to organize because their areas of work and residence are far flung. Trade unions and organizers who choose to work with migrant workers must develop forms and strategies that are appropriate for the situation, and here, perhaps, the efforts currently underway, to form a National Centre of Labour, comprising of unions in the unorganized sector, have relevance. The times are difficult, and the prognosis for the future in view of the current economic policies is uneasy. It is all the more important at the present juncture to concentrate our efforts on evolving organizational structures and alternatives. If this study contributes even in a small way to initiate a process in this direction, its purpose would have been justified.

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