Gujarat: A Repeating Story of Violence Against Migrants

As the COVID-induced lockdown completes three years this March, the searing images of migrants walking to their homes with their belongings still rankle us. The migrants were taken unawares by the government's decision to impose restrictions.

Three years later, life has limped back to normalcy, and the migrants are back to work. However, a spate of incidents in Gujarat over the last few days that directly targeted the migrants has revived fears among the laborers.

Migrants mistaken for thieves & killed

In the first incident, which took place on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, a migrant laborer from Nepal was lynched to death after being mistaken for a thief. According to media reports, 35-year-old Kulman Gagan had found a job in the Changodar area of the district. The locals assumed he was a thief after stray dogs started chasing him in the area. Due to his inability to communicate in the local language, he was beaten mercilessly by the people. The police found his body in a canal, and a case was registered against 10 individuals.

In a similar incident in Khera district, villagers in the Mehmedabad taluka mistook Ramkeshwar Kherwar, a migrant from Chattisgarh, for a thief. According to Manish Kumar Singh, who filed an FIR under sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 302, 114 of the IPC at Mehmadabad police station, Kherawar belonged to Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh and had come to Gujarat for work a year ago. When contacted by The Mooknayak, the Mehmadabad police station officials confirmed that the accused had been arrested.

These incidents have brought back eerie memories of 2018, when the horrendous rape of a 14-month-old baby by a migrant sparked an exodus in Gujarat. The despicable incident had infuriated the locals, and they started attacking migrants. Hate messages against non-Gujaratis started surfacing on social media platforms. The attacks had spread across districts like Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Sabarkantha, and even the state capital Ahmedabad.

Gujarat and Maharashtra are among the two states with a large number of migrants. In 2019, there were about 42 lakh migrant workers in the state of Gujarat, and the lockdown forced around 30 lakh people to leave.

Migrants: Crucial cog in the big wheel of economy

Migrant workers play a crucial role in the economy of a country. In a State like Gujarat, which has a strong manufacturing base owing to its ports and trade driven economy.

Migration is a choice that the people make in pursuit of a better life and livelihood. It has many motivations and pushing factors. Some of which are

Agriculture:Primary reason behind the rampant migration in rural areas is that the agricultural income is insufficient to sustain the families for the entire year and also also cannot provide employment during the whole year.

Development: Lack of electricity, potholed roads, poor sanitation, scanty water supply are also some of the issues which push the migrants towards the cities.

Education: Although the government has done its bit to improve the educational infrastructure, the people in rural areas and small towns find the quality of education not up to the scratch for equipping themselves with necessary skills. The gap becomes acute in the case of higher education and professional courses.

Cimate Change: A groundswell report of World Bank, released in 2021 says that climate change can force some 216 million people around the world to migrate within their country, and definitely india is not an exception with South Asian region accounting for 40 million of these people.

Problems faced by migrants workers

Political issues

The migrant workers don’t count as votes most of the times in their host state and hence lack political agency and therefore their issues are often glossed over or are elbowed out by the interests of the local people.

They are often targeted by the people in their host state by parties which whip up regional jingoism by attributing problems like unemployment, crime to them.

Lack of documents make them the target of harassment by the police and local people.

Socio-cultural issues

The migrant labourers are forced to live in makeshift settlements on roads or in slums, most of these are illegal and lack basic services like sanitation, plumbing, electricity and out of the purview of municipalities. These factors force the poor migrants to live a sub-human life.

Cultural differences, language barriers, contribute to their isolation from the society. They find it hard to get their children quality education in their mother tongue.

Economic Issues

The most common issues that they face are non-payment or delay in the payment of of wages, physical abuse and accidents at the work sites

They have limited access to health services, which results in poor occupational health.

Constitutional provisions for migrants

The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of movement for all citizens.

The foundation of freedom of migration is laid down in clauses (d) and (e) of Article 19(1) of the Constitution, which guarantee all citizens the right to move freely throughout the territory of India, and reside and settle in any part of the territory of India.

Article 16 guarantees equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public employment, and prohibits the discrimination in access to public employment on the grounds of place of birth or residence.

Laws in support of migrant workers

There are no laws in India which are devoted entirely to the welfare of migrant workers but there are some Codes which have subsumed the laws like Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020

Code on Social Security, 2020 etc.

In a recent case in Tamil Nadu, some miscreants had attempted to vitiate the atmosphere by circulating fake news regarding the deaths of migrant workers from Bihar in Tamil Nadu. However, the Bihar Police and Tamil Nadu police swung into action to quell such rumors and also took action against the fake news mongers.