Out of no-man’s land
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Migrant labourers in the southern districts of Karnataka are realising that they have rights too. MAYA RANGANATHAN and AASHIKA JAIN
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Photo: P.M. Sudheesh
Helping themselves: A shanty town in Udupi.
Apparently, nothing has changed in 50-year-old Valiammai’s life. She still wakes up every morning to look for work in the number of gardens that dot the town of Manipal. And she returns every evening to the shed in a shanty she calls “hom
e” with no more than Rs. 60. The “home” still has no electricity, water or toilets and plays hosts to creepies and crawlies regularly.
But, 25 years after she moved to Udupi district in Karnataka, from neighbouring Tamil Nadu with 65 others in search of a livelihood, 15 years since the others moved on, 10 years since she lost her husband and five years after she managed to marry her two daughters off, Valiammai says today that she harbours hopes of a better future.
For the first time ever, on May 20, 2007, the 20,000-odd migrant labourers in the region came together to organise a conference of Karnataka Migrant Labourers Association to make sure they were not just seen but also heard.
A thankless job
Consistently failing monsoons and lack of employment opportunities push nearly 7,000 migrants from Bijapur, Bagalkot, Gulbarga, Belgaum, Dharwad, Raichur, Koppal and Gadag every year to the southern districts. They end up tending gardens, working in construction sites or cleaning in the famous Udupi restaurants. Some of them return while most stay on.
Locals agree that the migrant labour has contributed to the prosperity of the region. However, their presence is at best suffered in the region. Ramesha, toiling away in Udayavar for a daily wage in a construction site, says, “The local people mercilessly chase us away and insult us.”
The 41 colonies in which they live in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts are a cluster of ramshackle sheds with no facilities. According to Prof. Phaniraj, a sociologist, community health is adversely affected in the region due to inadequate sanitation facilities. Toilets and houses are an urgent need, he adds.
“When we ask for a piece of land for constructing a house they ask for ‘identity proof’. When we ask for voters’ identity card, we are asked for a ration card. When we ask for a ration card we are asked to go back to our villages and get one. Back in our villages, no one knows us anymore!” Caught in a vicious circle they move from place to place, from one shanty to another, doing odd jobs that will just keep them alive, while their children languish without food and education. Typically, their first and foremost demand at the May 20 conference was for that all-powerful, elusive ration card. Says Damodara Acharya, Executive Director, Concerned for Working Children (CWC), which banded the migrants together, “I think they should demand voters ID cards instead of ration cards. That would grant them political power.”
The CWC stumbled into the issue while working on the eradication of child labour in the district. With the migrants’ children remaining outside the purview of all government schemes, their efforts came to nought, which is when they took up the issue of migrants’ problems. In fact, it was the CWC that conducted the first-ever survey of migrant families in June-October 2006.
Since then they have trained the frightened migrants in bargaining skills, created awareness on cleanliness and social issues. Today, the migrants have elected office-bearers in their colonies to liaise with the authorities. Just about a couple of months ago, when the Association members sought to register it as a trade union, they were turned away by the Mangalore Labour Assistant Commissioner’s Office as they could not supply an employers’ name.
Legal loophole
It is this problem that has allowed employers to escape the clutches of law even when workers have died while working for them. Valiammal’s husband was paralysed after he fell from the scaffolding in a construction site. But he was paid no compensation. Rajamma, working in the construction industry, says, “We have no job security. If we do get injured the responsibility of the employer ends with taking us to the hospital. Where do we get the money for the treatment?”
Buoyed by the support extended by the officials who attended the May 20 conference, the migrant workers’ association, under the guidance of the CWC, is drawing up an action plan. Heading the list of issues that need immediate attention is the right to form a union. And then of course, the grant of a ration card.
A long-term solution to the problem would be to implement the Income Guarantee Scheme in right earnest in the drought-hit regions of North Karnataka. “The Education Department could provide hostel facilities in those regions so the children can be safely left behind,” suggests Acharya. Surely, a long way to go but this is just the beginning.
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