2020 January 30… It is confirmed that 3 medical students from Kerala who returned to India from Wuhan province of China have been affected by the epidemic. Curfew is implemented in Kerala state from 23 March 2020. A complete curfew is being implemented across India from March 25 onwards.
Speaking to the nation, the Prime Minister asked them to stay where they were. The invisible virus had taken over the entire world. People were confined to their homes due to the fear of the spread of Corona. As the country came to a standstill, traffic came to a complete standstill and the roads were deserted.
At that time, only a single crowd was carrying their belongings, children on their shoulders and arms, swollen feet, torn and bleeding feet, on tarmac roads and railway tracks in the scorching summer heat. The threat of corona virus, the restrictions of the police department, the appeal of the Prime Minister, the orders of the government could not control them. They are the migrant workers of India.
Taking Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu has come from various parts of North India to work in the construction of high-rise buildings for the state’s infrastructural facilities, in unskilled agricultural work, in hazardous factory work, in factories including knitwear, brick kilns, restaurants, tea shops, barbershops and shopping malls for monthly wages and daily wages. ‘Northern State Workers’ are protesting.
Many of them, who do not know the language, live without wages commensurate with their work, and without basic facilities, are not wealthy or belong to the dominant social background in the northern states. However, the view of seeing all of them from the same point of view continues to be widespread, citing the crime incidents involving them that happen here and there.
In this case, a video posted as a joke on social media went viral. Those verses, spoken only for the sake of comedy, are colloquialisms. Political party leaders also commented that northern workers were depriving local people of jobs, further complicating their pre-existing understanding of northerners.
Following this, on January 26, a video went viral on social media where North State workers assaulted a worker from Tamil Nadu in Tirupur Nagar near Paddarpalayam. Similarly, recently, a video of Northern State workers attacking a Tamil Nadu man as they boarded the Vaigai Express train from Chennai to Egmore to Madurai went viral. The police arrested the person who attacked them in this incident. The arrested person is a laborer in Koyambedu market. From these incidents, it is clear that this is the perception of workers in the northern states, from laborers to political party leaders.
Migration of Tamils: In this regard, Prof. Udariarajan, head of the Center for Migration and International Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, said: “Those who come from one state, looking for work, should not be considered as belonging to the next state. They should be treated as Indians. Therefore, we should talk about Indianness at such a moment. Because they are from our Tamil Nadu.” From here they go to different countries on the basis of ‘seeking the ocean of water’.Tamils are in different countries of the world like Sri Lanka, Gulf countries and South Africa.
So, people from Tamil Nadu will be treated in other countries as we treat people from other states here. So we should always set an example in such matters. The reason is, only then can we point out how we treat internal migrant workers when there are issues against Tamils in Malaysia or some other countries. Only then other countries will listen to our voice.
But if we attack migrant workers here at home, we need to think about how we can demand that our rights be protected when migrant workers are attacked globally. It is fine if people from Tamil Nadu do not migrate anywhere else for work… but they have migrated to such an extent that there are no places where there are no Tamils. In this case, in what way is it fair to think of restricting those who come to Tamil Nadu from other states in search of livelihood?
Migration and Politics: In some states in India, it is said that 80 percent of the employment is for local people. But, this is against the Constitution of India. Donald Trump, the former president of the country, could not hold the power for a second term because he put forward the demand that Americans are the priority. Hence, migration cannot be stopped. Therefore, it is important to see migrants as human beings. They may not be able to speak the language we speak, but we should come to see them as someone like us.
If we want Tamils to be respected and given rights abroad and in other states, it is our moral responsibility to protect the rights of migrant workers visiting Tamil Nadu from other states.
Immigration should not be confused with politics. Migration is beyond politics. Therefore, no political party should take over immigration for their political gain. Many people have an attitude of seeing migrant workers as competition. Their arrival is believed to have put local people out of work. So, we should get rid of this competitive attitude.
We must learn to see migrant workers as partners rather than as competitors. Go hand in hand with them. For example, one day all the non-Tamil speaking migrant workers in Chennai leave Chennai. Think what will happen to Chennai after that. Chennai will not exist.
Without migration in this world, there would be no development. Migration is growth. Because no country or state in the world can provide employment to all its own people. Government of India cannot give jobs to everyone in India. Similarly, the Tamilnadu government cannot give jobs to all the Tamils in Tamilnadu. The only hope in such an environment is migration.
There are some problems due to immigration. At the same time, many benefit from migration. If all migrants within a state are problematic, then no. More than 80-85 percent of people are looking for work and are fine. Only a single digit percentage are involved in the problems. We have to weigh the benefits the people in Tamil Nadu have received from the migrant workers and the problems they have caused. Therefore, not without problems, work should be carried out to reduce the number of problems.
Taunting or attacking migrant workers will not stop migration. No matter what is done, migrant workers coming to Tamil Nadu cannot be stopped. Likewise, migrants from Tamil Nadu cannot be stopped. No matter how many problems happen, Tamils going to Malaysia, Singapore and Gulf countries cannot be stopped. So thinking of restricting migrant workers is a waste of your time.
What is the status of the data? – Another important issue is insufficient data on migrant workers. We conducted a survey on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu in 2015. Accordingly, we had reported that 20 lakh Tamils had migrated outside India. After 5 years, we decided to conduct the survey again in 2020. But, at that time Corona came. After that elections were held and a new government came to power. We are talking about this survey.
If a caste-wise census is conducted across the country, it also depends on politics. But the issue of migrant workers is not in vote politics. Caste and religion are vote politics. Did any state’s election promises mention migrant workers? Because they don’t have a vote, no one notices.
Chennai alone has around 40 per cent migrant workers. Assuming they are all given a chance to vote in the next election, the government will think about it. The reality is that funds and programs for them will be implemented immediately.
Some more amendments should be brought in the laws related to migrant workers within and outside India. The International Migrant Workers Bill (The Emigration Bill 2021) has been brought. We hope it will provide an understanding of international migrant workers. There is also an Interstate Migrant Act. But during Corona it became clear that it was not implemented properly. If the law had been properly implemented, the workers would not have come to the streets.
The Corona period has shown that nothing has happened to the migrant workers because of that law. Because these laws did not provide any protection to the workers, they migrated in defiance of police attacks, lawsuits and government orders at that time.
Kerala Example: One has to think how affected the migrant workers would have been without worrying about buses, trains or police threats. Many times, government policies are formulated without considering the stakeholders. This is the biggest mistake we have. Policy for migrant workers is formulated without consultation with them. Therefore, policies and laws should be formulated in consultation with them. Doing so will actually benefit them.
As far as I am concerned, all states in India should learn from the state of Kerala in dealing with migrant workers. I started a survey of migrant workers there in 1998. It has been held every 5 years since then, in 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2018. We will conduct the 2023 survey soon. Kerala government is also helpful for this. This survey continues to be conducted despite changes in regimes. “Kerala has the highest statistics on migrant workers in India,” he said.
| The views on the arrival of workers from northern states to Tamil Nadu will continue… |