What are the Causes and Consequences of the Tribal Migration in India

Causes for tribal migration:-

Migration-poverty interface:-

There are three important constraints that perpetuate poverty among migrants in the

Indian situation. These are: 

1. poor education, 
2. discrimination, and 
3. a hostile policy environment.

In the case of tribal migrants, the literacy rate is low, not much is being done for developing skills and they do not have access to public facilities such as PDS in the place they migrate to. The State’s apathy and lack of capacity to implement protective migration/labour laws compounds the problem. Moreover, the wage rate is very low. Circular/seasonal migration is the dominant form of migration of poor tribal people. They leave their village after completing agriculture work and migrate as casual, low skilled workers and return after completion of work. Since tribal migrants have little or no education and low skills, which translate into low marketable skills for both rural and urban employment, they form a part of the unorganized sector and have little bargaining power.

The poorest and deprived areas of the tribal belt in Central India such as Chhattisgarh,

Telengana region, Jharkhand, southern Madhya Pradesh have become labour pools,

from where cheap labour can be drawn on seasonally. Due to poverty and lack of

employment opportunities, tribal families send unmarried daughters to cities in search

of work. Single women and tribal girls are, however, prone to exploitation not only by

employers, but also by anti-social elements. Migration is an important livelihood

activity and research by Mosse et.al, in the tribal districts of southern Madhya

Pradesh revealed that 65 per cent of households included migrants, who worked

mainly in the construction sector. Migration grew in the area as a few years later,

another study in the same area found that, in many villages up to three-quarters of the

population were absent between November and June.

Displacement:-

Development-induced displacement has resulted, not only in loss of land due to

acquisition for the project but also in influx of non-tribal outsiders in these areas, who

illegally alienate tribal land and take the benefits of the new economic opportunities

in commerce, trade and industry. Migration of displaced Scheduled Tribes is

indicative of Government’s failure to provide livelihood in the new environment.

Deforestation:-

Uprooting of tribals from their traditional habitat, receding forest cover combined

with low agricultural productivity and rain-fed agriculture, create the need for credit

and this leads to seeking employment and livelihoods under bondage, often through

migration. For example, tribal migration from Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh and tribal

areas of Chhattisgarh is a compulsion.181 Tribals in Jharkhand migrate in streams to

the brick kilns of Uttar Pradesh or rice mills of neighbouring states to the

agriculturally prosperous areas of Bihar, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh or Punjab mainly for sowing / transplanting/ harvesting of paddy and wheat and to the metropolitan towns

and cities as domestic workers and maid servants.

Drought:-

In contrast to seasonal migration, distress-induced migration is primarily the result of

factors which include drought, land alienation, debts and high levels of food

insecurity. This form of migration, which had increased in Kalahandi in the 1990s, is

a final resort when other coping strategies fail. Such migration usually starts as early

as September-October, when there is little possibility of harvesting a crop. Recruiting

agents take the opportunity to recruit even cheaper labour than they can normally

expect. Due to three successive droughts in 1996- 2000, distress-induced migration

had become ‘seasonal’ in character and an integral part of the regular coping

strategies.183 A significant number of tribals, mainly from drought prone areas of

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, migrate to work in construction, tile

factory, brick-kiln and crop-cutting in Maharashtra.

Costs and risks of migration:-

Migration has both positive and negative consequences for migrants. While it saves

them from starvation at home, it exposes them to appalling living and working

conditions at construction and other work sites. Additionally, migrants also do not

have access to pro-poor schemes such as subsidized food, health care and schooling

and must pay for everything.

On the positive side, migration has given tribal people an exposure to the outside

world including new skills. Their remittances have helped the family in consumption,

repayment of loans, fulfilling social obligations and to finance working capital

requirements in agriculture as well as investment in better housing and purchase of

consumer durables.

On the negative side, they suffer from family and social disorganisation, harsh and

unhygienic living conditions at work sites and physical and sexual violence in the

case of female domestic workers. Empirical evidence collected by case- studies in

tribal areas of Central India indicate that women domestic workers on their return to

the village are viewed with distrust, as they show signs of having been influenced by

an alien culture. Such women workers are exploited and harassed, when they migrate

and are regarded with suspicion when they return. Comparison made between tribal

families who migrate and those who do not, reveals that the non- migrating families

own more land comparatively and are in a better position to access and benefit from

various development schemes available for them and so are able to improve their

standard of living and educate their children. On the other hand, migrating tribal families have less land, lower level of literacy and on migrating, suffer from exploitation and harassment and low wages. They are able to stave off starvation, but do not earn enough to improve living standards. Moreover, their children do not get education and so the future of the next generation is equally bleak. Added to this, is the tendency of the unskilled youth to prefer employment in non-agriculture sectors, as farming does not give adequate returns. This is a challenge for both rural and urban planners.

Keeping in view that tribal livelihoods are conditioned by the eco-system and they are

dependent on agriculture, large scale migration due to poor economic conditions is a

serious cause of concern.

examples of the land acquisition in north-east:-

1. Nationa High way-37 displaced Karbi, tiwa and garo people. 
2. 20,000 Mhz siang Dam in arunachal pradesh submerged huge habitat of the tribal people. 
3. Immigration from neighbouring states are putting heavy pressure on the North-Eastern States.
4. In Manipur, (1992) the conflict between Kukis and Nagas displaced 11,000 population including Kukis and Nagas from their particular places. Mizoram also experienced ethnic violence between Kukis/Paites in 1997 and this led to displacement of 62,880 persons. Bru tribals were displaced for years.
5. The conflicts in this region are mostly linked to land alienation, due to influx of outsiders as people are fighting for natural resources in the same geographical space.