Circular migration in Madhya Pradesh: changing patterns and social protection needs

Abstract

Resurveys in six villages in Madhya Pradesh show that contrary to mainstream perceptions, seasonal/circular migration has become more accumulative for the poor over the last five years as new opportunities in urban areas have reduced the uncertainty of finding work, wages have increased and the dependence on contractors has declined. Furthermore, migration is attracting more women and upper castes as traditional restrictions related to manual work break down. Migration has brought greater returns to those with skills or strong social networks. Others, relying on contractors or facing discrimination, have not benefited as much. Nevertheless, migration is viewed by the poor as a strategy for improving household well-being. Migration has reduced borrowing for consumption, improved debt repayment capacity and given migrants greater confidence and bargaining power. The paper concludes that policy should shift towards migrant support away from migration prevention. NGO initiatives that offer lessons for migrant support are reviewed.

Des enquêtes continues effectuées dans six villages du Madhya Pradesh démontrent que, contrairement aux idées reçues, la migration saisonnière et/ou circulaire vers les villes est devenue de plus en plus rentable pour les pauvres au cours des cinq dernières années. Les salaires urbains ont augmenté, et les opportunités de travail sont de plus en plus variées, ce qui a réduit l'incertitude en ce qui concerne la recherche d'emploi et la dépendance des migrants envers les intermédiaires. Au fur et à mesure que les restrictions traditionnelles par rapport au travail manuel s'effondrent en Inde, la migration en tant que stratégie économique concerne de plus en plus de femmes ainsi que des individus émanant des castes supérieures. Ceux qui bénéficient le plus de cette situation sont les plus qualifiés ou bien ceux qui jouissent de bons réseaux sociaux. Ceux qui continuent à recourir à des intermédiaires ou qui font face à de la discrimination n'en bénéficient pas autant. Néanmoins, la migration est considérée par les pauvres comme étant une stratégie destinée à améliorer le bien-être. Elle permet de réduire l'emprunt pour la consommation et améliore leur capacité de rembourser leurs dettes ; elle leur procure une plus grande confiance en eux-mêmes et améliore leur pouvoir de négociation. Les politiques de développement devraient en conséquence encourager la migration au lieu de l'empêcher, et certaines initiatives d'ONG offrant des pistes de nouvelles politiques possibles sont passées en revue en conclusion.

Keywords:

• circular migration
• poverty
• India
• gender
• caste
• social protection

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the generous support of DFID which funded the research on which this article is based. They would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on previous drafts of this paper. Finally they would like to thank Dr Supriya Garikipati for her patience and constructive comments.

Notes

 1. We refer mainly to circular migration in this paper as it is by far the most important form of mobility in all the villages studied and has grown faster than commuting and permanent migration.

 2. Here well-being is taken in its broadest sense to include material and non-material aspects such as dignity, respect and happiness

 3. The research from which this is drawn was originally centred on understanding livelihood diversification strategies in six villages of Madhya Pradesh and six villages of Andhra Pradesh. The same sample households were resurveyed here.

 4. The names of villages have been abbreviated in order to protect their identity.

 5. The major tribes of Madhya Pradesh are Gonds, Baigas, Bhils, Oraons, Korkus, Sahariyas and Kols.

 6. The caste system determines social stratification and social restrictions in Hindu society. The government has officially categorized castes and subcastes, primarily to determine those deserving positive discrimination in education and jobs as Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC). The Scheduled Castes generally consist of former ‘untouchables’ or the people outside the varna system who had the lowest social status (the term ‘dalit’ is now preferred). They presently number about 160 million or 16% of the total population of India. Forward Castes (FC) include the upper castes.

 7. Around 61% of the landholdings belonged to marginal and small farmers in 1995–96 (Commissioner of Land Records and Settlement, Gwalior, MP, cited in the 2002 Human Development Report)

 8. A privileged landholder and tax collector under the British regime, similar to a Zamindar.

 9. This kind of migration is often referred to as ‘Haveli’ migration by the people there because it is to the agriculturally prosperous belt around Jabalpur, Narsimhpur, Hoshangabad. Haveli is the term for old stately homes owned by Zamindars who had large farm lands. Havelis have traditionally employed tribals from Mandla for seasonal work such as harvesting and threshing.

10. Total income data were not collected in 2003/4.