By Jayshree Sengupta
Recently Sonia Gandhi reportedly expressed her unhappiness at the
steady migration flows from rural areas to urban centres despite the
MNREGA scheme which guarantees 100 days of paid work to any member of
a rural family. Today one should not be surprised at the fast pace of
urbanisation because rapid urbanisation is a global trend. Yet in
India, most problems of human deprivation can be seen in urban areas.
Housing for the poor is a gap that needs to be filled in every metro
city.
The growth of slums is the ugly underbelly of urbanisation and it is
quite unbelievable that 62 per cent of Mumbai’s population lives in
the slums. The lack of basic amenities and the squalor make many slums
unfit for human life. Yet some slums are quite livable with
electricity and proper toilets. Urban slums are a contrast to the
idyllic countryside where the rural poor live. At least they have a
small plot of land and open spaces and even though they may be poorer
than their urban brethren, their poverty is not so visible.
Urbanisation, however, is a trend of the future and no one can stop it
unless villages become industrialised and can provide sufficient
employment to the growing population. Most villagers who are forced to
come to urban areas are looking for manual work and due to lack of
proper housing are forced to live in slums. It is also a fact that
cities are becoming less and less friendly to the migrant poor and
with gated communities and their RWAs, the poor have no place to live
other than slums that are far away from the city.
The beautification and gentrification drive in many cities, including
New Delhi, has led to the removal of slums to the outskirts of the
city. The slum dwellers have to spend time and money to go to their
work. Many migrants from villages are therefore going to smaller towns
to live and find work as there are not so many rules and regulations
about living spaces.
One of the worst aspects of the growth of metro cities and rapid
urbanisation is the rise in air pollution. Traffic congestion is also
part of the urban landscape. Delhi for example is becoming
increasingly congested and during office hours, there are traffic
snarls in various parts of the city. In Dhaka, these traffic jams last
for hours while drivers patiently switch off engines and wait.
The UPA government tried to encourage rural employment with its MNREGA
scheme by offering work for 100 days to the rural poor, but it is not
enough to keep the poor in villages. The rural-urban migration
happened in China too and they clamped it down by introducing the
Hukou system in which people from one part of China could not migrate
to another part without a permit and if they did so, they would lose
their welfare benefits which they were entitled to in their natal
village. China has transformed the whole country into a veritable
township with only a few authentic villages in between. Every day many
villages disappear.
Chinese villages, however, have the same facilities in housing, water,
drainage, medical care as in towns. If the government of India wishes
to reduce the migratory flows, then each village has to be transformed
to a small town — at least in infrastructure.
It would be good to have several small scale manufacturing units in
villages and also have training centres for the youth so that they
could be absorbed in the village itself. Otherwise, the youth will
move to the cities with their low level of education and skills that
will lead them to informal sector employment with low wages and no job
security. There is a mismatch between the availability of labour and
the demand for unskilled labour and too many people in the market push
down wages. Thus attention ought to be given to skill development in
villages to enable the youth to acquire some skills before they
migrate.
People with low incomes in villages are lured by cities because all
aspire to have their children better educated and all want a higher
standard of living. The urban wages are much higher in India and that
is what attracts migrants. In the near future, urbanization will reach
50 per cent and by 2030, around 75 per cent of India would be living
in cities. Right now it is 31 per cent and urban contribution to the
GDP is far higher than rural at 43 per cent.
With around 52 per cent of the people engaged in farming, the
contribution of agriculture is only 14 per cent of the GDP which goes
to show that the productivity of farming is very low. In developed
countries with around 70 to 80 per cent urban population, only 4 to 5
per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture, yet their
productivity is so high that they are able to export agricultural
products.
The main reason for low productivity is the small size of land
holdings which makes farming a subsistence activity. Distribution of
land and land acquisition are thus the most important questions that
need to be addressed. Many tribal farmers have lost their land to
commercial businesses and have been forced to become farm labourers.
They are potential migrants to towns and cities.
Already city infrastructures are under pressure and there is going to
be a huge water scarcity in the future as well as problems with solid
waste disposal and increase in air and water pollution. More diseases
will occur — both non-communicable and communicable or infectious
diseases. Already there is terrible congestion in public hospitals and
healthcare remains a problem area in all major cities.
For rural population to become stabilised, there will have to be
better healthcare, especially in primary health care centres.
Similarly, village schools will have to have better quality of
education. One of the main reasons for people wanting to earn more by
migrating to cities is to give their children better education.
Literacy in urban areas is 85 per cent whereas in rural areas it is 69
per cent.
Rural women also need to earn money in their spare time. A lot of
village enterprises have been started and are employing women in
garment making and embroidery. Such ventures will make their incomes
grow. Villages can be a hub of activity if effort is made by
industrial houses to open centres in Indian villages. But the problem
is always about finding skilled labour and high transportation costs
for transferring goods to the market. If this happens, it will make
villages more attractive and there could be a reverse migration flow.
(The writer is a Senior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, Delhi)
– Eurasia Review
