Controversies witnessed in recent months over the recruitment of non-Tamils in government jobs in Tamil Nadu have triggered a perceptible rise in voices against migrants taking up jobs in the State.
The slogans demanding ‘protection’ of jobs in Tamil Nadu have not only become louder among the Tamil nationalist groups but have found traction even among a section of mainstream political parties. Andhra Pradesh government’s recent legislation to reserve 75% jobs in the private sector for locals has only strengthened these voices.
Despite migration becoming a sensitive issue, comprehensive data that can help start an informed debate on migration and the perceived fears of jobs being lost to ‘outsiders’ in Tamil Nadu is hard to come by.
The Census 2011 data on migration released recently has come as a handy tool in this context. While stressing the need to exercise caution in using this data, as it has come out after a delay of eight years, academics agree that the data proves that the fears about migration are often exaggerated and misconceptions abound.
What the data says
As per the census, 18.85 lakh migrants who were born outside Tamil Nadu were residing in the State. This is roughly 2.6% of the State’s total population. Of all the migrants in Tamil Nadu, these migrants from other States constitute only 6.2%. The remaining are those who have migrated within Tamil Nadu.
While the popular perception is that a majority of the migrants are from north-eastern and northern States, Census 2011 data shows that 77.2% of the migrants from other States are from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh (which includes Telangana since the State was undivided in 2011), Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry.
Interestingly, while 12.76 lakh migrants from these neighbouring States were residing in Tamil Nadu in 2011, the same figure from Tamil Nadu migrating to these States was higher, at 15.86 lakh.
Those who migrated to Tamil Nadu from the north-eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam numbered a meagre 11,873 people.
Importantly, according to Census 2011, of all the migrants from other States who had come to Tamil Nadu, only 16% had come in search of employment, which includes both skilled and unskilled jobs. In 29 other States and Union Territories the share of migrants coming in search of employment was higher. For instance, in Maharashtra, which has witnessed strong anti-migrant politics for the past few decades from a section of political parties, 31% of the migrants from other States had come to the State in search of employment.
Even in absolute numbers, 14 other States had a higher number of migrants who had come in search of employment than Tamil Nadu.
Other key reasons for migration included education, business, and marriage. In certain districts of Tamil Nadu, including Kanniyakumari and Krishnagiri, more than 40% of migrants from other States had come due to marriage. Similarly, in places such as Namakkal and Perambalur, a high percentage of people had migrated for education.
Interestingly, a phenomenon that requires further investigation is that 22% of migrants in Tamil Nadu had stated that they had migrated for ‘other’ reasons, which does not include factors like work or employment, business, education, marriage, moving after birth or moving because their families had migrated.
Also, the duration of stay of the migrants indicates that immigration to Tamil Nadu had been happening gradually for long if Census 2011 data is anything to go by. According to the 2011 data, 42% of the migrants residing in Tamil Nadu had moved 10 years before, while nearly 23% had moved 20 years before.
Migration is good
S. Irudaya Rajan, Professor, Centre for Development Studies in Tiruvananthapuram, who specialises in population and migration studies, and population censuses, said that though migration could have accelerated considerably in recent years since the enumeration exercise in 2011, the fact remained that migration was inevitable and good for the economy.
“In the UAE, roughly nine out of every 10 people is a migrant. We want Indians residing there to be taken care of well. Then how can we deny the same hospitality to those coming not even from other countries but just other States,” he asked.
Arguing that the fear of migrants taking jobs of locals was unfounded, he said that a vast majority of the migrants came for what are referred to as ‘3D’ jobs. “They come here for dirty, dangerous, and demeaning jobs, which the locals do not prefer. They are not taking away the skilled and secure jobs,” he said.
M. Vijayabaskar, Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, pointed out that it was not common to find security guards from Tamil Nadu below the age of 40. “Because aspirations of people in that age group here are higher,” he said.
Owing to the relatively better investment in education, accompanied by economic development, he said that the ‘reservation wage’, which refers to the lowest wage at which a worker will be willing to take up a job, is much higher in the State. “In other terms, the desperation for getting into any available job is low in Tamil Nadu,” he added.
Mr. Vijayabaskar, who has conducted surveys among migrant workers in industrialised areas of Chennai region, said that a majority of these workers were involved in low level, unskilled jobs like maintenance and cleaning. “It is not common to find these workers on the shop floor,” he said.
He contrasted this with the scenario in the garment units in Tiruppur region. “There you can find migrant workers in skilled jobs like tailoring. However, that is also because the local population has moved out in search of better prospects,” he added.
Even in the construction sector, which is believed to be a huge employer of migrant workers, he pointed out that only large construction companies employed more migrant workers.
Demand and supply
Bernard D’ Sami, Senior Fellow and Coordinator, Loyola Institute of Social Science Training and Research (LISSTAR), who has done studies onthe migrant population in Tamil Nadu, argued that migration was based on the simple dynamics of demand and supply. “If more people are coming to your State, it means that your State is doing better,” he said.
Stating that Kerala, which had witnessed more in-migration than Tamil Nadu, was doing far better in terms of interventions to accommodate migrant workers, he pointed out that terms like ‘replacement workers’ and ‘guest workers’ were gaining currency.
“The population of Kerala is becoming almost stagnant because of the low fertility rate. This coupled with the significant out-migration, particularly to middle-eastern countries, means the State needs more migrant workers,” he said.
He added that Tamil Nadu would also need more migrant workers. “There should be better policies to accommodate migrant workers into the mainstream,” he said.
A recent study by India Migration Now, a Mumbai-based non-profit, has highlighted that low levels of inter-State migration, for which inadequate measures by governments was an important reason, had hindered growth and resulted in a low urbanisation rate.
While the necessity and importance of migration cannot be overlooked, academics agree that some concerns raised by Tamil nationalist groups had legitimacy. “Particularly, if they are questioning the bias in recruitment in government agencies, where people with fluency in Hindi are preferred over the locals, then their concern is genuine,” said Mr. Vijayabaskar.
Mr. D’ Sami said migrant workers coming in large numbers to take up low-level jobs cannot be equated with recruitments happening in the government sector. “However, these concerns should not lead to an anti-migrant mindset,” he added.
