Migration and Equitable Adversary Analysis

E Bijoykumar Singh *

ILP : Survey on Non-Manipuri at Waheng Leikai, Imphal on 26 October 2014 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

We are passing through a critical phase in development discourse. We are reeling under the Manipur Regulation of Visitors, Tenants and Migrant Workers Bill (MRVT&MWB) 2015. People are on the streets protesting against the bill which has been passed in the Assembly.

Joint Committee on Inner Line permit System (JCILPS) has urged the public to support non-cooperation movement being enforced on non-locals. This movement has had the sustained support of the public. What is intriguing is the charge that the contents of the bills are at variance with the spirit of political parties and other stakeholders in the state who had participated in the process of preparing the bill.

At the core of the issue is-how can we compete with the 'outsiders'? I do not have any more appropriate term for the group we are up against. Can we, like King Canute, order a complete ban on the 'outsiders'?

Not until we are prepared to face head on the factors that have made this state a preferred destination of the 'outsiders'. Just as water seeks its own level, the unemployed perennially seeks employment opportunities. Just as buyers compare the prices of goods and buy the 'cheapest', employers also compare the wages and hire the 'cheapest' worker. I have used the term cheapest in a very broad sense- going beyond what we actually pay.

Like any market, labour market is very competitive and will weed out the inefficient workers. There are many traits of the 'outsiders' which make them the preferred choice of the employers. They would listen to us, they could be persuaded to defer payment, they work longer and more regularly and because of their popularity have more exposure and experience in doing any type of work. They can be subjected to better supervision.

They work in a tightly knit organisation with lots of flexibility in labour substitution. The wage rate is not the only variable which helps decision makers. Can we become a monopolist, the only seller in a free market by dictat?

What happens when a popular good is banned all of a sudden? A black market emerges to meet the demand. The demand for 'outside' workers has been growing with the growth of the economy. 'Outside' workers were welcome in the beginning as they worked where we avoided working. They enriched our society also in many ways. Gradually they started competing with us and our attitude to them also underwent radical changes.

India does not have a comprehensive policy framework on immigration issues. Though there is sort of a consensus on the need for a national policy for cross border immigrants from neighbouring countries viz, Bangladesh and Nepal, it is not so clear with inter and intra state migration. We are against cross border immigrants and semi- skilled and unskilled migrant workers from outside the region.

We would not like to work as porters in the market carrying bags of potatoes; onions etc. even if we work as porters, we would not like to work like that for long. We belong to a highly egalitarian society – very different from the caste ridden societies where people have come to take the differences for granted.

A family is desperately looking for helpers and the neighbour without any work is desperately trying to show off that he is not available for work. He prefers to work where he is not recognised. Economically it does not make sense because it involves transport cost yet he is happy because he is not working in his locality. It is the sense of not having to do manual work for a living. This attitude to manual work must have originated and grown more widespread during the colonial period when the sahibs were never associated with manual work.

A JNU based scholar from the north east Prof Binod Khadria, an expert on migration, came up with Equitable Adversary Analysis . I met him in 2011 when I visited the Centre for Advanced studies on India (CASI) in University of Pennsylvania,USA. What he is talking about India as a whole can be extended to the NER. India is a major source of migrants in the world.

Low and semi skilled Indian workers go to the Gulf countries whereas the “ knowledge workers” comprising of highly skilled migrants from India go developed countries like the US, Canada, UK or Australia. India, as a destination country, also has a long history of immigration. Immigration in India is largely a regional phenomenon with 98% of all immigrants having their last residence within Asia.

Most of the immigrants to India are from neighbouring countries. According to the United Nations, India is host to about 2.3% of world migrants. However systematic understanding of the contribution of immigrants in India is scarce. Though we have little evidence- based assessment of the immigrants' contribution to the economy we have come to consider the immigrants as a drag .

The matter is not taken very seriously because immigrants constitute about 0.4% of Indians .The problem is even more acute in the north east where a biased attitude towards the immigrants has been growing . In a small state like Manipur migrants from outside the state are said to constitute nearly 30% of the population. Oja Brajakumar's work has never been contested .

My colleague Dr Hemanta of Economics department has been trying to re-examine the issue using mother tongue data from census. Tripura saw the marginalisation of the Tripuris. The apprehension of becoming a minority in our own homeland is not altogether without a basis. We think our future can be secured by inner line permit. We want restrictions on people coming to Manipur. We cry foul when any restriction is imposed on our people in any part of India.

Bezbaruah committee came up to assuage our sense of being discriminated. Khadria describes 'equitable adversary analysis' as an instrument whereby a country of origin and a counterpart country of their destination are brought together for negotiations with a view to creating a win-win situation for both of them. In Equitable Adversary Analysis Khadria argues that we should seek to apply the same standards that we expect from any other country while dealing with issues of Indian migrants in that country.

He endorses the need for some control on the unchecked flow of migrants from across the border and minimising the negative effects. He argues that one must not ignore the components of a humane migration policy which includes investment in the human capital of the migrant population. Instead of stopping them, we should try to get the best out of them.

Today Manipur is no longer a preferred destination; it is also a place of origin. Just as many people from other states have migrated to Manipur , our youth also has migrated all over the country and the world in search of their dreams. We want them to succeed, to prosper without any discrimination. Whether we like it or not, we can neither stop immigrants nor reverse the flow.

It can be minimised and gradually replaced by optimum levels of legal entries. However properly accounted entry alone cannot affect the competitiveness of migrant workers which is at the core of the crisis. If local workers become as competitive, the flood of migrant workers is bound to become a trickle. There is a need to change our attitude to manual work.

We have to take stock of the factors making our workers less competitive. Otherwise we have to pay a heavy price for obstructing the flow of the economy and that too when we are talking about globalisation a la the Act East policy.