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A roundtable on ‘Internal Migration: The Challenges and the experiences of migrants from the Northeast India’ was held at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in collaboration with Stockholm University on November 29 in Guwahati. Prof. DK Srivastava, Deputy Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati, in his welcome introduction, iterated that migration is a side effect of uneven development. One of the priorities of institutes like TISS, he said, was to develop opportunities for reverse migration especially in higher education, for which students are moving to different places, according to a press release. Prof. Bengt G. Karlsson from Stockholm University delivered the keynote address, where he talked about the project on Migration. He spoke on why migration is very significant in the North East India, where people are struggling with land and resources. He also dwelled on what type of processes make migration possible. Prof. Karlsson pointed out the conjunctures that migration began with the opening of the Indian economy with neo-liberal policies and claimed that this policy has contributed jobs for the North East migrants. He added there are many different forms of migration relating to the Indigenous people. Dr. Dolly Kikon from the University of Melbourne shared experiences of her field work in Dimapur and Kerala. She argued that the increasing violence is not only from the state or the issue of citizenship but in the corporate sector, the release said. The challenges as a researcher, she said, is how to do justice while writing field data. The first roundtable started with ‘Emerging Labour Market in Northeast India’. The panelists were Mrinal Gohain from Action Aid, Netaji Basumatary from Indo-Global Social Service Society, and Dr. Rajshree Bedamatta from IIT, Guwahati. Mrinal Gohain revisited the historicity of migration since the coming of the East India Company in the North East region in the Industrial Age. It was only in the 90’s that migration really began when the subaltern caste had moved out apparently for education, it was stated. He pointed out there are also cases of migration within the North East region in the coalfields of Meghalaya. He maintained that people migrate to escape from the mundane and go beyond for sustaining security and dignity; however, there are racial hostilities that one has to encounter. He highlighted that the presence of high incidences of dropouts in the rural tribal community is one of the reasons attributed to moving to different places. Tribal belts are more vulnerable to conflict inviting migration to secured places, Mrinal stated. Stating that young women migrants were sexually exploited at the work places, he pointed out the transition period for them was tragic as many were lost and trafficked during their move. He put forward their experiences when they returned to their homes. Many were stigmatised and not so welcome in their conservative society, and they found it difficult to find partners. He mentioned the need to engage with safer migration although it is a willing migration. Rajshree Bedamatta narrated stories about the experiences of migrants in the educational settings and how identity is an important concern. She further discussed the anxieties of parents when their children move out to newer places in search of employment opportunities. During interactions with the participants, important factors such as development and its impact in the rural areas, migration as the positive and negative process were highlighted. It was brought to light that often migrants were praised for generating income, however, the domestic workers primarily women were stigmatized even as they contributed to the household economy.
Keywords
internal migration, migrants, social science, migrants, higher education, development
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