By Cherin Geevarghese

Abstract

As various factors give shape to the mobility of people within a state, Megacities in India witness massive influx of migrants from rural regions. The significant changes in weather patterns due to climate change that manifest as droughts, flooding, heatwaves and other natural hazards, causing poverty, hunger, drought and famine, acts as push factors, forcing rural households to migrate to cities. Often, the same is viewed as a socio – economic crisis. As a confined space and a hub of commercial aspiration and constant dynamic pattern in mobility with space, megacities like Mumbai and Delhi follow their respective paradigm in order to respond to the migration change. As policymakers focus more on rural resilience and policies to protect the migrants, it is pivotal to observe on how to enhance the infrastructure of cities to become more resilient as the ongoing climate change exacerbates migration of people.

INTRODUCTION

Migration is often viewed as a mitigation method, and an adaptive strategy inorder to enhance resilience. However, the same may differ when migrants who move towards their destination lack an equal amount of recognition, freedom sources, employment and other protective features that favors their lifestyles. Most of the migrants in developing countries are forced to migrate due to various threats to their lives. These individuals tend to come from vulnerable backgrounds. The large scale population displacement in India is witnessed from rural areas to urban areas. A census report of 2011 reveals that 455 million people migrated in India, out of which 64% of them were from rural areas. These population displacements are also driven by socio economic factors as well. The nature of migration may vary from seasonal migration to permanent migration. The migration often undertaken by marginalised communities in rural areas are often primarily dependent on agriculture.

The certainty of climate change has resulted in crop failures and significant decrease in agricultural production. This is also due to the annual rise in temperature which further threatens the food security of the population in rural areas. The Environmental Justice Foundation in its report on 2021 reveals that many of those who depend on agriculture are poor. At the same time, 85% of Indian farmers farm less than 5 acres of land and even though agriculture accounts for only 15% of India’s economic output, 75% of Indian families are dependent on rural incomes. These stressors often leads farmers to suicides. At the same time, it also forces individuals to displace their respective rural settings. 
Most of the time, the cities do offer the migrants with unskilled labor. At times, the migrants face struggles by settling in the peripheral regions of the urban space, far from the internet and far from a space that offers the infrastructure and resources that a city can provide. The shortage of good water supply and lack of accessibilities to good policies often affects the living conditions of the migrants. The migrating households may also vary and there is a huge gender based dynamic that can be observed in the migrating settings. However, the emerging crisis is – whether a confined city space can afford to withstand the migration influx. 

MIGRANTS IN MEGA CITIES

As the socio-economic pressure forces the male members of Indian households to migrate to large cities, the women and children often stay back with the expectation of receiving accumulated cash flow in their households. The 2011 national report reveals that there has been a seasonal and circular pattern in India where men move cyclically seeking work. Due to marriages within states, we witness a large fraction of rural to rural migration. However, rural to urban migration turns out to be more permanent. As cities like Mumbai and Delhi have started facing substantial increase in climate related threats, natural hazards such as heat waves and floods can contribute towards the vulnerabilities of communities that migrate. 

As the population growth intensifies the heatwaves in densely populated megacities, the influx of migrants would further the same. Moreover, the vulnerable communities, which includes the migrant communities are likely to become comparatively more affected by such heat waves due to the confined space and sub – optimal dwellings in which they inhabit. Furthermore, cities like Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai and Kolkata would face short term emergencies in order to manage the long term recovery of the marginal communities that include the marginal migrants. These cities also face hydroclimatic hazards very often. Therefore, migrating destinations, primarily the mega cities, gradually transition to become a hotspot for climate induced disruptions. Nevertheless, the migrants of climate change would remain with barely any services and health care facilities such as proper shelter, clean water and sanitation. Therefore, the climate induced migrants who take refuge in Indian cities struggle to escape the trap of poverty and hunger. Their settlement might often look like slums, where they are deprived of sanitation and even access to good education. Therefore, they tend to fall under the category of urban poor. There are several climate based policies that fosters resilience for the migrating poor and several policies for the enhancement of agriculture. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) focuses on absorbing the rural migrants and by providing them with the 100 days wage. It also attempts to incorporate the aspect of climate induced migration to enhance the social protection of the migrants of climate change as well. 

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ASPECTS

Yet, it is pivotal to look at the sustainable development goal sets, laid down by the United nations, it is vital to identify the scenario through a sustainable lens. To begin with by identifying the SDG13, Climate action, Climate resilience ought to be the primary agenda for local communities and vulnerable households of developing regions, in order to mitigate the socio economic and life threatening challenges posed by climate change. Followed by the same we ought to identify SDG 1, No Poverty, in order to ensure the economic upliftment of the poor and vulnerable migrants. Furthermore, SDG 2 Zero Hunger, to ensure the proper food take and resources for the migrants to avail and access the food schemes at national and subnational levels, SDG 3 Good health and Well being, by ensuring that the migrants gets the access to health care facilities. SDH4 Quality Education, ensures that the migrants avail education that is required for their children and for themselves, in order to be eligible for skilled work. SDG 5 Gender Equality, is one of the most pivotal sustainable development goal that ensures the safety of women and also ensures the nourishment of children, who come under the vulnerable groups. SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation, identifies the basic water and sanitation facilities and  SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, complements the same by ensuring that the migrants are eligible to avail the energy based resources offered under the national government schemes. SDG 8 Decent work and Economic Growth, to focuses on the economic growth of the communities that migrate SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, for a constant economic inclusiveness of the migrant workers SDG10 Reduced Inequalities, to ensure the inclusiveness of the migrants  and SDG11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, equips the urban economy and urban setting to become climate resilience and include the migrant population with the right set of infrastructure, institutionalised policies and resources for development. As the narratives of sustainable form of development.

It should act as a space for ensuring that equality is even and communities remain sustainable with adequate services, sanitation, availability of resources as well as protection under the right set of policies and governance of the state. 

Hence, the economy and social services within the cities should be at large, such a way that it has the potential to accommodate the dynamic mobility of population from various landscapes and different geographies. 

Conclusion 

Even though the citizens do not face legal barriers or immigration based issues as they cross the state borders, the states shall ensure that the citizens who at least possess their identity card / “AADHAR card”, are provided with the right set of services and equal rights and access to policies. Even though climate induced migrants lack legal recognition across the globe, it is also vital to institutionalize the migration aspect to various existing climate based policies to ensure that climate induced migrants within the state receive the provisions that they seek for be it in the form of education services or in the form of employment opportunities. Education should be provided for such migrants to ensure that they get the opportunities to take part in skilled labor available in cities. 

Author’s Bio 

Cherin Geevarghese, is a student of Liberal Arts and Humanities and a self-designed major in Environmental Sustainability Studies and International Relations. His field of research lies predominantly in Migration Studies, Climate change and Political Ecology as well as Urban Studies. 

Image Source: Sayamindu Dasgupta