slums of manappatiparambu

8/9/2019 Slums of Manappatiparambu

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A visit to Slums of Manappaty Parambu on 02/07/2009

A report: Localities v. Migrants

Introduction

Internal migration is now recognized as an important factor in

influencing social and economic development, especially in

developing countries.The city of Cochin has the reputation of a

young rising metro in India. It has all the potential to be city like

Mumbai or Chennai in the years to come. But it miserably fails

in the management of these resources for the social welfare.The local authorities tend to forget that along with construction

of skyscrapers it is also essential to achieve Millennium Goals

such as eradication of poverty and providing basic amenities of

life mentioned in Indian constitution.

Among those who have a proper place to live complain of

guttery and uneven roads and dirty streets. Those who doesnt

have one, has no choice but to evade some government owned

land. This has been one of the major problems this city has

been facing since its rise in the real estate market value.

Our recent visit to Manappatiparambu, one of the infamous

slums in the heart area of Cochin helped us to gauge the

intensity of the issue. We met the localities as well as the

migrants. We heard both the views and came to a conclusion

which is far more pragmatic.


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What did local residents have to say?

Local residents of Manappaty Parambu, were not at all in good

terms with migrants who were residing in the plot which is

under the ownership of GCDA and Kochi Corporation when we

visited there on 2nd July. They accuse the activities of migrant

labours to be the main cause behind unhygienic

nieghbourhood, disturbances in the night, polluting the

environment and increasing crimes. Locals believe that even

though the migrants have enough money to rent a house theydeliberately restrain from it, in order to save money. In this way

they are using the limited public resources such as fresh water

taps etc for bathing of tax paying localitys cost. They have

been complaining of Kochi Corporations senseless decision to

waste the resources by allowing migrants to live in a plot,

situated in the centre part of city, which if wisely used, is a

major revenue source.

What did the migrants have to say?

As the migrant homes were demolished on 1st July, i.e. a day

before we visited there, the migrant was in a very sorry state of

affairs. They were mainly from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and

Karnataka. About 70% of the inhabitants had left before we

came. They follow a schedule of 3 months of labour outside

their homeland and remaining 8 months back to their homes.

According to their testimonials, on an average they receivearound Rs.350 per day for manual labour, gardening, farming

etc. They say that there are very few Anti-social elements

within their group who creates all the problems in the

nieghbourhood for which a large number of innocents need to

suffer. They points out that the most of the criminals are from

Tamil Nadu besides they dont have a proper identity also. All

the houses which were earlier occupied by them have been

demolished and the plot is going to be turned into a parking lot.


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They complain that the locals refuse lent houses to them due to

cultural reasons and fear. In a meeting of one of the residents

associations in the city, a Police Officer in the local police

station is reported to have warned the residents of the need for

taking additional precautions while renting out the premises to

the migrants.

Around 60% of the total enumerated populations were

females. As far as inter-state movement is concerned there is a

significant sex difference is found.

The reasons for migration have been classified into sevenbroad groups work/employment, business, education,

marriage, moved at birth, moved with family and others. It is

observed that employment among males and marriage among

females are the main reasons for migration. Associational

reasons movement on account of accompanying parents or

any other member of the family is elicited second most

important reason among both male and female intercensal

migrants.

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU NATIONAL URBAN RENEWAL MISSION

Development of slums are one of highest priorities in common

minimum programme of the incumbent government through

this project for providing shelter, basic services and other

related civic amenities with a view to providing utilities to the

urban poor. It is proposed to take up a comprehensive

programme of urban renewal and expansion of social housing

in towns and cities, paying attention to the needs of slum

dwellers. It offers projects for providing houses at affordable

cost for slum dwellers, urban poor, economically weaker

sections (EWS) and lower income group (LIG) categories. This

will be administered by the Ministry of Urban Employment and

Poverty Alleviation through the Sub-Mission Directorate for

Basic Services to the Urban Poor.


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Conclusion

There is growing evidence in India to suggest that the country

is moving fast in the overall development. Structural

transformation in the 1990s has propelled the growth of the

economy further. The percentage of people below poverty line

has reduced and per capita consumption has improved

simultaneously. Although Indian economy is predominantly

agricultural, the proportion of work force engaged in

agricultural activities has fallen significantly. This reduction is

perhaps, a sign of enhanced job opportunities in other sectors.

A quick look at the flow matrix shows that the poorest states in

terms of states per capita income have moved to states with

high per capita income for higher wages and better

opportunities.

Kerala: A Gulf for migrant labourers

Kerala is witnessing large inflow of migrant labour from

different parts of the country in recent years. Though labourers

from states as far as West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and

Orissa now flock to Kerala, those from the neighbouring state of

Tamilnadu out number others by a big margin. Higher wages

for unskilled labour in the state, large opportunities for

employment and shortage of local labour, paradoxically despite

the high unemployment rate in the state, led to the massive

influx of migrant labour to the state. With signs of rapid growth

of states economy and the increase in activities particularly in


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the infrastructure and construction sectors, the inmigration is

expected to grow faster in the coming years.

The other side of the hype

The migrant labourers get much higher monetary wages than

in their native places. But, they work for longer hours and their

real wages may be lower as they have to incur higher cost of

living in Kochi on food, shelter and transport. They live in

shanty houses/rooms in slum like localities often on a sharing

basis. A few of them live on verandas of shops. They have

limited access to sanitation facilities and safe water. Theirpractices of waste disposal pose problems of public health and

environment. Their working and living conditions and habits

make them suffer from a number of diseases. But their access

to public services like health and education is limited. They

enjoy very limited protection from labour laws. They also face

problems of social integration in Kerala. There are reports of

large number of human rights violations. With the possibility of

much larger influx in view of the large scale expansion ofeconomic activities in the State, the migrants can put heavy

pressure on urban infrastructure, environment and public

services. They may also pose many challenges in governance

particularly of urban areas.

Most of the migrant workers live in shanty houses/rooms in

slum-like localities often on a sharing basis. In many cases, the

houses/rooms are over crowded. Only one in twenty familieslives in an independent house. Others live mostly in a single

room or share a house with others. This pattern is different

from the usual pattern of accommodation of Malayalee families

in Kerala. Many of the migrant families live in small houses or

rooms where adequate toilet facilities are absent. Few of the

workers who are not accompanied by their family members live

in verandahs of shops. Sharing of one toilet by two or more


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families sometimes force some of them to use the public places

instead of toilets.

Pressure on government?

The current analysis alerts policy makers, planners and

administrators at the State as well as local levels on some of

the issues resulting from the rapid growth in migrant

population. It pointed out that in view of the rising in-migration,

questions related to governance, public health, sanitation,

water supply, housing, urban environment, education and

infrastructural needs, and law and order warrant greater

attention.

The large influx of migrants from different parts of the country

with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds puts pressure

on governance as well as civic amenities. Problems are also

expected to crop up due to the absence of reliable information

on the quantum of in-migration of a floating nature and these

migrants are unlikely to be taken into account while making

population projections and consequently in planning. Forintegration issues relating to migration into local governance,

alternative population projections that include migrants of all

types have to be made. It is recommended that the volume and

diversity of the migrant population has to be taken into account

in urban planning and implementation of programmes and

projects such as Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission and

Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project.

slums of manappatiparambu

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