Life in a Metro: A Study on Migrant Workers From Assam Living in Bengaluru

Abstract

The massive migration of the rural population, triggered by agrarian distress, to the more developed regions of India for lowly paid jobs in the informal sector has been one of the most striking phenomena in neoliberal India. The last two decades have also witnessed an unprecedented out-migration of rural population from the northeast Indian state of Assam to the metropolises and growth centres in other parts of India in search of livelihood. Based on a study conducted in Bengaluru among migrant workers from Assam, this article examines the networks that facilitate such out-migration, its circular nature, and their working and living conditions in the city. The remittances of the migrants provide only temporary relief to their families in the villages and despite their periodic return to the village with the intent to settle down, poverty and lack of alternative livelihood force them to migrate to the city again. The oscillation between the dehumanising conditions of their life in the city and the economic hardship in the village continues without any reprieve.