National Council of Churches in India
Dalit and Tribal/Adivasi Concerns in partnership with
Vidarbha Centre for Labour Concerns and Christian Service Agency
Celebrates May Day with the Migrants
Date: 1^st May 2017 (4.30 PM – 6.30 PM)
Venue: Samvidhan Chowk, Near Kasturchand Park, Nagpur (MS)

 CONCEPT NOTE:

In India, thousands people including men, women and children mostly Dalits and Adivasis, are forced to migrate from their home to other places because of poverty, unemployment, limited economic activities, landlessness, global warming, environmental calamities, failure in agriculture because of uncertain monsoon and floods, deforestation, political persecution, poor medical care facilities in their native place, forced displacement because of so-called developmental work etc. According to Economic Survey 2016-17, an average of nine million people migrate between states every year for either education or work, that’s almost double the inter-state migration recorded in 2001-2011.The increasingly protectionist policies of countries of destination which also constitute the labour receiving countries and the subsequent restriction on legal forms of migration, as well as the growing economic crisis with increasing unemployment, play a major role in the growing incidence of trafficking of Dalit and Tribal/ Adivasi women and children across nations. As a result, mostly communities of Dalits and Adivasis get discriminated, are rendered jobless and helpless, and remain in poverty.

Migrants form the largest part of India’s vast unorganized work sector. Their entry into the labour markets is marked with several endemic disadvantages. Devoid of critical skills, information and bargaining power, migrant workers often get caught in exploitative labour arrangements that force them to work in low-end, low-value, hazardous work. Lack of identity and legal protection accentuates this problem. The hardships of migrant workers are especially magnified when state boundaries are crossed and the distance between the “source” and “destination” increases. Migrants can also become easy victims of identity politics and parochialism. Despite the vast numbers of migrant workers, the policies of the Indian state have largely failed in providing any form of legal or social protection to this vulnerable group. In a continuous state of drift, migrants are left out of the scope of state provisions at both ends – the “source” and the “destination”. The urban labour markets treat them with opportunistic indifference extracting hard labour but denying basic entitlements such as decent shelter, fair priced food, subsidized healthcare facilities or training and education. They are also usually out of bounds of government and civil society initiatives, both because of being “invisible” and for their inability to carry entitlements along as they. Rising labour mobility has cut across language barriers and has been more pronounced among women, stressing the need for more flexible social security schemes that cut across states to sustain the trend. Portability of food security benefits, healthcare, and a basic social security framework for the migrant are crucial – potentially through an interstate self registration process. Dalit and Tribal/Adivasi Concerns of NCCI in collaboration with THE MIGRANTS in the (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) MIDC area are trying to understand the groaning voice of the migrants in the times of onslaught of Neo- Liberalisation.

May Day is not a celebration of trade unionism only but of all humankind. It is not a conga-line of left-wing ragbags winding their way through the streets chanting slogans calling for the downfall of capitalism. May Day, particularly in today’s world – where ordinary hard-working people are increasingly left bleeding on the economic roadside from collateral damages inflicted by the global recession – is about family, freedom, and a fair go. It is about empowerment in a world where individuals still too often have little control over their own destiny when it comes to the workplace. The Church needs to welcome migrant people with an open heart as majority of them are Dalits and Adivasis in their congregation; they need to be included in church activities and ministries. The Church needs to show concern for the rights of migrants and stand with them to overcome all discrimination based on race, colour, culture and religions. The Church could work with NGOs, Labour Unions, Trade Unions and other religious communities for justice, equality of migrant people where they face discrimination such as in public places, workplaces, schools, colleges, institutions, other places etc. The Church could help them to settle in their new land and to facilitate their relationships with local people. Dalit and Tribal/ Adivasi Concerns of NCCI consider it imperatives that the situation of Migrant workers in our contemporary context needs to be reviewed through in-depth study, analysis and solidarity in order to build a just society.

NCCI-Dalit and Tribal/Adivasi Concerns, Vidarbha Centre for Labour Concrns and the Migrants will celebrate May Day at Samvidhan Chowk, Near Kasturchand Park, Nagpur from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. This celebration will be done through sharing of experiences, Street Theatre, singing songs of liberation, and expressions of social workers thereby ushering a new sense of freedom of association, such as that of the fellowship of Churches and working families.

Objectives:

1. To explore the magnitude of suffering and injustices that migration brings on individuals, families and communities.
2. To engage and experience the joy in joining hands to liberate migrants from slavery and bondage that they may be taking home the good news.
3. To exercise our freedom to respond to God’s compelling love to be involved in God’s mission of liberation by addressing issue of  migration.

Pradip Bansrior
Executive Secretary
Dalit and Tribal/ Adivasi Concerns
National Council of Churches in India