Anthropological study of labour migrants from Bihar in Chandigarh continuities and change

Abstract

Migration has come to be viewed as a stage in the household lifecycle of several families settled in various parts of Bihar as the boys grow to be men they are considered eligible to be sent away to earn. The heads of the household, the alpha patriarch, stays in the village to look after the farm and other enterprise besides the homestead and those who have been left behindand#8223; especially the women. Despite the forces of historical continuity, there are several aspects of the lives of the migrant labour that have been drastically reversed despite the economic progress attained in the country. As compared to the contemporary attainments in the agricultural and industrial sectors the migrant workers continue to labour under the insecurities and risks that they have been living with since centuries. These continuities of inequalities are being perpetuated in the unrecognized unorganized and informal sector. These circumstances have been highlighted most poignantly in the post Lockdown exodus of the migrant workers to their native places. The changed notion of regulationand#8223; in itself is an explanation of the shift in administrative mind-set from formaland#8223; to informaland#8223; bringing to the fore how changeand#8223; is gradually in and challenging the continuitiesand#8223; of past decades. newline