Migrants coming due to poverty in home states Shyam Zambauliker
With the passage of time, South Goa has seen a substantial increase in migrant labourer. The background of these labourers reveals that the majority are daily wage earners and live in huts.
There is a feeling in many quarters that there was a need to contain the increasing migration rate in the state as it puts a load on Goa's infrastructure.
Ms Betty Fernandes, a housewife, says that migrant labour work in fields and carry out any work assigned to them. However, even among these there are skilled as well as unskilled labourers.
According to the South Goa superintendent of police, Mr Shekhar Prabhudessai, the influx of economically weaker migrants is mainly from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar and they come as labourers and work at various development projects in South Goa.
One former MLA said that there is a need that government policies should be made in such a way that it curtails the migration as Goa cannot take a heavy load of migrants. He lamented that the migration graph has spiralled out of control.
Mr M C Mullha, a labour contractor, said that a large number of the workers come to Goa primarily motivated by economic factors adding that low agricultural income, unemployment are considered critical factors pushing the migrants towards relatively prosperous areas with greater job opportunities. Even the pressure of population resulting in a high man-land ratio has been stated as one of the important reasons of rural migration.
He said that some are compelled to leave their native places because of low productivity, unemployment and underdevelopment, poor economic conditions, lack of opportunities for advancement, exhaustion of natural resources and natural calamities. He said that in most developing countries, due to population explosion land-man ratio has declined resulting in significant increase in unemployment and underemployment. He pointed out that non-availability of alternative sources of income non-agricultural activities in rural areas is also important factor for their migration.
http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=020810
