They work hard and contribute to the development of the city and the country's economy. Without voting rights, social networks and excluded from the socio-cultural and administrative aspects of the city, they cannot claim access to basic facilities and services in the city (Bhagat, 2017). The collapse of textile factories in the 1970s and 1980s, allowing the city to participate in global value chains through low-cost production.
Additionally, the city experienced a major boom in the 1980s with the closure of mills in the former Bombay and Ahmedabad. This group is also the one that has borne the brunt of the state's reconstruction and resettlement projects, with new infrastructure projects (for example, Surat has the highest number of flyovers in the country) regularly pushing them into resettlement colonies (under the provisions of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana). , located on the outskirts of the city. How urban planning and urban governance policies and schemes respond to circular migrants in the city.
Finally, potential ways to improve their standard of living in the city will be explored. The circular migrants in these work sectors live in one of the three typologies of residential areas in the city: (1) open spaces;. 2) rented rooms; or (3) in the workplaces where they are employed. At present, the majority of power loom workers in the area are employed in the Anjani industrial area, which is a newly emerging industrial corridor on the outskirts of the city.
With a focus on power looms, it became the center to cover the various levels in the industry hierarchy.
Ahmedabad
One of the most important characteristics of migrant workers living locally is that their contractor or employer is one of their strongest networks in the city. Like the Adivasi construction workers who live in cramped rented rooms in Raipur, the open-air workers cannot afford the rents that upper-caste skilled workers and semi-settled migrants can afford. Figure 9: Open settlements like the one in Vasna have existed in the city for years, even decades.
They also use the same water for bathing, washing clothes and cleaning the toilets, as described later in the section on access to water. Migrant families living in settlements in various types of open spaces have to negotiate with a larger set of actors to gain access to sanitation facilities in the city. As a result, workers are forced to defecate in the open, often up to 2 kilometers away from their settlements.
Of all the occupational groups and housing types surveyed, however, migrant workers living in open-air settlements may have the most arbitrary access to water in the city. In the occupational categories, none of the workers reported having access to subsidized food grains or other basic commodities under the public distribution system in the city. 6 Workers living in rented rooms reported that they bring grain from their villages to use in the city and also have storage space that those living outdoors do not have.
First, unskilled Adivasi construction workers living in rented accommodation have similar wages to those living in the open, making the basis for calculating the proportion of food expenditure similar for these groups (although this may not applies to factory workers). Therefore, food costs in the city are extremely high among different groups of migrant workers. Expenditure on food as a percentage of income, similarly procured, is also high in the case of migrant workers living in rented rooms.6 For STs, SCs and some OBC constructions as well as factory workers, it accounts for 49 percent of their monthly income.
However, this does not take into account their additional sources of income in the city. Adivasi families living in factories and working largely in the most dangerous conditions (such as operating boiler machines) spend an average of 29 percent of their income on food and fuel – a lower percentage than loaders, construction workers and domestic workers who live on site. . In the case of migrants living in open spaces, there is no option to access kerosene fuel or gas cylinders.
Surat
The experiences of 25 canteen residents living in various neighborhoods of Ved Road and Amroli were documented as part of the survey. There is no limit to the number of workers you can place in the dining room. Despite the guarantee in the form of social networks, a place in the dining rooms is not always guaranteed.
While single male migrants form the larger workforce in the powerloom industry, some workers have managed to bring their families to the city as well. These clusters of rented rooms in settlements are demarcated along the lines of the original districts. Electricity bills were included in the rent or had to be paid separately to the landlord.
The study tried to capture the details of the children of migrant workers living in the city. It was also noticed that 17 workers entered the post offices in the city to send money to the villages. The survey also asked about any emergencies faced by migrant workers in the city.
Taken together, only 21 percent of the group captured in the survey hold bank documents in the city. No migrant worker in the surveyed group reported having a ration card in Surat. Even the conversations that emerged from the FGDs showed that the migrant workers had different views on obtaining ration cards or bank documents in the city.
The problem presented by the evidence: the current status of circular migrant workers in the city. As the evidence presented shows, it is this logic that supports migrant workers' access to basic facilities (based on the absence of state and employer subsidy or direct provision). However, further devolution of powers to city governments was not foreseen in the design of the policy.
In the meantime, the state should be able to provide temporary shelter facilities tailored to the needs of these groups. Improving access to formal rental housing: The state should subsidize migrant workers' access to dignified rental housing in the city through rental vouchers.
