THE STATES

A history of migration

RAVI SHARMA

GOA is one of the more prosperous States, with a per capita income of Rs.49,673, the highest in the country. But in common with the rest of India is the lopsided development. While some sections have benefited immensely, others continue to languish.

Nevertheless, development has acted as a catalyst in attracting migrant workers, who are grudgingly seen as a necessary evil. But they are an integral part of Goan society. An attempt a few years ago to drive away the migrants who cleaned the streets of Vasco da Gama boomeranged, with the whole city turning into a garbage dump.

Native Goans worry that their identity will vanish in the face of a migrant assault. Most native Goans, more so the Catholics, talk of a distinct Goan identity; a western, Latino, Catholic image that has been successfully played up by the tourism industry. During the violent Konkani agitation of 1987 the message sent across to all Goans was to protect "our golden Goa".

Said Percival Noronha, 80, a former bureaucrat who served both under the Portuguese and under Indian administrators: "We were ruled from Portugal for 450 years and 23 days. We were a closed shell. The result of this is that we are different from other Indians. While our ethos is Indian, there is no denying the fact that our manners, our way of thinking, is western."

Intellectuals have also wittingly or unwittingly seconded this perception. For example, Ajay Noronha's recent play on paedophiles is titled `Baile' (Outsiders). Going by the title, one would assume that outsiders were responsible for the paedophilia on Goa's beaches. In actual fact, the local people are the guilty ones. Small things like this have constantly reiterated the feeling that it is `outsiders' who have brought their perversions to Goa.

Percival Noronha said that even during the Portuguese times migrants were smuggled in from Maharashtra and Karnataka to work in the mines.

Over the centuries, Goa has shown two strong trends in migration. Many educated and even less-educated Goans favour out-migration, primarily going abroad seeking better employment opportunities. This trend started in the 1850s, became rampant in the early part of the 20th century, and lasted over a hundred years. Out-migration was especially high in the coastal areas, with the main reasons being poverty and the desire to seek better social and employment prospects. There is also the explanation that the stagnant economy of Portugal and its colonies meant that people "acquired education and aspirations, but no jobs". The out-migration contributed significantly to the high internal migration to the agricultural belts in the coastal areas from the hinterland.

Migration into Goa was caused chiefly by major projects and heavy government spending, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, during the first phase of the building of infrastructure in what was until then a stagnant colonial backwater. The Portuguese, unlike the other European colonialists, were not known for industrialisation. While out-migration has dropped since liberalisation, in-migration has boomed.

Migrants are not the only cause for worry for those concerned about Goa's "unique' identity".

Although the Goan population has more than doubled in the last four decades since Portuguese rule ended - from around 5.55 lakhs in 1961 to 13.4 lakhs now - Goa's fertility rate, which is already well below replacement level, has been falling, according to the National Family Health Survey of India report. According to the report, the State's Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.77 is the lowest in India, while the national average is 2.85. TFR indicates the average number of children a woman has in her childbearing years.

According to the Sample Registration System undertaken by the Office of the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner in 2002, the State's birth rate of 14 live births per 1,000 of the population is the lowest among all the States, with the national average being 25. Clearly, migrants have made a fair contribution to the increase in Goa's population.

The unemployment figure in Goa stands at 1.03 lakhs, with another 50,000 people in sectors such as fisheries, agriculture and tourism, all seasonal activities, underemployed. Have migrants taken away these jobs? Says Alito Sequeira, who teaches sociology in Goa University: "Migrants do not compete for the jobs that the natives want, but since they are the weakest socio-economic group they are targeted."

According to some Congress politicians, one reason why the ruling BJP is targeting migrants, many of whom have voter identification cards, is that most of them are seen as Congress voters. Many migrants still talk fondly of voting for Indira Gandhi's party.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail