odd reason for migration

This is weird.

I just read a study based on a survey of over 9,000 migrants in Mumbai.  The top 3 reasons for migration:  employment, marriage and family feuds.

Family feuds are number 3??  There is an interesting story in there somewhere.  The study is detailed, but didn't elaborate on this particular finding. 

The Census of India does not list family feuds as a reason for migration.

national security issues leaking into ration card administration

I'm really interested in how national security issues are related to citizenship rights.  But as far as my fieldwork goes, I've taken care not to research the topic directly because its sensitive and the Indian government prefers that researchers do not broach it.  Every once in a while though, the topic comes up, unsolicitied, in my conversations and interviews about ration cards.

Rations aren't technically a right of citizenship, because by law, you don't have to be Indian to get a ration card.  But in practice, one of the concerns that rationing officers and government officials are rumored to have is that Bangladeshis are applying for and getting ration cards, and using them as an inroad to establishing an Indian identity and possibily providing an avenue for extremist groups to embed themselves in Indian society.  Or, to put it more directly, that terrorists are getting ration cards.  This is hearsay, because no government official has actually said this to me.  NGO workers say that it is often the stated basis on which applications for ration cards are denied, even if the real reason for the denial may be that the officer is angling for a bribe.

As Ms. Joshi (the director of Apnalaya, an NGO that works with these issues) says, it is an obstructionist tactic for rationing officers to put the burden of proof of citizenship on the applicant.  This is a real problem for poor people who do not have birth certificates.  They might have an election card or various bills as proof of identification and address, but if a rationing officer tells them, "prove to me that you're not Bangladeshi," they really have no way of doing so.  

My interviewees also often mention national security issues when I ask them to speculate on why their applications for ration cards haven't come through, which to me seems like an indication that they perceive (rightly or not) that the government may be treating them like outsiders.  I'd like to craft interview questions that can better get at this issue, but the topic makes people uncomfortable, so for now, I'm leaving it out.

I got a chance to ask the rationing controller of Maharashtra about this issue, sort of.  Today I had a second meeting with him.  He is a very welcoming person... he told his PA (personal assistant) to allow me to have full access to his office, and he encouraged me to ask him anything at all.  So I asked about the citizenship requirement.  I thought the answer he gave was quite interesting.  He didn't really say anything directly at all... but the exchange we had seems to imply that while there is no legal citizenship requirement, given that ration cards are used as proofs of residence in practice, in practice it makes sense to restrict them to citizens.  But maybe I'm reading too much into his words... he did choose them very carefully:

Rameez:  Does someone have to be an Indian citizen for getting a ration card?  Like, I'm a U.S. citizen, if I come to live here, can I get one?

Mr. Kerure:  Basically, food security-- the right to food-- is different, and citizenship is different.

Rameez:  So someone from outside can get [a ration card]?

Mr. Kerure:  That is to say, right to food is not restricted to a person of any origin.  But if you think of citizenship, then you should be Indian.  Because after all, the ration card is not [supposed to be used as a] proof of residence, as I already told you.

Rameez:  But because it is being used as that...

Mr. Kerure:  Yes, used.

Rameez:  then citizenship ka requirement hai?  (Then the citizenship requirement is there?)

Mr. Kerure:  Yes.

a half-day at a ration card office

Muna Apa (the Apnalaya social worker I'm shadowing) took me to visit a ration card office.  She goes there once a week and represents people who need a ration card- related service but are not getting an adequate response from the officials there.  Often, if you're uneducated and poor (i.e- can't pay a bribe), the officers just tell you to get lost, or indefinitely delay your application.  So Muna Apa, armed with the knowledge of exactly what is legal and what is not, and also with the clout of the Apnalaya organization behind her, helps people who face this situation.  

I really got to have a good look a how the application process works.  The ration card building itself was a long, one-story structure with a large dirt lot in front of it.  She took me into the office where the clerks sat, and told me their functions.  (You go to this window to add your name to a ration card.  This one is for new applications...).

When we left the office, Muna Apa asked if I had noticed the men crowding around the various desks.  She explained that they were "brokers" meaning they accepted money from people who had the means to bribe to get their ration card business done.  The brokers facilitate the bribe between the ration card officer and the applicant.  That way, the applicant never has to pay a ration card officer directly, and officers can easily deny the charge that they accept bribes.  There were probably about 10 or 12 brokers there today.  Apnalaya often complains and has them removed from the office, and they stay away for a week or two, but often drift back.  During that week, they just conduct their business right next to hte building, technically off the premises.  The brokers take a cut of the bribe, the ration card clerks get some, the ration officer (head of the office) gets some, as do people in higher levels of government... the money follows the chain of command pretty far, according to Muna Apa and also according to others I have spoken to.

After I met the ration officer, Muna Apa told me that he had been suspended a little while ago for bribery related reasons, but now he's back.  The rest of the time we were there (about an hour or so), Munna Apa was in and out of his office, bringing him the documents or stories of various people that she is representing.

One of the people she was helping today was named Amina, a woman in her late 30's or early 40's who wants to add her name to her uncle's ration card.  She put in the application 15 days ago but hasn't heard any response.  The official who is in charge of her application seems to be on vacation.  She is told to check back on Thursday, when he is expected to return, but Munaapa says it is their classic way of operation, to keep telling people to come back the next day, tire them out, but not give them what they need.  An additional reason Amina has a hard time dealing the office is that she doesn't speak Marathi, and all of their forms are only printed in Marathi. 

Amina is from UP and has been in Mumbai about 12 or 13 years, ever since she got married.  She needs to be added to a ration card before she can take her 12 year old son to the hospital for an operation he needs.  Munapapa checks over her paperwork and finds it in order.  She goes to the ration card official in the large office, explains Amina's problem.  She's sent to the ration officer's office.  He tells her to go back to the other office.  She goes back and forth twice, and then someone tells her to wait until the guy who is in charge of Amina's file comes back from vacation.  So Munaapa feels there is nothing else she can do at the moment, she'll take up Amina's case again in a couple of days.

 

For more on what I've learned about ration cards, see here and here. 

interview witih an MNS activist

Part of my research is about the political parties in each of the two cities I'm comparing.  Here in Mumbai, that means I need to find out a lot about the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, especially.  It is not one of the big parties-- it was just formed in 2006 kind of as an off-shoot of the Shiv Sena.  The mayor of Mumbai right now is from Shiv Sena, but the Maharashtra government is currently Congress dominated.  The two parties go back and forth as ruling party and opposition, but in Mumbai, Shiv Sena is definitely the more powerful of the two.

MNS was formed by Raj Thackeray, who is the nephew of Bal Thackeray, leader of Shiv Sena.  They had an inter-family conflict.  And while the Shiv Sena has been reaching out to include non-Maharashtrans in its rhetoric, platform and representatives, MNS is very focused on the Maharashtra identity in particular, which means they really emphasize the Marathi language, want job reservations for Maharashtrans and constantly speak out against North Indian migrants.  In previous decades the Shiv Sena used to do this stuff too-- against Gujaratis, then South Indians-- but lately they are more inclusive, probably because they realize that to keep power in Mumbai, a city that is only about 40% Maharashtran, they need a broader coalition of supporters.  Anyway, both have a lot in common too-- they are very Hindu nationalist-- but the MNS is notable for its anti-migrant voice in Mumbai politics.

All this is background to explain a pretty interesting interview I had yesterday with an MNS party activist and district president named Saira.  This was my second interview with her.  She is an interesting lady.  Middle aged-- probably around 50.  She is Hindu and has been a widow for 8 years.  Her husband was Muslim.  She was on the verge of telling me problems she had relating to that (besides the normal family stuff you would expect, she said) but then decided against it.  I hope to see her again though, so maybe she will tell me sometime.

Yesterday she talked about what she believes the MNS stands for, how she came to join them and what kind of work she does for them.  The party work is not her full time job-- she does it on the side.  She also gave me a really good picture of the way parties operate in the slums.  (I have been reading a book about Mumbai called Maximum City by Suketu Mehta that also describes this topic in terrific detail). 

Saira is the only MNS supporter I have talked to in a lot of detail so far, although I've had passing conversations with 4 or 5 Maharashtrans who like the MNS.  They have been people like my dabba-wala (food delivery person) and a random girl I sat next to on the train.  One thing I have noticed is that all of them have seemed pretty well-reasoned; not hot-headed like the speeches that Raj Thackeray makes about Mumbai's problems.  They support what I consider to be an extremist party, but they themselves didn't strike me as extremist in political outlook or personality, and they also weren't hateful toward North Indians.  For example, many of Saira's neighbors are North Indians, and she is friendly with them.  They just like the fact that the MNS does a lot of grassroots-level work for people like them, and is trying to help ensure that their children will find jobs.  I'm not sure how they reconcile it with the riots and violence against North Indians that the MNS has instigated in Mumbai, or even whether that is something to reconcile for them.  I find this to be such a contrast to my own process of figuring out what politics I support.  Its a stark reminder that my preferences are overwhelming driven by things like ideology and inclusiveness rather than policy specifics or any work that gets done on the ground.

In my previous conversation with Saira, she emphasized that far and away the most important political issue of the moment for her is jobs.  How are young people in Mumbai going to get jobs when so many people from outside come and take them?  Yesterday, she talked about more nitty gritty party stuff.  A lot of what she described sounded like a well-functioning system of patronage to me.  The party takes care of you-- gets you jobs, gets your kids into school, gets you a ration card, etc-- and you vote for the party.  If the party you support is in power, its much easier to get the things you need.

She also told an interesting story about how she got involved in politics in the first place.  Basically, she got into a fight (lafra) with a woman and was taken to the police station.  The other woman was a Congress party activist, and from what Saira described, kind of a neighborhood bully.  The woman was able to call in her boss, the Congress incumbent from that area, to help her out at the station.  But the police inspector happened to be sympathetic to Saira.   He pointed out to her that in order to have a similar level of protection, she too would have to ally herself with a party.  And so she started working for Shiv Sena because it was the only real opposition to Congress.  And later, she joined MNS.

I have posted my interview with Saira here. 

ration card office visit

Yesterday was a full day of research.  I sat in on a meeting with a ration card officer in Dharavi, and also (thanks to Aazamina's friends Dev, Mansi and Niki) interviewed two women who live in a slum on the other side of town.  But this entry is about the ration card office visit and the things I have learned from it.

In the early afternoon I accompanied Nitin, Indira (both staff of LEARN India) and Bano Apa to the Dharavi ration card office.   Bano Apa is the president of the Mahila Kamgar Sangathna--women workers union-- and she is also a vendor who makes and sells bhajiye (fried snacks) on the street.  Nithin and Banu Apa talked to the ration card officer in charge of the Dharavi branch.  Actually, Nitin did almost all the talking, and Bano Apa, who in meetings is so forceful and articulate, was kind of shy and silent.  I remember she had said at an earlier meeting that she finds these authority figures a bit intimidating, and difficult to speak to as equals.  In fact, at that time, she had been telling the group that the Sangathna was their one way to make their voice heard in front of people they would normally be afraid to approach.

Here's a picture of Bano Apa I took before we went into the ration card office.  She is wearing her LEARN Mahila Kamgar Sangathan ID

Before I describe the meeting, I should point out that by law, the ration card was not intended to be anything but a way to get subsidized essential goods from the national Public Distribution System (kind of like the U.S. social security card).   And it is still not a necessary proof of identity by law.  But in practice its hard to get anything done without it (at least in Mumbai... not sure yet about other places in India).  As far as most people are concerned, their basic right to exist in a particular area or residence stems from their possession of this document.  From what people have told me so far, in Mumbai, its harder to get one if you're not Marathi-speaking and poor migrants from North India are the least likely to be issued ration cards.  And really, for anyone, no matter what their language or origin, the only sure way to get one is to pay a very hefty bribe... well out of the capabilities of most poor people.

Anyway, Nitin and this officer basically had a 5-10 minute conversation about the fact that two years after the women had submitted their initial applications for ration cards, they still have not gotten them.  Over this time, they have been asked to submit various documents-- such as other proofs of identity, and affidavits that their name does not appear on another ration card elsewhere.  Now, the ration card officer is asking for a no-objection letter from their landlords.

The women in this group all pay rent to a ghar-malik, meaning landlord, which means the dwelling is registered under that person's name in official records.  It is also common that if the housing isn't on the landlord's private land, then he is probably paying bribes to government officials to continue to occupy that space.  The important point is that there is no way any ghar malik will ever write a letter to anyone stating that he does not object to the tenancy of someone on his property and that he vouches for their reliability in that residence.  For one thing, it may create legal issues for him, if the tenant then uses the letter to make a claim on the property.  For another, the informal nature of a lot of slum housing means that its kind of a contradiction of terms to put that sort of thing in writing... bottom line is that no landlord will accept that risk when his business is an under-the-table affair.  

And this seems to be common information.  So much so that the three people who went to this meeting were unanimous in telling me that the only reason the ration card officer asked for a no-objection letter is because he knows there is no way any landlord will issue one.

Nitin asked the officer to show him the government circular that requires a no-objection letter, knowing that one does not exist.  The ration card officer said that it wasn't the letter in particular he wanted, but he needed somebody to take responsibility for the tenants that were seeking ration cards  (this part, I didn't really understand fully and will ask Nitin or Indira about it next time I see them).  So Nithin said that the LEARN Mahila Kamgar Sangathna, an organization with an address and several people to contact, will assume that responsibility, and the officer seemed ok with this.  The group's next task is to write a letter for each woman's application to that effect.

Maybe, after that is done, ration cards will be issued.

One reason its taken so long so far is that government offices are (purposely?) very sluggish.  Two years ago, to begin this ration card process for the Sangathna women, Nithin met with a state-level minister, who issued an order to Mantralaya (the name for Maharashtra's administrative headquarters) to get the process going.  That order took a couple of months in coming.  Then, the transfer of instructions from officials at Mantralaya to the Dharavi ration card office branch took another 4 months.  Now, things are getting more and more pressing for the women who are hoping for ration cards, because it is one of their only chances of not becoming homeless once the next phase of Dharavi's re-development starts (expected to happen within the year) and their current homes are torn down.  Without ration cards, they don't have a chance of being included in the government's relocation schemes.  

The causes of this situation are so varied:  the system of bribes and corruption, the government's drive to beautify and develop Mumbai and the money brought in by big development companies, migration and overcrowding in the city, native Maharashtran identity politics.  The effect, though, is a really pronounced situation of third-class citizenship for internal migrants especially... Indian citizens who are guaranteed rights of movement and livelihood by the constitution, but face a hostile local environment.  A lot of the identity and residence issues they face are similar to those of illegal immigrants in the U.S. and Europe (and often more severe), except that they are perfectly legal.