The Lost Childhood

Problem of child migration among tribal.

In some parts of India, three out of four households include a migrant. However despite the large scale of migration in absolute numbers of people involved and India’s long history of population and labour mobility, labour migration has rarely been reliably studied. Labour migration is complex. Streams differ in duration, origin, destination and migrant characteristics. Economic and social impacts on migrants and their families are variable. Migration often involves longer working hours, poor living and working conditions, social isolation and poor access to basic amenities. At destination, migrant labour affects markets, lowering the cost of labour. Migration also affects the labour market at the place of origin. Migrant earnings affect income, expenditure patterns and investment and changes relations at household and community levels. While there seems to be some positive impact on incomes and investment, the major function of migration is to act as a ‘safety valve’ in poor areas. The impact on asset and income inequality is more mixed. Internal mobility is critical to the livelihoods of many people, especially tribal people, socially deprived groups and people from resource-poor areas.  However, because of lack of data, migration is largely invisible and ignored by policy makers. There is a large gap between the insights from macro data and those from field studies (Sharma 2009).

Jharkhand is glaring example of the lost childhood due to Migration and child trafficking that must be prevented through collaborative action of influential members of society and community leaders, police personals, media people, NGOs working in the field and individuals who are in professional capacity can influence state legislation to successfully combat trafficking. Education with professional/ technical skill education for income generation activities are needed. 

This paper deals with ground realities of Jharkhand by its economy, culture and the people in the first part, migration of people from Jharkhand in second, driving forces of migration in the third followed by a part debating on migration with conclusion. This study is limited to the tribal migration in Jharkhand state of India in particular. However, general understanding of migration among tribal has also been discussed.