Methodology: Audio recording for case studies
Language: Hindi
Catalysts: Akhileshkumar Sharan
Youth Fellows:
Santosh Bhekre
Sachin Kadam
Dildar Hussain
Bhupendra Badsiwal
Coordinator: Manoj Tank
About the Subject: Mumbai is the economic center of the country. People from all over India come to settle here for different reasons. But one common thing among them all could be economic gain. They struggle a lot here, trying their best to adjust to the city. Can the people born and brought up in this city imagine the struggle of these migrants? The migrants’ contribution in the progress of the city is very significant. The group wanted to explore the hidden aspects of the lives of these migrants and to do a comparative study of economic and social struggle between migrants and non-migrants.
Challenges & Learnings: This group of friends had a mixture of migrants (people who have come from other states) and non-migrants (Mumbaikars). They selected 25 members of each community – migrants and non-migrants and used questionnaires for data collection. They also recorded interviews with some of these people on audio tape. They organized community events where migrants and local people came together and shared their struggle, problems, feelings and perceptions about each other. The migrants felt good that they got an opportunity for the first time to talk about these issues. Overall the research gave good exposure of the lives of both migrant and non-migrant people. The group had to face many challenges in gaining trust of the respondents. To build team spirit among migrant and non-migrant members was also a great challenge for all group members and for the catalyst in particular.
Conclusion: 80 % of the migrant and non-migrant respondents said that migrant’s contribution in the development of Mumbai is inevitable. Non-migrants said that migrants are very hard working and were agreeable to work for lower payments. 60% of the local respondents believed that the presence of migrants affected their livelihood opportunities. Migrants said that they faced a lot of problems because they didn’t have any residential or photograph proof. The migrants did not show much interest in local politics of the city, as they spent most of their time at work.
End Product: The group prepared posters depicting economic and social difference among migrants and locals in various fields like building construction work, festivals and residents.
