Study on Migration to Bombay - Counter's Raj Thackeray's Propaganda

The Telegraph
25 January 2009

Migrant facts for Raj
- Half of Mumbai’s settlers are Marathi: Study

by Cithara Paul

Raj Thackeray addresses a rally in Thane on Saturday. He resumed his campaign against north Indians, describing Uttar Pradesh as a “den of terrorism” and accusing Mayavati and Lalu Prasad of playing caste politics. (Fotocorp)

New Delhi, Jan. 24: Raj Thackeray’s hooligans may have beaten up some of their fellow Maharashtrians, after all.

A recent study has revealed that the popular perception that migrants were flooding Mumbai from other states, especially Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, is not entirely true.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences claims that nearly half the number of migrants in the country’s commercial capital are from rural areas of Maharashtra.

The survey, which covered over 12,500 households across Greater Mumbai and seven surrounding urban centres, said people from Uttar Pradesh accounted for 20 per cent of the migrants and those from Gujarat 9 per cent.

“There has been much furore regarding the growth of migrant population from other states in Maharashtra. However, data show quite different results,” TISS associate professor Ramakumar said.

The findings should rile Raj because Maharashtrians could have been among the crowds his men targeted during their violent Maharashtra-for-Marathis agitation last year.

The MNS chief had to even spend a night in a lock-up after cases piled up against him and the state government cracked down following widespread protests.

The study said most of the Maharashtra-born migrants were from districts like Ratnagiri, Thane and Raigad, though the number of people settling in Mumbai from other parts of the state was coming down.

Of the total migrant population in Mumbai, the study said, most were Hindus (76 per cent), followed by Muslims (12 per cent).

The study revealed a lopsided sex ratio, with only 743 females for every 1,000 males among the migrants, about half of whom were from the upper castes.

According to the survey, nearly 68 per cent of the migrants were below 25 at the time of migration. Another point revealed by the survey was that a significant proportion of these migrants (22 per cent) were children.

The study found out that three-fourth of the migrants had come from rural areas, most of them forced to leave home because of agrarian distress. “This makes Mumbai unique in terms of its ruralised urbanisation,” the study said.

The main reasons the migrants cited for coming to Mumbai included the usual ones like jobs and business, education, marriage and even family feud.

Not many migrants had a job when they came to the city and one-third had to wait for more than a year to find employment.

According to the study, the migrants maintained close contact with friends and relatives back home and one in eight regularly sent remittances in cash or kind.