What Gujarat attacks on migrants say about India's economy.

Pedro_P

▼ Tens of thousands of migrant workers fled India's western state of Gujarat in October in the wake of attacks targeting them. The BBC's Nitin Srivastava reports from Himmatnagar town on what led to the violence.
"I had to run six miles to catch a bus at midnight," said Ram Pyare, who worked in a factory in the town.
The 33-year-old took the bus to the capital, Ahmedabad, and went to the train station - but all the trains were full. It was another eight hours before he had borrowed enough money to buy a ticket to go home to his village in Jaunpur district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
He was among the thousands of migrants - estimates range from 50,000 to 80,000 - who fled Gujarat after the attacks. The violence, which lasted for more than a week, began after a migrant labourer was arrested for allegedly raping a 14-month-old girl.
No-one died in the violence, but the fear among the migrant workers was evident as they queued up at railway stations and bus stops to escape.
The attacks were sparked by the alleged rape but they also exposed economic anxieties in a state where local traders and businessmen are struggling and joblessness is on the rise. And migrants - who account for a significant portion of the workforce and whose cheap labour keeps wages low - are often seen as the problem.
"All my savings are gone," Ram Pyare told me over the phone from Jaunpur. He is yet to find a job but he vows he will never return to Gujarat, where he lived for six years.
"I had planned to bring my family there but not anymore."
Why did this happen?
Ram Pyare used to work in a factory that manufactured ceramic tiles in Himmatnagar in northern Gujarat.
He had just finished dinner on 28 September - it was a breezy night, he recalls - when he heard a commotion outside. More than 20 locals stormed inside, he says, "armed with bamboo sticks and iron rods". They beat up the workers while hurling abuses at them and warning them to never return to Gujarat.
"I would have been lynched if the security guard had not helped me sneak out of the back door," he adds.
Gujarat, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has long been heralded as an example of economic development. Its labour-intensive industries - such as textiles, jewellery and ceramics - draw a large numbers of migrants from poorer states in the north. An estimated 10% of Gujarat's more than 60 million people are believed to be migrants.
But growth has stalled in recent years because of the twin shocks of demonetisationand the goods and services tax. The surprise cancellation of 86% of currency notes by the government in November 2016 hit small traders and businesses; and the new, uniform tax code also cost them as they struggled to adapt to it. Many cash-only businesses in the informal sector were forced to close or register for the first time.
Gujarat's farmers too, like those across the country, have been struggling in the face of stagnant incomes and crop prices.
With general elections round the corner, opposition political parties have been banking on this frustration.
Demands for job quotas have played an increasing role in the state's politics. Days prior to when the attacks began on 28 September, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said his government was drafting a law to  ensure that 80% of the jobs went to people from Gujarat.
What happens now? (▪ ▪ ▪)

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asankhla

This time,the attack on outside labour was more political than anti non gujrati labor.Fact is,there is not enough home grown labour in gujrat to work in all their businesses and industries.There is in fact a shortage of labor.So labor from other states is a necessery requirement rather than being a nuisance.All the fine gujrati factories and industries could well face dire straits if outside labor is frightened away.The gujrati politiko needs a rethink on this issue,methinks.

parivijesh100

It was a political organised actions by politicians directed against the economic strengthening of our country by the present political dispension. It is really unfortunate for Indians.