Migration was mentioned again and again as a reason which prevents women from participating in SHG or other MUNJAVU activities. It was interesting to look at what the women were saying and where these statements and feelings would be placed in the Mandala. Annex 4 contains an interview with migrating women from Todaki Thanda. Where do the decisions to go for migration root? The RLS Mandala helps to look at the various levels of decision-making. One of the stated aims of SAMUHA's activities is "to prevent migration". But migration is a way of life, a livelihood strategy of its own. In some villages, more than half of the families have at least one member who migrates once or more times per year. A successful livelihood intervention has to take migration into account. Since these groups are among the most vulnerable, an attempt to fully grasp the livelihood realities would be useful. This task goes beyond this report, but it was considered an important issue to raise.

Migration through the RLS Mandala : "Migration is more than moving towards higher wages"

Portrait III: Shantamma: 9 children, 16 abortions… We parked the bike under an Acacia tree and walked up to the temple. A nearby brick factory only gives work to two women of Kilarhatti Thanda. Renuka knew the women here, they have done a film shooting here on adolescent girls earlier in the year. So she looked for Shankar, the village animator. We asked for migrating families. He took us to the fields, where Durgamma and two young farmers worked, piling Bajra to dry in the sun. She spoke about migration, then about her family. She is wearing a ragged dress made of patches and the many mirrors, coins and beads, the beautiful traditional Lambani dresses. They spend around Rs. 1000 on that and make them themselves. The hair ornaments mark a married woman. "I was pregnant 25 times, and still I am not operated (sterilized)", Durgamma exclaims in her articulate manner. Nine I kept, and 16 times I got an abortion by injection. "why?" - " I didn't have the strength to give birth!" They have 4 acres of land where they grow Bajra, Jowar and Toor Dal (local dry land lentils). They lease additional land to meet their food requirements. They barely manage that, they get 4-5 Quintals (1 Quintal=100kg) per acre in a good rainfall year. So they still have to buy some grains from the market. They need 2 Quintals per month. The land is rough and rocky. They drilled a bore well 10 years back, but never managed to dig out the money to install a pump set to make it work. There are 4 little grandchildren in her home, a 7 year old girl is looking after them (and thus cannot go to school, logically…). Of their 19 family members 6 are migrating. One of her son is a Banta, or migration leader. The groups of 10-20 people rent a tempo (van) or truck and set out under his leadership. Often they go to the irrigated lands near the Krishna river and its Canal system on the border of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. There they work as agricultural labourers. The Banta negotiates for them. They complain that often they are not paid the correct amount. And work is hard, with everyday life in the fields, their children along and no proper health care or social network around them. They become very vulnerable to illness, malnutrition, overworking, heat stroke etc. In summer they are paid less than during harvest. And her son once fell unconscious due to the pesticide he sprayed on the crops, unsurprisingly without wearing any face protection. They stay as long as work is found, then they come back to Kilarhatti Thanda with their tiny savings. And wait for the man to come to the village to tell them if strong hands are needed anywhere…

Durgamma was a powerful person to talk to, keeping the question of the study objective (how can the marginalized be reached?) in mind. She is an example of a family who does not manage to move upwards, a family bypassed by Government and even NGO efforts to eradicate their poverty. Their future looks bleak. How will her nine children make a living? Many of their livelihood strategies have failed: The bore well drilled was a waste of a lot of money, since the pumpset could never be bought. Their land inheritance pattern leaves smaller patches of land with each generation, so land has to be leased. Their dowry system brings families with many girls on the verge of ruin. Earlier in tribal villages bride price was common, unfortunately now even here dowry is paid.
Which solutions do the livelihood approaches hold in store for such a family? The author felt that the first steps will be in understanding the dynamics of exclusion: Where is decision making power? Why do all government schemes for Scheduled Tribes (ST) not reach them? Why are all efforts to lessen migration, to lessen dowry, so far in vain? The next step would be to adapt the strategies of SAMUHA. They slip through the SHG net. Even if they are members, enterprises are rarely taken up, or fail. And there is simply a lack of demand for any services. Their needs list is topped by roads, water, jobs, health facilities. Not even the tea stall in Durgamma's Thanda proved viable. It closed down due to a lack of paying customers. The men and women of Kilarhatti Thanda do not even have the cash to buy tea. Another possible way to improve their livelihoods is to look at migration more carefully. Other than a wicked trap for many (sexually transmitted diseases, illness, exploitation, bondage, child work, etc.) it is also an economically powerful strategy. If only young, strong, well-informed, organized men protected by law would migrate, then not much could be said against the strategy. Thus there is healthy and unhealthy migration. The author does not believe in preventing migration but making migration safer, more transparent. Capacity building, awareness spreading, public action and policy making at Government levels all could lessen the evils of migration and turn it into a livelihood strategy less damaging and more benefiting. The role of ISPWDK? Definitely to learn from the people's ways of life, to document them and to reflect on future strategies in working in areas with high migration rates!

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