Cross Border Migration as the Flip Side of Patriarchy, Poverty and Development in India and Nepal

Abstract

When Nepal's poverty and patriarchy extended their political chemistry to the ideas and the ideal of development and progress, it could not have been foreseen that social, economic political profile of migrants would entail, not only issues regarding the movement of workers between the two countries, income and remittances but also involvement in petty crimes, child labour and unregistered employment. India has been a traditional hot spot for Nepalese migrants since the past century. Detailed studies of the migration pattern between India and Nepal reveal that a new peculiar category of migrants has of late come into being in big cities adding outside of traditional migration destinations such as Bihar and West Bengal. Through this paper I aim to examine the changing dynamics of migration between India and Nepal by working among three kinds of migrants in Delhi, namely, cooks and/or waiters in restaurants or roadside eating joints, night-watchmen, domestic helps and tailors. On the basis my findings, I refer to them as ‘itinerant migrants’ in order to situate their particular migration model. These migrants ‘on the go’ not only traverse freely through the symbolic realms of friendship between the two countries, but reside with a dual existential focus upon their lives. These actors have achieved a monetary and emotional satisfaction for themselves even at the cost of working informally without rights. My work takes the stand that although the itinerant migrants remain silently entrenched in the anonymous underbelly of development and international relations, yet they are not entirely invisible. Those who deal with them, employ them, trust or remain distant with them are fully aware of their existence and status. Traversing the space created by a partnership between the loopholes of bilateral relations on the one hand and changing migration patterns on the other, these iterant travelers throw open grey zones of existence worth debating. Out of these, day to day exploitation, drugs and unregistered existences amidst a fraternal ethos of solidarity are some of the issues that this paper identifies and proposes for further research.