A Market Place for Migrants: Mobility, Settlement and Social Protection in Kerala

Abstract

This chapter focuses on a Sunday Bengali market for migrant workers in Perumbavoor, a small town situated close to the city of Kochi in Kerala, South India, to interrogate the concept of social protection. The market, which sprang up in response to the specific needs of migrant workers from West Bengal, Bihar and Nepal, serves also as a ‘meeting point’ of workers. Such markets, by acting as a point of contact, facilitate a network of migrant workers, contractors, traders and trade unions. The Sunday market is a place where workers seek leisure, make friends, send money home through agents and settle disputes. The migrant workers who visit the market are mainly from north and north-eastern states of India, namely West Bengal, Orissa and Assam and, to a lesser extent, from Jharkhand and Bihar and from the neighbouring country, Nepal. They work in stone quarries, construction sites, and plywood, chemical and plastic factories in Angamaly, Aluva and Perumbavoor and other small towns in Ernakulam district. Migrant labour is involved in all sectors which involve manual labour.