Against a backdrop of surging energy needs from its growing population, India has set ambitious goals for renewables, while firmly stating that coal-based power supply continues to be needed to ensure reliable electricity across the country.
While mines with depleting coal reserves are being shut, India is at the same time expanding still-productive sites and even opening new ones to meet rising energy demand.
Even in places where mining continues, local residents like the Midha family are being alienated and pushed out, turning them into “energy migrants” struggling to find jobs.
Unemployment is increasing as companies turn to mechanisation and prefer outsourcing their work to contractors, leaving impoverished locals with very low income possibilities.
“The impact of young men migrating is already being felt by the next generation back home,” said Umesh Kumar Turi, an education campaigner in Jharkhand.
Water shortages in coal hubs are another driver as they grapple with water-table depletion linked to the industry and erratic rainfall patterns, damaging the prospects for any revival in agriculture, said migration expert Peter.
“Since these regions have higher youth numbers, unemployment will substantially increase,” he said, noting they have higher fertility rates than industrial states like Tamil Nadu.
The number of inter-state migrants like Midha is estimated at about 100 million, according to labour economists and India’s economic survey, with wider consequences across families.
“As migration of men increases, women are taking up work as domestic helps to supplement family income and there is no one looking after the children, some of whom are taking up odd jobs themselves or dropping out,” said Turi.
Informal jobs
Sriperumbudur - often called India’s Detroit because of its hundreds of vehicle and auto-part manufacturing units - is home to thousands of migrants from coal-rich states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, though their exact numbers are unknown.
These migrant workers often remain invisible, even though their skills are key to the manufacturing, construction and hospitality industries. Most work in the informal sector, without a steady employer, fixed wages or social security.
Midha remembers standing outside the gates of car factories, hustling for his first job. Five years on, he still has to renew his contract every six months, losing several days’ pay each time.
“All of us are very aware that companies will easily find a replacement for us,” said Midha, who started working after high school.
His flat-mate, 22-year-old Anand Kumar Turi, did a computer course, hoping it would get him a job closer to home in Jharkhand. Instead, he works at a company manufacturing scooter seats.
“Many of our friends tried hard, graduated from college hoping for a break. But even they call us asking if there are any jobs here because they are struggling to make the 15,000 rupees ($181.52) we earn every month,” he said.
The young men brought nothing with them from home, not even their favourite pickles, fearing they would spoil on the long train journey.
They have collectively learned to cook and negotiate the streets of Sriperumbudur, where the climate is warmer, food tangier and language unknown.
Despite being away from their families, they appreciate the clean air, wide roads and development in the auto hub, a far cry from the pollution and poverty of Jharkhand.
Yet they see no future for themselves in Sriperumbudur.
“My parents want me to get married, but how can I?” asked Midha. “We have no savings. And we can’t live here all our lives. This is not our home.”
This story was published with permission from Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women’s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit https://www.context.news/.
