A race to the bottom

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A race to the bottom

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• Nativist laws: Inter-state migrants have faced the occasional violence and regular rhetoric for years now. Subnational nativism has existed in India for long, from the Mulki rules in Nizam's Hyderabad in late 19th century, to anti-South movements in Bombay in 1960s, to Assam's 'sons of the soil' movement.
• Unemployment drives nativism: This urge gets bolder when unemployment grows sharply, and withers away when economy does well. Since many articles of Indian constitution prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of place of birth, such nativist rhetoric never turned into law(s). The Supreme Court verdict in 2014 in "Charu Khurana vs. Union of India" called all such restrictions unconstitutional.
• Laws and more laws: Despite all this, recent years are seeing the disturbing trend of laws being enacted with an anti-migrant flavour. 

1. The 2019 Andhra Pradesh law reserved 75% jobs for locals; matter reached the High Court
2. Similar laws were demanded in Goa and MP also
3. The Haryana govt. brought the 2021 Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, reserving 75% private jobs for locals (salary less than Rs.50000)

• Hypocrisy: So the BJP govt. at centre wants any farmer in India to be able to sell anywhere, while the BJP govt. in Haryana wants to restrict labour movement into the state. It ignores the constitutional principles, and also the fact that most migrants in India move within the State, not outside it. 
• Low income inter-state migrants: What the new law will do is launch an attack against inter-state migrants who earn less. The 2020 pandemic made India see their plight, as they walked back home. Now, to that insecure life, add these nativist laws also.

1. Surat's powerloom industry does well because Odisha's workers want to work where locals do not
2. Employers there want cheap labour, and labour from Odisha gets good pay relatively (compared to own state)

• Logic of nativist laws: The idea is that with proper training, the local population will be trained to be as good as the migrants. The point is willingness to take up those jobs. Since such laws are an implementation nightmare, a parallel market of 'fraud residential certificates' will emerge. The 50000 salary cutoff is a message by the govt. that the rich are "higher citizens" and can move anywhere in India, but the poor are "lower grade people". 
• Bad signals: The growth story of most countries, including China, have shown that internal migration shoots up in the developmental process. The governments are sending very bad signals to labour market. That, when their own elites made the most of such freedom of movement nationally and globally.
• Why criticise Trump: Indians loved to criticise Ex President Trump for his illiberal immigration policies. While Trump is gone in USA, as have his conservative policies, new Trumps have taken birth in Indian states now. "Make Haryana Great Again" is a recipe for Balkanisation. Stop it.

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