Influx Of Migrants

Even as the monsoon session of Assembly was in progress there was exciting news that a train full of migrants arrived in Goa allegedly from Bihar. An independent MLA who till recently was a minister enlightened the assembly on the influx of outsiders and expressed apprehensions that these migrants come for work and then they get land from the panchayats and build houses. It amuses us whether it is so easy for these labourers to acquire plots and build houses. Even if that is done through clandestine affairs, the people in authority, who are essentially the locals, are to be blamed and not the poor migrants. We fully agree that the antecedents of these people should be verified to know the purpose of such exodus in this land and who has brought them and for what type of works.  Coincidently this strange mass migration was witnessed when the twin issues of mounting unemployment among the youth and the rise in the outsider count was discussed in the House. In a nutshell the joblessness among the educated youth has nothing to do with the migrants invading the state. The government should seriously examine its policies on job creation for the pass outs from several institutions. When no stress is laid on any sector other than tourism such situation is bound to occur.  There are so many engineering colleges and hundreds of students pass out every year but where will they get employed without the smallest trace of industrialisation? Even the IT policy is repeatedly under threat with the Chief Minister saying once that the policy would be revisited and the next moment withdrawing his statement. Can we blame the migrants for this state of affairs?  As clarified by the Marcaim MLA Goa needs the migrant labour in thousands as the locals are unable to take up hard manual works as in construction activities. Lastly, even if we agree that 80 per cent of the jobs are to be reserved for locals the basic question is whether the locals would be willing to take up the challenging works demanded therein.

MICHAEL VAZ, MERCES