4 - Migration and the rural connections of Bombay's workers

Summary

Rural migration formed the most important source of labour supply to Bombay. The fluctuations of the labour market have commonly been attributed to the migrant character of the workforce and their lack of commitment to the industrial setting. But as the previous chapter demonstrated, this is to confuse the symptoms with the problem itself. The patterns of labour use were conditioned by the structure of the city's economy; they were not simply a function of the attitudes, mentalities or culture of the workforce. Rather, the irregular and uncertain conditions of work in Bombay made it essential for most workers to retain their rural connections. The village remained integral to their social nexus in the city. But the maintenance of their rural connections cannot be understood simply as a transitional phase in the formation of the labour force in the early stages of industrialization. A recent study of the Bombay labour market in the 1970s still found that the city's working population ‘consists overwhelmingly of migrants’. Industrial development in India appears to have strengthened what are normatively described as the pre-industrial characteristics of the workforce. This chapter will investigate the rural connections of Bombay's workers and the interplay of town and country in shaping their social organization.