Struggling to save cash: seasonal migration and vulnerability in West Bengal, India
Rogaly, B.; Rafique, A.
Development and Change 34(4): 659-681
2003
ISSN/ISBN: 0012-155X DOI: 10.1111/1467-7660.00323Document Number: 234339
This article describes seasonal migration for agricultural wage work in rural West Bengal, India. Drawing on a regional study of four migration streams, our main focus here is on the struggle to secure this cash by landless households in just one of those streams, originating in Murshidabad District. Case studies are used to illustrate the importance for women in nuclear families of maintaining supportive networks of kin for periods when men are absent. Data are obtained from interviews with 248 households. A parallel analysis is made of the negotiations between male migrant workers and their employers, at labour markets, during the period of work, and afterwards. The article then briefly discusses some of the contrasting ways in which remittances are used by landless households and owners of very small plots of land, in the context of rapid ecological change, demographic pressure and growing inequality.