I wrote my last blog about women empowerment and societal prejudice and mediocrity mentality on the whole. These are certain issue which kept bothering me as young citizen of this nation and being eternal optimist I know it will change one day because debate and discussion has already started taking place on these issues at various levels. But there is one issue which has not caught-up the attention of the nation broadly however it has come to surface intermittently and faze out without being discussed with earnest sincerity to find solution. But in my opinion this issue is silently doing collateral damage to our country which is not quantifiable today but eventually once it will come to surface perhaps it will too late & we’ll not even left with room to mend. The issue I am talking about is workforce migration from Hindi heartland like M.P., U.P. & Bihar to metros like Delhi & Mumbai.

This entire issue has 2 facets to it, one view is of metro citizen, who has strong views about large part of his city being turn into slums to making their daily life more cumbersome by these migrants and another view is of these migrants who has unanswered question in their heart for ages i.e. Where should we go? Do we really have any choices? and believe me this is most rampant question which every youngster asks himself & others in Hindi heartland once he reaches to stage wherein his father looks into his eyes with hope that he will take care of his debts, his sister looks up to him with hope that he will find a dream man for her, his mother looks up to him with dream that her son is grown-up now and her wretchedness will be vanished soon. Thus sheer pressure of these untold responsibilities coupled with too little opportunities to live his dream in his home state put him into peculiar situation which ultimately make him think about “land of opportunities“.This is how the city of Galib and commerce capital of India been referred in these area with background of some fairytale stories of, some real time Heroes from these villages who migrated of these cities and made it big for themselves and their family.

The next story will surfaced moot issue further though there is another layer below this which is equally complex but because of central government schemes off late like NREGA n all it is getting curtailed to an extent. This story is based on true story where only plots & characters changes however climax is same everywhere. I completed my higher secondary a decade ago from one the backwards area of M.P. (that is what official data says) and first time I have had my encounter with the question, where should I go? All my friends from elitist family took the train to Mahakoshal in the coast of River Narmada from their higher education. I left on my own to write my own destiny with a pen which has no ink into it. Like pre USSR dismantling, world diplomacy used to have 2 roads only one used to go to USA other to USSR akin to this student in those areas has 2 options only either they clear engineering or medical entrance or go for bachelor degree in science for Arts student there is no options to choose from. I cleared my engineering entrance, god knows how? and was getting admission in royal state of Gwalior which my father denied with all due respect owing may track record coupled with significant dip in my % from 80’s to 60’s that year courtesy cricket fever. Finally since I didn’t had any option I opted for road B and did my graduation in science not because I wanted to be an Einstein or Newton but because I have been barred to do what I wanted and forced into this.

After I got my degree many so called pundits there told me to do MSc. in Mathematics and take the Aryabhatt legacy forward. But I was very clear in my mind that spending 2 more years here would be like trying to climb a straight bamboo soaked in oil hence I discarded all the suggestions from Raichand’s. [In Hindi Heartland you get only 2 types of people “Rai-chand” -One who has suggestion on everything under the sun and “Rai-bahadur” -One who gives advice to you on any topic without even you asking for it  J ]. So did I have any options to choose from? NO and then the question pop-in again Where should I go? The answer was land of opportunities and here I am, though I didn’t contributed to slums but I certainly prompted more folks like me to come here and add to your misery in public transport, queuing up almost everything you need for survival. God bless Kishore Biyani who used your vulnerability to great effect and created an empire nonetheless he has one window solution to lot of your problem, doesn’t he?  

Even after a decade when I go there and seek if there is any opportunity where I can fit the bill? And not to my surprise I am still useless that socio environment, why? Primarily because there is hardly any private investment there at least which I could recall? Except some cement factories, Adding insult to injury the place from where I am graduated underpinning of India shining the Railway is yet to reach there. The only reason which I could think of is perhaps our governments had been headed by great Gandhian’s thus they would have discarded foreign transportation system here J Vijay Mallaya’s fly good times are ages away from these places. Now since there is no rail line therefore raw material can’t come coupled with dismal state of infrastructure add fuel to fury of investors and they are shying away from these areas. What all the options do we have? When nothing is right there is huge opportunity lying there and improvement can be started from anywhere. All we need to change is approach and intent. You have to create more opportunities in these states to get this fixed for that we need to have multi angel approach such as better education system, top notch infrastructure which can lure the private investment. And finally we need to reestablish the trust of youth that they can have better future in their home turf because given a choice each one us wants to be there and give back to society in whatever little he or she can. Astounding GDP growth will not establish us as super power unless growth is more inclusive, to do stop the brain drain in ruler areas with immediate effect. We’ll not fix this issue unless we consider it as gruesome as inflation, poverty or naxalism for that matter. “We’ll try” approach has to be change to “we’ll do it” since “we’ll try“for me stand for we are not committed.