A good number of Mumbai’s local people believe migrants from Bihar are usurping their jobs, according to a study, which cited it as the top reason for the deteriorating relationship between the city’s local population and migrants from Bihar.

In all, 307 people — 152 migrants from Bihar and 155 local people — took part in the study published by the AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies in Patna, on the deteriorating relationship between the migrants and the city’s local people.

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A good 48.04 per cent of the respondents said migrants from Bihar had resulted in reduced employment options for the local people. The other reasons cited by the local people for their deteriorating relationship with the migrants are ‘politics, political parties and media’ (19.55 per cent), ‘behaviour and negative personal characteristics’ (9.5 per cent), ‘pressure on basic amenities and population growth’ (8.94 per cent), ‘migration with large number of people’ (3.35 per cent), ‘being dominant’ (3.35 per cent), ‘culture pollution and linguistic conflicts’ (2.23 per cent) and ‘continuing Bihari culture’ (1.68 per cent).

The respondents believe local people are indeed facing problems in getting employment as Biharis were taking locals’ jobs creating unemployment and competitiveness for livelihood,that there is now less access to employment opportunities for the locals and the migrants are ready to work for low wages.

Some feel the media is hyping the issue. In the focus group discussions, it was heard local political leaders were 50 per cent wrong, 50 per cent right; some said the migrants’ behaviour created problems. Respondents said the migrants are selfish, indisciplined, don’t talk properly and their lifestyle was unacceptable.

The respondents also feel the migrants have a tendency to dominate. Participants in the focus group discussions used expressions like “arrogant”, “bully” and “dominant people” for the migrants. They feel people from Bihar believe “Mumbai was surviving due to them”.

The respondents also feel the migrants believe in continuing regionalism by preserving their lifestyle; their culture was “rigid”, they said.

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