Looking for refuge
Delhi Smogs, Karnataka Floods, California Fires: Where Will They Go?
Mudit Aggarwal & Nandini Sukhija, AIS Mayur Vihar, XII
The world, usually thought of as a beautiful paradise, has its own share of tragic times which results in the skyline being blotched with pain and soil being soaked in terror, and it is in these moments that people decide to abandon their homes and go on an endless hunt for eutopia. A similar hunt that people of Delhi found themselves engaged in during the winter gone by, as the smog left them choked and exasperated. The shift drove home a hard truth - people don’t seek refuge elsewhere only due to war, but a variety of other factors may be at play.
Of climate and calamities
Since 2008, about 24 million people have been displaced every year as an aftermath of natural calamities. The slum colony of Seemapuri comprising Bangladeshi immigrants and the migration of 4 million Africans after the disappearance of Lake Chad are just the tip of the iceberg. In US, 2300 Puerto Rican families were displaced due to Hurricane Maria, excluding the people from coastal communities. In 2013, when Cyclone Phailin ravaged the coastal state of Odisha, the state witnessed an unprecedented scale of migration of fishing communities that had otherwise been based there for decades, and a similar fate was
suffered by people of
Uttarakhand where floods brought about mass migration of the rural communities.
In our concern for the refugees who are fleeing their homes, we often forget about the ones who no longer have a home left.
Of breath and lack thereof
According to Forbes, the next big migration won’t be caused by war or hunger, but due to pollution. With New Delhi being the home of air pollution, gone are those days when people migrated to the capital but rather now Delhiites, unable to bear the polluted environment, have already packed their bags to move far away to cleaner cities like Bengaluru, Cochin and Pondicherry, contributing to 25% of the overall shifting. Annually, around 2.5 million deaths are attributed to pollution, and with Delhi being its dirty self, no wonder a major chunk of its population wants to move away. China, too, suffers from the same problem. Researches signify that when pollution in a country increases by about 10% (keeping all else constant), the population number also sees a decrease by 2.7%.
As refugees cross states to get fresh air, there might come a time when there will be no place left on earth to find a haven.
Of hope and opportunities
Growing up with stories of our grandfathers migrating in search of better basic necessities, the world has now become an elaborate game of musical chairs with people shifting as the eutopia shifts. Studies have shown that 55% of rural families migrate due to employment while 67% of the urban population migrates to either a different city or a different country for economic reasons. With such a high number of migrating bodies, the statistics of various dynamic cities are being redefined by immigrants – Melbourne, Toronto and Vancouver with 40% of migrant population; London with 35%, and Dubai 95%.
As we hold tight to our résumés and start a journey to find a bluer sky, our homeland cries silent tears of negligence.
Migration is the law of nature. Hence, be it people who sought refuge due to California wildfires, or Kashmiri Pandits forcefully driven out of their homes, they need to be treated with the same emotional empathy as war refugees. After all, we might never find an absolute answer to “Where are you from?”
