ABSTRACT
People migrate from rural areas to urban centres due to various reasons. One major reason is the development-induced destruction which leads to losing not only their land but also the original ecology. It is the main cause of today’s forced migration of labourers. In contemporary times, it is the most pressing issue. In other words, the large-scale migration due to displacement is the direct result of the destruction of their ecology. This process is described here through a new concept called ‘migrant ecology’. It is fluidly conceived as the original habitat in which rural people live and search their livelihood and also the new urban ecology into which they are forced to shift. When their rural ecology is destroyed out of developmental reasons, they migrate in search of new avenues. In the urban system, they are the most marginalised and live a life completely alien to them. Forced migrants now realise that a whole chain of hidden structure of intervention from multiple economic domains curbs their nurtured relation with their soil. Set under the condition of new developmental interventions it redefines their sense of belonging to the ecosystem. The power of the authorities, who are part of the chain of the capitalist mode of relations of production, need to be understood not in isolation but as an overarching system which has a universal impact on our global ecosystem. The voices from the unknown poor migrant ‘other’ from the below then have to become the voices of all.
