First Public Lecture: पलायन की पीड़ा/ The Pain of Migration

A Copy of the Event’s Poster

The lecture commenced at 3.00 PM on 10 October 2018 in Seminar Room, Cluster Innovation Center, University of Delhi. About 40 students from various colleges the university and guests from varied backgrounds participated in the event, which began with a photography exhibition by Vikram Choudhary, who exhibited 10 photographs on the theme of migration. The photographs were mostly captured in Delhi, depicting various stages of migration in a sequential order.

Photography Exhibition by Vikram Choudhary    A Copy of the Curator’s Note

(L) Vikram Choudhary, (R) Arvind Mohan

The participants interacted with Vikram, talking about his work in a greater detail. Shortly after the photography exhibition, at around 3.30 PM, the public lecture was delivered by Arvind Mohan, with Upendra Satyarthi, Assistant Professor at College of Vocational Studies, University of Delhi, as its moderator. It was followed by the an interaction with the speaker and the moderator.

Arvind Mohan Delivering the Public Lecture

(L) Arvind Mohan, Speaker; (C) Vikram Choudhary, Documentary Photographer; (R) Upendra Satyarthi, Moderator

The lecture began with a basic understanding of the phenomenon of migration, proceeding with the historical background and its inter sectoral connections with politics, culture, and society. Mohan shared experiences of his extensive research conducted in Punjab and Bihar with the help of case studies of the workers. He also shared his experience of having discussed the issue of migration with the leaders of the ruling party and their responses.

Mohan stated that it is lack of political motivation among the leaders that has impacted the poor adversely. The migration from Bihar, he argued, is because of the failure of policies and poor situation in the state due to lack of land reform, absence of proper support to (mostly but not exclusively rural) farmers, and the demise of industries.

He argued that people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have a large share in public stock exchange but do not hold appreciable capital. The capital does not belong to the Biharis from Bihar, instead it is held by those who live outside the state and keep suffering from the lack of capital. Mohan stated that historically Bihar was never poor, it had the earliest industries and land which is more productive than any other part of the country till date but there is a lack of political motivation.

The Crowd Interacting with the Speaker, Mime Performance by Deepak Yatri and

    Arvind Mohan After His Lecture and Other Artists

A mime performance by Deepak Yatri and other artists followed the lecture. The event ended with a vote of thanks by Upendra Satyarthi and the organisers. The event was covered by Forum4 News and can be accessed at http://forum4.co.in/forum_news-9214/. A video of the performance can be accessed from our Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/BiharStudyCircle/?ref=bookmarks, our Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhPZyxuUkb4, or Forum4’s Media Page at http://forum4.co.in/forum_news-9214/.

Forum4 Covering Our First Public Lecture