"Locals have become too aware of their rights’: Why Bengaluru garment factories are hiring migrants", www.scroll.in, 10 May 2017

All the young women in the hostel...share a rural, poverty-ridden past and an unflinching hope for prosperity through hard work. Today in Bengaluru, they are sought by garment factories that are increasingly recruiting women from far-flung districts through agencies...About 80% of garment workers in Bengaluru have always been from rural areas, but now there are more interstate migrations...manufacturers are today actively seeking workers from central and eastern India – the low GDP, largely tribal, non-industrialised states...Manufacturers also cite another reason why they prefer migrants: a perennial labour shortage...Locals have become too aware of their rights – there are questions, disruptions, unions,” said a human resources manager for a major exporter....Non-local Odia, Assamese speaking migrants can’t do this...recent surveys and research on migrant workers have shown that a poorer, younger, locally unmoored workforce, especially in an industry not known for its transparency, is immensely vulnerable to exploitation. Abuses range from being misled about wages, Provident Fund deductions and hostel payments, to forced overtime, years of confinement and sexual harassment.