Two Faces of Bangalore

By Lakshmi and Vedanth

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Known as the “Silicon Valley of India”, Bangalore, as a city, has attracted people from all over the country in search of a better life and career. Due to the IT boom and the emergence of tech and other start-ups in the city, Bangalore started to witness large waves of migration. But when we talk about migration in the case of Bangalore, we often tend to overlook the nuances in the different kinds of groups of people migrating to the city. The idea of people coming to a city like Bangalore from other states immediately brings us to people working in the IT sector. 

While the city offers new opportunities in the tech industry domestically, this narrative captures only a fraction of the labour that sustains the city. Thus, we also need to pivot our conversation to construction workers, domestic workers, security guards, delivery workers, sanitation staff, and small vendors who compose the everyday workforce which keeps Bengaluru functioning. Their labour supports the city’s growth just as much as the tech sector does, though it rarely receives the same attention.

The different categories of migrants experience the city quite differently. White-collar migrants often have access to better housing, services, and social mobility, while blue-collar and informal workers face poor living conditions, job insecurity, and limited access to basic amenities. While some migrants are welcomed as signs of progress, others remain invisible. Of the blue-collar workforce in newer city areas, an estimated 2.34 lakh workers are migrants, and around 80 % of migrants in Bengaluru are employed in blue-collar jobs. 

These divisions are not accidental but something that is structured through urban planning. Many of these workers lack access to adequate housing, social security, healthcare, and even basic documentation, as they are outside organised registers and welfare systems compared to their white-collar counterparts. Therefore, we need to understand that this level contrast is neither a natural phenomenon nor a recent occurrence. This form of division has its roots within the systemic structures of urban city planning that selectively integrates some while marginalising others.