Patna, (Bihar Times): On the very first day of the
paddy plantation season on June 10 farmers of Punjab
and Haryana faced acute shortage of labourers. This is
essentially due to fall in seasonal migration of farm
labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Due to the
scarcity the wages of labourers have almost doubled in
the last few months.
Labour shortage was witnessed in the recent rabi
season as well. In the absence of labourers local
women and children are being pressed into service by
the farmers. Besides, local labourers who shifted to
the urban jobs in the last few years are being lured
to work in the farmland.
Several factors are being attributed to this decline
in the migration of labour from east Indian states.
The introduction of NREGA and hike in minimum support
prices of foodgrains have raised the wages in Bihar
and Uttar Pradesh as well. In the last one decade
Bihar has become a foodgrains surplus state from
foodgrains deficit state. While procurement of rice
has become a common phenomenon in the recent past,
this year the state witnessed a record 3.5 lakh tonnes
of wheat procurement. It is because of this reason
that the sharecroppers are now paying Rs 6,000 to
7,000 per acre to farmers against Rs 3,500-4,000 till
last year. And this is why the wages of the labours
have also increased.
Besides, labourers are looking for work in states like
Karnataka and Orissa as they have learnt that a lot of
infrastructure work is going on in these states and
the payment is good. Those who lost their jobs in
Maharashtra may also look towards these two states.
Not only that a lot of central government sponsored
schemes are going on in these two states. Prime
Minister Gramin Sarak Yojana, East-West Corridors and
big railway projects need a lot of hands, therefore,
the migration has slowed down.
As if that was not enough the Punjab government
imposed ban on paddy plantation work before June 10.
This also discouraged the migration. Farmers of Punjab
and Haryana used to start work almost a month before
Bihar and East Uttar Pradesh. Rather than wait for
monsoon to break, which arrives much later in
north-west India than Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the
farmers would rely on underground water for
irrigation. Besides, there is a network of rivers and
canals in the two north Indian states, which help
farmers start the sowing much before the eastern
states, where farmers rely mostly on monsoon.
But due to the fall in underground water table the
Punjab government had imposed a ban on the farmers to
start sowing before June 10. The delay in the start of
sowing season is also discouraging the labourers of
east India from migrating as the season clashes with
those in their home states. It needs to be mentioned
here that in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh many marginal
farmers double as the farm labourers. In their absence
their women-folk are engaged in the sowing and
transplanting work at home. Since harvesting take
place in Punjab and Haryana much earlier these
labourers get time to return to their homes and help
their women in harvesting.
Reports from Punjab say that the state farmers, who
had been restrained by the government from going in
for sowing of paddy till June 10 to deal with the
problem of underground water depletion, now has to
contend with sowing in 27,000 hectares without the
required hands at their disposal.
Newspaper reports say that the farmers had started
booking labourers at Rs 850 per acre around a month
back, even though the rate last year was Rs 600 per
acre. However, with the number of labourers coming
from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh coming down the rates
shot up to something between Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,500 per
acre.
Farmers’ organizations like the Bharatiya Kisan Union
are now calling for the mechanised farming. They say
that the government can help by supplying
paddy-transplanters to the co-operative societies.
Each such machine costs Rs 10 lakh.
The title of this article has two important meanings. (1) Bihari labours are like tradable commodity (2) Other affluent states are buyers of this commodity. It is irony that in India the labour class which is the backbone of all economic structure is always looked down. This is not the case in other developed countries. In Europian country, US and Japan, people involved in rigorous physical labour are amongst the highest earning group. The labour is valued there despite machanization. That's why they have been able to do jobs which we are yet to do. Indian mentality has been wrong in this regard. Our cast system which was based on division of labour, later degraded to ugly forms such as untouchability, bonded labour and finally cause of cast war. This mentality has now taken a new Avtara. Bihari Vs. non-Bihari. This is disgusting. We all know importance of labour but people are so chauvanist that the same labour class is looked down. No wonder we have tauts and agents leuring labours to Punjab, Haryana and other states. These helpless people are then at the mercy of chauvanist people like Raj Thakre. The irony is that the national parties in India have always utilized this situation to favour rich states (which is the main source of their money power). When these labourers raise their voice there are killings in Maharastra, Assam and Punjab. No media then takes these issues as vehemently as they do when 'A boy is trapped in A Borewell', 'When A father kills her daugher' etc. The case we are discussing is not a double or tripple murder case but "million murder case". Millions of Biharis are putting their heart and souls in whatever job they are doing but what they get in return? These writings titled "Shortage of Bihari Labourers", "Killing of Biharis in Assam", "Police attrocities of Biharis in Punjab", "Maharastrians outrage against Biharis". When will we learn to develop self respect and revolt
against the attacks by media, and chauvanist politicians from other states who are strangulating Bihar and Biharis.
A. Singh
anugrah_singh@yahoo.com
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The writer has mentioned everything else on the planet from Railway to Central Govt. to NREGA work but he seems to have willingly forgotten the effort of the present government. Can Mr. Ahmad please explain how on earth everything has fallen into place now, while the situation was going from bad to worse since decades?
This is a good example of selective journalism. Journalists should report facts and figures as they are otherwise people will loose their faith in them like present day politicians. The editor should take notice and refrain from these types of misleading articles.
Alok Kumar Singh
Noida
Alok.Singh@headstrong.com