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Bihar Is Yet To Reap The 'Bonus' Of Her 'Backwardness' !
By
The newspaper sources inform that there are 10, 5, 6, and 3 lakhs Bihari in Delhi, Punjab, Calcutta, and Bombay respectively and the total amount that these 24 lakh 'estimated' Bihari remit equals the actual yearly plan expenditure of the state. The role of remittance economy could well be understood through these figures. Outmigration: A Consciously Evolved Strategy I begin with Rodgers' comment, 'Growth in Western India is Reducing Poverty in Bihar'. My findings in the same region which Rodgers refers to, speaks much more than this. Contrary to the earlier studies which have established that migrant labourers usually squander away their savings on consumption and their poverty condition does not change much, my findings suggest that a section of the migrants take up out migration initially as 'survival strategy' and later they enhance their economic condition. Another observation is that some of them often from small peasant class, opt for 'out migration' as status elevation strategy or upward mobility strategy and migrate for some years, save and invest the savings to create a more sustainable source of livelihood. In a village in Purnea district, I discovered a group of such migrants for whom out migration was not a 'desperate' exit from a starving condition at home in the face of depressed labour market situation. Out migration to them was a 'route' to economic advancement consciously and rationally evolved over the years. The experience in Punjab, Haryana, and other such 'labour suction' regions made them think over their own condition. What were these experiences and how they evolved their course of strategy to get the best out of this 'employment pool' ( high growth regions) - a brief sketch, based on findings in a village in Purnea district is presented below with successive stages. First, the 'inhumanly' hard working conditions often made them physically weak and vulnerable over the prolonged years. Their 'demand' after their 'sucked' physical capacity usually declined; they were being replaced by the fresh groups of migrant labourers with hard working physical potentials. Home, in such condition, proved to be the final resort. Second, the 'need' for maintaining ties at home, as their families with women now sharing more responsibilities left behind, became rather more important. This also means employment arrangement for their women at home within the existing conditions. Therefore, ties at 'home' (village they belong to) have to be maintained for both the reasons: for securing employment for female and for creating a favourable (than before) existential condition for the whole family, even if they are migrated. Third, once away from home for 'earning' and the remits that flows back often used for 'rescuing' a piece of mortgaged land, or for buying a tiny piece of land, or for anything else - all this means they have acquired a 'status' (different from what they had before) in the village. Exposed to a more 'democratic' cultural environment in Punjab, where a 'malik' works with a 'labourer'; eats and talks with them - makes a migrant bolder at home. He is now no more ready to be treated as a 'subservient' and to be looked down upon by the upper class / caste hegemonic rules that still persist in north Bihar (especially). Therefore, once able to realize their 'power to respond' and 'react' to this system that looks down on them down, their sense of self-dignity plays important role in exploring new avenues for existence at home. He invests, his wife manages (if a tiny plot). He earns in Punjab, his wife and children work hard at home. Fourth, the migrant earns according to need after creating such a tiny but sustainable base at home. He now takes up out migration as a temporary strategy for creating and consolidating his own base at home. The ruthless physical exploitation (though he gets money in return) followed by a vulnerable health condition after 10-15 years of frequent but prolonged migration and finally ending with almost nothing in hand! This situation has been realized by the migrants and they appear to have learnt to evolve a strategy (outlined above) over last three decade long migration experience. Feminisation of Labour Market En mass out migration has resulted in labour shortage and led to a process of 'feminisation of labour market' since late seventies, though wage rates for the female labour are still lower due to more than one factors. Simple economics of supply-demand does not work here. The food sector is female dominated in terms of labour as well as management, as men (at home) are exclusively busy in cash crops, in both the capacities: as peasant and as labour. This cash crop is Banana in the village I refer to. Precisely, female participation in food production has increased (than before) over last decades. Poverty issue, therefore, needs to be linked with the 'feminisation of labour market', which is a direct function of out migration in many parts of Bihar. New Bihar is Predominantly Rural Bihar With the process of creation of a predominantly 'rural' Bihar, poverty issue has to be addressed with this 'key' factor keeping in mind. A fresh look at the populace (over) dependent on the 'existing resources' (that is regenerative but not inexhaustible) has to be focused. The foreclosures and new opportunities have to be assessed. Being more clear, future Bihar would consist of north and central Bihar plains with enormous but unmanaged water resources, fertile yet degenerating soil quality due to frequent use of chemical fertilizers and soil erosion due to excessive floods every year. Future Bihar will have to share about three-fourth of the existing people with about 55% of the land. Poverty (and associated issue of development) has to be addressed in this context. Land of Unexplored Potentials And Bonus of Backwardness! I approach Bihar as still a land with enormous 'unexplored' potential. The devastating impacts of green revolution has not properly touched the 'backward Bihar'. Given the agro-climatic conditions, Bihar still 'suffers' from gross under-utilization of her productive potentials. The potential Net Sown Area (NSA) for Bihar was 61 % ( 47 % for India) in mid-80s; Bihar's prospects of improving her land productivity was up to nearly 30 % (10.4 % for India) at 1970s level (which must have decreased by now even how much, this needs to be assessed); and cropping intensity could have been raised by 1.5 times. These figures, if revised for the future Bihar, would present a better picture, because Jharkhand region has less such potentials and the average would obviously rise in favour of Bihar plains, viz. the future Bihar. The irrigation potentials are bright enough with increasing potential Net Irrigated Area (NIA) to nearly 80 % of the NSA (projected above). One estimate (Sharma, 1987) during mid-80s estimated that only 15 percent of the total Ground Water Resource had developed in Bihar. This too could be revised now. The potential for Surface Water Resources was estimated (Sharma, 1987) to be 3.1 million hectare irrigation capacity for the north and 1.7 hectare million capacity for central Bihar. Bihar is the richest (compared to other states in India) conserver of her cattle wealth (43,449,000). The growing importance of the cattle wealth in future is increasingly being recognised by the agricultural scientists in Bihar. The exorbitant cost of mechanisation is now creating a 'reverse' situation in the countryside where machine may have to compete with the cattle. Bihar still uses lower (64.5 kg per hectare, lower than even the national average of 75.7 kg per hectare; Punjab, 174.7 kg!) percentage of fertilizers, therefore, prevented from serious soil health problem (unlike high growth regions). Organic farming potential is still very high. I must refer to Peter Rosenegger2, the FAO representative for India, who together with the Union Agriculture Ministry of India accepted in 1996 that Punjab and Haryana, which had best records in food grains production were facing serious soil health problem. Soil was not reacting as much to the use of fertilizers and suffering from the economic laws of decreasing returns. Profit motive and pressure of market does not make a Bihari peasant commit suicide (like in high growth regions)! Lactating mothers in rural Bihar are not suffering from milk-poisoning3 caused by excessive use of chemical fertilizers in Delhi and around high growth regions. Bihari society has not reached a stage of such a 'development' where social and family integration becomes inevitable resulting in 'infertility' and suicide' as is happening in most 'developed' Kerala (Halliburton, 1998), which has recorded the highest rate of suicide (triple the national average) and lowest birth-rate caused by infertility. Or, like in Punjab, which has recorded the highest 'femicide'. Many other such Bihar-Kerala and Bihar-Punjab contrasts could be presented, but I have to care for the space and time. The old academic 'fashion' of presenting a Bihar-Punjab contrast is now replaced by the Bihar-Kerala contrast, without taking recognition of many local factors that shape a society or characterize an economy. One Bihar-Kerala parallel could be drawn in relation to the 'remittance' economies that is important in both the states, with spatial difference. With the growing recognition of the ecological and other negative impacts of green revolution resulting in productivity decline, the enormous unexplored potentials in Bihar is yet capable of reaping the benefits of her 'backwardness'! Bihar is yet to reap the bonus of her 'backwardness', which has left the state unexplored and therefore, capable of conserving her natural and human resources, a better humane culture, a more 'vibrant' society, even though caste-driven and class-riven, in particular contexts.
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