Migrant workers struggle to live

Saurabh Kumar, who works as a plumber in Dehradun, about 175 km from his home, has no work to repair in his village. Desperate Saurabh, sitting with a group of 10 boys near the village pond, says, "Nobody has water fittings here, so I don't have any work." His village Hussainpur Kalan, on the National Highway-51 (Gajraula-Chandpur-Bijnor), about 48 km from Bijnor, is one of the thousands of villages in Uttar Pradesh from which migrants are sent to cities every year.

A boy present there says, 'Today we are all useless. For the last two days, we got some work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) but the village head has asked us to stop work. Though Saurabh interrupts, saying, 'I am lucky that I managed to return home, but I lost Rs 12,000 a month which I used to earn in Dehradun. Since I returned in mid-April, I have got just five days of work under the MNREGA. The helplessness is evident in his voice. He says, 'How can I maintain my family, I can earn just Rs 1,000 in 45 days?'

According to a 2017 report of the Working Group on Migration, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, all-time working migrants accounted for 42.9 percent of the urban population in 2011, more than half of which came from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The report shows that 17 districts account for 25 percent of the inter-state migration of male workers in the country and ten of these districts are from Uttar Pradesh.

According to estimates by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, over 12.2 million people lost their jobs in April in the country. The two main sources of work in rural areas are farming and MNREGA. Both have a high burden and all the returning workers can't get work. The sowing and harvesting season for the Rabi season is over but the Kharif season is yet to begin.

Expectation from MNREGA

According to a report of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) titled 'Workers in Indian Agriculture: Increasing Challenges', the size of the agricultural workforce decreased from 22.8 crore in 2004-05 to 3.05 crore in 2011-12. The report said that the decline in agricultural holdings is a major reason for migration to work in other areas. On the other hand, out of the 27.2 crore people registered under MNREGA, 15 crore people have no work. This means that more than 55 percent of the people are active workers and this is also reflected in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) website.

Also, the average number of days of employment given to each household under the MGNREGA between FY 2016 and FY 2020 is 47, which is less than half of the 100 days of work guaranteed as promised. From the beginning of this financial year (FY 21) till June 10, the average employment provided to each family was just 18.43 days.

Hanifa, a mother of two, received her job card in January. She is running hard to add her son's name to the card but to no avail. Hanifa, a resident of Hirna Kheri village in western Uttar Pradesh, says, "My elder son is stuck in the city without a job and I am struggling to get work with my younger son here." She points to four entries in her job card accusing the local administration of not providing work under MNREGA. She says, 'I have only worked for four days since I received this card. Nobody gets 100 days of work here. We also have to pay for food grains, which is probably provided free of cost by the government. According to the data, out of 5.48 crore families working under this scheme, only 40 lakh people got 100 days of employment and wages, which is just 7.41%. The National Sample Survey (2007-08) shows that 28.3 percent of the workers in the country were migrants. However, according to the 2011 census, economic migrants constitute less than one-tenth of all migrants and have a little over 45 million. Armaan Ali, who works as a carpenter in New Delhi to meet the expenses of his education, is unemployed. He is keen on doing a government job.

Ali says with dismay, "Even after studying so much, I am ready to grab the hoe but this government is not able to provide that either." Regretting the government's decision to cancel all the recruits, Ali says that he is concerned not only for himself but also for the lakhs of people who will not be eligible for these vacancies soon in terms of age. Only one of the 13 villages visited by Business Standard in western Uttar Pradesh had MNREGA work available. In some villages where work was completed 20-25 days in advance, the payment was not yet made. Accepting the delay in payment, Pappu Ram, the head of Aharaula Tejwan village, says that the paperwork has been completed and payment will be made within a week.

Social worker Nikhil Dey, who has worked on the MNREGA since the MNREGA law came into force in 2005, said that the government should pay workers on time as per the Supreme Court verdict.

This will also boost demand in the economy. Dey says, 'There is still enough money under the MNREGA but due to incompetence of local administration people are not getting work. It is his fault that he has not already made a shelf of projects. According to the work they do, they should be given work twice. '

In a recent interview with Business Standard, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath described these migrant workers as state assets and about his project to connect around one crore migrant workers with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Told. He said, 'We are adding at least one and a maximum of 10 additional workers in 90 lakh MSMEs in the state. This can provide more than 1 crore employment opportunities. The government is their last hope for Saurabh and the rest of the millions. Saurabh, 28, says, 'We have nothing to eat. We are begging for work, please help us, otherwise we will be forced to kill ourselves. '