Logout
Welcome
Edit News Article
Title
*
Select Subject
Working Conditions
Wages
Construction workers
Bonded labourers
Welfare schemes
Social security
Unorganised sector workers
Minority communities
Id cards for migrant workers
Trafficking
Slum dwellers
Seasonal workers
Contract system of labour
Employment
Child labour
Children of migrant workers
Trade union
Migrants Crisis
Demonetisation
None
Description
There's a deathly silence in many villages across Chhattisgarh these days. The houses are locked as entire families have left for greener pastures for want of work, despite Central government's rural job scheme and availability of rice at Rs 1 per kg. "We (55 labourers and 15 children) are leaving for Faizabad (in Uttar Pradesh) where we will make bricks. The payment is Rs 400 for 1,000 bricks. Two labourers can make 1,000 bricks in a day. We will come back after working for six months there," Kans Nishad of Baloda Bazaar said at the Raipur railway station. According to government statistics, 95,324 people have left their homes in last three years. A substantial part of the migration - 29,190 - took place from Janjgir-Champa district. Inquiries revealed that people living below the poverty line are not getting jobs under MGNREGA scheme. Chhattisgarh revenue minister Prem Prakash Pandey accepted the migration issue in state assembly but didn't have any solutions. Apart from Janjgir-Champa, there are also reports of migration from Bemetara, Balod, Kawardha, Gariaband, Durg and Dhamtari districts, among others. The migrants have moved to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh where they are engaged in construction of houses, roads and canals or they work in brick kilns. Official records in Maoist-hit Sukma district show that no villager has been given employment under MGNREGA in last nine months. This apart, government officials working on the scheme say they have not been paid for the past six to 10 months. Ironically, neighbouring Dantewada district, which is also Maoist-affected, was given a national award earlier this year for its good performance under the scheme. Statistics of Baloda district are stark with some 500 labourers migrating every month. Besides, statistics show that 20,000 labourers have moved out of Lavan area, leaving hundreds of houses in around 15 villages locked. "The labourers have not derived any benefit inspite of state's small size. That's why a large number of labourers are migrating to other states," Rajesh Mishra, general-secretary of NGO Gram Vikas Samiti said. "The statistics of economic development are lying in cold storage, far away from the ground reality. That's why people of Chhattisgarh are moving away. A major question that arises here is till when would this continue," Mishra said.
Keywords
Chhattisgarh, labour, migration, villages, rural, urban, brick-kiln workers, MNREGA
Upload Image
(only .gif or .jpeg files or .x-png files. Max upload size is 20MB)
Source
Display in both Policy and News
No
Yes
Enter Video url/Embed Code :
Url
Embedded Code
External Link URL
Status
Active
Inactive
Show On Home Page
Yes
No