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For hundreds of farmers fleeing the drought-stricken districts of Bundelkhand this year, the most obvious “sheher” (city) to turn to for work and money is Delhi. And the first stop after their train chugs into one of the railway stations in the capital is Sarai Kale Khan, “pul ke neeche (under the bridge)”. Last Friday, the grilled clearing under the flyover just off the Nizamuddin railway station was packed with migrants. Hundreds of farmers, carrying sackloads of clothes, utensils and water, had alighted the Mahakaushal Express from Jabalpur that afternoon and moved to the shade under the flyover – it doubles as a temporary shelter and an unofficial “labour mandi (market)”. “People come to Delhi for earning money,” said Yaseer, a 28-year-old from Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh. Next to him was his 15-year-old brother Ramzan and neighbour Gahna Devi’s family of seven. In transit, like many others, they were waiting for a construction contractor. The contractor, Ishaq, had promised to take them to a site in the Okhla industrial area where they would get work for Rs 240 a day. According to the Delhi government, the minimum wage for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labour are Rs 368, Rs 407 and Rs 447 per day, respectively. A Delhi government spokesperson said there were no specific records of farmers migrating from Bundelkhand because of the “informal nature of their travel and work”. “We have been getting reports of farmers taking trains to Delhi. It is difficult to keep count because so many people reach Delhi from all over the country. Many of these farmers travel to other parts of NCR as well. But there are night shelters near all railway stations,” said the spokesperson. Migrants from the region say this year saw the worst cycle of drought yet. “I have been coming to Delhi for the last five summers because of the drought in Bundelkhand. This year has been the worst. The crops, both Kharif and Rabi, have been failing because of droughts and hailstorms,” said Yaseer, adding that he owned a 2.5 acre plot in Hamirpur’s Rath. Gahna Devi (55) and her husband Babulal (60) say they were forced to step out of their village to find work, for the first time. Their village, Rath Purab, is deserted, they added. “Out of 2,000 residents, only 100, mostly the aged and the ill, are still in their homes. All the others, men, women and children, have left in search of work. They will send back money to those left behind. Many homes are locked shut. Most of us freed our cattle to fend for themselves,” said Gahna. However, Udayveer Singh Yadav, district magistrate of Hamirpur, said there was no real change in the seasonal migration pattern this year. “Roughly 10-15 per cent of people from my district might have migrated. There is a crisis but it has not forced everyone out. The state and central governments have been sending relief and assistance,” said Yadav. Officials and migrants say lakhs of people have travelled to Delhi from villages across the 13 districts of Bundelkhand astride the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border. According to them, it has also skewed the demand-supply cycle in the informal labour market. “My contractor used to call me around this time every year asking for labourers… This year, he did not call. When I called him, he said there was not much work. I pleaded with him to give us work and two meals a day. I told him he could pay our wages later before he agreed,” said Ramesh Pal, a farmer from Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district.
Keywords
farmers, drought-stricken districts, Bundelkhand, Delhi, migrants, distress migration, temporary shelter, minimum wage, unskilled labour, skilled labour, drought, informal labour market
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