Impact Of Reverse Migration On Villages- Stories From Bihar

Ever since the lockdown began and migrants started walking back to their villages, the question- 'Whether they would return back to cities?' has been widely discussed.

Now we are seeing a lot of offers for them as the manufacturing and other services resume, many of them have already started returning back.

The total number of migrants who came back is no less than a crore and so the question that how many of them would return and what percentage would continue in villages remains to be seen. State governments are promising jobs but that’s going to take a long time.

In the short run, challenges are huge for many who don't wish to return or who haven't recieved any such offer from bosses they worked with in metro cities.

Village is not capable enough to feed their needs, why would they have been to metro cities otherwise?

Impact on existing labour force of villages/neighbouring towns

Amit Yadav is one of the many laborers who come from neighbouring villages to Karpoori Chowk in Darbhanga city, (Named after Karpoori Thakur, former chief minister of Bihar) daily. From here, contractor masons hire daily wage labourers to help them in construction work.

''Around 100-120 of us (labourers) gather here for many years now before 8 am and by 9 am it is clear if we will be able to make money or not.'' Talking about the miseries he faced in lockdown, he added- "Many of my fellow villagers had started selling vegetables and fruits for almost no margin to earn something. I had nothing to do all these days. It's good that the government is finally opening up things, but in the last ten days things have been very slow."

Does everyone get hired? "Of course not. Only 30-40 of us would manage to find work, earlier it was at least 60-70. Those who have returned from big cities have also started to come here and there are some 40 already here today," he continued guessing many more would join over time.

As soon as another labourer Baijnath, who looks like somewhere in his early thirties senses us to be people from the media, he rushes to be noticed. The first sentence comes in quite a worrisome tone- "Humlog bhooke mar rahe hai (We are dying out of hunger)." He is a resident of Bishanpur, a well known village which is 14 KMs away from the district headquarters. Baijnath expressed the difficulties he is facing in feeding his three children. To come looking for work here is also not cheap. "Even the Autowala now demands ₹50, where do we go now?"

Demand-supply is one of the most easy to understand concepts of economics, but the same is leaving no stone unturned in making life hard for these workers. They are now paid ₹250-₹300 for a day's work instead of ₹400 earlier because of more labour supply, plus there are fewer things to do. Somebody from the quickly gathered crowd with no masks and social distancing was fast to empathise, despite being in trouble- "Not only us, everybody is facing crunch. They would of course delay the work."

Asked about MNREGA and government schemes Amit says- "Our panchayat doesn't have MNREGA jobs and there are issues to the same. The government has given us ration and a thousand rupees but for how long that can help us survive?"

Childhood will suffer-

Dwindling income needs immediate solutions, for nobody can survive without food. But there are opportunity costs, children are compelled by the circumstances to look for ways to add to family income or at least be 'Aatmanirbhar' for their food. It has been around 3 months of no study for thousands of students enrolled in government schools of Bihar. Don't apply the formula of online classes here, they would have sent their children to a 'English medium' school here if they earned enough to afford a smartphone. Dropout rate in such a situation is expected to register a surge and more children would look for opportunities.

Nevermind, a considerable number of such students used to go only for the mid day meal or to avail benefit of the other government schemes, but still they were moving ahead. There are already many who have left studies and are working. Jay is one such 12 years old child from the Sitamarhi district who gets ₹2000 a month for the work he does in a restaurant. He is indulged in child labour for more than a year now. On what explains him not studying and earning here, he says- "My mom and dad are farmers and work on others' fields. We don't have enough money. Also, I didn't like studying from my childhood so I am here earning. I am happy with decent food and the affection Mahajan (referring to the owner) has for me."

"I don't know yet, but I will see. I am happy here." He added to answer what he wanted to become growing up. Despite laws and regulations, there are several like Jay in rural areas. Many of them have bad habits of chewing tobacco or smoking cigarettes too. If India has to grow substantially, this menace would need a permanent solution which is expected to further increase in current situations.

Households are destroyed-

It's the woman who usually runs home in India, by giving up on her dreams and becoming a homemaker. Talking to one such person was thus obvious. Soni has 3 children, all under the age of 7 and she lives in a rented accommodation in Pupri, Sitamarhi. This village is developing fast and is 20 KMs from her home village. The reason for living away from the village? Obvious one, lack of opportunities in the village.

In the telephonic interview, she tells, her husband Bambam used to work for a restaurant run by her brother nearby and used to get ₹200/day. Now, as the restaurants and food outlets are closed as per the government orders, he is forced to sell Samosas on his bicycle for the last three weeks. Many times, there won't be any earning.

"We must do something to pay rent at least. We don't even know whether my brother would take him back to work. He is also planning to wrap up the business because of the growing losses. God knows what's coming. Earlier we had aspirations, now all I want is life free of hunger."

Adding to it she says- ''Many people are doing the same thing now, in our village people eat a lot of evening snacks so everybody seems to be running to do this in the absence of work. Being at home, I've to ensure my children don't feel what we are going through. "

The grief in voice was easily noticeable. She wants to go home but is afraid of being forced to move out again in the absence of work. Room owner is going to charge them, but thankfully has allowed some delay.

These are not isolated stories. Several lakh people are struggling to secure enough food for their family in whatever ways they can. This also holds more significance than any government claim of India emerging as world leader. The real India is facing much more challenges than ever. We must wake up to it soon or the idea of India will be dead.