Mehabub Jamadar, who had migrated from Honna Kiranagi village in Kalaburagi district to Mumbai and worked as construction labourer for nearly 20 years, has returned to his native place a few weeks ago after hearing the news that enough work was available at his own village under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). He did not get disappointed as all the three members of his family got work under the job scheme.
“We were struggling to survive in Mumbai as we were not getting enough work there. The job scheme in our village came to our rescue. The wages we get are almost the same. But, the cost of living in Mumbai is far higher as compared to the village. I will gladly stay back here if I get work throughout the year,” he told this reporter at the NREGA worksite on the outskirts of the village.
Saibanna, another rural labourer in the same village who was working as a construction labourer in Bengaluru for the last 15 years, has also come back to the village to work under the job scheme this year.
Happy state of mind
“Even though I got ₹600 a day in Bengaluru, I could hardly save anything because of the high cost of living. Life in Bengaluru is hell for migrant workers because of the poor working and living conditions. Even though we earn less than half under the job scheme here as compared to the wages we get in Bengaluru, we are happier as we have the convenience of staying with our family, friends and relatives at our native place apart from the advantage of low cost of living,” he said.
For most of the marginal, small and medium farmers and farm labourers in Kalaburagi villages, like Mehabub and Saibanna, the seasonal migration had been a yearly phenomenon. Soon after the harvesting of tur in December and January, over 1,000 families migrate to cities such as Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai in search of a job every year as they don’t get any in their villages. They work as construction labourers there for six months and come back home by June when agricultural activities begin with the onset of monsoon.
“Nobody from the village migrated this year as the MNREGA work commenced before the tur harvest was over. We have received 1,460 applications seeking work and job cards have been issued to 800 people. The rest will come soon after the remaining tur harvest is completed,” Sadashiva, a field assistant of the job scheme in Honna Kiranagi village, told The Hindu .
CEO to the rescue
The NREGA, which was intended to improve the economic condition of rural labourers, had largely failed to serve its purpose in Kalaburagi ever since its launch in 2006, except for a brief period of two years when Anirudh Sravan P. was CEO of Kalaburagi Zilla Panchayat. It was during Mr. Sravan’s tenure that MNREGA gathered momentum and checked the migration to a considerable extent. He informally joined hands with the civil society organisations that were working among the rural masses spreading awareness about NREGA and dedicated much of his time and energy to the implementation of the scheme. Honna Kiranagi village alone had got 39,000 person-days, considering its population of around 8,000, in about 70 days a year during his tenure. But with his transfer in February 2017, the job scheme lost its priority and the phenomenon of migration promptly returned.
“We had taken up NREGA issue as a campaign and Mr. Sravan responded to it by giving it top priority. We mobilised people and got them job cards and he ensured work and timely payment. The system that Mr. Sravan had built collapsed after his transfer. Now, the present CEO appears to be making attempts to revive it. In villages where the job scheme is effectively being implemented this year, migration is under check. It is seen in villages in Aland, Chincholi, Afzalpur and Kalaburagi taluks where our organisation is active. There are many villages where the job scheme has not yet started. If the work doesn’t start within a fortnight, the people will leave their villages,” K. Neela, State vice-president of Janawadi Mahila Sanghatan, told The Hindu . She had been in the forefront of struggles mobilising rural labourers in NREGA.
Top priority
Raja P., CEO of Kalaburagi Zilla Panchayat, clarified that NREGA works had begun in most of the villages and around 25,000 people were working on an average across the district every day. “NREGA is our top priority and we use it as a means to check migration. We have started the work in most of the villages and 4 lakh person-days have already been generated. Presently, we have taken up community works under the job scheme. Once the tur harvest is over, we will take up farm pond construction on individual farmers’ lands,” he said.
NREGA labourers in Honna Kiranagi are presently engaged in constructing twin-tanks - first in their village - on government land. “It was the idea of Mr. Sravan. We had six small check-dams built across streams and no tanks and lakes. After all the check-dams got destroyed, we had nothing to hold rainwater for summer. Mr. Sravan decided to construct the tanks in this low-lying government land of about 4.2 acres under the job scheme. Work started and progressed during his period and stopped after his transfer. Now, it has resumed,” said a worker.
Asked about the composition of the labour force engaged in the job scheme, Mr. Sadashiva led this reporter to a corner of the worksite and said that all people, irrespective of their landholding sizes and social status, are working. “Even the big farmers who used to hire labourers to work in their fields are now forced to work as labourers in the job scheme due to consecutive droughts. You can find a couple of people who own more than 30 acres of land working as labourers here,” Mr Sadashiva said in a low voice.
Though people are happy with the availability of work, they are upset with the irregular payment as well as the number of working days presently offered under the scheme.
“Wages are supposed to be paid on weekly basis. But, we are not paid even after three weeks. All our commitments like clearing dues at local grocery stores are on weekly basis. We find it very difficult to manage if we don’t get wages every week,” a labourer said, adding that the yearly workdays should be increased to a minimum 200 days.
Mr. Raja attributed the delayed payment to lack of coordination between the Centre and State in releasing the funds. “But, the problem is now fixed.”
