Migrants’ plights: Many guest workers stuck in Tamil Nadu fear they will lose precious time to start cultivation back at home

Many guest workers stuck in Tamil Nadu fear they will lose precious time to start cultivation back at home

J Shanmugha Sundaram
Chennai: The kharif season is two weeks away and hundreds of guest workers, who are also seasonal farmers, are stuck in Tamil Nadu due to the lockdown. These seasonal farmers, who own small pieces of land back in their villages in Bihar and Jharkhand, are unable to go back home and start farming.

According to 2017 economic survey, there are 100 million guest workers in India. On an average, nine million people migrate between states every year. “Around 50% of these nine million people are seasonal migrants, mostly farmers. They migrate to prosperous states to work as casual labourers during the off-season,” said Umi Daniel, regional head of migration thematic unit, Aide et Action International (South Asia).  

Ashok Singh, 55, from Adhaura village in Bihar’s Kaimur district, said, “Hundreds of the young farmers and agricultural labourers from my village and neighbouring villages are yet to return home. They are stuck in Tamil Nadu and other states where they worked as daily wage labourers during the off-season.” 

Ashok’s nephew, Gopal Singh, who is stuck at Sriperumbudur’s SPICOT industrial estate in Chennai, said, “I came here to earn some money and invest the same in agriculture this Kharif season, but all my plans have gone down the drain.” 

Like Gopal, Yogendra Chaudhary from Dewal village in UP’s Ghazipur district and Upendar Kumar from Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district are also affected. The duo usually work as guest labourers for eight months in a year and go back to their home town during monsoon to take up to farming. 

These farmers return home in mid of April and take up harvest of wheat and vegetables crops like brinjal, tomato and beans. They spend an entire month (May) to prepare the field to sow paddy for the monsoon month that sets in mid of June. 

 “We are still here,” Gopal said and added, “Though my parents and elders back home would manage the harvest, it would be difficult for them to prepare the field for kharif season.” 

Yogendra said, “What we cultivate and harvest is only to save our family from starvation till the next season. For families like mine it would be tough to meet our financial needs.”

Another guest labourer cum farmer Kumar, who is the father of two daughters said, “I took a piece of land on lease for wheat cultivation. I came here to earn some money to invest in my farming this monsoon season, but the lockdown has destroyed my dreams.”

While several hundreds of small and marginal farmers migrate to Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and other metro cities to work in the construction and manufacturing sector. 

National general secretary of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and two-time MLA of Bihar assembly Raja Ram Singh said, “The government has failed to look into the plight of these small farmers and peasants before announcing the lockdown.” 

He further added that the Centre was busy in playing political games at the beginning of the year and failed to prepare a strategy to protect the migrants and farmers, who are the worst affected. The farmers are the food providers and backbone of our nation. They have been suffering a lot and are unable to return home on time.

While these farmers have already lost three weeks to prepare their lands for cultivation, even if they return home by next week they would be home-quarantined for 28 days.