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Migrant workers swell by the day
Migrant Workers Swell by the Day, Building Contractors, The Battle of Employment, MGNREGA. People from across the districts are arriving in the city in droves looking for some job or the other, no matter the pittance they would get and exacting work conditions, for, they know for sure that it can’t be worse than the much-touted ambitious social security and public works programme.
Faulty MGNREGA fuels migration to city.
People from across the districts are arriving in the city in droves looking for some job or the other, no matter the pittance they would get and exacting work conditions, for, they know for sure that it can’t be worse than the much-touted ambitious social security and public works programme. MGNREGA, which, in its seventh year after inception, has failed to guarantee the “minimum 100 days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work”
Every morning hundreds of men and women hang around at street corners to be picked up by agents of building contractors. The lucky ones get packed off in auto rickshaws to worksites, while the others head to their makeshift tents only to return the next morning hoping for better luck. People from Kurnool, Warangal, Nizamabad, Medak, Ongole, Chittoor and other districts, numbering more than 20,000, are currently in the city in search of jobs.
The battle of employment guarantee has fallen flat. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which was expected to provide employment and security to millions, is mired in corruption, non-execution of works, delayed payments and general ineptitude of babudom. As a result, distraught masses are heading to the twin cities for work. “If we are engaged in even 75 days of work with full payment we would never have come to the city,” says Pratap, 22, of Pagidyala in Kurnool.
The average days of work created in AP since the inception of MGNREGA in 2006 is 63 days and Rs 16,678 crore was spent till September 2013. However, the beneficiaries seem to be the middlemen and the outsourced staffers. Although the minimum wage is Rs 149 in Andhra Pradesh, workers get Rs 120 as the scheme is based on measurements.
As per the scheme, payment is to be made within 15 days and if work is not provided, unemployment allowance is to be paid.
Balakrishna, a migrant from Cheriyal in Warangal, says, “We get in hand just Rs 90 and had to wait for two months before we received payment. I got work for just 30 days last year. The scheme is a big sham. In the city, I get Rs 400 per day. ”
The reasons for the people migrating to the city are many: from wrong calculation of wages and faulty measurement of work to non-implementation of works.
According to M S Chandra of CARPED, an NGO working in Medak district, “The lack of a seasonal calendar is one of the reasons for migration to the cities. January to April is lean season. The works should be in full swing during this period.” He adds, “The scheme mandates that workers are given tools and proper worksite facilities such as tents for rest. The lack of facilities for pregnant and lactating women too is an issue.”
According to estimates, in 2009-10 MGNREGA created 284 crore person-days of work which declined to 216 crore person-days in 2011-12.
Meanwhile, Balakrishna, who is unable to feed his family in spite of earning thrice the amount in Hyderabad, is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. He cannot afford to return to his hometown now. Nor is he satisfied in the city, given constraints like accommodation and living standards that are beyond his means.
Why the migration?
