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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

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National

Employment guarantee rally reaches Madhya Pradesh

Meena Menon

`Guaranteeing rural employment can make a major difference to migration' ``The situation in various parts of India is that even in the peak agricultural season there is no work. There is very little employment in the rural areas.''

INDORE: Kishanlal Morparia came to Indore when he was three. His parents left their home near Jodhpur in Rajasthan looking for work. Now at 59, Morparia works for daily wages and that too, on an irregular basis. He has only vaguely heard of the Employment Guarantee Bill but agrees that there should be some guarantee of work not only in the villages but also in cities.

Street-corner meeting

At a street-corner meeting held on Tuesday by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS) in Suryodaya Nagar in Indore, activists explain that they are part of a `Rozgar Adhikar Yatra' (Employment Guarantee March). While songs are sung and slogans are shouted, Har haath ko kaam do, Kam ka pura daam do (Give work to everyone and pay them just wages), a crowd consisting of mostly children, gleefully raise their hands in support.

The yatra was flagged off in New Delhi on May 13, and has travelled through Rajasthan and is now passing through Madhya Pradesh. According to economist Jean Dreze, a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), who is among those taking part in the march, ``The situation in various parts of India is that even in the peak agricultural season there is no work. In the last ten days we have passed through twelve districts and the issues are of a serious nature. There is very little employment in the rural areas.''

However, things are not much better in cities. Indore, with a population of about 20 lakhs, has about 250 slums, according to official records, while a survey by a voluntary organisation, Din Bandhu Samajik Sanstha, puts the figure at 434. Anand Lakhan of the Sanstha told The Hindu that ``nearly 65 per cent of the population lives in slums and the majority are from Maharashtra. They are mostly landless people migrating in search of work. There is seasonal migration too, specially from the Adivasi-dominated Jhabua district.'' Guaranteeing rural employment could make a major difference to migration, he said.

Evictions resented

About six km away from Indore, at Sneh Nagar, there is anger and resentment among people who have recently been evicted from the city. The land they lived on has been sold to a private builder and they have been given alternative land on the outskirts. The entire settlement of migrants from various parts of Madhya Pradesh had lived in the city for nearly 30 years. ``Now we have nothing, there is no water, we cannot bathe or eat and we get no work,'' laments Kantaben, who hails from Dhar district.

Here too the Rozgar Adhikar Yatra explains the need for the right to work.

Kaluram Solanki, who was disgusted with the Government's act of dumping them in a remote place without any facilities, says that there is no work since 15 days and they have to pay Rs. 10, a princely sum, to get to the city to look for daily wages.

Near the slum is a construction site, which attracts seasonal migrants. Bansingh comes every year from Jhabua district looking for work.

``I don't get work in my village for most of the year,'' he says. Like most cities, Indore tells a story of what migration and insecurity of housing and work can do to people.

In Suryodaya Nagar, people who left their homes generations ago, now face the reality of urban unemployment. Parvati Morparia's son Ashok who is a postgraduate is jobless. As Mr. Lakhan says: ``Labourers are on the increase while work is declining.''

In this context, the Rozgar Adhikar Yatra assumes great significance in launching a nationwide campaign for rural employment. .''

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