Village returnees seek jobs, farming inexperience a concern
Nagpur:- If factories are likely to face a shortage of workers due to the post-lockdown reverse migration, villages are packed with returnees who might start searching for employment in the days ahead.
A large number of people living in villages, especially those living in western Vidarbha, have worked in cities such as Mumbai and Pune. It is estimated that approximately 80,000 have returned to Western Vidarbha districts alone.
They are now contributing to the workforce available in rural areas back home. Farmers have already started preparing for the Kharif season with sowing to start next month.
Farmers and farm activists say that most returnees have no farming experience, even if they own land from their families. “These people may not be very useful as farmhands while their return can affect the villages’ overall economy. Worked in the cities where they used to take home money where their families used to use in agriculture. There’s no source of funds now, “said Wardha’s veteran farm activist Vijay Jawandhia.
The government will account for their lack of wages in the towns, according to Jawandhia. “If the returnees also work in their own fields, MNREGA will cover them and pay salaries,” he said.
Kishore Tiwari, chairman of the Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavalamban Mission (VNSSM), the Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavalamban Mission (Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavalamban Mission), the State Government Task Force on Farm Crisis, said these people can not work as farm labourers but will still need employment. During their village stay, the government would have to come up with steps to provide them with jobs.
Farmers across the area spoke to say sowing will only begin after rains, while preparations have begun. A significant number of people who have returned are still under quarantine and there will only be a need to employ them until they are out, the farmers said.
Samadhan Supekar from the village of Isoli in the district of Buldhana said it can sense the concern. “The boys who had gone out are not used to farming, nor will they return to the towns. Nevertheless, there is hardly any job in the villages. “Due to a series of droughts, Buldhana has seen large numbers of migration from the villages.
In the rural areas some pockets even saw farm hand migration. Vijay Ingle of Chitalwadi village in Akola said the area had a number of neighboring farmworkers from Madhya Pradesh who are now leaving due to Covid ‘s fear. “The workers are lining up to obtain certificates of fitness and are leaving for their own home state,” he said.
Tiwari said that certain crops are being grown with the assistance of Telangana employees who have returned to their states. “The farmers from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh who took up rented farms in Maharashtra also fled,” he said.
