Inside the daily struggle of migrant labourers

Every night at 2 a.m., tribal families in Rajpur tehsil of Barwani district in Madhya Pradesh wake up. By 4 a.m., nearly 10,000 labourers, including even children as young as six and elders nearing 80, crowd the local market, hoping to get a day’s work. They earn between ₹300 and ₹350, but after paying for a bumpy bus ride to Nimad or Maharashtra, many take home just ₹100. They slog through tough jobs, lifting, digging, hauling, and travelling until 9 p.m., stumbling back exhausted with no time for family, festivals, or even proper rest. This isn’t a choice; it is a question of survival.

As a PGDRM student at Institute of Rural Management Anand, I studied livelihood patterns in villages of Rajpur block as part of the programme’s two-month Village Fieldwork Segment (VFS). The study reveals that about 90% of these households rely on work in other places, and almost 100% belong to marginalised Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. “My father migrated, so I will too,” one of them said.

Many reasons for migration

Among the many reasons for this daily grind, the dying farming stands tall. The hilly land gets no irrigation, enabling only one-time cropping a year. The Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households (77th Round, January-December 2018) of the National Sample Survey Organisation reported that the estimated average monthly income of agricultural households was ₹10,218, but in Rajpur, migrants barely make it. It’s a cycle of poverty that has kept families stuck for generations.

Government initiatives to alleviate poverty have yielded limited results. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), now revamped to Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), meant to provide 100 days of work in a year, remained underutilised in Rajpur. Being a tribal area designated under the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, Rajpur faces barriers in accessing the scheme. Many villagers are unaware of it, and about 30%, especially women, lack Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, making direct benefit transfers impossible. As a result, its benefits have not percolated to PESA areas, leaving households dependent on work outside.

Limited alternatives

Such work is neither sustainable for everyone nor viable in the long term. Yet, some still manage to find a way out. For instance, Jasma Di, once a migrant labourer, joined a women’s self-help group supported by NGOs and a farmer-producer company, using a loan to start a small horticulture farm. Today, she earns ₹35,000 to ₹40,000 a month — well above the all-India average income of agricultural households (₹10,218, NSSO 2018) and her children attend school instead of travelling with her for work. Some families have explored other options such as raising chickens or goats, which pay better than the ₹300 a day. But here’s the catch: only 5-10% of families pull this off. For most, it’s a dream too big to touch.

Why can’t everyone do it? Money’s the wall. After talking to local farmers and experts, we learned it takes about ₹1 lakh to start a horticulture farm, money for water pipes, seeds, fertilizers, and more. With ₹300 a day, saving that takes years, especially when bus fares chew up half of it. SHG loans, usually ₹50,000-₹60,000, don’t cover it all. Plus, crops take four to six months to grow, and families living on ₹100 a day can’t wait that long without food.

This is where the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), a flagship scheme of the Government of India, comes in. Launched in 2011, the NRLM aims to lift rural families out of poverty by promoting sustainable livelihoods through SHGs, where women pool savings and access credit. It provides loans to SHGs, typically ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh, repayable over one to three years with monthly instalments. With a 97% repayment rate (Rural Development Ministry, 2022), the scheme shows promise, though loan amounts remain too small for projects such as horticulture farms requiring ₹1 lakh upfront. Paperwork slows things down, especially in remote areas. In tribal Rajpur, where many don’t even know about the NRLM, awareness is a major hurdle. So, while Ms. Jasma Di thrives with her SHG loan, most families remain in the dark.

Drawing from our study, we propose some fixes. First, rural credit must expand in both scale and size. During our fieldwork, most SHG members reported receiving loans of around ₹50,000 to ₹60,000. However, they mentioned that this amount is inadequate to fund farms and small businesses. Larger loans could enable horticulture, as seen in Ms. Jasma Di’s case, but existing limits are inadequate. Evidence shows Kisan Credit Cards raise farm incomes by 25-30% (Meena & Reddy, 2013), and recent studies confirm higher income and reduced dependence on moneylenders with KCC access [Kumar et al., 2021]. With NRLM’s 97% repayment rate, higher, tailored loans in PESA regions are low-risk and essential.

Second, equally important is irrigation. Farmers in Rajpur want to grow cash crops such as turmeric or cotton, but lack reliable water. A World Bank study in South India (2021) showed that small-scale irrigation systems such as drip and check dams raise farm income, and similar measures in Rajpur could make diversification viable and reduce migration.

Third, our fieldwork revealed that local leaders and villagers in Rajpur lack awareness of their constitutional rights and government schemes. The Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, launched in 2018 and revamped in 2022, aims to strengthen panchayat raj institutions, including in PESA regions, through capacity-building and training. To empower leaders and panchayat functionaries, including the Panchayat Executive Officer, RGSA could enhance its training programmes to include modules on PESA rights and the employment guarantee scheme, helping communities manage resources and reduce migration.

Mobile camps

Fourth, programme outreach and local governance need strengthening. Expanding access to the employment guarantee scheme through mobile camps would help families enroll for Aadhaar and bank accounts, making it possible to claim the 100 days of guaranteed work. At the same time, leadership capacity is crucial.

Finally, introduce a transitional cash support mechanism for tribal households seeking to shift from itinerant labour to horticulture or other sustainable livelihoods. A temporary cash transfer — targeted and time-bound — could offer vital income security during the four to six months between investment and returns. Labour in other places is not Rajpur’s fate; it’s what happens when no one cares enough. Ms. Jasma Di shows what’s possible: a life rooted in home, not on a bus. SHGs and NGOs spark change, but they are drops in a bucket. For the 10,000 waking before dawn, children missing school, and elders breaking their backs, the government has to step up.

p45282@irma.ac.in