And they all left Bihar

I know about the migration in my family for the last three generations. My great grandfather had seven sons and two daughters. When they grew up, got married and had children, migration became necessary as the available land could not sustain the enlarged family. There were no job opportunities except as agricultural labourers. It started with the eldest brother who went to Calcutta and worked as a temporary labourer in the Jessop Company and was later regularised. Once he got a foothold in Calcutta, five other brothers landed in the metropolis. Some got absorbed in Jessop while others settled to run 8220;khatals8221; and pursue their traditional milkman8217;s profession.

Migration continued with my father and his cousins. My father, the eldest, also started as a temporary worker in Jessop factory and struggled to get absorbed as a regular employee. After him, however, with job opportunities getting saturated in Calcutta, siblings of my other grandfathers searched for newer pastures and landed in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Gujarat. With the exception of my father, all have chosen to keep their families in the villages and regularly send money to sustain them 8212; they are part of what is known as 8220;the money-order economy8221;.

The story of my family finds reflection in all other houses of my village. With land remaining constant, farming still the traditional job and no alternative opportunities, the flight of the men towards greener pastures continues. Earlier Calcutta was the favoured destination but with opportunities in that city shrinking rapidly, the tide has turned towards India8217;s west. My village specialises in drivers and a lot of youth are earning a living out of this profession in different big cities.

Migration in Bihar is broadly of two kinds: for betterment and for livelihood. The first is welcome, though it has led to a massive brain drain from the state. But it is the second which must be the real cause of concern. It is a matter of shame for our ruling politicians when people have to migrate just to earn two square meals a day.

The lure of just Rs 50-Rs 100 draws workers in hordes from Bihar to the brick kilns of Assam where they put their lives at risk. 8220;Here we get Rs 150 for laying a 1000 bricks and in Assam it is Rs 200-2508221;, says Bhola Mahto of Bangree village. They leave around October when there is hardly any work in the village and return in March-April. Before leaving they borrow heavily from the contractor and give the money to their families. They work from dawn to dusk in brick kilns struggling everyday to lay the 1000 bricks so that they can return the contractor8217;s money and make a living as well. This never happens.

The main reason for such large scale migration is the total lack of opportunities in Bihar. The state8217;s agrarian economy remains static while the demographic pressure has increased hugely.

Despite Bihar8217;s tremendous potential in agriculture, it is a classic case of an incomplete green revolution. Successive leaders from the state made no effort to develop the agrarian economy. They kept themselves busy with politicking to save their chair. Agriculture-driven development was not on the government8217;s agenda even when there was a one-party rule in the state for the last 15 years. The earlier period was generally marked by the upper caste-dominated Congress rule.

Present day Bihar is bursting at its seams under the pressure of unemployment with the result that Biharis are flocking everywhere they can find the slightest opportunity. But they then come up against the kind of fierce resistances that recently erupted in Assam. Creating job opportunities in the agriculture sector in particular, and a sustained high level of public investment, seems to be the only answer.