Nizamabad: Labourers from North Indian States, flock south for employment

Nizamabad: Agricultural laborers are migrating to Telangana from northern India. As the Telangana State government is providing financial support on monthly basis to Beedi workers women in Nizamabad district are not coming for agricultural work. This gap is now being filled by migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Men from north Indian States are now appearing in fields of Nizamabad district in place of women, for continuing the process of paddy transplantation. With the gradual arrival of northern laborers every year since 2016, there is a shortage of labor for farmers in the district. During the kharif season they stay here for three months and work in the fields.

Farmers also say paddy transplantation is done quickly by migrant male laborers. There is a cheap labor price. Northern migrant workers charge between Rs 4,000 and Rs 4,500 per acre depending on the season. Labor costs up to Rs 6,000 per acre if farmers use labor from local turf. Nizamabad district cultivates paddy on 3,82,800 acres of land, the highest during the monsoon Khareef and Rabi seasons. Agricultural alternative employment in Telangana has been on the rise for the past five years, leading to a shortage of labor in the agricultural sector. This year too, the rains have been completed in Srinagar and Varni villages before the onset of monsoon. A team of five is planting 10 to 12 acres of paddy transplantation per day. Farmers are also giving them a chance as they work really quick. They start work on the farm at 6 in the morning and stay at work till 6 in the evening.

They come in groups of 20 to 25 from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. All live in the same place all the time.

Once the paddy transplant is completed in that village, they go to the neighboring villages. The workers said that they were coming here because there was not enough work in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

"We have a surplus of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per month from the daily cumulative wage we earn here," north Indian labour said.

'There is no employment in our State. We came here looking for work' - Tarun, Bavlipur, Uttar Pradesh

No employment could be found in the northern Indian State. If we come here, we will get work for three months. I have been coming here for the last four years and doing paddy transplantation - Indrajith, Uttar Pradesh

Our family would have starved to death if they had not found employment in South India.

We came to Varni Mandal as a team of 25 people. Every day we transplant paddy in 10 to 12 acres. We will stay until the end of the season. We are also going to other villages in Nizamabad district and transplanting said another farm labour.