MANAGEMENT OF UNORGANISED WORKERS IN UNORGANISED SECTORS A CASE STUDY Dr. M.R. HEGDE* *Director, Poornaprajna Institute of Management, Udupi, Karnataka India ABSTRACT Udupi district in Karnataka State (in India) has been witnessing an increasing inflow of migrant workers during the last two decades. A large chunk of migrant workers account for unorganised workers working in unorganised sectors and one such predominant unorganised sector is the construction sector. This study is mainly based on the sample survey conducted on 250 families of migrant workers in Udupi region. By and large most of the migrant families feel happy for having migrated. Happiness, of course, is a highly subjective and relative concept. As far as the migrant workers and their families in Udupi area are concerned, happiness means making both ends meet. The most satisfying factors to the migrant workers here are higher wages and regular work. But then, getting a ration card is a severe problem encountered by the migrants. The problem of accommodation is quite acute. Water and fuel problems are perennial to the migrant workers. Living condition of the migrant workers is very bad, and in the place they live, they have created slums which have become a menace not only for them but also for the other people living in the locality. The increasing flow of migrants to Udupi region is definitely going to pose many socio-economic problems. The unorganised workers working here in large number, that to in unorganised sectors, may even pose a threat to the social, economic and political stability and peace of the region. Unless the civic and public authorities are able to work out a long-term strategy to solve the problems, the situation will become unmanageable within a short time. KEYWORDS: Migrant Workers, Unorganised Sectors, Happiness, Socio-economic Problems, Stability and Peace. INTRODUCTION Labour migration has increased considerably in recent decades. The destinations of these migrant workers are urban areas, particularly the fast developing outskirts of urban areas, where the work potential is very high. As a matter of fact, it is mainly because of economic reasons that the labourers migrate. A large chunk of migrant workers account for 35
unorganised workers working in unorganised sectors. Udupi region in Karnataka State has been witnessing an increasing flow of migrant workers during the last two decades. The migrants in Udupi region have one thing in common which can justifiably be considered to treat them as a group. The common factor is that all of them have migrated in search of work. Though they form a group of migrants, the unique feature of this group is that it is absolutely an unorganised group. What is more, the pasture fields the fields in which they search and seek employment are also absolutely unorganised. In substance the migrant workers in Udupi region are the unorganised ones who work in unorganised sectors in the places to which they have migrated. Results & Discussion The study made purely on the basis of a sample survey conducted of 250 families of migrant workers in Udupi district in Karnataka State reveals that most of these migrants have come from the neighbouring districts, mainly from Bijapur District of Karnataka State. A part of the migrants is from the neighbouring states of Kerala & Tamilnadu. In other words, it is a sort of intra-regional migration. It is obvious that these people might have migrated for their own benefit. Migration starts under different contexts: social, economic, political, geographical and environmental. The migration process may be due to the push or the pull factors in the place of origin and in the place of destination respectively. Migration results in changes of place, of socio-economic status etc. It is said that change is inevitable for development, but it need not be pleasant. It is rightly said that Development requires change, change requires adaption, and adaption is often painful. The migrant workers live solely to earn money by getting some work. The very fact that the number of migrant workers increases year after year reveals that there is immense scope for employment for these people in Udupi region. The drainage and water works, laying of underground telephone cables, road work etc., by the public authorities and ever increasing construction activities in the private sector are the inexhaustible sources of employment for these workers. With ever increasing requirements of workers and inadequate supply of local labourers, the demand for outside labourers has been contributing in a big way to the inflow of migrant workers. It looks as if there is an invisible force to take care of regional environmental imbalance. For instance, Bijapur district is endowed with very fertile land but at the same time it is 36
cursed with paucity of water. Owing to this scarcity of water there, the people have to idle themselves. In contrast to this, in Udupi district, there are enough opportunities but not enough local labourers. Thus on one hand the invisible force seems to have created an area with work potential and inadequate number of workers and, on the other hand the same force has created another area with less potential for work and large supply of people yearning for work. This contrasting environment in the two districts has provided a balancing mechanism in the form of migration process of people from Bijapur district to this area. This environmental factor explains the basic force that has been responsible for the migration of people to Udupi area. Factors that contribute to the migration are many, including social, economic, political and environmental. However in majority of the cases, as stated earlier, the labourers migrate for economic reasons. Migration affects the social, economic, political and environmental status of migrants as well. The effect of migration is not only on the migrants but also on the places of their origin and destination. While 79% of the migrant workers are from various parts of Karnataka state, 16% are from Tamil Nadu and 5% are from Kerala. The concentration of workers from Bijapur district is so much among the migrant households in Udupi area that, for the local people (as well as for most of the workers) a migrant worker, irrespective of the district he comes from, is a BIJAPUR WORKER. In other words, a Bijapur Worker means a migrant worker and for that matter, a migrant worker is referred to as BIJAPUR WORKER in Udupi area. Of the migrants in Udupi district, as high as 80% belong to the scheduled caste and other backward communities. The prominent caste groups are Harijan, Wadda, Bhovi, Madara, Lambani, Kuruba, Lingayath and Ediga. As high as 96% of the migrants belong to Hindu religion. The rest 4% belong to the Muslim and the Christian religions. Those who had migrated earlier to this place seem to influence the others to migrate. 48% of the migrants being seasonal when they return to their native places in rainy season, they exert influence on the others to migrate. In the case of 89% of the migrant households, the migration of families has been only partial and in the case of remaining 11%, the migration of families has been full. 52% of the households have migrated permanently and 48% are seasonally migrating households. 37
TABLE-1: 250 SAMPLE HOUSEHOLDS: MIGRATORY CHARACTERS HOUSEHOLDS Fully Partly Migrated Total Migrated HOUSEHOLDS Permanently migrated Seasonally migrating Totals 23(17.69%) (82.14%) 05(4.97%) (17.86) 28(11.2%) (100%) 107(82.31%) (40.2%) 115(95.03%) (51.8%) 222(88.8%) (100%) 130(100%) (52%) 120(100%) (48%) 250(100%) 100% Of the total members belonging to the families of migrant workers, 56% stay in native places and 44% have migrated. Agricultural work, which is the main source of revenue for nonmigrated workers, is highly unrewarding in their native places. The wage per day of a migrated worker is nearly 4 times that of a non-migrated worker. Nearly 62% of the people in the migrant households are earning members and as large as 79% of those earning members are in the construction and related works. Of the earning members in the migrant households 95.5% are daily wage earners, 1.5% are monthly wage earners and 3% are scrap collectors whose earnings depend on the nature and quantum of scrap they collect. The average number of persons in a migrant household is 7. The average number of earning members in a migrant household is 2. The average earning per day per earning worker is Rs. 375/-. The average number of working days per month per earning member is about 24. Therefore, the income from migrant earning members of a household is Rs. 18,000/- per month. The most prominent mode of the migrants saving is safe-keep with the local merchants. These merchants do not pay any interest to the migrants. The merchants would be using such savings of migrant households for better investment and for their own working capital purposes (for no cost!). As these merchants are very prompt (they have to be) in repaying the deposits at any time to the depositors, they are considered to be trust-worthy and honourable. Of course, Brutus is an honourable man. Mostly the savings of the migrant workers are meant for sending money to their people in their native places, and particularly to repay the old debts incurred there. 82% of the 38
households send money to their native places at different intervals, the most prominent mode being the monthly remittance. The migrant households have to toil mainly to pay off the old debts incurred in native places. 64% of the migrant households have debts ranging between Rs. 3000/- and Rs. 90,000/-. Banks relatives, money lenders and merchants are the major sources of borrowings. Majority of the loans are taken for household purposes (mainly for consumption expenditure), and for marriages of family members. Nearly 94% of the migrant families have some interest either in the form of land and house or the house alone in their native places. 68% have land and house and 26% have house alone. Evidently the migrant families would like to have their link with their villages to be a permanent affair, though for various reasons (mainly economic) they are forced to migrate. The average land holding per migrant household in their native places is about 5.2 acres, and as high as 96.5% of the land holdings are cultivable lands. It is noted that such cultivable lands are not cultivated or under cultivated for the only reason that the irrigation facilities are not provided and hence not available. Majority of the migrants go to their native places in rainy season for about 3 to 4 months. Only 11% of them go to their native places in order to attend to the agricultural work in their own land. This is inspite of the migrant households holding on an average the agricultural land of about 5.2 acres. This exposes the magnitude of the extent of unutilised land in their native place. It will not be unjustifiable, if these migrants are called landed poor in contrast to landless poor, very often referred to in the literature related to Indian villages and rural economy. Though 94% of the migrant families have houses in their native places, most of them are thatched ones. If the migrant families had not been migrated, all of them would have been staying in thatched houses, looking at their barren lands, yearning for water gasing at the sky for the drops that would come only in its season. In the place of destination the migrants first problem, apart from getting a work, is finding a place to live. Almost all the migrants, sooner or later bring their families and therefore a dwelling place becomes an item of priority for any migrant. Ownership of the places where these families have put up their dwelling varies from place to place. a) In some places land belongs to private party. The migrant families are allowed to put up their huts there and the land owner collects the rent. 39
b) In some cases the land is public property. The migrants have encroached and put up their dwellings there. c) In some cases the land is a public property by the side of National Highway (NH 66). Some migrant families have put up their sheds there, with the impression that the land belongs to some private people having their land and buildings adjacent to the said public places. These private people exploit the ignorance of the migrants and collect rent from them for the use of (public) land by them. d) In some cases private employer (construction company) has put up temporary sheds (in government land) to be let to the workers on the condition that they would stay there as long as they work for that employer. e) A very few migrants have purchased/acquired land and put up their houses and live with their families. They are quite proud of their own land and building. As a matter of fact, barring a very few (about 3 to 5 percent), all the other migrated families live either in small thatched sheds or out in the open ground. All the migrated families have to depend on nearby private houses (35%), public tap (17%), public tank (10%) and public well / bore well (38%) for water. The fuel for household purposes is firewood and scrap. Among 58% of the migrant households, the fuel firewood and scrap are collected by the family members themselves. Only in 42% of cases the firewood is purchased. The cooking device is mostly either the mud hearth or loose stone hearth, i.e., three stones placed in triangular order. In the case of just 1% of the houses, kerosene stove is used. Invariably all the migrant families use the neighbouring open space for toilet purposes. In case of majority of the households the lighting medium is kerosene lamp or diesel lamp or candle. For 8% of the households the street lights provide light at night. Of the migrant population, excluding the children of school going age, 51% are absolutely illiterate. Among the literates the highest level of literacy, in majority of the cases, has not crossed the 10 th standard. Their aspirations are but a few and their vision of life and prospectus is very low. This is evident by their attitude towards schooling their children. Among the children of school going age, 38% are not sent to school at all and 14% are drop outs. Only 48% are in schools. Schooling beyond 8 th standard is given only for a few children. Anyway, schooling beyond 10 th standard is rarity in this migrant community. 40
Obviously, most of the children in future will have to take up the manual work like their parents do. The data relating to the age at the time of marriage show that very early marriage (child marriage too) is very much prevalent among the people of the migrant households. Out of 184 married people, who got married when they were not even 15 years old, 34 are males and 150 are females. These data clearly reveal that in these families the tendency of giving female children in marriage even before they are 15 years old is very conspicuous. TABLE-2: EARLY MARRAIGES Age of marriage No. of persons Male Female Total Less than 1 year 1 0 1 (0.54%) 1-3 2 10 12(6.52%) 3-5 0 6 6(3.26%) 5-10 6 36 42(22.83%) 10-15 25 98 123(66.85%) Total 34(18.48%) 150(81.52%) 184(100%) Of the married people, excluding old-age people, only 13% have opted for family planning and the rest 87% have not. All of those who opted for family planning have gone for sterilisation operation. Of them as high as 95% account for females and 5% account of males. The child mortality is as high as 13%. On an average out of every 8 children born, one dies at a very early stage. Superstitions, self medication, unhygienic living conditions and malnutrition are the major contributing factors for the high rate of child morality. 32% of the migrants are vegetarians and 68% are non-vegetarians. Majority of the migrant households make their purchases of their daily necessities from particular shops of their choice. In marketing terms, they could be referred to as households with high degree of shop-loyalty. Except a few vessels and few gold ornaments of insignificant weight and value, the migrant households do not possess any movable assets worth the name. The movable assets of 80% of households do not worth more than Rs. 10,000/-. In case of a few households, where the gold is little more, the total value of durable assets is more than Rs. 10,000/- and less than to Rs. 25,000/-. 47% of the people, above the age of 10 years, have one or the other from of vices. Of these 70% have one habit and 30% have more than one. 41
The percentages of people having various habits are chewing 49%, beedi smoking 21%, cigarette smoking 1%, snuffing 3% and, drinking 26%. Among the people having one or the other vice, 61% account for males and 39% account for females. Migrant households having persons with drinking habit do not save any money and do not send any amount to their native places. Most of the migrant families are religious and God fearing. The migrant families detachment from the rest of the society and from the field of politics is apparent. By and large, the migrant families have no regrets for having migrated and most of them are quite happy here. Happiness, of course, is a highly subjective and relative concept. As far as the migrant workers and their families are concerned, happiness means nothing more than making both the ends meet. Getting a ration card is the most severe problem encountered by the migrants. The problem of accommodation is quite acute. The problems of water and fuel are the perennial. The most satisfying factors to the migrants are higher wages and regular work. Living condition of the migrant workers is very bad. Besides, they have created slums which have become a menace not only for them but also for the other people living in the locality. Conclusion The increasing flow of migrants to Udupi region is definitely going to pose many problems of social and economic dimensions both for the migrants and the local people. Unless the civic and public authorities are able to understand and appreciate the problems of the migrants and the problems created by the migrants and work out a long term strategy to accommodate, adjust and arrest the growing flow of migrants, perhaps, the situation will become unmanageable within a short time. When the migrants are in large number as unorganised workers and have to depend on work in unorganised sectors, and when they feel that they are a neglected lot, certainly, at one stage or the other they will, out of sheer frustration, react in such a way that it could pose a threat to the social, economic and political stability and peace of the region. The earlier the authorities realise this and act swiftly in a pragmatic and realistic way, the better it would be for all. 42