When true value of Bihari migrant labour becomes clear: stories from Ludhiana bike industry
Bicycle: mule with wheels!
Ludhiana/Patna: only yesterday, India seemed a basket case of over-population, whether in the cities or in the villages. But these days, if you travel to rural Bihar and ask questions about problems faced by farmers, shortage of labour will be one of them. So the question is why do Bihari labourers migrate at all any more? The answer may be work is a seasonal matter when it comes to agriculture, unlike most industries. So it is possible to have a shortage during month one and surplus during month two. But who are the people who keep track of these market fluctuations? Some Dalal Street of labour? No, the migrant and of course and the labour contractors who keep a perpetual vigil over the ups and downs and the going and the coming.
The only trouble is when the home market seems welcoming but the market abroad competes with the lures of the home market – the Bihari migrant faces his true dilemma. Terms of the mental debate inside the head and within the family, change. He has to now debate how much earnings he is willing to sacrifice if he prefers to stay at home! No wonder, the Bihari migrant is one of the most resilient creatures moving on the surface of the earth. The following news item throws a powerful backlight that would make the above points stand in relief:
Reports from Ludhiana mention that the bicycle industry is facing serious crisis here due to almost 50 per cent labour shortage, particularly from Bihar. Despite incentives like free accommodation and gas connection added to the freebies like mobile phone and bicycle, cycle manufacturers are facing acute labour shortage mainly from Bihar in Ludhiana popularly known as the country’s “bicycle capital”. Many small cycle manufacturing units unable to cope up with shortage of labourers have shut their shop, traders said.
Bihar Labour minister Janardan Singh Sigriwal told the press that as per his department’s estimate, there is a fall of almost 30 per cent in migration of unskilled labourers from the state. He attributed this to large scale development works like construction of roads, bridges and schools and hospitals which is providing them employment in Bihar itself. There are nearly 5000 small and big manufacturers of bicycles and parts in Ludhiana. Some of the leading names include Hero, Avon and Rolex.
“The profit of those who are continuing in the trade has almost halved”, D S Chawla, himself running a cycle parts unit and also former president of United Cycle and Parts Manufacturing Association said. The cycle manufacturers are now tendering more incentives to lure workers. In addition to doling out freebies like mobile phones and bicycles,the manufactures are extending free accommodation and gas connections to draw labourers to work, Chawla said adding these are prominently displayed outside factory gates.
Labour contractors are offered high commission for bringing labour, he said, adding some have announced free motorcycle to these contractors to motivate them to bring large number of labourers. Wages have gone up and the labourers are offered Rs 6,000 cash in hand as compared to Rs 3,500 earlier, Chawla said. But, in spite of all these the labour crisis persists in Ludhiana, a trade hub of Punjab, he said. P D Sharma, President of Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Punjab echoed similar views.
Viewed poetically, Bihar has two bicycle narratives moving parallel to each other – girls riding to empowerment in Bihar, and the bicycle industry in distant Punjab!