How out migration for low-paid jobs is keeping voter turnout low in Bihar

The over three-hour-long wait at the Danapur railway station in Bihar’s capital city Patna didn’t seem to irk Brijesh Kumar much as he craned his neck to check the train schedule board. Waiting to board an express train to Bengaluru on May 15, the labourer in his mid-twenties was rather happy and relieved after he received a call from his contractor to return to work. He had, after all, been without work for nearly two months since he arrived home. Brijesh didn’t at all seem worried about missing the opportunity to vote from his Lok Sabha constituency of Purbi (East) Champaran in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Brijesh, and the group of four young men accompanying him, in fact, hurriedly packed their belongings and decided to travel as soon as they received the contractor’s call, leaving their families behind.

“I know I will miss the opportunity to vote, but my priority is finding a livelihood and ensuring my family is fed,” Brijesh told The Federal, adding, “I cannot afford to risk missing a job opportunity to vote.”

Even as political parties flaunt the turnout at their rallies in the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, the crowds across railway stations and bus stands in the state stand as a stark reminder of the huge migration in search of work. A failure that no party wants to take responsibility for.

“Majboori hai kya kare, na naukri-chakri hai, na koi kaam-kaaj hai, palayan karne ke siwa koi chara nahi hai. Jeene ke liye kamana padega (What we can do, it is compulsion as there are no jobs in Bihar. There is no opportunity for work. We have to migrate to survive),” said Brijesh, who works as a skilled labourer in construction sector.

Brijesh’s helplessness in leaving the state is echoed by another young migrant worker Bablu Yadav. “Kya karen palayan karna majboori hai. Agar yahan kaam milta to bahar kyon jaate. Humni ke taqdir mein yehi likha hai (Why would we have to migrate if we found work here. It is a compulsion. It seems to be our fate,” Bablu, who was going to Ludhiana in Punjab to work as farm labourer for harvesting of wheat, said.

Bablu owns a small holding of cultivable land in Vaishali district. His village falls under Hajipur parliamentary constituency where polls were held on May 20. “I along with a group of over half a dozen youths are going to earn more in Punjab. We easily earn more than double for similar work outside of Bihar. It makes no sense to miss the opportunities that come our way for voting in elections,” said Yadav sitting at Patna junction awaiting his train.

Bablu points that the low MGNAREGA wages — less than Rs 300/per day — in the state have fuelled migration for people like him.

Vikas Kumar, another young migrant worker waiting at the station, shared that lack of employment opportunities forced him to take a train ticket to Mumbai. “Some friends from my village are working in a factory in Mumbai. They suggested that I should join them. It is better than sitting without work at home,” Vikas, a resident of a village in Muzaffarpur parliamentary constituency, which cast its vote on May 20 in the fifth phase, said.

Similarly, Chand Mohammad, a mason, and his helper Aftab Alam, a resident of Saran district, were at the Danapur railway station, to catch a train to Yashwantpur in Bengaluru. “I am going out of Bihar for the first time to work. Back in my native place we get lower wages and the work is irregular. The contractor in Bengaluru has assured a payment of Rs 800 to 900 per day,” Aftab said.

Aftab hopes to save some money with the work in Bengaluru instead of living hand to mouth in Bihar.

No time to vote

The voting percentage in Bihar has remained at around 54% in the five phases so far and a major reason being cited is migration of native Biharis to other states in search of work.

Even as the elections have been going on, people, mostly the young, are lining up at different railway stations in Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Saharsa and Bhagalpur to catch long-distance express trains. They express a will to vote, but what prevents them from being able to exercise their franchise is the compulsion to earn a livelihood for themselves and their families.

Social analyst Satyanarayan Madan said poor migrant workers prefer to visit homes once or twice in a year either on major festival like Chhath, Holi or to attend wedding functions in the family. “This is the normal trend of migrant workers visiting home. It is not possible for them to visit home to vote spending money on travel and also losing their daily wages when they take a break from work,” he said.

Faced with lack of employment in Bihar that forced them to leave the comfort of home, migrant workers also narrate their miseries, and struggle to survive in faraway lands. They mostly stay in squalid conditions that are cheaper in a bid to save money to send back home.

Migration, a compulsion

Unemployment or joblessness is rampant across Bihar, particularly in the backward and underdeveloped rural belts. It forces young men to travel to big cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and industrial hubs in developed states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Punjab, and Haryana.

Vikas Rai, a tea vendor at Danapur railway station, said the crowd at the station is mostly of young people moving out for work. They jostle to get on the trains and many get injured in the process.

“Migrant workers struggle to board trains like Sanghmitra Superfast Express, Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Superfast Express, Patna-Ernakulam Express, Weekly Chennai express and all trains to Delhi and Punjab due to heavy rush,” Vikas said.

All of them cite the same reason, “pet ki majboori (it is matter of hunger).”

Waiting at the station along with their families, Bablu Manjhi and Manjit Manjhi, two young landless Dalit youth belonging to the most marginalised community Musahar, said they will board the train to Chennai. “We work as helpers in an iron factory and it involves intense physical labour. As there is no factory and no work available in Bihar, we are migrating to Tamil Nadu to earn enough to be able to eat two-square meals.”

Manji, a resident of Nalanda, home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, famous for

the excavated ruins of ancient Nalanda University, said if there would have been employment opportunities in Bihar, they would not have had to travel more than 2,000 kilometres away from home for a job.

The curse of poverty

According to the Bihar Caste Survey report that was released in 2023, the state has a high out migration for low paid jobs. The report highlighted that about 46 lakh people of the state are living and working outside to earn their livelihood as migrant workers. It further revealed that majority of the migrants are engaged as labourers, masons and and belong to OBCs, EBCS, Muslim and SC communities.

The unofficial figures, however, suggest the migration figure stands at over one crore.

Though there is no official data on how many migrant workers from Bihar are engaged in which job, officials of the state labour department say that majority of them are doing manual jobs as labourers and helpers in different sectors.

A small section works as security guards, drivers, and mechanics in hotels and work as street vendors. Besides, hundreds of skilled migrant workers are also placed in different sectors and students, who have completed their engineering and other professional degrees from other states are working in Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi.

The report also exposed a close link between high migration rate with poverty and low income. The socio-economic data of the report confirmed that poverty is rampant in Bihar, with 34.13% of all families in the state classified poor. But the number of poor families is highest among SCs and STs, followed by OBCs and EBCs. As per the data, 42.93% SC families and 42.70% ST families are poor, while 33.16% OBC families and 33.58% EBC families are also poor.

Among the SCs, poverty is highest among the Musahar community, known as one of India's most marginalised groups in the caste hierarchy. About 54% of Musahar families are poverty-stricken, followed by 53% among Bhuiyan and 42% among Chamar or Mochi. Among the OBCs, 35.87% families of Yadavs are poor followed by 34.32% Kushwahas and 29.9% Kurmis.

The survey found that the monthly income of 34.13% of all families in the state is a meagre Rs 6,000, it means all of them survive on an income of Rs 200 per day. About 29.61% families survive on a monthly income between Rs 6,000 and Rs 10,000. While the monthly income of 18.06% families is between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 and a mere 9.83% families have monthly income between Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000. Only 3.90% families have a monthly income of more than Rs 50,000. Over 4% families refused to share their monthly income.

As per this official data, each of 40 Lok Sabha seat has more than 1 lakh votes of migrant workers who hardly visit their homes and miss the chance to exercise their franchise.

Even as both the National Democratic Alliance and Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance are attacking each other on their employment generation records, migration from Bihar in search of livelihood opportunities is on the rise.

At the countrywide level, migrant workers contribute nearly 10 percent of India’s GDP and they are part of almost all big infrastructure projects including national highways, bridges, metro in different cities to agriculture and industries.

They are, however, not voting because they are busy arranging food for their families even as the democracy is celebrating its biggest once-in-five-years festival.