Lok Sabha polls: No talk of drought, migration in Marathwada

AURANGABAD: Amol Dongare, a 25-year old who hails from Kotarban village in Wadwani taluka of Beed district left his village and 10-acre agriculture land and settled in Pune a few years back. Amol, who now stays in a two-room rented house in Sangavi with his wife and toddler daughter, works as a cab driver to earn his livelihood. “Agriculture could have been the best means of livelihood, but I bowed out as the vagaries of the monsoon made cultivation so difficult. My village has become so gloomy with long spells of drought and repeated water crises,” he said. The distress people face, however, has gone missing from the campaign for polls this time.


A group of hamlets in Mukhed taluka of Nanded district in the Marathwada region of the state, about 200 km from Beed district headquarters, also wears a deserted look. Nearly half the villagers have left their homes in hope of finding work elsewhere.

Vikas Pawar, who runs a grocery shop at Aabadi Nagar Tanda, says drought has forced many people to migrate. “Villagers have shifted to Mumbai or Pune or other towns in southern districts. The well supplying drinking water to our hamlet has gone dry and we have to wait for tankers to get potable water. There is no work here either, so what is one to do but move elsewhere?”

Over the last decade, Marathwada has witnessed large-scale

migration

. Only a fifth of the total cultivable land in the region is irrigated, making farmers rain-dependent. And the monsoon has been below par. The region receives 683 mm average rain, 30 per cent less than the national average.

Many young people seeking to earn a livelihood have thus moved to cities or towns. While Beed district and a few neighbouring talukas have already earned the dubious distinction of supplying labour to cut sugarcane to supply mills in western Maharashtra, the region as a whole has been producing a workforce for unskilled and semi-skilled jobs in building construction businesses.

Social activist Ashok Tangade from Beed said migration from Marathwada is caused by a mix of distress situations that force movement and voluntary shifting in hope of a better livelihood and living conditions in urban centres.

“Marathwada alone could have around eight lakh sugarcane harvesters, which I believe is a primitive kind of bonded labour. (A recent news report disclosed how many women undergo hysterectomy because contractors engaging them do not want to give them time off during their period; also, women in such a workforce are prone to exploitation sexually.) These labourers are not protected by any social security net. Even if they live in pathetic conditions in the metros, they realise that it is better than returning to their parched land,” Tangade said.

Better access to water and employment opportunities, besides the lure of the metro culture have caused many young people to adopt Aurangabad or Pune as home. “The families of these youngsters also move to the metros sooner or later as nobody is left to take care of the elderly back home,” said Ramesh Chille, a writer and agriculture expert from Latur.

State Congress delegate Jitendra Dehade said Marathwada has to explore tourism for employment generation. “It is home to World Heritage Sites of Ajanta and Ellora. Aurangabad and the region have three Jyotirlingasand and famous pilgrim towns such as Mahur (Nanded) and Tuljapur (Osmanabad). Like Malaysia and Singapore, we should tap these sites.” he said.

BJP spokesperson Shirish Boralkar said the proposed water grid project for Marathwada and industrial development through DMIC, Samrudhdhi Expressway and Dry-Port would contain migration from Marathwada in days to come. “Banking on these ambitious projects, the region can even witness reverse migration,” he said.