EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Aug 31: Farmers in Jammu and Kashmir are turning towards migrant labourers as the state is experiencing severe labour crunch despite huge army of unemployed.
Labourers from the eastern states are busy with paddy sowing while the youth of the state are focused towards getting government jobs. 90 percent of the labourers who sow Paddy crop are from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Farmers of the state also prefer Bihari labour for sowing and harvesting of their paddy crop, as the locals feel shy to work in the farms.
These labourers are not the common labourers. They are specialized in farming. They leave their home town in April for Punjab and Kashmir and then complete the sowing processes there, they move towards Jammu in June.
They do not charge the land owner on the daily basis and make a full contract of sowing and harvesting.
For sowing, the owners have to pay Rs.2000-2400 per acre (8 Kanals) and for the complete sowing and harvesting; they charge Rs.1200-1500 per Kanal of land.
Girdhari Lal, a middle aged farmer owning 30 Kanals of land in Bishnah has paid Rs.7000 for sowing of Paddy crop in his farm.
"Youth of our village do not want to work in the mud; they are only focusing on government jobs, so we are forced to hire labourers from the outer state, who are more competent than the locals," he said.The sowing of Paddy crop in Jammu started in June, which is about to be completed this week.
Hem Raj, 48, from district Chhapra of Bihar said, "There are more job opportunities available in northern India, so we rush towards, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, as we get better wages here."
Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for Agriculture said that the impact of the labour shortage could be averted if the farmers in Jammu and Kashmir switch to mechanized paddy transplantation. "People do not want to do physical work so we are promoting the mechanization and giving 50 percent subsidy to the farmers for machineries, which will help them to face the labour crunch," he said. |
