Does Karnataka's rural economy have space for returning migrant workers?
Ever since a nationwide lockdown was implemented on March 25 to contain the spread of Covid-19 in India, lakhs of workers have left the cities where they worked to returned to their villages and towns. This large-scale reverse migration has dominated headlines over the past two months as workers have walking thousands of kilometres or hitched rides on cramped goods lorries to get home.
The majority of these workers have gone back to rural areas, where agriculture is the mainstay. Can this sector absorb the returning migrants? And how do practicing farmers perceive this sudden change in demographic?
To understand this in the context of Karnataka, a state where several factors spur rural to urban migration, a team of researchers from the Indian Institute for Human Settlements interviewed 30 farmers from Tumkur, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagara and Bangalore Rural districts. These include farmers of non-perishable produce such as ragi, paddy, toor, and maize, as well as perishable produce like fruits, vegetables and flowers.
Most of them said that the reverse migration would mean little for them. But some noted that the increased availability of labour would be useful during the sowing season in June and July and harvesting period in October and November. Others cautioned against migrants investing large sums in rejuvenating the dry lands they...
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