Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
A labour survey underway in Bihar has indicated that outflow of labourers from the state in search of livelihood has further gone down from earlier estimates of 30 per cent on account of development works being carried out in the state.
Preliminary reports emanating from the survey suggests a drastic arrest in exodus of workers mainly from districts like Saharsa, Madhubani, Katihar and Purnea in the state.
These areas had earlier witnessed large-scale migration of workforce to other states.
This indicates a big drop in migration of labourers from the state in search of livelihood, Bihar Labour minister Janardan Singh Sigriwal told PTI.
An earlier government survey had revealed that workers flight from Bihar had declined by 30 per cent but is now estimated to have gone down even further, the Minister said.
Sigriwal said the survey is being conducted jointly by officials of Labour department and those from A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies and NGOs.
The report is expected to be submitted in two months, he said.
The minister attributed drop in movement of labourers from Bihar to states like Punjab, Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra and other places to large-scale development work being undertaken by the state government in infrastructure sector which is occupying workforce at home itself.
"The state under leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is witnessing construction of roads, bridges and buildings on large scale. Effective implementation of Central government's rural employment guarantee scheme MNREGA is also contributing to the trend," he said.
In reply to a question, the minister said improvement in infrastructure of schools and colleges have boosted attendance and lowered mass scale flight of students from the state to outside which was witnessed earlier.
Meanwhile, according to reports, bicycle factories in Ludhiana, which are largely dependent on workforce from Bihar, are facing shortage of workers to the tune of almost 50 per cent.
There are nearly 5000 small and big manufacturers of bicycles and parts in Ludhiana. Some of the leading bicycle brands have their manufacture base in this Punjab city. PTI SNS TVS