CHAPTER VII

EMPLOYMENT/EARNING PATTERN OF THE MIGRANT LABOUR IN RURAL PUNJAB

In
of

the previous chapter,

we have analysed the pattern

total yearly employment and earnings of the

households of Punjab and Bihar.

resident

labour

It has been observed that there

are significant differences in the pattern of employment/earnings

as

also

labour

in the incidence and intensity of poverty

households of Punjab and Bihar.
to

devoted

analyse

another

important

between

The present chapter

phenomenon

agriculture, namely the phenomenon of migrant labour.

specific,

the

of

Punjab

To be more

the basic objective here is to analyse the pattern

employment

and

is

the corresponding level of earnings accruing

of
to

this category of farm labour in Punjab.

Migration
agriculture

from

agricultural

of
the

labourers

rural areas of Bihar

and

Pradesh is a recent but significant phenomenon.

of

migration

in Punjab.

to

footnote

the

Chapter I,

Green

Though it is commonly believed that this

the

yet not many attempts have been made so

study this important aspect of

37,

Uttar

The huge influx

has made an impact of far reaching consequence on

local economy of Punjab,

far

eastern

migrant labour has mainly occurred in the wake of

Revolution

Punjab

into

Punjab

agriculture [see

p ~~of the present study].

there exists an important research gap.

in the present chapter to fill this void.

As

such,

A modest attempt is made

229

In
questions

this context,

we address ourselves to a number

such as what are the socio-economic characteristics of

the migrants?

What are the areas of their outmigration?

the pattern of their employment and earnings?

year

of

round

employment and earnings in

What is

What proportion of

agriculture

is

enjoyed

separately by the resident labour and the migrant labour in rural

Punjab?

And

finally,

responsible

for

what

are

the

pull

and

inmigration/outmigration?

push

To

factors

answer

these

questions, we propose to examine the following hypotheses:

1.

It

is

from

relatively backward areas of

Bihar

that

the

migrant labour outflows into Punjab.

2.

The

share of the migrant labour in total

on- farm

employment/earnings

distance from the focal

Before

we

is

yearly

inversely

seek empirical answers to these

chapter is divided into four sections.

the migrant labour.

socio-economic

characteristics

identification

of

of

hypotheses

chapter.

of

Section II deals

with

the

migrant labour as

also

the

areas of its outmigration.

labour on the basis of our sample

Section IV, besides attempting to locate factors

inmigration/outmigration,
emerging from our analysis.

also

The

Section I highlights the

Section

III

concerned with the employment pattern and earning levels of

category

to

it is important to look

at the scheme of analysis proposed in the present

of

related

town.

and the other problems enumerated above,

pheno~enon

wage-paid

data.

is
this

Finally,

respon'ible

for

presents the broad conclusions

230

SECTION I
The Emergence of Migrant Labour
As
phenomenon
rural

noted

earlier

in

this

areas of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh,

large

scale

simultaneously
areas
also

important

an

from

of migrant labour into Punjab agriculture,

in the wake of the Green Revolution in Punjab.

this

chapter,

migration has

had

the

has taken place

Broadly speaking,

effects

which

highlight

the important aspects of development failures

of outmigration (i.e.

in

Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh) as

the problems of attained economic development in the

areas

of inmigration (i.e. Punjab).

The

Green Revolution in Punjab since the late

sixties

has opened up many productive and highly remunerative avenues

wage-paid
activity

on-farm
that

has

employment.

Besides,

been taking place

the

developmental

simultaneously

generated considerable demand for manual labour in many

activities such as construction,
roads and railway tracks,
unloading
under

of

has

also

non-farm

rickshaw pulling, earth work on

industrial work,

of grains in the grain markets),

paledari(loading and
etc.

the pressure of rising demand for labour,

Consequently,
huge influx

migrant labour into Punjab ensued since early 1970 s both in

of
the

rural and urban and sub-urban areas.

To put the record straight,
state
in

the migrant labour into the

of Punjab is attracted to higher employment

the rural as well as urban areas of the state.

opportunities
In

general,

231

the destination is defined before departure so that the

heading
those

for seasonal rural employment stay in the villages,

expecting

to

work in

urban-industrial

centres

generally combine urban with rural employment.

the

migrants

do

and
not

That is why, all

150 respondent migrant labourers in our case reported rural,

and only rural, employment.

The farm sector in Punjab absorbs labour force not only
from its own rural areas,

but also from the rural areas of Bihar

and eastern Uttar Pradesh which have lot of surplus labour.

The

bulk

are

of

the migrants are seasonal

generally

employed

for

farm

harvesting

labourers.
of

They

wheat/paddy

and

transplantation of paddy, etc.

It
into
for

needs

the

Punjab has taken place mainly because of

labour.

since

the

convincing

especially
early
been

The pattern of agricultural development in

Punjab

explanation

ago

of

Green

for

the

Revolution
emergence

offers
of

the

this

most

important

On account of radical shifts in the cropping pattern

after

towards

intensive
decade

demand

seventies,

cultivation

inmigration

increased

emergence

phenomenon.

Given

to be underlined here that

an
of

crop

the introduction of

~rice revolution

in

the

the tendency over the years in agriculture has

increase
paddy,

in

which

demand

for

is considered

farm
to

labour.
be

started on a very large scale in Punjab

and has witnessed phenomenal expansion

a strong irrigation base,

more profitable commercial crop.

it has proved to be

since

The

labouronly

then.

relatively

At present, it constitutes one

232

of the two major crops of the area,

cultivation

the other being wheat.

Paddy

in Punjab very heavily depends upon the availability

of the '",migrant labour' as,

for this crop,

it is considered to be

relatively more skilled than the resident labour.

Over the years, a large number of industrial units have
also come up in the urban and sub-urban areas of
have

absorbed

rural
farm

a large chunk of resident labour force

areas of Punjab.
labour

various

Punjab.

Besides,

construction

of

by

central and state

storage

facilities,

drainage and water supply facilities,

contributed

substantially

from

the

the demand for wage-paid non-

has also increased on account of the

programmes

These

governments

godowns,
etc.

launching

of

such

as

expansion

of

All such factors have

to the growth of

migrant

labour

in

Punjab.

Migrant Labourers in Punjab

The
and

work in groups.

made

by

Sometimes,
However,
as
out

migrant labourers in rural Punjab

yet.
of

usually

travel

The lodging arrangements for the group are

the

farmer

the

migrants

employers

on

tubewells/farm

reside in rented

houses.

accomodations

also.

the practice of rented accomodation is not quite common

Food arrangements are made by the migrants
the

kind earnings received by them

employers in Punjab.

from

themselves

their

farmer

Cash purchases, whenever required, are also

made from petty shopkeepers in the village.

_j

233

Petty Contract System and the Mode of Wage Payment

In
members.

our

survey,

a migrant group may consist

upto

25

Every group of migrant labourers (or for that matter in

any other part of rural Punjab) is headed by a person who is more

knowledgeable,
life

and

or a

of

conditions

person

'Thekedar'.

the

employment

articulate and better informed about

This

people.

~Jamadar'

member

more

group.

for

the

is

known

commonly

The head of
group

of the contract,

members,

the

migrant

settles

contractor

finds

terms

at best supervises but very

In a way,

contractor between the two parties.

petty

group

the

and

rarely

therefore, acts as

a link between the Punjabi farmer on the one hand,

on the other.

as

He is not necessarily the seniormost

does the manual work himself. By doing so, he,

labourer'

local

and,

cbhaiya

his job is that of a

petty

Although the power of

this

has waned substantially over the years due

to

the emergence of direct and independent contacts developed by the

regular

migrants with the Punjabi farmer,

yet he

enough

power

mainly

because of the fact that owing to his

still

wields

to maintain his supremacy over the group.

previous

It

is

contacts

with the farmer employers in Punjab, he can manage employment for

the

group

Needless

members
to say,

within the shortest possible span

for the migrant labourers,

time is

of

time.

of

great

essence.
As regards the mode of wage payment,
during
mode

it was discovered

our survey that employment on daily basis is not the only

employing

the

migrant

labour.

This

labour

generally

2~

undertakes
~contract

As

work

on a piecemeal basis,

system' or

said earlier,

~theka

system'

popularly known

as

the

in the study area of

Punjab.

the terms of tcontract' are finalised

between

the head of the migrant group and the farmer employer in Punjab.
SECTION I I
Socio-economic Characteristics of the Migrants

It

might be a good idea to look at the

characteristics
Besides,
migration
few

of the migrants,

socio-economic

as emerge in our sample

data.

it may also be interesting to identify the areas of outof the migrant labour in Punjab.

important

socio-economic

Table 7.1 depicts a

characteristics

of

the

migrant

labour.

To begin with,

we observe that out of the total sample

of 150 migrants in Punjab,

from Bihar only.
Uttar
the

A large majority of the remaining belonged

Pradesh (about 21.0 per cent).

migrants

found
of

more than three-fourth of them hailed

is concerned,

As far as land status

nearly 61.0 per cent of

of

them

were

to be cultivating some piece of land and the average

size

the land owned and cultivated was 0.93 acres.

position of the migrants is,

derived
wage

to

therefore,

conditioned by the income

from small pieces of land (both owned +

earnings.

By implication,

The financial

leased-in)

and

uneconomic owned or

leased-in

holdings are only a meagre source of household income.

Besides,

the level of wages was invariably reported to be extremely low in

areas

of

outmigration compared with that in the study

area

of

235
Table 7.1
Socio-economic Characteristics of The Migrant Labour

sl:.

Indicator

No.
1

1.

Total Number of Migrants

in the Sample

2.

Area of Outmigration:
( a ) Bihar
(b)
Uttar Pradesh
(c)
Bengal

3.

Land Status:
(a) With Land
(b) Without Land

4.

Average Area Owned (Acres)

5.

Caste Composition :
(a)
Scheduled Castes
(b)
Backward Classes
(c) Others

6.

Literacy Level
(a)
Illiterate
(b)
Literate but Below Primary
(c)
Primary but Below Middle
(d) Middle and Above

7.

Average Family Size

8.

Age Composition (Years)

( a ) Below 15
(b)
15 - 20
( c ) 21 - 25
(d)
26 - 40
(e)
40 Years and above

9.

Total
Number

Percentage of
the Total
4

150

100.00

117
32
1

78.00
21.33
0.67

91
59

60.67
39.33

0.93
59
65
26

39.33
43.33
17.34

118
25

78.67
16.67
3.33
1. 33

5
2

7.08
0

26
48
67
9

0.00
17.33
32.00
44.67
6.00

Inception
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

of Migration
Before 1970 - 71
Between 1970 - 71 - 1975-76
Between 1975 - 76 - 1980-81
All Migrants

0
28
122
150.00

0.00
18.67
81. 33
100.00

236

Punjab.

i s,

I t

poverty

the

therefore,

exigency arising out of

and economic destitution which forces the

outmigrate

to

Punjab

with

the

expectation

remunerative avenues of on-farm employment.

mass

labourers

of

getting

Secondly,

to
more

the caste

composition of the migrants reflects that a preponderant majority

(nearly 83.0 per cent) of the total migrants belong either to the
scheduled castes or to the backward classes.

Thirdly, a look at

the literacy level shows that more than three-fourth of the total
migrants

are

illiterate;

only about 17.0 per cent of them

educated below primary level.

are

below

Fourthly,

on an average,

either in Bihar (5.7) or in Punjab

of

the

present study].

besides other economic factors,

for

responsible

pushing

some

additional employment/earning,
seasonal

demand

from

supplementation.

cent
to

be

the family size of

is 7.1 which is higher than that of the resident

migrant

p. 6 3

while about 3.0 per

only 1.0 per cent of them were found

middle,

middle and above.

Again,

are

(5.5) (Iable 2.12,

It can perhaps be

labour

Chapter II,
argued

that

demographic pressure may also be

people

out

in

pursuance

albeit small or occasional.

Punjab goes well to meet their

Fifthly and more importantly,

of
The

urge

for

while 17.0

per

cent of the total migrants are in the age group of 15 - 20 years,

nearly

77.0

years.

It

pe~cent

is

21

- 40

important to note that in spite of the fact

that

of them are in the age group

there has been large scale inmigration into Punjab,

evidence

as

majority

there is

yet of the migration of child labour (i.e.

years age group).

vast

of

This is also indicative of another fact

of the migrants belong to young

and

no
- 14

that a

middle

age

237

groups

alone

who

can

undertake the strain

followed

by

hard

expected

to

be accomplished in short spells

working

hours

manual labour

per day are a well

regards the inception

sample

on

migrants

Punjab

accepted

of

long

farms ,
of

time.

norm.

reported to be coming to Punjab

as

wage-paid

Further, while 19.0 per

1975-76,

an

majority of them (nearly 81.0 per cent) reported to

be coming between 1975-76 and 1980-81.

view

Longer

Lastly,

for

cent also reported to be coming between 1970-71 and

our

in v a r i ably

we observe that none of our

of migration,

agricultural employment before 1970-71.

overwhelming

journeys

This lends substance

to

that migration of farm labourers has occurred only

in

the wake of rice revolution commencing in the early 1970 s.

Land Status
Table

7.2

presents

the

distribution

of

migrant

labourers on the basis of land holding size which their

families

cultivate back home.

Table 7.2 reveals that while 39.0 per cent of the total
migrants

do

landless

labourers,

cultivating
were

not

have any title to land and as

nearly

23.0

per

less than 1.0 acre of land.

cent were

such

are

found

only
to

be

Another 23.0 per

cent

found to be cultivating between 1.00 - 1.49 acres and

only

14.0 per cent cultivating 2 acres and above.

This suggests that

most of the migrants are either landless or are cultivating

small pieces of land.

only

238

Table 7.2
Distribution

of

Migrant Agricultural Labourers as

Per

Holding

Size
Sl.
No.

Size Class of the

Operational Holding
(Acres)

Number
of
Migrants
3

1.

Percentage
of
the Total
4

0.00

59

39.33

2.

0.01

0.99

35

23.33

3.

1. 00

1. 49

20

13.34

4.

1. 50

1. 99

15

10.00

5.

2.00 and above

21

14.00

150

100.00

All Migrants

Areas of Outmigration
The basic objective behind identifying the areas of out
migration is to know if indeed it is from the relatively backward
areas of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh that the outmigration of
labour takes place.

If so,

then it can be argued that it is the

lack of development in the areas of outmigration which is largely

responsible for outmigration of farm labourers.

Specifically, we

propose

from

backward

to

test

areas

the

hypothesis that "it

is

of Bihar that the migrant labour

relatively

outflows

into

Punjab".
To test this hypothesis we present the distribution

of

migrants

according

by

pressing

into

to

the

areas

of

outmigration.

service our districtwise composite

index

Then

[Table

2.4 in Chapter II of the present study] based on 1975-76 data, we

239

can either confirm or reject our hypothesis.

Table 7.3 presents

the essential details in this regard.

It is important to note that 78.0 per cent of the total
number

of

migrants in our sample were from

per cent from

Uttar

Pradesh

and just

Dinajpur district of West Bengal.

Bihar,

one

Further,

migrant

about

21.0

from

West

while 62.0 per cent

Table 7.3
Identification of Areas of

Outmigration in Bihar.

Uttar Pradesh

and West Bengal.

Sl.
No.

Name of the
District

Number of
Migrants

Percentage
of the
Total (150)

Percentage
of the
Total Migrants in
Each State

3
5

36.00
26.00
4.00
0.67
4.67
1. 33
2.00
3.33

46.15
33.33
5.13
0.86
5.98
1. 71
2.57
4.27

117

78.00

100.00

B I H A R:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Champaran (E
Sitamarhi
Muzzafarpur
Vaishali
Darbhanga
Gopalganj
Purnea
Saharsa

A.

Total Bihar

W)

54
39
6

1
7
2

UTTAR PRADESH:
9.
10.

Gorakhpur
Basti

27
5

18.00
3.33

84.37
15.63

B.

Total Uttar Pradesh

32

21.33

100.00

0.67

100.00

WEST BENGAL

c.

West Dinajpur
Total (A+B+C)

NOTE : 1. E

= East

150.00
2. W

West

100.00

240

of

!he total sample respondents hailed from Champaran (east

west)
of

and Sitamarhi districts of Bihar,

the

state

Again,
cent

the migrants from Uttar Pradesh,

reported

remaining
migranm

the remaining districts

just accounted for only 16.0 per

among

to

Jrom

be coming from

Basti

district.

Gorakhpur

the

(east

of

them.

nearly 18.0
district

per

and

the

of

the

none

surveyed by us in the study areas of Punjab reported

Similarly,

hand,

80.0

out of the total migrants coming

per cent were from the two districts

and west) and Sitamarhi districts.

districts

rank

hierarchy

of

outmigrating

fairly
Bihar,

low
it

in
is

the
obvious

from
of

agricultural
the

On

Bihar,

Champaran

In an much

that

to

none of the

households in Bihar reported outmigration in Punjab.

other

nearly

cent

Interestingly,

be coming from the study area of Bihar.

sample

and

as

these

development
exigency

to a destination of higher and assured earning

of
per

day of work done operates more-acutely in these backward pockets.

In comparison, Bhojpur - our chosen study area in Bihar,
the

top 2 -

3 districts of Bihar in the matter

development.

This,

of

is among

agricultural

in turn, offers relatively better avenues of

on-farm employment compared with other districts of Bihar.

It is also sometimes said that socio-cultural milieu in
certain
lands,
1.

areas

of

Bihar keep

people bound to

their

ancestral

although they subsist at very low level of living.

This

It
is important to note that in the matter of
agricultural
development,
the districts of west and east Champaran rank
respectively 18th and 19th and the district
of
Sitamarhi
ranks
21st in our composite index.
In contrast,
Bhojpur
district
ranks
2nd
in
the matter
of
agricultural
development.
For
futher details,
please see Table 2.4,
Chpater II,
p.
of the present study.

241

may partly be responsible for keeping the spate of migration

(T~ble

from many other districts of Bihar on a very low keel

7.3).

In

nutshell,

our

sample

data

confirms

the

hypothesis that it is from the relatively backward areas

of

Bihar that the migrant labour outflows into Punjab.

SECTION Ill
Employment/Earning Pattern

In

this section,

rural- urban

we propose to examine the impact

distance on the employment/earning pattern

migrant

labour

in Punjab as also the distribution of

on-farm

employment/earnings between the migrant labour

resident labour.
hypothesis
share

In this regard,

of

wage-paid
and

and

rural urban distance.

wage-paid

and

the

resident labour,

variables have been compared.

percentage

Besides,

the

on-farm

As regards

distribution of employment time and earnings between the

(as

the

we propose to test our second

the migrant labour in total yearly

employment/earnings

labour

the

which envisages an inverse relastionship between

of

of

shares

the

migrant
of

these

the blowing up technique

explained earlier in chapter IV) has also been pressed

into

service to make the analysis more convincing.

To
overall

and

begin with,

Table 7.4 contains the mean values

componentwise employment/earnings accruing

migrant labour in rural Punjab.

to

of
the

It is relevant to point out that

all the 150 respondents in our sample were seasonal migrants only
and none of them had availed of urban employment of any kind.

In

Table: 7.4 Pattern of Rural Employeent and Earnings of Migrant Labour in Punjab
!Mean Value Per Annuml
--------------------------------------------------------~-----------------------------------------------------------------1-----------------------------------------

Operation

51.

variable

Re~ression E~ation

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

!Jo.

1. On-Farm Employment

- Emp

Vi

V2

V3

V4

V5

V6

V7

VB

1~

11

1518.11

Epd

153.75
(96. 75J
1607.26
(97.48)
10.45

PF'R

100.00

Emp

5.17
(3. 251
41.59
(2.52)
8.05

Ern

144.60

10.50

124.40
(96.07)
1269.27
(96.88)
10.20

135.89
(95.171
1306.2e
(96.17l
9.61

100.00

10~.00

100.00

(10~1.~0)
(100.~0i

123.90
\100.~0)

1214.86
(100.00)
9 A1

125.04 12~.14 131.78

195.45! (98.561 198.51)
1168.67 1104.64 1165.64
196.28) i98.82) (98.73)
9.35
9.!9
8.85

Average

i'l

=IX + p

No. of

Observations

DJ

IN!

13

12

129.86
{97.35)
1274.23
(97.89)
9.81

14

Yi = 141.63 - 1.34 * D
r -I il11
L
" '!K
Yi = 1512.40- 27.1~0

!50

r-'
PJ
.J,;.,~

Yi =

10.70 - 0.10'0
[-7. !7}

2. Non-Farm Employment

Ern
Epd

5.96
!4.55)
45.09

13.21

15.00

i3. 72)

!1.18)

(1.27)

7.56

7.55

7.50

5.@9
(

I - )

(3.'i~. j

(4.831

4~.82

51.96

(3.12)
8.02

13.83)
7.54

1.75

2.~~

!1.44)

!1.4~')

...
..) I

r7

.J.j

(2.65)
27.45
(2.11)
7.77

Yi

29. 93 - 0. @bD

18

[-0.05]

Yi = 243.58 - 1. 740
Yi =

H.!)'J
7.98- tUfD

18
18

[-2.19]

3. Total Yearly

PPR

25.00

Emp

158.92
1100.00)
1648.85
(100.00)

144.60
1100.00)
1518.11
1100--00)

10.38

10.50

Emp 1oyc;ent

Ern
Eod

1!.43

44.44

129.49
142.78
1100.001 1100.00i
1309.09 1358.!6
(100.00! <:!ll0. 00 i
lUI

14.81

123.98
110~.~0)

1214.86

9.51

\100.\10)

7.14

11.11

!31.ma 121.89 133.78

1101.60) (100.00) 1!00.00)
1213.76 1117.85 !180.64
(!00.0~1 (!00.001 1100.00)

9.91

9. i 7

8.83

12.00
133.39

Yi = 145.57 - 1.39** D

(100.0~)

1301.74
(100.80)
9.76

H.6~

Yi

= 1544.24

Yi =

- 27.60 D
f-3.50j

10.67- 0.!0*D

150

!50

[-7.19)

PPR

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE:

1. Notations ~ap, Ern, Epd, and PPR are

2. Fiqures in the Parentheses represent
3. Figures in [ J are the 't' value5
f
sho~s tne siqnificance of 't' values
f~ shows the sicnifica~c2 of 't' values

explained in Table 4.!

percentage of the total yearly
at 95.0 per cent level of
at 90.3 ner cPnt l~vPI rf

e~ploy~ent/earnio~s

confid~nce

rnnfirlPnrP

1\)
~
1\)

243

other words,

the entire earning of each migrant labourer included

in our sample accrued from rural employment,

partly from on-farm

and partly from non-farm avenues.

Firstly, on

Table 7.4 throws up a few notable points.

average,
mandays

migrant

of total employment and earns Rs.

Consequently,
basic
in

labourer in rural Punjab gets nearly

per day earning is Rs.

1,301.74 in

9.76.

133.0

year.

Secondly, since our

concern is with the employment/earnings of migrant

rural

Punjab,

employment/earnings
mandays

of

it

is

account

not

that

for nearly 97.0 per cent

employment/earnings

implication,

surprising

per

labour

migrant

on-farm
of

total

labourer.

By

very negligible non-farm employment/earnings accrue

to this labour and that too only occasionally.

If we look in terms of distance from the focal town, we
observe that per migrant mandays of employment and the consequent
level

of earnings as also the per day earning tend to decline as

we move into the interior of the countryside.

The same

pattern

holds for on-farm employment, which is quite understandable since

more

than

97.0 ,per cent of their employment is on

activities.
of

It is, however, a different matter that the mandays

employment

sources keep

available

because

to a

migrant

labourer

from

on-farm

on declining as the rural-urban distance increases.

In other words,
lower

agricultural

to a migrant labourer,

employment time.
resident

labour

the remoter villages offer

This could not ordinarily be

in

the

extremely

remote

otherwise
villages

participates in wage-paid on-farm employment on a big scale.

It

244

seems

that

labour

the rate of substitution of local labour by

keeps on declining as we move away from the

There

is

more

gainful

leaving

increases,

the

and

mandays
their

scope

for

operations.

of

them,

town.

town in order to

wage-paid non-farm urban employment

bigger

agricultural

mandays

focal

a natural tendency for the local labour living in

nearby villages to commute to urban focal

of

migrant

migrant

labour

to

of

on-farm

migrating

the migrant labour got

of

the

in

villages

quantum

of

near

declining

trend

earnings,

in relation to rural-urban distance,

to
town

declining,

slightly

the

on-farm

thus

increase

employment compared with those

brethern

and

focal

commutability of local labour starts

consequently

avail

attend

As the distance from the

employment in agricultural operations

the

for
lower

enjoyed
town.

by
The

employment

and

is thus explained

by the above discussion.

Let us now look into the relative shares of the migrant
labour

and the resident labour in the total yearly wage-paid on-

farm employment/earnings on overall as also on daily

this

regard,

employment
compare
labour,

have

In

we work out the total mandays of wage-paid on-farm

earnings through the blowing

up

technique

the same with the corresponding figures for the

and

migrant

for each of the sample village and for all villages taken

together.
the

and

basis.

This would show how the migrant labourer competes with

resident labour force.

Naturally,

differing intensity as we

this competition

move from the villages near

urban town to those into the interior of the countryside.

would
the
Table

245

7.5

sets

sense.

out the picture of this competition in a fairly

broad

A few comments are in order.

Firstly,

the share of resident labour in overall wage-

paid on-farm employment/earnings in Punjab (nearly 70.0 per cent)

is

much higher than that of the migrant labour (nearly 30.0

The higher share of employment/earnings of the

cent).

per

resident

labour may be due to the fact that while migrant labour works and
earns

only on per day basis and that also in peak

employment/earnings
and

of

the resident labour consist of

daily based components.

the

seasons,

attached

if we look in terms

Secondly,

focal town,

the

we observe that

the

of

distance

from

share

of

resident

labour in total yearly wage-paid on-farm employment

is

higher than that of the migrant labour both in villages near

town

as

resident

well

as away from it.

labour

in

employment/earnings
urban

distance;

total

the

tends

Thirdly,

while the

to increase with increase

in

ruralhand,

This lends further substance to our

the

dependence

the resident labour on wage-paid agricultural employment also

increases.

As a result of this,

the migrant labour has to face

increasing competition from the resident labour of Punjab in

remote areas of the countryside.
the

of

agricultural

wage-paid

view that with increase in rural-urban distance,

of

share

the share of migrant labour on the other

records a declining pattern.

the

share

of

It is,

therefore, obvious that

migrant labour in the overall

employment/earnings

the

wage-paid

on-farm

becomes smaller in the remote villages

in villages near the focal town/urban or sub-urban areas.

than

Table 7.5
Villagewise Distribution of Wage-Paid On~Farm Employment between the Migrant
and Resident Labour in Punjab
-----------------------------~-.ooo:"--~----.-------------------."-!.~.-------------"""'!--~--------

Sl.

Village/s

Elllplovment

Wage-Paid On-Farm

Overall

Eiilploy11ent

Wage-Paid

Employment

Earnings !in Rs.l

!Mandavsl

Daily

On-Farll

!!'landaysl

Employl!lent
Earnings !in Rs.l

MGRT

RSOT

TOTL

MSRT

RSDT

TOTL

MSRT

RSDT

TOTL

116RT

RSDT

10

11

12

13

TOTL
14

1.

1.

V!

49.00
!18.86)

51.00
(19.63)

100.00
!38.49)

51.49
!197.36)

48.51
!185.95)

100.00
(383.31)

61.88
!18.86)

38.12
!11.62)

100.00
!30.48)

62.79
!197.36)

37.21
!1t6.94l

180.00
!314.30)

2.

V2

33.66
(6.48)

66.34
(12.77!

100.00
(19.25)

36.90
(67.91)

63.10
(1!6.15)

100.00
!184.061

55.67
(6.48)

44.33
!5.16)

100.00
(11.64)

57.21
(67.92)

42.79
!50.81)

100.00
(118.73)

3.

V3

29.56
!6.051

70.44
(14.421

100.00
!21.4ll

31.76
!61.6Bi

68.24
!132.52l

100.00
!194.20)

48.67
(6.05)

51.33
(6.38)

100.00
(12.43)

48.31
!61.68)

51.69
(66.00)

100.00
!127.68)

4.

V4

49.24
(9.69)

50.76
(9.99)

100.00
(19.68)

51.34
(93.j2l

48.66
!88.25)

100.00
!181.37)

66.19
(9.69)

33.81
(4.95)

100.00
!16.64)

64.61
!93.12)

35.39
(51.00)

100.00
(144.12>

5.

V5

25.95
t7.03l

74.05
m.06l

100.00
27.22
m.09> , !68.971

72.78
<t84.44l

100.00
1253.41!

38.a8
!7.03)

61.92
(11.43)

100.00
!18.46)

36.79
(68.97l

63.21
(118.52)

100.00
(187.49)

6.

V6

20.97
(5.05)

79.03

100.0~

(19.~3)

!24.08)

21.47
(47.18)

78.53
(172.61)

100.00
!219. 79)

36.38
(95.05)

63.62
(8.83)

100.00
!13.88)

36.57
(47.18)

65.43
(89.29)

100.00
(136.47)

7.

V7

28.50
!4.46)

7!.50
(11.19)

100.00
(15.65)

30.23
(41.32)

69.77
(95.36)

100.00
!136.68)

40.07
(4.46)

59.93
(6.67)

100.00
(11.13)

40.12
(41.32)

59.88
(61.68)

100.00
(103.00)

B.

IJB

15.77
(3.451

84.23
!18.43!

1~0.~0

(21.88)

16.23
(30.52)

83.77
(157.48)

100.00
!188.001

26.79
(3.45)

73.21
(9.43)

100.00
(12.88)

26.02
!30.52)

73.98
(86.78)

100.00
!117.30)

27.97
(5.87)

72.03
(15.12)-

100.00
!20.99)

29.84
(57.59)

70.16
(135.43)

100.00
(193.02)

43.94
(5.87)

56.06
<7.49)

100.00
(13.36)

43.79
(57.59)

56.21
!73.92)

100.00
!131.51)

All

-- -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ... ----------------...:-------------------------~GTE:

L t!~Ri : ~ligrant Labour

2. RSDT : Resident Labo~;r

4. ~lj!J:er. in the Parenth:;;e:: tinder

ti.2

3. TOTL : Total

re-l!?vent hudin~s re~nsent the l'lf.an ValuE>:; Per :kn: t~f

Si'OSS

Cropped M~a.

247

An analysis of the share of the migrant labour

vis

that

vis-a-

of the resident labour of Punjab in the wage-paid

on-

farm employment on daily basis also lends further credence to our

view mentioned above.
basis also,
cent)

in

To begin with,

we observe that on

daily

the share of resident labour (approximately 56.0 per

the total yearly wage-paid on-farm employment is

much

higher compared with that of the migrant labour (roughly 44.0 per
cent only).
fact

The lower share of the migrant labour is due to the

that migration is only a seasonal phenomenon and

mainly

for

specific

field

crop

operations

such

that
as

too
paddy

transplantation and harvesting and wheat harvesting and threshing

etc.
we

Next, if we look in terms of distance from the focal town,

in villages near the town
find thal[wage-paid on-farm employment on daily basis is very

largely

sustained

by

the

migrant

labour;

its

share

in

employment/earnings is over 60.0 per cent compared with less than

40.0

On the other

per cent for the resident labour households.

hand,
.Punjab,

in

the

extremely remote village of

the

countryside

in

the share of the local labour in employment/earnings from

wage-paid

on-farm

employment on daily basis is between 2 to

times larger than that of the migrant labour.

asse~sing

the

of the local and the migrant labour yet

in

The above conclusion can be reinforced by

respective

position

We work out labour use and level of earnings

per

acre of gross cropped area separately for the migrant labour

and

the resident labour on overall as well as daily basis.

7.5

another

way.

present the essentials in this regard.

Table

248

It can be observed from Table

per

acre

employment

migrant

labour

village

to

while
cent

decreases

and the level of

from nearly

earnings

one-half

for

last village compared with 50.0 per

village in close proximity to the focal

If

we

carry

employment/earnings,

out

this

the

the

in

first

village;

of the resident labour becomes as high as

the

84.0

per

in

the

cent

town.

comparison

on

daily

based

assuming for the time being the absence

employment/earnings
observe

that on overall basis.

just 16.0 per cent in the extremely remote

that
in

time

7.5

accruing

to

attached

farm

servants,

of
we

that while the share of the resident labour force nearly

doubles (about 74.0

~er

cent

) in the extremely remote village of

the

countryside compared with that in the immediate vicinity

the

urban

migrant

focal town (about 37.0 per cent);

labour

per

acre of gross cropped

the share

the

declines

from

nearly 62.0 per cent in the first village to about 26.0 per

cent

in

true

the last village from the focal

both

town.

This is equally

of labour use as well as earnings raised per acre of

cropped area.
that

area

of

of

the

gross

An important fact, however, needs to be underlined

overall

employment/earnings

share

of

the

resident

labour

of per acre of gross cropped area is

in

higher

compared with that of the migrant labour both on total employment

basis

as well as daily wage-paid employment

hypothesis. that in the Punjab(

wage-paid
time

on-farm employment,

criterion

or

per

basis.

the share of migrant

Thus,

the

labour

in

whether observed on the basis

of

acre of gross

cropped

area,

goes

on

249

declining

as

we

move

to villages

away

from

the

town,

gets

confirmation in our sample data.

Operationwise On-farm Employment/Earnings

It
composition
labour.

is
of

important

to

look

into

the

operationwise

agricultural employment/earnings of the

migrant

Table 7. presents the necessary details in this regard.

It is obvious that the total on-farm employment time of

the

migrant

labour

is fairly unevenly

various crop operations.

harvesting
nearly

is

must;

three-fourth

except

for

sowing

transplantation),
seem

distributed

among

Participation of each migrant labour in

88.0 per cent of them

of them for sowing,
(which

includes

work

and so

the

for
on.

operation

weeding;
However,
of

the location of a particular village does

to affect the degree of participation by migrant labour

different

operations.

the

For sowing,

rice
not
in

as the rural-urban distance

increases,

a smaller proportion of migrant labour works for this

operation,

perhaps for the reason that local labour also becomes

increasingly available in remoter villages.

As
earnings
for
cent

among different operations,

nearly

harvesting alone

45.0 per cent of the total time and about

of the total earnings from on-farm

important
of

regards the division of migrant labour's

employment.

time

and

accounts
50.0
The

per
next

crop operation is weeding which provides 27.0 per cent

employment-time and 21.0 per cent of on-farm

third place goes to sowing, and so on.

earnings.

The

Table 7.6 Villagewise Pattern of O.n-Form Employment and Earnings of the Migrant Labour in Punjab on Dailv Basis
(Mean Value Per Annum)

Sl.
No.

Operation

Variable

Averaqe
V1

1.

Sowing and Transplantation

V2

Y3

Emo

32.25

3~.45

(21.06)

Ern

(20.98l
348.34

V4

V5

30.46
(24.49)

21. 11

17.50

(14. !3j

.J..::'f .J-..i

329.23
(25, 96)

(15.53j
218.40
(16. 721

10.81

1~.35

L82.15
(14. ~9)
10.41

7"1'1!

r7

Epd

10.80

(22.04)
10.99

PPR

83.33

85.00

88.57

77.78

60.0~

47.42

37.71
(26. 07)
311. 73
(20.53)
8 'i7

25.05
(2@. !4l
200.91
(15.84!
8.-02

40.45
(29. 77i

(23,72)

312.73
<23. 94)

224.84
(18. 511

7.73

7.65

85.00

82.86

100.00

80.00

\21.67)

2. Weeding

Ernp

m.B4l

Ern

398.86
(24. 82)

Epd

8.41

PF'R

100.00

o Lo

29.40

V6

V7

Y8

10

tl
.

1~

I Q~
,u

18.5~

14.8~'

12

il5.4~)

(1!. 30)

181.41
(16.421
9.81

139.49
(11.97)

{19.6~)

9.37

10.51

66.67

64.29

't'd"'1'4'

74.0~

96.43

77.78

Efluation

No. of

fii

Observations

"".!

I~"

(14. 36)
182.60
(15.62)
111.17

85.19

1.~ I

23.76
(18. 30)
24S'.64

39.59
35.00
38.67
(31. 67i (29.13) (29.34)
303.38 253.68 277.27
(25.96) \22. 96) (23. 79)
7.66
7.25
7.17

F:~qression
-=
+.

Vl
...

14

13

v
,l =

.,..,

7-:'

~I,

J i

~~

~.66

D
(-.3.66l
Yi = 416.72 - 9.90 D
[ -6. 05,~
?
Yi = 11. 2~' - 0. ~8 o
[-3.35]
"i{"

35.03
(26.98)
272.70

38.61 + 0.14D
(0.30J
Yi = 329.32 - 2.200

(2!.42)

H.60J

7.78

~ 11

Yi =

Yi =

!11
lil

132
132

. ., -*
8.45 - ~.0ti,,n
[-9.39]

88.00

1\)

\J1

3.

Harvestinq and
!hreslii nq

Emp

Other Agricui tural

Operations such as
~Jatering. Manuring.
etc.

57.22

1i' 16

(42.11 i
618.61
(47.36)
10.81

!0~.0~

100.00

100.00

!2.45
(8. 61)
119.79

15.34
(12.33)
140.53
(11.08)
9.16

17.11
(12. 59)
156.46

Eod

64.00
(44.26)
752.@6
(49.54)
11.75

PPR

100.0~

Emo

12.25
i7. 97)
119.74
(7 .45)
9.78

Ern

4.

53.54
(43.04)

61.83
(40.21)
74ID.32
(46.06)
11.97

Ern
Epd

(7. 89)

9.62

597.65
(47 .12)

(11.98)

9.14

55.30
(44.23)
580.81
(49.36)
10.50

100.~~

15.10(12.19)
129.89
m.69l
8.60

61.90
(49. 96)
6i7. 98

(55.81!
10 . ~5

_56. 21
(46. 79)

sse.23

62.78
(47.64i
626.19

57.75
(44.47)
631.64

!52. 53)
10.32

!53. 72)
9.97

(4~. 60)
. 1~. 94

100.00

!~0.0@

!~0.00

10~.00

12.19
(9.74)
105. B~

Hl.43
(18.681
89.32

15.44

13.32
\10.25)
119.48
(9.38)
8. ~7

(9.06)

(8.09i

Q
'({
~.o.

8.57

(11. 72!

122.70
( 1~. 52)
7.94

59.16 - 0.160
[-2.45]
J..irn
Yi = 707.39 - uc ........
(-2.06]
Yi = 11.74 - 0.1~~ D
(-4.78j
Yi =

150
fC',']

l ..J!L!

_,.~

.l

~~

14.93 + 0.64 D

i50

~~~

[4. 0~J
\'i =

Yi =

15~.11

9.87

Y
,i.,

10~

11.09 D

~~~

.J.

r7 i.\1,1
L..), ~~~

[-4. 77J

5.

PFR

75.00

Total On-Farm
Emolovment on Daily

Emp

153.75

P.asis

Ern
Epd

PPR

75.0~

144.60
(1~0.00)
(100.00)
1607.26 1518.11
!10lU0i (100.00)
!0.45
1~.50
100.00

100.00

77.14

88.89

90.00

124.40
(100.00)
1268.27
(100.00)

135.89

1'i1
;_..;, Of\
tti
(!00. 00i
1214.86

1~.20
10~.00

(10~1.00)

1306.20
(lli0. 00)
9.61
100.00

( 100. ~0)

9.B1

59.2b

.U'; Ql
~ ~o

44.44

7i
'Q
!25.04 !2i:U 4 J..j,i..J.,;.
(100.00) me.Bill ( 1~0. 00)
1168.67 11~4.64 1165.64
Wl0.00l \10lU0) \!~iU0l
Q 71:'
9.19
.. .J.J
8.85

66.67
129.86

(100.00)
1274.28
\100.00)
9.81

~E-~:.

141,63

Yi = 1512.40

Yi

L34 D
[ -.3. 50]
~'7

~.!

(/ [I

150

150

( -3. 6~~

Yi =

1~.70

iL 15rD

150

H.m

100.0~

1~0.00

!00.00

!00.~0

!00.00

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE:

1. Notations Emp, Ern, Epd, and PPR are explained in Table 4.!
2. Figures in the Parentbeses represent percentage of the total vearlv emplovment/earninqs
3. Figures in [ J are the 't' values
* shows the siqnificance of 't' values at 95.0 per cent level of confidence
tf shows the significance of 't' values at 9~.0 per cent lev~l Df confidence

252

If
operation
it

we look into the relative importance of

each

crop

for villages at varying distances from the focal

town,

is fairly evident that the location of a

does

particular

village

not affect the distribution of employment-time and earnings

among

the

practically
place,

individual
for

each

crop

operations.

village,

In

other

harvesting occupies

weeding the second and sowing the third,

share of employment-time and earning.

words,

the

as regards

labour's employment in Punjab's agriculture has a

defined

pattern,

hand,

and,

the

It is thus clear that the

migrant

one

first

well-

perhaps in conformity with their skills on the

the

crop-specific

necessity

of

s~bstituting

outside labour for local labour on the other.

It

may

be useful to compare per day

migrant labour with that of local labour,

crop
IV)

operations.

the

in respect of different

It is interesting to see that

for all other operations,

relatively higher per day earning;

has a slight edge.

of

Table 7.6 may be read with Table 4.7 (Chapter

for this comparison.

for sowing,

earning

except

the local labour commands a

for sowing,

the migrant labour

The migrant labour is generally believed

to

be more specialised in handling the operation of sowing (which in

our case includes rice transplantation); hence, a slightly higher
wage

rate

to

the migrant labour for this

expressly for rice transplantation.

the fact

operation,

or

more

More important, however,

that per day earning for most other operations does

differ much between the local and the migrant labour.

is
not

It seems,

the availability of migrant labour has tended to depress the wage

rates that would have otherwise accrued to the local labour.

In

253

broad sense,

frontiers

and

the labour market is opened up beyond the

state

the demand for labour from Punjab agriculture

being matched by supply both from inside and

outside.

is

Perhaps,

it may be wrong to say that the national labour market determines

the

level

surely,

of

we

wage rate in the

Punjab.

concerned.

Such
if

assertations

do not seem

indeed a grouse is flashed,

to

hold.

antagonism between the two types of labour is,

However,

On

the

it lies more with the

labour in the sense that the huge influx

understandable.

the

inter alia, as far as daily wage rates are

labour has prevented the local wage rate to rise.

much

Very

the migrant labour is being exploited or

of Punjab,

discriminated against,

resident

of

have no reason to subscribe to the view that in

agriculture

contrary,

agriculture

of

migratory

Some degree of

therefore,

quite

the total pinch is not so glaring in as

as the local labour has other avenues of employment to fall

back upon.

SECTION IV
Why Migrate?
Why does large scale inmigration occur every year
the farm sector of Punjab?

A meaningful answer to thls question

is to be expected from the migrants themselves.

about

the

relied upon.
do.
by

Their perception

process and the reasons for migration must

In the present section,

In most of what follows,

our

respondents,

are

into

be

fully

this is precisely what we

only qualitative answers, as given

summarized;

it would not

possible to formulate precise quantitative figures.

have

been

254

Broadly speaking,
partly

to

the

programmes

the growth of migration owes

problems concerning the failure

of

itself

development

in areas of outmigration and partly to those

related

with attained economic development in areas of inmigration.

Specifically,
the

More

two types of factors were listed almost by each of

migrant labourer figuring in our sample.

These factors are

'economic and social factors' and 'seasonal differences'.

A word

about them.
(i)

Under 'economic and social' factors,

made

to

'pull factors' and 'push

factors'

operate
on

factors',

the

rate,

labour

and

other

and

areas

of

hand,

work

while 'pull

freedom

exploitation;

underemployment,

from

While

factors'.

'pull
'push

inmigration;
in

the

factors'

better working conditions,

market

economic

the

Further,

ou tmi gra~t ion.

wage

in

reference is generally

areas

include high

comparatively

social

oppression

factors such as mass

low level of earnings,

and

prevalence of

large scale can be placed under 'push factors'.

the

free

unemployment

abject poverty and existence of social oppression on a

fact,

of

It is,

very
in

simultaneous interaction between these 'pull and

push' factors which causes inmigration/outmigration.

(ii) Seasonal
Pradesh

differences between Punjab and Bihar/eastern Uttar

farm

sectors

responsible

for

agriculture

is

production

year;

may

migration.

be

listed
The

as

demand

other
for

subject to seasonal fluctuations

factors
labour

in

over

the

'

while demand for wage-paid farm labour is

255

very high during the peak seasons of.sowing,

and harvesting,
Generally,

transplantation

it is fairly low for other crop operations.

labour

shortage is felt during the peak

season

while a great degree of underemployment/unemployment

exists

during the slack season.

and

climatic

Thanks to a great deal of seasonal

variation

across

regions

especially for as big a country as India,

season

in

one

season

in

another.

seasonal
case,

part does not exactly

migration

crops

This readily

mature

peak agricultural
with

facilitates

post-harvest

coincides

paddy

transplantation in Punjab.

with the period of

and

slack season in

these

wheat

harvesting

crop

operations,

Bihar

with peak season in Punjab and vice versa.

labour, and, on the other,

and

Since the migrant labour

thus a nice synchronization of

slack

season

on the one hand,

is sustained on ready

our
Uttar

is

Punjab

In

eastern

in Punjab summarily for these

to the benefit of both areas;

peak

short-term

there

in

country,

coincide

earlier in Bihar

areas

needed

from one region to the other.

Pradesh. Consequently,

is

of

in

It works
agriculture

availability

of

migrant

it adds to the total duration

of

gainful employment and earning levels of the migrant labour.

The foregoing analysis shows that it is the adoption of
new

agricultural

technology,

intensification

of

cultivation,

shift in the cropping pattern in Punjab, rising commercialisation

of

agriculture and undertaking of various development programmes

in

the

rising

non-farm sector,
steadily

that the demand for

in Punjab.

labour

has

The increase in demand for

256

over

the

levels

years

has had the effect of pushing

in various wage-paid activities.

labour in Punjab,
wage

rates

Punjab.

the

The growth of migrant

in

in various on-farm activities in the rural areas

in

The resident labour,

employment.

though grudgingly cohabitates with

also prefers more remunerative avenues of non-farm

It has also been observed that because of

rural - urban distances in Punjab,

variations

in

there are some

the employment/earning pattern of

who are working in villages near the town

who

in the villages relatively away from the

town.

Finally,

although

labour

demand between the areas of inmigration and

economic

.emanates

glaring

migrant

than

those

urban

focal

In

fact the

outmigration

yet it is essentially
propensity

from the simultaneous working of the various

push factors,
the

phenomenon.

important

seasonal variations in the pattern of

exert considerable influence on migration,

an

increase

those

labourers
work

earning

has arrested the upward tendency

the migrants,

in

in fact,

up

as mentioned earlier.

to

migrate
pull

To be more precise,

wage differentials in the areas of inmigration

outmigration which exert the primary influence on migration.

and
it is
and