Hundreds of Drought Migrants Come Knocking On The Doors Of Delhi

Written By: Ishadrita Lahiri
Around 300 "drought migrants" are living under a flyover in central Delhi.

New Delhi: No food, no water, no washroom, and a hole under a gate to wiggle out and in through a police cordon. This is how around 300 people are living under a flyover in central Delhi.

These men, women and children are “drought migrants” – a newly coined term for the thousands of farmers who are leaving their homes in Maharashtra and Bundelkhand and migrating in search of water and livelihood.

Every day, 4 to 5 trains disgorge them at the nearest railway station — at Nizamuddin. Balancing plastic sacks on their heads containing their meagre possessions, and carrying children in their arms, they totter out of the trains, wide eyes taking in the unfamiliar city.

But the city is yet to oblige. Work is hard to come by, the living conditions are harsh.

“We are farmers. We have never done construction work before but are doing it here to survive. But there’s no work to be found,” said Boban Gawai, a farmer from Washim district in drought-hit Marathwada.

drought_migrantes_1024_1Gawai has been camping under the flyover for over a month now with his wife and 9-year old son.

“My son was studying in class 3. I can’t pay for his education any more,” he said. “I have 12 acres of land in my village but it yielded no crops so now I have a debt of Rs 50,000 to repay.”

A little way off, sits Ram Laal, farmer from Tikamgarh in Bundelkhand, with his family. It has been a month and jobs have been erratic, add to that the problem of oppressive touts.

“We came here because there was nothing to eat back home. For every day I work, there are at least two days that I’m left jobless. There have been times when I’ve worked for contractors and they’ve not given me remuneration,” he said.

For women, the situation is unsafe. “There’s no place to even take a bath. When we manage to get water, we go to a side of the flyover, and bathe there,” said Boban’s wife Vaishali.

drought_migrantes_1024_3Budhia, an elderly woman, who’s come alone from her home in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, said drug use is rampant among the men there. “When night falls, the men start using intoxicants and behave in a very rowdy manner,” she said.
Across the road, the government shelters are of no help either, as they’re shooed away for being outsiders.

“In a drought year like this, there has to be some way of providing them identity; elementary way of recording just to make sure who’s alive and who’s not and to offer some absolutely bare minimum existential facilities,” said Yogendra Yadav, an academician who’s travelled extensively in drought-hit Bundelkhand.

“They’re being looted, there are children without protection, there are women who are unsafe, they are out here on the street for no fault of their own,” he said, remarking this is how the drought is knocking at the doorsteps of cities, which thought they were unaffected.

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37 COMMENTS

  2. If all of us save only one drop a day that would amount to saving billion drops. This can include small small changes in habits like closing the tap when not using it

  8. Politicians made promises of changing their lives but see what’s happening. Government should take care of them.
    That’s true !

  11. First of all we should teach our children about the need of water conservation. They should avoid buying recreational water toys to their children.
    Everyone should be aware of the water shortage rules and restrictions and strictly follow in their own area.

  24. The first thing that we really need to do is to make sensible use of water . If all of us save only one drop a day that would be lot of water .

  25. . This can include small small changes in habits like closing the tap when not using it, playing dry Holi, not over irrigating our plants at home, avoiding over flushing of toilets, avoiding cooking food in open vessels, not washing our vehicles during lean periods etc.

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  32. WE INDIANS SHOULD TOGETHER AND HELP. PLEASE DON”T TALK POLITICS. AND WE USE TO SAY BHARAT MATHA FOR NOTHING.

  34. Why not utilise these migrant labours to the best use in agriculture based e onomies like in Tamilnadu, where getting economical labour is very difficult? I am sure central and state governments can think in these lines.

  35. Yogendra Yadav is right, it should be possible to provide some simple id cards so that they can access basic services if needed. It is quite possible that they already have aadhar cards, then the government could try to at least provide them food through pds and get it reimbursed post facto from the corresponding state, the children could be helped by local ngos and government schools . Some temporary housing could be funded through the disaster management fund, i hope droughts are legally designated as disaster to release funds. This kind of large scale distress migration should be taken very seriously, also citizens groups should come forward to help these families.

  36. Needs of todays world which the educated / everyone should spread in our society.
    1) Family planning:
    2) Stress for education
    3) Don’t force marriages: Let people marry when they feel when there is a need to achieve something in life like a house or assets or education.
    4) Achievement: encourage people to achieve something in life.
    5) Respect bachelorhood: When a person is interested to serve society and his family or he wants to lead a carefree life.
    6) Encouragement
    7) Less population

  37. The first and foremost thing which all of us can do is to make judicious and sensible use of water at our own end. If all of us save only one drop a day that would amount to saving billion drops. This can include small small changes in habits like closing the tap when not using it, playing dry Holi, not over irrigating our plants at home, avoiding over flushing of toilets, avoiding cooking food in open vessels, not washing our vehicles during lean periods etc.

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