Guest workers continue to flock Tamil Nadu, learn new trades

TIRUCHY: The recent protests in Karur by the local people against a private textile firm demanding employment instead of providing it to the North Indian migrant labourers had prompted to explore the influx of migrant labourers into various profession in Tamil Nadu which is the second sought after state for them next to Maharashtra.

Surprisingly, these labourers, who were involved only in construction works and its related works once, have now, started to take up any trade even the traditional professions like fishing and agriculture that need an expertise which they have easily cultivated as the employment matters more to them.

Though the information shared by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) in April 2022 claims that Tamil Nadu state has 34.97 lakh migrant labourers, including 7.13 lakh women, the number has been steadily increasing as the traditional forms of works here have faced an acute manpower shortage owing to various reasons, including the local labourers switching over to other works.

According to a survey by a private organisation, the main factors, which attract people towards the destination, include better living conditions, better employment and quality education, absence of violence and high wage rates.

The study shows that initially the migrant labourers from North India and North East have reached Tamil Nadu through certain agents and opted to stay in Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruvallur, Tirupur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu in manufacturing factories and construction sites.

Tamil Nadu became the most sought after state as the average wage is Rs 392 per day, which is higher than the national average of Rs 348.

People from Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have been coming here steadily.

They come here through agents mostly belonging to their respective states who had already been staying in Tamil Nadu for several decades. Once they reach here, they would be under the custody of those agents for a few days and they would be deputed on duty, wherever the vacancy exists. The employers here claim that these migrant labourers never hesitate to do any odd jobs. They also never bother about the food system. Whatever is available, they would consume, say the employers.

“Most importantly, they never form unions, but show utmost sincerity in the work and even if any problem including health issues occurs, their agents or sometimes, the colleagues would take care. So we have less risk,” said K Anandanathan, a manager of a textile firm in Karur.

Anandanathan also said that his textile firm has around 100 migrant labourers and they never stick to time bound works.

“They work from dawn to dusk and complete the target by all means with the same wage, but the local labourers work only for a fixed time, mostly for eight hours. If they are asked to work beyond that time, we need to pay them more,” he said.

Workers gaining expertise in fishing

A few migrant labourers in Colachel harbour.

Fishing is considered the most challenging profession that needs physical valour as well as mental strength and expertise to face any natural calamity on board. Even this field has been witnessing manpower shortages as several younger generations from the community had opted for other employment avenues.

Many quit fishing after a few natural calamities like tsunami and Ockhi devastations. Thus the entry of migrant labourers into fishing increased and now almost all the mechanised boats in Tamil Nadu as well as Kerala have a good number of migrant labourers from north India.

The fishing harbours like Colachel, Muttom and Kanniyakumari and the few boat jetties in Thanjavur and Nagapattinam have witnessed a surge in migrant labourers. In Kanniyakumari area, mostly West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh labourers are present.

“Normally, the fishermen get the wages in percentile based on the catch and each individual is given equal share of money and the incentive. We do not discriminate against them in any form as they are also working on par with our traditional fishers,” said P Maria Subalt, a boat owner from Colachel who had employed north Indian labourers after several years of hesitation.

“When I myself witnessed how shrewd they were in mid-sea, I changed my mind and now there are six such labourers employed in my 20 member crew. There is no difficulty in interaction with them, as they are accustomed with the language,” he said. These migrant labourers used to stay in the boat itself and so the owners claim that they are relieved as someone is there in the boat and alert them of emergency.

According to a fisherman association functionary, there are around 260 mechanised boats in Colachel, while around 250 in Muttom, Thengapattinam around 300 and 360 in Kanniyakumari harbours which go for deep-sea fishing and each boat has at least five migrant labourers now and thus, each harbour has at least 1,000 migrant labourers in Kanniyakumari alone. While in Thanjavur, Pudukkottai and Nagapattinam the number is comparatively less as they go for shallow fishing.

Vishal Das (47), a native of Uttar Pradesh, said he came to Tamil Nadu when he was 22-years-old and did several odd jobs and he reached Colachel when he was 30-years-old and did whatever work was available.

“Now, I have been going fishing for the past four years and I have learnt every technique. Since I get a decent earning, I brought a few of my relatives and there are around 50 people from my native village working in Colachel,’’ Vishal said.

Of overcoming language barriers and helping others

Despite there were certain difficulties in learning Tamil during my initial stages, I picked up the language very soon and now I teach our people how to learn the language easily, says Devendra Sharma, who has been residing in Tamil Nadu for over 25 years.

Devendra Sharma (42), a native of Rajasthan came to Tamil Nadu when he was 17 and was doing all menial jobs here. The Class 6 drop out, now leads a team of 15 persons from his native place and has been dealing with tiles laying work in Tiruchy for the past 20 years.

Devendra Sharma

Residing at Periya Milaguparai in Tiruchy City, he recalls that he had been leading his life with only sign language to converse with the others. “At one stage I was fed up that people, mostly the local construction workers, made fun of me and I started speaking in broken Tamil with them. And now, I can understand even the Tiruchy dialect,” said Devendra Sharma.

He said that learning Tamil is so easy except for a few tongue twisting words with special letters. For instance ‘pazham’ (banana) ‘kari’ (meat), Thakkali (tomato) and so on. “I learnt the words related to the food and then, the bad words to get to know what the locals think of me,” giggled Sharma. He said the people from his home state are well versed in laying of tiles and granite and they have an experience of working in the tile godowns in Rajasthan. “We charge just Rs 18 per sq ft for 2X2 feet tile whereas it is up to Rs 26 per sq ft by local people. Since the low price and timely completion, we get more offers from the building contractors. Sometimes we work day and night to finish the work on time and for this, we provide food for the workers. That is the only extra charge,” Devendra Sharma added.

Sharma and his colleagues used to go to their native place every Deepavali and return after two weeks. He said whenever he goes to his native place, the relatives there used to approach him for jobs here and based on the requirement, I bring them here,” he stressed.