Nirpay Singh’s weather-beaten face looks vacant as the daily-wage earner from Rohla village talks about his pregnant daughter, who needs urgent medical attention. “I need to take her to Chandigarh for treatment,” he says.

Daily-wage labourers, who get paid around ₹200-₹250 per day, have been among the worst-hit in the aftermath of demonetisation. Not being a part of the formal economy, and with few assets on hand, they are even worse off than farmers, whose plight at least gets media attention given the political sensitivities.

The complications in Singh’s daughter’s pregnancy, in addition to nutritional deficiency, have put her and her unborn child in danger. Singh is unable to take her to hospital, as his cash inflow has dried up, and even coming to work has become difficult.

“Some 500 people in Parliament are making fools of us,” the disillusioned man says, ruing the fact that he is unable to meet the basic needs of his family. Charan Das, another daily wage labourer in Samrala, has found his plans of going back home to Bihar, as times got tougher, blocked by a princely sum of ₹2,000. The farmer who employed him has not paid him the ₹2,000 owed to him.

“They say they have no cash to pay me,” Das said. Most of his compatriots from his home State have gone back in the wake of demonetisation – some because they had no money, and others to help their families back home get some cash from their accounts.

“I have had no work for more than a month. The little I had saved is gone as well. I have taken a loan from a commission agent so I could send some money home,” Das said.

The exodus, however, appears to be led by labourers working in industries, rather than farm workers, many of whom say farmers have provided them with food and boarding, even though money has not come their way.

It is a catch-22 situation for workers in Punjab. With cash flow down to a trickle, most farmers and factory owners reduced payments to daily-wage labourers. Facing a crunch, in turn, the labourers, most of whom come from Bihar and UP, decided to go back home – further stalling work.

In some small-scale industries, as many as 60 per cent of the workforce left in a span of a few weeks.

Raghunath Singh, National Vice-President, Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said the industrial belt in Ludhiana, which has an estimated one lakh daily wage workers, was the worst affected.

“The situation hasn’t improved yet. Fights are breaking out every day over the cash situation,” he said.

It has been reported that many cashless daily wage labourers, unable to find work in their homes, are finding it hard to come back to work as well.

Related Topics