Civic workers in Karnataka, also known as ‘pourakarmika’, are entangled in an unending web of exclusion. The frontline civic workers, with the list of unfulfilled demands of pending payments, social security, permanent employment and dignity to labour, are agitated but stand lonely in the battle against exploitation unleashed by the state government.

The BBMP Pourakarmika Sangha, affiliated to All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), has submitted a request to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Tushar Girinath. The letter was submitted on December 21 by sweepers, drain cleaners, drivers, garbage loaders requesting the BBMP to scrap the existing contractual system in recruitment of civic workers and complete wage payment on time.

On December 19, the union submitted a complaint to the state’s deputy labour commissioner on no wages to auto drivers, loaders and helpers for the past five months.

In November, AICCTU wrote to the Chief Minister demanding fulfilment of the assurance to make all contractual workers permanent which was not paid heed. There was also a state-wide demand convention of pourakarmikas asking the government to fulfil its promises made to the workers.
 

A Painful Existence

Despite the state-sponsored exclusion, civic workers continue to discharge their duty relentlessly. From garbage collection to underground drainage cleaning and garbage load-unload, the uncompromising civic duty has underlying pain.

Venkat Narasappa, 49, a garbage loader in Bommanahalli region routinely picks up dry and wet waste in the designated areas without fail. But his grievance is all about the government’s neglect of the existential crisis of pourakarmikas.

Pic: Venkat Narasappa, Garbage Loader. Pic Credit: Saurav Kumar

Narasappa told NewsClick: “I have been collecting garbage for 17 years with instances of irregular payment and insecure working conditions. Every month, I earn Rs. 14,000 working for all 30 days. Even one day’s leave gives me a loss of Rs. 600. The life as a pourakarmika is uncertain”

The contractual work looms as a threat over Narasappa and thousands like him despite their undying efforts to keep the streets of the state clean.

Nirmala, who sweeps the streets of Madivala market, too, finds herself facing an uncertain future. “For decades, I have been managing solid waste in different parts of the city but my job is not permanent and is a threat to our financial security,” she told NewsClick.

As per Nirmala, her monthly earning stands at Rs. 14,000 whereas a permanent worker get Rs. 40,000. She demands scrapping of the ongoing pay disparity.

Pourakarmikas have alleged unfair treatment in terms of working conditions.

Narayanappa, a street sweeper employed near NGR Layout in Bommanahalli, claimed that working conditions of civic workers have deteriorated in the past couple of years. BBMP has not provided them new uniforms since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pic: Torn Uniforms of Pourakarmikas. Pic Credit: AICCTU

A few months ago, pourakarmikas were seen working in torn and shabby clothes and its revelation pushed the BBMP on the backfoot and it came out with an assurance to provide new uniforms.

Amid the ongoing struggle of the pourakarmikas, M Shivanna, Chairman, Karnataka State Safai Karamchari, has been a prominent voice for thousands of workers but could not succeed in ending the contractual work system.

Failed Promises

The civic frontline workforce has been duped by the Karnataka government, on several occasions, says their union, be it abolishing the contractual system of recruitment or making all workers permanent employees.

Rathna, a member of the BBMP Pourakarmika Sangha, told NewsClick: “The state government, after the protest of July 2022, assured us of giving permanent jobs to 11,000 workers but now it claims to have provided it to only 3,000 workers. This is blatant betrayal.”

The state government declared recruitment of workers on permanent basis on three occasions — in 1996, 2014 and 2019.

As per the State Safai Karamchari Commission, only 10,755 civic workers out of 54,512 are permanent, with the rest deprived of any social security and health benefits.

As per the commission, civic workers are categorised as permanent workers, direct payment workers, contractual workers, outsourced workers and daily wage workers.

After being subjected to “prolonged betrayal”, nearly 40,000 pourakarmikas went on indefinite strike on July 1 2022. This pushed the government to back foot and negotiations took place with demands of regularisation of work, social and health benefits, etc. The government gave written assurance to make permanent all pourakarmikas and abolish the contract labour system in waste management, but after the strike ended, the state government has “betrayed” thousands of workers by taking no action on the issue, allege the workers.

According to BBMP Pourakarmikara Sanghatane President Nirmala M, scores of pourakarmikas belonging to the oppressed dalit community are engaged in the caste ordained occupation of waste collection and management for the sake of keeping the city clean. But, in return, all they have got is vulnerability, exploitative conditions and no minimum wages.

Suvidha Cabin. Pic Credit: Saurav Kumar

The state government’s betrayal goes beyond wages, persisting contractual systems, etc. BBMP promised to establish Suvidha cabins for pourakarmikas across the city but largely it remains unfulfilled, said the union.

According to Narayanappa, the Suvidha cabin in NGR layout remains inactive and exposes the truth behind “half-baked claims” of the government and the civic body.

On reaching out to the BBMP Joint Commissioner Bommanahalli zone, Muniraj, he said that the functioning of Suvidha cabin needs to be checked.

The first cabin was inaugurated in Malleshwaram by MLA and minister in the government C. N. Aswathnarayan in the year 2020. Since then only a few of these are reportedly functioning.

The writer is a freelance jourmalist.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Karnataka: The Unending Exclusion of Civic Workers in Bengaluru appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Jageshwari Devi, MGNREGA worker, Mahant Maniyari village, Kurhani block Muzaffarpur district.

After a gap of months, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers in ward no. 7 of Ratnauli panchayat in Mahant Maniyari village under Kurhani block of Muzaffarpur district are back on 100-day work. But many of them are still awaiting their past wages.

Jageshwari Devi, 58, a resident of the village, while lifting bricks on her head, said: “We are working under MGNREGA with the hope of getting payment sooner or later. Since five months, we have been waiting for our wages, but there are just assurances, no relief.”

According to Sanjay Sahni, convener of non-political organisation, NREGA Watch, the reason for the gap in work is non-payment of wages, which is to be done by the district administration and government.

Sahni told NewsClick that there were three categories of workers who are awaiting their wage in terms of time interval. For a few of them, wages of three to six months are pending, but many of them are still desperate about getting their annually awaited wages.

The mandate of MGNREGA is to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Its core objectives include providing not less than 100 days of unskilled manual work as guaranteed employment in a financial year to every rural household as per demand, resulting in creation of productive assets of prescribed quality and durability and, most importantly, strengthening the livelihood resource base of the poor. But the rural job guarantee scheme’s story on ground remains opposite to its laid down principles.

Acknowledging the prolonged wage crunch and equal work demand, NREGA Watch, along with workers of the Kurhani and adjoining blocks, is planning to stage a protest at the Muzaffarpur collectorate. The decision to protest came up in wake of workers of Sakra, Gaighat, Bandra, Kurhani, Marwan, Musahari, Maraul, Bochahan, Saraiyya and Kanti blocks not been paid since months. NREGA Watch sources said noted development economist, Jean Dreze, and co-founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Nikhil Dey, will participate in the proposed protest.

Last year, too, the MGNREGA workers had protested citing rampant corruption in the people’s scheme.

According to Section 3(3) of the MGNREGA, workers are entitled to payment on a weekly basis, and in any case within a fortnight of the date on which work was done. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, states that in case of a delay in payments, there is a provision for compensation to workers at the rate of 0.05% per day. However, this clause is not taken seriously by the administration and workers are hardly ever paid compensation for wage delay.

Despite such provisions in the Act, labourers have not been paid the meagre amount of Rs 171/day, which is the state-wise amount for unskilled manual workers, based on measurement of work done i.e. piece rate basis.

Anil Ram, a migrant worker from village Mahant Maniyari, says if MGNREGA wages were a bit high, at least Rs 400/day, then people like him would not have to migrate to Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

“At least 100 of us have migrated to states like Assam, Gujarat, and sole reason remains extremely low wages of workers. How can we run a family of four on Rs 171/day?” he says.

But sometimes it is the other way around, he says. “When they do not find an economically favourable job outside Bihar, many youth, out of distress, decide to return and try their hands in 100 days of work”, he adds.

Anil Ram’s says the basic problem is lack of opportunities. For Bihar’s MGNREGA workers, it’s a choice between the devil and the deep sea. While low wages in Bihar compel them to migrate, lack of opportunities outside the state, pushes them back home to work for lower wages or even no wages for months.

Speaking with NewsClick over phone, Ashish Ranjan, secretary of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), Bihar chapter, said there was severe fund shortage under MGNREGA in the state. “Payment to MGNREGA workers has been stopped since six months,” says Ashish, who currently works with MGNREGA workers in Araria district of Bihar.

He accused the government of gimmickry to mislead MGNREGA workers when it comes to paying them for their labour, by announcing of wrong dates for release of funds. “This is how the government misleads workers on MIS (Management Information Systrem),” he adds.

The intentions of the Bihar government have been suspect since long in terms of raising MGNREGA wages, he says, adding that in 2015, it slashed the minimum wage to Rs 138 a day which, after efforts of social activists and a public interest litigation filed in Patna High Court, was finally rolled back.

The Bihar government has the power to strengthen livelihoods of MGNREGA workers under Section 32(1) of the Act, which states that the government may, by notification, make rules to carry out the provisions of Act subject to the conditions of consistency with MGNREGA and rules made by the Central government.

MGNREGA, which is a bottom-up, people-centric, demand-driven, self-selecting and rights-based programme that ensures employment specifically to rural population, seems to have been deliberately turned into a non-functional scheme to hurt the rural population.

In short, the cat fight and blame game of fund crunch between state and Central government is directly pushing rural workers deep into rural stagnation, which will further lead to an existential crisis of the worst kind sooner rather than later.

The writer in an independent researcher based in Bihar.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

The post Bihar’s MGNREGA Workers Stare at Deeper Rural Stagnation appeared first on SabrangIndia.