Question
Explain the concept of circulation of labour.
Solution
Concept of circulation of labour:
- Commercialisation of agriculture has been responsible for the growth of migrant agricultural labour. Seasonal demand for these labourers increased in Green Revolution regions like: PUNJAB.
- Labourers migrate also due to the increasing inequalities in rural areas.Men migrate out periodically in search of work and better wages, while women and children are often left behind in their villages.
- Migrant workers come mainly from drought-prone and less productive regions, and they go to work for part of the year on farms in the Punjab and Haryana, or on brick kilns in U.P., or construction sites in cities such as New Delhi or Bangalore.
- These migrant workers have been termed ‘footloose labour’ by Jan Breman. However, these landless workers do not have many rights and are also denied minimum wages.
- The large-scale circulation of labour has had several significant effects on rural society, in both the receiving and the supplying regions.
- Women are also emerging as the main source of agricultural labour, leading to the ‘feminisation of agricultural labour force. The insecurity of women is greater because they earn lower wages than men for similar work.
