“I am at the naka or at a site working all day. I can’t take care of her from there, so I prefer she come with me and earn a bit for the house,” said Meena Ben Rathwa, holding her 14-year-old daughter Jhini’s hand as they stood at Harinagar Naka, Vadodara, hoping to find wage work for the day.
Meena Ben and her husband Rajesh Rathwa are among the millions of naka workers – casual workers who gather at a naka or junction to get hired for wage work – in the construction sector, the fastest-growing and second-largest daily wage employer in India after agriculture. This has been their livelihood for 13 years.
Nearly 50 million Indians worked in construction between 1983 and 2011-’12, and the sector absorbs the largest proportion of rural workers surplus in agriculture. Workers at Harinagar Naka told IndiaSpend that despite the uncertainty, they prefer to work in construction because work is more regularly available and wages slightly better than in agriculture.
The Rathwas’ 16-year-old son escaped the uncertainties of daily-wage work to drive an autorickshaw in Vadodara, but Jhini had to quit school last year and join her parents at the naka. Together, the family find employment for 12-15 days a month on average, at wages that provide for little more than sustenance.
Source: Scroll.in
