Haveri’s labourers you can bank on

A meeting of the labour union underway.

A meeting of the labour union underway.

Photos for Spectrum Anchor 

In Haveri’s Aralikatte village, a group of workers are threshing maize. An unexpected cyclone has left the sky overcast; rain is imminent.

But Sharanubasava, the farm owner, is unperturbed. The work is completed within the next hour.

Later during lunch, he says, “After the labour bank has started in our village, my agricultural activities are taking place on time, without stress.”

Meanwhile, Malatesh, who leads this particular labour group, gets off a phone call. “I just received a call from the labour bank office. We are taking 30 labourers there to finish the work,” he says.

Our agricultural sector is a site of contradictions. On one hand, farm land owners complain of labour shortage, while agricultural labourers migrate to cities like Bengaluru or coffee plantations looking for work.

A labour bank, like the one established by the Vanasiri Rural Development Society in Haveri’s Ranebennur taluk, bridges this missing link.

Started in 2018, this labour bank has 3,500 workers registered, with 75 farm owners taking benefit of its services.

Haveri mainly has dry agricultural land. Farm labourers only get 100 days of work through MGNREGA.

Shamashuddin, the founder of Vanasiri who conceived this concept, says labourers came forward to register with the labour bank just a few months after it was launched.

The Vanasiri staff initially promoted this idea in the villages using handbills, group meetings etc. Soon land owners showed interest, and the news of the concept reached other taluks in Haveri through word of mouth publicity.

Basic social security

Manjappa, a labourer from Kodihalli village, injured his eye during the course of his work. But he wasn’t eligible for any benefits because he worked in the unorganised sector. A lot of these incidents were repeating across the district, which led the labour leaders to discuss and register as a union with the Labour Department.

Later, Manjappa got nearly Rs 40,000 in compensation due to the efforts of
the union. During the Covid lockdown in 2020 and earlier this year, 900
labourers received Rs 3,000 cash benefits as a social security insurance from the government.

The union has also put in place a basic structure for day-to-day work. A labour group lead (who are workers themselves) manages 25 - 30 workers.

The farmers share their work requirement through a phone call, in-person visit or a message to the labour office facilitators.

In turn, this is shared with the group lead, who inspects the scope of work, negotiates a contract with the land owner and handles the financial transaction. The lead also ensures that the work is completed on time.

The nature of work involves all sorts of agricultural activities — preparing the land, sowing, weeding, harvesting etc. The labour groups also take up construction of farm bunds, ponds, and operating harvesting machines.

Today, this labour bank operates in 50 villages, with 1.28 lakh days of employment generated so far.

To ensure this effort is financially sustainable, the union collects Rs 250 as a membership fee, and charges 2.5% of wages as a service charge.

The labour bank has collected some Rs 11 lakh in fees so far, which is used to pay the office rent, and the salary of one staff person.

The labour office also sells tools and other equipment that the labourers require.

Hanumanthappa, secretary of the labour bank, says they plan to provide all workers associated with the labour bank with uniforms; a call centre to provide information about social security schemes and app that the farmers and labourers can use is also underway.

Shankrayya Kalasuramatha, the president of the union, says, “The families have assured work and our youth are returning home. More importantly, our labourers are treated with respect and dignity.”