Mass migration in drought-hit villages in India
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MUMBAI: "I must be 80 years old...or maybe more," said a frail Khimnubai Rathod as she basked in the sun outside her house in Ralga, a remote village in Latur.
The sister villages of Ralga and Ralgatanda have turned into ghost settlements with 70% of their inhabitants having migrated to the cities, leaving behind old people and children. At this age Khimnubai has to fend for herself. Her three sons, who work in sugarcane factories in Latur, don't send her money. "They have their own families to look after," explained Khimnubhai, who works as a farmhand and earns Rs 30 a day. "What else do you expect me to do? Don't I have to fill my stomach?" The fields at Ralgatanda are cracked and dry. There is no work in the village, resulting in forced migration to the cities. Tukaram Rathod, who left the village some years back to find work as a manual labourer, visits Ralgatanda once a week to meet his daughters... The Times of India |
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