No jobs, girls transplant paddy to earn livelihood
Sukhmeet Bhasin
Bathinda, July 1
It is a common sight to see village women, girls or the ones who have lost jobs working in the fields in Mansa district.
Sainam, 18, had completed her senior secondary school education last year and her cousin Nazira, 19, had almost completed one year of her BSc. Both are working in the fields in Mansa Khurd village in the district to earn bread and butter for the family. Moreover, Sainam is taking care of her four younger sisters and ailing father.
Soma Rani is from Guthri village and married to a Mansa resident. She scored 85 per cent marks in Class X, but did not get any support. Later, she tried her hand in modelling, but now she is working in the fields to earn bread and butter for her family.
Manpreet Kaur, who is a postgraduate in Punjabi, is also working in the fields. She said, “When you have no job, you have to take up such work to support the family.”
As paddy plantation is picking up pace, farmers are roping in local girls, for transplantation. Labourers are demanding high wages, beds, home-cooked meals and even liquor whereas local unemployed girls are ready to work on less wages, says Hardeep Singh, farmer.
Moreover, girls and other youths, who have taken up menial jobs, are also turning towards paddy transplantation as in this, they earn more than what they are getting in their jobs.
Paddy transplantation is a labour-intensive exercise in which two or three workers per acre are required. Though the state government is also encouraging them to opt for direct seeding of rice (DSR), a less labour-intensive method, a large number of farmers in Punjab go for the manual transplantation method only.
