As he crosses the mud houses and wheat fields around his village to catch a train to distant Mumbai, Sujeet Kumar says he is thinking about the better life that awaits him in India's city of dreams.
The 21-year-old from Jaunpur district, in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, was headed for the country’s financial capital, saying he moved out of "compulsion", like hundreds of millions of others before him.
Nearly two-thirds of India's people are under 35 and many of those in the countryside flock to the cities to take whatever job they can - becoming labourers, drivers or helpers in shops and homes. Many are from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring"Migrants are always concentrated in more precarious work.
Abdul Nur, a 37-year-old security guard in Bengaluru, said he left his village in the northeastern state of Assam when he was 17, and has since lived and worked in Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai cities.He was in India's financial capital a decade ago, where, he said, it was very tough to live on the 14,000 rupees he earned a month, with high rents and cost of food.
A 2020 International Labour Organization report said migrant workers contribute 10% of India’s GDP and serve as the backbone of several sectors. The money they send back reduces poverty at home and improves the well-being of their families, it said.
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