Rural Bengaluru seeks policy change to address farm distress, lack of jobs

Voters seek policy change to address farm distress, lack of employment

Elections bring out the rural-urban divide like no other time. Two days ahead of the polls, that divide is prominent in the IT capital of India, Bengaluru. While start-ups with their dollar fundings look for new benchmarks in valuations, many who have migrated to the city from far-flung areas struggle to find jobs. For them, the April 18 Lok Sabha election means little. 

K Ramesh, 23, left his village in Belgaum district, after his father, a farmer, urged him to find a job in the city. Rainfall has been inconsistent for the last three years and his family’s debts are at an all-time high. 

Ramesh does 12-hour shifts at a grocery store without any day offs and earns Rs 8,000 a month. “My father owes the local money lender Rs 75,000. The interest on it is piling up. Our crops have failed in the last two years. Even if I do not like it here, I have to work,” Ramesh said. 

Elections are the last thing on his mind. “I like farming. Thanks to the government machinery, I have to work at a grocery shop. I am not sure if I will vote,” he added. 

As Bengaluru fights hard to maintain parity between the glittery world of the internet-led businesses and the rising population of youngsters belonging to farming families, many believe policies need to change to recognise the urban poor. 

“There is a major class divide in Bengaluru. We need to first change the definition of urban poor. They need to be provided with job security, economical housing. These are not there at the moment,” said Prakash Raj, actor and independent candidate from Bangalore Central. 

Bangalore Rural is one of the state’s 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. The constituency has 2,455,926 voters. Of the 15 candidates, six are independents. 

Even as political parties are also trying hard to woo the youth in the region with promises of jobs, loans for new businesses and loan waivers, no one quite has an answer on how all these can be managed. Forced to leave their homes due to diminishing returns in agriculture, youngsters from rural areas complain that the government has not done much for them to get jobs or start their own businesses. 

Many complain that none of the party manifestos talks about jobs for youth, but only give jargon-filled statements on start-ups and entrepreneurship.  Take for instance, towns such as Mandya, almost 100 kilometres from Bengaluru, considered one of the biggest recruitment spots for drivers for Ola and Uber. 

“The only jobs these youth find are of cab drivers or delivery boys. They have no job security, no benefits such as provident funds. Farm incomes have seen the lowest growth rate in the last 15 years. After coming to the city, even finding a decent accommodation is tough. A lot of farmland is being acquired for housing, but a large number of people remain homeless,” said Vijoo Krishnan, joint secretary of All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

Many believe the development is entirely restricted to Bengaluru. “They always talk about big companies. We have been forced to leave our villages because no development or government scheme ever reaches us,” said Senthil Srini­w­as, a resident Shimoga villa­ge, who works as an office boy in a small start-up company.