MIGRANT STREET VENDORSRam Samooj. Photo: Muhammed Faisal.K

Muhammed Faisal.K

Four people. Different stories. Same Fate.

Delhi has always been a melting pot — people

from all over the country come here to study or

work. There are approximately a million migrant

workers in Delhi mostly rooted from Bihar, Uttar

Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

“I was just twelve years old when I came from

Uttar Pradesh as a migrant worker with the help of a

relative,” says Bessan Lal, a street vendor. Seeking

better work opportunities and a burning desire to do

something in life brought him to Delhi in 1976. Lal had

never thought of working in Delhi for so long. His wife

joined him a year later and now Delhi is like his home.

Lal gets nostalgic thinking of his home in

Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. He says,” I cannot go back

as there is no work for me there. The only option would

be to work in the fields which I don’t want to do. My

aged mother lives with my brother.”

He often complains about harassment from

municipal bodies. This causes him to shut down his

business from time to time.

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Khusum Latha Agarwal. Photo: Muhammed Faisal.K

Bessan Lal. Photo: MUhammed Faisal.K

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Lal is one of the internal (rural to urban)

migrant workers among the millions that come to Delhi.

But everybody is not as fortunate as him. Many live in

appalling conditions in overcrowded slums where safe

drinking water is scarce and sanitation is non-existent.

Often subjected to violence, they keep moving in

search of better employment.In India the unorganized

or informal sector includes vegetable vendors, rag

pickers, construction laborers, factory workers,

sweepers, car cleaners and domestic helpers, the

majority of whom are migrant workers.

A migrant from Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh,

58-year-old Khusum Latha Agarwal sells food items in

Nehru place. She starts at 6 a.m and continues till 9

p.m. She has been vending for the past 35 years to

support her family. She earns about Rs. 250 to 350

daily. She says, "I feel very tired after working for long

hours at this age. Sometimes when an authority orders

to vacate the place, I stop vending for a few days and

this affects my earnings.”

25-year-old Abdu Rahiman belongs to

Samastipur, a district in Bihar. For past 15 years, his

mornings are spent as vegetable vendor and evenings

selling vegetable juice. He earns an average of Rs

3500 per month. He sends Rs. 1000 per month to his

parents living in his native village.

Ram Samooj is a migrant vendor from Meerut

district of Uttar Pradesh. He sells food on his cycle. He

doesn’t have a fixed location in Delhi.He migrated to

Delhi in 2004 due to poverty and unemployment at his

native place. He came to Delhi because his friends told

him about the employment opportunities offered there.

He sends half of his earnings back home.

It is not easy to live as a migrant worker in a

city that will continue to remain foreign no matter how

many years are spent.

Abdu Rahiman. Photo: Muhammed Faisal.K

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Ram Samooj. Photo: Muhammed Faisal.K