Patna,(BiharTimes): As the largest supplier of work force to India and abroad Bihar has been among the worst hit states after demonetization.
The reverse migration of labourers from all over the country after November 8 is likely to deprive the state of thousands of crores of rupees which come as remittance annually.
State finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui fears that as high as 95 per cent migrants from almost all nooks and corners of India have returned to their native places or are in process of coming back.
According to one estimate the number of labourers going outside the state is around 40 lakh annually.
Though there is no official estimate of money these labourers send home, yet some economists feel that it is something around Rs one lakh crore per year.
Remittance money from expatriates working abroad and in India contributes significantly to the GDP of the state. Besides, they get jobs which essentially agrarian Bihar cannot provide.
By the time demonetization was announced on November 8, farm labourers working in Punjab, Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh had almost returned to Bihar and other eastern states as paddy harvesting is completed early in north India.
In contrast that was the time for many migrants working in the woolen garment factories in Ludhiana to leave for Punjab. One estimate says that their figure is 1.3 million.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar, who initially supported demonetization––though with a rider––is now a bit alarmed by the situation emerging in rural Bihar.
The fall in remittance came at the time when internal and external revenue of Bihar are already declining because of prohibition and steep fall in sales tax after demonetization.
While liquor ban is serving social purpose and has a strong support from an overwhelming number of people, especially women, ‘notebandi’ appears to be proving counterproductive.
