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Migrant workers' wait to get home ends, their fight for survival does not

Over 122 million people in India lost their jobs in April, according to estimates of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy

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The decline in agriculture holdings is a big reason for the net migration to other sectors

Nitin Kumar Bijnor
Saurab Kumar, who worked as a plumber in Dehradun, about 175 km from his home, has nothing to repair in his village.

“Nobody has a water-fitting here, so I am useless,” says a despondent Kumar, sitting with a group of 10 boys near the village ponds.
 
His village, Hussainpur Kalan, about 48 km from Bijnor, on the NH-51 (Gajraula-Chandpur-Bijnor), is one of the thousands in Uttar Pradesh that send migrants to cities every year.
 
As the unemployment comes up, the boys abruptly end their game of rummy. “Today we all are useless. For the past two days, we got