In Frames | Chhath and the migrant

15 lakh migrant workers from Bihar and Jharkhand in various parts of the country celebrate chhath puja

Bholanath Kumar, a migrant worker from Chhapra in Bihar, drives an autorickshaw in Delhi and lives with his family in a densely populated colony of east Delhi. He and his family never missed the Chhath Puja celebrations since they shifted to the city in search of a job.

Earlier, it used to end with a dip in the Yamuna, though a white polluting foam troubled them. Later, with more people from Bihar and neighbouring States settling in their neighbourhood, associations of migrants from Bihar started providing “better” arrangements such an artificial ponds.

Government data, citing the 2011 census, say there are about 15 lakh migrant workers from Bihar and Jharkhand in various parts of the country. Wherever they are, they play the folk songs of Vindhyavasini Devi and Sharda Sinha and make it sure that the identity of a Bihari is on full display during those four days of Chhath. Be it Delhi or London, they will express their gratitude to nature during this festival for daughters and sons. Researchers say that the number of migrants is a massive underestimate. Amrita Datta, who teaches at the IIT, Hyderabad, has tracked the patterns of migration from Bihar keenly. According to surveys she did in the State, the percentage of households with at least one migrant member increased from 45% in 1999 to 62.1% in 2011 to 64.9% in 2016.