Abuse, Underpaid, And Trapped: How Jharkhand’s Migrant Workers Flee Exploitation Only To Return Again

On April 29, just before boarding a train back to her village Khutpani in Chaibasa, she explained to Outlook India why she left the job. “Even the smallest mistakes would invite abuse from senior staff. Boys were beaten up. They would touch us inappropriately—grab our waists. There was constant harassment. When we complained, no one higher up listened. Where could we go? We needed the job and the money. But when a fight broke out on April 22 between company staff and workers from our village, we decided to quit,” she said.

Within a week, more than a hundred Adivasi workers employed at the same textile unit left their jobs and returned to West Singhbhum (Chaibasa). They have levelled serious allegations against the company’s senior staff and management, including physical abuse and non-payment of wages.

Eighteen-year-old Priska had been working at the company for three years. In exchange for a daily wage of Rs 300, she not only had to work long hours but also endure inappropriate touching and verbal abuse from senior staff.

Despite this, she says returning home is only temporary. “There’s no one else earning at home. My mother has passed away. My elder sister is married. My father stays at home. There’s no work in Jharkhand, so my brother and I work in Tamil Nadu. I’ll have to go back again soon,” she says.

The immediate trigger for the mass exit was the assault of 23-year-old Manki Hessa. After news of the incident spread, workers from Jharkhand gathered to leave. According to them, the management tried to stop them and even locked the factory gate—a video of which went viral on social media. The incident drew the attention of the Jharkhand Chief Minister, prompting efforts to facilitate their return.

Recounting his ordeal, Hessa says, “On April 20, the HR publicly scolded and insulted me. I was disturbed. I went to my room during lunch and fell asleep. I reported to work two hours late. The next day, HR beat me severely for it. We said, at most you could cut a day’s salary—why beat me?”

Hessa added that this was not an isolated case. Many workers had faced similar violence. Complaints had also been raised repeatedly about worms in the food provided by the company. After his assault, around 200 workers decided to leave on April 22. Though the management tried to persuade them to stay and promised action against the accused, the workers remained firm in their decision, citing persistent mistreatment.

Stories of Jharkhand’s migrant workers being trapped in exploitative conditions across different states have become increasingly common. Complaints often include physical abuse, unpaid wages, and poor accommodation and food. In several cases, such conditions have even led to deaths.

Responding to a question in the state assembly, Jharkhand Labour Minister Sanjay Prasad Yadav stated that in 2025–26, the government facilitated the return of 148 deceased workers’ bodies to their native villages, at a cost of Rs 2.25 crore.

According to the Migrant Labour Control Room, between March 2021 and March 2025, the state rescued 4,087 workers from across India—2,688 men, 1,142 women, and 256 children. These were cases where workers wanted to return home but were not allowed to leave by employers. Complaints included bonded labour, child labour, delayed payments, and lack of proper food and accommodation.

These figures suggest that more than a thousand workers are rescued each year. While most cases involve inter-state migration, in recent years, a significant number of workers have also been rescued from abroad. Officials acknowledge that these are only reported cases; if unreported instances are included, the real numbers could be two to three times higher.

But how do these workers get trapped in the first place? Shikha, head of the Migrant Labour Control Room, explains: “Workers are influenced by agents and contractors—often someone from their village, a friend, or even a relative. Once they are lured in, complaints of unpaid wages are most common. Companies often pay the agents or contractors, but the workers never receive the money. When we try to contact these agents, they don’t respond or switch off their phones.”

Workers from Jharkhand employed in Namakkal allege they were paid only Rs 300–350 per day—well below Tamil Nadu’s minimum wage of Rs 537. Hessa, who worked there for four years, says he was paid Rs 350 daily and was not given weekly leave. “If we took a day off, our wages were deducted,” he says.

He suspects that agents pocket a portion of workers’ earnings. “Either they take Rs 100 per day from the company out of our wages, or they receive a lump sum for supplying labour—this is why we are paid less,” he adds.

Bhuvneshwar Kevat, state president of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (Jharkhand unit), argues that exploitation of migrant workers is a long-standing and systemic issue.

Kevat Says, “There is no proper monitoring of migrant labour. Agents operate a large network, supplying workers to companies at the lowest cost. These same networks are also involved in trafficking women. The government must track where workers are going, what work they are doing, their living conditions, and whether they are being paid fairly.”

Kevat emphasizes that registration is the first step. Estimates suggest around 4.5 million workers from Jharkhand are employed outside the state, most in the unorganized sector. However, according to the state labour department, only about 1.9 million are officially counted—and just 250,000 are registered.

Notably, Jharkhand still lacks an official, comprehensive database of migrant workers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when workers began contacting the labour department to return home, over one million requests were received. This revealed the scale of migration, suggesting that the actual number of migrant workers is far higher.

In response, the government introduced toll-free helplines for migrant workers both within India and abroad, enabling them to seek assistance when stranded.

At the height of the pandemic, Chief Minister Hemant Soren had promised to create employment opportunities within the state so that workers would not be forced to migrate. However, as conditions normalized, many workers once again left in search of jobs.

Bhuvneshwar Kevat argues that even after five years, the state has failed to deliver on that promise.

Kevat says, “The government lacks a clear vision and programming to retain migrant workers in Jharkhand. It had enough time after COVID to act, but little has been done.”

Migration from Jharkhand follows different regional patterns. According to the labour department, workers from East and West Singhbhum typically migrate to southern states for textile and plantation work. Those from the Santhal region often work in border road projects in places like Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu Kashmir. Workers from South Chotanagpur districts—Gumla, Simdega, Lohardaga, Khunti—tend to take up domestic work or work in brick kilns in Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, migrants from Giridih, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, and Bokaro often go to Gulf countries for power transmission work, and those from Palamu and Garhwa work in construction.

Trade unions view these migration patterns as evidence of a deeply entrenched network of agents and brokers who systematically channel workers into exploitative labour markets.