Why Are Bihar’s Migrants Leaving Home To Work Low-paying Jobs In Kashmir 

“There are no jobs in Bihar,” says Mohammad Fakhurdin. He comes from a family of 41 people—none of them work in Bihar. Lack of job opportunities in the state has forced one of his brothers to work as a tailor in Bengaluru, while the other does menial labour in Hyderabad. Fakhurdin himself runs a small snack stall in Kashmir. Earning a meagre Rs 700- 800 each day, Fakhurdin still feels he is doing better than several of his other relatives in poll-bound Bihar, where their daily earnings are only half that of his.

“None of the governments has done anything; political leaders become visible only at the time of elections,” complains Fakhurdin when asked about the Bihar job market. 

“If Bihar had jobs, why would I be in Kashmir?”

Several people from Bihar who work in Kashmir, doing odd jobs, say that successive governments have done nothing to ensure employment for the local people. 

“If there had been any jobs in Bihar, then why would I have been in Kashmir?” says Fakhurdin, who lives with his wife in the central Kashmir area of Chadura, in a single room that costs him around Rs 1,000 in rent.

The problem of unemployment has been substantial in Bihar, forcing people to migrate in search of employment. The political parties, including both the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition bloc of Mahagathbandhan, have pledged measures to reduce unemployment in the state. In its election manifesto released ahead of the polls, the NDA vowed to provide employment to one crore youth, announcing that the Mega Skill Centres in every district would be upgraded into Global Skilling Centres to create job avenues.  The ruling alliance has further pledged to invest over Rs 50 lakh crore in the state for setting up industries.

On the contrary, the opposition bloc of Mahagathbandhan in its manifesto for the 2025 assembly elections, titled Tejaswhi Pran (Tejashwi's Vow), has promised to provide one government job to each family and a monthly allowance of Rs 2,500 for women.

The Congress has, however, accused the BJP-JDU alliance of establishing only the "migration industry" in the state during its twenty years of rule.

"In its 20 years of rule, the BJP-JDU has established only the migration industry in Bihar, a state brimming with limitless industrial potential. Bihar has been virtually erased from the national map of development and industry,” said Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X.

However, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which is conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), has noted that the unemployment rate (UR) on usual status for persons aged 15 years and above in Bihar has decreased from seven per cent in 2017-18 to three per cent in 2023-24. The persons reporting unemployment in the usual status are those who are chronically unemployed. In 2022-23, Bihar's annual unemployment rate was 3.9 per cent, higher than the national average of 3.2 per cent, while the Female Labour Force Participation Rate was lower than the national average.

Fakhurdin says that Bihar lacks factories to employ the uneducated youth, while there are few government jobs available for the educated ones. 

“ I have never been to school and couldn’t find a job in Bihar, due to which I have migrated to Kashmir. I have been working here for several years, and my wife and my son have also moved here to live with me,” he adds. “Politicians have done nothing for people; they have been concerned only about living luxurious lives.”

As per the census of 2011, 7,06,557 people migrated out of Bihar for jobs, but the study of the Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS) has noted that more than half of the households in Bihar “are exposed to migration to more developed places within or outside the country.”

Md Rehmat Mansuri, 21, says that from his village of Hasanpur, which has 600 households, almost every male member has migrated for jobs. 

“You will find Biharis everywhere in Kashmir. That is because there are no jobs in the state. You won’t find people from Gujarat moving out of their state for jobs elsewhere,” he says.

Mohmmad Asgar Ali says that he has been in Kashmir for over thirty-five years, running the stall where he sells roasted peas and peanuts. “There are very few jobs available in Bihar. The government jobs are nearly nonexistent,” he says.

Unemployment as a Failure of Governance in Bihar

Yogendar Shah, another Bihar resident, says that while the track record of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been better than that of RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, whose son Tejashwi Yadav is now a CM candidate from the opposition-led Mahagathbandhan alliance, his record on job creation was also poor. “ Successive governments have failed to create any avenues of employment. Lalu Yadav gave only corruption and lawlessness to Bihar.  On the contrary, Nitish Kumar's track record was better. He motivated students to pursue education, rewarding them with cycles and even providing books.”

“In Lalu’s time, it was a situation of Jungle Raj, and the law-and-order scenario was worse in the state. Even among the educated lot of the Muslim-Yadav bloc, there are supporters for Nitish Kumar.”