Over eight years, Rajiful Hoque went from being a naka worker – one among tens of thousands who wait every morning to be picked up by labou...
Over eight years, Rajiful Hoque went from being a naka worker – one among tens of thousands who wait every morning to be picked up by labour contractors from India’s traffic junctions or nakas – to taking small contracts for civil works.
At 28, the West Bengal native has been working for 14 years, including six years in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Thrift ruled Hoque’s life in Mumbai and, over time, his 11-member family was able to secure some manner of self-reliance.
Now back home in Uttar Dinajpur district’s Chit Madhepur village since June, he has taken small loans, totalling more than Rs 25,000, mostly for food and bare essentials, to keep his family afloat.
There is no work on most days. On a rare lucky day, he gets work loosening jute fibre from its stalk, standing bent over for hours, knee deep in a river, for Rs 300. Three times since June, flood waters ravaged his village, once inundating a part of his home and finally destroying his meagre paddy crop.
“In the village, there is shame in openly discussing financial difficulties,” Hoque said over the phone. “Only I know what we are going through right now.”
Hoque, two of his three younger brothers, and nearly 45 other men from Chit Madhepur...
