Workers and agricultural change

Agriculture in Indian Punjab has long depended in part on workers who move from other regions. A 2011 study in Punjab’s Central Zone sampled 105 migrant workers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Nepal. Its sample documents particular experiences rather than the entire migrant population. Changes in cropping, labour demand and transport help explain why people move, but no single reason applies to every worker or family. Migration can be seasonal or longer term, and employment outside farming also matters. A place of origin alone does not establish a person’s occupation, legal status or reason for moving.[1]

Seasonal work in the fields

A study of agrarian labour relations during the COVID-19 period distinguishes seasonal, annual and settled migrants in Kanchiyan village, Sri Muktsar Sahib district. It describes groups arriving for paddy transplantation and for work after the wheat harvest. Its 2020 survey covered 154 households; the authors say annual and seasonal migrants who had returned to Bihar could not be surveyed. This limits what the study can say directly about those workers’ experiences. The timing follows the agricultural calendar, but the village-level evidence should not be assumed to represent all of Punjab. Workers’ arrangements can differ in wages, duration, accommodation and access to services.[2]

Studying migrant lives

Research published in Social Change examines social, cultural and economic changes experienced by migrant agricultural labourers in Punjab. Such work broadens the history beyond the movement of labour as an economic input: workers also form families and communities and may maintain ties across several places. Surveys and interviews capture experiences at particular times, while census data and employment records can help explore longer-term trends. Each source has limits, including who was counted and whether the study covered seasonal workers. Research on migration should make those limits clear instead of treating all migrants as a single group.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Baljinder Kaur, J. M. Singh, B. R. Garg, Jasdev Singh and Satwinder Singh. Causes and Impact of Labour Migration: A Case Study of Punjab Agriculture ↗Agricultural economics research article · Source date: 2011-11 · Locator: Abstract and study details: 2011 Central Zone sample of 105; Agricultural Economics Research Review 24, conference issue, pp. 459–466. Accessed 2026-11-04.The indexed repository abstract and metadata were checked. The full article was not independently retrieved in this pass; its sample is not a representative count of all migrants. The abstract’s stigmatising interpretations are not adopted as established facts.Return to Workers and agricultural change, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Navpreet Kaur and Amanpreet Kaur. Capitalist agriculture, COVID-19 and agrarian labour relations in Punjab, India ↗agrarian research article · Source date: 2021-06-04 · Locator: Section 2, The Survey: Kanchiyan sample; labour migration discussion and footnote 17. Accessed 2026-11-04.Indexed full article text checked. Direct PMC access was challenged; underlying survey responses were not independently examined. Footnote 17 states that seasonal and annual migrants who had returned to Bihar were not surveyed.Return to Seasonal work in the fields, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Anil Verma, Gian Singh and Balwinder Singh. An Analysis of Socio-Cultural and Economic Changes in Migrant Agricultural Labourers in Punjab ↗Research article, abstract inspected · Source date: 2010-11-29 · Locator: Social Change 40(3), pp. 275–301; public abstract and publisher metadata. Accessed 2026-11-04.Publisher’s abstract and bibliographic record checked. The article body is restricted and was not inspected; its broad interpretation is not treated as a finding about every worker.Return to Studying migrant lives, paragraph 1 ↑
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