Fresh engineering graduates from rural Nashik cash in on IT job demand

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Accusing the state of not valuing their work, especially during the pandemic, the striking staff are demanding better wages and working conditions, and a merger with the state government.Nashik: For Class
11 girls Rutuja, Rasika, Swamini and Samiksha from Gulwanch - a village in rural Nashik,&nbsp;the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation
(MSRTC) buses are a lifeline to
education and a future. <o:p></o:p>They travel 30 km each day to GMD College located in Sinnar Taluka by bus to prepare for the National Cadet Course. It’s
always been a safe and reliable option. “Often we stay late for training so we
travel by bus even around 7-8 pm and we have never experienced any insecurity. Rape
incidents occur in government buses in cities even under 24-hour CCTV
surveillance. But we never hear of such incidents or complaints about MSRTC
buses, even though we live in a remote area and travel late at night." <o:p></o:p>But for the two months,
MSRTC workers have been on strike and there has been no bus service. “There is
no safe option for us to travel now,” they said. <o:p></o:p>Started as Bombay State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC)
in 1948 and later renamed MSRTC in 1960, today the corporation has about 18,449
buses and employs one lakh people in the state. Around 87 lakh passengers are dependent on
this passenger transport system every day.Insufficient compensationWith the Covid pandemic beginning to spread in early 2020, a
lockdown was imposed, stranding workers from several states in Maharashtra. Soon,
the state government began rescue efforts and MSRTC employees were at the heart of these efforts. The MSRTC had successfully sent back 1,31,000 sugar cutting labourers stranded in sugar factories to their hometowns. It had also sent around 73 MSRTC buses to bring back 1,780 students from Kota, Rajasthan.Meanwhile, Mumbai’s local train system was closed, creating a strain on
Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s BEST buses. To ease the burden, the Maharashtra
government ordered MSRTC staff to provide services in Mumbai. However, around
250 employees died due to Covid while on duty. Only six of them received
compensation.&nbsp;Dissatisfied MSRTC workers launched an agitation and vowed to persevere till their demands were met. Issues such as low wages,
no guarantee of safety, and lack of basic amenities while working had steadily
created resentment towards MSRTC among the workers.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p>101Reporters visited Sinnar Bus Depot to cover a protest where
conductors and drivers expressed concern about the future of their jobs at
MSRTC.<div class="embed-container" align="center"><img src="https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/inpic/2021/12/101RPT1061652/4.jpg" id="1072341" title="" style="width: 100%;"></div>Protest underway at Sinnar bus depot (above) in Nashik district (Picture credit - Vaibhav Sanap)<div class="embed-container" align="center" style="line-height: 1;"><img src="https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/inpic/2021/12/101RPT1061652/3.jpg" id="1072342" title="" style="width: 100%;"></div> <o:p></o:p>A fight for
self-respect<o:p></o:p>Sharad Narawade is a bus conductor by profession and is the President of the MSRTC Workers Union at Sinnar Depot. He insinuated, "Our
pay rise is very low compared to inflation. The government has repeatedly
ignored the demands of our employees. Due to the rising inflation and low
salaries, 38 employees have committed suicide so far due to debt. The families
of the six have been paid and the families of the rest are still deprived of
this compensation. This is the fight for our self-respect and we will not back
off by mere pay raise. We want a complete merger of MSRTC into the state government.
Once we are merged we will never have to agitate. We will be
treated like government employees and our pay will increase
automatically."<o:p></o:p>He further added “It is dangerous to drive any of these vehicles. The
MSRTC employees who run the Corporation are not provided with facilities like
Mediclaim. Worse, the employees are also deprived of basic facilities like
water, food and toilets when they are doing their duties.” <o:p></o:p>Navnath Darade (56) has been working as a driver for the
last 33 years. He will retire in the next two to four years. Speaking about his
long service experience of 33 years, Darade adds, "Our bus accident rate
is much lower than other passenger transport services. In my 33 years of
service, I have not had a single accident but the government has never heeded
our demands and it failed to recognize our efficiency and contribution to the corporation and service to the state. Today I am two to four years away from retirement and my salary is
around Rs 38,000. When the bus leaves the village in the morning, we have to go
to the toilet after coming to the city, which raises many health-related
issues. Although MSRTC is one of the most successful corporations of the
Maharashtra government, it is against our rights that Maharashtra government is
not merging our corporation with them."<div class="embed-container" align="center"><img src="https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/inpic/2021/12/101RPT1061652/2.jpg" id="1072343" title="" style="width: 100%;"></div>Navnath Darade (56) has been working as a driver in the MSRTC for the last 33 years (Picture credit - Vaibhav Sanap)After a month-long agitation, the government has begun
taking steps to end it. Transport Minister Anil Parab has taken some concrete
steps regarding pay. The basic pay of new employees has been increased by
an average of Rs 5,000. The basic pay of employees who have served for ten
years has been increased by an average of Rs 4,000. This will further increase
their basic pay by Rs 5,760 along with other allowances. The basic pay of
employees who have completed 20 years of service has been increased by an
average of Rs 2,500. As a result, their salary has been increased by Rs 3,600
along with other allowances. The basic pay of employees who have served for 30
years or more has been increased by an average of Rs 2,500. Therefore, they
will get an increase of Rs 3,600 along with other allowances.The government of Maharashtra have taken several steps to persuade the striking employees with higher pay and threatening them with suspension, dismissal and imposing stringent laws like the Essential Service Act (MESMA) but the state has failed to deter them as&nbsp;MSRTC employees have taken a firm stance that the agitation will not be withdrawn until the merger is undertaken.<o:p></o:p>

Public transport in rural Maharashtra sorely missed; MRSTC strike continues into seventh week

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Even as schools across Maharashtra
have reopened after extended lockdowns, students from tribal communities struggle
to cope with the digitalisation of education and find it more challenging to
return to the classroom.&nbsp;Nashik: Before the lockdown, sixty tribal students studied
at the Zilla Parishad Primary School, Nimgaon Sinnar, Nashik.&nbsp;The school has classes from the first to the seventh grade, with these sixty children divided among the seven classes.&nbsp;However, when schools in Maharashtra reopened on October 5 this year after being closed for more than 18
months, none of these students returned.&nbsp; Online schooling out of
reach<o:p></o:p>When the pandemic started
in 2020, most educational institutions were forced to close down and adapt to
the online platform. The digital transformation of education on a hitherto
unprecedented scale has proven to be a severe setback for students from economically
weaker sections of society. Physical schools were already an uphill battle for
many of these children considering the lack of family support and financial
assistance. Online schooling has only widened this chasm and made education
even more inaccessible for these students in the post-pandemic era. Digital education makes
mobile phones, computers/laptops and a reliable internet connection necessary
tools of accessibility. Even though it seemed an insurmountable task for the
tribal community to afford mobile phones and dependable network connections, some still managed to source these to continue their children's education.
Another challenge tribal students faced was the need for guidance from an
educated and experienced adult to help them with online classes, which
in most cases, was absent.<o:p></o:p> Vijay Bodhle, a teacher at
the primary school, told 101Reporters, "Even before the lockdown,
some tribal students did not come to school regularly, but some of my
colleagues and I kept trying to bring them back to school. Usually, we found
them at home or in temples, but now it is difficult to find them; many are
between the ages of six to fifteen and work in the fields as agricultural labourers.
The students we do find either run away or hide from us and have no intention
of returning to school." The lockdown and the
subsequent digitisation of learning have had many far-reaching consequences
that have jeopardised the academic future of children from low-income groups. A
visit to the tribal areas revealed a grim situation. <div class="embed-container" align="center"><img src="https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/inpic/2021/12/101RPT1052120/2.jpg" id="1067601" title="" style="width: 100%;"></div>A few girls go for a swim in their school uniforms (Picture credit - Vaibhav Sanap) Education of the girl child suffers setback&nbsp;Girls were already at an unfair disadvantage due to the unaffordability of school for most tribal families compounded by the belief that education was superfluous to girls and, therefore, unnecessary. COVID-19, the successive lockdowns and the digital divide have stacked the odds against girl children and pushed education out of their reach.<o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p>Diya* was a student in grade 3 of her school. However, she has not returned to class since the school reopened. When initially questioned as to why she had not gone back, she replied, "We didn't know that school had started." Diya's mother, Lakshmi Gangurde, told&nbsp;101Reporters, "Diya was not feeling well, so she did not go to school. Also, now that the soybean season has started, our income is steady. Once the harvesting is over, we will send her to school again." Though, only time would tell if she kept her promise.&nbsp;Addictions and gambling
lure out-of-school studentsBefore the COVID-19
pandemic, students remained in school from 10 am to 5 pm under
the supervision of teachers. However, a prolonged lockdown period meant that
the students were left unsupervised and unrestricted, resulting in children as
young as eight and ten becoming addicted to alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and
other drugs.<o:p></o:p> Boredom had also set in,
and the lack of entertainment facilities in tribal areas caused students&nbsp;(both boys and girls)&nbsp;to&nbsp;engage in gambling as a way of wiling away time. Soon it had escalated into
serious gambling bouts with older people for money. Many students now work as labourers to fund their alcohol and gambling
habits, while the adults enjoy an unwarranted advantage in hoodwinking
vulnerable children of their money. <div class="embed-container" align="center"><img src="https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/inpic/2021/12/101RPT1052120/3.jpg" id="1067602" title="" style="width: 100%;"></div>Young girls pass time by playing cards with adults in the community (Picture credit - Vaibhav Sanap)&nbsp;Students tied down as
bonded labourThe lockdown had also
forced many tribal families to migrate, looking for better economic prospects.
However, several families have been working on a contract basis with wealthy
farmers all year round, making it difficult for them to migrate before
completing the contract. Some of the students themselves are working for these
farmers as bonded labourers for very little money. Ashish* is one of
them. Had he continued school throughout the lockdown, he would be in the 8th
grade today. However, Ashish chose to work as a shepherd and a labourer
throughout the year to supplement his family's meagre income. He dropped out of
school in exchange for two meals a day, a small place to stay in the barn and
Rs 15,000 at the end of the year.<o:p></o:p> Samadhan Kalse, Head of
School Management Committee, believes that farmers are also responsible for the
situation. "Farm labour needs are fulfilled through tribal students who
work harder than older men. So farmers force them to work instead of
encouraging them to go to school. If we were to visit tribal areas after 6 pm,
many farmers would noticeably be scouring the locality, making arrangements for
the next day's labour, knowing that addicted youth are looking for money to
spend on liquor in the evenings. Many farmers pay half the wage first to confirm
the labourers' service for the next day and promise to pay the remaining amount
after the work is done. However, they do not do as they say and instead pay
them whenever they require labour again. It becomes impossible for these
students to get out of this vicious cycle."&nbsp;<o:p></o:p> 

































































Diya and Ashish represent a long list of students who have been deprived of an opportunity
to continue their educational journey due to a digital divide that blocks their
access to learning resources and renders them helpless. Without any substantial
government assistance and a lack of strong familial support, these children are
in danger of falling through the cracks, making them silent casualties of the COVID-19
pandemic.