Why Raju Rai lives 1980 km from home
February 17, 2016 11:20
A story of migration.
Raju Rai was 17 when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, forcing him to leave his village in Jharkhand's overwhelmingly rural Jamtara district in search of a livelihood. He's 22 now and earns Rs 10,000 a month, painting buildings in Bangalore, about 1,980 km to the southwest.
"As a gift, God gave us poverty,' said the lean, unsmiling young man, whose chief ambition is to save enough money, find his sister a "good man' and get her married with dhoom-dham (in style)."
Rai's story is common among many of the 307 million Indians who report themselves to be migrants by place of birth, according this 2001 census report (the 2011 data are not final). Read more
Raju Rai was 17 when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, forcing him to leave his village in Jharkhand's overwhelmingly rural Jamtara district in search of a livelihood. He's 22 now and earns Rs 10,000 a month, painting buildings in Bangalore, about 1,980 km to the southwest.
"As a gift, God gave us poverty,' said the lean, unsmiling young man, whose chief ambition is to save enough money, find his sister a "good man' and get her married with dhoom-dham (in style)."
Rai's story is common among many of the 307 million Indians who report themselves to be migrants by place of birth, according this 2001 census report (the 2011 data are not final). Read more
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