27/12/2025
National Consultation and Art Exhibition on Seasonal Migrant Workers from Bihar
A two-day national consultation focused on seasonal migrant laborers from Bihar was held in Patna on 11th and 12th December 2025. At the same time, an art exhibition focusing on migrant workers was organized and held as well. at the Bihar Lalit Kala Academy's art gallery followed by the display of the exhibition in the Patna Book Fair.
On the first day of the consultation, a national-level consultation was organized at the AN Sinha Institute. Representatives from Bihar as well as Gujarat, Kerala, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Delhi participated in this consultation. The representatives included researchers from the academic field, representatives of labor organizations, voluntary institutions working in various districts of Bihar, and government representatives. The program was organized by the Center for Labour Research and Action in collaboration with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. The event began with a welcome to the delegates by CLRA's Sudhir Katiyar and RLS's Rajiv Kumar.
The program began with a presentation by Prof Pushpendra Kumar, former director of TISS Centre Patna on migration data from the state. Using caste-based data, he reported that 6.3 million people migrated from Bihar for livelihood. Of these, only 25 percent migrate within the state, 71 percent migrate to other states, and more than 3 percent migrate abroad. Professors Ram Babu Bhagat and Aviral Sharma, who have worked on migration in Bihar, also gave presentations. The session was moderated by Dr. Ravi Kumar of South Asian University.
The next session presented efforts made by the government and voluntary organizations to protect the rights of migrant workers. Dr. Ganesh Jha, Assistant Labor Commissioner, Labor Resources Department, detailed the schemes being run by the Labor Resources Department of the Bihar government for migrant workers. Shatrughan Das of Action Aid described the conditions of brick kiln workers in Gaya district and the case of his organization's rescue of bonded laborers. In this session, representatives from Rajasthan and Kerala shared information about the work done by their unions with migrant workers from Bihar. The session was moderated by trade union activist Ajay Kumar.
In the third session Organizations working on child labor and human trafficking presented their work. In this session, members of the State Child Rights Protection Commission, Dr. Hulesh Manjhi and Mr. Rakesh Kumar presented the work of the Commission. Advocate Sanju Singh of Nyay Network and Rohit Singh from Aditi organization gave information about the work of their organizations. The UNICEF consultant Dr. Aman Kumar gave information about the situation in the entire state. The session was moderated by Pramod Sharma of Center Direct.
The fourth session discussed the next steps. This session was moderated by Professor Himanshu of Jawaharlal Nehru University. In this session, Professor Vidyarthi Vikas, Dr Ravi Kumar , Professor Pushpendra Kumar, and Sudhir Katiyar from the CLRA participated . PDAG representative Saurav Adhikari provided information about the Jharkhand Migration Survey. A manifesto for migrant workers from Bihar was approved by the House.
On the next day of the program, December 12, a session was held at the auditorium of Bharatiya Nritya Kala Mandir on the impact of the new labor codes on migrant workers. Ashok Khandelwal, an expert on labor laws from Delhi, analyzed the labor codes, discussing which provisions are likely to benefit migrant workers and which provisions have been reduced. Other panelists in this session included Arun Mishra trade union activist, Ghazanfar Nawab trade union activist, and Legislative Council member Shashi Yadav. The session was conducted by Mr. Anil Kumar Roy.
An art exhibition focused on migrant workers at the Lalit Kala Akademi's Art Gallery was inaugurated online by Britta Petersen, the South Asia resident representative of Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. She mentioned that after seeing the Diaspora Gallery at Bihar Museum, she was inspired to organize an art exhibition on this subject. The concept of the art exhibition was developed by Mrityunjay Chatterjee and Dr Srijata Roy from the Delhi-based revueart. Along with other paintings, the exhibition features paintings on migrant workers created by students of the College of Arts and Crafts, Patna University. On December 15, the art exhibition was also displayed at the Art Gallery of the Patna Book Fair in Gandhi Maidan.
In the afternoon, a discussion was organized on the impact of migration on culture. It was moderated by young theater artist Jayprakash. The discussion was attended by Vinay Kumar, Director of Bapu Tower, Ashok Kr Sinha, Additional Director of Bihar Museum, and theater artist Anish Ankur. Finally the programme concluded with performances of Bidesia songs based on migration by the Naad group.
