P. Sainath The programme is "life-saving.' This time round, the poor have slightly more money than they did earlier. But all prices are up. Still on the margins: NREG work has seen migration levels fall sharply in Kondapur. Just three years ago, there were 40 to 45 bus services a week to Mumbai from Mahbubnagar district. This year the number is down to 28. Kondapur is deserted. It usually is, in the month of May. This village in Mahbubnagar district of Telangana falls in the belt known for some of the highest levels of migration in south India each year. This time, though, the people of Kondapur are not too far off. They're repairing a nearby tank. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is helping to keep people at work in their own villages. There has been a steep fall in distress migration from Kondapur. "There are over 200 of us at this site alone,' says D. Ramulamma, one of the workers here. "Last year, all of us were out of the district. Most were outside the State.' It's a small but significant statistic. There are now 28 bus services a week leaving this district in Telangana for Mumbai. Three to five years ago, that number was 42 to 45 a week. That's a sharp fall in the number of bus trips carting migrants from Mahbubnagar to Mumbai. In many of those years, you'd have found most of Kondapur on the buses. And other villages, too. This correspondent did, in 2003, boarding one of them that year. ("The bus to Mumbai,' The Hindu Sunday Magazine, June 1, 2003.) The bus to Mumbai was their route to survival. A hope of work and income in the off-agriculture seasons. This is one of the most backward districts of Andhra Pradesh. With a population of over 35 lakh, seasonal migrations of up to five lakh were considered