A cowbell rang out. But it wasn’t any of these that had woken Terna up; it was a different reason, it was the fear that always raced across the minds of young women at night here in these shanties like a jagged flash of lightning. Even with your eyes closed, you could tell if someone was staring at you.” 

In The Sickle (Juggernaut Books), Bengali writer Anita Agnihotri speaks directly about the plight of migrant workers in Maharashtra. The book, originally published in Bengali as Kasté, and later translated in English by Arunava Sinha, takes a deep dive into the lives of farmers, migrant labourers and activists in Marathwada and western Maharashtra who are grappling with a range of crises—infanticide, sexual assault, casteism, feudal labour relations, farmers’ suicides and climate change.