Juta Majhi was just a few kilometres away from the Kantabanji railway station in Odisha when the Balangir district police intercepted him last week.
Mr. Majhi, 38, a resident of Badibahal under the Khaprakhol police station in the district, and his family members were planning to board a train to Karnataka and travel without tickets in search of work.
Mr. Majhi was among the 500 workers who were prevented by the Balangir police over the past 10 days from migrating to other States in “inhuman conditions”. As the migration season picks up pace, thousands of workers are being transported by labour agents from districts such as Balangir, Kalahandi, Bargarh and Nuapada in the State.
The Odisha government’s promise of 300 days of assured work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has failed to prevent the exodus of workers from 20 migration-prone blocks.
“I had to spend ₹5 lakh on my elder daughter’s marriage and I borrowed ₹1.5 lakh from labour agents. I have no option but to work in brick kilns in other States to pay back the loan,” Mr. Majhi said.
According to Balangir Superintendent of Police Kusalkar Nitin Dagudu, hundreds of families are ready to leave the State. “We are not preventing them from migrating. We want them to travel in a dignified manner after getting registered with the labour department,” he said.
The Balangir police have set up temporary checkpoints to stop distress migration, but labour agents manage to give the police the slip and send labourers to other States.
Significant decision
In July, the State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that 200 days of work a year would be provided in addition to the 100 days of assured work under the MGNREGA in 20 migration-prone blocks in four western districts — Balangir, Kalahandi, Nuapada and Bargarh. The government was confident that the step would check distress migration.
However, given the vicious cycle of poverty in these districts and anomalies in the implementation of the MGNREGA, the move did not prove to be appealing enough for the workers to stay back.
Kalahandi and Balangir districts have been traditionally drought-prone. The gradual decrease in average rainy days in the region does not make agriculture a sustainable source of livelihood.
Skilled in brick-making, the unorganised workforce of western Odisha is an automatic choice for brick-kiln operators in southern States. The wage offered to these labourers, however, is one of the lowest in the country.
The migration taking place in this part of country differs from the others. It is basically advance-based migration, wherein people take wages in advance ahead of Nuakhai, an important festival of western Odisha, which falls in August and September. The workers use the money to repay old debts and provide supplies for six months to the family members staying behind.
The workers then migrate and toil in brick kilns and receive only a paltry weekly sum to pay their food bill. When the labourers return home, they hardly have any additional wages in their pockets.
“Migrant labourers miss opportunities to participate in the government’s welfare programmes and appear to be always on the run. In a year, a migrant worker is employed for six months in brick kilns, comes back home and funds family events by taking loans for three months, and again prepares for migration,” said Umi Daniel, an expert on migration and head of the migration unit of Aide et Action, an NGO.
“Expecting mothers, children and infants find themselves at the receiving end of a diet that is pathetically low in nutritive quality and quantity. Most of the children suffer from malnutrition and vitamin deficiency, which sometimes leads to loss of life,” Mr. Daniel said.
‘No dearth of work’
Experts are unanimous in their opinion that MGNREGA has the potential to stop distress migration. They, however, raise doubts over the government’s ability to accelerate rural jobs by doing away with the bottlenecks.
“There is no dearth of work in the State. We are confident of providing work to every holder of an employment card. In fact, there are instances of people completing 300 days of work in these 20 migration blocks,” said Arindam Dakua, director of special projects in the Department of Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water.
Of 67,263 families, who completed 100 days, 13,205 families availed of 200 days and 517 did 300 days of work in 2021-22. According to the centralized information maintained by Ministry of Rural Development, Odisha has 48.6 lakh households actively participating in the rural job scheme and there are 78.41 lakh workers engaged in it.
In the current financial year, average days of employment provided to each household is 39.39 days compared with 56.91 days in 2021-22 and 55.51 days in 2020-21. In the pre-COVID years, 2019-20 and 2018-19, the average days of works per household were 47.9 and 38.64 days, respectively.
Out of 34.76 lakh households, 4,58,070 families have completed 100 days of employment in 2021-22. Similarly, 11.13% households were provided 100 days of work in 2020-21. In pre-COVID years, 2019-20 and 2018-19, the percentage of families completing 100 days of work was 6.91 % and 2.19%, respectively.
The MGNREGA can be a game changer for people migrating to other States if the scheme provides regular jobs at the time they face distress, according to experts. The targeted months for providing jobs should be July to December, which is considered a lean period for employment. The delay in payment of wages also has to be addressed.
Published - October 27, 2022 12:21 am IST
