Lack of Employment-Induced Migration in Odisha: BJD Hesitant to Recognize as Significant Problem

Paromita Das 

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 17th May. Distressed migrants continue to be the most destitute and unacknowledged of all the movement patterns. Due to caste, poverty, and systemic injustices, these migrants comprise the lowest socioeconomic classes in society. The impoverished area of the former districts of Koraput, Balangir and Kalahandi in Odisha is one of the primary sources of migrant misery. They go to cities in search of work and higher pay, but because of social, linguistic, and economic hurdles, they face even greater disadvantages there. Their suffering has only been exacerbated by political and administrative indifference to their problems.

“Dadan Khati,” the colloquial Odia word for impoverished laborers leaving the state in search of employment and a living, will be a significant factor in this election. This is a topic that PM Modi has brought up in all of his state speeches.

Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, is running for reelection to a sixth term as state assemblyman. Having held the position since March 2000, he beat Sikkim’s former Chief Minister Pawan Chamling in August to become the nation’s longest-serving Chief Minister if re-elected.
Interestingly, Naveen Patnaik, the President of the BJD, is contesting from two assembly seats. Having won the Ganjam district five times in a row, he is running from his traditional Hinjili seat. He is also a candidate from the Bolangir district of Western Odisha’s Kantabanji assembly constituency. But the BJD Supremo may have serious concerns about anti-incumbency, especially given the severe problem of disturbed migration in and around his assembly constituency.

He has also run for two seats in the 2019 assembly elections and won both. However, he left his position as the MLA for the Hinjili seat after serving as the assembly member for Bijepur, which is located in the Bargarh district in western Odisha. All 30 of the state’s districts have experienced widespread disturbed migration, although it is particularly noticeable in the Western Belt in places like Koraput, Balangir, Nuapada, Ganjam, and Kalahandi, among others.

What is the reality of the region?

An analysis of Hinjili, the assembly seat of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, revealed that the absence of manufacturers and industries in the area is thought to account for about half of the region’s youth population. There were almost 22 lakh eligible voters in this legislature, based on data from 2019. Nearly 50% of the population, according to locals and experts on the subject, has been forced to relocate, both inside and beyond the state. Locations with greater job prospects are especially sought after, including major towns in Kerala, Mumbai in Maharashtra, and Surat in Gujarat.

In 2000, Naveen Patnaik, at 54 years old, entered politics and emerged victorious from this constituency. He has served as the State’s Chief Minister while serving this constituency for 24 years. The problem of troubled migration is far from resolved; in fact, it has worsened, making it a more serious crisis for the area. Nearly half of the homes in Saru village, which is only six kilometers from Hinjili, have locks on their gates, according to a media ground media report. This suggests that the population has moved in search of employment. Even if a young person is encountered in this area, they frequently disclose that they have come home for a short vacation of ten to fifteen days.

About 75% of the people in Ramchandrapur, another village, have departed to pursue better work possibilities. All of the communities’ residents are now leaving to look for work outside. Many of the locals, however, were afraid to go on record for fear of being singled out for voicing their complaints.

Although Naveen Patnaik has been the Chief Minister and an MLA from Hinjili for more than 25 years, he has not constructed even a safety pin plant, according to Shishir Mishra, the BJP candidate. Even while Hinjili provides veggies to the entire state, he continued, it lacks a sufficient infrastructure for agriculture.

In Kantabanji, Patnaik’s second seat in the current assembly elections, similar scenes of vacant homes and absentee voters employed in distant states are also evident. Many peasants from rural Bangomunda, Muribahal, and other villages labor in Telangana’s brick manufacturing factories and other places. Many households have one or more family members who work out of state. On May 20, the majority of these voters probably won’t cast ballots.

Sadly, scores of migrant workers from the Kantabanji Assembly seat of Bolangir, where CM Naveen Patnaik is contesting the election, are most likely to miss the opportunity to cast their votes as they are stuck outside the state.#Odisha #OdishaElections2024 pic.twitter.com/uuZAEdho4O

— OTV (@otvnews) May 15, 2024

 

 

Migration statistics for labor in this region

The region has been deeply troubled by the lack of employment-induced migration, but the BJD has been hesitant to recognize this as a significant problem.

The Odisha government provided data on interstate labor movement in November of last year. Sarada Prasad Nayak, the Minister of Labour, stated in a written statement that 40,088 workers from the State have left the State in pursuit of jobs through the network of 626 authorized labor contractors.

The contractors from other states have reportedly been transporting migrant workers from several Odisha regions on a regular basis, according to a January report. Furthermore, mediators hired by different businesses show up in the Kandhamal neighborhood and entice jobless people with offers of employment. Some of the migrant workers, who asked to remain anonymous, stated that they would rather work outside because their home countries offer fewer opportunities for employment.

Satyaban Patra, a Congress leader and Raikia Zilla Parishad Member, claimed that although distress migration is still occurring in the district, the Labour Department and the administration are doing nothing about it.

What State Officials say?  

Nonetheless, the officials assert that the State Government is persistently working to ensure the livelihood of the most vulnerable members of society through the Field Departments and field employees.

The officials reported that the Odisha government has launched a number of programs, including helping migrant Odia workers in destination states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, and Delhi, and offering care and education to the families of the workers who are migrating.

The district administration has come up with a fresh plan to address Kalahandi’s migration problems. On the walls of the homes provided under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) 2019–20, it has begun to advertise. Paintings of laborers walking outside in quest of a living have been shown alongside the misery of migrants in Odia.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is one of the government’s programs that guarantees 200 days of work per year in rural areas, although it doesn’t provide employment for those living there. That is the main cause of migration.

Villages in Odisha are changing significantly as a result of forced migration

Increasing labor migration from Odisha has, according to an IDR research, significantly altered the economic, social, and cultural landscape of several areas. They conducted four empirical investigations between 2019 and 2021, covering one block each in the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, and Kalahandi, to better understand the profile of migration from southern Odisha.

According to the report, more than one member of between 18 and 31% of households had left Odisha in search of work elsewhere. Less than 20% of this group migrated seasonally for shorter than six months, meaning that most migrants stayed at their employment locations for longer periods of time than six months.

The scarcity of work prospects resulting in forced migration leads to psychological anguish and makes it difficult for the elderly parents and women who stay behind to get top-notch medical care. Among other difficulties, it hinders migratory workers from routinely taking care of their families, spending time with them, and traveling for holidays or crises.

“Dadan Khati” has additional repercussions, some of which are illegal, in addition to the social and economic problems. The stories from rural, underdeveloped areas where families are looking for a missing son, missing husband, or missing father who went somewhere to work for a contractor and never came back are all over the Odia newspapers each and every day.

The naive, uninformed victims of forced migration have nowhere to turn when it comes to reports of rape, severe exploitation, non-payment of fees, and even murder. The local government occasionally tries to stop contractors’ agents in Hyderabad or Chennai from removing scores of people from interior villages; on occasion, they are successful. However, as the people have no other way to make a living, they finally wind up in Telangana and Tamil Nadu’s brick-making factories.

The KBK region’s extremely underdeveloped areas continue to be a key source of undocumented migration. The state’s years of initiative in alleviating hardship have shown little results. The only practical option for employment in the area is migration because it is yet underdeveloped. Seasonal migrants can only use migration as a practical coping mechanism once the migration route is established as a safe and legal one. Poor implementation is the main flaw in any endeavor meant to alleviate distress. Every initiative has stalled due to corruption, administrative indifference, and scheme misappropriation.

Instead of working on the major issue of the state, the BJD Chief is quite concerned about not only defeating the BJP’s comeback in the state but also overcoming more than two decades of anti-incumbency, especially as the problem of forced migrants becomes more prominent in Western Odisha, the CM Naveen Patnaik’s stronghold.