In recent years, the Department of labour reported about the upturn in number of distress migrant workers in the State as mostly the rural landless poor have been drifting in distress and going outside in search of employment to support their family.
These migrant workers include children, minor, youths, women and adults of most vulnerable sections of rural Odisha who are being forced to accept the most difficult conditions to earn a living without any safety and security of their lives.
The correct number of migrant workers projected by the Government has been doubtful in the absence of proper registration process at the panchayat level. The brick kilns of Hyderabad and construction sites of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra and New Delhi still are the most attractive destinations of migrant workers of underdeveloped States such as Odisha and mostly from the backward areas because of lopsided economic development in the country.
The backward States and regions remain unattended in Central plans to minimise the huge imbalance existing in rural and urban areas. It is projected that the number of migrant workers of Odisha to outside the State has almost crossed two lakhs annually.
The Government has identified eleven districts as most migration prone though currently migration happens from almost all districts. In spite of official restriction, the labour Department has issued licence to about 3,000 labour contractors without setting up mechanism of proper monitoring and supervision.
The officials always privately are complaining about the shortage of staff to meet the increasing challenges of enforcement of protective labour laws and various welfare schemes. In case of migrant workers, it is difficult for the officials to counter trafficking and conduct rescue operations without the full involvement of police.
The routinely announcement of welfare schemes has become the easiest way of intervention by the Government without any fundamental socio-economic change at the grass root level. The‘ Shramik Sarathi’ Scheme has set up about 200 seasonal hostels to retain about 10,000 children in Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi and Bargarh districts and corporate NGOs such as Tata Trust has been engaged by the Government to address the livelihood issues of migrant workers.
These kinds of interventions are temporary rescue operation model which do not serve the purpose in long term. The efforts of the Government and NGOs have not changed much so far as the vulnerability of distressed migrant workers is concerned.
There has been a lack of planned intervention by the State Government to generate employment and income opportunities locally.
It has been proved that the continued dependent State charity and fragmentary approach of the Government has not been contributing to bring any radical structural transformation in the sources of livelihood of rural poor by ensuring ownership over means of production and gaining sustainable productive assets.
A number of surveys and news reports found that a major chunk of these workers is primarily Dalits, Adivasies and backward class people who are deprived of productive assets like land, finance capital, education and skill.
The socio and economic status of these communities and class of people has not changed in the desired direction because of age old untouchability practices and caste system restricting their access to any gainful respectable employment.
Baring very insignificant few, almost all the major rural households are still dependent on the traditional agricultural sector and traditional occupations but unfortunately agriculture sector in the State is not getting reformed to meet the growing challenges of employment. The two most important actors of agriculture sector, agricultural workers and sharecroppers, are the most vulnerable section in the production process because of apathetic policy.
The Government declared inadequate minimum wage and insufficient social security schemes for unorganised sector workers. The sharecroppers have no protection or access to all kinds of benefits to agriculture sector in forms of interest free loan, input subsidy, compensation, insurance, minimum support price and a host of other benefits, mostly enjoyed by the land owning farmers and non-farmers.
The commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks and cooperatives are almost disconnected from the rural poor in allocation of their minimum credit needs for productive activities in agriculture or setting up small business and service units.
Even the amount of small saving mobilised from these poor section and subsidy from the Government is not used for the benefits of the poor section in the village. In spite of presence of banks, money lending by private money lenders keeps continuing without any restriction.
Even the Government supported women Self-Help Groups(SHGs) are doing money lending with higher rate of interest.
Predominantly, the landless agricultural workers and sharecroppers are migrating in distress due to low paid wage, seasonal nature of employment in agriculture and lack of access to land based benefits of agriculture sector.
The distress seasonal migration can be very well arrested if agricultural workers and sharecroppers will be distributed land for cultivation and given legal status of farmers. It will improve the agriculture production and generate income and employment for people still interested in agricultural activities.
Odisha is a buyer State. Even for the daily consumption food and non-food items, it largely depends on the neighbouring States.
Experience shows that the land ownership of real farmers along with other ancillary facilities have good impact over production and economic growth which will generate employment, income and enhance quality of life of rural people engaged in agriculture. The Government of Telengana has adopted land distribution scheme for landless Dalit families for their development. Added to land, the host of other
Central schemes for ensuring basic amenities such as housing, electricity, toilet, lPG connection, etc., for rural poor households can be given to migrant workers, agricultural workers and sharecroppers, on a priority basis.
The Government’s 100-days employment and income generating schemes such as NREGS have proved as ineffective in serving the purpose in ground level due to lack of political will. But employment generating schemes can be creatively used to meet the seasonal occupation by implementing the workdays in agriculture sector.
(manasbbsr15@gmail.com)
