CAN WE ACHIEVE ZERO DISTRESS MIGRATION? MORE QUESTIONS AND LESS ANSWERS

CAN WE ACHIEVE ZERO DISTRESS MIGRATION? MORE QUESTIONS AND LESS ANSWERS

I am very much moved by watching the plight of the Migrant Labourers and also reading about them. Over last two decades, the number of migrant labourers have increased many fold which is undoubtedly a reflection of successes and failures of our Development Planning and Implementation. I have tried to understand the migration issues from the perspective of my own areas and communities. One day, I woke up to a rude shock when one of our old Night School Teachers of 80s Sunamal Majhi of Durkhal Village died in AP as a DADAN labour and luckily his dead body was brought back to Kashipur for cremation. Sometime back , I got a Message from Maharastra that 4 Juveniles were in jail after a juvenile court sentenced them for murder. But the sympathetic judge after hearing their story wanted them to send back to Odisha and perhaps wanted them to set them free after doing some social work. Their crime was the murder of contractor who was employing them was extracting too much of hard work and was not giving them enough food. These tribal boys were not able to withstand the pangs of hunger and stress of overwork. One night they attacked the contractor and killed him. We contacted the Collector and The District Labour Officer along with their parents living in remote villages. A rescue party went all the way and brought them back. They were released after doing some Social Work recommended by the Juvenile Court at Berhampur! There are many such sad stories one will hear in each village – many are missing or are bonded or are incommunicado. Every year, there are newspaper stories how Odia bonded labourers from Tamilnadu were rescued. I am shocked that the number of migrant labourers from our areas is increasing every year though in 1980s, very few had crossed the boundaries of their Panchayats! Is this outmigration an indication of development as youths are going and returning with Mobile Phones, Blue Jeans, cinema style haircut and some cash? It is a debatable issue for sure. Why aren't they seeking sustainable livelihood in their own villages using their own Skills and Resources?

I have tried to track some of the migrant labourers and how they are taken to distant places for varied items of work – Brick kilns, Construction Work, Hotels, Factories and even Agriculture. It is very difficult to know the entire path of migration – how one known agent takes them to Balugaon and from there to a station in South India, from station to another small town and from small town to the work site. At every stage a different person is the escort who does not share the Mobile Number or any address. It is an organised trade and from enticement to coercion are involved. I am aware that many academic studies have been done across the state but hardly there has been any attempt to break the nexus. What the authorities have done is to register them to minimise the exploitation. Some NGOs have tried for Rescue and Rehabilitation. Some are doing work on children of migrant labourers and their education. Some NGOs are trying to establish Trade Unions of the Migrant Labourers. It is alleged that there is silent promotion of Migration by people at many level including senior Government Officials who argue that since State is not able to provide adequate employment and descent wage, what harm is there if the wage earners migrate for better job and wage? All over the world it was understood that Globalisation would lead to mass migration and now De-globalisation is also ensuring the same. The poor are exploited whatever may be the Global Economic Processes.

For many years, I am in search of solutions and alternative approaches after reading a well-known book for Development Practitioners – OUT OF POVERTY AND INTO SOMETHING MORE COMFORTABLE by John Stakehouse where the Author has documented some of the best practices in the entire Third World. This is a book that will influence many policy makers and planners. I am in search of villages which have said no to Distress Migration. I want to hear real-life stories from the NGOs, Government Officials, Media persons if they have come across locations where there is no migration whatsoever. The other day, a modest Agriculture Extension Worker was sharing his unique way of reducing migration successfully in Nuapada District of Odisha in the villages he is associated with. His approach was simple. He encouraged to have Bore-wells through Government Schemes and the small and farmers who used to go for seasonal migration were encouraged to take vegetable production. It seems the household income on average is more than 2 lakhs per year. Then why would these farmers migrate to distant land? It is now a matter of research to know why at one place things have succeeded and how it would be replicated. Imagine, here in this case no NGO/CSO of Nuapada District is involved!