Poverty and migration have always been interrelated in Orissa. The poverty profile shows that income poverty is higher in Orissa than in the rest of India. Although poverty has been falling over time, all data sources indicate that the gap in incomes and between Orissa and the rest of India has widened over the last twenty years. Whereas in 1980 per capita income in Orissa was 27% lower than in the rest of India, in 1997 it was 70% lower. The proportion of people below the poverty line is estimated at 47.13% compared with 26.1% in the whole of India. And there are wide disparities between coastal and southern regions. It is because of high concentration of Scheduled Tribe population in the southern region. Scheduled Tribe population in coastal area is 7.2% as against 39.7% in the southern region. So, poverty ratio in coastal region is 64.0% as against 85.5% in the southern region. If we see the overall trend, we find that 80% of the rural families are leading a painful life in the state. And we lost many investment opportunities due to non-availability of basic infrastructure in our state. It is a dead state for outsiders and it is the real worry for investors to start something new in Orissa. State’s economy has incurred huge losses to the extent of Rs 13,230 crore due to natural calamities from 1998-2003. More than 90% of the state plan outlay is being financed from borrowings.

The Issue

Seasonal migration has become an important livelihood strategy for many Oriyas. Lakhs of people migrate to the other states for working as wage labourers. The Adivasis, Harijans and backward class villagers are always struggling for their basic need (i.e. food). After the harvest, the villagers who are engaged in paddy field become jobless. Hardly they will get any opportunities in their villages to maintain their daily expenditure. How many days, they will sit idle? Some of them get an opportunity to work in brick-kilns within the home state. What about the millions of farmers after the harvest season? They need work; they want money to fulfill their minimum requirements. Without second thought, they have to leave their villages and their homes in search of ‘work for food’ and start their journey to the neighbour states for working in construction, in weaving, in hotels or as rickshaw- and cart pullers. This is not a new story, it is being repeated every year since 1965. This trend was started by the Harijans, who could not get any work once the harvest was over.

The problem with this migration episode is the middleman, the labour contractor, who is better known as sardar. The role of sardar is to herd the labourers and organized into small groups and send them to the different destination. If you study the matter in a neutralized manner, this is a mutual need for the employers and labourers. The rich industrialists, brick-kilns owners or the road contractors savour the cheap and skilled labour and at the same time the poor farmers get a source of income round the year. Sometimes the sardar helped the poor labourers by offering a loan, at a vulnerable time, for anything from Rs. 5,000 to 20, 000. That will paid back by the labour when the migration season comes. The migration cycle begins like this.

When we are talking about the law for migration issue, the only law, the Interstate Migrant Workman Act, 1979, formulated with particular attention to western Orissa, applies only to people who cross state boundaries. Movements within the state do not fall within its purview. Its emphasis is on regulation of movement, not on welfare and security. And it is almost impossible to apply the law in favour of individuals: there is yet no state machinery to follow up on names and addresses, even if a worker is able to report them.