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New Indian Express
01-05-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
CM Majhi disburses Rs 1,025 crore under CM Kisan Yojana to 51 lakh farmers ahead of kharif season
BHUBANESWAR: Ahead of the kharif season, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi disbursed the second dose of financial assistance of Rs 1,025 crore under the CM Kisan Yojana to around 51 lakh farmers on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya here on Wednesday. Majhi had distributed the first dose assistance of Rs 2,000 to each farmer beneficiary at Sambalpur last year on the occasion of Nuakhai. Nearly 51 lakh farmers across the state received the assistance via direct benefit transfer (DBT), enabling them to prepare for the upcoming kharif operation which starts from Akshaya Tritiya. As many as 25,532 farmers of urban areas received the financial aid for the first time. Of the total Rs 1,025 crore disbursed under CM Kisan Yojana on the day, it will benefit 49,482 landless and 2,382 tribal farmers. The chief minister and deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo also participated in the 'Akhi Muthi Anukula', a traditional ritual in which farmers symbolically sow the first seeds after ploughing their fields on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, at OUAT farm in Baramunda in the city. Addressing a state-level function Krushak Divas, the chief minister also thanked the farmers of the state from converting Odisha from a food-deficit to food-surplus state. Sharing his experience as a farmer, Majhi said agriculture is a very tough job. He advised farmers to adopt cultivation of crops suitable to the climate conditions of their regions. Highlighting measures taken by his government to improve the income of the farmers, the chief minister said the input assistance of Rs 800 per quintal of paddy over the minimum support price has been a great help to them. 'We have set an ambitious target of creating additional irrigation potential for 15 lakh hectare in the next five years for which the government will spend Rs 1 lakh crore,' he added. Majhi also released the book, 'Krushak Sangita', a collection of poems written by Swabhabakabi Gangadhar Meher in 1921. Some of the descendants of the poet were also present on this occasion. OUAT vice-chancellor Prof Pravat Kumar Roul, principal secretary, Agriculture, Arabinda Padhee and Agriculture director Shubham Saxena also spoke on the occasion. As per the CM Kisan Yojana, each eligible farmer is entitled to Rs 4,000 annually, disbursed in two phases- Rs 2,000 on Nuakhai and another Rs 2,000 on Akshaya Tritiya. This apart, landless farmers will also receive Rs 12,500 each year in three instalments under the scheme.
The Hindu
26-04-2025
- General
- The Hindu
The high price of migrating
The April sun blazes down on the narrow lanes of Sulekela village in western Odisha's Balangir district. The village is quiet. Many houses stand locked from the outside, a silent testimony to the exodus — nearly 30% of the 500 households have migrated to work in brick kilns in other States. Entire families leave home for six months each year to work outside Odisha. Laxmipriya Mallick, a 40-year-old resident, did not follow them this year. The memory of her last journey still haunts her. With three acres of agricultural land failing to provide a sustained livelihood in Sulekela, Laxmipriya, her husband Kanhu, and two minor daughters — one visually impaired — had migrated to Shadnagar, Telangana, to work in a brick kiln in January last year. Within a few days, her husband, a tractor driver, fell sick after he was forced into excessive physical labour, she says. As his health deteriorated, the kiln operator 'allowed' the couple to go home, but with a condition: they had to return the ₹80,000 wage advance taken before migration. The couple failed to pay it back, so the kiln operator held back their 12-year-old daughter as 'mortgage', a tactic often employed to realize outstanding money. Migration is typically advance-based. Workers take loans before Nuakhai, an important agrarian festival in western Odisha, to repay debts and support families. In return, they endure six months of hard labour for meagre food, returning home with little to no savings. Laxmipriya scrambled to raise the money to free her daughter. Even as she fought that battle, her husband's life slipped away. Upon her father's death, the child was released out of mercy. 'My life turned upside down after my husband's death,' says Laxmipriya, who now depends on irregular daily-wage work in her area that often pays far less than the government-mandated rate of ₹450 a day. This is the lived reality of many in drought-prone western Odisha, where the return of migrant workers in coffins followed by stories of torture and neglect are tragically routine. The issue of migrant labourers' deaths outside the State echoed through the recently concluded Budget Session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, with several members demanding the government's response on measures to ensure their safety. According to data tabled in the house, 146 migrant labourers have died under various circumstances since 2024. In 2023 and 2024 the number of deaths stood at 207. Over the past decade, at least 413 migrant labourers have lost their lives at their workplaces. Activists working on labour migration warn that the actual toll could be much higher as many deaths go unreported. But the mourning is often brief. The same families soon prepare for another cycle of migration, which comes with the risk of lower wages and even more hazardous working conditions, when women migrate with just their children. Overworked and underpaid Balangir is part of Odisha's impoverished, drought-prone KBK (undivided Koraput-Balangir-Kalahandi) region. Arid highland soil and declining rains have worsened conditions, making agriculture unsustainable for many. 'The paddy we harvest from 3 acres is meagre. The land is unsuitable for cultivation,' says Laxmipriya. Although Kalahandi has seen a rise in paddy production, skewed land ownership limits the benefits for the poorest. With few means to cope with climate shocks and heavy social obligations like weddings, people are often forced into distress migration. This is not migration for better prospects, but purely for survival. Many migrate to southern Indian brick kilns in overcrowded trains for a livelihood. Though the government's subsidised national food security scheme takes care of food needs, there are few avenues to meet expenditure for other requirements. In 2024, as many as 70,142 workers were officially registered through 1,037 labour contractors under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, according to State Labour Minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia. However, the actual number may be higher, as the majority migrates without registration. Despite distress migration being a decades-old phenomenon, the government lacks reliable data on how many people leave to work in harsh conditions. When COVID-19 hit, unregistered workers were compelled to return through a special registration process. In 2020, the State officially recorded 10,07,330 returnees — of them, Balangir alone accounted for 1,08,469. Attempts have been made to document migration at the panchayat level, but these efforts have largely failed to produce reliable data, say non-profit organisations. 'After her release, my daughter has been admitted to a residential school run by the ST and SC Development Department. There was a public outcry over our ordeal,' says Laxmipriya. Her older daughter has just appeared for her matriculation examination, while her son is still in school. 'I often wonder how we ended up in such a crisis,' says Laxmipriya, who is uncertain about how she can manage in the future. In Sulekela, Laxmipriya's agony was preceded by a tragedy four years ago, when Snehaseela Dalai collapsed, allegedly under the weight of relentless labour at a brick kiln near Hyderabad. Today, her home stands locked. Her husband, Pakhiraj Dalai, remarried and left for the same distant kiln, taking his second wife and the children from his first marriage with him. 'I couldn't go to work that whole year after Snehaseela passed away,' Dalai says, over a phone call from Hyderabad. 'She didn't survive the back-breaking toil. Yet, what choice do we have?' The 40-decimal patch of land (0.4 acres) he inherited is not enough to feed a family. 'I know the risks — the heat, the pain, the long hours of labour,' admits Dalai. Now, his 17-year-old daughter has also begun to work at the kiln. His two sons, just 15 and 14, roam the sprawling kiln grounds. They will inevitably join their father and sister. Returning in a shroud This January, Balangir witnessed a heart-wrenching homecoming. The bodies of two young friends in their early 20s arrived in a single ambulance from Tamil Nadu. Umesh Pandey and Kuna Banchhor were found dead under mysterious circumstances near Perambur Railway Station in Chennai, Tamil Nadu by the Government Railway Police in the second week of January. In Balangir, their huts were separated only by a narrow nullah. Before leaving, they had told their families they were heading to a new place for work. Their sudden deaths raised suspicions back home, but the families, with limited resources and little institutional support, have struggled to get justice. Deaths aren't limited to the brick kiln sector. This year, at least 14 migrant workers from Odisha have died in Kerala, most of them employed in the plywood industry. 'In a small place like Daringbadi in Odisha's Kandhamal district, eight migrant labourers have died since 2024. All of them had migrated to Kerala,' says Kailash Dandpat, an activist who tracks the deaths of migrant workers. He adds that in Kandhamal district alone, over 30 such deaths have occurred in the past two years. Earlier this month, two men — 32 and 25 — from Kandhamal died in separate incidents in Kerala and Tamil Nadu after coming into contact with high-voltage electrical structures. Many of the bodies never make it back to Odisha, as labour contractors often refuse to pay for transportation. This forces families to cremate their loved ones' bodies at the worksite. Dandpat recounts a harrowing case from 2023: 'A young man from Kudrajala village in Kandhamal died on his way back from Kerala due to deteriorating health. He passed away mid-journey on a train. His wife, who was accompanying him, couldn't even cry out. She feared that if fellow passengers found out, she would be deboarded.' After seeking help from the administration to get a hearse to the village, Dandpat later learned that the man's elder brother — who had also returned home after working in Kerala — passed away just a few days later. A majority of migrant workers leave for distant job sites without medical check-ups to assess if they are physically fit for the demanding labour ahead. Most workers travel through unregistered labour agents who do not facilitate precautions. Umi Daniel, head of the migration unit at the not-for-profit Aide et Action and a prominent voice on migration issues, says, 'Deaths in brick kilns are often the result of negligence. These kilns are located far from populated areas, and when a worker falls ill, an ad hoc medical practitioner usually tries to suppress the symptoms. They rarely receive timely medical care. By the time their condition worsens, it's often too late.' The paucity of proactive measures Daniel says, 'Casualties are increasingly being reported among migrant workers, especially in Kerala, because their skills often don't match the demands of the jobs they take up. For instance, the plywood sector in Kerala provides ample employment opportunities. Yet, hardly any labourer among them has received formal skill training. Accidents in such cases are inevitable.' A similar mismatch between skills and job roles is contributing to fatalities among migrant youths from Sundargarh district. Although the region is hilly and has little tradition of fishing in large water bodies, many unemployed men migrate to Goa to work in the fishing industry — some driven by desperation, a few simply to afford fancy mobile phones. 'In the past five years, six young men from our village have died while working in deep-sea fishing in Goa,' says Arun Sahoo, a resident of Sundargarh's Lulkidihi village, where he says over 20% of the youth have migrated to Goa. 'Similar deaths have also been reported from neighbouring blocks of Sundargarh district.' Whether it is the death of a migrant worker or the rescue of bonded labourers, administrations act only after the crisis, say activists. They bring back the dead body or hastily put survivors on a train home when stories appear in the media and public outrage follows. Official responses do not offer long-term solutions, the activists add. 'This reactive approach, while appearing responsive, routinely overlooks Standard Operating Procedures and the deeper needs of the families left behind. Without sustained support, many remain vulnerable to yet another round of distress migration or fall prey to re-bondage,' says Dillip Das, a Kalahandi-based activist. The job crisis Deaths alone do not capture the trauma migrants face. Over the past decade, hundreds of labourers have been rescued from brick kilns where they were held in violation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. While the law entitles each rescued worker to compensation ranging from ₹1 to ₹3 lakh, more than 100 people continue to await their dues a decade after rescue, as per State data. Despite being rescued, some labourers return to the same exploitative conditions, driven by the lack of viable employment opportunities back home. To address distress migration, the Odisha government has turned to the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, which guarantees 100 days of work and payment. From 2022, the Odisha government had announced 300 days of work per year for job seekers in the 20 migration-prone blocks of Balangir, Kalahandi, Nuapada, and Bargarh. Workers are paid additional wages over and above the notified wage rate under MGNREGA to match the notified minimum wage rate for unskilled workers in the State per person per day. Balangir district had the most number of villages, at 136, who benefitted in Odisha. This was followed by 133 in Kalahandi, 131 in Nuapada, and 77 in Bargarh. 'There were hardly any takers of MGNREGA as labourers are not paid on time. Jobs are not generated during non-monsoon season when people need it the most,' observes Daniel. Addressing distress migration was a key electoral promise of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which came to power in the State last year. The government constituted a high-level committee led by Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo to tackle the issue. Since then, a couple of meetings have been held, but no concrete action has materialised. Deo represents the Patnagarh constituency, one of the State's migration hotspots. The committee recommended a comprehensive mapping of migrant and potential migrant households, the launch of a mobile application for self-registration of migrant workers to build a reliable database, and a convergence-based action plan to implement all development schemes together. The aim was to enhance livelihood opportunities and improve rural infrastructure. However, these proposals have seen little traction on the ground. In Tumia village, about 40 km from Sulekela in Balangir district, Jharana Kumbharia, 22, stares at an uncertain future, cradling her children, 3 and 1. Her husband, Suraj, died in December 2024 after an insect bite, while working at a brick kiln in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvallur district. The family, which includes six others, had migrated for work. They allege Suraj was not given timely medical attention after he first complained of the bite. Though he was eventually operated upon at a hospital in Chennai, it was too late to save him. Kumbharia is currently making bamboo crafts, but fears that a weekly income of ₹2,000 for six adults is too little to sustain them. satyasundar.b@ Edited by Sunalini Mathew
