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Migration: Between the devil and the deep sea
By: D.N.SinghProgramme: Special Correspondent Telecast: Saturday, 9:30 pm Repeat Telecast: Thursday, 4:30 pm
By: D.N.Singh
Programme: Special Correspondent
Telecast: Saturday, 9:30 pm
Repeat Telecast: Thursday, 4:30 pm
When development induces displacement, under- development could unleash disorder of the social balance. And what has been happening in a few districts of Western Orissa for almost last three decades mirrors the testimony of such agonies . Be it poverty, backwardness or apathy, people’s tryst with hunger had given birth to the painful recourse called Migration, which by now has become a tragic phenomenon that leaves the masses to choose between the deep sea and the devil.
Alien land, sub-human living conditions and exploiting employers , it is all too evident to those who go there. Yet they are under the gnawing compulsion despite the tragic hazards like mental and physical torture, financial hoodwinking and worst of all, the sexual exploitation of the young women migrants; a stigma that often chases them out of the social fabric or to simply digest the intimate physical calamity.
Our quest for the cause led us to a nondescript village called Nagphena, in the Belpada block of Bolangir district. The long and dusty stretch of the village lane flanked by rows of tile-topped houses rarely reflect the streaks of any such touching tales. After a prolonged scouting we could spot the scars of four families, those who had been detained by a hostile employer in Andhra Pradesh for over three years. And the worst sufferers among the lot were four young girls in their teens, having gone under the tormenting phase of sexual abuse for three years.
Gauri’s (not real name) face had a pained _expression of stupor and she seemed to be battling against her primary instincts to live normal. Padma’s (not real name) sad countenance was almost a circle of rest-lessness, disturbed by the unbearable state of internal calamity. The rest two girls chose to be out of the sight. But the stories could not remain untold. Suba Bariah, one of the four family heads, searched for words while recounting the ordeals one after the other . Language failed him when asked about the four girls and only a rueful _expression got writ on his face , eyes moist. There was no need of further query. In last September when the media smelt the rat then did the administration got off its usual stupor and rescued the families with the help of a NGO.
The incident of Nagphena village is in fact a mere pointer at the magnitude of exploitations the migrant labourers from this part go through. And the most vulnerable are the young women those who go out as Majoori (means accompany a migrant family as a substitute of another family). It is the pressing circumstance and their social compulsions those zip their lips, there and back home too. During last ten years, about 400 girls, in the shape of ‘Majoori’ have gone out and to recount their sad tales would be more pathetic.
Every year almost two to three lakh people from this part of the state migrate to Andhra, Madhya Pradesh and to parts of Maharastra, but a majority work in the brick kilns in Andhra Pradesh. Soon after the harvest, these people are rendered literally idle for six months and migration for livlihood becomes inevitable. Although the process of migration is regulated by the Inter-State Workmen Migration Act. 1979, but in essence the rules those protect the rights of the migrants are thrown to the backburner by the labor ‘dalals’ ( contractors), obviously in connivance with the local authorities. Their agonies can disturb anybody in a civil society, yet they have compulsions which the white-collared rulers refuse to realize. To start with, they are herded in two compartments of a train from Kantabanji, 75 kms from Bolangir, like cattle, in most sub-human conditions, man , woman and children. The scene can disturb anyone as pensive screams of children add to the suffocation inside. Records show instances of deaths due to dehydration and fatigue during the travel and what accounts to be more shocking are the cases of abandonment of the bodies by the relatives to avoid legal complications.
Many fall victim to whims of the employers, passing through physical and mental torture, but silence is often the best defence against the threats from the employers and an indifferent state government. The list is endless as one starts counting the instances , be is sexual abuse of girls, or physical disability due to accidents at the work sites or deaths due to illness. There are innumerable cases of non-payment of wages by the employers, a ploy adopted by them to ensure their return next year. After all they have to pay back the loans taken from the Dalals and hence they go again.
While talking about the problems of the migrants, it would be a fatal omission not to take note of the ones left behind in the villages. They are mostly the old, infirm and children at times, who bank on the promises of the migrating relatives to send money. What happens when the promises misfire.They simply suffer , starve and die. Solitude and penury make the selection of their fates and burn the dimming piles of nostalgia that life had accumulated. It is always an unbearable spectacle to see them struggling for life in the desolate villages at the twilight of their lives.
These areas were not like this always, although economic disparity had remained to be the nagging problem somehow. But the enigma of departure started when Bolangir area became the victim of an worst ever famine-like situation in 1965. Water sources dried up and lands developed cracks, cattle died and people’s cry for food was audible all across the state.
Programme: Special Correspondent
Telecast: Saturday, 9:30 pm
Repeat Telecast: Thursday, 4:30 pm
When development induces displacement, under- development could unleash disorder of the social balance. And what has been happening in a few districts of Western Orissa for almost last three decades mirrors the testimony of such agonies . Be it poverty, backwardness or apathy, people’s tryst with hunger had given birth to the painful recourse called Migration, which by now has become a tragic phenomenon that leaves the masses to choose between the deep sea and the devil.
Alien land, sub-human living conditions and exploiting employers , it is all too evident to those who go there. Yet they are under the gnawing compulsion despite the tragic hazards like mental and physical torture, financial hoodwinking and worst of all, the sexual exploitation of the young women migrants; a stigma that often chases them out of the social fabric or to simply digest the intimate physical calamity.
Our quest for the cause led us to a nondescript village called Nagphena, in the Belpada block of Bolangir district. The long and dusty stretch of the village lane flanked by rows of tile-topped houses rarely reflect the streaks of any such touching tales. After a prolonged scouting we could spot the scars of four families, those who had been detained by a hostile employer in Andhra Pradesh for over three years. And the worst sufferers among the lot were four young girls in their teens, having gone under the tormenting phase of sexual abuse for three years.
Gauri’s (not real name) face had a pained _expression of stupor and she seemed to be battling against her primary instincts to live normal. Padma’s (not real name) sad countenance was almost a circle of rest-lessness, disturbed by the unbearable state of internal calamity. The rest two girls chose to be out of the sight. But the stories could not remain untold. Suba Bariah, one of the four family heads, searched for words while recounting the ordeals one after the other . Language failed him when asked about the four girls and only a rueful _expression got writ on his face , eyes moist. There was no need of further query. In last September when the media smelt the rat then did the administration got off its usual stupor and rescued the families with the help of a NGO.
The incident of Nagphena village is in fact a mere pointer at the magnitude of exploitations the migrant labourers from this part go through. And the most vulnerable are the young women those who go out as Majoori (means accompany a migrant family as a substitute of another family). It is the pressing circumstance and their social compulsions those zip their lips, there and back home too. During last ten years, about 400 girls, in the shape of ‘Majoori’ have gone out and to recount their sad tales would be more pathetic.
Every year almost two to three lakh people from this part of the state migrate to Andhra, Madhya Pradesh and to parts of Maharastra, but a majority work in the brick kilns in Andhra Pradesh. Soon after the harvest, these people are rendered literally idle for six months and migration for livlihood becomes inevitable. Although the process of migration is regulated by the Inter-State Workmen Migration Act. 1979, but in essence the rules those protect the rights of the migrants are thrown to the backburner by the labor ‘dalals’ ( contractors), obviously in connivance with the local authorities. Their agonies can disturb anybody in a civil society, yet they have compulsions which the white-collared rulers refuse to realize. To start with, they are herded in two compartments of a train from Kantabanji, 75 kms from Bolangir, like cattle, in most sub-human conditions, man , woman and children. The scene can disturb anyone as pensive screams of children add to the suffocation inside. Records show instances of deaths due to dehydration and fatigue during the travel and what accounts to be more shocking are the cases of abandonment of the bodies by the relatives to avoid legal complications.
Many fall victim to whims of the employers, passing through physical and mental torture, but silence is often the best defence against the threats from the employers and an indifferent state government. The list is endless as one starts counting the instances , be is sexual abuse of girls, or physical disability due to accidents at the work sites or deaths due to illness. There are innumerable cases of non-payment of wages by the employers, a ploy adopted by them to ensure their return next year. After all they have to pay back the loans taken from the Dalals and hence they go again.
While talking about the problems of the migrants, it would be a fatal omission not to take note of the ones left behind in the villages. They are mostly the old, infirm and children at times, who bank on the promises of the migrating relatives to send money. What happens when the promises misfire.They simply suffer , starve and die. Solitude and penury make the selection of their fates and burn the dimming piles of nostalgia that life had accumulated. It is always an unbearable spectacle to see them struggling for life in the desolate villages at the twilight of their lives.
These areas were not like this always, although economic disparity had remained to be the nagging problem somehow. But the enigma of departure started when Bolangir area became the victim of an worst ever famine-like situation in 1965. Water sources dried up and lands developed cracks, cattle died and people’s cry for food was audible all across the state.