Umi Daniel
Bala Santa, aged 42 year,
father Sanya Santa a kondh belongs to
village Padeikund of Asana Gram Panchayat of Kundra Block of Koraput
district. Santa is a vulnerable poor and has been enrolled as a
Antodaya beneficiary and belongs to PVTG( Particularly Vulnerable Tribal
Group). Due to poverty and indebtedness, Bala Santa and his minor son Muna
Santa were trapped by a local labour contractor named Banamali from Jaba padar
village in Kundra who took the father
and son to Palakkad in Kerala with a promise of paying an amount of Rs. 8000 as monthly wage. Both Father and son
along with some labourers left for Pallakad, Kerala during June 2016.
After a month of working
in the farm in Palakkad, Kerala, Bala Santa was very upset about his wage which
was less than that was promised by the middle man. He told his son to go back
home with whatever money they had then. But the son said, -they are here to
work for 6 months and only after that they will be allowed to leave.
However, Bala Santa was restless
and said he will be returning home alone. Then one evening with Rs. 250 in his pocket, Bala Santa left for the local railway station
to board the train to his village -Kundra. He asked some people about the train
that goes to Jeypore and finally boarded a train which took him to Jaipur city
in Rajasthan. After working for 6 months in the farm land, Muna finally left
for Kundra with a meager earning of Rs. 17000 and found that his father had
not returned home and had gone somewhere
else instead. The family was utterly
distressed on not being able to find any information regarding the whereabouts of
Bala Santa. He was now a missing person and no one knew where he was.
After six
months of his departure from Kerala, on 19th of February 2017,
Narayan Saravor Police in Kutch in Gujrat contacted the Kundra Police in
Koraput informing that a man named Bala
Santa claiming to be from Asana Gram
Panchayat of Kundra has been caught by BSF on the India-Pakistan internal
border in Kutch and has been handed over
to the police. The police found no criminal antecedence in the case, and
repeatedly for 15 days followed up with the Kundra Police IIC to help to take
the person back. The local media has also reported the case as well. After
getting the news, the family members and the villagers have given a written
application to the Sub-collector of Jeypore, Tehsildar, Superintendent of
Police but as per the victims’ family, no one came for the rescue of the Bala
Santa. Moreover, the collector even didn’t allowed the family to have an
audience to listen to their grievances says Manu Santa and son of the victim.
Since no one helped the in
the case, the victims family approached PRAGATI, the NGO in Koraput who in turn
informed the Migration information & Resource centre (MIRC) Aide et Action,
Bhubaneswar to help in locate and repatriation of the victim from Gujrat. MiRC,
with the help of Setu-Urban and NGO based at Bhuj in Gujrat established contacted
the Gujrat police and came to know that the victim has been sent to the
judicial custody and lodged in Palara Jail in Kutch district. One of the staff
of MiRC, Aide et Action and the son of Bala Santa traveled to Gujrat. After
reaching Bhuj, to their surprise found Bala Santa being admitted in a mental
hospital in Bhuj due to some abnormal behavior found when he was produced
before the SDJM, Dayapar in Kutch district.
Bala Santa was looked terrified, weak and unable to speak anything.
However, he could recognize his son and inconsolably cried and requested to
take him away and prayed for his repatriate to his village- said Daya Sagar.
The rescue team worked hard and with the help of the Gujrat police moved the
bail application and finally been able to release the poor Bala Santa in a very
awful situation from the mental hospital.
Now he is back in his villages and recounting and recuperating from the
trauma and ordeal which he has encountered since last 6 months.
MGNREGA
fail to arrest distress migration:
Why the poor tribal and
disadvantage people are today resorting to migration in the hilly region of
Koraput. In the case of Bala Santa, as per government statistics, he is an
Antodaya beneficiary and privileged to be enrolled on priority to access most
of the the government antipoverty
programme. Only the wife of Bala is remained at home and his elder son and his daughter in-law have also
migrated to Andhra Pradesh to work in a brick kiln. His family never accessed
employment under flagship National rural employment act, MGNREGA. The scheme
doesn’t run well in his own Kundra block. As per the government data for 2016-17, In
Kundra block a total of 17,483 Households have got MGNREGA job cards, however, only 4015 (22%) provided work and oddly only 63
households have provided with 100 days of employment. On the other hand, the MGNREGA performance in
Koraput district is also quite miserable. As per the 2016-17 government data
indicate, out of the total 2,92,549 households who were provided job cards
under MGNREGA, 93,519 (31%) people
accessed MGNREGA and as low as 884 ( 0.94%) households have
received 100 days of employment. This tells the sorry state of MGNREGA in the
district, and due to non availability of rural employment, the tribal and
disadvantaged people find migration as a survival strategy.
Poor
implementation of inter-state migrant workers Act of 1979:
As per the government information,
in the year 2011, while 91371 registered as inter-state migrant, it has reached
135000 in 2014 in Odisha as a whole. During 2011, 215 people registered as
interstate migrant workers in Koraput district and it went up to 295 during
2014 and 13 labour contractors were officially given license under inter-state
migrant workers Act of 1979. The registration of workers and issuance of
license to the labour contractor is hugely under reported. Since, the district
borders with two states namely, Andhra Pradesh on the south and Chhattisgarh in
the north and since the poverty and rural unemployment is significantly higher
in Koraput district, tribal in these districts are being recruited as migrant
labourers and move to various southern and northern districts as manual wage
workers.
Bala Santa’s case is an insight
for the government to take enough precaution to arrest distress migration in
the district. The illiterate, poor and ill informed tribal are being pushed
into distress and migrating for just survival. Rural employment followed by
social security, food, livelihood, pension and economic security can very well
tackle the vulnerability of people to resort distress migration and
suffering.
thanks for info.
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