Kendrapara: Absence of employment opportunities, lack of farm work and low agricultural income have combined to trigger distress migration in this district, a report said.
The main economic activity of Kendrapara district is agriculture. There are no mines or industries to help the residents earn their livelihood. However, due to lack of farm productivity coupled with low agricultural income, youths in the district migrate to other states in search of greener pastures. As a result, the lands are lying uncultivated.
The problem of unemployment can be gauged from the fact that over 57,000 technically qualified youths and graduates have registered their names in the district employment exchange but they are yet to get any employment opportunities.
The claim is not unfounded after several youths were recently seen boarding a private passenger bus for Kerala at Gupti under Rajnagar block. Locals alleged that buses from Kerala and Tamil Nadu frequently visit the district and pick up youths to work in various units.
Moreover, many women and minor girls migrate to other states in search of jobs. A private estimate says that youths from 51 per cent of families living in Rajnagar, Mahakalapara, Aul, Pattamundai, and Rajnagar blocks have migrated to other states. They migrate to other states and end up being tortured and exploited in those firms where they are engaged.
Reports said youths migrating to other states have a sorry tale to tell. Sudarshan Rout of sea-erosion hit Satabhaya panchayat of Rajnagar block said he is forced to leave for other states to earn livelihood for him and his family.
Bharat Behera said they were living in Satabhaya and were earning their livelihood by tilling the farmland. However, they were forced to leave the area as seven villages in the panchayat were washed away into the sea due to constant sea erosion. The district administration has shifted 571 families to nearby Bagapatia. They were robbed of their livelihood after the farmlands were washed away.
The state government provides them with ration with which they can survive hardly for a fortnight. Moreover, the price rise of essentials has severely affected them. They find it hard to meet the expenses of their family and the costs of studies of their children and other needs for which he is leaving for Kerala with a hope of better earning.
Sarojkanta Swain of Gupti said he works in a plywood factory at Perumvur in Ernakulam district while others work in cotton mills, fish farms in those states. He returns home during Ganesh Puja and leaves for Kerala after Lakhsmi Puja or Kali Puja.
He said back to back natural calamities have robbed the sheen of agriculture while people withdraw from cultivation due to lack of government incentives.
Moreover, youths leave for Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Surat due to lack of industries in the district. Industrial firms which were lying closed in other states due to Covid-19 pandemic have opened now.
The respective firms have made arrangements for buses to pick them for other states. He said had there been any job opportunities in the district they would have never gone work in other states. He said this problem could be resolved if the government establishes small and medium scale industries in the district and promotes the cultivation of disaster resistance crops.
PNN