BHUBANESWAR: For migrant labourers of Odisha, voting is both a celebration of democracy and a dilemma. Every election, those who head out of the southern districts are able to return home to exercise their franchise but their counterparts from western Odisha find it difficult to participate in the biggest festival of democracy.
Odisha, despite being one of the states registering a high percentage of both traditional and seasonal labour migration, faces a huge challenge in ensuring voting by migrant workers.
Political party candidates arrange for their return to their native land prior to polling but their efforts bear fruit in southern Odisha only. In western districts, the number of labourers who return is just 20 per cent of the total migrant population.
As per the report, ‘Migration in India’ based on Periodic Labour Force Survey 2020-21, released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, there are 8.51 lakh labourers who migrate for jobs from the state. There are 10 migration prone districts in the state - Bargarh, Balangir, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. Labourers from these districts migrate to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Kerala for work.
The Labour department mandates registration of all labourers at the source point following which they are issued ‘movement slips’ to head to the destination states. But the number of migrant labourer registrations is miniscule compared to the migration that happens at the grassroots, sources in the Labour department acknowledge.
In reply to a query in the Assembly in March last year, the then Labour minister Srikant Sahu had produced a report which stated that in 2022, 362 labour sardars were issued licences to take 26,700 registered labourers to other states for work. In 2021, as many as 271 labour agents were permitted to take 31,785 labourers and in 2020, 117 sardars were allowed to take 11,177 migrant labourers. This year 4,800 registered labourers have been taken to different states by 82 licensed sardars.
While traditional migration from Ganjam and other southern Odisha districts take place round the year, September to June is when western Odisha witnesses seasonal migration as people head to brick kilns in neighbouring Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Traditional migrants from southern Odisha return home once a year but seasonal migrants of western districts cannot, before completion of 10 months (brick-making period before monsoon).
“The trend of migration in southern districts is entirely different from western districts. In southern Odisha, only male members of a family migrate while in western Odisha, migration is family-based as an entire unit is required to contribute towards making bricks,” said Loknath Mishra, a migrant rights activist from Berhampur.
In the election year, politicians and their supporters in Ganjam and other southern districts facilitate movement of the male members who are eligible voters. “But this election, the pressure on political leaders for getting the workers back from other states is a lot less. Because, a majority of them have already returned owing to the wedding season and the ongoing Danda Nacha which sees participation of many migrant youths,” Mishra said. With Berhampur, Koraput, Nabarangpur going to polls on May 13, supporters of candidates have already approached them to stay back, he added.
However, in western Odisha, most of the labourers are likely to give voting a miss. Election in Kalahandi is on May 13 while in Bargarh, Sundargarh and Balangir, it is scheduled on May 20. “Politicians in western Odisha are not interested in getting these seasonal labourers back as they cannot leave the worksite before June. In the past elections, some political workers had approached kiln owners to take back the workers for voting but the latter allowed just male members of the family to go and held back their elderly parents, wives and children,” said activist Sushant Panigrahi.
Director (migration and education) Aide et Action International, Umi Daniel estimates seasonal migration to be around 3 lakh every year. Migrant labourers from western Odisha districts do not have the money to travel for voting. “Even if they do, they would need a longer holiday which their employer will not entertain. Government should think of the remote voting option for them which can allow them to exercise their franchise,” he suggested.
