Drought- hit villagers leaving for alien land

SAMBALPUR: The flurry of Nuakhai activities would soon die down in several remote corners of Sambalpur district with hundreds of landless and poor peasants packing their bags to leave for an alien land in search of greener pastures.With drought condition prevailing in the rainfed areas of Nuapada, Balangir, Kalahandi and drought prone areas of Padampur sub division in Bargarh district, the sardars or middlemen are having a field day. Every year, soon after Nukahai, labour agents/middlemen lure poor farmers into migration with a promise of lucrative offers. With successive droughts and crop loss along with debts burdening the farming families, they indeed look forward to migrate, gory tales of families falling victims to torture notwithstanding. Taking advantage of the situation middlemen track down such hapless families across western Orissa and push in cash advances. The fear of the ‘mahajans’, who breath down their neck demanding the money back, is also one of the reasons for the farmers falling in the trap of middlemen. Though mass exodus, child sale and  starvation deaths is nothing unusual to western Orissa with Nuapada and Balangir district topping the list, the continuing trend of migration has only exposed the failure of the government machinery to implement various development and welfare schemes, including MGNREGS. Usually the migrants return to their respective villages before the sowing  season and leave after Nuakhai. While the entire clan migrates, elderly and unproductive family members are left behind to nurture the land which  assures them food security to some extent. Families without elderly members move out lock, stock and barrel sealing the main door of the house with mud wall.District Labour Officer, Nuapada, Niranjan Kumda said last year 41 licences were issued to labour contractor while this year 46 have been issued. Though the official figure of migration is about 3,000, on the ground more than 50,000 people migrate from Nuapada district itself. Many of them would return with tales of torture by next Nuakhai while some fall victims to torture and inhuman treatment at the hands of their masters and die a silent death.