MGNREGA FAILS TO CURB DISTRESS MIGRATION

MGNREGA FAILS TO CURB DISTRESS MIGRATION

Monday, 05 August 2013 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

Constant debt, irregular work and delay in wage payment from MGNREGA work, among other factors, are forcing the landless and marginal farmers in Balangir district to go for migration to earn a living.

This was revealed by a study carried out by Vikalpa, a civil society organisation, in collaboration with Shramik Sangh, in 11 gram panchayats covering 22 villages in Bangomunda block, recently. “We selected the gram panchayats having highest number of migrating households and the others having more number of households participating in MGNREGA activities. The data was collected from 230 migrant households and 350 MGNREGA workers households and it was revealed that 53 per cent of the habitual migrants are landless and marginal farmers, who are in constant debt and their only choice of livelihood was migration. They were often on threshold level of subsistence and sinking from transient to chronic poverty,” said SK Pattnaik of Vikalpa.

According to the study, most of the migrants said that they just can’t depend on MGNREGA as the wage payment is very irregular and work was not certain. They said that income from MGNREGA work was not enough to repay debt, generate food security and meet other basic needs. Around 31 per cent of migrants, mostly belonging to small and marginal farmers, revealed they would continue to migrate because they get lump sum money Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 in advance to recover their mortgaged land, save money for son’s and daughter’s marriage, and construct their houses. So, they can’t really afford to participate in MGNREGA work where they would earn far less than what they would earn by migrating out.

Only 9 per cent of migrants, according to the study, created additional surplus of cash to create durable assets and meet other higher needs which they could not have done staying in native place and becoming a MGNREGA worker.  However, 5 per cent migrant workers could not specify any reasons of migration and upon an enquiry; it was found that they had been lured by friends, relatives and even labour brokers.

The study shows that about 63 per cent of MGNREGA workers were women. About 67,555 persons registered with MGNREGA in Bangomunda for MGNREGS work, while only 24,271 persons were given work which means that 31 per cent of job card holders were involved in the MGNREGA work from April 2012 to July 2013. Lack of  proper planning and coordination have resulted in low spending of MGNREGA money and less availability of work for each working household.

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