By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 18, 2017 : There has been a sharp dip in migrations from the state, especially from Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput [KBK] districts, from where tens of thousands of people often went to other states looking for their livelihood, officials claimed.

They attribute the decline in migration to the successful implementation of the centrally-sponsored job guarantee scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Act (MGNREGA).

Failing agriculture and shrinking forests have destroyed traditional livelihoods, forcing people from the eastern state to take hazardous jobs in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Young men leave the state’s coastal districts like Ganjam to work in textile mills, shipyards and the diamond-polishing shops of Gujarat and Mumbai. Young girls from Sundargarh work as domestic labour in Delhi and elsewhere.

Even workers from Odisha go to Goa’s fishing villages as much as Kerala’s construction sites.

However, belatedly, the Odisha government has managed to successfully implement this scheme enabling additional source of income for families below the poverty line in tribal areas. Now, they have at least 100 days of guaranteed employment.

In 2012, the state government launched its own initiative on similar lines — the Odisha Modernising Economy, Government and Administration (OMEGA) programme — with the support of DFID of the United Kingdom.

The pilot project was launched in 11 blocks of two districts Nuapada and Bolangir districts and officials observed decline in migration of over 60% from these blocks.

Recently, the state government has increased 150 days of employment for households in migration-prone areas of Nuapada and Balangir districts adding another 50 days to the central scheme.

While 26,497 Bolangir households were engaged in 2012-13, the figure went up to 37,220 in 2015-16. Similarly, 31,000 households were employed in 2012-13 in Nuapada, which touched 51,000 in 2015-16.

Eighty million persondays had been approved for 2016-17, while the state government has approved 95.1 million persondays for 2017-18 and is awaiting the Centre’s nod for this.

A corpus of Rs 300 crore has been proposed in the budget for 2017-18 to ensure timely payments as there are often delays in receiving payments from the Centre.