Jharkhand Journal of Development and Management Studies XISS, Ranchi, Vol. 16, No.1, March 2018, pp. 7623-7639 DEVELOPMENT HISTORY AND DISTRESS MIGRATION OF SCHEDULED CASTE HOUSEHOLDS: UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS IN BALANGIR DISTRICT OF ODISHA Deepak Kumar Nanda1 The paper provides an understanding of the dynamics of distress migration shaping the rural economy and polity of the district of Balangir in Odisha. It has problematised the issue of Scheduled Castes’ distress migration with “politics of development and inclusive institutions” and addressed the questions of; what constitutes a migration crisis? For what reasons are the scheduled caste households of Balangir district more prone to distress migration? Why do they keep migrating from generation to generation—what are the causes, pattern, and outcome? In doing so the paper has analyzed the development history of Balangir district in three phases of development - during princely state, British rule, and present democratic state. It has been found that the reasons for distress migration existed in the undemocratic and exclusionary administration of princely state and conceded through British rule to present independent State. Hence, allthough the nature of government and state has changed but the internal structure of discriminatory society has not changed producing dominance and exclusion of scheduled castes causing distress migration. Based on this, the paper concludes that the democracy has been manipulated by socio-political and economic elites and remained constrained in achieving the balanced and democratic development producing poverty and distress migration of Scheduled Caste households and other excluded groups. Keywords : Development History, Distress Migration, Scheduled Castes, Balangir, Odisha Introduction Migration has been an ultimate option and reality in the life of socially and politically excluded groups in the district of Balangir in Odisha. The district at the one hand has produced foremost politicians, lawmakers in the State politics including the Chief Minister in the past and present opposition leader, while on the other hand, considered to be one of the poorest and poverty-stricken regions in Odisha, intrigued with multiple issues of poverty, starvation, and migration. The excluded groups have no other options than distress migration to the nearby towns and cities amidst stark inequality and poverty; working as rickshaw pullers in Raipur (Chhattisgarh); labourers in brick kilns of Andhra Pradesh and construction sites of 1 Ph.D. Scholar, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Email Id- [email protected] 2 There is also internal migration to the towns of Sambalpur, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar within the state to some extent and to outside the state, it is not necessarily only to Raipur of Chhattisgarh but also to the towns of Bhilai and Durg. Similarly in south India, along with Andhra Pradesh, they go to Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kerala. However a major chunk of the migration depends on Raipur of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Mumbai. 7623 7624 Nanda Mumbai2. The precise number of migrants are misleading as there are no institutional mechanisms to record and document from the government side. Predominantly the distress migration is considered as a voluntary and private matter of economic affairs. However, among the mass poverty and migration, it does not remain voluntary and individual affair rather it becomes a public affair attributing the underlying factors of natural, social and political in the society and state. In the case of scheduled castes households’ migration in the district of Balangir,—the former princely state of Patna—has the cumulative effects of natural, social and political factors contributing to mass distress migration. The natural factors include the recurring drought and dry land; social factors include the stark group inequality among scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other social groups which have a direct repercussion on landholding, village decision making, and larger social structure. Similarly, political factors include public participation in programme planning and implementation, political representations, policy making, and inclusion or exclusion agendas of development. In this context, looking into the present migration crises, considering migration as social and political phenomena rather than individual or private family business of economic crisis, the paper has attempted to locate the distress migration in the state, society, and politics. It has done a historical and institutional analysis to ascertain the origin of distress migration; analysed the socio-political conditions of princely states of Patna, state during British rule and situations after independence to understand the history of development. It provides an understanding of the dynamics of distress migration shaping the rural economy and polity in Odisha and aims to address the questions of causes, pattern, and outcome of Scheduled Castes households’ migration. The components of the paper begin with the brief introduction of the context of the subject and study area with the issues of distress migration, followed by a brief review of literature then analysis of development history of Balangir district into three phases. It has analyzed the causes, pattern, and outcome of distress migration in connection to state and politics; and ended with conclusion and recommendation. Development History and Distress Migration of Scheduled Caste 7625 Introduction to the study area The district of Balangir—former princely state of Patna, is located in the famous K-B-K3 a region which is known for its poverty and backwardness in the state as well as in the nation. It is located in the western division of Odisha, sharing the border with the district of Bargarh, Kalahandi, Sonepur and Nuapada in the north, south, east, and west respectively (Map of Balangir, (n.d)) (see figure no. 1 Political Map of Balangir district) . It has the total population of 16,48,997, of which 17.88 per cent are Scheduled Castes and 21.05 per cent are Scheduled Tribes. Around 88 per cent of the population lives in rural areas and the total average of literacy rate including rural and urban is 64.71 per cent, while rural literacy rate is 62.11 per cent (Chandramuili & General, 2011). The economy of the district is mostly agriculture where more than 70 per cent of the population depends on Figure No. 1 Political Map of Balangir district Source: Map of Balangir, (n.d) 3 Kalahandi, Balangir, and Koraput region is considered to be one of the backward regions in India. There are many special area development programmes looking into the intensity of poverty and backwardness. 7626 Nanda it for their livelihoods. It has 43.70 per cent population as workers; of which 23.39 per cent are main workers and 19.3 per cent are marginal workers (ibid). In addition to that, more than half of its population lives below poverty line. It has limited irrigation facilities resulting in stagnant agricultural production characterized by unequal landholding pattern where one-third of the population hold two-third of total agricultural land (Dashingkar, 2006). The villages of Badapara, Kurlubhata, and Chandotara The primary information was gathered in three villages of Badapara, Kurlubhata, and Chandotara, which are situated in the west-south regions of the district near the borderline to the district of Kalahandi and Nuapada. The villages are located within the radius of five kilometers in both the sides of national highway no. 217 connected through Raipur to Bhawanipatna. The populations in the villages are mostly dominated by Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, and other backward castes. The economy of the villages is basically agriculture, depended on monsoon. Therefore in rainy season and harvesting period, people are employed in agriculture whereas in summer season they all go disguised unemployed. Again the land distribution is drastically unequal among the caste groups and tribes which make landless households in migration for the whole year. Most of the villagers are marginal workers and cultivators. Except for a few, all the scheduled castes households are labourers and migrant workers. Scheduled Castes households are in two-three generations in their migration to Raipur, Bhilai, and Durg of Chhattisgarh, moreover these days other backward castes households have started migrating to Andhra Pradesh and other parts of south India for bricks making. Road communication to these villages are good as on daily basis bus communication are there to Raipur and Durg of Chhattisgarh. In terms of educational situations, most of the old age populations are illiterates but these days there is consciousness regarding education among all castes and tribal groups to get their children educated. Feudalism, development and distress migration in Balangir The present neoliberal development policy which emphasizes private investment in planning and development helps one region to get more attention than others; thereby wealth is accumulated among few areas and/or with a section of the society. And eventually urban areas get more attention than rural areas resulting in spatial and social inequality in India (Pinto S.J., 2014). In this context, on one hand migration from rural to urban gets accelerated with the degradation of agriculture and rural economy, on the other hand, urban economy gets boom (Dashingkar, 2006; Bird & Dashingkar, 2009). The common factors associated with this movement are