By Matters India Reporter
Bhubaneswar, April 8, 2022: An eastern India Catholic diocese has taken steps to prevent human trafficking, a form of modern slavery.
“Odisha is one of the key labor-sending states in India. People who go out for jobs say there is nothing for them to stay in the state,” says Father Joseph Valiaparambil, director of the Society for Welfare, Animation and Development (SWAD), a social wing of the diocese of Berhampur.
The diocese has launched a program to educate its people about human trafficking. The latest was a workshop on ‘Migration and Trafficking attended by around 370 young people and mothers from seven panchayats under the Mohana block of the Gajapati district.
The April 4 workshop “aimed at preventing migration and human trafficking in Odisha and in Gajapati district in particular,” Father Valiaparambil told Matters India.
The seminar discussed various government welfare schemes and the grievance mechanism available to those going out of their states for work.
The priest expressed concerns over people, who leave their homeland without proper documents and suffer mentally and psychologically in their workplace.
Sacred Hearts Sister Sujata Jena, who has rescued and helped hundreds of migrants since the pandemic through her intervention, facilitated the one-day workshop at Anugraha Peetha (a laity center) at Mohana, 70 km northwest of Berhampur.
Sister Jena discussed various issues faced by the migrants at the seminar.
“Under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 and its 2011 rules, the migrant workers are entitled to minimum wage, displacement allowance, home journey allowance, suitable accommodation facilities, and medical facilities.”
If the right policies are in place, labor migration can help countries respond to shifts in labor supply and demand, asserted the nun, who is also a lawyer.
The resource person said the destination of migrant workers with proper coordination and understanding with the state government, the protection of interstate migrant workers, and especially the provision of proper living conditions, health care, food, to be ensured.”
Her input sessions on migration and trafficking have helped the group to understand the gravity of the issues and the emergency in dealing with those issues.
The nun stressed the education of the children and youth for a better future and a sustainable life. The migrants can approach her for their help, Sister Jena said.
Sister Philomina Cheruplavil, the health project coordinator of SWAD who organized the workshop, explained that many youngsters from Odisha are frequently and illegally trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation to other states.
“Therefore, the seminar intents to sensitize the dangers of migration and human trafficking and inform the people about various government schemes,” the Daughters of Charity nun added.
Sister Cheruplavil explained that one Pushpanjali Paika of Mohana block had gone to Bangalore along with her friends to work. She was forced to work overtime and was mistreated. She finally escaped and returned home. Her story reveals the plight of the migrants in the destination place.
Manos Ranjan Nayak, the president of the youth in Gajapati district, bemoans that many youths from Gajapati district go out in search of jobs. They return home frustrated as they find no job. Youth are the watchdog in their locality to prevent migration and trafficking, he said.
The participants made a resolution to follow the legal process while going out to work. They also pledged to promote safe migration, conduct awareness campaigns in the villages, and parishes throughout the district, and prevent trafficking in the area.
Maharashtra and the National Capital Territory with Delhi as center are the most preferred destinations for work for people from Odisha.
One fourth of Kerala’s guest workers are from Odisha.
SWAD is a humanitarian, non-governmental, and civil society organization that began in 1993. It seeks to ‘walk with the poor together towards peace and development” in eight southern districts of southern Odisha.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the society provided dry ration masks and hygiene kits to the needy and provided soap, oil, sanitary pad, sanitizer and mask along with dry ration kits to the migrants in quarantine centers.