Maradu building collapse victims were members of Adivasi and Dalit communities from Odisha
The Hindu
Kerala has obvious attractions for the tribal and Dalit communities from Surada in the form of better wages and assured employment throughout the year
Two migrants who were crushed to death in a demolition site in Maradu were representatives of the tribal and Dalit communities who have been flocking in large numbers to Kerala from the Surada block of Ganjam district in Odisha for the last two decades.
Half of Surada has forest cover and is dominated by tribals while the other half is dominated largely by settler farmers belonging to general castes. While those among tribals migrated to Kerala, the members from the general castes preferred Surat in Gujarat.
In fact, Ganjam and Surat has been a major migration corridor dating back to the 1970s with the power looms in Surat being dominated by migrant workers from Odisha, especially Ganjam.
“The scenario started changing when the migrant workers from scheduled tribe and scheduled caste communities from Ganjam started facing casteist discrimination in Surat. It was at this point that Kerala emerged as a model migration destination, especially for Adivasis and Dalits from Surada,” said Liby Johnson, executive director of Odisha-based Gram Vikas, an NGO engaged in rural development.
While Tamil Nadu and Karnataka also attract a section of these migrants, about two-third of the community prefer Kerala.
“They are predominantly engaged in construction and hospitality sectors. Just as Perumbavur has emerged as a hub of migrants from West Bengal, Nettoor (in Maradu municipality where the accident had taken place on Wednesday) has a large population of migrants from Ganjam. The collective remittances from migrant community from Ganjam account for about ₹124 crore a year,” said Benoy Peter, executive director of Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development.
Kerala has obvious attractions for the tribal and Dalit communities from Surada. For one, the wage rate here is at least three times more than what it is back home. Moreover, there is assured job round the year compared to at best 200 job days in Surada.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.