- Special Task Force constituted under the Chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister
- Comprehensive efforts to permanently solve the problem of distress migrations
Bhubaneswar, 14/10/2024: A high-level task force has been constituted by the state government to brainstorm and recommend holistic measures to address the problem of distress migrations in the state. The task force will be headed by Chief Minister, Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Energy. Deputy Chief Minister, Women and Child Development, Mission Shakti, Tourism, Minister Panchayatiraj and Drinking Water, other Ministers of the State, Chief Secretary, Development Commissioner and Secretaries of various departments are the members.
This high-level task force will discuss in detail the problems of migrant workers and prevent distress migrations and decide the course of action to solve the problems. It will also recommend steps to be taken up by various Government agencies to check distress migration and also to mitigate the sufferings of the migrant labourers of Odisha.
The Secretariat of the Task Force shall be located in Panchayati Raj &Drinking Water Department. The Task Force shall meet at least once in six months to review the progress. The Task Force may co-opt a few expert members of National/ International repute working in this field. It may also co-opt academicians, Development practitioners, UN agency representatives, etc. Such members shall be intimated to attend the meetings on a need basis.
The Task Force will examine the nature of migration region-wise and recommend specific interventions needed. It will also deliberate upon the regional variation, seasonality as well as the magnitude of the migration and recommend strategies to reduce distress migration and will deliberate upon the existing activities/ interventions being made by different departments to reduce distress migration and the effectiveness of the same by studying the existing legal/policy provisions to tackle the problem.
To deal with the complex nature of the problem the Task Force has been assigned to recommend specific measures required to be taken by various departments in terms of creating infrastructure as well as opportunities for livelihood within the state through skilling, credit availability, linking the family with anti-poverty programs etc. It will also recommend additional targeted interventions/schemes required to be taken up by the State Government and will suggest the Institutional framework required to be put in place at State, District, Block level to tackle the issue in holistic and sustainable manner.
In order to address the issues effectively the Task Force will deliberate upon the need to develop partnerships with expert agencies, Civil Society, and Technical organizations for improving the effectiveness of the interventions proposed and.
Apart from these, the task force will discuss and recommend the necessary coordination with the Government of India and various state governments to ensure availability of resources for all these measures and to resolve the problems of migrant workers in a comprehensive manner.
