Laboured resilience: Decades of migration builds a new future for a once-impoverished Odisha village

Workers ensure a flow of funds home to Kalahandi from Kerala, transforming lives of their families, with many aiming to save enough to build local businesses

Purusottam Thakur

With few jobs available in Kalahandi's remote and underdeveloped Thuamul-Rampur block, young men move to Kerala in search of a steady income, July 20, 2025. Prajjwal Thakur/The Migration Story

KALAHANDI, Odisha: Lachchman Majhi remembers watching traditional folk theatre in Gopalpur village from a vantage point atop his father’s shoulders when he was a small boy.

“I was thrilled by the sound and lights. I had a dream to own such instruments,” said Lachchman, 25. 

But once he completed Class 10, the oldest of four children was unable to continue his education because it was unaffordable for his parents, both landless farmers, and he started looking for work.

The Majhi family belongs to the Kandha community, a Scheduled Tribe in western Odisha’s Kalahandi district. The Kandhas are the largest indigenous group in the state, with a population of more than 1.6 million, according to Odisha’s ST and SC Development Department, and are among the most “neglected, deprived and oppressed sections of the country”, studies show.

As a teenager growing up in Dhamanguda village in Kalahandi’s Thuamul-Rampur block, Lachchman witnessed his parents, Kamala and Dana Majhi, struggling to support the family. 

Unable to find employment after he finished school, Lachchman said he decided to leave Dhamanguda, and Odisha, in 2020, shortly after the lockdown imposed by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic was lifted. 

Today, his childhood dream of owning an entertainment business, including DJing, is coming true through the money he has regularly sent home from Kerala.

Many young migrants from Thuamul-Rampur are changing their lives and that of their families by fuelling their remittances from Kerala into investments, not only diversifying their income but also contributing to the local economy.

Kalahandi has, for decades, been plagued by crushing poverty, hunger and starvation deaths. While some issues have been addressed by nationwide legislation in rural areas - including subsidised grains, the right to education and protecting forest land among a swath of development initiatives - the problem of job creation and sustainable livelihoods has persisted, driving an endless cycle of migration, say analysts.

Dana Majhi with his youngest son and only daughter at their home in Dhamanguda village which is filled with sound systems and other equipment as the family builds an entertainment business, July 19, 2025.

Prajjwal Thakur/The Migration Story

“He was our first child who ever went outside,” Lachchman’s father, Dana, told The Migration Story. 

“The youth from this region were migrating to Kerala in search of work, and he went along with his friends.”

Disrupting education to earn a living

Only 2.4% of migrant workers from Thuamul-Rampur have studied beyond high school, according to a study by nonprofit groups Gram Vikas, which works with rural communities in Odisha and Jharkhand, and the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID) in Kerala.

The research was conducted in four blocks in four of Odisha’s 30 districts - Kalahandi, Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal - between 2019 and 2021. 

Of those who left school, almost all said low wages and lack of employment opportunities in and around their village in Thuamul-Rampur had forced them to look elsewhere for work. 

Thuamul-Rampur has a population of 77,840, according to state government data from the 2011 census, which put Kalahandi’s population at 15,76,869. 

Four in five households are below the poverty line in Thuamul-Rampur, which reports the highest poverty levels in Kalahandi, according to a 2020 report from Gram Vikas and CMID that cited state government data, and young men in particular move to southern India to work.

Thuamul-Rampur is located on a high plateau in the western part of Kalahandi, surrounded by forests and hills. Almost 60% of its population is indigenous - it has the largest proportion of Scheduled Tribes in the district - who live mainly in mud houses. 

The poor-quality land, diminishing forest resources and limited access to irrigation contribute to food insecurity. When available, farm labour garners very low wages, and there is barely any non-agricultural work, according to the two nonprofits.

It is one of the most underdeveloped areas in the country in terms of infrastructure and residents’ socio-economic status. Healthcare facilities, education, communication and road connectivity are either non-existent or poorly managed. Remote areas of the block have no public transportation.

The Majhi family, originally landless, were given a small plot of land by the state government for their own use a few years ago under the Forest Rights Act 2006, which aims to empower forest-dwelling indigenous communities by recognising their rights to ancestral lands and resources and promote sustainable livelihoods as well as ecological security.

The family cultivated ragi and koshla (two millet varieties) and alsi (flaxseed), but it was under shifting cultivation, a rotational system of agriculture where farmed areas are made to lie fallow. Slash-and-burn is the preferred form of agriculture here.  

Although half the families in Thuamul-Rampur depend on agriculture, only 40% own land, according to Gram Vikas and CMID, and daily wage labour - largely in the block besides those who also move to nearby towns or out of state - is the primary source of income for 60% of families.

More than half the families in Thuamul-Rampur depend on agriculture for their income Kalahandi is one of the most food insecure districts in Odisha, July 19, 2025. Prajjwal Thakur/The Migration Story

Liby Johnson, the executive director of Gram Vikas, told The Migration Story they noticed that “in Thuamul-Rampur block, employment of educated youth was lower than in places like Gajapati [another district in Odisha from where young people migrate]. For young boys wanting to earn money, Kerala was a preferred choice”. 

Kerala offers the highest wages for migrant workers in the unorganised sector in India, according to the survey, which said an “estimated 3.5 million interstate migrant workers have become an indispensable part of Kerala's economy”. 

Johnson said the number of young men looking to migrate from Thuamul-Rampur was higher than that from other areas of Odisha. Migrants say there is no work in the block apart from agriculture and casual labour, and their daily wages are often paid months later.

So it was no surprise when Lachchman’s younger brother, Gokul, now 22, followed him in 2021 after he finished his Class 10 exams. 

“In the beginning I was getting 9,500 rupees’ monthly income working in a restaurant kitchen in Ernakulam, Kerala. Now I am getting 16,000 rupees per month as an assistant to the cook,” Lachchman told The Migration Story by phone from Kerala. 

Gokul, who works in a brick kiln in Thodupuzha, in Kerala’s Idukki district, said he earns between 18,000 and 20,000 rupees a month.

‘I went to Kerala to fulfill my dream’

Sitting in his small kuccha house in Kalahandi, Lachchman and Gokul’s father says he is proud that his “good sons” have “not wasted what they earned”. They have managed to save 10 lakh rupees from their earnings in Kerala and from their entertainment business, he said.

Little natural light filters in and the home is packed with a DJ system, sound boxes, an amplifier and other electronic equipment.

Lachchman said, “I went to Kerala to fulfill my dream”, which has taken shape as a family business, starting in 2022-2023 with tents for events and now branching out beyond Thuamul-Rampur to the neighbouring district of Raygada.

Dana said they get bookings for weddings, birthday parties, religious ceremonies and cultural programmes. 

While Gokul said he has not returned to his village since he left in 2021, their business is a family enterprise, run by his father and with Lachchman returning when they secure a big event reservation.

Lachchman Majhi works at a restaurant in Kerala as he slowly builds an entertainment business at home in Odisha, August 2, 2025. Photo courtesy Lachchman Majhi 

The charges for booking a tent, DJ and light and sound is about 40,000 to 50,000 rupees, and they make about 20,000 to 25,000 rupees after deducting expenses for 3-4 days of bookings, according to Dana. 

“My two sons have built these assets in the last four years with their hard work in Kerala,” Dana told The Migration Story, and also said that they would continue to work there until they reach the “targeted amount” of 30 lakh rupees.

This will enable them to buy a van as well as more tents and equipment, and hire workers.

Lachchman said his priority was to be financially independent “as we have seen bad times in the past … we have to fulfill our business dream”.

Over the years, the earnings of young migrant workers from this area have enabled them and their families to save, invest, buy vehicles and mobile phones, and start businesses. 

Johnson said youth continue to gravitate to other states for work, but their migration is not fuelled by distress unlike before. 

According to the 2020 report by Gram Vikas and CMID, Thuamul-Rampur’s migrants were remitting about 2.8 crore rupees a month, or about 33 crore rupees a year. Five years later, Johnson estimates present-day remittances at about 40 crore rupees a year. This, he said, is an indicative figure based on what workers said they send back through both official and informal routes.

Given the lack of comprehensive government data on this, it is often challenging to estimate the precise amount of remittance flows because many transfers take place through informal channels, like cash, migration experts said.

Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and West Bengal received more than half of the domestic remittance flow, according to government data from over a decade ago. But using remittance money to build a business or create a livelihood opportunity in the home state is rare, or was until about a decade ago.

A Ministry of Statistics study in 2016 on remittances in Odisha showed that households receiving money from their migrant family members often spend it on “conspicuous consumption”, rarely investing it productively. 

The study also cited data from 2008 indicating that much of the remittances received in rural households did not bring about noticeable socio-economic change, the money spent on clearing debt, or on expenses for marriages, home repairs and social functions. 

But much has changed in recent years. While many young men continue to migrate from this patch of Odisha to Kerala, they hope to earn enough, and invest wisely, so that others in their family aren’t compelled to take the same route.

Remittances bolster weak social security net

Sitaram Naik, a former migrant, used his remittances to pull his family out of poverty and safeguard his children’s future.  

He now owns an autorickshaw that he rents out, and runs a kirana store in Aluaguda village. His wife, Sulochana Naik, has a government job as an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA). The couple has three children, Madhuri 17, Prakash 13 and Anushka 5. 

Sitaram has done about four stints in Kerala as a labourer. 

“My journey started when my father was ill and we spent a lot on his treatment, and we were in debt,” he said. He got married in 2008 and started going to Kerala the following year as “many of the youth were migrating. So, I too went to earn my livelihood for the family”.

He stayed there for a year, returning with more than 2.5 lakh rupees, and also bought a motorcycle for 57,000 rupees.

Once home, Sitaram was approached by villagers to build 10 houses sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY - Rural), which was possible because he had cash on hand, and he ended up earning 2.5 lakh rupees. 

Sitram Naik is among the more successful migrant workers in the block, converting his earnings to buying an autorickshaw and grocery store, July 19, 2025. Prajjwal Thakur/The Migration Story

“In 2023, I bought an autorickshaw which cost 3.55 lakh rupees with a downpayment of 2.5 lakh rupees, and repaid the rest with 10 EMIs of 7,256 rupees which ended in June 2025. In 2023, I also opened this kirana shop,” he said. 

His wife got a state job in 2012 and additionally received 10,000 rupees under Subhadra Yojana, a welfare scheme launched by the Odisha government to financially empower women.

Looking to the future, Sitaram said he saves 5,000 rupees in a recurring deposit account every month so that he can launch another business in five years. He also deposits 1,500 rupees a month in his daughters’ Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna account, a government savings scheme. 

Sitaram credits his migration to Kerala for the exposure and earnings that have allowed him and family to progress.

Hoping to be the last migrant workers

Umakant Naik, 31, is from Aluaguda village in Thuamul-Rampur and has been going to Kerala for nearly 10 years. 

He works in a hotel, earning almost 30,000 rupees a month - a major boost from the 7,500 rupees he started with when he first went to Kalady, near Thrissur. He earns a daily wage of 1,000 rupees making parathas, puris and dosas.

His mother was sanctioned a home under PMAY - Rural, which is aimed at providing affordable housing for all, with 1,30,000 rupees in 2017, to which he added 50,000 rupees to complete the construction.

That same year, Umakant bought a motorcycle that cost 57,000 rupees. He also put down money to purchase 32 dismil (a unit to measure land that is prevalent in some parts of India; 100 dismil amounts to 1 acre) of land, adding to the family’s 1 acre in his father’s name.

Now a father of four, Umakant sends money from Kerala either via PhonePe or bank deposit, which his wife, Pushpanjali, 28, also uses for household expenses and their children’s education. 

More than half the migrants in this block have bank accounts, according to Gram Vikas and CMID.

Umakant Naik’s wife, Pushpanjali, with their two younger children, July 19, 2025. Two older sons study in residential schools. Prajjwal Thakur/The Migration Story

“I don’t want my children [to] migrate and suffer like me. They should have a dignified life which is only possible if they will have quality education,” he told The Migration Story by phone from Iritty, Kannur, where he works in a restaurant.

“I was not able to study as my father passed away when I was in Class 8, and our family condition was not good. So, I started working. Since then I have been a migrant. I used to go home once every six months or a year.” 

In 2024, Umakant had a motorcycle accident when he was back in Odisha. The treatment for his fractured leg cost 1 lakh rupees. He needed to borrow money from relatives and is now in the process of repaying it. 

Umakant said he is confident of his ability to earn as a migrant worker and is thinking of opening a shop selling shoes or textiles once he has saved enough. 

The Naiks are a Scheduled Caste community that sees a third of its young men migrating. 

“Migration has been quite heavy in this group of people. And after returning home, they have made the most of their remittances,” said Gram Vikas’ Johnson, explaining that they had invested well.

Government programmes have increased the number of paid workdays, but people earn more and faster from working in other states, July 20, 2025. Prajjwal Thakur/The Migration Story

There is also some assistance from government schemes via the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) and others ensuring pensions for the elderly and widows, but gaps remain in providing enough and continuous employment with a regular income.

Dhruba Charan Muduli, the Block Development Officer, said: “Since it’s a migration-prone block, the government has enhanced the number of workdays from 100 days to 300 days, and gives 98 rupees along with the daily wage of 300 rupees under MGNREGA.”

Despite that people prefer to go to Kerala because they can earn a large sum in a short time, the government official told The Migration Story. 

Payments via MGNREGA come weekly, while money earned in bulk through migratory work can be used for larger expenses such as marriages, debt repayment or as capital for small businesses.

Migrant workers also get social recognition when they return to their villages flush with funds. “But it's not the solution. We have to address the challenges of livelihood, healthcare and education simultaneously,” said Parbati Patnaik, the coordinator for MGNREGA in Kalahandi. 

Change seems to be on the horizon, or at least that’s the promise of a wide road under construction between the district headquarter of Bhawanipatna to that of Thuamul-Rampur. 

“The land was neglected for a long time. Now the mining companies are coming here to mine the mountains, so the government is preparing to facilitate the mining company’s transportation of raw materials,” Saty Mahar, an activist in Bhawanipatna opposing mining, told The Migration Story. 

A digital future

While Thuamul-Rampur remains among the most economically backward blocks in Kalahandi, Ranjan Kumar Naik sees great potential for growth.

Digital centres - that villagers flock to for money transactions, make applications for and corrections in their Aadhaar cards and ration cards, among other related services - have brought new life to the block, which is usually deserted once government offices close in the evening.

Ranjan, 26, returned from Kerala to open a digital centre, which among many things makes the process of money transfers easier for Thuamul-Rampur’s far-flung migrants.

There are about 200 such centres, including customer service points (CSPs), which enable people to perform banking transactions as well as access government services, in almost each panchayat in Thuamul-Rampur, said Ranjan.

At his Ranjan Digital Centre in Gopalpur village he said he is able to earn 25,000-30,000 rupees a month.

He has invested about 3 lakh rupees in his centre, for which he pays 1,000 rupees as rent.

Rajan Naik runs a digital centre where locals can withdraw money with ease, as well as perform other essential services, July 20, 2025. Prajjwal Thakur/The Migration Story

Ranjan said he operates an Airtel Payments Bank, which enables people to not only recharge their mobile phones and pay bills but also transfer money and access online banking. He additionally has lamination, photocopy and printing services among a host of other facilities.

Ranjan studied at a Gram Vikas residential school where his father worked, later going to Malkangiri to attend high school. 

The family’s finances plummeted after his father fell sick with tuberculosis. “I was the only son. I have three younger sisters. So, after Class 10 I migrated (2017-2018) to Kerala with two other friends. We were all going for the first time,” he said. 

Ranjan worked for seven to eight months in Kerala and returned with about 55,000 rupees, of which he spent 12,000 rupees on admission to the government college hostel in Gopalpur, he said. He gave the rest to his parents. 

After completing Class 12, he returned to Kerala, working there for 10 months and returning with 92,000 rupees. After one more short stint, Ranjan came home to his village to start a digital transaction service - beginning with a mobile.

“Since there is no network and parents in villages of migrants to Kerala are not aware or acquainted with digital transactions, I am providing this service,” he said. 

He is paying for the education of one of his sisters at the Bhawanipatna government college, in the district headquarters of Kalahandi, and plans to do the same for his other two sisters.

“I would like to be a mobile distributor, and I need about 2 to 2.5 lakh rupees,” he said. “I am saving and I will do it.”

The number of weekly markets has increased in Kalahandi’s Thuamul-Rampur block in recent years, the locals’ purchasing power increased by remittances from other states, July 18, 2025. Prajjwal Thakur/The Migration Story

Additional reporting by Prajjwal Thakur

Edited by Anindita Ramaswamy

Purusottam Thakur is a freelance journalist based in Chhattisgarh. A former principal correspondent for NDTV in Odisha, he has been reporting on migration from Kalahandi over the last few decades. 

Prajjwal Thakur is a Bengaluru-based Independent journalist and photographer. 

This is the second story in a three-part series - The Job Cycle - that documents stories from the Odisha-Kerala migration corridor