St. Joseph Seva Sadnan Community College is a skill training centre established in 2008 by St. Joseph of Annecy (India) Society. It was in 1986 when the Government of Odisha, planned to develop the capital Bhubaneswar to be declared it as a city all the slum were evicted. The slum dwellers were displaced and settled in the outskirts of the city. Many of them settled in Jokalandi that falls under the Bharathpur slum. Around 15000 street dwellers came to be settled in Jokalndi and later the number of people migrated to the slums of Jokalandi grew with the communal violence in Kandhamal. Sisters of St. Joseph of Annecy came to live with the slum dwellers from 1987 and started to serve them by opening a health care canter and providing educational facilities. In 2008 with the generous help of many well-wishers under the visionary leader and activist Fr. Richard Vaz SVD then Provincial Superior Sr. Pauline dared to establish St. Joseph Seva Sadan Community College to support the young people from the slums and interior villages of Odisha through skill training. From 2013 the canter started to offer short term skill training and job placements to the trainees in collaboration with Don Bosco Tech. From 2008 till date, we have trained around 4178 students and 85% of them have been successfully placed in industries that provide them with good job opportunities. Urban population in Bhubaneswar city is growing rapidly. The growth rate of population in Bhubaneswar urban district from 2011 to 2018 is 45.90%. A population growth of over 45 per cent indicates that migration contributes to the growth about 30 per cent as per the data of census 2011. Large numbers of young people are migrating away from rural deprivation to the city that holds promise of greater freedom, better living conditions and improved work opportunities. Urbanization has been accompanied by rise of urban poverty also. Young people tend to make up a disproportionate share of those living in sordid conditions in unplanned urban settlements. Many are trapped in insecure subsistence activities. Women are at particular disadvantage in urban labour markets. Many of these young people left school before mastering basic skills such as literacy and numeracy. The census 2011 of India revealed that there has been a huge migration of illiterate groups to urban cities for working in informal industry like construction, etc. There are large scales of construction sites which attract migrant labourers.
Odisha being one of the poorest states in India with high number of tribal and scheduled caste population in the rural areas are often migrating to southern part of India or to other states to earn their living. A pilot study conducted revealed that many migrant youths are residing with hapless living conditions in this slum and eking out meagre income from unskilled works. Migrating to other states with no employable skills these youth are often abused and paid poorly. St. Joseph Seva Sadan Community College has a strong development presence in Bhubaneswar for the last 12 years with skill training for the marginalised youth in marketable skills. Now the demand for the skill training for the marginalised youth are increasing and the high rate of the presence of migrant youth in the slums around our centre and from the rural areas of Odisha.