Kashipur in Rayagada district has been figuring in the public domain in a representative capacity exposing the lack of effectiveness of all the so-called intensive programmes stated to have been implemented in that area. It was in 1987 that Kashipur had hit the headlines for starvation deaths. The then Prime Minister visited Kashipur and declared a special project involving about Rs 50 crore. This area was covered under the special KBK programme in 1996. Other professed programmes of the State Government were also supposed to have been implemented in the area. Around 2007, the Chief Minister visited Kashipur to have a firsthand appreciation of the ground-level reality. Programmes spread over 70 years after Independence and almost 30 years focussed attention are supposed to have changed the face of this area, but it is now again hitting the headlines for the very same unpleasant reasons. Deaths which were attributed to consumption of fungus-ridden mango kernel continue time and again. This region has been receiving special attention and hundreds of crores has been spent. The area also received specific attention when (in 2001,August) 20 had died in Kashipur block. Their death was attributed to consumption of mango kernel. Again in August 2016, two have died for the same reasons and about 10 are under treatment with their lives hanging in the balance. The ages of the persons who died ranged from juvenile to persons around their 60s.
All the welfare programmes and projects have not really altered any fundamentals at the ground level. But the question remains: Where has that huge quantum of public resources vanished and what has been achieved after hundreds of crores have been spent in this specific area out of thousands of crores for the regionIJ Papers would indicate that there is all-round development and poverty has been eradicated. Poverty is the biggest curse for mankind.
The Kashipur episode, analysed with its history, should be a matter of concern for all of us. As of now, reportedly, the Kashipur Community Health Centre (CHC) has no doctors in six Primary Health Centres (PHCs) falling within its area. With the result, the Kashipur CHC is the sole service provider for the six PHCs. It is alleged that the Kashipur health centre has only one doctor, and requisite staffs are not available in the entire organisation. The population of about one and a half lakh now depends on one ill-equipped under-staffed health centre. This calls for introspection. But, alas, instead of analysing facts and shifting the truth from the hype, we get carried away with rampant politicisation through a continued exercise with the assistance of the media.
*The other stories that one should be concerned with are again repetition of the same scenario in Kalahandi. The name, if we do not take appropriate care, would become synonymous with insensitivity, neglect, corruption, exploitation and bad governance. The manner in which and the circumstances under which Dana Majhi had to carry the dead body of his wife on his shoulders for 12 km with his teenage daughter weeping and trailing behind deserve to be studied. This is a reminder that we are caught in a vicious circle. It has been a painful experience to learn from the media that Dana has been threatened by officialdom alleging that he had killed his wife, and the authorities also held out technical defence that the woman had not been declared dead. Further, Dana Majhi had removed the body without the clearance of the hospital authorities. This makes the entire episode a sordid one. We do not need any further schemes to be launched and pretentiously implemented. What we need is faithful achievement of what we had held out and what we had promised to the next generation. It is time we were accountable and responsible for enjoying the fruits of freedom in an utterly selfish manner.
Obviously, nothing has percolated to Kashipur or Kalahandi. Some bread crumbs are thrown at them, and stories about their improved lot are propagated by the media as the opiate of the masses.
The two examples cited above should jerk all of us out of the slumber and delusion that we appear to have fallen into. But the ugly reports affirm that the have-nots of the society are in a precarious level of subsistence. A section of the population is rich enough to afford any and every luxury. For the poorest, hardly anything has changed. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened. The so-called public investments to remedy and ameliorate the situation have obviously not yielded the desired results. We have betrayed ourselves and the next generation in a highly irresponsible manner. Developmental public investment has unjustly enriched the under-serving few. If there is adequate political will and concerted action before the next Republic Day, the entire scenario of these regions could stand altered. But that calls for sensitivity, responsiveness and an element of empathy. The ugly and cruel site of Dana Majhi carrying his wife’s body on his shoulders symbolised the level of degeneration of our administration and our own social values. In a march of 12 km, no person or authority tried to interfere with the cruel manifestation and at least try ensure some dignity in death.
Death is a great equaliser, but that does not mean we have to die like insects, because no one seems to be bothered. After a few days of media hype, the truth will be forgotten. This involves the fate of the next generation, i.e., the youth, which must take charge of the situation, maybe with some guidance of responsive elders. The youths have to now focus on area development in the immediate environ. There must be organised youth power in every village to brainstorm and formulate developmental programmes to be implemented in the area. This should be dovetailed with a performance appraisal system. There has to be a war against poverty and indignity. let Kashipurs and Kalahandis be the representative cases symbolising the continuing malignant of poverty. A very concerted and immediate action (with an appropriate programme implementation added to it) can show to the world that we are not a set of incompetent self-centred persons. Apparently, we do not have sufficient “Odia-twa” or “Bharatiyata” in us to prove through our actions that this ugly spot on mother India’s face shall stand removed. It is time the people, including the youth, of that area rose for their own cause and not always projected as the dying skeletons or the ever-oppressed and exploited with no voice of their own. If what is chronic is specifically taken up, there shall be a ripple and trickle effect. The mechanics of social engineering will respond to the new calibrated modes. let an exercise start with the two cases of Kashipur and Kalahandi. let there be a war-like effort to oversee the completion of most of the programmes by the next Republic Day. If the Government wants to demonstrate a sample of good governance, it should immediately pounce on such a proposal, put its own house in order, control the bureaucracy (especially at the policy and implementation levels) and ensure accountability and achievement of the social objectives involved. This is an opportunity for the youths. They should know the value of their voting power and their numerical strength in the entire polity and should now act for certain common causes as a united force. They have to be inclusive in their approach and should make the matter a concern for one and all. This certainly concerns us all!
(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com)
