The Paharia tribals of Nuapada district, who eke out their living from basket weaving, are the worst-affected people during the corona-induced lockdown.
The prices of different items they make range from Rs 20 to a maximum of Rs 100 depending on their sizes and shapes. They move to different weekly haats nearby their villages to sell their products. Another way for sale of the products is through middlemen, who visit the villages at regular intervals.
However, due to the lockdown, neither the weekly haats are running nor middlemen are turning up.
"I have 80 baskets in my house ready for the haat, but I’m unable to sell them," says Guri Banbasi of Baijalpur in Gorla panchayat of Sinapali block. She would have sold those products for Rs 3,000 in normal time.
Jujesti Banbasi of this village has products worth Rs 1,380. There are 14 Paharia households in Baijalpur; and all of them are in a similar condition.
The total number of households reeling under such a situation would be about 2,000. "We would have bought rice and grocery after selling these products but for the lockdown," they say.
Various records and research works dating back to the British rule reveal that the Paharias are one of the nomadic tribal groups of India. The kith and kin of the Paharias of Odisha living in the neighbouring villages of Chhattisgarh have been accorded vulnerable status; but in Odisha, they are considered as OBC.
The Odisha Government has recommended for inclusion of the Paharias in the ST Constitutional Order, which is yet to be considered by the Central Government. As a result, the 2,000 Paharia households living mostly in different parts of western Odisha are reeling under acute poverty. Immediate proactive action, if not taken during the lockdown period, most people will slide into a state of further distress.