It cannot merely be a coincidence that the land which has produced fighters like Paramvir Albert Ekka and leaders like Kartik Oraon is in an utter mess of non-productive socio-political environment coupled with extremists violence. The region has remained neglected for years sans political will and apathy of the administrative mechanism.
Be it Gumla, lohardaga, Bishunpur, Simdega, Kolebira or Mandar Assembly constituency, all are facing the same situation of poverty, malnutrition, lack of health facilities, lack of educational facilities, poor electricity and roads. The region, which is devoid of sufficient irrigation facilities in a rugged topography for agriculture and mineral resources for industrial development, is badly looking for a stable leadership and visionary approach for development.
The Assembly constituencies of the region – most of them are reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates – are by and large dominated by tribal population that needs immediate government attention. And, sadly there are a host of issues that have been largely unattended by respective governments both at the Centre and at State levels. The voters of the region, therefore, consider nothing more than basic amenities for themselves as prime issues for the Assembly polls 2014.
“Providing security for the people is the most important issue in my view. If the villagers do not feel secure one cannot think of development in the area. All government schemes are there. Funds are released but the pace of development remains low. There is much to be done in the constituency. We need to make it a peaceful place first and then think of development,” says SK Mishra, who works in the extremist stronghold of Kolebira constituency.
Rupesh Oraon of Toto village near Gumla needs education for his two kids. “The Government school is there but we do not get proper education in the region that can help kids get employment when they grow up. I want my kids to compete with those studying in English schools so that they can also dream of becoming a doctor or engineer,” Oraon said.
Interestingly, several prominent candidates, including sitting MlAs have similar issues to woo the voters. The Modi effect though seems to be eclipsing the poll strategy of others in the area, especially because people want stability of government just like the government formed at the Centre.
Three of the constituencies going to polls on November 25 in the first phase have over six lakh voters, most of them belong to tribal, business, OBC and minority communities. Some of the prominent candidates of the region include JPCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat and AJSU Party’ KK Bhagat from lohardaga, BJP’s Shivshankar Oraon and Samir Oraon from Gumla and Bishunpur respectively, former Ministers Anosh Ekka from Kolebira and Bimla Pradhan from Simdega.