Namita Nayak, a person who was once, not long back from now, listening to the poor and sanctioning Government aid for them as a Block Chairperson, has now herself turned one among them, thanks at least to her successors.
Nayak, a Dalit leader who hails from Bhuska Bahada village in Debabhuin gram panchayat under Cuttack district’s Narasinghpur block, had won the Panchayat Samiti Member election with the ruling BJD’s support in 2010. She was elected as the Block Chairperson, but in a later development was defeated in a no-confidence motion.
Nayak held the post for two years. But her fortunes have taken a downturn since then. Once a frontline woman leader in the area, she is now working as an agriculture labourer to earn her living.
The elected woman representative, who was once sharing daises and accompanying influential BJD leader of the area and Minister Debi Prasad Mishra, now is no more in power and limelight. She has lost political significance and is forgotten by all and sundry.
A fortnight ago, Mishra had visited Bhuska Bahada, but Nayak was not seen with him, particularly because she is working as a daily wage earner in the fields, say locals.
The woman has a patch of agricultural land of less than three gunths and is deprived of social security benefits. Though she was allotted a house under the Indira Awas Yojna (IAY), the document of the same hasn’t been handed over to her yet.
Due to her fragile financial condition, she is unable to give proper education to her lone son.
While the State Government has introduced many social welfare schemes for the poor, Namita Nayak makes for an interesting case study on the actual implementation of the schemes.