Almost a century back, while on a visit to Odisha, Gandhi termed it ‘An epitome of poverty, the poorest region of India.’ When Gandhiji went to England, an artiste wanted to go to Gujarat to draw a picture of an Indian farmer. Gandhi told her, “Gujarat is relatively prosperous, go to Orissa. There peasants are nothing but bones and skins”. In fact Gandhi wanted to show the world how poor are the Indian poor through an artist’s eyes!
The writer of the article comes from a remote poverty stricken village of Mayurbhanj, called Pandhda, situated at the border of Bengal on one side and Bihar on the other. Blast furnace flames reddening the sky used to be visible from our village at night.
It is a small village with a population of less 1,000. There is neither a river nearby nor any canal; consequently the cultivation depends solely on rain water. Earlier the Brahmins with the help of tribal people used to cultivate one crop a year, paddy. Now- a- days, the old timers are dead and the younger generation with jeans and mobiles hate to go to farm land. The lands are gradually sold to Bangladeshi immigrants for quick money. Meanwhile, the refugees have been able to get BPl and Aadhaar cards. The village has a deserted look, as majority of the people of the village have either migrated to
Baripada or Bhubaneswar. There is electricity but of very low voltage and irregular supply. Every house has an inverter and a made- in -China emergency lights. The youths are busy in playing cards, taking alcohol and drugs. Many work for political parties as bonded labourers. No one is willing to cultivate land, as rice and wheat are available at a throw away price.
As people have become lazy, there are plenty of high blood pressure and diabetic patients. The cancer incidence is abnormally high in Pandhda village. Water scarcity continues in summer months as it used to be 60 years back when we were small school going children.
Deforestation is rampant as people around Pandhda continue to use firewood for cooking.
Only one retired teacher in the whole village uses a Gobar gas for cooking purpose. As the cattle have been sold to slaughter houses there is problem in getting cow dung for the Gobar gas plant. Open defecation still continues due to water problem.
The latrines have been built with Government money but are used as store rooms.
Pandhda was known for high literacy, culture and healthy people and they used to live long and happily in spite of abject poverty. This village had produced national level cricket players, Chhau dancers, bank officers, IAS officers, writers, doctors and professors. This was the first village in the State to have a Mahila Samiti more than 60 years back.
The nearest railway station is 10 km from the village. The weekly markets of Jharpukhiria and Bangiriposi where local produces are sold at a reasonable price are monopolized by the businessman.
They purchase the vegetables in bulk at a very low price from the farmers as a result of which local people suffer.
Two Government run schools of more than 100 years are in the village, one ME and the other a high school. The students are mostly from SC and ST families and a majority of the school children go away after lunch hour after the MDM (mid day meal).
The writer of this article who visits his parental village frequently has observed the deterioration of village life and health status of the community in spite of economic development.
It pains us to watch helplessly the deterioration of village life and its people. The Brahmin colony has a deserted look with most of the houses being locked and unused. The migration of village people to cities as they get sick and old are a result of the Government policy of only improving towns and cities without the tangible improvement at the grassroots level.
Instead of concentrating all facilities at Bhubaneswar, satellite hospitals by Apollo, Care, Amri and other corporate bodies should be built in rural areas. There should be seamless electricity supply in all villages of Odisha so that people would continue to stay. The tourists spots are neglected and if taken care of it could provide livelihood to many in the rural belt.
(The writer is a doctor by profession and an activist)