Why don’t you bring some old clothes when you come to our villageIJ Don’t you see, the children are nakedIJ” said Ratni to this correspondent with a wry smile. “I am joking” she quipped immediately.
“We do not have any work now. Two winnowing fans that we weave from bamboo in a week fetch hardly Rs 200,” she said, asking, “How can our family sustain with thatIJ”
Ratni is one of the poor women of Paharia-Kamar tribe from Khadang village of Nuapada district. The village with 115 people in 26 households is located in Sunabeda plateau, which is one of the lWE affected areas.
Santi Paharia was feeding rice to her two-year old child. When asked about curry, she answered that, the only food they eat is rice. “Where is money to buy curryIJ” asked Santi. “At times we get wild mushroom and soft bamboo roots for curry in rainy season,” she told.
Santari has two children and both are malnourished. Santari had migrated to Hyderabad in January 2014 to work in a brick kiln, leaving her one-year old child with her husband. She was forcibly kept by the contractor in the kiln till May last. “I got a child from the contractor, but he did not pay anything for our living,” said Santari.
Paharias are bamboo basket weavers. When their kith and kin in Chhatishgarh are PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group), here in Odisha they are non-tribal, which deprive them of a number of benefits. Basket weaving gradually becoming nonviable due to non-availability of bamboo on the one hand and a due price for their products on the other, they are now facing a livelihood crisis. “It is very difficult to get two square meals a day; the elders usually skip a meal or two every week to feed the children,” the villagers asserted.
Three of the households of the village have temporarily shifted to Sunabeda village to earn their livelihood by herding cattle owned by farmers. We have been assured of six maan (about 25 kg) of paddy per cow as yearly payment,” said Sambaru Paharia, a migrant.
Ratni’s husband died 5 years ago, but she did not get support of any social security scheme. A majority of the widows have not benefited from the National Family Benefit Scheme under which a financial support of Rs 20,000 is provided.
“It is not easy for these women to collect the death certificates from the CHC at Komna which is located at a distance of 42 km and without this they cannot apply for the benefit,” said Biju Jhankar of Junapen village.
There are 20 children in the village below the age of five and all of them look malnourished, none has proper clothing. “When we go to the Anganwadi centre once in a month, the worker gives us a packet of powder and one egg each,” said Ratni. The Anganwadi centre is located at a distance of 12 km at Sunabeda village.
There are about 250 Paharia-Kamar households in Sunabeda plateau and all of them struggle hard to earn two square meals a day. “It has become more precarious in last two months due to non-availability of PDS rice. We cannot buy rice at Rs 30 per kg from private shops,” said the villagers. To add to owes, the district administration has excluded about 40 Paharia households of the plateau from the NFSA.
“Paharia-Kamar has been listed as tribe in serial number 18th in Chhatishgarh ST list, but in Odisha the same tribe with all the features of a primitive tribe became OBC. A high-level task force on scheduling of tribes, headed by the then Tribal Affairs Secretary Hrushikesh Panda had recommended for inclusion of the community in the ST list of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. The task force had submitted its report in May 2014, but, it is unfortunate that, the Central Government has not taken any decision on this,” said Paharia Vikash Manch secretary Sukalsai Paharia.