Ganesh Munda of village Padmapur under the Sadar police station of Keonjhar is an aspirant for the BJD ticket to contest from the Keonjhar Sadar Assembly constituency in the forthcoming elections. After having BSC (IT), he completed a four-year software engineering course from a national institute in 2014.
Relinquishing all temptations for a government job or corporate opening at hand, Ganesh has devoted himself entirely in the service of the tribal people of Keonjhar Sadar since last five years. With the popular mass support on his side, he has resorted to peaceful means of agitation by picketing before the district Collectorate many times to solve the problems of the people and has received phenomenal success in this regard each time as he says “98% of the problems of our people have been solved through these means over the last five years”.
Asked about the details, Ganesh says his supporters had raised issues like supply of drinking water, supply of electricity, repairing of roads and on issues like protesting against the indiscriminate cutting down of trees by government and nongovernmental agencies in the name of development. They have reaped instant success under his pioneering leadership in the constituency.
Ganesh’s major contribution for the poor and downtrodden people of his community lays in the assertion of the fact that he has set up an institute in the name of ‘Smart Daughter, Smart India’ through which he has been successful in imparting computer literacy to over 500 students in the last couple of years and is incessantly continuing on the same programme. He has not received any governmental aid so far and is continuing the programme through private endeavour. “In this way, I want to contribute my best by making our tribal youths computer-savvy and literate to face the challenges in and around them,” Ganesh says with an air of enthusiasm.
He has also been striving hard to create health awareness in the area and has been taking a lead especially in the inoculation programmes of the State Government and in malaria invasion programmes along with a youth brigade including students comprising 62 members. Impressed by his constructive works, Special Development Council Chairman Ram Ray Mundulya persuaded him to join the BJD at a Pandapada meeting in 2015.
Asked why he opts for BJD politics, Ganesh says, “Our Popular leader and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stands as an icon before the Adivasi youths of the State as he has initiated programmes wherein no family of the State shall perish out of starvation.”
“Today, we want a new youth leader like Ganesh who is selflessly trying to mitigate the sufferings of our people unlike self-seeking and professional politicians,” said Gurei Munda, a leading member of Ganesh’s community to The Pioneer.