A contingent of 19 tribal boys, girls and women in the age group of 18-35 under the seventh tribal exchange programme left for a seven-day stay in Guwahati. Second in command of the 134 battalion CRPF Sudhanshu Shekhar said a total of 76 tribal youths have been shortlisted for this exchange programme.
The second contingent of 19 people will leave for Jaipur on February 25, another 19 people for Pune on March 12 and the last batch of 19 youths will be leaving for Chennai from here on March 24. Sudhanshu Shekhar said, “The task of short listing was a tremendous task. It paced up during anti-Naxal operations and area dominance in which CRPF officials used to interact with the villagers and motivate them to send their ward outside Jharkhand for a first hand knowledge of what the world is outside.”
The tribal youths are drawn from heavily naxal infested pockets. Sudhanshu Shekhar said the first batch of 19 will meet the Governor of Assom and also the Chief Minister there. Outlining the feature of this tribal exchange tour programme Sudhanshu said: “This is to expose the tribal youths of left wing extremist hit places to interface and interact with the counterparts of the other states to know as to how they meet the challenges of life, what are their culture, food habit, dress etc.
The tour will install confidence among the youths and help to flourish their skill and organisational ability.” Only ten districts of Jharkhand are under this tribal exchange programme. The contingent of 19 will have two instructors one male and the other female for the entire period of journey, stay in Gowahati. Sunil Oraon is one among the 19. He comes from Naudeeha village under Manatu block. Bpin Oraon is from Kodwariya village a cut off village of the district. In Guwahati these youths will visit historical sites.