layman's space

NO RELIEF FROM OPPRESSIVE ANTI-MAOIST FORCES Monday, 03 March 2014 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar         0 The Army personnel came to our village at 5 am  on February 24 and started beating us mercilessly without any reason. They also abused us in vulgar language and defiled our kitchens, which is a violation of our tradition...,” read a complaint letter of the Chakotia Bhunjia tribal  people of Jalmadei village in the Maoist-ridden  Sunabeda plateau. The Chakotia Bhunjias are one of the primitive vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG) of Odisha. The complaint was submitted to the Nuapada SP on Wednesday last. More than 60 people of the village, who are the victims of brutality of the anti-Maoist forces deployed in the Sunabeda plateau, had arrived at the district headquarters to express their grievance before the district administration. Later, sharing their woes with the mediapersons, the tribal villagers narrated how the...

N’PADA REMOTE HAMLET WHERE GOVT DOLES A FAR CRY Tuesday, 18 February 2014 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in  Bhubaneswar         0 Ratni and Bunu, two small children of remote Khadang village in Nuapada district, were having lunch with their mother in front of their house.The food consisted of only rice mixed with water. There was no curry. Nor was anything added to the rice, not even salt. Ehen asked what curry they were taking; their answer was “Abgi” which means “simply rice.”Further, they revealed that they had not eaten curry for more than a month. There are over 100 such people in Khadang village for whom curry is not their cup of tea. Rice is affordable because it is available for `1 per kg, but curry is unthinkable, given the high prices of vegetables. The only source of income for the people of Khadang, which is located in the Sunabeda plateau bordering Chhatishgarh, is bamboo basket weaving. These poor basket weavers belong to a triba...