A tale of 2 hapless kids in Nuapada

Saturday, 01 June 2019 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA

 

 

Gura and Kadli, five and three years old, respectively, belong to Mandal Pakhan hamlet of Armala village in Nuapada district. They hardly remember their father Rupsingh, who deserted them in November last and migrated to a brick kiln in Madhapur near Hyderabad with three of his elder children to earn a livelihood.
They do not even remember their mother, who succumbed to her chronic illness that started during her stay in a brick kiln in Hyderabad. The kids are now under the care of Rajman, the elder brother of Rupsingh.
“These are my younger brother’s daughters; their mother died when the younger one was breastfeeding. They are now under my care as their father deserted them and migrated to a brick kiln in Madhapur near Hyderabad,” informs Rajman. Rajman has his own children, five in numbers, but he didn’t have any complaint, despite poverty, in taking care of the deserted kids of his brother.
However, he feels that things would be better if the Government provided a little support for the children in terms of a ration card that has not been provided to the kid’s parents as none of them had AADHAAR registration.
Mandal Pakhan hamlet is located at a distance of three km from the main village Armala in Gorla Panchayat under Sinapali block. Neither the BDO nor the Block level child protection officer of Sinapali block was aware of the destitution of the girls, until the matter was informed to them by mediapersons.
“We came to know about the children from you, they will be taken care of,” they answered. In the meantime the Sarpanch of the Panchayat, Dilip Majhi provided twenty kilo of rice, one kilo of dal, onion and some pieces of soaps to Rajman.
Mandal Pakhan hamlet has ten households with a population of about forty. Eleven persons of the hamlet are now working in different brick kilns in Peddapalli and Madhapur areas near Hyderabad. None of them has been registered as migrant labouers according to inter-State Migration Act. The kith and kin of the migrants here do not know much about the working place or the employers. The only thing they know is the name of the labour contractors (Sardar), and not even there address.
All the household in Mandal Pakhan belong to Paharia-Kamar community who are recognized by the Chhatishgarh and Madhay Pradesh Governments as one of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG), but are OBC in Odisha. Major source of income for this unrecognized tribal group is basket weaving. “Bamboo is not available nearby; it takes long time to get it from distance,” says Rajman indicating that the craft that once provided them living is no more viable. “We need work to earn a living but it is not available here, that’s why we are forced to send our people to the brick kiln,” adds Rajman.
“What the situation of the people in Mandal Pakhan hamlet reveals is the marginalisation the Paharia-Kamar community is facing. “It is simply the failure of the Government to address the real issue of this community. Nothing has been done to improve the livelihood security of the Paharia people. Recognising their demand for tribal status would be the first step towards changing the situation,” tells scribe Tapan Dash.