layman's space

Lakhman Jagat of Kuliadongri village in Nuapada district died early in the morning of 25, October. The village belongs to Karanbaheli Panchayat under Sinapali block of the district. He was 25 years of age. “My son died of starvation” says the 80 year old mother of Lakhman, who was totally dependent upon Lakhman for her livelihood. Lakhman has three brothers, who are living under the same roof but are separate families. The BPL card owned by their parents is the only precious thing they possess. They get 30 kgs of rice and distribute that among themselves. The BPL card shows that, they have not received PDS rice for last 5 months. Lakhman got ill last month and was unable to work. As he stopped working, it became difficult for him to feed the family consisting of his wife, small child and his mother. So his wife went to Raipur with the little child to search for livelihood. Lakhman was regularly going to Raipur to pull rickshaw to maintain the family till last year. He proposed Bel...

The children registered in the Anganwadi Centre of Belpada village of Lanji Panchayat under Khariar block of Nuapada district have not received their SNP for last one month. The Anganwadi centres are even not supplying the morning snacks. Officials in the CDPO office say, “the stock registers shows that, food materials were available in this centre upto last week.” The helper says, “the stock exhausted last month and in spite of our request the office is not supplying materials.” In Matritarei village of the same Panchayat, the Anganwadi worker has managed the SNP through borrowing. “We have to borrow like this for at least two months in a year”, most of the AWWs in the block say. Most centres have stopped supplying morning snacks due to non-payment of dues of the SHGs. The SHGs are managing this out of their own fund but the expenses have not been reimbursed regularly in many cases. The Self Help Group of Belgaon and Matritarei have stopped supplying snacks for last three to four ...

“We will not allow the administration to spend IAP fund to construct the road to our village, if our demands are not fulfilled. We have two demands, the first is – allocate fund for drinking water, health, education and irrigation and second is spend not less than 60 lakh for the construction of the road as promised earlier” say the villagers of Pathdarha and Kathphar of Boden block in Nuapada district, Orissa.. These villages are located on a plateau at 3000 ft. altitude considered to be ‘infested’ by Nuxals. There are 21 small hamlets with a total of more than 2000 tribal households in these two villages. As there is no road, the villagers have to track down the hills to fetch rice and other requirements. “The administration had promised us to spend Rs.60 lakh for the construction of road but only 25 lakh has been allocated. The district administration is biased in distributing this fund. They say that the fund is for Nuxal area development but maximum amount have been allocated to ...

Nuapada district is one of the 19 districts in the State, where PLO (Poor Left Out) cards are being distributed to poor people who were not included in the BPL list.  The Supreme Court had passed an order on May 14, 2011 based on a writ petition to identify poor persons/families in 150 districts of India for distribution of additional food grain at BPL rate. “As a result of the SC order, more than 6.04 lakh poor left out households in the State are now entitled to get 350 kg of rice at the prescribed rate per month starting from November 2011 up to August 2012. It would be provided in three phases,” said State adviser to Supreme Court Commissioner on food rights Rajkishor Mishra. The distribution of cards and rice is now in the process. Nuapada district has been allocated 6,824 cards in total. But what is happening at ground level in the district during the allotment of the card as well the rice? “I paid Rs1,000 to our Sarpanch to get the card. To add to my misery, the ...

When tons of grains are rotting in the go downs of India, the poor villagers in Sardhapur village of Nuapada district are deprived of their right to BPL grains. It is a matter of great surprise and concern that forty four BPL house holds of Ward Number 8 of Sardhapur Panchayat in Khariar block have not been provided the BPL cards although they are enlisted as BPL in the 1997 BPL list (Page 92 of the list). The villagers have reported that they have been deprived of their rights and benefits for last 10 years.   These villagers have requested the block and the DRDA officials time and again about this but no one has listened to them. It is difficult to understand why the concerned officials have failed to address such an urgent issue. Who is responsible / accountable for such insensible action ?   Forty out of the total neglected households belong to two Adivasi groups (Gond and Paharia). You ask the people and they will answer – “the government officials are snatching our da...