Odisha: CPI(M) Holds Padayatra of Tribal People in Malkangiri
Ali Kishor Patnaik
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RESPONDING to the call of the CPI(M) in Malkangiri district, the southern-most adivasi-dominated district of Odisha, 400 tribal youth donning red T-shirts and cape marched in a padayatra of 170 kilometres. The padayatra started on February 12 from Janbai and culminated at Malkangiri, the district headquarters, on February 20.
Janbai is an area within the Chitrakonda reservoir in the ‘Swabhiman Anchal’, the erstwhile cutoff area encompassing 151 villages of nine gram panchayats surrounded by water from three sides. The reservoir was constructed across the river Sileru for an hydroelectric project. The work on a new bridge to the area known as ‘Guru Priya Setu’ was started in 2015 and completed in 2018, but it has not brought in much change in the life of the people of the villages. However, the new road connectivity has made it easier for villagers to migrate to other states in search of work in hundreds. This was evident from the hundreds of people, mainly the youth aged between 18 and 30 years, voluntarily joining the padayatra at the call of the CPI(M). They wanted to show a mirror of reality to the central and state governments. Fifty girls were also part of the padayatra from the beginning to the end. Hundreds of tribal people adorned in traditional attire and accompanied by drum beats gathered at Janbai to start the padayatra.
On January 9, an airport was inaugurated in the tribal-dominated Malkangiri district. The Odisha government claimed that it will transform the lives of the people of the region. But most people living in this remote pocket of this underdeveloped district languish under extreme poverty. They have neither any land nor work even at low wages. The cost of a bus ticket to Bhubaneswar, forget about air tickets, is more than what a person earns in a month. The high-flying dreams shown by the ruling political parties like the BJP and the BJD are aimed at blinding the downtrodden and the deprived classes so that they do not look at the causes of the problems looming over their lives. The only way to bring the real problems and issues of the people living in an underdeveloped district like Malkangiri is not a “helicopter yatra” of political leaders but a padayatra with the local people. With this in mind, the CPI(M) Malkangiri district organised the 170-km-long padayatra through remote regions of Malkangiri district to meet people and learn about the basic issues facing them. Ali Kishor Patnaik, Malkangiri district secretary of the CPI(M) Braja Majhi, Gajalmamudi sarpanch Balaram Golari, Raghunath Hantal, and Bhupesh Karmakar led the padayatra.
Before the padayatra, an extensive campaign, including postering, distribution of leaflets and village-level meetings, was held. House-to-house collection of funds and items such as rice, ragi and vegetables was done. Hundreds of people along the route and in many villages welcomed the padayatra and donated rice, vegetables, etc. Cooking arrangements were made in 18 places with the help of locals. Thirty-six meetings were held enroute.
This nine-day-long padayatra passed through Chitrakonda, Balimela, Gumma, Khairaput, Gobindapali, Mathili, and Pandripani, before reaching the district headquarters of Malkangiri on February 20. The participants of the padayatra as well as hundreds of others demonstrated in front of the office of the Malkangiri district collector and handed over a memorandum with demands related to life and livelihood of tribals and dalits.
The key demands include the reversion of the recent Forest Act amendment by the Narendra Modi government; empowerment of gram sabhas through the framing of PESA, 1996 Rule by the Odisha government; securing 10 acres of forest land under the Forest Rights Act 2006; safeguarding tribal land from encroachment by the forest department; provision of land to traditional forest inhabitants under the Forest Rights Act, and reintroducing social impact assessment in public hearings. The other demands included implementation of a stringent system for reclaiming tribal lands occupied by non-tribals, granting of land and house site pattas to all impoverished homeless people residing on government land and house sites, guaranteeing 200 work-days per year with an increased daily wage of Rs 600 under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), pension of Rs 3,000 per month for the elderly, widows and differently abled individuals, establishing an MSP of Rs 3,000 for paddy procurement and also procurement of paddy from sharecroppers.
During the padayatra, interactions with the local residents showed that silently in tacit manner the rights of the tribals are being snatched away by the ruling parties. “Living in abject poverty, embroiled in day-to-day problems, and tribals being motivated by the ruling political parties not to think of their rights” were the observations. The infrastructure development in Malkangiri district like some major roads as well as the airport seem to be aimed at benefiting the corporate sector interested in exploiting the resources of the region at the cost of life and livelihood of the local tribals and laws are also amended in their favour by the Narendra Modi government at the centre and the Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha.
It is lamented that while the government could spend Rs 70 crore on the Malkangiri airport, it has not yet made any efforts to build check dams at a cost of a few lakh rupees on streams in panchayats of ‘Swabhiman Anchal’ to provide irrigation and drinking water to the people. Communication is still a problem in remote areas of Malkangiri district, felt the CPI(M) leaders who took part in the padayatra. At a time when ruling parties are more and more engaging with publicity overdrive, the real problems of the masses are completely ignored. This padayatra has created an atmosphere to rouse the people of the area to fight for their rights.
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