Art.21 not applicable to Kolam Adivasis of Pataguda?
Yesterday (17 August 2024) after visiting Pataguda (Taluka Jivti, District Chandrapur) I felt that Art.21 of the Indian Constitution which ensures the Fundamental Right to Life with Dignity is not applicable in this tiny hamlet of Kolam Adivasis. Why else would the people live such a life of deprivation and poverty? Whose fault is it that the government which can land Chandrayaan on the dark side of the moon, is not able to ensure basic human existence to Adivasi children?
Pataguda has 24 households of Kolam Adivasis. The total population is less than 100, between 80 and 90. Around thirty years ago they used to live in Kusumbi, but Manikgad Cement Factory started limestone mining in the vicinity of the village and the Adivasis were forced to flee because of the blasting. Those who fled went in different directions – some went to Sitaguda others to Nandappa, and a few started living in the present location – Pataguda.
In Pataguda, not a single child I saw was well-nourished, none of them had proper clothes, education is out of question.
There is no Anganwadi – the children are expected to go to Panditguda which is around 3 kilometers away. And the roads are bad. No three year old or four year old can walk to Anganwadi on that road twice a day, and so not a single child has seen the face of Anganwadi. Once a week or fortnight, the helper comes to Pataguda distribute khichadi, nothing beyond that. Also, she comes only if she has time and no other more important work.
We made a list of 19 children under the age of 5 years who have a right to attend Anganwadi – if only the government would provide them one. Why can’t the administration provide at least a mini-anganwadi in Pataguda? Is it so difficult?
A few years back, 14 houses were sanctioned under a government housing scheme Adim (Kolam) Gharkul Yojana of the Tribal Development Department which provides Rs.1.30 lakhs to each beneficiary. Two non-Adivasi contractors were supposed to construct the houses, but instead of providing livable quarters, both have duped the Adivasis of lakhs of Rupees. The rampant corruption is visible before our eyes.
The houses don’t have flooring, they don’t have roofs. The rooms don’t have windows – they are like prison cells or worse because even prison cells have windows – how can human beings live here that too in temperatures that cross 45 degrees in summer? There is absolutely no concept of ventilation.
Not a single bathroom/toilet has a door, not a single soak-pit is constructed.
The brick walls are falling apart, there is not an inch of proper plastering. There are broken boards where the electricity meter was never installed.
People work on small plots of land, migration in search of livelihood is common. People work as wage labourers or saalgadis on other people’s farms.
In the past nobody has ever held Manikgad Cement Factory accountable for the injustice inflicted on the Adivasis of Kusumbi. That story continues today. Nobody is held accountable for the skinny, malnourished children without Anganwadi. Nobody is held accountable for the poor quality housing that will soon fall down. Nobody is held accountable for the foodgrain that does not reach them, which is supposed to be distributed at their doorsteps under the Public Distribution System. Nobody is held accountable for the purposeless water posts embedded in the ground which have neither pipes nor taps.
What will it take to wake up the administration?
- Paromita Goswami
