Odisha's Kondh women lead a kitchen revolution in their backyards

Overcoming taboos and becoming more knowledgeable about abundant local foods, malnourished Kondh people in Odisha are bringing diversity to their food baskets through backyard kitchen gardens

Kaikeyi Majhi of Kalahandi's Kamegaon village irrigates
her kitchen garden. © Basudev Mahapatra

“Unless we consume a variety of foods that include vegetables and greens, pulses and legumes, and meat and fish along with rice, where will we get adequate nutrition? How can our children have proper physical and cognitive growth?” asked Golapi Kanhar.

The question from Golapi Kanhar (35) of remote Kasirikhol village in Kandhamal district, a Kondh woman with primary education, reflects increasing awareness about nutrition and food diversity within the community.

Odisha’s tribal women discard tradition to space out childbirths

Odisha’s tribal women, suffering the adverse health effects of childbirths in quick succession combined with strenuous agricultural and household work, are breaking community norms to use contraceptives

© Basudev Mahapatra

Rita Mandal (34) of Bali Sahi, a hamlet under Dhepaguda panchayat of Gajapati district inhabited by Saora tribes, gave birth to five children, of which three died. Though a series of pregnancies without interval led to ill health, she felt helpless because women of her community had no choice regarding pregnancy

Similar were the cases of Sumitra, Sebati, Sugami and most other women between 30 and 40 years of age. Pregnancies without space led to ill health of most of these women. “Due to physical weakness, it was painful for me to go to the forest to collect firewood and other forest produce or work in my family farm,” said Arati Raita (32), mother of three children.

Resilience, diversity in focus as Bhubaneswar tries to restore trees lost to Fani

Photograph: Citizen Matters/ Basudev Mahapatra

Restoration of Ansupa Lake brightens wetland conservation hopes

Photograph: Mongabay India/ Basudev Mahapatra

Can Bhubaneswar’s smart city infrastructure withstand summer heat stress?

Photograph: Citizen Matters/ Basudev Mahapatra

Cyclone Fani in early May was one more reminder for Bhubaneswar of its vulnerability to extreme weather events, and the massive damage to urban infrastructure that such events could bring about, even in an upcoming ‘smart’ city.

Fani left Bhubaneswar in shambles in its trail, with uprooted trees all around falling on roads and buildings, disrupting major services like supply of water and electricity as well as Internet connectivity. Life in the city remained miserable for weeks. Last year too, life in the city had been severely disrupted, as it almost went under water following unusually heavy rainfall of nearly 200 mm in a day.