Women in agriculture suffer due to unequal land rights

Although they are often the actual cultivators, the lack of land rights among women farmers in Odisha has resulted in chronic distress because they are unable to get government loans or compensation over crop loss

Since her husband migrated out of Odisha for work, it fell upon Remati Majhi (25) of Dhamnaguda village in Nuapada district to cultivate rice in the fields owned by her husband. But she could neither avail any government loan nor insure the crop because she didn’t have title over the land. So, she had no option but to arrange the required resources through private moneylenders.

Warning for Odisha Govt: 56K Adolescent Girls Drop Out of School

Two ministries of the Odisha government are at loggerheads over the dropout rate of ‘adolescent girls’ from school, in the state. Last week, based on a baseline survey, the department of Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti (WCD-MS) claimed that nearly 56,000 girls, in the age group of 11-14, are out of school.

Chronic Kidney Disease Plagues Rural Odisha, but Why?

At 47, G Dharma Rao of Badaputi village in Chhatrapur block of Odisha’s Ganjam district suddenly finds himself becoming a burden on his family. He was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) two years ago. Dharma is now unable to do any work and is undergoing dialysis in a Bhubaneswar hospital twice a week.

“We have already spent over 5 lakh rupees for his treatment by taking hand loans from relatives and others at an interest of 2 percent/month,” said G Aimma (42), Dharma’s wife.

11 Yrs Later, Govt Washes Hands Off Kalinga Nagar Tribals’ Deaths

Eleven years after the police firing in Kalinga Nagar of Odisha’s Jajpur district where a dozen tribal people and a police personnel died at the spot, the communities were hammered again when the report submitted by the commission of inquiry under retired High Court Justice Pradyumna Kumar Mohanty did not indict any government official for it.

The incident took place on 2 January 2006, when trigger-happy police sprayed bullets against people agitating against land acquisition for the TATA Steel project.

Abandoned Niyamgiri villages tell sad tale of wholesale migration

Five abandoned villages in the Niyamgiri hills that have now been reclaimed by the forest indicate a complete failure of governance and lack of the state’s reach and action among the Dongria Kondh indigenous people

After walking nearly 7 km from the road head, you would reach a place on the banks of Panimunda stream in Muniguda administrative block of Odisha’s Rayagada district, where Ankurbali village once used to exist. On the slopes of lower Niyamgiri hills, the place is now a part of the forest with no remnants visible today. Till a decade ago, people of the Dongria Kondh tribe inhabited the village.

Although revenue records and voter lists still mention Ankurbali, the village no longer exists. At least four other neighbouring villages of Umbesi, Uchukumba, Haimandi and Dahli under the Shibapadar gram panchayat (village council) of Muniguda block do not exist physically.

Poverty and surplus fund situation go hand-in-hand in Odisha

Keeping in view the claim of Odisha Government about the apathetic attitude of Indian federal government towards the issues relating to poverty, regional imbalance and disparity in Odisha and, on the other hand, CAG’s report placing the government at fault for slow implementation of programmes and a commercial focus about utilisation of surplus deposit, one can see how poverty is made to exist in the state with a surplus fund for welfare programmes