Is this our destiny????…....

My life starts at 6 am in the morning and after getting fresh I get some rice (Basi Bhata-Balance rice of last day) to eat. Then I go to the nearby forest for collecting fuel wood for our house. This work gets over by 9am and usually I collect one bundle (penda) wood which can be used for three/four days. But I have to go for the wood collection daily as this will help us to keep a stock for rainy season. After coming back to house again I take rice with some curry as my lunch-it works for the whole day. Then I start my real job that is grazing the cattle. This work usually starts at 10 am and ends by 6 pm in the evening. In the forest I collect a lot of berry as per the season; Amla, Bara, Sasan, Kata, Sar koli, Amar koli, Kata koli, kendu, Ban Tunduri, Abka Tunduri, Kukur lengdi and these are my food for the whole day. If in between the cattle enter any body’s field then that field’s owner scold like anything. I feel very bad at that point time. After coming back from the grazing fields I take again rice, and curry. Now my work is over and I am free now. So, if there is any cultural programs like; film, TV program in the village or nearby village then I go to watch that.

But my work structure is not limited to this. During the harvest season I go for harvesting and carrying the crop. Usually I get Rs.25/- for this. But I give half of the amount to my father, who used to drink and enjoy out of that. My female counter parts give all their income to their mother, and they usually get rs20/- per day. Ganga adds to this by saying that if it rains we face much difficulty while grazing, as the cattle start to run here and there and we have to control them. And for this we have to run like mad behind them. During the time of maize, we (he and other children like him) watch the maize field and save it from Beer.

This is the story of two children of Sindhiguda and Dangakund village of Kudumukluguma block of Malkangiri district of Orissa. Their age is 10- 11 years and they belongs to a tribal community known as Bhumiya and Gadaba. The story does not end with Mukunda and Ganga. The district statistics shows around 15930 are out of school children. But it is unanimously accepted that the figure is under reported as the exact number of dropout is quite high.

Malkangiri as a District, is going to complete 16th year of its existence, was craved out from the erstwhile Koraput District of Orissa on 2nd Oct’1992. It was a Taluk in Nabarangpur subdivision of the then undivided Koraput district till 31st December, 1991.It was declared as a Subdivision with effect from 1st Jaunary, 1992 after the initiation of Dandakaranya Development Project in the area. Consequent upon the bifurcation of Koraput District, it got the District status.

The Koya and Kondha are the dominant Tribe of this district. Bonda and Didayee are the Primitive tribes, and Bonda is the most primitive one and is known as the wildest & rudest among all. The Gadbas live permanently in large villages mixed with other tribes & Caste groups. The Holuva came to this region from Baster District of Chhatisgarh State. The Bhumia, Matia, Dharua and Paraja are the other major Tribal groups found here. The concentration of tribal population is very high in three blocks Viz. Khairput, Kudumulugumma and Mathili.
The district is having the lowest literacy in the state i.e. 31.26 (Source: District Statistical Hand Book-2001, Malkangiri). The female literacy rate is quite negligible. Child labour is a very alarming issue of this district. One can find both seasonal and full time child labour in the district. The district statistics shows a very low figure but in each and every village one can find at least 10% of the children are engaged in work; it may be in house hold work or outside work. Usually children are engaged in hotels, grazing work, household work and agriculture work. As the district has not much hazardous venue the children are quite free from it. But in some part children are engaged in Bidi making.

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