With Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister in the Narendra Modi government with Railways, Communications and Electronics, and Information Technology portfolios, scheduled to criss-cross Odisha’s Koraput, Balangir and Kalahandi (KBK) region this week, the unsettled debate on poverty has come under sharp focus yet again.
As per the itinerary of Mr. Vaishnaw’s whirlwind outreach visit, he would attend 115 meetings in six Lok Sabha constituencies in seven districts of undivided Koraput, Balangir and Kalahandi that formed the KBK region.
Though the visit is part of the ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ planned by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to introduce its new Central Ministers to the people, it assumes importance ahead of panchayat polls in the State in which both Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal and its principal challenger BJP will be locked in a keen contest. The next rural polls are scheduled in early 2022.
To address acute poverty and backwardness in the KBK region covering 47,646 sq. km with a sizeable tribal population, a special programme was mooted during the prime ministership of P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1992-93. A meagre allocation of ₹20.49 crore was received as additional assistance during the first three years from 1995-96 to 1997-98. Due to insufficient fund, the programme could not take off.
From 1998-99, the Revised Long Term Action Plan (RLTAP) was implemented in the KBK districts. In the next 13 years, ₹1,963.95 crore was received from the Central government. Again in 12th five-year plan (2012–17), ₹1,250 crore (₹250 crore per year) was approved.
Just one day before the model code of conduct for 2017 panchayat election came into force, the National Democratic Alliance government released special assistance of the pending ₹367.93 crore (part of ₹1,250 crore) for KBK region.
Most of these districts were later included in aspirational districts programme aimed at effecting quick transformation by converging both Central and State government schemes.
Despite focused intervention in 25 years, the region appears to have not come out of the poverty and backwardness. The female literacy in most districts except Rayagada has remained below 50%. Percentage of stunted children under six years has been around 40% in these districts. Similarly, average percentage of habitations with access to all-weather roads under Prime Minister Gramya Sadak Yojna has been around 74%. While lowest 45.22% villages having all-weather roads under PMGSY are found in Malkangiri, Balangir has 100% coverage.
Developmental indicators
Most of these districts still lag in various developmental indicators such as health, education, agriculture and water resource, financial inclusion and skill development and basic infrastructure.
“The situation on ground is much worse than that of reports being submitted to NITI Aayog. In undivided Koraput districts, children have lost education in the two consecutive academic sessions without internet connectivity. Prior to the pandemic, large-scale vacancies in teachers’ posts had badly affected primary school education,” said Biswajit Bhoi, an assistant professor in economics department in Central University of Odisha, Koraput.
Mr. Bhoi pointed out, “though it was difficult to connect every habitation with all-weather roads given the difficult geographical terrain of KBK region, 25-year was too long period to achieve any goal.”
Distress migration
Pamalochan Verma, a Nuapada-based academician, said “every year thousands of people undertake distress migration from KBK region. It is all for survival. If situation had really improved, this would not be happening.”
Of the four Lok Sabha constituencies that fall in the jurisdiction of the KBK region, the BJP has won two seats while the Congress and Biju Janata Dal have one seat apiece. The BJP sees an opportunity to make inroad in the region to consolidate its position ahead of panchayat election.
Mr. Vaishnaw, who has been elected to Upper House of Parliament from Odisha and has worked for a brief period as District Collector in the State, is scheduled to make night-halts at Koraput and Kalahandi on August 20 and 21 respectively.He would meet citizens’ associations and intellectuals, apart from BJP party cadres. He is likely to receive a number of representations regarding improvement in railway connectivity, including 30-year-old ongoing Khordha-Balangir railway project.
Social scientists, activists and intellectuals say that while the Naveen Patnaik government lays emphasis on some big-ticket projects in the region, the improvement in basic lifestyle of people in villages is yet to be noticed.
While launching various development projects worth ₹2,085 crore, including mega irrigation project on Indravati River in Kalahandi earlier this year, the Odisha Chief Minister had said the district was no longer a laboratory to study poverty.
As far as access to health is concerned, the State government comes up with clarification that the district headquarter towns of Kalahandi, Balangir and Koraput have medical colleges, which could not be imagined a few years ago.
However, primary and community health centres in the region have been functioning with inadequate or without doctors. It continues to be a challenge to carry a serious patient from interior pockets to a hospital.
