Ot 25072 Koraput

Cluster development plan –Koraput cluster OAC Report
CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT PLAN – KORAPUT CLUSTER
1. BACKGROUND
CCF India has been working in India for more than 50 years for the well being of children in
India. Till now it has been providing funds to the grass root NGOs to undertake various child
related issue. As part of its strategic plan in 2001 it is now trying to change its development
approach, which addresses both the causes and effects of child poverty in a holistic &
sustainable manner and have a visible impact in a wider area. Another observation of CCF
India is that most of the poverty pockets in India are inter state districts, a set of district,
which are considered interior by all the concerned states and hence neglected by all of them.
Demographically such districts are also seen as predominantly tribal district. With this
backdrop CCF India wants to carry out a thorough study of one such “ interior pocket “, tri-
junction districts of Chattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh around Koraput district of
Orissa.
2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
• To undertake a through study of one poverty cluster by :
o Identifying a contiguous patch of poor district / block/ talukas
o Understanding the demographic characteristics.
o Observing developmental challenges faced by the community including
understanding their livelihood pattern
o Understanding available natural-physical-human-market resource of the area
o Identifying various developmental agencies operating in the area.
o Analyzing issues facing children
• To recommend an intervention strategy for CCF India
• To recommend any potential risks of operating in the cluster.
2.1 Selection of area:

According to CCF India’s study and as documented in “Future Vision – We shall overcome”,
Koraput is the third least developed in Orissa. Where Malkangiri is the least developed
district and Nabarangpur comes in the second position. But as per the tri-junction theory,
PRM 25 1/39 C. Kausik

Malkangiri would be the optimum area. In term of absolute number of tribal population
Koraput comes ahead of Malkangiri district (521849 and 246214; 1991). During the period of
1965-1990, destruction of forest was maximum in Koraput district, more than 52 percent.
Ecological balance at Koraput district is at the dwindling position and need immediate
attention. So, attention was given to explore the issues faced by tribals in the context of
Koraput district. At the same time, the issues affecting the tribal population in Malkangiri
district also have been taken into consideration.
3. METHODOLOGY:
Both primary and secondary data had been collected for the purpose of the study. In the
research process, effort was made to understand the effects and causes of child poverty, in the
context of Koraput. For this five villages from different blocks were selected on Judgmental
basis, which would reflect the scenario at Koraput and Malkangiri. Four villages were
completely tribal villages and another one mixture of both tribal and SC. Again villages were
selected in such a way that its people represent a mixture of settled cultivator, shifting
cultivator, forest collector, migrant labourer and landless wage labourer. I had separate
discussion with different groups of men, women, youth and children. Other related data was
collected from various secondary sources like:
• Discussion with NGOs

• Discussion with grass root staffs
• Discussion with government officials
• Discussion with research centre
• Various literatures
• Internet
3.1 Limitations of study
• As the study was restricted to the five villages the observation might not be
representative of all the villages in the district. The reason being that there is a vast
physiographic difference prevailing between the different regions.

• The limited time available for the study was a constraint in conducting a much more
comprehensive and in depth study.
• Due to lack of proper documentation by NGOs, their experience could not be shared
in effective way.
• As interpreter’s help was sought during collection of primary data, it may cause some
loss of data due to communication gap.
4. KORAPUT DISTRICT
4.1 Introduction
Koraput is the homeland of many primitive tribes who have been living as they lived many
thousand years ago. Yet it is accepting newcomers of the latest development. Indeed Koraput
is a museum of old and new in nature and human endeavour. The undivided Koraput district
has the distinction of being India’s largest electricity generating district. In 1992 the old KBK
districts were divided into smaller districts. The erstwhile Koraput district was divided into
four viz. Koraput, Rayagada, Nawrangpur and Malkangiri. And among these all are tribal
districts. Koraput district is classified under the 5th schedule of the constitution and PESA act
to safe guard the rights and interest of tribal people.
4.2 History
The district of Koraput derives its name from its headquarters at the present town of Koraput.
In ancient times when the Nalas were ruling over this tract, Pushkari near modern Umarkot
was the capital city. In the medieval period Nandapur developed as the capital under the
Silavamsi kings and sometimes under the kings of the solar dynasty. Viravikrama Deo of the
solar dynasty shifted his headquarters to Jeypore about the middle of the 17th century and
this town prospered as the capital. Koraput was chosen by the British in 1870 for better health
prospects. The origin of the name of Koraput is obscure. There are several theories, none of
which is convincing. According to Mr. R.C.S.Bell the name of the town is ‘Kora-Putti’ or
“the hamlet of the nux-vomica” and it is derived presumably from a tree or trees that must at
one time have been prominent near the site. But today not a singly tree of nux-vomica is to be
found near about the town of Koraput and so the assumption or Mr. Bell is open to question.

According to second theory, Koraput is corrupted form of ‘Karaka pentho’ Karaka literally
mans ‘hail-stone’. It is also believed that one ‘Khora Naiko’ laid foundation of the village
during the time of Nandapur kings. He hailed probably from Ranpur and served under the
Nandapur kings in the Militia, and for his faithful and meritorious services he was permitted
to establish this village which was named after him as Khora Putu, and later on the name has
been abbreviated to ‘Koraput’.
4.3 Location
Koraput is one of the southernmost districts of Orissa state. Its boundaries extend in the
north to the boundaries of Nawarangpur, Kalahandi and Rayagada districts, in the south to
Andhra Pradesh, in the west to Malkangiri district and Bastar district of Chhattisgarh and in
the east to Rayagada district and Andhra Pradesh.
4.4 Physiography
The hill system of the district is a section of the great line of the Eastern Ghats. The highest
peak, Deomali (5486 ft.) occurs in the 3000 ft. plateau and is the highest in Orissa. There are
many outstanding peaks in this plateau and in other tablelands, the most notable ones being
Turia Konda (5244 ft.), Polamakani Parbat (5201 ft.), Karnapadi Konda (4921 ft.).
The district is classified into three agro-climatic zones viz. “Eastern ghat high land” covering
Koraput Sub-division and Kotpad block and “South-Eastern ghat” covering Jeypore,
Boriguma, Baipariguda and Kundra blocks and the “Low lying hills and valleys” i.e.
Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon blocks.
Forests found in the district are of the northern tropical semi-evergreen type. Teak and sal are
predominantly found in these forests.
4.5 Climate and Rivers
Koraput district falls within the region of cyclonic disturbances of Bay of Bengal. Storms
accompanied by heavy rains frequently occur during monsoons. Sometimes it causes
overflowing of the banks and damages the crops in the valleys. The district also suffers from
severe droughts caused by failure of rains in some years and other types of natural calamities.

Table: 1 Normal and actual rainfall in Koraput district
Rainfall
Normal 1521.8 mm
Actual
1994 1605.0 mm
1995 1491.4 mm
1996 1263.9 mm
1997 1293.4 mm
1998 1287.5 mm
Source: DRDA, Koraput
The district is drained westward into the basin of the Godawari through the tributaries,
Indravari, Kolab and Machkund. Guradi and Patal are the other Nala/ streams of this district.
4.6 Land area
The district has an area of 8807.0 sq km. As per 2000-2001 statistics a total 52,279-hectare
forest including reserve forest, demarcated forest and other forest is there. Boipariguda block
has the highest forest coverage (17,648 hectare.). Net sown area in the district is 2,40,897
hectare. Whereas 2,19,506 hectare land i.e. 91 % of net sown area is under cultivable waste,
barren and uncultivable and fallow land1. Studies indicate that between 1965-1990, the
highest loss of forest in Orissa was in Koraput 55 percent. (Table: 3)
4.7 Administrative Set Up
Koraput district is at present comprised of two sub-divisions, seven Tahasils, fourteen

Community Development Blocks, fourteen Tribal blocks and 226 Grama Panchayats. It has
five towns and 1997 villages. (Table: 4)
1
Source: Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Orissa

Table. 2: Forest coverage in Koraput district
Forest
Reserve Forest 47,886.10 Ha
Demarcated Protected forest 97,338.64 Ha
Un-demarcated protected forest area 1,124.26 Ha
Unclassified forest area 88.11 Ha
Reserve Forest 41,541.21 Ha
Total 187,978.32 Ha
Table. 3 Land use pattern in Koraput district
Agriculture
Geographical area 8,37,930 Ha
Cultivable area 3,71,750 Ha
Cultivated area 3,20,000 Ha
Misc. Tree crops and Groves not included in Not area 12,010 Ha
shown
Permanent pasture and 38,880 Ha
Cultivable waste 24,420 Ha
Land put to non-agriculture 47,150 Ha
Barren and uncultivable Land 88,930 Ha
Irrigated land 84260 Ha

Table. 4: Administrative Units in district
Adm. Units No. Name

Revenue divisions 2 Jeypore, Koraput
Tahasils 7 Borigumma, Jeypore, Koraput,
Kotpad, Machhakund, Nandapur,
Narayanpatna
Municipalities 1 Jeypore
Notified Area Councils 3 Koraput, Kotpad, Sunabeda
Development blocks (with 14 Bandhugaon, Boipariguda,
HQ) Borigumma, Dasamanthapur,
Jeypore, Koraput, Kotpad,
Kundra, Lamtaput, Laxmipur,
Nandapur, Narayanpatna,
Potangi, Semilliguda
Panchayats 226
4.8 Communication System
A railway line, called the D.B.K. Railway, originates from Bailladila in Chhattisgarh (District
Bastar) and terminates at Kottavalsa Railway Junction on the main Howrah-Chennai Railway
line has been opened to traffic. The length of this line within Koraput district is
approximately 100 miles. It contains 17 railway stations within the district. The headquarters
of the district, namely, Koraput town is served by Vizianagaram Railway Station, which falls
in Andhra Pradesh from where road communication through regular bus service is maintained
with this town. The principal road in this district is the one, which connects Jeypore with
Vizianagaram. This road is a part of the National Highway No. 43 and it extends to
Chhattisgarh border passing via Jeypore and Borigumma. There are in all 3 State Highways
running through this district, two of which are fair-weather roads and one, namely, State
Highway No.4 is the only all-weather road and this connects with Ganjam district. The
majority of the revenue roads are of fair-weather type. All the sub divisional headquarters
have all-weather roads.
4.9 Ethnic Diversities

52 types of tribal are inhabiting in the district of which Paraja, Kondha, Soura, Gadaba,
Halva, Bhumia, Koya, Kotia, Pentia, Bhatada are the primitive inhabitants in the district apart
from the SC sections of Dombo, Gonda, Kela, Madri, Mahuria, Pano, Relli, Siyal and Ghasi.
Majority of the tribal population speaks Kaya, Gadaba and Paraja languages. However Oriya
is mostly the functional medium of expression among all the sections in the society. Hindi
and Telugu are the other languages spoken in the district.
Table: 5 Different types of tribes inhibiting in different blocks
Types of Tribes
Block Tribal Inhabitants
Koraput Paraja,, Kondha
Semiliguda Paraja,, Kondha, Gadaba
Pottangi Paraja,, Kondha, Gadaba
Nandapur Kondha, Paraja,, Kohiya
Lamtaput Gadaba, Paraja,, Kondha
Dasmantapur Paraja,, Kondha
Laxmipur Kondha, Paraja,,
N.Patna Kondha
Bondhugam Kondha
Jeypore Paraja,, Gadaba, Bhumia
Borigumma Paraja,, Bhotra, Amanatya
Kotpad Bhotra, Dhurva
Boipariguda Bhumia, Paraja,, Dhurva
Kundra Bhumia, Paraja,, Bhotra, Kondha
Christianity and Islam as religion too are present in the district. Though Christianity as a
religion is expanding with the efforts of clerics in the tribal rural areas, Islam on the other
hand depends upon the population growth. The impact of these two religions though, is not
so predominant.

4.10 Festivals
Among the Kondhs, Koyas and Gadabas communal dances are observed on the occasion of
marriage and religious festivals. The greatest festival of the district is Dashara feast observed
at Jeypore. This festival is held in honour of Kanaka Durga (Golden Durga) whose temple is
situated within the palace. Sivaratri, Holi and the Ratha Jatra are among the other chief
festivals of the Hindus. And tribal people also fully participate in all these festivals.
5. DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE
The district has a population of about 12 million (Annexure-1). About 83.18% of the
population lives in rural areas. The villages are sparsely populated where average population
per village is less than 500. Density of population in the whole district is 134 per Sq. Km and
average family size is 4.14. There are 998 females per 1000 males while in rural areas this
ratio is 1009. Tribal population in the district is more than 50 percent (50.6) of the total
population where the SC population constitutes 13.41%. The literacy (Annexure-2) is as low
as 35.72%, the male and female literacy is 47.2% and 24.26% respectively. Gender gap in
literacy is as high as 30 percent in Koraput block.
84 percent of the total population is under below poverty line and majority of them are from
tribal population. The main occupation of the district is agriculture as 89 % of population
engaged in agriculture and allied activities.
6. INFRASTRUCTURE
6.1 Health:
According to the latest available data, Koraput district has 15 ICDS centres, 1342 Anganwadi
centres, 47 New PHCs, 9 PHCs, 4 CHCs, one sub-divisional hospital and a district hospital at
Koraput. Existing staff position of doctors in all these health centres of the district was 159.
Thus the average number of population covered per health centre according to 1999-2000
projected population at the district level is 17,010. The doctor population ratio is 1:7,061;

nurse population ratio is 1:17,888; and nurse doctor ratio is 1:2.3 2 (When we work out the
figures of geographical area covered by one health centre and one doctor, these are found to
be respectively 55.39 sq. km and 68.94 sq. km).
It is found that there exists a wide gap in the official data and the actual status of development
of health infrastructure in this region. The primary health centres and sub-centres in many
remote rural areas, during most part of the year run with a skeleton medical staff. Particularly
in the health sub-centres including ayurvedic and homeopathic dispensaries, the doctors and
pharmacists posted in the village run the health centre like their private clinics and that too
without maintaining any regular time table. The doctors and paramedical staff hailing from
the coastal region hardly prefer to stay in the tribal region even for a fortnight at a stretch.
ICDS workers as well as the other health workers including the ANMs instead of visiting
their field areas keep on sitting at home and they are well protected by their husbands and
other close relatives, who happen to be local political leaders of the region.
Table. 6 Govt. Medical Institutions in Koraput district (2004)3
Medical institution No. No. of beds

District Head quarters Hospital at Koraput 1 89
Sub-divisional hospital at Jeypore 1 76
Community health centres 4 34
Govt. hospital 4 26
Block PHC 9 54
Mini PHC 47 10
(Non-functioning-6)
Non functioning PHCs: 1. Oraberi (Lamtaput) 2. Dumbaguda ( Dasmantapur) 3. Tala Gumandi (N.Patna) 4.
Suku ( Koraput) 5. Chandaka ( Pottangi) 6. Keskapadi (Laxmipur)
Table. 7 Development Scenario of Health Sector (1999-2000)

2
http://www.nicd.org/Dst_Koraput.asp
3
Source: http://www.nicd.org/Dst_Koraput.asp

Districts Total Total no. of Total no. Avg. coverage per Avg. coverage
projected pop. health of health centres per doctor
2000 centres doctors Pop. Sq. km. Pop. Sq.
area km.
area
Koraput 1122685 66 159 17010 133.44 7061 55.39
Malkangiri 474395 39 84 12164 148.49 5648 68.94
Source: (i) Government of Orissa (2000). Economic Survey, 2000-2001,

(ii) Government of Orissa, Directorate of Health Services, Bhubaneswar.
6.2 Education
Apart from 1673 Govt. and 24 private primary schools, 20 special schools for the child labors
and 70 schools by NGOs are running in the district. Happily for the district, educational
infrastructure is found to good in terms of number of primary schools per lakh population as
well as the gross enrolment ratio of primary school children. The number of primary schools
per lakh population in Koraput district is 155. The gross enrolment ratio for primary school
children at the district level is 87 per cent as against 94.91 per cent at the all-Orissa level in
1998-99. However, probably due to worsening drop out scenario the gross enrolment of
children in the case of Koraput at the upper primary level (VI-VII) was only 11.32 per cent as
compared to 51.31 per cent at the state level. Further, enrolment of girl children both at
primary and upper primary level is much lower than the gross figures.
Table. 8 Development Scenario of Primary Education during 1998-99
Districts No. of No. of Average Coverage per Average Coverage per Teacher
Schools Teachers School
Student Sq. km. Student Sq. km. area
area
Koraput 1853 4381 54.51 4.75 23.05 2.01
Malkangiri 898 1962 80.18 6.45 36.70 2.95
Source: Government of Orissa, Directorate of Elementary Education, Bhubaneswar.
Table. 9 Enrolment Scenario of Students in Primary, Middle and Secondary Schools
Sl. Districts Projected Students enrolled per 1000 Average % of

No. population population literacy, (2001)
1998-99 Primary Middle Secondary
Koraput 1148393 87.95 11.32 7.84 36.20
Malkangiri 468564 153.66 19.21 8.54 31.26
Source: Government of Orissa, Directorate of Elementary Education, Bubaneswar.(1998-1999)

Needless to say, in the tribal region the quality of teaching and provision of physical
infrastructure are observed to be very poor. Mere existence of a primary school in official
record neither ensures increase in enrolment of children in 6-14 years age group nor the
prevention of large-scale dropouts among the poor children in tribal areas. In many cases
roofs are blown up by storm and those are left unrepaired for years together. It becomes
difficult for the children to sit inside the rooms during rainy season even in the concrete roof
structures due to poor quality of construction. The teachers do not come to school regularly
and in time. Almost every day the schools are found closed almost two hours before the
school time, usually after serving the mid-day meal to the children.
6.3 Drinking water facility
However, as shown earlier in the cases of health and education infrastructures mere creation
of facility may not ensure quality and accessibility across space and people. It is a known fact
that the droughts and water scarcity problem frequently affect the hilly and tribal pockets of
the districts during summer due to low deposit of ground water in the region. This led to
virtual drying up of wells, ponds and tube wells in the region. A war like situation develop in
many villages of the region to collect drinking water. Also, in some cases it has been
observed that the tube well goes out of order and are left non-repaired for months together.
The concerned govt. department neither imparts training to the community to take care of
modern infrastructure created in the village, nor does take prompt action in attending to
public grievances due to failure of the service system.
7. SOCIAL STRUCTURE
The habitation pattern in most tribal villages in the tribal pockets reflects the strong social
organisation in most tribal communities. Village leaders and elders, sometimes formally
organised in traditional village councils, are quite powerful in terms of internal cohesion and
jurisdiction. This leadership sometimes coexists with the statutory Panchayats where a
traditional village leader (naik and barik) is also Sarpanch and member of a Panchayat. Since
a Panchayat usually covers more than one village, authority in each tribal village is still
vested in the traditional tribal leaders and this is hereditary. But this authority of naik and
barik is gradually diminishing among the youth. Disari or gurumai is the traditional religious

leader who protects the community from evil spirit. Challan is responsible for arranging all
types of community meeting.
N a i k
&
B a r i k
D i s a r i
&
G u r u m a i
v i l l a g e r s
C h a l l a n
Fig. 1 social structure in tribal society
7.1 Status of Women

Tribal women play an active role in both household affairs and also in providing economic
input in some form or the other for survival of families. They contribute the major part of the
labour required for agriculture and collection of forest produce. In addition to this, they take
up wage labour whenever available. In social and household matters, the status of tribal
women is generally higher than that of non-tribals. They are often viewed by outsiders as
“strong” and “independent”. But their relative “freedom” and visibility is tied to a very heavy
work burden, and they usually have little influence on village level decision making. There is
a clear, and unequal, gender division of labour in shifting cultivation, with men doing the
land clearing and women doing all other agricultural operations.
8. LIVELIHOOD
8.1 Agriculture
As per Agricultural Census, Orissa (1995-96) 44 percent of tribals having land are marginal
farmers (<1 hectare) and 31 percent are small farmer (1-2 hectare). Again with fragmentation
of families each one ends up with a small patch of land. Land at the possession of tribals is
mostly at upper elevation (Dangar4 land). Due to large scale soil erosion land is full of stone,
4
Uphill land

pebbles and sand. Soil has hardly any water retention capacity. Even if it does not rain for 2-3
days the soil becomes dry. They get only 150-200 kg of rage or 50-100 kg of paddy from an
acre of dangar land. In the valley region or plain area, the yield of paddy per acre goes up to
15 quintal. But tribals possess hardly any such land.
Agricultural practices among the tribals are characterised by rain-fed annual cropping, both
on settled agricultural land and podu (shifting cultivation) land on the higher hill slopes. The
tribal farmers suffer frequently from drought and the crops fail in most of the years. Due to
undulating surface of land, the facilities of assured water supply could not be extended to
most of the uplands. People have to depend on rains and though there are canal near the
village in some areas, the lands tribals occupy are mostly on an upper elevation and it is of no
use to them. Because of their less risk taking ability and irregular supply of canal water
summer cultivation is a risky affair even for those who have canal irrigation facility.
Both shifting and settled agriculture are characterised by poor soil quality, traditional
technology, crop rotation, and fallow periods. Most settled agriculture is carried out on the
lower hill slopes, which are usually not included in the larger irrigation schemes. Cereal crops
are grown extensively. The land given to cultivation of cereal crops comprised 50.1 per cent
of the total cropped area of the district. Pulses were grown only in 3.5 per cent of the gross
cropped area. Among the cereal crops rice is grown extensively and it covers 44.8 per cent of
the district. Other Crops in this district are ragi, wheat, maize, gram including red gram,
sugar cane, groundnut, rapeseed and mustard. The common annual food crops grown by
tribals are paddy, millet, maize and pulses.
Sifting Cultivation has brought incalculable damage5 to the forest and is still regarded as a
severe threat to the existing forest cover. Locally it is known as “Podu Chas” or “Dongar
Chas”. Shifting cultivation refers to cutting and burning of the standing flora on the selected
land to grow crops on it. As the soil fertility decline after one cultivation, the cultivator
changes the land by selecting a new area. The land at the hill slope is less yielding and does
not support more than one crop in a year.
Produce from own land does not last beyond 6 months. Rest of the time they are totally
dependent upon wage labour, forest produce or borrowing. Inadequate rain or drought makes
5
This part will be dealt in details later in the report (para:10.2)

the situation worse. Food habit of people changes with season and availability of food.
During the months of October to January only they get rice two times a day. Rest of the time
they take more amount of mandia, a local soup made of ragi and collect kandha (roots) from
forest. With the depletion of forest this option is also becoming difficult day by day.
8.2 Wage labour

With the decline in output from forest produce, as well as shifting cultivation, tribals are
increasingly becoming dependent on seasonal wage labour, both as agricultural and unskilled
construction workers. Most of the farmers either have very little or no land at all6 (Table 10);
and both the group take up labour work to satisfy different degree of their livelihood need.
Over the years villagers have institutionalized a labour sharing system. It is called bhuti, a
derogatory word Oriyas use to denote a slavery-equivalent. A villager lands up at somebody’s
land. He is paid Rs. Ten for a day of work and given a free lunch of watered rice or plain rice
water. This system works for 2 months in the monsoon and 2 harvest months. At the rainy
season some landlord from other villages takes them in truckload to work in the agriculture
field and offer only Rs. 20 for a day. Cerebral malaria is rampant in this region. Those
affected by malaria, frequently remain incapacitated for at least 15 days a month, leading to
income loss.
Table. 10 Land holding pattern among tribal farmers
Marginal Small Semi Medium Large

(<1 hect) (1-2 hect) medium
No of operational Holding 37795 26800 15820 4765 730
Percentage of total No. of 44 31 18 5 1
operational holding
Source: District Statistical Handbook: Koraput 2001, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Bhubaneswar, Orissa
8.3 Migration
People in large number from rural areas every year migrate to Jeypore, Damanjori,
Malkangiri blocks and Andhra Pradesh. Mostly they are engaged in road and construction
works. Generally they start migration in the mid of December after harvesting is over and
6
More than 40 percent of the farmers having land are marginal farmer and about 30 are small farmers. Produce
from own land is hardly sufficient for 5-6 months. Rest of the time they are dependent on either on wage labour
or migration.

stay their till Mid April i.e. before the start of agriculture work. During this time the villages
take the look of a deserted place and become difficult to find any male in the village. In
between they come back to home for few days to celebrate different festivals like Pausa
Parab (Dec-Jan), Holi (Mar) and Parab (April). They prefer to migrate as because there is no
work available in the village or agricultural field in this time and they get higher wage
(Rs.60-70 per day). Taking the advantage of illiteracy, some times they are cheated by the
contractor who ran away without paying their wages. Some cases of trafficking and sexual
abuses were reported where female and children also migrate with male. HIV/AIDS is
emerging as a threatening issue in different tribal pockets as a consequence of large scale
migration.
8.4 Forest produce:

The dependence of tribal on forest resources varies from area to area. In most areas of
Koraput with serious deforestation, collection of forest produce is now of declining
importance for the tribal economy. In other areas, typically in the interior valleys of dense
forests, Such as Nandapur and Boipariguda blocks and Malkangiri district, cash earnings
from non-timber forest produce such as sal and tendu leafs (for plates and bidis) is still of
great importance for the household economy. The general pattern is that there is more
dependence on forests among the shifting cultivators, pastoralists and least among the settled
agriculturists. Apart from firewood and wood for house construction, the other major forest
products upon which tribals are dependent, are kendu and siali leafs, mahua (Madhuca
indica), tola (mahua oil seeds), resins etc.
Earlier villagers had access to these near by village forests and their produce. The village
forests used to meet the requirement of the villager in respect of fuel wood, small timber,
grass, fruit, seed, gum etc. Often, fuel wood was locally available at a cost no more than the
effort of gathering it. In the wake of the disappearance of village forests, the entire pressure
has shifted to the reserved and other forests controlled of the forest department causing their
degradation. Many people still make their living by selling fuel wood. People generally earn
Rs. 90 after three days of effort. Either they sell it directly to the market or make charcoal out
of it.
For collection of firewood women have to travel daily for hours. They get Rs. Five from a
bundle of firewood. But if they are caught by the forest department, the men are fined Rs.5,

the women Rs. 2.5 and the bundles confiscated. Where village forest committee protect
forest, people have to pay Rs. 2 for each bundle of wood.
8.5 Livestock
Buffalo, cow, goat, sheep and pigs are the main livestock here. All these are of indigenous
breed. Bullocks and buffalos are used only for agricultural purpose. Even cows are also used
for ploughing and drought purpose. Milk production from cow is minimal. Dairying is not a
popular business to the tribals. Low yield of milk, shortage of fodder and lack of access to the
market makes dairying a non-profitable business. Though OMFED collect milk from a few
villages because of communication problem and less pooling of milk from an area makes this
a difficult option. Sheep, goat and pigs are used mainly for emergency purpose and act as a
coping mechanism during difficulty.
8.6 Poultry
Poultry birds and ducks are used both for home consumption and selling. Earning from
poultry birds and ducks add some support to the annual family income. But there is no effort
to take poultry on commercial basis. This is mainly because of lack of fund and technical
knowledge and linkage to the market.
9. TRIBAL ECONOMY AND RESOURCE BASE
The tribal population in Koraput is among the poorest, most vulnerable and exploited groups
in the State. Most tribal communities are confined to the more hilly and remote areas of the
District. These areas have been the habitat for some tribes for centuries, whereas the others
have slowly been driven out of the more fertile plains by the non-tribals in recent times.
Historically, tribals have had a life style characterised by close dependency on the forest for
shifting cultivation, collection of forest produce and hunting. Concepts of money
management, savings and planning have traditionally not been of major importance.
9.1 Tribal Economy
The tribal economy in the district of Koraput is primarily subsistence oriented and based
upon a combination of agriculture, forestry and wage labour. Majority of tribal community
not only are deprived of any direct and substantial benefit from most of the rich natural

resources available in the district of Koraput, but rather are victim of different ambitious
Government projects and are being simply thrown out of their own resources that they have
been possessing since generations in the past, which have been affecting the tribal economy
to a great extent.
Although tribals are mainly dependent on agriculture, collection from forest continues to play
a major role in household consumption and income generation. But due to gradual depletion
of forest and land, the life style and livelihood support system has registered a substantial
change.
9.2 Land
In Koraput, the livelihood and survival of tribals largely rests on their access to land and
forests. Almost 89 % of the workers are engaged in agriculture and allied activities. The legal
status of tribal land is at times complex, and takes many different forms. Tenure may be in the
form of individual ownership based on legal rights (patta/ryoti rights) or it may constitute
usufructuary rights (i.e. right to collect fruits, leaves, waste wood and timber, etc.) to
common property lands. In addition to these two categories of tenure, tribals in many parts
cultivate a considerable amount of so-called ‘encroached land’.
Encroached land is divided into two categories: government land, which is mainly cultivable
waste (Abada Yogya Anabadi). Podu (shifting) cultivation is often carried out on cultivable
waste or other category of forest land on hill slopes. However, shifting cultivation is not
allowed on reserve forestland, except at the discretion of the Forest Settlement Officer. The
land at the hill slopes (more than 30 degree) is declared as uncultivable land. But the tribals
cultivate on this land by filling the fines (Rs. 100 per acre) to the revenue office. The law
entitles ownership (patta) to tribals who have cultivated non-objectionable government land
continuously for at least 10 years. Generally farmers have two or three patches of land where
they cultivate in alternative year or at a gap of 2 years. Hence, they do not fill fines on the
same patch of land continuously and never get the land right. As an informal source reported,
in Malkangiri district, farmers pay fines for both patch of land but do not get any receipt from
govt. office.

Another category of encroached land is labelled “objectionable”, and includes e.g. land set
aside by government for development purposes, gochar (community grazing) land, orchard
land, and other land for public use.
9.3 Forest
Forest plays a crucial role in the socio-economic condition of the districts besides controlling
the ecological balance. The tribal people depend on the forest resources as they collect
firewood, charcoal and other minor forest produces. Over the years, forest in the districts has
suffered serious depletion. This is attributable to relentless pressure arising from ever
increasing demand of fuel wood, Timber and forest products due to population explosion,
diversion of forest lands for non-forest use, indiscriminate cutting of trees and the tendency to
look upon forests as revenue earning sources. A total 187,978.32 Ha forest including reserve
forest, demarcated forest and other forest is there. In the past, there used to be small village
forest attached to most villages or groups of villages. These village forests in the primitive
time were not classified as forestland; in fact they were classified as “Cultivable waste lands”
or “tree lands and miscellaneous growth”.
Forests are considered common property by tribal communities and are shared equally.
Tribals have a strong sense of attachment to the forest as their ancestral territory. There are so
many instances in which they worship jungle, trees (they call it Donger Dei) and the Mother
Nature. Tribals do not usually practise podu in forests declared as Reserve Forests and their
collection of forest produce is restricted. Apart from firewood and wood for house
construction, the other major forest products upon which tribals are dependent, are kendu
and siali leafs, mahua (Madhuca indica), tola (mahua oil seeds), resins etc.
9.4 Handicrafts and market resources:
9.4.1 Cane, Bamboo and Grasses:
Bamboo and cane are used to make baskets of diverse shapes and sizes depending on the
nature of goods they are required to carry or store and in the manufacture of a variety of
domestic goods. While countless local fibres (e.g. sisal tree) and reeds are used by people
with household skills to make ropes, strings, brooms and the like. These products are largely
geared for local consumption. However, the potential of these materials is so great that new

applications can be explored for the new customers. One type of grass grow on the hill slope
which is used for making broom stick and also exported in small quantity to neighbouring
Andhra Prades and Raipur.
9.4.2 Seeds, Herbs and Medicaments:
In Koraput district alone, at least 200 different varieties of rice are produced or grow wild.
Some are for consumption during festivals and marriages, others for their taste, colour or
smell, and yet others are grown for their pesticidal or soil- fertilization characteristics. The
traditional dependence of many indigenous communities on biological resources is also
evidenced in the use of several plants, which have medicinal values. For instance, the stem of
the 'Hadbhanga' plant is applied to fractured bones for quicker mending and the fruit of the
'Utkapali' is used to cure migraine. Amla, Pipla, harida, bahada, Aswagandha, Sarpagandha
and some other medicinal plant grow naturally on some hill slope. These all has good market
value outside state. But because of unawareness, lack of organized effort and market linkage
this resources have not been explored properly.
9.4.3 Natural Dyes:
After chemical colours flooded the markets, only a small number of dyers continued with
natural dyes such as indigo. Cotton yarn dyed in madder is still used by the weavers of
Kotpad in Koraput district. In an age where the tide is turning against the use of synthetic
dyes in the rest of the world, one needs to promote the use of eco- and wearer-friendly natural
dyes in this country.
9.4.4 Leaf plates And Dried Flowers:
Tribal women have been the traditional gatherers of leaves whose delicate hues and unique
qualities have been used in a multitude of ways for the manufacture of useful products. In
temples, local food stalls and at village feasts, food is still served in leaf (siali) plates and
bowls. Given the rising demand for biodegradable goods in a world, which is becoming more
ecologically aware, one has to find if it is possible to evolve a range of highly durable,
hygienic leaf-product tableware, which can meet the most stringent international quality
standards.
9.4.5 Tamarind and Mahuya flower:

Villagers proximate to the forest area collect tamarind and mahuya flower but end up by
selling at nominal price to the local traders. Processing and preservation may add substantial
value to these products and supplement family income.
9.4.6 Pottery:
There are very few potters among the tribals. They make variety of roof tiles, utensils to meet
specific requirement of daily life and also different toys, terracotta etc. these people could be
given training for improvement their creation.
10. MAJOR PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY THE TRIBALS
The tribals of Koraput in recent times are confronted with a number of serious problems,
which are thwarting their survival and lowering down their quality of living. Some of the
major problems are the following:
10.1 Land Alienation
According to the statistics, more than 80 per cent of the scheduled tribes are engaged in
agriculture and a large section of the non-tribals are grabbing the land of the tribals, which
they have been cultivating for ages. In addition to this, by manipulation, the non-tribals are
also taking huge chunk of land on lease in the tribal areas for commercial plantation, coffee
and spices plantation. It is surprising to note that there are large number of instances where
the land encroached by the tribals are also getting alienated in favour of the non-tribals. In
Malkangiri district many cases were reported where the tribals have leased out their land to
meet the emergency and have become wage labour in his own land. Although the State of
Orissa have promulgated a legislation in favour of tribal, land alienation is taking place in the
tribal areas in very great numbers by violating the rules and by manipulation of the non-
tribals.
Gradual depletion of land due to many natural and manmade actions has resulted in change in
the means of income of the community. In addition to the natural factors like soil erosion, a
large number of the community land has been alienated. The upcoming of purchase of land
by the outsiders for industrial or commercial utilization of land like for commercial
plantations, the tribal community has lost their land gradually.

Since the last settlement in the year 1953-56, in many a case it is observed that the
dependents and legal heirs on a piece of land has grown manifold and if partitioned today,
each of them may not get more then a decimal of land. Hence, the tribal has been forced to
look for other sources of livelihood whereas in some areas a huge area of land is left
unutilized.
10.2 Shifting Cultivation and Soil Erosion
The second biggest problem the tribals in this region are confronted with is the Shifting
Cultivation. In fact, Shifting Cultivation or the Slash and Burn Cultivation is an age-old
practice among the tribals. Traditionally tribals used to come back to the same place after a
gap of 6 to 10 years. But with the increase in tribal population and consequent pressure on
land, this gap has almost reduced to zero and the tribals have started doing cultivation on a
very regular basis on such land. This is causing adverse effects on the neighbouring forest
and causing large-scale damage to the forest growth. Secondly, with the promulgation of the
stringent forest law, Shifting Cultivation as well as the entry of the tribals to the forest has
been restricted. This has caused serious problem for continuing the age-old practice of
shifting cultivation and the tribals who were largely depending on this type of cultivation are
confronted with acute livelihood and food insecurity crisis.
This is a fact that shifting cultivation is the most primitive form of cultivation usually
practiced by the tribal of the district since generations but the impact of deforestation has
never felt so badly then in the recent decades. This degradation of forest is attributed to the
population explosion and over-dependence on the forest resources (as fuel, material to build
house etc), rather than shifting cultivation alone. Secondly it points at the failure of the
government policies too, which neither could provide the tribal with a suitable alternative
livelihood nor could register any substantial growth in the per capita income of the tribal
people. Further the practice of shifting may also have increased in the recent past in Koraput
district due to faulty rehabilitation of the displaced person mainly from submersible areas on
account of emergence of reservoirs like Kolab. It is seen that the displaced people have
moved up to the hill slopes and occupied the hills as their low lying lands were merged in the
reservoir water and they did not prefer to stay at the place as provided by the project authority
as a replacement of their lost lands due to various reasons. Displacements due to giant

factories like National Aluminium Co Ltd (the biggest in the continent of Asia), Bharat
Aluminium Co. Ltd (under construction), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd etc too are responsible
to a great extent in this context.
Soil erosion is an acute problem in the hilly terrain of Koraput the inhabitants of which are
mostly tribals. The sloppy uplands mostly suffer from topsoil erosion due to want of
appropriate conservation measures. Wastelands devoid of vegetation are subjected to severe
erosion. As a result, productive lands are sand cast down below. It has been accepted that
watershed based integrated development is the key for overall development of the area.
10.3 Indebtedness
Dependence of the rural populace, particularly poor, on indigenous bankers (moneylenders

such as agricultural money lenders, professional money lenders, trader money lenders)
continuous due to emergent nature of their money needs, frequent and small quantum of
credit requirements and the proximity of the money lenders, despite its exploitative nature
have become an integral part of live of the rural people in this district. About 80 percent of
the rural people are indebted to the informal sources either in kind or cash form. Since most
of the tribals do not have access to financial institutions in their area and even if it is there in
some places, they do not have the working knowledge about the same to take advantage of
this. Not having the proper legal document of land right is also creating hindrance for
availing institutional credit. On the other hand people are also reluctant to take bank loan as
they fear bank would take away their land or livestock in case they fail to repay due to crop
failure or bad monsoon or other reason. In this context they have a long relationship with
Sahukar (money lender) and have less perceived risk with them though they demand
exorbitant rate of interest. Most of the farmers take credit from the sahukar both for agri
input and consumption purpose in the month of June-July. Tribals take credit on the condition
that they will repay this with paddy at the rate of Rs. 200 per bag during the harvesting
season although the market rate at that time is between Rs. 300-350 per bag. So effectively
they pay 100-150% interest annually.
Of late intervention has come forth from the people themselves and NGOs are encouraging
the people to organize themselves to groups, save their small/surplus in kind/cash form in

both, pool it on common fund and use the same for lending among themselves at the time of
need in the spirit of self help.
10.4 Unemployment and Poverty
Unemployment and Poverty looms large among the tribals despite large number of
development interventions and poverty alleviation programmes launched for their economic
upliftment. It has been estimated that more than 84 per cent of the tribal families are below
the official poverty line. The unemployment incidence is also growing thick and fast with the
passage of time.
10.5 Large Scale Migration
As has been indicated above, due to lack of employment opportunities and stark poverty large
numbers of tribals are migrating out to far off places in search of livelihood. People in large
number from rural areas every year migrate to Jeypore, Damanjori and Malkangiri blocks.
Mostly they are engaged in road and construction works. Tribals are usually paid daily wage
of Rs.50-60, although they are paid only Rs.20 (Female Rs. 10-15) as agricultural labour.
Although difficult to establish in monetary terms, the income of most tribal households is
substantially lower (Rs. 6,000-9,000 Annual income) than the official poverty line of Rs.11,
000. Some cases of trafficking and sexual abuses were reported where female and children
also migrate with male.
According to reports, over 2000 tribal labourers from Mathili, Korkunda, Khoiroput,
Kudumulugumma blocks of Malkangiri district migrate to the tribal pockets of Jeypore,
Koraput, Damanjodi and Semiliguda. The migrants, however, feel that the industrial belt of
Koraput has more employment opportunities than Malkangiri. The jobs here being limited,
this creates unemployment in both agriculture and industrial sectors of the region.
10.6 Communication
Poor communication to most of the tribal areas is also another important factor, which
hinders the development of the tribals in this region. In fact, there are number of tribal
villages in the State which are not accessible throughout the year and there are some villages

which are approachable only for four months a year. As per the government report only
37.5% villages are connected with all-weather roads in the district, this figure being 20 is
lowest in Narayanpatna block (Annexure-1.3). The situations in those ‘cut-off’ regions (15
villages by Upper Kolab project and 150 villages by Balimela hydro project) are worst.
People have to cross the reservoir by boat and walk 12 km to get minimum requirement like
salt. Where at balimela region, it takes 5 hrs to cross the reservoir and again hours of walking
to reach the mainland.
10.7 Displacement
In recent times, a large number of development projects are coming up in the district of
Koraput and Malkangiri. Ironically, these development projects are coming up mainly in such
areas where there is predominance of tribal population. The present Koraput district along
with Rayagada, Nowrangpur and Malkangiri districts have over 18 large projects which cover
7.42 %of land area. It is estimated that over 1,00,000 ST and SC have been deprived of their
land, including 4,00,000 acres or forest on which they traditionally were dependant for their
livelihood. In Koraput district alone 13,095 families were (501,771 persons) affected fully or
partially. Out of this 82 percent families have moved out somewhere, of which government or
the dam authority does not have any idea. The Government has no records of these people. It
also has been revealed from a number of researchers that the tribal displaced families have by
and large failed to restore their pre-displaced living standards in the post-displacement stage
and they have become further impoverished as compared to their former standards of living.
This is precisely because the tribal families are not getting compensation for the land which
they were possessing for ages, as they are encroached and have not been settled in their
favour. Secondly the tribals are not getting successfully adapted to the non-forest based
economy in the new place as they are getting dispossessed from the forest on which their life
and living centres around.
10.8 Bondage labour:
Bondage labour can be characterized by the following things where he has no choice of work,
have no work hour, and do not get real wage. Though it is banned by state government but
still in a study by MDFG, 707 cases of bondage labour was identified in 7 blocks of

Malkangiri district where 500 cases were only from two blocks, Kudumulguma and
Khayaraguma. Some efforts are being made from the side of some NGOs to eradicate this
system by persuading the ‘master’, by mobilizing community contribution and in extreme
cases taking legal action
10.9 Education
Education is the key to development, but the education scenario among the scheduled tribes
is in a very bad shape. Literacy level among the tribal people in general (8.34%) and the
tribal female in particular is abysmally low (2.14). The foremost reason for this is less no of
school in the rural areas (Average no of primary schools per lakh population in the district is
155, lowest in Bandhugaon Block 65 followed by laxmipur 81). It has also been observed
that the teachers are very irregular in the schools located in the tribal areas as compared to the
general schools mainly due to problem of communication, lack of monitoring and awareness
of parents. The teachers due to lack of accommodation do not stay in the village and spend
major portion of their time in commuting from their place of residence to the work place.
Empirical studies indicate that one of the major reasons contributing to the low literacy level
of the tribals is the unsuitable scheduling of the school timing, which clashes with the work
schedule of the economic activities of the tribal families in which even the potential school
going children participate. During agricultural season and rainy season children are mostly
involved in agri-work and cattle rearing. In some of the villages the tribal children do not
understand Oriya, the mainstream language of the state. As a result in the primary schools of
the district when teaching is imparted to them in Oriya language, the tribal children find it
difficult to understand. It is reported by the teachers that because of the communication gap,
majority of the tribal children in remote areas do not take any interest in learning. There is
also a felt need to develop separate educational materials in common dialect spoken by the
tribals, in order to retain their interests in learning.
10.10 Health
The tribals of this region are found to be suffering from many chronic diseases but the most
prevalent among these taking heavy tolls of them are water borne diseases. This is mainly due
to the unsafe and contaminated drinking water. Because of the unsafe drinking water, skin

diseases, diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, guinea worm, tapeworms and many other serious
consequences, which often becomes fatal occur to the tribals. Due to lack of water drainage
system, the water accumulates in the tribal areas and this becomes the breeding place of the
mosquitoes. Koraput has Orissa state’s highest fatality rate from malaria. Tuberculosis has
also become an endemic disease due to malnutrition and drinking habits of country liquor by
the tribals and scheduled castes people. Coming to the health services, it has been observed
that in a large number of tribal pockets there are no dispensaries at all. (Medical institutions
per lakh population in the district are 5, lowest in Narayanpatna, 1). Anganwadi or ANM
workers also do not visit the villages regularly. Their inaccessibility deters government
doctors from visiting them. Same fate happens to the immunization and other government
programs. Besides, even if there are there are some health care facilities, tribals rarely visit
there because of their adherence to traditional cultural practices and believe in magico-
religious health care system. This is precisely due to lack of health education among the tribal
people and some superstitions among them. One of the main indicators of poor health status
of the tribals of Koraput and Malkangiri is the alarmingly high rate of infant mortality. As
two traditional birth attendants at Noaguda village of Malkangiri district recall, in the past 5-6
years aproximately. 18-20 children died while some 25 children took birth. Even if we
consider the error due to memory loss, it gives some idea about the real picture in the filed
behind the government figure. In a discussion with tribal women it was observed that the
average number of pregnancies per mother was 6-7 and numbers of surviving children per
mother are 2-4. And as compared to minimum medical requirement of 3 year birth spacing it
is 1.5-2 year in case of tribal women. As per the census report 2001 the Infant mortality was
found to be 57/1000. But in a sample survey it was found to be 85. According to the MODE
study (Malkangiri Organisation for Development and Education, an NGO) the Paraja and
Gadaba tribals show a declining growth rate due to untimely deaths caused by high infant
and maternal mortality, malaria, frequent attacks of water borne diseases and rampant
malnutrition among children.
11. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCHEDULED TRIBES

Under the bright future approach, CCF wants to attack child poverty right at the base. It
wants to address both the cause and effects of child poverty in a holistic and sustainable
manner. In the research process, effort was made to understand the definition of poverty to
the children, at the context of Koraput and their causative factors. In discussion with children
the following faces of poverty came out. These include:

• Lack of proper food

• Lack of adequate clothing
• Parents not sending school
• Parents force to do agricultural.
• Parents do not give money for buying education materials
• Not attending class regularly
• Lack of personal hygiene and sick
Other than these some elements of social poverty were also identified like;
• Social exclusion in general society
• Differential treatment by government official and doctors
• Lack of confidence like “we are Desiya people, we do not know anything, we can’t do
this” etc.
Three factors are responsible for this child poverty- economic inequities, negative human
behaviour and shortcoming of system. The dire poverty of the parents compel the children to
work for a wage, thereby causing the children move away from school resulting in low level
of learning and poor preparation for adult life. Economic development of a community is
concomitant with social development and these two must move together in support of human
development. The activities related to child’s growth and development broadly evolve around
five sections: health, nutrition, education, social welfare and women’s development. But
these sectors are not watertight compartments with an interdependent set of solutions and
remedies for each. Development in each section depends upon economic and attitudinal
change. To bring any change in economic situation we need to understand the livelihood
pattern of people and resources they have both at micro and macro level. Infact a tribal’s
livelihood evolves around 5 Js: jal, jamin, jungle, jantu and jan (water, land, forest, livestock
and human resource). So to mitigate causes as well as effects of child poverty in a holistic
and sustainable manner we need to develop all these 5Js. The approach needs to be
transformational rather than welfarist- where development and ecology links in mutually
regenerative ways. This would necessitate complex and interrelated changes such as in the
composition of what is produced, the technologies used to produced it, the processes by
which decisions on products and technologies are arrived at, the knowledge systems on which

such choices are based and the class and gender distribution of products and tasks. A change
in the decision making process should ensures the broad based democratic participation of
disadvantaged groups. A viable solution would need decentralised planning and control and
institutional arrangements that ensure involvement of the all interest group in decision about
what to be done and how the associated benefits are shared.
11.1 Agriculture (Jal & Jamin)
The root cause poverty here is less yielding agricultural land, which is the consequence of
soil erosion and denudation of forest resources. With depletion of forest resources and soil
erosion at a dangerous level, water recharging take place at a low rate and therefore ground
water level is affected very badly. So Koraput is one of the thrust districts for watershed
development project. Awareness and training on soil conservation, treatment of drainage and
production system is of dire need in this district. Water harvesting structure and development
of minor irrigation projects is another area that needs more concentration. 80 percent of
cropped area in the district is non-irrigated. Hence, farming with dry land technology and
multi cropping during rainy season is of great importance.
Less food production and poverty put farmers at the clutch of the moneylender. A substantial
amount of yearly production is spent on repaying loan amount at a much lesser price. So any
solution to this problem could ensure food security for another few days. Grain bank, seed
bank, village emergency fund, agricultural loan through SHGs or micro finance for starting
some petty business etc could prove effective here.
Tribals are confronted with the single largest problem that is they occupy land and cultivate
land on which they do not have any recorded rights. The first and foremost step in the
direction of tribal development is to survey the land in all the tribal areas of the State and the
unobjectionable encroached land occupied by them to be settled in their favour. For this
greater level of advocacy work is required at a higher level. This would be difficult for an
individual NGO and a networking of NGOs is required.
11.2 Forest (Jungle)
Standard of tribal life of the district is traditionally linked to forest economy. Depletion of
forest cover has caused reduction in the volume of minor forest produce and thus the income
of the people also suffered over the years. The problem is further aggravated due to faulty
government policies of commercial plantation of cashew, coffee and eucalyptus. The NTFPs

and other fruit bearing trees, which have always supported tribal livelihood at the time of
stress, have been dwindling at a fast pace due to unsustainable harvesting methods and
middlemen exploitation. So it is needed to motivate different stakeholders to support forest
production, management and conservation. A different composition of product may imply a
shift from the currently favoured monocultural and commercial tree species to mixed species
critical for local substance. Instead of commercial plantation, forest area should be divided
into three areas namely for plantation of economic and fuel wood trees, fruit bearing trees and
fodder crops. Proper marketing infrastructure and processing skills of NTFPs should be
developed to give better bargaining power to the primary collectors and processors. Infact,
forest of Koraput is abode of many medicinal and aromatic plants whose commercial
importance has not been explored so far. Only pipla (Piper longum) is being cultivated in
some villages in Nandapur, Lamtaput, Semiliguda and Potangi.
11.3 Livestock (Jantu)

The district has potential for promotion of sheep/ goat and pigs due to its agro climatic and
geographical conditions i.e. hilly structure. People prefer goatry or piggery as compared to
dairying because of less requirement of fodder, fast breeding and lack of market for milk.
People should be encouraged to grow poultry birds and ducks to improve the nutritional
status. Poultry farming at the commercial level could be developed by taking loan from
SHGs.
11.4 Human resource (Jan)

Next the most important thing is development of human resources. Skill and capacity
development, ensured access & control over locally available resources and right to
information are the important factors for holistic and sustainable development of tribal
people.
11.4.1 Artisan: 3248 and 348 artisans from different blocks like Boriguma, Bandhugaon,
Boipariguda, Kundra, Laxmipur, Lamtaput and Narayanpatna are engaged in cottage industry
and handicraft like bamboo craft, sisal products, broom making, paddy craft, bell metal, tribal
jewellery, lac work etc. Efforts should be made for improvement of products and marketing
facilities.

11.4.2 Health: IMR and MMR could be lowered by creating awareness and providing
training on ante natal and post natal care , on preparation of nutritious food and regularize the
government service provision. Delaying the age at marriage not by law but through social
consciousness is always crucial for controlling fertility rate and infant & mother mortality
rate. For one major factor contributing to repeated childbirths is the unsafe childhood due to
unhygienic living condition and malnutrition leading to death. A majority of child death could
be averted by immunizing the child and safe delivery. In this regard NGOs and community
organization has a major role to play to regularize the government service and causing
required attitudinal change in the people. Community organization has to take the
responsibility to regularize the visit of village functionaries like the ANM, the MPW, the
LHV and the village health guides. Further the traditional birth attendants
(TBA) who conducts a majority of deliveries in the home could also be trained in handling
the cases more hygienically. Since it is not possible under the present infrastructure to register
all the expectant mothers at the clinics and conduct deliveries in the PHC, the training of dais
would help ease the situation. Proper care & fooding during pregnancy and proper birth
spacing (could be done by social awareness) would lower the child birth related complicacies
and also reduce IMR and MMR.
11.4.3 Nutrition: Recognition of the widespread prevalence of malnutrition, its causes and
correlates has led to identification of causative factors. First, there are factors that influence
food production and its availability (viz. Jal, Jamin and Jungle) in a village or block.
Secondly, the factors affecting food distribution at the household level are purchasing power,
market forces including price (viz. alternative source of income and access to government
services for poor). The community policies (e.g. safety net mechanism like grain bank, seed
bank, village emergency fund, community kitchen garden etc) and access & information to
services such as food subsidy, mid day meal, BPL card, old age pension etc., also influence
food supply. Third, there are factors that influence the intra household distribution of food
and among them, mothers knowledge on local nutritious food, food requirement of different
individuals, gender discrimination etc are of considerable importance. The fourth group of
factors operates at the individual level like personal hygiene (require awareness), individual
intake and absorption of food. Infection and parasitic infection, particularly among children
(like worming) are the major indicator of this factor.

11.4.4 Education: The reasons for abysmally low rate of education could be attributed to
factors like economic, negative human behaviour and shortcoming of system. Children in
rural area and economically backward region have no guide to aspire for and in the absence
of congenial atmosphere at home, either drop out of school, or never enrol themselves. There
are some children who suffer from lack of parental love and care. For example, Bonda, Didoy
and Khonda communities in Malkangiri district still have polyandrous society, which is a
major cause for children becoming orphan. As a majority of children are found to be helping
the family on the on and off the farm, (like caring their sibling etc and has relation to birth
spacing & age of marriage) the “perceived opportunity cost” of sending to school is not worth
of getting education. In some areas where NGOs are working they have been able to motivate
parents to send their children to school. There, parents themselves have come up with
amazing solutions of the aforesaid problems like night school, grazing cattle on rotation
basis; informal school etc. children’s association has been proved effective in re-enrolment of
dropout children, advocacy work for child right. The other causes are of course less no of
schools (155 primary schools per lakh population in the district), irregularity of teacher, and
curriculum not in tribal context, no correlation between education and livelihood etc. So with
the help of NGOs, community organizations have to put effort to regularize the teacher and
setting up informal school and gradually formalizes these schools.
11.4.5 Women’s development: In tribal societies, women work more than men in all the socio-
economic spheres and are far more concerned than men about the maintenance and the
economic well being of the family. Since the tribal women traditionally do the work of
marketing and enter into transactions in respect of their surplus agricultural and forest
produces, it is contemplated to organise women through SHGs. The SHGs will be responsible
for savings & credits and procuring MFP and SAP and other finished products of different
traditional crafts and cottage industry for which financial assistance will be provided. It has
been proved that SHG movement empowered the poor to gradually change their
socioeconomic condition. In future these SHGs are likely to federate at the block level to act
as a micro finance institute and institution for creating social awareness in that locality. But in
some areas where NGO intervention is high, after formation of 4-5 SHGs in a village, these
SHGs are facing competition among them due to limited supply of MFP and raw materials as
most of them are involved in same kind of economic activities. Hence, a better level of
networking of primary collectors and organized marketing facilities should be developed.

11.5 Panchyati Raj Programmes

Various Income Generating and employment-oriented development schemes are being
implemented in the State though Panchayati Raj Department with a view to alleviate poverty
of the people including the scheduled tribes. Capacity building programme for community
leaders and orientation of the Panchayati Raj representative should be undertaken so that they
can develop the abilities to articulate and bargain for their share in decision making.
12. DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES OPERATING IN THE AREA
There are more than 44 NGOs operating in this district. The lack of documentation is evident
in most other NGO activities. In terms of programme many voluntary agencies are involved
in creating awareness among people regarding government development programmes and in
enabling the under privileged group to take advantage of this programme. Beside this many
voluntary organizations are implementing government schemes. Some NGOs with clear
perspectives regarding people’s involvement implementation of government programme is
more efficient and there are creative innovation inn the programme. The probability of
reaching the target group is higher. However, there is also the situation where some of the
voluntary organizations do not have any creative programmes of their own and implement
government programmes without any relevance of such activity for the local population.
Watershed project and creating market channel for NTFPs are the other area where some
NGOs are working. Very few NGOs have concerned themselves with the problem of
destitute women, old people and orphaned children. Many agencies have education
programmes for children. Most of the NGOs have targeted women SHGs as the medium of
intervention of social change. Some organizations though they say working for people’s
participation they generally mean ‘men’ and have less women participation. The emphasis of
work has been on the tribal population as the target group by the NGOs. This emphasis has
resulted greater visibility regarding the issues of tribal marginalization. They are fighting for
the tribal right and land related issues and supporting advocacy work with people’s
organization. Many social action group play a vital role in imparting health education,
reproductive health care and fighting malaria and HIV/AIDS.
DRDA, OSFDC, DIC etc are the important government departments responsible for
implementing the programme for development of weaker section of society. ITDA

operating in each subdivision are implementing several schemes for ST beneficiaries such as
family oriented income generating schemes encompassing agriculture, allied and ISB
activities on IRDP pattern. NABARD is providing promotional grant and assistance to the
NGOs for implementing SHG programme. So far 7 NGOs viz. CYSD, WORD, IDS,
Sarvadaya Samiti, SEDP, SOVA and SAMFA have availed this opportunity. NABARD is
ready to include more NGOs to implement the programme. Four other NGOS viz. Sarvadaya
Samiti, SPREAD, CYSD and Agragamee are implementing Watershed projects with funding
from NABARD. Some micro watersheds are being implemented in Dasmantpur and
Bandhugaon block. OUAT has krishi vigyan Kendra in different locations for research and
training on agricultural technology. State Agriculture department also has mobile training
centre.
ORMAS is operating in the district for facilitating supplying of raw material and marketing
of rural products. Presently it has more focused on collection of pulses from SHGs and
marketing it to the government for mid day meal. All the artisan activities and handloom
activities can be promoted on cluster basis for effective supervision and to provide forward
and backward linkage. NGOs namely CYSD, Agragamee, Sarvadaya Samiti, SPREAD,
SOVA, Pragati, RASS, Asha Kiran Society , Shantiniketan, Jagaran, SEDP, RAD etc could be
involved as promoting agency of village produces.
In some cases where banks have started financing SHGs they have participated in the
programme mechanically without any concern and emotional involvement in it. Banks also
have not responded to the initiation of the NGOs in proper perspective. Here a greater scope
exists in sensitizing the bankers, govt. officials and NGOs for promotion of SHGs.
13. INTERVENTION STRATEGY:

After working for more than 50 years in India for the well being of children, CCF has come
up with an overall all aim of becoming “Leader for Children.” As a result of this effort it has
redefined and fine-tuned its development approach, now known as “Bright Future”. This
programme approach represent a substantial shift in emphasis from addressing the problems

of poverty at an individual and household level to a more collective approach at child, family,
community, area and national level. It also represents a shift from addressing the symptoms
of poverty to addressing both the causes and effects of child poverty, in a holistic and
sustainable manner. In order to achieve this program need to develop on a comprehensive
understanding of poverty, how children experience poverty and the cause of this at micro,
meso and macro level. And CCF also has to ensure interactive participation of people and a
greater level of integration among developmental actors. Under the Bright Future approach
all the developmental planning and financing will be carried out by area federation, while
implementation of programme activities will be carried out by a range of partners.
Programmes will be integrated with the effort of other organizations, both government and
non-governmental. Due to large number of NGO concentration in this area SHG movement
has intensified. Moreover many NGOs work with the people’s organization or community
organization. In most case their philosophy is creating sustainable development through
building capacity of people, raising the voice of people and penetrating complex power
structure of the system.
In this regard the philosophy of local NGOs match with the area federation under Bright
Future. So, CCFI should take a bottom up approach here. CCF area team will identify the
entry point (geographical location) and first should organize people through savings and
credit groups, grain bank, children’s club etc. Traditional Panchayat system and traditional
leaders still have great influence in tribal society. After 73 rd amendment and PESA act come
into effect, much importance have been given to the Panchayati Raj institutions, which have
the authority of the state itself behind it. A meaningful process of development can be
initiated with a confident relationship developing between the two sides. The local
community may be given the authority to regulate its own affair. This will help in imbibing
self-confidence in the community vis-à-vis the more powerful elements. Hence a people’s
organization could be formed at the village level, which will act as a bridge between the two
Panchayats. All adult male and female in the village will be the members of people’s
organization and will represent the interest of the respective group.

Traditional Panchayat Panchayati Raj
People’s organization
Children’s association
Representative
of men, women,
GP level group
children, PRI
member,
Block level Traditional
Leader
Area
Govt.org. Federation NGO partner
Fig:2 Structure of Area Federation
Another association will be formed constituting all the children of the village. People’s
organization and children association will meet regularly separately to discuss different
issues. Another gram panchayat level group will be developed to represent the interest of
parents and children. These groups will be formed with representation from different village
level organization. In these groups seats will be reserved for traditional leader, PRI members,
women and children. In addition other organizational division within the group can also be
considered based on a particular theme of concern to the community members e.g. watershed
users committee, mahila mandal, SHGs, education group etc.
Block level association will represent the next organizational level up fro the GP group. Here
also the group should proportionally represent different group like male, female, children,
PRI member and traditional leader. The issues that are common in different villages will be
discussed at this level.

At each level there will be a “governing board” with some member assigned specific function
such as chairperson, secretary, treasure etc. different actors at different level should have
clarity of role and responsibilities.
At the next level block associations will be aggregated into a broader umbrella structure like
area federation. It consists of representation of a number of block associations representing
GP groups, people’s organization and in the final analysis individual families, youth and
children. This area federation will be effective only if the lower structures are well organized
and competent. This area federation will be the only direct partner of CCF and all the human
and financial resources will be directed through this level. Area federation will build up
strategic partnership with local NGOs who are working on the same issue, identified by the
federation. Federation should also build up linkage with government agencies to receive
technical and financial support. Area federation shall have its own staff and professionals.
Area federation will help the lower level association to identify the root causes of poverty and
will select the partner organizations. The lower level issues that require district level
intervention or advocacy will also be addressed by area federation. The strength and capacity
of the federation will reflect the collective capacity and strength of the lower level.
14. POTENTIAL RISK
Sponsor relation is the heart of CCF projects. So during the transition process SR
performance must be maintained.
Under the bright future model much importance will be given on capacity building of people
and sustainable development. SHG model is an important area in the process where people
are said to build up their savings habit. In some case banks form SHGs just to reach their
target and release loan on the same day. This instant material benefit causes imbalance among
the SHGs in the region and may prove harmful for sustainable development. In that case
people should be properly motivated and understood the intricacies behind SHG movement.
Bright future is a long-term capacity building process, which will empower the people and
create a strong institution. In future political parties may get interested in this, as development

process in that area will be directed through the area federation. In that case area federation
instead of being a democratic people’s organization will become a wing of political parties.
Militant organizations are quite active in this region. In 2004, the Guerrilla force of carried
out simultaneous actions at different places in Koraput district virtually paralyzing the district
machinery for an entire day. So action and partners will be carefully selected to remain away
from any clash with this force.
One of the activities of area federating will be obviously advocacy work and fights for tribal
right. As many NGOs have already experienced, some legal cases resulting non bailable
warrant may be issued against the organization or against tribal people. Area federation will
be ready to face such situation.
REFERENCES

1. Sharma, B.D. “Tribal Development: concept and frame work”. Sahitya Sahayog
Pustaka.
2. Potential Linked Credit Plan (2003-2004), Koraput – NABARD
3. Potential Linked Credit Plan (2005-2006), Koraput - NABARD
4. Potential Linked Credit Plan period 2002-03 to 2006-2007, Koraput - NABARD
5. Situational analysis of women and children in Orissa-1991 – Operation Research
group, Bhubaneswar for UNICEF
6. Know about KBK: Know about Koraput – DRDA, Koraput.
7. Bright Future – CCF
8. Area strategic Planning Guide – CCF
9. Pragati, Annual Report, 2003-4
10. Parivarttan,, Annual Report, 2003-4
11. www.koraput.nic.in
12. www.planningcimmission.nic.in
13. www.malkangiri.nic.in
14. www.nicd.org
15. www.agragamee.org
16. www.orissa-tourism.com

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Cluster development plan –Koraput cluster OAC Report

CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT PLAN – KORAPUT CLUSTER

2.1 Selection of area:

PRM 25 1/39 C. Kausik

• Discussion with NGOs

3.1 Limitations of study

PRM 25 2/39 C. Kausik

PRM 25 3/39 C. Kausik

4.5 Climate and Rivers

PRM 25 4/39 C. Kausik

Table: 1 Normal and actual rainfall in Koraput district

Source: DRDA, Koraput

4.6 Land area

4.7 Administrative Set Up

Koraput district is at present comprised of two sub-divisions, seven Tahasils, fourteen

PRM 25 5/39 C. Kausik

Table. 2: Forest coverage in Koraput district

Source: DRDA, Koraput

Table. 3 Land use pattern in Koraput district

Source: DRDA, Koraput

PRM 25 6/39 C. Kausik

Table. 4: Administrative Units in district

Adm. Units No. Name

4.8 Communication System

4.9 Ethnic Diversities

PRM 25 7/39 C. Kausik

Table: 5 Different types of tribes inhibiting in different blocks

PRM 25 8/39 C. Kausik

PRM 25 9/39 C. Kausik

Table. 6 Govt. Medical Institutions in Koraput district (2004)3

Medical institution No. No. of beds

Table. 7 Development Scenario of Health Sector (1999-2000)

PRM 25 10/39 C. Kausik

Source: (i) Government of Orissa (2000). Economic Survey, 2000-2001,

Table. 8 Development Scenario of Primary Education during 1998-99

Source: Government of Orissa, Directorate of Elementary Education, Bhubaneswar.

Table. 9 Enrolment Scenario of Students in Primary, Middle and Secondary Schools

Sl. Districts Projected Students enrolled per 1000 Average % of

Source: Government of Orissa, Directorate of Elementary Education, Bubaneswar.(1998-1999)

PRM 25 11/39 C. Kausik

6.3 Drinking water facility

PRM 25 12/39 C. Kausik

Fig. 1 social structure in tribal society

7.1 Status of Women

PRM 25 13/39 C. Kausik

PRM 25 14/39 C. Kausik

8.2 Wage labour

Table. 10 Land holding pattern among tribal farmers

Marginal Small Semi Medium Large

PRM 25 15/39 C. Kausik

8.4 Forest produce:

PRM 25 16/39 C. Kausik

9. TRIBAL ECONOMY AND RESOURCE BASE

9.1 Tribal Economy

PRM 25 17/39 C. Kausik

PRM 25 18/39 C. Kausik

9.4 Handicrafts and market resources:

9.4.1 Cane, Bamboo and Grasses:

PRM 25 19/39 C. Kausik

9.4.2 Seeds, Herbs and Medicaments:

9.4.3 Natural Dyes:

9.4.4 Leaf plates And Dried Flowers: