A LONG WAY TO GO STILL

Bonda tribeswomen getting their children vaccinated at an aanganwadi at Badbel village in Malkangiri district, on Odisha's tri-junction with Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. The Bondas are a primitive tribal group that are classified as one of the 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in Odisha, with a population of 12,231, and a sex ratio of 1,040 women per 1,000 men according to the 2011 Census. They live mostly in the Khairput and Mudulipada blocks of Malkangiri. The Odisha government-appointed Bonda Development Agency (BDA) has attempted to bring the Bondas into the mainstream since 1977. Despite that, only 6 per cent of Bondas are literate. Their villages lack potable drinking water and sanitation. This, coupled with the lack of healthcare means that the Bondas have an extremely low life expectancy.