M.P. tribals have little hope from Lok Sabha election
A group of women, many of them tribals, aged between 20 and 60, take a water-break from their MGNREGA work of silt clearing from a stop-dam at Saliwada village of Mandla (Schedule Tribes reserved) Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh’s Mahakoshal region.
The women, from nearby villages, share similar issues ranging from unemployment and migration of youth for work to unavailability of drinking water.
Rakhya Bai Sirsaam, 55, of Prem Nagar village says her son and daughter-inlaw, are both graduates, but have not found work. “My son works with his father in the elds and goes to cities to nd work in the o season. My daughter-in-law is forced to do household chores only,” she says.
Six seats of the State’s tribal belt go to the polls in the rst phase on April 19.
These seats are Balaghat, Mandla (ST), Jabalpur, Shahdol and Chhindwara of Mahakoshal region and Sidhi of Vindhya region. With 21% share in the State’s population, tribals form an in©uential chunk in many parts of Madhya Pradesh.
Several promises
In their recent poll rallies, top leaders of the BJP and the Congress, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, appealed to the community through emotions and promises. While Mr. Modi claimed that his government has honoured tribal gures such as Birsa Munda and Tantya Bheel, Mr. Gandhi promised implementation of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution in districts with over 50% community population.
These topics, however, do not resonate much with tribal people across Mahakoshal. They have little expectations from the upcoming election and say no political leader or candidate talks about issues on the ground.
‘No visibility’
“Any leader who has won an election from here in the past has not returned to our village after the polls. Young men from every second house here go out to nd work,” says Gendlal Tekam, 25. For nearly six years, Mr. Tekam has been working as a labourer in Maharashtra’s Nagpur, about 150 kilometres from his Kanhan village.
The BJP has elded Union Minister and sitting MP Faggan Singh Kulaste from Mandla, who is facing a tough election with the voters alleging a disconnect. The women in Saliwada say they have never seen him visit their area after the polls.
In neighbouring Balaghat’s Rajola village, Aman Madavi, 20, is a B.Sc rst year student at a government college in Seoni town, about 20 km from the village. He, however, recently took a private loan and has started a small business in his village.
“In the past few years, I have seen only one person from my village getting a government job, that too as a contract-based guest teacher. So many exams get cancelled and candidates are left disheartened. I don’t want to rely on the government for my future,” he says.
In Chimauwa village, which falls under the Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency, Varsha Uikey, 20, has nished her BA in Political Science and History, and is now preparing for police recruitment exams.
She recalls that she used to walk for two kilometres to reach the nearby highway to take a private bus to her college in Chhindwara city, about 30 km from the village.
“There is no college nearby but I wanted to study. My parents used to be worried as I would come back home around 8 p.m. everyday. Before college, I used to ride a bicycle for six km to go to school,” she says.
Fewer middle schools
Her village has a government primary school only, which is being freshly painted due to the elections, but the students still sit on a ©oor mat.
Lata Singh Yadav, a teacher there, says, “People here have awareness towards education, otherwise many students would drop out after Class 5.” She adds that there was a longpending demand for a middle school in a neighbouring village which was only sanctioned last year before the State Assembly elections.
“But it could still take 2-3 years before the school is built and becomes functional. The need is now and we will get it in 202526. What is the point?” asks Dasodi Bai Vishwakarma, who is painting a school wall.