A VILLAGE FAMOUS FOR POTTERY

KORAPUT: “This is the only source of our living”, says Padlam Kumbhar (45), a resident of Limca village. The village Limca is only 12 kms from away from Koraput district headquarter and is only 2kms away from the NH 43 which connects Raipur and Visakhapatnam. The village is well connected with an all-weather road. The village is famous for its pottery work in the whole district of Koraput.

Most of the villagers of this village collect their livelihood by doing pottery work. They are very artistic and skilled in their work. The villagers are doing this pottery work hereditarily. They are not only giving some artistic touch to the pottery works but also are doing certain terracotta works.

Limka : Potters busy (Photo - Debabrata)

Now pottery has become a cottage industry in the village. The entire Kumbhar community of that village are engaged in the pottery work. They are also engaging all their family members in that work. They are not very much interested to send their children to school. Rather they are encouraging their children to help them in the pottery work. When asked about his educational qualification, a young man aged about 25 engaged in the pottery work says that he has no formal educational qualification and he has never attended any school.

The villagers are mainly depending upon the local market for the selling of their finished products. Sometimes they are also sending their products to the pre-determined dealers from whom they would have got contract. Though hereditarily the potter families are doing the pottery work out of their own resources, now banks are interested in providing loans to them. This year Koraput Panchabati Gramya Bank has provided Rs 3 lakh of loan to a group of potters comprising 30 households. A skill development programme on terracotta making and painting on the finished products was organised by the government officials. The villagers claim that they can earn nearly 4-5 thousand rupees per month to sustain their family. Besides this they also cultivate paddy during the rainy season to augment their family income. The standard of living of the potter families is comparatively good, as some of them use mobile phones with multimedia features and direct to home facilities.

Although the public authority has done something to sustain the endangered craft of pottery, much more work needs to be done in this direction. The government has to introduce terracotta training and also formal education to this community. The most important help to the potter community the government can provide is the market facility. The private sector must be encouraged to come forward to take initiative in this direction, so that the pottery work can be sustained in this plastic age. Public sector banks should come forward to provide adequate finances to this pottery work, for the achievement of poverty alleviation and employment generation.

(Ashutosh Samal is studying Journalism & Mass Communication at the Central University of Orissa, Koraput. With a post-graduate degree in political science he believes that political news reporting and crime reporting are an interesting beat where he would like to excel. He can be reached at ashutosh.cuo@gmail.com) 

WATER SCARCITY AT MANPADA

Manpada, KORAPUT: Six decades have already passed since independence. Still a spring, only a nature made spring to quench the thirst of … people of Manpada village. If water is the synonym of life, what name shall we give to their living? This is the naked truth of the village.



Manapada: Villagers carrying water

(Photo: Sujata Kumari Jena)



Manpada is a small village of Padmapur panchayat in Koraput district. There are four streets in the village. Most of the residents of this village are illiterate. Their main occupation is agriculture. The villagers depend upon only one source of water for their daily needs and cultivation. There is no proper water supply in the village. They use nearby spring water which is not conducive for their drinking and cooking. The people are deprived of pipe water system. Despite frequent complains, the district administration and local leaders are very apathetic to their demands. They are leading just a better life than the stone-age people in the 21^st century. Being illiterate, they are unable to communicate their grievances to the administration. On the other hand, neither the district administration nor the local leader feels it necessary to provide them their basic needs. Only an eyewitness can believe that the village has no tube-well, though above one thousand people are living in it. Forget about education and health, the people are unable to get a glass of pure drinking water. Women and little girl children travel 2 kms every day to fetch a bucket of clean drinking water. During summers the situation even becomes more critical.



Manapada: Natural Stream - drinking water body for villagers

(Photo - Sujata Kumari Jena)



They are leading in an unhygienic condition. They are forced to use dirty and polluted water during rainy season for domestic purposes. Naturally they are suffering from several water borne diseases. So the administration should come forward to save thousands of lives. 

(Sujata Kumari Jena is studying Journalism & Mass Communication at the Central University of Orissa, Koraput. Before doing her journalism and mass communication, she did graduation in Political Science honours. Her interest areas are women empowerment, political story and crime story. After completing her PG she desires to work in print or television and prepare for NET exam. She can be reached at sujata.jena27@gmail.com)

COMPLEXITIES MAR MGNREGA IN PADMAPUR

Padmapur, KORAPUT: Delay in postal payment and getting of labour identity number pose a serious threat in the effective functioning of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) in Padmapur panchayat of Koraput district. Lack of awareness among the illiterate residents also aggravates the problem.

According to the Panchayat sources, MGNREGA was implemented in the year 2006 and since then it has been continuing. Annually Rs. 60 lakh comes for this purpose. Till date 1500 job cards have been issued to the people. The manual works undertaken in this act are agricultural land development, digging up farm ponds, construction of village roads, facilitation of irrigation facilities, tree plantation and other infrastructural development projects in rural areas. The panchayat officials also claim that they are able to provide 100 days of work per year at wage rate of Rs. 90 per day to each of the job card holder, as stipulated in the act.

At the same time, officials also complain against the delay in postal payment system where each of the beneficiaries has to open a passbook through which daily wages would be paid. Thus, the poor labourers who depend on daily wages for sustenance of their family are not willing to work under the scheme. Further aggravating the problem is the long process of issuing a new job card where panchayats have to send the name of the person to DRDA (District Rural Development Agency) for getting labour identity number. As most of the residents of this panchayat are illiterate, they are not able to get their job cards or open a passbook on their own. Thus, the onus lies solely on with the panchayat officials.

If the higher authority facilitates speedy disbursal of postal payment and issue labour identity number promptly, efficiency would be achieved in the implementation of this scheme. The full effectiveness of the scheme would only be achieved when poor and illiterate people of the panchayat are made fully aware about the nitty-gritties of the act. 

(Priyaranjan Swain is studying Journalism & Mass Communication at the Central University of Orissa, Koraput. Already armed with a Master’s in Applied Economics he aspires to work for a leading newspaper after the completion of his course. Interest in socio-economic issues and day to day political affairs help him understand the complexities of our ever evolving society. He can be reached at priyaranjanswain35@gmail.com.)

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