Did poor hygiene cause the deaths?

By Prafulla Das

KASHIPUR, (Orissa) SEPT. 1. Grief and misery have all but become seasonal visitors to Kashipur. Year after year, this remote block in Orissa's Rayagada district falls prey to human deprivation. But in tandem with human misery, ironies too sweep the rugged terrain.

This season is no different. Like many years in the past, fresh allegations are doing the rounds that people of Kashipur are dying due to starvation. A section of the media has already reported that starvation has claimed 19 lives in the region since July.

The State Government admits the deaths but claims that they were primarily due to food poisoning. And as the debate rages, there is little succour for the hapless inhabitants.

``Be it hunger deaths or deaths to due to food poisoning, the sum total is that we in Kashipur are hopelessly poor,'' says Mr. Kashinath Majhi of Panasguda village, whose son died consuming mango kernel paste and other items.

That's how the Kondh tribals of Kashipur have always been. The then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, had come calling as far back as in 1987 and was a catalyst for launching the Orissa Tribal Development Project for Kashipur. After more than a decade and Rs. 60 crores spent, there is no perceptible improvement in people's plight. Nobody has grown richer. If anything, the number of below the poverty line (BPL) card holders in the block have gone up from 15,000 in 1992 to 24,000 by the last count.

The pauperisation is visible when one hits the dirt tracks to go round the faceless villages of the region. There is unanimity that poverty here is back-breaking. But claims that hunger is killing people is hotly disputed.

Even many of those who have lost their kith and kin and some of those who survived after medical treatment vouch that it wasn't a case of starvation. Maybe, it was a result of their food habits and lack of proper hygiene.

The critics of the Government claim that the tribals have died eating mango kernels on being driven by hunger. However, it is a fact that the tribals are eating mango kernel traditionally. Most of the tribal families store dry mango kernels, ragi, tamarind seeds, and different types of millets to cope with the situation during the rainy season, when food is scarce and there is no work. But there is little to doubt that the Government is found wanting in Kashipur on several counts. Food is in short supply. Work is also scarce. Health facility is inadequate and the best of the Government's action plans remain more on paper.

While some say the tribals eat mango kernels out of compulsion, a majority are of the view that it was a traditional food for them.

The Rayagada District Collector, Mr. Bishnupada Sethi, says that ``there is poverty but no hunger. Nobody is being allowed to die of starvation.'' He points out that around 50,000 people of Kashipur's one lakh-odd population were under the security net, including schemes such as the BPL cards and pension.

Significantly, the Congress leader and Rayagada Zilla Parishad president, Mr. Bijay Gamang, feels the recent deaths had nothing to do with starvation. ``The deaths may have occurred due to contamination of food, including the preparation made out of mango kernel.''

Many tribals are still consuming mango kernel paste including some who have rice at home. This was also the case when seven persons died in Panasguda. They had cooked a meal of rice and a gruel of mango kernel as side dish. ``The paste apparently got contaminated that day,'' says Mr. Biswanath Majhi, a resident of Panasguda, who lost his wife, mother, and son that fateful day. He was also taken ill, but survived after medical treatment.

Tribals form 65 per cent of Kashipur's population. Another 20 per cent of the block's population are scheduled castes and the rest belong to other castes. A vast majority of the population thrives on whatever they grow in the sloppy land, the barren hills and the fast depleting forests.

That Kashipur continues to be neglected by the Government like many other backward pockets in the State is clear from the fact that three of the 11 blocks in Rayagada district are managing without anybody manning the post of Block Development Officers (BDO). Kashipur has been without a BDO for the past five months. Many posts of doctors and health workers are also lying vacant in Kashipur and other blocks of Rayagada.

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