A visit to the scenic tribal tract in Visakhapatnam district, popularly known as the Agency area, is an exhilarating experience, but at the time of elections it can be as hectic as in the plains.
About 48% of the total area in the district (11,161 sq km) is notified as Agency. During the colonial period there were revenue collectors who were called agents.
There about 11 mandals in the Agency with a tribal population of about 5.57 lakhs. About 8 of the 11 mandals are affected by left wing extremism.
There are two Assembly segments — Araku and Paderu — and one Lok Sabha constituency — Araku.
Unique culture
The tribal habitations in these parts are unique in many aspects. According to PD Satyapal, Head of the Department of Anthropology, Andhra University, across the country tribal people live in homogeneous villages. One tribe inhabits one village, and other tribes are generally not welcome.
“But here, most of the villages are multi-tribe ones,” he says.
The uniqueness set in during the colonial period, when the ‘Muttadari’ (revenue collectors) system was introduced. Tribal people, who were till then living in single-tribe villages, shifted from podu cultivation and hunter gatherers to wet cultivation, for additional revenue.
“This called for tribes with different skill-sets coming into villages and ‘Muttadar’ began calling the shots. Also, new villages were formed,” said Prof. Satyapal.
When it came to ‘Muttadars’, the choice was the ‘Bagathas’ a tribe that then had contact with the outside world.
The Agency is home to tribes such as the Bagathas, Konda Doras, Porajas, Valmikis, Kotias, Kondhu, Gadabas, Nooka Doras, Dulia, Goudu, Mali and Didoyis. A few such as Poraja, Gadaba, Kondhu and Dulia are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG).
But despite Konda Doras being numerically superior, comprising about 35%, the Bagathas are the dominant tribal group owning land, says Prof. Satyapal.
Some of the key leaders from Bagatha tribes are Manikumari, Lakke Raja Rao and Giddi Eswari.
The first to challenge the Bagathas are the Valmikis. This tribe is said to be ferocious and have uplifted themselves through education and economic activity. The leaders who made it big during the recent times were LB Dukku, Kidari Sarveswara Rao, who was killed by the Maoists, and P. Balaraju.
Calling the shots
The dominance of these two groups has made the Konda Doras wary.
Two leaders who come from this tribe are Siveri Soma, who was killed by the Maoists in September last year, and Pangi Raja Rao.
The panchayat system has not struck roots in the region, the village headman or Naidu and village priest continue to hold the sway, and in most of the villages the traditional posts are held by the Bagathas.
But of late there has been a perceptible change with the emergence of a third force in the form of Girijana Sangham, a frontal set-up of the Maoists. It is playing a key role in opinion setting, especially in villages in the AOB region.
Inter-tribal intricacies and Maoist activity, it’s truly a heady mix in the region.
