Protectors of the forest

14/05/2001

Protectors of the forest INDIA might be the software superpower but its remote villages still remain caught in a time warp where the effects of modernistion have not yet filtered down. Even after 54 years of independence, the rhetoric of development and conservation rings hollow without the people's participation in development schemes. Here in village Pandalama, 60 kilometres away from Bhubaneshwar, the Saara adivasis undertook forest conservation. They had to protect their resources fromgreedy intruders.
Nothing positive The native Saara tribe of Pandalama village was always in the grip of difficulties with poverty being a permanent adversary. Due to dearth of housing, they established themselves in three hamlets namely Pandlama Adivasi Purana Sahi, Biswanathpur and Durgapalli. Their life was a series of negatives. They had no landed property they could call their own. There was no scope of employment. There was no provision for their health or education. Their was a Sevasharm school run by a tribal welfare department at Pandalama. but its sole attraction has been the midday meal provision.

The women used go to a nearby forest to collect dry leaves, which were sold at Rs 8 per bundle. The male members migrated to Jankia district in search of livelihood leaving their children behind.

To add to the troubles, caste drived a wedge even among the tribals. The bone of contention between the touchable and untouchable tribes was the denuded forest. Exploiting the tribal disunity a forest track near Gahirgadia village became the focus of plunderers. The intruders wanted to plunder the forest in connivance with forest department officials. Rising to the occasion, the villagers of Pandalama Adivasi Sahi thwarted their attempts.
The turning point Awareness among the villagers has led to the formation of

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