Bhan Sahu thought being poor meant walking a kilometer to school and then having to drop out when she was eight years old, until she started working at an NGO and realized there were others even less fortunate than herself. Her interest in education didn’t wane, however. Using video as a tool to bring people together, her Community Correspondent reports…
Drought, lack of livelihood scopes force tribal youths in India’s Chattisgarh migrate en masse.
About ten million people (9,400,000) across Chattisgarh’s 12 districts have been severely affected by drought this year. Among them are 400 people in Bhan Sahu’s own village Pangri in Rajnandgao district.
Ranjandgaon was one of the 12 districts that were declared drought-hit by the state government this February. Now, according to current government disaster management rules, once a district is officially declared drought-hit, the administration has to immediately start a relief and mitigation process. The process includes providing free food, drinking water and also special employment to the affected people. None of this has reached Pangri village.
Bhan Sahu reports that since there was no harvest and no alternative livelihood available, almost all the youths of her village have migrated to cities outside Chattisgarh in search of a job. There were several of her relatives and friends among the migrants. As a result, of nearly a hundred families, only 35 are now left in the village.
In each of these families there are only women, children and old people.
This is an endemic problem in her village that happens every year. The whole district of Rajnandgaon is drought prone and as there are no irrigation facilities, farmers are suffering from a crop failure every year. And so the number of people migrating for a better life is also steady increasing.
Bhan Sahu who is determined to stay in Pangri itself, is working with other women of the village to help her community. Through this video she wants to highlight the community’s plights, so that the government drought relief measures, including local employment can reach them.
To watch more of Bhan Sahu's videos on tribal communities of Chattisgarh, click here.
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