Where Coal is gold, children’s education can be dumped! As the name suggests, the mining-savvy Orissa government has followed this in a small Matulu Camp village, a resettled habitation in the Rengali block of Sambalpur district in Orissa. There was a ‘school’, up to class 5th, in this village just three years ago. But, the school is now reminding a World War II concentration camp, where about 100 children of ten classes are being forced inside a dingy 20/15 ft room community centre building.
The eastern Indian state of Orissa will turn to a mass of barren and desert-like lands in another 150 years, warned Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO). This is an alarming finding considering that the world is observing this year as the year of deserts and desertification with the theme, "Let's stop dry lands from turning deserts". Desertification is a process of productivity loss of lands. When severe, it leads to permanent damage.
Recently during Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s maiden visit to Orissa, once again it was re-established that the most powerful word that drives the politicians and bureaucrats in contemporary Orissa is the infamous three-letter word KBK (Kalahandi–Bolangir–Koraput). It has been more than a decade that KBK area has been showered with specially designed programmes, grants, and so many high profile visits. Unfortunately, the benefits of all these assistances are yet to reach the people of the region.
Despite incessant combing operations against Maoists in the jungles of both affected and targeted districts since the 24 March Ramgiri Udayagiri Jail attacks, the Maoist mobilisations continue unabated in Orissa. Undoubtedly, the operations had least impact on the Maoist movements in the Northern Orissa districts adjacent to the borders of neighbouring Jharkhand. They continue to camp freely in the inter-district borders and visit the villages at night to collect water and rations and organise village meetings. Even armed Maoists roam the village streets in groups of three to five.