In search of the missing

'One' Pangi Budra is the subject of a land acquisition notice dated 1954. A bit of his life can be reconstructed. The rest is conjecture.

UN heritage status for Odisha's Koraput farming system

Post-floods, Orissa's tribal districts suffer cholera outbreak

A cholera outbreak has ravaged Orissa's tribal-dominated Kalahandi, Koraput and Rayagada districts since early August. The state government says the region has reported 119 deaths so far. About 6,000 people have been treated for cholera and other stomach diseases.

Orissa tribals struggle to regain cashew rights

"I have no choice but to leave my village in search of work. Otherwise, my family will starve," says Samra Malik of Malikput village in Orissa's Koraput district. He, and several others landless like him, go to work on railway construction sites in Andhra Pradesh and coastal Orissa. Malik alleges that a state body does not allow them to grow cashew leaving them with no other option.

The tribe that disappeared

For over five decades, a tribe in Orissa was not recognised because of a mistake in the Centre's list of scheduled tribes made in 1951. "The list mentioned Dharua tribe as existing in Koraput and Mayurbhanj district of Orissa. But in reality, Dharua exists only in Mayurbhanj, while the tribe living in Koraput is Durua," explains Paresh Rath, who has worked extensively on Duruas in the state.

In search of the missing

'One' Pangi Budra is the subject of a land acquisition notice dated 1954. A bit of his life can be reconstructed. The rest is conjecture.

The virtual reality of being Indian

THE remoteness of 190 villages in Orissa's undivided Koraput district (see: In search of the missing) is an elegy on governance. Over five decades, living in islands inside huge reservoirs, some 20,000 people became virtually non-existent.