Adivasis' tools in museum

Tools and instruments that the Adivasis use in day- to-day life have an antique value that needs to be preserved for the posterity. 

Some of these items  that the Adivasis had collected and put on view at the recently concluded ‘Giri Ustav’ at Utnoor will be kept in the tribal museum being constructed at Jodeghat in Kerameri where Kumram Bheem died to fight with Nizam forces in the 1940s.

The state government has sanctioned Rs 25 crores to develop the Jodeghat as a tourist spot with the memorial, tribal museum, and open auditorium.     

The just concluded Giri Ustav helped the officials in collecting the tools, instruments of Adivasis, which reflect their tradition, and culture displayed at Giri Ustav by the Adivasis came from across the district.

The Giri Ustav, organized by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Utnoor , in collaboration with the Telangana Tourism, enabled officials to collect the tools, instruments, and ornaments of the Adivasis.

Some trends, such as the wearing of modern clothes by the tribals were of more recent vintage and out of their own interest, cultural experts said and did not reflect their real traditions or practices of yore.

They felt that there was a need for screening the present Adivasi culture, based on the original traditions and customs, before documenting them.          

The Gonds, Thoti, Pardhan, Erukala, Naikpod, Koya, Kolam, Mannewar, Lambada and other tribal groups exhibited their culture and tradition and performed their dances and displayed many instruments and tools that they had been using on the special occasions since their forefathers’ time.

Some had become extinct through sheer disuse, with modern equipment having replaced them, and the younger generations, having no idea how to use some of the ancient implements, had stored them away.

Adivasi leader Sidam Arju of Adilabad said that the display of these tools and other articles of daily use in this manner was a good way for the new generation of Adivasis to get acquainted with their own rich past.

Few cultural and traditions aspects of some Adivasi groups have influenced with people of plain areas and they have changed a lot and influenced with Hindu religion on Adivasis especially Andh group.

‘Their dressing style and some cultural aspects were new assimilated from Hindu non- tribals’, he observed and cultural experts should be very careful while identifying the real culture of Adivasis before they exhibit in the tribal museum.

He said Adivasi have their own 'Adi Dharma' such as ‘Pandi Parikupari Lingo’, ‘Raithad Jango’ and will not come under Hindu religion.    

Nomadic students join state schools

 Nakkalollu which comes under denotified tribals ( DNT) 

Nearly 2,500 children belonging to 26 BC nomadic and semi- nomadic castes were admitted to the government schools for the first time this year thanks to the BC Corporation. These castes come under Denotified tribals (DNT).

    

There are thousands of children of these nomadic BC communities out of school in the state. The  nomadic and semi- nomadic BC castes in nature have been identified including Balasanthula, Budubukkala, Dommara, Pamula, Gangireddula, Mondivaru, Banda, Veeramusti, Mandula and Pambala.  

The state government’s initiation will go a long way in bringing them to the schools. These nomadic and semi- nomadic castes in Backward Communities were included in the A- Group       

BC Empowerment Council of Telangana, Coordinator Durgam Subbarao said, ‘it is good to focus on NDTs child education in Telangana. A special component plan for the NDTs and government must allocate 10 percent of annual plan budget for them’.

The state government is making efforts to take special initiatives for the welfare and development most backward caste among the Backward Communities and reach the benefits to these communities.

BC Welfare Minister Jogu Ramanna said they have conducted a survey and have identified 26 castes as nomadic in nature among the existing BC communities and focusing on the development and welfare of these communities in the BCs in the state.

He said they have admitted nearly 2,500 children of nomadic BC communities to the government schools this year and they were for the first time entered into the educational institutions.

As per the GO MS N0: 15 there are total 144 castes in Backward Community’s list. Among them, 26 have been identified as most backward communities in the BCs in the Telangana state.

Efforts are being made to bring these BC communities in nomadic nature into the mainstream. It is found in the survey that these communities move from one place to another place in search of food, begging and no permanent shelter were not in a position to avail government schemes due to their nomadic nature.

People of these communities rarely find a place in the voter's list and integrated social survey conducted by the state and central governments.  

This stage managed wedding was for real

Two underprivileged Adivasi youngsters got married without spending a single rupee. It was part of the marriage ritual to showcase an Adivasi wedding as part of Giri Ustav-2016 held at Utnoor on September 16 and 17.

The couples got married for real and even got Rs 51,000 financial help on the spot under the Kalyana Laxmi scheme. Their relatives who attended the marriage had a good lunch at the event.

These two couples are being considered as celebrities by their fellow Adivasis who wanted to be photographed with newlyweds.

One Gond couple is from Salevada in Utnoor mandal and another, a Koya couple is from Somini village in Bejjur mandal. 

Their relatives are considering them as a luckiest couple as their marriage was solemnized traditionally during the Giri Ustav with hundreds of Adivasis and elected public representatives were witnessing the auspicious event.

Utensils were gifted to these couples after their wedding and MLAs, ministers Jogu Ramanna and Allola Indrakaran Reddy took photographs with them.

Adivasi leader Sedmaki Seetharam said they were looking for a bride and groom to take part in the traditional marriage rituals to perform a marriage at Giri Ustav. 

Luckily they come across prospective bride and groom Mesram Sheshrao and Vachalabai of Salewada village whose match was already in the process. The second couple is Thorram Kishore and Sidam Soni of Koya of Somini village in Bejjur manal.

Newly wedded Mesram Sheshrao said he got rare opportunity to get married as part of Giri Ustav amidst thousands of Adivasis and well-known leaders and MLAs, project officer and ministers which were not possible otherwise.

They registered the marriage immediately under Kalyana Laxmi and got financial benefit under the scheme with the intervention of the senior officials.

The scheme had come under the criticism because of a scam that was unearthed but fortunately for these two lucky couples it was smooth sailing all the way. An auspicious start to a new life undoubtedly !

Dalit student in 'Poorna' lead role

 Korri Manoj of Adilabad with Rahul Bose 

A Dalit student from Adilabad Korri Manoj,17,got rare opportunity to play a lead role in Hindi movie (bilingual) ‘Poorna’, directed and produced by Rahul Bose of Bollywood.

It is all about the inspirational film being directed, produced and also acted by the Rahul Bose. It is all about an inspirational film being directed and acted by Rahul Bose.   

Manoj comes from a poor family background but had natural talent in various fields. Manoj is a resident of Kursheednagar colony in Adilabad town.

   

The movie ‘Poorna’is based on the life of the mountaineer Malavath Poorna of Nizamabad who scaled Mt Everest as youngest girl in the world when she was just 13 years. The movie is a biopic about Malavath Poorna, a tribal girl from Telangana.

Manoj was selected after audition tests by Rahul Bose for the lead role since he had physical fitness and experience in acting.

He is now working as a resource person for ‘Theater Arts’ programme being conducted for students of Social Welfare Residential Schools during summer vacations.      

S. Anand Kumar also scaled the Everest along with the Poorna and both were students of Social Welfare Residential School . 

Manoj has played Anand’s role (fellow mountaineer) in the Poorna movie which has been shot at various places and is about to release.

Manoj is studying BiPc second year at Magnet school of Social Welfare at Stationghanpur in Warangal district. Earlier he studied at Asifabad social welfare residential school in Adilabad district. Manoj is good at screenplay writing, lyrics and theater arts. 

Another boy, Avinash of Ichoda, also acted as Anand’s friend in the Poorna film. Avinash is also a student of Bellampalli Residential School.

Speaking to this newspaper, K. Manoj who played Anand’s role in Poorna film said few scenes shot in his role while he was trekking the Mount Everest along with Aditi Inandar, who is playing the role of Malavath Poorna at Darjeeling, Sikkim, Bhutan and Mumbai. He added he can’t reveal more about the shooting and movie before its release.

Manoj said he learned many acting skills from Rahul Bose and other senior Bengal artists while acting a lead role in Poorna and it was a lifetime experience working with the senior actors. He said he was so excited while traveling in the Airplanes to various places for shooting as he boarded the Airplane first time in his life.  

It is learned that Rahul Bose is playing a coaching role, depicting R.S Praveen Kumar, secretary of the then Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Schools Society who motivated both Poorna and Anand in professional training in rock climbing and also in trekking Mt Everest on behalf of the government.       

Gandhari vanam is new attraction

The Gandhari Vanam, a unique park came up near Mysamma temple at Bokkalagutta area is already creating curiosity in Mancherial being created as a new district. 

The park will be a much longed for lung space to the people of the much-polluted coal belt area where opencast mines and ceramic industries cause   massive pollution in the new district.

The park comprises of a children’s park, walking the track, natural park, deer park , Ayurveda vanam and Shruti vanam is coming up on 600 acres on the out skirts of  Mancherial town. The vanam is developed with the Rs 3 crore funds contributed by the MP Balka Suman and Chennur MLA Nallala Odelu.

Gandhari vanam is developed by the forest department as part of tourism development in the area and convert the area as a tourist spot.

According to forest officials, there will be nearly 1,000 varieties plants cultivated in the park and also Jalavihar boating facility to entertain children and elder alike.

Gandhari Vanam is close to the popular Gandhari Mysamma temple located in the limestone quarries in Madamarri mandal.

Mancherial DFO Dr. B. Prabhakar said the ‘Gandhari Vanam will become popular with the citizens and tourists.

Hundreds of devotees throng the Gandhari Mysamma temple (a village deity)  every week and sacrifice goats and hens and celebrate feats there and the place is a popular one among the people of the coal belt area.

Mancherial town expansion has grown by leaps and bounds and registered speedy growth and development on various accounts. The town has now almost connected with the Mandamarri town with the coming up new colonies in between.

Mancherial is emerging as a town with a lot of economic activity including real estate boom in the wake of state governments’ decision to create Mancherial as a new district.

Farmer suicides on the rise in Adilabad

interacting with Kalabai, wife of deceased farmer Lachanna 

Farmer suicides have been rising in the last two months in the district. Farmers, affected by the prolonged dry spell, untimely rains and resultant poor yields were the ones who took the extreme step. 

As many as 14 farmers have committed suicide in the last two months in the district. Some of them were young, bellow 30 years of age.

According to sources, six farmers committed suicide in July and another six in August. Two farmers have ended their life this month in the district. the majority of these suicides took place due to mounted debt and lack of germination of seeds.

As many as 50 farmers have committed suicide till now from January, 2016.

A many as 224 farmers- 73 in 2014, 101 in 2015 and 50 in 2016 have committed suicide in the Adilabad district in Telangana state. The state government has issued GO: 173 enhancing the compensation to Rs 6 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh.

Famers had taken loans from the private moneylenders at exorbitant interest rates  and in the second round of sowing, incurred a huge loss in the process. The distressed farmers went for second sowing and incurred a huge loss in terms of investment cost. Unwanted rains and subsequent floods caused some damage to the standing crops.

Among those who committed suicide were Mekala Lachanna,52, of Dhanora village and Gajjeri Gajananad, 24, of Karanji village in both in Tamsi; Bhanoth Maruthi,30, of  Khairiguda in Rebbena mandal.

Tenant farmer Mekala Lachanna of Dhanora and Adivasi farmer Atram Mutta,38, of  Kakarbuddi of Sirpur(U) committed suicide on September1.

Lachanna took the 14 acres of land on lease and cultivated cotton in eight acres, turmeric in three acres and soya in two acres but lost cotton due to prolonged dry spell. He incurred a huge loss due to second sowing.

His wife Kalabai said they had borrowed Rs 3 lakh from private moneylenders and intermediaries for agriculture and her husband took the extreme step because of disappointment over the poor germination of seeds and mounting debt.               

Rythu Athmahatyala Nivarana Committee district president Sangepu Borranna said farmer suicides were on the rise since two months due to floods and prolonged dry spell and added that the weather conditions had played spoilsport.

He said the three-men committee at mandal and division level were not considering these suicides as related to agriculture distress.

There was prolonged dry spell in August when plants need moisture in the soil to grow. There was unwanted heavy rain in July and floods inundated the standing crops in some part of the district.

According to sources, the average district actual rainfall was 915.3 mm from June1 to September 12. As many as 42 mandals received normal rainfall, six mandals  got excessive rainfall while there was rain deficit in four mandals in the district.

The huge delay in banks giving crop loans and low scale of finance forced farmers to approach private moneylenders. Most of the tenant farmers did not get crop loans from the banks for Kharif.

Better connectivity with new mandals

The creation of new mandals as part of new districts will improve the road connectivity in the interior areas in Mancherial and parent Adilabad districts.

The news is making rounds that state government is planning to create new mandal Penchikalpet from existing Bejjur mandal and Chinthalamanapalli from existing Kautala mandal and Adilabad rural mandal from existing Adilabdad mandal.

It is said that two new mandals are being created in Macherial district while one in parent Adilabad district.

Already, inter- state bridge on river Pranahitha is under construction that will boost the transportation between Telangana and border Maharashtra.

Two lane –road is being laid between Sirpur (T) to Kautala mandals. There is a proposal of laying two-lane road between Kautala to Eturunagaram of Warangal district.

The existing inter- state bridge at Venkatraopet in Sirpur (T) mandal is already enabling the transportation between coal belt area of Telangana and Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.

C. Mallaiah of Kautala mandal headquarters said the creation of new mandals Penchikalpet and Chinthalamanapalli would improve the road connectivity in the interiors along the river Pranahitha.

He said there is an existing single road to Penchikalpet, 30 km from Bejjur mandal headquarters and Chinthalamanapalli, 15 km from Kautala mandal headquarters.

The state government is laying new roads linking the mandal headquarters and also internal roads in the mandals. This may go a long way in case of interior Sirpur (T) Assembly constituency as far as road connectivity is concerned.

High-level bridges coming up at various places replacing the low-level bridges which have become a hurdle in free of transportation in the monsoon as they are being submerged in the flood water and affecting the road connectivity to the interior areas in the Sirpur (T) Assembly Constituency.

The same is the case with the creation of new mandal Adilabad rural in the Adilabad Assembly constituency. There are many interior Adivasi gudems in the Adilabad mandal and new Adilabad rural mandal is being created now with these interior villages.

There is no proper road connectivity to many interior Adivasis gudems including Wanvat, Shashidari Khanapur in the existing Adilabad mandal. The Adilabad rural mandal may be created with Mavala as its headquarters.  

Creation of districts will badly affect DSC

The creation of new districts is likely to hit the recruitment of teacher posts under DSC in the state. The state government has announced that it would give notification for 9,000 teacher posts but continued the academic year with Vidya Volunteers. 

The state government should adjust the existing posts before giving notification for new recruitment.

The unemployed- youth waiting for DSC disappointed a lot with the division of existing districts, as they will become non- locals to the new districts and already teacher posts were exhausted in government schools around the parent district headquarters and no scope for new posts.

Posts are lying vacant in the government schools in the interior areas in the new districts to be created - Mancherial and Nirmal but unemployed youth do not get the full benefit of those teacher posts to be recruited in future.

Hardly find 30 vacancies of SGT teacher posts while School Assistant posts were a surplus in the government schools in the Adilabad, Bela, Jainad, Talamdugu and Tamsi mandals while hundreds of vacancies in the government schools in the areas in Nirmal and Mancherial.

A large number of government teachers are working in Mancherial and Nirmal areas as there were no vacancies in the Adilabad area.

There are 46 Zilla Parishad High School in plain area and 53 in the Agency areas in the Adilabad Taluq. Meanwhile, there are 106 high schools in Nirmal area that too in the fully plain area.  There are more vacancies of teacher posts in interior Tanoor and Kubheer mandals sharing border with the Maharashtra

District general secretary of TUSTF A. Venkat said filling government teachers posts is not an easy to process in the wake of the creation of the new district and added that state government has to first adjust posts lying vacant with the native teachers working in other places going by their bonafide and service book.

The state government will give notification for the left over vacancies only after completing this process and it can create supernumerary posts instead filling up regular posts if it is necessary.

Teachers Union demanding the state government to transfer the non- tribals teacher working in tribal areas to plain areas and fill up the vacancies with the tribals as per the G NO: 3.

New districts to hit state educational institutions

Government schools, hostels and colleges have been at the receiving end of the  state government’s plans to create new districts. 

Officials have identified existing government school and hostel buildings and taken them over to be used as accommodation for new government offices to be set up in the new districts.

Most of these school and hostels buildings that have been taken over by the officials are in and around the Mancherial.

According to sources, collectorate will be set up in the exiting building of tribal ashram school of ITDA near Degree College, ZP CEO’s office in the ST boys’ hostel building, BC welfare office in government BC integrated girls hostel, DEO office in Boys High school, ICDS Project director office in Balasadan hostel, inter-board RIO office in Government degree college. 

The treasury office in ST boys hostels and employment office in Government ITI for boys. A majority of the existing government buildings that have been taken over by the district officials are educational institutions.

There is no clarity whether the students will be adjusted in other hostels, schools and colleges or accommodated in rented houses after they are evicted from these buildings.

There is also no clarity on the size of the portion that will be utilized for new offices in the existing selected educational buildings or if the entire buildings will be used for the purpose. The district officials have selected school and hostel buildings also in and around the Nirmal town to set up government offices.

In most cases, district officials involved in the creation of new district selected available exiting district instead taking private buildings on rent for the government offices in order to reduce the expenditure.

A senior government teacher said, ‘Educational institutions are getting disturbed. This is leading students and their studies getting disturbed in process of creating new districts Mancherial and Nirmal’.

Residential schools find great demand

There is good demand for seats in social welfare residential schools and colleges run under TSWREI Society rather than private residential schools.

Parents admitted their children in social welfare residential schools far away from their villages as they see a bright future for their children.

D. Venkatalaxmi, District coordinating officer, TSWREI society said a crease has created for the admission in the residential schools was due to its unique programmes and good food and shelter and offering quality education.

She said as many as 7,000 students attended the test for class V this year and 8,000  for admission to the vacant seats in classes  VI to VIII.

The TSWREI is also holding summer camps for them and special programmes to improve English communication skills and spoken English. The mountaineering and rock climbing events for the students of the TSWREI brought the name and fame  for these institutions and its students Purna and Anand who climbed Mt Everest created a craze of sorts for admissions.

The existing demand for English medium education among the middle class and also poor has created demand for admission in these  schools where English is medium of instruction and majority of high schools upgraded to colleges.

Chindam Ramesh of Goleti said his son Vardhan Kumar finally got admission in class V in Social Welfare Residential School and said there was heavy competition for the seats in these institutions.

According to official sources, there are total 14 social welfare residential schools including five for boys and nine for girls in the district. As many as 8,550 students are studying in the already existing schools and 1,300 students got fresh admissions in new schools.

Kodipe Rajaiah of Tharividi in Kautala mandal who admitted their two daughters at Social Welfare Residential School at Asifabad said the institutions were offering quality education and focusing on the all-round development of the students.

Parents are of the opinion that things will improve at Social Welfare Residential Schools as the state government is going to fill nearly 5,000 teacher posts in these institutions soon.