TS tribal schools undergoing change

After social welfare Residential school, it is tribal welfare schools and hostels, which are undergoing change with many reforms in terms of menu, academic calendar year, conducting special classes and conducting summer training to the students in various fields as part of summer samurai program.

The Tribal Welfare schools under ITDA got 80.40 pass percent of SSC this year against 33 last year. There are nearly 40,000 students are studying in tribal welfare ashram schools under ITDA, Utnoor and above 3,000 teachers are working in these schools in the district.

Tribal welfare officials are making serious efforts to improve the educational standards in the Tribal ashram schools and hostels run under ITDA, Utnoor.

However, it is too early to comment about the improvement in educational standards in Tribal ashram schools because with the recent increase in pass percent in SSC. It remains to be seen how these students will perform in intermediate.

The officers of agency education department say they have conducted slip tests, orientation classes and a special focus on Mathematics, Telugu and English subjects in SSC and this resulted in good pass percent when compared to last year.

Efforts are also being made to improve communication and English skills among the students studying in Tribal Ashram schools.

Project officer R.V Karnan said they have changed the previous school academic calendar adding that prepared new academic calendar taking the tribal festivals and Jataras into consideration and hoped that new academic calendar will improve the attendance of the students.

The ITDA also changed the food items in the menu and serving traditional nutritional food to the inmates of the Tribal Ashram schools for some time and also encouraging sports and games among the students studying in tribal schools and hostels.

Students of Tribal Ashram schools and hostels are now being called with the suffix ‘Stars’ as part of an image makeover to the schools and students and infuse confidence among them.

VTDA's to be strenthened to empower tribals in Adilabad

Project officer R.V Karnan interacting with Adivasis at Gundala in Tiryani

The Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Utnoor is making efforts to empower the tribals by strengthening Village Tribal Development Agencies (VTDAs). 

The VTDAs will give democratic space for the local tribals to take up development works needed for them instead of accepting what is imposed by the government officials.

The ITDA authorities are of the opinion that the involvement of the local tribals especially Adivasis in development works and schemes will help the effective implementation of government schemes and speed up the works take up in their respective villages.Misappropriation funds meant for the development works in interior tribal areas is on the higher side.

The village tribal development agencies will take up development works like roads, construction of a school and other buildings, minor drinking water schemes and supplying food and other items to the Tribal Ashram schools instead of private contractors.

The ITDA, Utnoor project officer R.V Karnan said they will conduct elections to the VTDAs through gram sabhas and leaders and villagers will elect the president and members to 530 Village Tribal Development Committees (VTDA’s).

He said various programs will be organized and schemes will be implemented through VTDAs under ITDA.  

Earlier, the VTDAs were active and but the majority of them become inactive and some of them inactive as political leaders and private contractors and some government officials diluted them over a period of time as they were affecting their interests.

Leaders of some of the VTDA’s misused the powers and gave works to the private contractors taking the goodwill from them instead doing works on their own or else not supplying material in time or not completing the works in time as per agreement.

It was found that there is no proper monitoring of the development work taken up by the private contractors and various departments in the tribal villages. 

The same work being taken up many times to get the profits though there was no use of such sub-standard works to the local tribals. This came up for the discussion many times in the meeting of governing body of the ITDA.

Regulate marriages of sickle cell diseased to save Adivasis

The Adivasis of Adilabad are experiencing a significant health adversity due to sickle cell anemia, a hereditary disease. 

Medical experts have identified cross- cousin marriages within the community as a major contributing factor to sickle cell disease.   

Officials and medical experts opine that regulating unions between the sickle cell carriers, positives, and normal people were the only way to prevent the disease from being carried over to the successive generations.

“Five percent Adivasis are suffering from sickle cell anemia in the district. This is an alarming figure, and it is high time we control its spread”, said R.V Karnan, Project Officer, ITDA, Utnoor.

The Integrated Tribal Development Agency officials are planning to issue health cards about the status of sickle cell disease after screening nearly 5 lakh Adivasis in the Adilabad.

This measure also adopted in Gujarat at the behest of the Tribal Welfare Commissioner, Government of India and also counseled prospective brides and grooms about their health status and took preventive measures against the birth of children who were sickle cell positive or carrier.  

The incidence of sickle cell disease, seen in the Adivasis in the Telangana, is high among the Gond, Pardhan, Thoti, Koya Adivasis. 

Blood tests conducted by 40,732 students of Ashram schools and among them 2,600 students found sickle cell active.  Efforts are being made to screen students the junior colleges also after reopening colleges in the Utnoor division.

According to medical experts, there are chances of 50 percent children being born as carriers, 25 percent as positive and remaining 25 percent as healthy if two carriers got married.

As many as 50 percent children would be born as carriers and another 50 percent as normal if a normal and carrier got married. There were chances of 100 percent children being born sickle cell active if two sickle cell diseased got married.

The ITDA will issues while cards to the healthy people, complete yellow cards to sickle cell carriers after screening the Adivasis.

A doctor involved in the research opined that they could not impose scientific research on the Adivasis as they had their set of customs and traditions. They would have to accept the ground realities to save future generations from major health problems that posing a threat to their very existence.                    

      

District cops launched own police recruitments

District police have launched their own campaign for the police constables posts being recruited by the state government.

District police put up flexies at various places highlighting the number of posts under different categories and eligibility requirements for the posts for various communities.

It is highlighted that there was relaxation is qualification for ST candidates and they need not have pass intermediate but they should have appeared all the examinations in I and II year by the time of applying. 

For general students, intermediate pass is eligibility for applying the constable posts.     

Large number of tribal youth had applied this time for constable posts after knowing this relaxation, unlike in the past. The police also alerted the candidates not to approach middlemen to get constable jobs. Flexies were put up at major towns in the districts highlighting the details of police constable recruitment.

One of them put up at Ichoda by the police warned the candidates preparing for police constable against approaching middlemen who promised them a job in constable recruitment through back entry.

Superintendent of police Dr Tarun Joshi said they are conducting free coaching for the first time to the other than police that is eligible poor candidates at district police training centre.  

‘We are giving free coaching to 200 selected male candidates at district headquarters, and 100 each male and female candidates at Nirmal, said Tarun Joshi and added that good number of tribals have applied this time after knowing about the provision of special relaxation for them in education qualification for the constable posts’.

According to official sources, as many as 24,000 candidates have applied online so far for police constable posts from the Adilabad and among them nearly 2,000 are women. As many as 1,225 constable posts out of total 9,281 are reserved for the Adilabad district under the police recruitment.

Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) is giving free coaching with accommodation to 200 tribal candidates including women in Utnoor. Project officer R.V Karnan took the special interest and arranged coaching for tribal candidates.   

WhatsApp to monitor students

Social networking messenger WhatsApp is to be used to improve the students and teachers attendance and ensure teachers are punctual and keep a watch on health condition of the students in the Tribal Ashram schools in the district.

As many as 150 smart phones are being given to the headmasters and principals to share information on WhatsApp with the officials of ITDA, Utnoor and for immediate action.

There are a total 168 Tribal Ashtram schools, Residential school, mini- Gurukulam, KGBV,  satellite centres (tribal schools) in the Adilabad district.          

The move was also aimed to improve the administration in the tribal Ashram schools and speedy transformation of information like health of the students if any such incident took place and also to improve the student and teachers attendance.

Project officer of ITDA R. V Karnan took the serious note of the rising students deaths caused by fevers in the Tribal Ashram Schools in the recent past and found negligence of the teaching staff in such incidents in the inquiry and suspended  regular teachers, contract residential teacher (CRT) and contract ANMs in such incidents holding them responsible for such incidents.         

The move was initiated following the survey report that teacher are not coming to schools in time and manipulating the students attendance.

A senior officer in the ITDA, Utnoor said, ‘they were in the process of finalizing the companies of cellphone services and looking at whether a particular cellphone service company having network in the interior areas where tribal school located’. Earlier, ITDA officials distributed landline phones to all the tribal schools to check the attendance and pass on information to officials.

It is learnt that officials of Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Utnoor, purchased smart phones each for Rs 7,000.

The school teachers and principals have to update the information to the ITDA officials about the attendance of the teachers and students, any incidents, photographs of the students suffering from ill health so that officials concerned can react immediately to the incidents and especially in health condition of the students in emergencies.

Non- tribals ask to relax Tribals Act

 Lambada Tribal leaders of TDP and Cong participates in rally in Utnoor 

Telugu Desam leaders stole the show of non- tribals who thronged the Utnoor town in Adilabad district on Tuesday demanding the state government to relax the 1/70 Act (A.P Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation 1 of 1970) to enable land transfers to non- tribals and issue pattas to their lands in tribal areas.    

Utnoor police had denied the permission to the non- tribals’ meeting citing the possible law and order problem in the area and some tribals opposed the non- tribal meeting.

However, police allowed the non- tribals to gather at a function hall on the city outskirts where non- tribal leaders and TDP and Congress leaders addressed the gathering.                

Non- tribals living in 32 tribal mandals of the district have launched an agitation under the banner of Non- Tribals Rights Protection Committee demanding issue pattas to their lands and allowing land transfer between non- tribals and jobs in tribals areas. 

Non-tribals participated in the rally raised slogans against the Telangana government.          

Participation of former Adilabad MP Ramesh Rathod, defeated MLAs of Boath and Khanapur eats Anil Jadhav and Azmeera Hari Naik of Congress in the event actively and lead the rally in the Utnoor surprising everybody.

TDP senior leaders Boda Janardhan, Pati Subadra, Younus Akbani and Sriram Naik of BJP, non- tribal leader Bharath Waghmare and Kamble Namdev participated in the meeting and extended their support to the agitating non tribal and their demands.           

Lambada tribal leaders openly participating in the agitation programmes of non- tribals against the existing Tribal Acts.

In their speeches non- tribal leaders targeted Adilabad MP Godam Nagesh of TRS who defeated Ramesh Rathod in the last elections and held Nagesh responsible for the police denying the permission for their meeting and said non- tribal are not begging the state government but they were demanding for their rights in the agency on par with the tribals as they have been living in the agency area for long time. No ruling party leaders, MLA and Ministers attended the meeting.   

Utnoor DSP Venkateshwarlu supervised the situation in the Utnoor till the non- tribals left the Utnoor to their native places.

Food poisoning on the rise in Adilabad district

Tribals told to use nets to keep diseases at bay

Water crisis looms large

The water crisis is looming large on Adilabad district much before the onset of summer as the ground water table is at an abysmal low of 0.5 meters. 

The officials and elected representative to not have any clear action plan so far to tackle the drinking water problems in the district.

The crisis is worse in the tribal areas but the governing body meeting of the ITDA, Utnoor , held recently, did not take any decision on ht action plan.

Deputy Director, Groundwater department G. Kumaraswamy said in 2014, there was 760 mm rainfall recorded against an average rainfall of 1,147 mm recorded in 2014, which means there was 35 percent deficit rainfall. People in Utnoor and Adilabad divisions, Tanoor, Mudhole, Bhainsa mandals in Nirmal division are already facing the worst water crisis.