By, Ms. Smita Jain:
One more feather in our cap!!!! Trip to Arunachal Pradesh..... A must share experience. Last week our team returned from an eventful and successful tour to some remote villages situated in the eastern most state of our country.
To start with, the inaccessibility of the place made our proposed tour all the more exciting. It took us 3 days and 3 nights to reach our destination. We left Nagpur in the morning and reached Kolkata the next afternoon. Next, we boarded a train from there in the evening for Guwahati, where we reached the next morning. From Guwahati we started our almost unending journey to a place called Teensukhia which lies in lower Arunachal Pradesh. It took almost 24 hours to reach there. That was not the end!!! From there, we started on a 160 km long road trip to the Changlang district, which was a cluster of more than 15 villages.... Yes,this was our final destination. Physically exhausted but emotionally exhilarated, that's what we were. The first look of the unknown, unrecognized part of our own country made us feel more than a little guilty.
Yet, it was not until we had interacted with the local people that we actually realised that India still consists of some such inhabitants who are legally not it's part!!
The people dwelling in these unknown places follow Buddhism. According to them, they belong to the Chakna caste. They do not use their father's name as their middle name, if at all necessary, they use their mother's name. It's been decades now but these tribes are yet to earn Indian citizenship. They do not possess any legal documents - no Aadhar card, no PAN card and thus no proof of Indian citizenship.Moreover their tradition of not using their father's name has made it even more difficult to get their documents made. Surprisingly, they all use their caste name i.e. chakna,as their surname. Needless to say, these tribes are therefore deprived of all the laws and policies implemented by the Indian Government for the betterment of the SCs and STs.
Can you believe that they are a tribe which has been socially boycotted for so long and their inferiority complex is so deep rooted that they sit only on the floor and it takes a lot of convincing on our part to make them understand that they too are humans and that we are equals. They are a naiive and innocent group, the population of which was only about 35,000. But now their population has reached not less than 1,10,000.
The most amazing fact is, due to unavailability of resources and due to harsh climate, (this area receives very heavy rainfall during rainy season, which makes the place very cold. It is not too hilly, but the weather here is not too fit for foodgrain cultivation) these landless farmers grow only four fruits namely mango, papaya, banana and pineapple throughout the year and shockingly they survive only on these fruits. It is important to mention here though, that due to this healthy fruit diet, these tribals have very beautiful, soft and glowing skin! What can we say? A blessing in disguise....? Coming back to the point, we too were on a strict fruit diet during our short stay.
All through our stay, we talked with them, interacted with them and tried to convince them that they too were a part of our nation and were thus entitled to all the privileges that are enjoyed by the citizens of our nation. I would love to mention though, that some youngsters belonging to this tribe have managed to move out of their not so comfortable habitat, and some have managed to acquire education and hence they have with them the necessary documents too. But, they are too small in number....
Our efforts turned out to be successful though, as we convinced not just a few youngsters to come to Nagpur along with us. We have brought with us around ten boys and twelve girls and it will be our sincere effort to provide education and other necessities to this future. Not only this, nine young women have accompanied us who wish to be trained as certified nurses.
Satisfied.....are we? Not exactly, but it's definitely a start. We have a long way to go, but this small feather in our cap is a huge encouragement which works as a fuel and gets us going.
To start with, the inaccessibility of the place made our proposed tour all the more exciting. It took us 3 days and 3 nights to reach our destination. We left Nagpur in the morning and reached Kolkata the next afternoon. Next, we boarded a train from there in the evening for Guwahati, where we reached the next morning. From Guwahati we started our almost unending journey to a place called Teensukhia which lies in lower Arunachal Pradesh. It took almost 24 hours to reach there. That was not the end!!! From there, we started on a 160 km long road trip to the Changlang district, which was a cluster of more than 15 villages.... Yes,this was our final destination. Physically exhausted but emotionally exhilarated, that's what we were. The first look of the unknown, unrecognized part of our own country made us feel more than a little guilty.
Yet, it was not until we had interacted with the local people that we actually realised that India still consists of some such inhabitants who are legally not it's part!!
The people dwelling in these unknown places follow Buddhism. According to them, they belong to the Chakna caste. They do not use their father's name as their middle name, if at all necessary, they use their mother's name. It's been decades now but these tribes are yet to earn Indian citizenship. They do not possess any legal documents - no Aadhar card, no PAN card and thus no proof of Indian citizenship.Moreover their tradition of not using their father's name has made it even more difficult to get their documents made. Surprisingly, they all use their caste name i.e. chakna,as their surname. Needless to say, these tribes are therefore deprived of all the laws and policies implemented by the Indian Government for the betterment of the SCs and STs.
Can you believe that they are a tribe which has been socially boycotted for so long and their inferiority complex is so deep rooted that they sit only on the floor and it takes a lot of convincing on our part to make them understand that they too are humans and that we are equals. They are a naiive and innocent group, the population of which was only about 35,000. But now their population has reached not less than 1,10,000.
The most amazing fact is, due to unavailability of resources and due to harsh climate, (this area receives very heavy rainfall during rainy season, which makes the place very cold. It is not too hilly, but the weather here is not too fit for foodgrain cultivation) these landless farmers grow only four fruits namely mango, papaya, banana and pineapple throughout the year and shockingly they survive only on these fruits. It is important to mention here though, that due to this healthy fruit diet, these tribals have very beautiful, soft and glowing skin! What can we say? A blessing in disguise....? Coming back to the point, we too were on a strict fruit diet during our short stay.
All through our stay, we talked with them, interacted with them and tried to convince them that they too were a part of our nation and were thus entitled to all the privileges that are enjoyed by the citizens of our nation. I would love to mention though, that some youngsters belonging to this tribe have managed to move out of their not so comfortable habitat, and some have managed to acquire education and hence they have with them the necessary documents too. But, they are too small in number....
Our efforts turned out to be successful though, as we convinced not just a few youngsters to come to Nagpur along with us. We have brought with us around ten boys and twelve girls and it will be our sincere effort to provide education and other necessities to this future. Not only this, nine young women have accompanied us who wish to be trained as certified nurses.
Satisfied.....are we? Not exactly, but it's definitely a start. We have a long way to go, but this small feather in our cap is a huge encouragement which works as a fuel and gets us going.
