village stay

MY VILLAGE STAY REPORT ABINASH MOHANTY

A report on 15-days Village Stay organized under the orientation program

of Pradan

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Village Introduction _____________________________________________________________________________________ 1

Village Stay Experience __________________________________________________________________________________ 5

Conclusion _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 11

VILLAGE INTRODUCTION

Page 1

Village Introduction

VILLAGE NAME & HOW TO REACH HERE

Village Name: Dumuria

Panchayat Name: Dari

To reach Dumuria, you have to take a straight road to Kurudia Chaak from Karanjia and then turn left

towards Bala and then again a left turn to Kianposi. Then you will be reaching a road division, one towards

Pichuli and the other towards Dumuria. Take the right turn towards Dumuria and there you are, you will

soon be near Dumuria Anganwadi. The total travel distance from Karanjia is around 15km

Route Map to Dumuria


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GEOGRAPHY OF THE VILLAGE

This village has been divided into four divisions geographically called “Sahis”. These divisions are

named as:

1. Bandha Sahi

2. Tala Sahi

3. Upara Sahi

4. Mohanta Sahi

Here around 250 Ha area is under cultivable domain out of which around 100 Ha is under Mango

and Kaju Cultivation under NREGA.

Rough Overview of Dumuria Village

ECONOMIC DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE VILLAGE

There are total 250 families residing in this village. With a total population of 1300 stands this unique

small village away from the hustles of crowd and rush life of Karanjia, the nearest town.


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But in this village the distribution of land and wealth is non-uniform. With around 70% of population

landless, the remaining area is distributed among the rest 30%.

Among the Sahis, the Bandhasahi has least number of landholders (around 2-3 families own very

marginal land). Maximum of the landholdings rest in the hands of Mohanta Sahi people and the other two

sahis also enjoy some of the landholdings. As a result of which there is difference in their economic life.

Mostly the major source of income comes from Agriculture (for those having land), Contractual Labor

(for those without any land holdings), and Stitching of leaves from the forest.

Average Income of the village is around 20-25k/annum which depends upon amount of land holdings.

The major expenditure comes from buying food items and still here clothing are considered luxury.

CULTURAL, SOCIAL & POLITICAL LIFE OF THE VILLAGE

Here, people celebrate most of the festivals but the grandest among these is the festival called “Makara”

where they wear new dresses, make different types of cakes (Pithas), and organize a Village Fair where

they have village get together and functions.

Also, they have a peculiar tradition of worshiping elephants whom they call “Thakura” (in Odia) or “God”

whenever there is sightings of the elephants in the nearby places.

In terms of Political point-of-view, the Sarpanch of this village doesn’t hold good repo with the Villagers

and such is the case that Villagers even some times return without expressing their concerns in fear of

getting rebuked.

There are 6 SHGs in this village with the following details”

Name of SHG No. of Members

Maa Laxmi 12

Maa Sunamuhi 15

Maa Mangala 12

Jai Bodam 12

MahaLaxmi 12

Maa Tarini 10

As per the caste distribution of the Village is concerned, primarily there are four kind of castes:

1. Bathudi (Predominant)

2. Bhumija

3. Ho-Caste


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4. Mohanta Caste

Now the different castes are geographically distributed as follows:

1. Bandha Sahi contains Bathudi caste people

2. Tala Sahi contains Bathudi, Bhumija & Ho-Caste People

3. Upara Sahi contains also Bathudi Caste People

4. Mohanta Sahi contains Mohanta Caste People

As per the literacy is concerned, most of the people can read and write in Odia. Considering the literacy

rates of different castes:

Bhumija and Ho-Caste have comparatively the most number of illiterate people but the good thing is that

the upcoming generation are mostly enrolled in schools, so people are understanding the importance of

education in life and are readily investing on education of their future generations.

VILLAGE STAY EXPERIENCE

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Village Stay Experience

As a part of DAship Orientation Program, I had this inimitable opportunity of spending 15-day in a village.

Being in an environment of luxury throughout my life, with all the comforts at my disposal, to step into this

unknown area, staying with unknown people was unique and difficult to accept. But resting all the

speculations in my mind, I decided to give it a try.

Now here I am, in an unknown land, living in someone’s house whom I don’t know, eating food to which I

am not accustomed to and drinking water, whose source I cannot be sure of. Still with a desire to learn

something, I decided to at least survive.

Host Name: Padmini Naik

Area: Badasahi, Dumuria

Coming here I suddenly realized, oh! No what have I consented myself into. Can I survive such a sudden

change in lifestyle? To make it worse my Day-1 started with the eldest member of the family scolding me

for over utilizing the water. From there I learnt how valuable can water be for people? A valuable lesson

indeed.

Still confused about my decision in joining the Village Stay, I went to bed hoping a new dawn will bring a

new beginning. Then after a while in bed, I heard a loud snoozing sound from my neighboring room and

adding more to my plight, there was a crawling sound from above my head. Completely terrified, I plugged

my earphones in and tried to sleep but in vain. Then when finally I got some sleep, this time real-time

alarm clocks rang, the “Kukoodo-koo” sound of chickens, that too around 5am in the morning. That was

really quite unnerving.

Finally, my first day ended with sleep deprivation, my still unknown neighbors and bed partners, kittens.

And the snoozing sound came from my next door neighbors: The holy cows. Then came the real surprise,

my to be bathroom for the next 15-days to come, the big Kaju plantation field. Whole field is your area, do

wherever you like was the final suggestion given by my host’s husband. Now this newly turned village boy,

is all set to experiment this new style of bathroom, holding a mug in one hand and Dettol in the other, he set

out his journey to his new 150 Ha large bathroom. I wonder even Ambani can be such a proud owner of

such a large bathroom.!!!! Now comes the real challenge, the water challenge. You have to walk a minimum

of 500m to bring in water after your so called works are over. And for the first time, that was hell of a


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challenge. With no prior knowledge of location of pond and no understandings of the methodology, I had to

apply my engineering jugaadu style to finally accomplish my work.

Fully drained out of energy, finally I thought I will have a good sleep but then a 10-hours current cut was

yet to be experienced by me. Unable to bear any more, I was on the verge of quitting, but later decided to

continue, at least the experience will teach me how to adjust to life.

Then I reminded myself of the objective, why I am here? I wanted to know that basic one difference which

makes a village still striving for development and what makes a city respond too quickly to development?

So giving myself an excuse I continued.

And noting about my new fooding style, my breakfast mostly started with “Chakuli Pitha” (contrary to the

thin ones, here they prefer big sized and large Pithas) and vegetable mix curry from the garden, which will

be carried over to the lunch and this time with rice and for dinner, as contrary to the regular chappati style

dinner, they have rice and again a vegetable mix. Mostly this schedule was repeated, sometimes a new

variety was introduced and sometimes chicken made its place in the culinary menu.

Then despite so many adversities, I continued and slowly started blending in. At first, I was complaining

about my condition to my parents, compared myself to the well-off lives of my friends in cities but later

everything started falling into place slowly. This body got acclimatized to the new, unnerving experiences.

Then I was in a position of asking my friends “Ever been in a Village?:p”

But the most beautiful thing which helped me cope to this condition are the serene surroundings and the

serene people and their simplicity and how they uphold to the long lost saying “Atithi Devo Bhabha”. The

respect they give you when you are with them, the innocent smile in their face when you fail to understand

their terminologies, the way they care about your comfort first rather than looking upon their own. Later I

realized the food I ate, was a luxury for them, and they afforded this luxury solely for me for the last 15

days.

They tried their best to make me feel at home, and this try is the most beautiful thing that gave me hope to

wait for a new beginning. Rather than concentrating on the negative sides, I started concentrating on the

works for which I have been here.

Because of the intermittent rains and busy schedule of my host, Padmini Didi, I have to partner three

musketeers for my village voyage. The three musketeers named Babli, Pintu and Chabi are 6, 6&5 years old

respectively. They bore the lighting torch and brought me in contact with other families of the villages from

whom I got an essence of the life and difficulties of the Village.

To organize my data collection, I thought of making my interaction systematic by focusing on a fixed pre-

determined questions and hence made a questionnaire.

Here is a brief over view of the questionnaire I used, though in many of the cases failed but this helped me

gain insight into the working of this village system.


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Aim of the questionnaire:

1. To know the family demographics

2. To know the average income of a family

3. To know the various source of income for a family and the diversity in income various occupation brings

with it

4. To know the challenges faced by the Village People

5. What are the steps undertaken by them to tackle the problems/ what are the plans they are making to

have a solution to the problem?

6. What are their major expenditure and what are the items considered luxury?

7. Their perception on sanitation and education

The questions that were planned:

1. What is the size of your family?

2. What is the major source of income? And how much do you make in a year?

3. What are the problems do you face?

4. How do you hope to tackle this adverse situations?

5. What is the major source of expenditure? And what according to you is a luxury item?

6. What is your view on personalized toilets and have you heard about Swach Bharat Abhiyaan?

So accordingly, I tried to conduct my interactions and hence got a brief overview of the problems faced by

this village. Some of the conclusions are written in the economic introduction of the village. Though I am

still at a nascent stage in this vicious developmental study circle, I will be suggesting some measures which

can be mapped to solve the problems. Some of these measures are suggested by the villagers themselves

and some are collected online. I will also be giving a “Weight Factor” to the problems which will signify

the gravity of the problem as compared to others with reference to the Villager’s comments and my

perception.


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Challenges Faced Details of the Problem

Weight Factor (out of 10)

Possible Solution

Water Problem • No. of tube wells in the village: 3

• Total area depends on these 3 tube wells

• No dug wells, or canals due to the MSL of the village and the river are same

• People (mostly female) have to stand in long queues in summer season for water

10 • Boring can be done and more tube wells can be established

• Ground water recharge schemes can be planned

Elephant Problem • A herd of 15-18 elephants destroy crops and their menace is frequent

• So some farmers fear planting cash crops

8 • Many research papers are available in net which can be studied and planned accordingly

Inorganic & Primitive Methods of Agriculture

• They are still primitive in terms of agriculture and it comes to stand still during summer season

• They produce tomato, cauliflower, brinjal etc during winter season during which the rates are too low

6 • Vermi-Compost can be encouraged

• Organic Agriculture can be promoted

• Dug wells and pump systems can be arranged for irrigation during summer season

• Marketing channels can be established and market research report can be made available to them so


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to even equalize the ROI on agriculture

• They still depend on inorganic means of agriculture.

that they can plant the vegetables in required time and get highest ROI

• Schemes like Kaju Plantation, Mango Plantation can be encouraged more for more steady income

• More advanced methods like contract farming can be explored to increase the livelihood of people

Sanitation Problem • Around 90% of families have open defecation

• Still the establishment of toilets are under discussion and people are yet to figure out the importance of toilets

7 • Awareness and toilet establishments

NREGA Payment Problem

• Most of the jobs under NREGA are watchman for Kaju Plantation & Mango Plantation

• But their payment is due for more than a year which causes demotivation for the villagers

5 • Government officials should be notified and the due payment should be started

Communication • No picchu roads to the interior of villages

• The condition of roads during

9 • Biju gaan bus should be started

• Picchu roads should be made to the village interiors


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rainy season is very bad and even difficult for vehicles to move or even pedestrians to walk

• No Biju Gaan Bus facility

• Nearby bus facility is 8km far from the village

• Dependent mostly on personal vehicles or on foot

• Difficult while marketing the produce

Apart from the above possible solutions, I also would like to give few more recommendations, from my

own insights till now:

• Water shed management should be practiced

• Due to sloping nature of terrain, soil management practices can be planned

• Livestock farming can be planned over the pond(s) available

• Fish culture can be planned and above it chicken farming can be planned

• Honey farming can also be planned.

• Cold Storage can also be planned for storing the agricultural produce and marketing them.

CONCLUSION

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Conclusion

Now putting rest to all my observations, I would like to conclude by answering the three most important

yet delusional questions which matter the most:

1. So, Abinash, Why Village Stay? Is it necessary?

Ans: Why Village Stay?? Let my changed outlook towards village and towards life as a whole speak the

answers. Now for the question, Is it necessary? Nonetheless how can you expect one to have a broader

perspective without knowing people from grassroots itself?

2. So what difference did you conclude that makes a village not receptacle to changes as compared to a city?

Ans: according to my point of view “The Robin hood theory” can suffice the answer. According to my

observation, people here have tremendous potential but they still expect someone to bestow upon them

the solution to their problems. I understand guidance is required but still they need to stop blaming and

start acting. Blaming only transfers hands but action brings hands together.

3. So Abinash, will you continue in this sector and be associated with Pradan?

Ans: Still unsure whether I am suitable for this field. I am still under observation phase, I have many other

personal commitments and many expectations to which I am bound. But I will surely convey my decision as

soon as I am sure of my commitment to this sector. But living here in this village, I am cent percent sure of

one thing: You all are doing a great job here in developing our country and the effects are seen in the eyes of

persons whose lives have been affected. India owes you all for a better tomorrow. Thank you for giving me

a perceptive of this area and the works you all have been doing. Thank You.

village stay

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