Jagantah Kuasi, a young tribal boy met me one day while visiting a village. We were looking for few village level workers to help us building our rapport with the community as well as to involve them in some village developmental work. We had provision of monthly incentive also. I was working with a development organization at that time.
It was really difficult to find at least a matriculate for our job in that area. Because there are very few youths who have passed matriculation and those who have passed have been engaged as the Siksha Shayak by government run education programs.
As a matter of preference, we in India prefer government job as those are permanent. We were literally struggling to get matriculate youths, and then we decided to reduce the qualification. A youth who has at least studied up to 10th is ok.
This helped us to get few more youths and Jaga came to the picture with that only. He worked with me for some years and then got a government job and left with a hope that will be a permanent job.
Jaga belongs to a political family. The family had history of holding many panchayats level positions, starting from word member to Sarpanch. Hence, in the village they are powerful you can say. That is a common picture in most of the tribal villages.
Being a tribal boy Jaga was not that complicated; this is a good nature of the tribal people. During his association he has shared his past life with me in several installments.
Once I asked Jaga what you were doing earlier
I was contractor he replied
I could not believe this, Jaga was a civil contractor.
Hey, what you are saying?
Yes sir, I was a contractor, you know that my uncle was a Sarpanch few years back
Yes, I said
So, I had control over many things’ sir, I had constructed one road and few houses in my village.
Being a person from a development sector, I always eager to listen anything related to any development work.
Roads and houses for people mean only a sign of development.
So, I asked, how much you have earned during those days?
Not much sir, he said sadly
The engineer did not release the full payment for the road that I had constructed
Why? I asked.
He kept that money as the PC
PC!! What is that?
That is percentage sir, in each project most of the government people keep some percentage of the allocation for their personal use.
Ok…but you constructed the road, and then they should pay you the amount…
Of course, but they did not pay me and said against that they will give another work order to me to construct the Indiara Awas of Samara Hantal and they will not take any PC on that.
In that way I can get my money with that work as I will make some profit in that work.
So, I left the road half completed and collected the work order for the Indira Awas.
I have seen many such unfinished road all over the state, in both rural and urban places.
Indira Awas Yojana, popularly known as IAY is a big scheme of the congress government at that point of time. Under this scheme the government provides houses to people who are below poverty line, commonly known as the BPL family.
This helps such people to have their own houses, quite better than what they can build with their own income.
And we know the value of a house for any individual in the society, everyone dreams for his/her own house.
Getting an Indira Awas is not that easy in the context of a village, one has to follow several procedures, and, in many cases, the poor people have to pay something as a bribe to many gate keepers, starting from the panchayat leaders to the government officials, mostly.
But once you get it, you get a house free of cost…so the needy as well as poor people even bribe to the panchayat representatives and government officials to get a house. The situation has been changed a little over the years, though.
In many tribal places in Odisha the illiterate people even today vote to Indira as she is providing the houses to them, they do not even do not know whether Indira is alive or not. However, realizing this government formed by other political parties changed the scheme name to many different names suiting to them.
The schemes bearing the name of a political leader is always a stunt. In this case the scheme was made in the year 1980, still helps one of the national parties to get some votes. So, they name most of the schemes in the name of their leaders. This is not the case of only one political party, many regional parties do this also. I have seen only one party who launched a solid program not in the name of any individual but in the name of a position. Pradhan Mantri Grama Sadak Yojana. They made a strategic mistake I always say. However, the same party started doing it in the name of their leaders once the leadership changed.
So, you left the road and then started the housework, I asked Jaga.
Yes sir, Jaga replied, Samara is of my own village, and he had no objection for this, he was just needing a house.
Samara is a landless person with 4 children. He earns his food thru wage work and forest collection. The wage work in uncertain as only one crop is grown there. There are no irrigation facilities. So, the income is not enough for personal consumption and meeting the basic requirements of the family.
He gets work for 2-3 months in agriculture field; he earns something from the forest collection also. He and his family members collect Kendu leaf, Mahua flower, Sal seed and Mango from the forest and sell those to the local vendors.
He keeps himself engage in these works for few months also. What he earns is never enough for the family and above that constructing a house is like a daydream for him.
He was quite happy that after so many months of his effort he got the sanction letter, he had been to the Sarpanch and other government officials to meet them and request them for more than 50 times, many times missing his work also. He knows once the house is ready then many of his problems will be solved, at least he will not spend time each year to repair the roof and for that sometimes he has lent money from the local money lenders.
After getting the work order I started the work, Jaga continued
The money comes in different phases, and I decided to complete the house as soon as possible, so as I can get the money.
This time the officials will not take any PC, they had promised.
Without that also, my calculation said I cannot get back my money, which I have spent on the road, if I do not compromise the quality of house.
Any way I am not going to stay in that house, why I should think of quality.
But Samara is my own village man, he may fight.
These were the two questions that came to my mind at that time, Jaga said to me.
Then what you did, I asked.
Nothing new sir, I constructed a house with all sorts of low-quality materials and convinced Samara that as I am completing the house as quick as possible, I have to manage with the available materials.
He was not that educated or clever to understand this sir.
So…
I completed the house within 2 months, and the officers were kind enough to release the money at the earliest, they kept their promise sir, Jaga said.
So, you got back your money, then why did you stop that profession…. you were good at manipulating, I asked.
Yes, but the problem happened later sir, the newly constructed house collapsed after few days only.
What! Collapsed, what happened to the family?
Nothing sir that was my good luck.
All the members had been to work that day and the house collapsed in the afternoon.
He came back and saw the situation, and by that time I had left the village for one of the training courses sponsored by the District Rural Development Agency on driving, the program aims to make youth employable. It was a 3-month course.
He did not find me in my home and my parents said that they do not know anything about my work.
The poor fellow once again repaired his house like the old days, after several failed visits to my house as well as to the block office.
The pity is that once you availed the scheme, then you cannot avail that again. Samara was not able to do anything on that matter.
I returned to the village after one year and by that time things have become normal, for me, but not for Samara, he is still struggling with his depilated house and requesting the authorities for some help.