Deaths in Kandhamal due to mango kernel bring back focus on tribal deprivation

Thirty-year-old Runi Majhi and 28-year-old Ramita Patamajhi of Mandipanka village in Daringibadi block died last week, two days after they consumed mango kernel gruel and fermented rice while six other women of the village who had consumed the same gruel were taken ill and had to be hospitalised. Of the six, two turned critical on Sunday.

Doctors said there is a possibility of the mango kernel gruel turning toxic due to pathogenic factors. The state director of health services, Bijoy Mohapatra said the deaths and sickness may have been caused by contaminated food and a conclusive report would be available later when a food safety agency tests the samples and drink that the tribals consumed.

The Biju Janata Dal, which was bruised by similar charges of starvation deaths in 2001 when 24 tribals in Kashipur block of Rayagada district died after eating a gruel of mango kernel and a curry of wild mushroom, found the Kandhamal deaths a ready weapon to attack the Mohan Majhi government. "The tribals in Kandhamal have not received their rice allocation for the last 3 months. Though the previous government had successfully implemented the National Food Security Act, the BJP government since June has turned a blind eye to the plight of poor people," alleged BJD leader Sanjay Dasburma. Congress leader Srikant Jena said the incident showed the truth of "so-called development” in Odisha where people are forced to eat whatever they can find just to survive.

Odisha food supplies minister Krushna Chandra Patra refuted the charges of starvation deaths, saying all the 69 families in the village have been getting food under the National Food Security Act. “They have already received their quota of rice for the months of July to September. Since they had sufficient rice, they did not lift the October-December quota," he said, reiterating that the deaths were most likely caused by the mango gruel that had turned toxic. "Despite warnings, tribals continued to eat mango kernel as a staple diet. Many of them still consume the hazardous seed even if there is sufficient food in their house. We are trying hard to change the food habits of the tribals,” he said.

Some argue that the real issues of tribals in Odisha are being glossed over in a state that occupies an important position in the tribal map of India for having the largest number of culturally unique tribes (as many as 64 tribes) in the country. The tribal population of Odisha is around 96 lakh, constituting nearly 22.85% of the total state population and 9.2%of the total tribal population of the country. Almost 44.25% of the total land area in Orissa has been declared as Scheduled Area.

Kailash Chandra Dandapat, a social worker in Kandhamal who heads an NGO called Jagruti, said in tribal districts like Kandhamal, Rayagada, and Gajapati, mango kernel is a common part of the diet. "In the 80s and 90s when food security was an issue, various forest produce like roots, tubers, greens, and fruits, including mango and jackfruit sustained many people during scarce times. For generations, people have devoured mango kernel by soaking it in running water to reduce its bitterness before cooking and eating it. A significant factor is poverty. While the government provides five kilos of rice per person monthly, it lasts only 10-12 days, forcing people to turn to mango kernel to fill the gaps. The MGNREGA program does not always function effectively, so around 25% of families rely on seasonal work elsewhere to make ends meet," said Dandapat.

Social workers in Kandhamal said it is not uncommon for rural people in the area to eat mango kernel gruel along with the staple food of rice during monsoon months as they can't venture into forests to supplement their diet.

"Traditionally ragi (finger millet) locally known as mandia was the main food of tribal households but after the introduction of PDS rice, they have been taking rice more than finger millet. But the 5 kg of rice they get per head gets exhausted quickly during monsoon months as tribals eat more rice than people in cities. In Mandipanka village, the people had got their rice quota for the months of July, August and September in one go but finished it within two months. For some reason, they did not receive their quota of rice for October, November and December which probably forced them to subsist on mango kernel,” said Manasourav Behera, a social worker in Kandhamal.

Behera added that many tribals in Kandhamal can't afford pulses or vegetables regularly and make do with whatever they get from the forest including mushrooms, which sometimes turn out to be toxic.

Nutrition expert Basant Kar said the deaths in Kandhamal due to suspected food poisoning had actually more to do with chronic malnutrition. "The National Family Health Survey-5 for 2019-21 proved that not much has changed in backward districts like Kandhamal when it comes to nutrition. As per NFHS-V, at least 34.2 % of children under the age of 5 years in the district are stunted while 23.2 % in the same age group are acutely malnourished. At least 48.9 % of women in Kandhamal between the age group of 15 and 49 years are anaemic,” said Kar.

“Many tribals fail to consume sufficient energy, protein and micronutrients in their diet, which in turn leads to nutrition-related problems characterized by stunting, wasting, underweight, undernutrition of children, low birth weight, lower body size of adults, anaemia, and iron, Vitamin A and B deficiency. This shows that there is calorie hunger, hidden hunger and protein deficiency and all the measures taken by successive governments in the state have not helped the people in backward districts like Kandhamal as is being portrayed," Kar added.

Lack of healthcare infrastructure, telecom connectivity, road connectivity and the tribal's propensity to rush to traditional healers instead of qualified doctors also contribute to such tragedies. Former union minister Srikant Jena who visited the village on Sunday, said had there been telecom connectivity, the local health officials could have been informed. Besides, in the panchayat where the villagers died, there was no doctor in the local primary health centre delaying the medical help by several hours.

Writing in the IOSR Journal of Economics and Finance in September this year, Siba Prasad Pothal of Telangana's TMSS Women's College argued that despite achieving impressive economic growth, Odisha is still the most backward or underdeveloped among the states and union territories with the NITI Aayog's sustainable development goals (SDGs) ranking list (2020–2021), putting the state among the bottom five states as a performer.

"Odisha has become a cramped victim of chronic poverty and vulnerable human development for many years. In spite of a number of welfare programmes and schemes, 29.35% of the state’s population is multi-dimensionally poor as per NITI Aayog's report in 2023. Though poverty also declined in Odisha, the extent of poverty among the tribals is still high and it remains a matter of serious concern. NITI Aayog’s National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2021 report said the poverty index in almost half of the districts of the state is alarming as the ratio scored by the districts is more than the state average. One in every two persons in the tribal-dominated districts like Malkangiri, Koraput and Nabarangpur is below the poverty line while 44.75% of people of Kandhamal are below the poverty line as per NITI Aayog's National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2021," he wrote.

Others argue that despite the tribal livelihood augmentation measures being undertaken, only a fraction of the benefits have trickled down with a majority of them still living in conditions of abject poverty devoid of any meaningful living conditions. While many ongoing skill development schemes of the government such as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKY), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushal Yojana (DDU-GKY), do not proactively include the tribal communities, even the state government initiatives under the Integrated Tribal Development Agency were dogged by failures.

In 2019, a CAG audit found that projects taken up by the ITDAs for the tribals in the state failed to increase productivity of resources even as ₹606 crore was spent between 2013 and 2018 as a lot of wasteful expenditures were made in the name of infrastructure development. About ₹1.5 million was spent on a water harvesting structure in Keonjhar in August 2016, but it could not run as there was no water.

Experts and people working on the ground on tribal issues say tragedies like the one that happened in Kandhamal can be avoided in future if the government works actively on ensuring proper market arrangements for forest produce and creates job opportunities near villages as the majority of tribal households in Odisha substantially depend on forests for their livelihoods.