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Tribal women win battle against bottle

Tribal women in Gumla district of Bihar have won a major battle in weaning their men away from liquor.

Even as the men were demanding unfettered access to the reserve forests for picking up ingredients to brew liquor, the women, inspired by a social welfare organisation, launched a movement to keep them off the bottle.

At the vanguard of the movement, launched three years ago, is the Mahila Mukthi Vahini, whose volunteers spread out to the most far-flung and inhospitable areas to educate the tribals on their rights and preservation of ecology and environment.

While most tribal areas saw demonstrations, Dummarpar was in the thick of action. Stocks of mahua flowers and jaggery wash were destroyed and liquor shops targeted as women rose against the inhuman treatment at the hands of their husbands who would squander their earnings on liquor while their families starved.

The agitation, similar to the one witnessed in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, bore fruit when liquor-vending shops in Barpat, Ambakona and Katupani hamlets were closed down.

The lack of medical facilities, however, continues to dog the tribals who are left at the mercy of quacks.

Malnutrition and skin diseases are common. A visit to the Asur tribe-dominated Polpol hamlet, where people trek miles to fetch drinking water, revealed that many men and women were suffering from chronic skin diseases.

Some hamlets along the roadside now have access to a mobile clinic arranged for by Hindalco,which is engaged in bauxite mining in Gumla district.

Dr B K Mishra, who runs the clinic and visits the area all the way from Lohardagga, near Ranchi, once a month, says malaria, diarrhoea and malignant tuberculosis are common and half of the malaria cases develop into cerebral malaria due to lack of proper medicare.

The tribals repose more confidence in 'faith cure' not out of choice. But as the ever-present threat of Naxalite violence keeps the doctors from venturing deep into the forests.

Poverty and unhygienic conditions add to their woes, says Dr Mishra. Malnutrition and anaemia are endemic while carcinoma of the lips due to tobacco consumption is common, he says.

UNI

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