Dance and jingles in Naxal belt

Dance in Orissa

Pala performers enact,for instance,a scene where an enumerator would ask the name of a resident,who would say,Basant. Suddenly,another performer would come and say,But my name is Basanti, and then the performers would say I am neither Basant nor Basanti… I am of the third sex.

A question on the third sex has been incorporated in the Census form for the first time; the Pala troupes have also woven the other 28 questions into their 45-minute performance,built around the Census theme.

Pala singers have been engaged to travel in 10 Naxal-affected districts including Malkangiri,Koraput and Kandhamal. The performers are very versatile and appeal to all. Pala is a dying tradition and through our efforts we are also trying to give it a fillip, says state Director of Census Operations Bishnupada Sethi.

The performances,enacted by the Shri Nilachal Nikhiloktal Pala Gayak Parishad,also aim at tapping local eunuchs,who are respected in many tribal communities. And,Sethi says,since Naxals are not opposing the Census,it gives me a feeling that we will be able to count them this time.

Hits and misses

National Census Commissioner C Chandramouli says in Naxalism-affected states,each DCO has made some innovative plans to reach out to such areas. Yet hundreds of villages in Chhattisgarh will be left out because these have been made inaccessible by Naxals. These include 70 of the 300 sensitive villages in Dantewada. We just cant go there, Dantewada Collector R Prasanna says.

Jingles in Cgarh

For districts such as Jagdalpur,Dantewada,Bijapur,Narayanpur and Kanker,all part of undivided Bastar,Chhattisgarh has sought additional funds to devise unique communication means,says Director of Census Operations Renu Pillay. Around Rs 16 lakh has been distributed to the collectors of these districts and each has evolved his own communication plans.

Enumerators have developed jingles in local dialects like Haldi and Gondi that can be broadcast via radio stations and sung in village markets. We looked at some of the areas that tend to get left out. We have radio jingles in Hindi and Chhattisgarhi; for some areas,we have them in local dialects for people, Pillay says.

Since many villages are out of bounds,the department is hoping the publicity will encourage villagers to convince Naxals to open the door to enumerators.

Mikes in AP

In Andhra Pradesh,the problem in remote areas is tribals might not even have read the papers; so they wouldnt know the Census is on. Officers are being asked to enter these villages with portable mikes and address them in haat bazaars, says Anuradha Venkata,Director of Census Operations.

The state has allocated around Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 to collectors for their districts depending upon the extent of the problem in communication. It is on the discretion of the collector to use the funds, Venkata says.