Malkangiri, a district that shares borders with Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh and has been a hotbed of Maoist activities, was in news recently for violence involving local tribals and Bengali settlers who came to the area long back and took up residence there under the Dandakaranya project. Though immediate provocation for the violence was the murder of a Koya tribal widow, distrust between the two communities has been growing because of the tribal resentment against land allocation to the settlers who have prospered much more than the tribal groups.
Incidents of ethnic violence are few and far between in Odisha. But when they happen the scale is often scary like in the case of recent violence involving tribals and Bengali settlers in Malkangiri district.
Triggered by the discovery of the headless body of Koya tribal widow from Rakhelguda village near the Potteru river on December 4 the violence forced the district administration to impose prohibitory orders in the affected area and clamp a ban on internet services in the district that shares borders with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The tribals, who suspected Bengali settlers to be behind the killing of the widow Lakme Padiami, attacked MV-26 village, created under the Dandakaranya project and inhabited by Bengalis, on December 7.
Sources said around 163 houses in the village were damaged by the mob of tribals who came armed with lathis and bow and arrows. There were allegations of property of Bengali settlers being looted. Over 1000 Bengali settlers fled MV-26 in the wake of the attack.
Though police arrested a Bengali settler in connection with the murder it failed to pacify the tribals who accused the settlers of indulging in criminal activities. There were also allegations that many settlers were living in the district without valid documents. With anti-settler feelings running high in the district, the ban on internet services imposed in the evening of December 8 was
extended several times. The latest extension followed the recovery of the severed head of the murdered woman, about 15 kms away from where her decapitated body had been found.
Sources said the woman had gone missing since December 1 but her family members lodged a missing report only on December 3 after a long and futile search. After the body was found both police and her relatives tried to locate the severed head but without any success. On December 9 her mortal remains were buried in tune with the Koya tribal traditions with her relatives making a head out of clay and fitting it onto the body before laying her to rest.
Though both Malkangiri collector Somesh Kumar Upadhyaya and superintendent of police Vinodh Patil claimed that the situation was fully under control with leaders of both tribal community and Bengali settlers meeting and talking peace, sources said discontent against the settlers who were allotted land by the government under the Dandakaranya project continues to simmer.
Under the Dandakaranya Project India government resettled Bengali refugees from East Pakistan (Bangladesh) in the present Malkangiri district of Odisha in 1958. The district was then part of undivided Koraput district. The settlers, whose habitations were serialised as MV villages ( Malkangiri Village) were allotted land for building houses as well as for cultivation.
But this triggered resentment among local tribals, the majority of whom belong to the Koya community. Other tribal groups like Gadaba, Diyadi and Bonda were also upset by the development but the anger against the settlers has been most pronounced among the Koyas. Sources said that tribals of undivided Koraput district including Malkangiri have been unhappy with successive governments for failing to rehabilitate them properly in the wake of their displacement by a number of big and small projects. Even now they are facing a major threat from the Polavaram multi-purpose project coming up in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. The project threatens to inundate a big area under the Mottu tehsil of Malkangiri but protests by the Odisha government have failed to stop the project which continues with central support.
Tribal resentment against the Bengali settlers also stems from the fact that while the settlers prospered rather quickly and rose up the social and political ladder the majority of tribals continue to be poor.
The settlers, who had migrated from Bangladesh, live in 213 villages of Malkangiri district and 64 villages in Nabarangpur district, both part of the erstwhile undivided Koraput district, after acquiring Indian citizenship in the early 70s. They enjoy considerable political clout and in constituencies like Malkangiri and Nabarangpur, where they constitute a major chunk of the population, they remain the deciding factor in the elections.
The state government despatched deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo and MSME, Fisheries & Animal Resources Development minister Gokulananda Mallik to the district to assess the situation and ensure that peace is restored in the area. They spoke to leaders of the tribal and Bengali communities to bring the situation under control. On their return from the district they submitted a report to chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
In another interesting development Odisha Assembly recently passed a Bill to triple the monthly salary of the Chief Minister, Ministers, and MLAs, and also implement a threefold hike in pension of legislators. This makes the State’s pay and pension structure for elected representatives among the highest in the country. The provisions of the Bill will be implemented with retrospective effect from June 5, 2024.
The Chief Minister will now draw Rs.3.74 lakh per month, comprising salary of Rs.1 lakh, car allowance of Rs.91,000, and sumptuary allowance of Rs.1.83 lakh. The Deputy CM’s revised monthly salary stands at Rs.3.68 lakh while Cabinet Ministers will receive Rs.3.62 lakh and Ministers of State Rs.3.56 lakh. The Speaker’s salary and allowances have been hiked to Rs.3.68 lakh. The Deputy Speaker will receive Rs. 3.56 lakh while the Leader of the Opposition and Government Chief Whip will draw a monthly salary of Rs.3.62 lakh.
Under the revised pay structure, an MLA will draw Rs.3.45 lakh per month against the Rs.1.10 lakh in 2007. Basic pay has been hiked from Rs.35,000 to Rs.90,000, constituency and secretarial allowance from Rs.20,000 to Rs.75,000, conveyance allowance from Rs.15,000 to Rs.50,000, fixed allowance from Rs.10,000 to Rs.50,000, books, journals, and periodicals allowance from Rs.2,000 to Rs.10,000, electricity allowance from Rs.5,000 to Rs.20,000, and telephone allowance from Rs.8,000 to Rs.15,000. Former MLAs will receive a monthly pension of over Rs.1.20 lakh. The lone protest against the hike has come from CPI(M) MLA Laxman Munda.
Sources said MLAs from Telangana and Maharashtra are among the highest paid people’s representatives in the country with a monthly salary of over Rs.2.5 lakh. Odisha leaders have sought to justify the hike saying that during the past eight years, salary and pension of MLAs, Leader of the Opposition, Government Chief Whip, and Deputy Government Chief Whip remained unchanged. Taking into account inflation, salaries being paid to MLAs in different States, and the recommendation of the advisory committee of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, it was considered desirable to enhance the salary and allowance.
