People of Bantoli (Part 2)

The people of Bantoli eat the unsavory corn that they feed to the cows.

How poor are the tribal people?

The annual per capita income in tribal areas is 3,500 Indian rupees, approx. US $65.00. About 60% of tribal people live under the local poverty line, which is $5 per person per month.

Wages for agricultural and mine workers are 5-6 rupees (10-12 cents) per day, and wages for women are often 30-50% less than those of men. Head-loading is practiced as a survival strategy, particularly by women. The area gets few subsidies in comparison to other states in India, and there is an ongoing flight of capital, which gets invested in more lucrative regions.

A worker injured in a mine walks with great difficulty and can hardly eke out a living.

What about the sanitary and health conditions?

In the tribal dominated hilly areas, literacy rates are as low as 10%, and health care facilities are nonexistent. People in tribes do not have money to pay for doctors and medicines, and many of their diseases become chronic. The most common diseases among tribes are dysentery, respiratory infections, whooping cough, measles, tuberculosis, leprosy, and malaria. Many women, unable to afford shoes, become infested with hookworm, which in turn causes anemia. Quack doctors claim to treat all kinds of diseases and ward off evil spirits, but they often use their status to brand women as witches, only to displace them and take their property. Fortunately, the government has started to clamp down on such practices.

Tribal people cannot afford qualified doctors and rely on witch doctors, like this one, resulting in poor medical care.