Tribal Betrayal: ₹576 Crores Down the Drain: The Dark Reality of Niyamgiri’s PVTGs Left to Suffer Amid False Promises
By CB Singh
Bissamcuttack, February 1, 2025
The so-called “development” of Odisha’s Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) is nothing but a sham. Despite a jaw-dropping expenditure of ₹576.09 crore over nine years, 99% of PVTGs in Niyamgiri remain mired in poverty, with not even a meager sustainable income of ₹10,000 a month. A damning report by the Odisha Tribal Research Institute lays bare the blatant disconnect between political promises and the abysmal ground realities.
OPELIP: A Multicrore Farce
The much-touted Odisha PVTG Empowerment & Livelihoods Improvement Programme (OPELIP), launched with fanfare in 2016, has been nothing but a colossal failure. With a staggering ₹563.41 crore budget, supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the program was meant to transform 541 PVTG villages. Yet, eight years later, the results are nonexistent.
Take the ₹66 crore allocated specifically for 1,633 families under the DKDA Chatikona. Has it changed lives? No. Instead, the funds seem to have vanished into the bureaucratic black hole, leaving the PVTGs of Niyamgiri more marginalized than ever.
Staggering Economic Inequality
Let’s talk numbers—brutal, unignorable numbers:
4% of PVTGs scrape by with less than ₹1,000 a month.
87% earn a pitiful ₹1,000–₹5,000 per month.
7% barely touch ₹5,000–₹10,000.
Just 1% manage to earn above ₹10,000.
This is the economic reality for communities the government claimed it would uplift. Where has all the money gone?
Crippled Infrastructure, Broken Promises
The rot runs deeper. Niyamgiri’s PVTG villages remain trapped in isolation and neglect:
24 villages still lack primary education facilities.
39 villages remain in darkness, without electricity.
20 villages have no anganwadi centers.
51 villages are left without proper roads, with 14 entirely inaccessible and 28 riddled with craters and decay.
This isn’t underdevelopment—it’s abandonment.
Accountability? Or Just Empty Words?
Flagship schemes like OPELIP are nothing more than a cruel joke. “Crores have been funneled into these programs, yet the people still lack livelihoods, education, and healthcare,” a local activist fumed. The BJP, now in power, has touted its PM JANMAN scheme as a beacon of hope, but will it deliver? Or is this just another round of hollow rhetoric?
As Odisha’s new government takes the reins, one question looms: Will it finally break this cycle of neglect and bureaucratic apathy? Or will Niyamgiri’s PVTGs remain statistics on a government report, forgotten and discarded?
The clock is ticking, and the people are watching.
