His date with history

Newindpress, 7th March, 2008

Ramanath Padhi

NUAPADA/BALANGIR: His grandmother flew in to Khariar in the late sixties to see for herself one of the worst droughts.In the eighties, his father, then the prime minister, came calling after the issue of Phanas Punji who sold her niece for Rs 40 and a saree, struck the emotional chord of the nation and pitchforked Kalahandi into the national psyche.History comes full circle on Friday when Rahul Gandhi launches his ‘discover India’ yatra from the same soil which still remains one of the four poverty pockets of the world. Kalahandi has just seen a trickle of development. And Rahul’s visit has enthused Phanas who once became symbol of Kalahandi’s neglect.Huddled together with her family at her thatched house of Amlapali village (now in Nuapada dist), Phanas is waiting for a rerun of history — a few doses of attention and help."My condition has not changed. I still toil too hard to get two square meals a day. So many people have shown up and taken my photographs but my life remains the same," laments Phanas. She is not alone.This part of western Orissa, known as ‘the Ethiopia of India’ and which has witnessed frequent droughts in the past two decades, has always represented the stark reality of hunger and starvation.In 1992, Nokila Sona sold her six-year-old son for Rs 100 and two saris; in 1996, Noragohir sold her six-year-old daughter for Rs 200 and a bag of grain. The latest took place in 2001, when Shyamlal Tandi sold his three-year-old daughter, Hema, for Rs 5,000.