By Shyam Pandharipande, IANS
Yavatmal (Maharashtra) : In Mukindpur village, where 40-odd families of the impoverished and much maligned Pardhi tribe live, Diwali is usually celebrated with a day’s lag.
That’s because the children of the Pardhis – traditionally a community of hunters and burglars – go begging to the nearby town of Ner for leftover sweets a day after Diwali. But this time, thanks to a minister, the sweetmeats and snacks came right to their doorstep.
Even as most of his colleagues celebrated Diwali in grandeur, Maharashtra Education Minister Vasant Purke decided to go to the dingy, remote village and make a difference. He left this district headquarters in Vidarbha early Saturday morning, leading a cavalcade of sturdy jeeps on a rough 80-km ride to Mukindpur village and distributed Diwali sweets and snacks to Pardhi children.
The village, located in Yavatmal district, has a population of about 200-225, all of them members of the Pardhi community, a Scheduled Tribe.
Purke, who hails from Yavatmal, has been taking pains to spread education among Pardhi children.
As he shared the day’s meal with the children in their community kitchen, the elderly folk told him this was the first time the young ones did not have to beg for leftover sweets from Ner.
The village has only a primary school, up to Class 4, but the minister has promised to upgrade it to Class 7 for the benefit of Pardhi children.
And the children too are enthusiastic about studies. “Their sharp intelligence took me by surprise,” the minister said. “When I asked the children the name of the prime minister who loved flowers, the children instantly said Jawaharlal Nehru.
“I had visited the village in April this year. In the morning that very day, the father of two brothers studying in Class 2 and 3 had died. But the children attended the school after performing the funeral rites.”
Between breakfast and community lunch, Purke felicitated two teachers who had opted for transfer to the village school from Yavatmal city.
The event was attended by a small congregation of Pardhi women who have stopped brewing liquor, men who have taken to farming, giving up hunting and stealing, and children who have started going to school.
They all clapped as the minister also felicitated young Arijit Powar for returning to his teacher a wallet containing Rs.4,500.
And then they gave a standing ovation as the minister felicitated Amitabh Powar, the first graduate from the village community to get a government job.
Shortly before evening, the minister left Mukindpur but only after extracting a promise from the accompanying public works department officers that they would soon construct a motorable approach road to the village.
On his part, Purke promised to eventually upgrade the school to the secondary level but at the same time administered an oath to the children that they would pass out – and not drop out of school.
(Shyam Pandharipande can be contacted at [email protected])