FOR A MEAL: A tribal couple drying the washed jackfruit seeds for preparation of food at a hamlet in Araku mandal of Visakhapatnam district. — Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

ARAKU (VISAKHAPATNAM DISTRICT): The fevers raging in the agency areas of Andhra Pradesh have not only taken a toll of tribal lives but also shattered the fragile finances of the families. This only means double-trouble for the women who are the main breadwinners.

"I work like a slave as my husband just drinks and whiles away his time," says Padma. She has been stricken with fever for the last one month.There is no escape for women from work even if they are sick and debility brings down their life expectancy further. "Their system weakens due to the harsh conditions, leading to more health-related problems," explains K. Bhagya Rao, a revenue official of Araku Mandal, which — like the poverty-stricken Paderu and Anantagiri Mandals nearby — is in the grip of malarial fevers.

Everyday, women like Padma toil in the forest cutting firewood or picking `addakulu' (for making leaf-plates). They trek for hours with the forest produce on their backs to reach the shandies. Padma can sell two bundles of `addakulu' and two jackfruits for Rs.180, her weekly income.She cannot afford medicines and the local faith healer `guruvu' is preferred as he can drive away "spirits as well." She does not know whether her poverty sustains her superstitions but adds "may be if I have the money, I can go to the hospital and get well." There is no move to check the production of the local brew "maddikallu" to which men are addicted. The medicare infrastructure falls short here as it caters only to those visiting the hospitals. Health and community workers in the agency, endemic for malaria, cannot provide proper treatment to the patients, leading to regular casualties here.

The official machinery does not check exploitation in the shandies. Banned spring balances are used to under weigh the goods. As the tribals prefer to trade off wares at one go, hard bargaining takes place to their detriment. There are only 96 staff to man the 192 daily rationing depots in the agency area. Local traders sell a litre kerosene in a 750 ml beer bottle. In the depots, they get 4.25 litres against a quota of 5 litres by deceit at Rs.10 per litre instead of Rs.9.50. Money lenders charge a compound interest of three per cent.

What the tribal needs is not health care alone. Education, sanitation and firm steps to check exploitation are the key to improving the quality of his life, says Jenni Sanyasi, an educated tribal of Anantagiri.

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