Mining aali, pragati zaali: How Maharashtra's Gadchiroli is transforming

During independence India was 80 per cent rural Seventyseven years later we are still 64 per cent rural About 900 kilometres from Mumbai lies the small abandoned rural district of Gadchiroli It consists of 1688 villages which have been forgotten under the shadow of Maoism For decades development stayed away Seventy per cent women bled in silence without sanitary napkins Many never reached hospitals to give birth trusting custom over care often at a fatal cost Here life offered three exits farming leaving home behind or picking up a gunIn 2020 B Prabhakaran looked at Gadchirolirsquos red soil and saw not just iron ore but a district waiting to be reintroduced to itself Under his leadership at Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited development arrived village by village mdash 25 of them mdash through meals cooked daily outreach workers knocking on doors and conversations that challenged decades of silence around health work and dignity Skill centres replaced surrender camps ldquoThe real issue was not security but lack of opportunityrdquo he says His approach was to ldquoinvest not just in minerals but in peoplerdquo building healthcare schools and skills before expanding mining ldquoIf the people are with us we are moving in the right directionrdquo he adds Maoism faded as livelihoods took root Gadchiroli remains rural aspirational and uneven but it has hope64 per centof India is rural 77 years after Indiarsquos independenceWhen school and healthcare is accessible for allIn Hedri mornings begin with unreasonably big smiles Inside this hushed settlement stands a proposed CBSE school where education arrives without a bill attached Free for the children of employees and neighbouring villages it holds 1020 students till Grade 10 Some arrive by bus from deep interior villages others stay in hostels guarded by security filtered through psychometric analysis The children are impossible to miss as they greet every passerby As Sunita Mehta project director says ldquoOur vision is to make education an equaliser in a completely underserved regionrdquo Local teachers were trained from scratch and children were taught not just lessons but how to carry themselves mdash habits that travelled back into their homesWomen receive employment in garment factory in HedriNot far away stands the districtrsquos only advanced hospital with its first MRI scan machine ldquoPeople from Chhattisgarh and Telangana come here nowrdquo says the hospitalrsquos senior medical superintendent Dr Gopal Roy ldquobecause care is free and accessiblerdquo Started in 2023 the hospital continues to expand with units for gynaecology cancer treatments and OPDsNot Maoists anymore they have a new identityAt Konsari the pellet plant hums with machinery and second chances Tucked within it is a skill development centre meant for those who once lived outside the law mdash surrendered Maoists After surrender and through coordination between Prabhakaran and the local government they are placed under protocols trained and absorbed into work across the plant More than 80 now work here They are no longer just employees They are shareholders as wellFor women the past is especially heavy Many were pushed into street plays singing and dancing mdash tools of recruitment disguised as culture Their bodies were controlled too Tubal sterilisation ensured they would not form attachments slow down nor belong anywhere They walked endlessly ate poorly and never settled Today many have undergone medical reversals They have children Homes Documents An identityRamji Majji now almost 40 and working as a bar bender spent 10 years as a Maoist Being imprinted early in his age it took him a long time to grasp his reality ldquoI joined the party Maoists in school At first it felt right Later I saw the elders mdash no home no money no life I was in the military where I taught joinees how to use guns I was involved in firing as wellWe were told we were fighting for freedom but nothing came of it I regret losing 10 years Leaving was the best decision Nothing good happens there Only death on both sidesrdquo Across the plant works Karuna Suresh Padar 30 quiet and precise She joined Maoists at 16 ldquoIt gave me power for a short timerdquo she says ldquoWomen are told to move from one house to another And joining the party felt as an escape from that drudgery My tubes were tied as soon as I joined the party I didnrsquot understand any of it But not for long I wanted my own life When I finally saw a way out I ranrdquo Padar has been working in the mechanical department for the past one year ldquoItrsquos a good liferdquo she smiles subtlyNow they all hope to uplift their lives and themselves through a structured lifestylelsquoWomen now can speak uprsquoVanita Vinod Narotirsquos house She is the sarpanch of 15 villages in Todsa talukaGondwanarsquos skill centre became a crossing point for vilagers from fear to choice They were taught mining skills yes but also employable ones they could carry anywhere Transport was arranged for those travelling from Maoistprone belts For many it was the first risk taken for hope not survival Each employee received 100 company shares giving them an importanceVikas Pungati 25 is from Hindur village near Chhattisgarhrsquos border where the towering threat of Maoists was a constant terror Pungati remembers going to school while hiding ldquoTaking up work scared me Maoists gave us nothing but pressure When the police and local leaders backed us the threats stoppedrdquoVanita Vinod Naroti and Vikas PungatiVanita Vinod Naroti 32 sarpanch of 15 villages in Todsa taluka speaks of change rooted in income ldquoEarlier women farmed and stayed home Men decided everything even childbirth Hospital visits were refusedrdquo Sickle cell disease malaria malnutrition were common as villagers held no concept of money farming being their bread and butter while markets were unheard of ldquoAfter steady work food habits changed health improved and women began to speakrdquo says NarotiEmployment didnrsquot just end Maoism It also made it unnecessarylsquoI never thought I could drive a huge truck as a womanrsquoPratibha Madavi is a 36yearold mining truck driver at Surjagarhrsquos mining centre who never thought she could do this as a woman PicsTanisha BanerjeeAt Surjagarh the earth is cut open carefully This is where iron ore is mined but it does not feel like a place that only takes Every worker here comes from the villages that circle the hills They are fed housed when needed and ferried to work The mine bends itself around people not the other way aroundFor most of Gadchiroli district the houses are made of woodSurjagarh practises green mining where electric vehicles hum instead of roar water sprays hang constantly in the air to keep dust down and carbon footprints are measured not ignored Women operate machines once thought too large for themSurjagarh has become the mining centre for iron ore following which thousands of residents have received employmentOf the 3500 odd employees here skill is the only qualification that mattersBus for employeesBecause operators did not exist locally they were moulded Villagers are trained from scratch paid stipends while learning and supported with free transport schooling and hospital care mdash benefits that spill beyond employees to neighbouring villages Education too travels far from here Twentyfive students from Gadchiroli selected on merit are sent to study mining engineering in Australia mdash Rs 105 crore invested per student Three batches have already left carrying a districtrsquos expectations with themOn site 104 women are currently training to operate heavy moving vehicles Seven already do One of them is Pratibha Madavi 36 a mining truck driver ldquoI like driving My husband works here too It pays well and itrsquos fun I never thought I could do this as a womanrdquo she says smiling shyly At Surjagarh progress is slow and steady like a loaded truck driven by someone who once never imagined shersquod be behind any wheelA history lesson on Gadchiroli The district is currently a part of the Red Corridor in the eastern central and southern parts of India where the NaxalitendashMaoist insurgency has the worst and the strongest presence The local languages spoken here are Gondi and Madia apart from Marathi Despite being a dry district local alcohol or the local Mahua is a central part of cultural celebrations in the district especially in the interior villagesWhat went wrongTill five years ago when Maoism was rampant in the district Gadchirolirsquos people did not take up guns for the sake of it Apart from lack of employment the district was riddled with poverty Villagers had no idea about the concept of money nor the Internet Food came from backyard farming which was never fully nutritious or filling No masalas were used either The backwardness here was a result of being invisible to the system Itrsquos the complete sense of abandonment and desperation for decades which had pushed Gadchiroli into the pits of violence