Evaluation of Bonda Development Agency Mudulipada, Malkangiri District

Abstract

Odisha has the largest number of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in the Country. There are 17 micro projects which have been established (as institutional mechanism dedicated for implementation of development programs for the PVTGs) in Odisha covering all 13 PVTGs spread over 12 districts. The first micro project in the State of Odisha was established for the Bonda tribes (PVTG) in 1976-77 at Mudulipada in Malkangiri district of the state, named as Bonda Development Agency (BDA). Central and State Governments have allocated huge funds over the years to bring about overall development in the living conditions including upliftment of the socio-economic condition of the PVTGs. The schemes extended for the PVTGs including the Bondas have been targeted to bring improvement at household level, primarily towards improvement of their food security. Considering the fact that the Bonda Development Agency (BDA) is the oldest of all the 17 Micro Projects set up way back in 1976-77 and Bonda is one of the most vulnerable PVTG community, it was decided by SCSTRTI to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the micro project with the objective to assess the extent to which the Micro Project has been able to address the core and critical issues of the Bonda PVTG Households and the area inhabited by them, evaluate the functioning of the Micro Project and to what extent the interventions extended by the Micro Project been able to improve the income level and other socio-economic conditions of the Bonda Households. The findings of the evaluation study discuss on the broad heads of Institutional Capacity of BDA and efficacy in execution of activities, Development of Infrastructure and Status of Basic Facilities, Livelihood Status, enhancement in the income level of the household and new initiatives and Status of selected Human Development Indicators. The key findings in respect of the above indicators reveal that although government has taken steps for providing infrastructure facilities in the micro project area, yet there are a number of gaps existing which needs to be provided for access to education, accessibility, irrigation facilities, health and various other basic facilities such as ICDS, electricity, safe drinking water, storage and processing facilities which need to be put in place for all-round development for the Bondas. Although the evaluation study has come up with the findings that the income level has not enhanced considerably and job opportunities have shrunken over the years resulting in distress migration, it is worth mentioning that some new and innovative livelihood initiatives have been initiated/planned under a project Mission Jeebika to take care of the livelihood of all the ST and PVTG Communities in their locality in a cluster mode. Further, after introduction of OPELIP for last one year, a lot of ground work has been done for convergence with line departments for various kinds of income generating activities. Once these schemes are extended to the Bonda families, it is expected that the income level will enhance substantially which is bound to arrest the large scale migration. The study recommends that it is high time for the State government need to initiate restructuring of the BDA and fill up the vacant posts with appointment of young and committed officers with credible track record and passionate for the work. A 5 year perspective plan identifying the sectoral gaps need to be formulated so that targeted interventions can be put in place for time bound development cutting across sectors. Besides, a robust monitoring plan need be developed and put in place and steps taken towards enhancement of allocation of funds for the Micro Project and bringing it under the framework of 5Ts (Team Work, Technology, Time, Transparency and Transformation)