Uncounted lives at tribal heartland in Andhra Pradesh-OxBig News Network

Six-year-old Kosayya plays with a group of children amid the mud huts in their settlement at Jaggaram, the dust kicked up by their excited feet melds with the evening sun.

Kosayya and many others like him used to study Class 1 at a Non-Residential Special Training Centre (NRSTC), a temporary facility run by the Department of Education to offer primary education to children of migrants, at Jaggaram. The centre was shut down in February on expiry of its six-month service.

Now, he accompanies his father, Kovvasi Mangayya, to the chilli fields on the banks of the Godavari River around six kilometres away, along the Andhra-Telangana border in the morning and returns with him in the evening. An interaction with his parents, who belong to the Muria tribe, suggests that the hard life of a farmhand awaits him, too.

As far as the government is concerned, Kosayya and many other children in the settlement do not exist, for they have no birth certificate, no Aadhaar or any other identification document.

Madakam Devi’s family at Jaggaram in Yetapaka mandal has three children without birth certificate and Aadhaar.
| Photo Credit:
T. APPALA NAIDU

In the same settlement, Madakam Devi sits in front of her hut. “No family in our habitation felt the need to register births; same with deaths. Our lives revolve around our settlement and the nearby forest,” says the 32-year-old.

“No family in our habitation felt the need to register births; same with deaths. Our lives revolve around our settlement and the nearby forest”Madakam DeviResident of a Muria settlement at Jaggaram

She cares for her sister Madakam Bheeme’s three children—six-year-old Mani, four-year-old Mooda and three-year-old Vennela—while their mother works in the chilli fields. None of the children has a birth certificate.

A displaced people

The Murias, now an Internally Displaced People (IDP), fled the Naxal-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh two decades ago and formed a settlement at Jaggaram, deep inside the reserve forest on the tri-state border of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

A view of Jaggaram settlement of Muria tribals who fled Sukma district in Chhattisgarh two decades ago when conflict between security forces and Left Wing Extremist groups intensified.
| Photo Credit:
T. APPALA NAIDU

Falling under the Yetapaka mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district, Jaggaram is home to 46 Muria families. It is nearly 75 kilometres from the administrative headquarters of Chintoor Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) and over 250 kilometres from the district headquarters of Paderu.

The hostile terrain and a meandering path strewn with stones make it almost impossible for any vehicle, let alone an ambulance, to trek up the settlement. As such, births mostly happen at home and are assisted by women in the community. In official terms, it is called ‘non-institutional delivery’. And the children born this way do not have a birth certificate, critical for enrolment for Aadhaar, which has become a key document to avail of government schemes aimed at tribal uplift.

A Muria woman returning home from a Chilli field, at Jaggaram settlement.
| Photo Credit:
T. APPALA NAIDU

Thirty-year-old Veko Lakke, another resident and mother of three children, says that it was a Vidya Volunteer (teacher) at the now-shut NRSTC who first told them about the importance of enrolling their children for Aadhaar. “Seven out of the 22 children enrolled at the NRSTC did not have Aadhaar,” says Seemala Ramu, a member of the Koya tribe who was a teacher at the centre.

Currently, the Muria settlement at Jaggaram has 37 children between the ages of 0 and 6 without Aadhaar. It is one of the 53 IDP settlements dotting Chintoor ITDA, with nearly 2,000 households scattered across densely forested areas.

Rights unrealised

Owing to a general lack of awareness about identity documents and a dearth of adequate help to obtain them, these tribal families may be unwittingly depriving their children of the benefits and the help they are entitled to now and in the future.

Aadhaar is key to getting admission to the Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV), two premier Centrally funded institutions aimed at providing quality education to children from Scheduled Tribes and girls from disadvantaged communities, according to ASR District Education Officer P. Brahmaji Rao.

The district has eight EMRSs and 19 KGBVs spread across Paderu, Rampachodavaram and Chintoor ITDAs, and these schools can transform the lives of children like Kosayya, if only they can get in.

Venkatesh Jatvati, a Chintoor-based activist working for the IDPs, says that in Chintoor ITDA limits, 70% of the children without Aadhaar are from the IDPs. The rest belong to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of Konda Reddi and Porja tribes and Koyas. “The absence of the birth certificate prevents their Aadhaar enrolment.”

A circular issued by ITDA Project Officer Apoorva Bharat on March 13 sharpens the perspective: of the 7,868 children aged 0-6 at Chintoor ITDA limits, 2,585 don’t have Aadhaar while 1,299 don’t have birth certificates.

In the circular, Bharat says 33% of children in the agency area can’t avail of welfare schemes and 50.25% of children couldn’t enrol in schools and claim various identity documents because they lack Aadhaar. They may also become ineligible for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes and the health services offered by the government, adds Bharat.

With 3,035 applications for birth certificates under review, the officer urges all mandal revenue, development, education and tribal welfare officers to expedite Aadhaar enrolment and birth certificate issuance.

Across the district, children (0-6 years old) without birth certificates number 32,000, says District Women and Child Welfare and Empowerment Officer N. Surya Lakhsmi.

“Recently, the government slightly relaxed the rules. Children up to a year old can be given the birth certificate upon recommendation by the district medical and health authorities,” added Lakhsmi.

As for children over one year old, the Village Revenue Officer should conduct an inquiry (Panchanama) before making a recommendation to the Mandal Revenue Officer for issuance of the birth certificate, which the Sub-Collector should approve. It’s a process beyond the means of the tribespeople.

These communities who live deep inside the forest and hill only venture out to visit the weekly shandy on Fridays. “Traversing the forest, I visited the village secretariat-cum-Aadhaar centre, the Primary Health Centre and revenue officials twice to get a birth certificate for my three-year-old daughter, says 28-year-old Vetti Peesamma, a Muria from Chukkalapadu settlement. ”I gave up; it’s too tiring,” she adds.

Six kilometres from Edugurallapalli village secretariat and 30 km from the mandal headquarters of Chintoor, this settlement of 34 Muria families has 14 children without birth certificates.

No Aadhaar

As of December 19, 2024, 72,529 children (aged 0-6) enrolled in the 3,214 Anganwadi centres did not have Aadhaar in ASR district, says Lakshmi in an official circular.

At 6,455, Chintapalli mandal has the highest number of children without Aadhaar, as per a field assessment report compiled on December 21, 2024 by the Project Management Unit (Paderu).

A woman of Kondh community getting ready her day’s work at Donkarayi area in Sileru Agency.
| Photo Credit:
T. APPALA NAIDU

In Araku Valley, children of 0-6 age group from the tribes of Kondh (PVTG), Konda Dora and Bagatha are among those without Aadhaar cards. In Sileru region, children from the tribes of Porja (PVTG), Bagata, Konda Dora, who migrated from Odisha for the construction hydroelectric power projects on the Sileru river in the 1970s, do not have Aadhaar, according to sources.

Like the Murias, these tribespeople, too, prefer births at home owing to a lack of emergency healthcare facilities and road connectivity to their villages.

Awareness makes the difference

Rampachodavaram Sub-Collector K.R. Kalpasri highlighted the lack of awareness about birth registration among the tribespeople. Rampachodavaram ITDA covers the entire stretch of Konda Reddi tribal pocket adjoining Odisha.

She says she disposes of at least 150-200 birth certificate applications a day. “We rely on decade-old data on pregnant women from government hospitals as well as vaccination records with medical and health officials to trace the birth of the children; any data from government records will be useful to approve the application,” adds Kalpasri.

The Aadhaar Enrolment Operator of the village secretariat at Edugurallapalli is in charge of Aadhaar registration at Edugurallapalli and Pega gram panchayats along the Chhattisgarh border, which together have 19 IDP settlements, 19 revenue villages and 22 Konda Reddi tribal villages on the hills. These localities often see clashes between Left-Wing Extremist groups and paramilitary forces.

But on March 22 (Saturday), the official, Ravi Teja, was nowhere to be found. None of his colleagues knew his whereabouts, and he was unreachable over the phone for the next 72 hours. Attempts to contact him over the phone on March 27 (Thursday), too, went in vain.

“Women and child development officials and ASHA workers should be tasked with helping those without birth certificates to get them”Venkatesh JatvatiActivist working for IDPs

His colleague and Agriculture Assistant Anigi Saritha, a member of the Koya tribe, claims that the Murias and Konda Reddis visit the office birth certificates and Aadhaar enrolment only on Friday, the weekly shandy day. However, security forces take down mobile and internet connectivity the same day for their combing operations, bringing their work to a halt, she claims. “The tribals will not turn up for any task the next day,” she adds.

ASR District Aadhaar Centres Coordinator P. Ravi Kumar says that without a birth certificate, it is not possible to get a child enrolled for Aadhaar. “Without the birth certificate, the data seeding will not move further,” he says. The ASR district has 133 Aadhaar enrolment centres.

A Konda Reddi artisan at work at Chintoor agency in Alluri Sitharama Raju district.
| Photo Credit:
T. APPALA NAIDU

What can be done

Activist Venkatesh Jatvati suggested that the ITDAs open mobile Aadhaar centres to spare families like Vetti Peesamma’s the gruelling trek through the forest. For the hill tribes, particularly the Konda Reddis, communication with and accessibility to Aadhaar centres remain a major problem. “Before this, women and child development officials and ASHA workers should be tasked with helping those without birth certificates to get them,” added Venkatesh.