A documentary film on Sauria Paharia of Rajmahal Hills (Part 3, produced in the year 2002)

Living in a difficult terrain, cultivation on Tanr land, with little or no education, health care facilities, drinking water, etc. their economy is much below the lowest minimum required for a decent living. At many places it has been a case of poverty and penury in the land of plenty.

By their habit and tradition they like stream water for drinking purposes but excepting few perennial hill streams, most of the so called Jharan or hill streams are purely seasonal, slow running drain like flowing water along the slops of hill which can hardly fulfill their needs and in quality, it is extremely poor with high degree of coliform bacterial contamination. The scarcity of drinking water is more acute on hill top and slope villages where females of most of household have to undertake additional stains of walking on foot about 4-6 K.Ms twice every day for fetching stream water. The situation in the hill foot and plains are slight better because few wells are dug by the govt. officials but most of them are not functioning well. Besides above, few seasonal & perrenial river are also existing around these paharia villages but accessibility to this source is not easy which resulting in to the acute drinking water crisis along with high degree of organic and bacterial pollution makes alarming situation for them.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Paharias
• hill tribe
• poverty
• nature
• Santhal Parganas
• jharkhand
• India
• Austro-Asiati
• Rajmahal hills
• environment