Unreached Territory

The immaculate serene beauty of the north east India is incomparable. Away from the corporate world, competition, crowd, traffic, pollution and complexities of life, people in this part of India live a simple basic life. 

This is the north east India. They are surrounded by miles of dense forest on all sides which boasts of its rich flora and fauna. The numerous hill stations are like unexplored hamlets and not as commercialised as the rest of India.  It attracts more travellers and explorers than tourists.

The Problems

But, beyond the beautiful serenity lie numerous issues which need immediate address.
Connected to rest of India through a tiny strip of land called the Silliguri corridor with Nepal on one side and Bangladesh on the other, just one railway line serves this vast region and even that merely goes as far as the end of Assam. There is no railway service beyond Assam. Though it is connected by road and air, the bad condition of these roads and dense forests en route makes travelling difficult and most people in this region can’t afford air travel. Apart from poor connectivity, this region is very sensitive due to terrorist activities and insurgencies by rebel groups like ULFA who want to establish a sovereign state separate from India. Illegal migration from neighboring countries is another major problem faced by the authority.

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Poverty, Illiteracy, Diseases and Superstition

Being cut from rest of the mainland, this region is underdeveloped and issues like poverty, illiteracy and poor health facilities are major concerns. Most of the population lives in remote rural clusters distant from even the basic amenities. Lack of clean drinking water is the biggest problem faced by these people which also leads to several diseases like diarrhoea, worm infestation, malaria and jaundice. Due to lack of health facilities these infectious diseases go untreated and spread rapidly and result in loss of life  of many people who are affected.

Hospitals and health centres are limited to cities while the poor villagers depend on local quacks and witch doctors (ojha). Poverty, illiteracy and poor government infrastructure have incorporated various myths and superstition among the villagers. Since there is no immediate medical facility for these villagers, they turn to witch doctors who does all sorts of so called magic on the patients to remove bad spirit from the body. Mostly, such activities make the patient’s condition worse and sometimes even result in death.
One such village is Balunala basti near Lumding township of Nagaon district. in the state of Assam. Poor inhabitants of this village are deprived of basic minimum amenities. Unhygienic surroundings in and around these dwellings increase their suffering manifold. They hardly have any access to the developments and progress in this difficult geographical area. They earn their livelihood from local cultivation of seasonal vegetables, sugarcane and paddy. Per capita income of these people is extremely low as compared to the country's average.

A Cry for Help

The north east India are highly neglected and backward. While rest of the country seem united and flourishing, this particular area seems cut off and forgotten. The simple people in this remote part of the world need help. They need basic infrastructural development. They need clean drinking water, sanitation, hospitals, schools and roads. They need basic human amenities. They need to be connected.