Ramachandran K G
We are definitely going through an extremely bad phase. The threat of the pandemic is continuing all over the world. The first wave of the covid19 pandemic had generally not affected tribal settlements in India that seriously when compared to the non-tribal populations as per the statistics available. But, that has not been the case this second wave of pandemic which has been spreading across the country for the last three to four weeks. Katkaari villages are no exception. There are many Covid19 positive cases being reported from the settlements of the Katkaari community in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. The people here are very afraid in the current situation as they are struggling to make both ends meet.
In the middle of these difficulties, the cyclone ‘Taukte’ hit the coast of the south-western part of India. The Low pressure was intensified in the course of time and strengthened the cyclone on its movement towards the north. Many of the Katkaari settlements are not far away from the south west coast of Maharashtra. The heavy rainfall along with thunder storms were hitting the region for three four days. Many Katkaari community members here, living in temporary sheds were crucially affected by the intense rains and lost their shelters and valuables. The hapless community members do not even understand what to do next. They were forced to move in with some of their ‘better off’ relatives. Some were moved into temporary shelters. The covid19 situation makes it more difficult for community members to accommodate others even though they are related to each other since the traumatic pandemic threats exist around them.
The months of April and May are very important for the Katkaari community people since the harvest of the crops like wheat and paddy usually takes place during these months. The Continuous heavy rainfall has completely devastated all those crops which were about to be harvested. The near future seems to be very grim for the people here and the Katkaari people need our support in the time of this double crisis.
