From Odisha to Raipur, with RCDC and Ekta Parishad Land, Livelihoods & Rights
Dear Friends and Supporters,
The last stretch of my 8-week project visit took me and Mukul back towards the central part of the country. From Chennai we took an overnight train to Bhubaneshwar covering a distance of 1210 km. In Bhubaneshwar we were warmly welcomed by Bishnu and Kailash from RCDC who picked us up at the station.
Over the next five days we would be visiting the Bhubaneshwar office but also spend most of our time in the Chilika Lake area where Bishnu, Uma and their team implement the project ‘From Vulnerability to Stability: Empowerment of Chilika Fisherfolk and Landless communities through environmental protection, access and control over local resources to establish fishing and land rights’.
It is a complicated area and the vulnerabilities of the communities here are many. On our journey towards Odisha, that already became clear with yet another cyclone warning for the coastal area of Odisha. In Odisha, we also had a chance to meet with Jeevan Rekha Parishad, and Kailash took us to another part of the Odisha coast where we met with a community who have been displaced due to sea erosion.
After a week in Odisha, we took our last train of the trip from Bhubaneshwar to Raipur (663 km) where we met with Ramesh from Ekta Parishad, who took us to different parts of Chhattisgarh to meet with different tribal communities. Lastly, I had a few days in Mumbai before travelling back to the UK.
