Kiran Baiga

Baigas are one of the primitive tribes of Chhattisgarh, and are extremely poor. They live in small scattered hamlets inside the forest. Kiran lives in Boirha village (inside the Achanakmaar sanctuary) which has no running water or electricity; the only tubewell in their hamlet is dry and they fetch water from a stream 2 kilometres from their village.

They are now threatened with eviction since the forest they have been living in for generations has now been declared a biosphere and human habitation is not to be allowed. Where they will be resettled is not known, and we at JSS have filed a petition under the Right to Information Act for details of the Government plan regarding their eviction.

Kiran, a primi, came to the Danganiya clinic for the first time at 8 months of pregnancy with high blood pressure, severe anaemia and swelling of the feet and legs. She was taken to the clinic at Ganiyari where she was given a blood transfusion, and was also started on medicines to reduce her blood pressure. She went home to await her baby and continues to be on iron and anti-hypertension tablets. Her ability to reach the clinic at Ganiyari is now dependent on the rains and whether the rivers are passable. Flash floods are common in the hilly forest region where she lives. Someone will need to cycle for an hour to inform our clinic at Bahmni, from where a cellphone link can sometimes be made to Ganiyari. An ambulance will take 1.5 hours to reach Bamhni, while Kiran will need to be probably carried from her village to the ambulance – a walk that may take upto three hours, assuming, of course, that the river is not flooded.

If she can be back at Ganiyari for her delivery, there is a good chance of saving both mother and child.