Reaching out to The Madia & Gond Tribal
~ Photo and Craft Exhibition at Ravindra Bharathi~

Hyderabad|India|March'2009: In the race to live and compete we conveniently forget that we live in a society we belong to some nation that there are fellow humans who are not as privileged as we are. One such unprivileged race is that of the Madia-Gonds. These primitive adivasis live in the dense forests of Dandakaranya in central India. The region has raw beauty with thick forests of native tree species, creepers and other plants. Mere survival is a struggle for them; illiteracy is almost total, medical care is unheard of it was very rare for a madia to live beyond 50. Shifting cultivation was the only kind of agriculture that they knew. Their sole contact to the outside world was through forest contractors and forest guards who spared no opportunity to exploit them.

In December 1973 a band of young men led by Baba Amte set up camp at Hemalkasa, a small village near Bhamragad in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. In 1974 Dr. Prakash and his wife Dr. Mandakini Amte, a young doctor couple along with sister Renuka joined the project. They constructed a small hut for themselves and a bigger for the patients. Initially the tribals were totally suspicious of the new settlers they had no trust in people ‘with clothes’ as it was this notorious clan who had looted them at every possible moment. Language too was a barrier; madia language had no script of its own no resemblance to either Hindi nor Marathi. The LBP volunteers learnt their language to at least start conversing with the madias. An epileptic patient had fallen into the fire and got severely burnt, Prakash had dressed his burns and he had recovered, and became sort of walking advertisement for the Lok Biradari Prakalp. Slowly madias started trusting Dr. Prakash
and would come to him for treatment.

Acute illiteracy among the madias was the main reason for their exploitation. Baba and Dr. Prakash decided to start a school for the madias. Gopal Phadnis a lecturer of English joined the cause and headed the school till his retirement. He and Dada Panchal along with other volunteers would go from village to village inviting parents to send their children to school.Today the school is a residential one with 650 tribal students, 6 medical graduates, lawyers, many teachers, policemen, forest guards etc.


The Madias are skilled craftsmen, LBP trains them with skills like bamboo work, metal casting, welding, plumbing, etc. many young drop-outs from schools have been provided with and opportunity to earn their livelihood.


Do visit the exhibition and feel blessed that you are endowed with much more than a perfect life and at the same time knowing the fact that some of our brothers are not as lucky and mere existence and survival is a fight for them. They need your love
and attention, endorsement from you that they too exist and have the right to live and be happy just as you.

The same exhibition has already been taken place in Pune, Nashik, Mumbai, Dombivli , Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Sangli and got really overwhelming response from people. Around 25,000 – 30,000 people visited the exhibition and took interest in understanding the work with Madia & Gond tribal.

Photo and Craft Exhibition.Date: 13th to 17th March 2009
Timing: 10.30 A. M. to 8.00 P.M.Venue: ICCR ART GALLERY
RAVINDRABHARATHI, Opposite Legislative Assembly, Saifabad, HYDERABAD-500004