Community Correspondents

Satyanarayan Banchhor

State: ODISHA

 

Satyanarayan Banchhor is a part time print journalist and the Secretary and spokesperson of one of Odisha’s most vibrant social movements. He is fighting against the submersion of his community’s land and his own home from the Lower Suktel Dam, in Balangir district of Odisha.

Satya, as he is known, is committed to protecting this fertile, rich land from the threats of displacement and forcible acquisition by the dam project. Since his graduation days, Satya has been involved with the Lower Suktel Budi Anchal Sangram Parishad movement, and his skills as a video journalist with VV and newspaper journalist with the local press are very useful to the movement. His stories bring out the haunting stories of distress migration, starvation, agricultural deprivation, farmer suicides and lack of infrastructure from Balangir that have been otherwise ignored by the media at large.

 

Videos from Satyanarayan

Pregnant Girl Strangulated and Dumped in the Name of Honour

 
/ January 10, 2017

Geeta, a 17-year-old girl, struggled to breathe as her father Kailash, strangulated her. Her grandmother, Mem, struggled to free Geeta from Kailash’s grip, but hate was stronger than love, and Geeta died. ” I saw it happen in front of me. Her body was thrown in the dump yard by...

Caste or Daughter? “Caste” said the father.

 
/ November 26, 2016

An honor killing or shame killing is the homicide of a member of a family by other members, due to the perpetrators’ belief that the victim has brought shame or dishonor upon the family. A father killed his own daughter because she eloped with a boy from another caste and...

Community Impact: School implements RTE rules

 
/ November 2, 2016

The Right to Education (RTE) Act has laid down norms and standards for schools to ensure incluive and quality education for all children of India. All the elementary schools have to comply to these rules. Unfortunately, many schools, especially in the hinterlands of India flaunt these rules because the authorities...

Community Impact: School implements RTE rules

 
/ November 2, 2016

The Right to Education (RTE) Act has laid down norms and standards for schools to ensure incluive and quality education for all children of India. All the elementary schools have to comply to these rules. Unfortunately, many schools, especially in the hinterlands of India flaunt these rules because the authorities...

Where People Starve to Death: Odisha, India

 
/ March 16, 2016

A 9-year-old child, Dhira Nag, kept her 55-year old grandmother Sua Dei alive by sneaking home food from her school’s mid-day meal. However, Sua Dei ultimately died of starvation in Bolangir district in December 2015, sparking a row in the Odisha Assembly. While most media houses focussed on politicians misbehaving,...

Lower Suktel Dam destroying Tribal’s livelihood

 
/ October 27, 2015

Banchhorpalli, Bolangir, Odisha | Satya Banchhor  Banchhorpalli is a tribal dominated village that falls under Loisingha block of Bolangir district, Odisha. This village comes in the list of those 29 villages which would be submerged in Lower Suktel Dam project. The resident forest-dwelling tribe considers Mahua tree(Madhuca Longifolia) as a...

Drowned by development

 
/ July 16, 2015

Satyanarayan Banchhor| Buda Bahal Village, Bolangir District, Odisha The Lower Suktel Dam project will submerge Buda Bahal Village of Bolangir district. Residents of the village, who are entirely dependent upon agriculture and forest produce for their livelihoods have been opposing the project and asking for forest land pattas for the...