Chenchus a dying ccommunity: Haragopal

HYDERABAD: The population of Chenchu tribes in the state is decreasing every year and not even one would remain in around 40 to 50 years, said human rights activist Prof Haragopal. He asked the government and non-government organisations to focus on these tribal communities.  Speaking at seminar here on Sunday on the ‘Problems of Nallamala Chenchu Tribal Community’ conducted by Girijana Vidyarthi Samakhya (GVS), he said that as per the survey conducted by students of University of Hyderabad, the life span of an average Chenchu is 40 years as opposed to the 64 years of the general population. “This is because of their food and cultural habits,” he said.In 2010, malnutrition was rampant in the Chenchu population in Mahaboobnagar district due to non-availability of food and their poor eating habits, he said.  95 per cent of the 90 lakh Chenchu population in state live in the forest without access to primary health centres, education and infrastructure, said Vidithya Sankar Naik, founder of GVS.  Vidithya said that family counselling centres should be set up in order to change the food habits and lifestyle of Chenchus in places like Khammam and Nallamala. Though there are ITDAs in these places, it has not ensured development, he said and demanded the government to implement welfare schemes particularly for the developments of Chenchu.