Preserving a voice

Non-profit in Madhya Pradesh documents Korku language, makes education accessible for the tribal community

- RAKESH KUMAR MALVIYA

SOCIAL WORKER Seema Prakash was apprehensive about her assignment when she first came to Khalwa block of Madhya Pradesh two decades ago.

As part of the Right to Food campaign, an initiative taken up by civil society organisations across the country to work on hunger and malnutrition, she had to figure out how to educate the communities on nutrition and food security. What she did not expect, however, was that she would not even be able to talk to people.

Khalwa block, located in Khandwa district, is dominated by the Korku tribal community, a Scheduled Tribe. This tribe mostly lives in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and has its own language.