A FOREST IN WAIT

For five decades, Abujhmad in Chhattisgarh was closed to the country. Now, as the region opens up, ANIL ASHWANI SHARMA travels to villages in its dense forests to see how isolation has impacted the people and development

- ANIL ASHWANI SHARMA

DO YOU know how to swim?" asks a boater. I reply in the affirmative, and he directs me to sit on the raised edges of two dongis, pushed together. As we set off on the small, handcrafted boats from the banks of the Kotri river in Narayanpur district, Chhattisgarh, the boater explains that the dongis are about 20 years old and have some holes, so in case of leaks everyone would have to swim.

Even from the vast expanse of the Kotri, the desolate nature of this area in Bastar is evident. Our destination is Abujhmad, a forested tribal settlement which has long been closed to the state; or rather, country. Half a century ago, when Chhattisgarh was part of Madhya Pradesh, the dense forests of Abujhmad became a haven for Maoist insurgents. In 1980, the then Madhya Pradesh government banned entry of outsiders into the forest. This isolated the region's Madia, Gond, Muria Gond and Hill Muria tribes, together called Abujhmadiya, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).

The restriction was lifted by the Chhattisgarh government in 2009. Even then, fear kept people away from the region, according to Laxman Mandavi, president of the Tribal Students' Organisation in Abujhmad, and my guide to the region. In the past four-five years, with government efforts to clear Maoist insurgents, Abujhmad has become more accessible. On October 16, 2025, Union home minister Amit Shah declared Abujhmad free from Maoist insurgency.

Stuck amid all this have been the Abujhmadiya—whose number vary from 40,000 as per Census 2011 to t 23,330 recorded in a 2015-16 survey by the Raipur-based Tribal Research and Training Institute. How has the long period of isolation impacted them? This question has brought me here.