This document summarizes Abinash Mohanty's 15-day village stay experience in Dumuria village as part of an orientation program with Pradan. Some key highlights: - The village faces challenges with water shortage, elephant attacks on crops, outdated farming methods, lack of toilets, delayed NREGA payments, and poor transportation. - Abinash overcame initial difficulties adjusting to village life and bonded with the locals. He conducted interviews to understand living conditions and problems. - Potential solutions proposed include installing more tube wells, crop protection measures, promoting organic farming, building toilets, and improving infrastructure like roads. - The experience gave Abinash a new perspective on

1. MY VILLAGE
STAY REPORT
ABINASH MOHANTY
A report on 15-days Village Stay organized under the orientation program
of Pradan

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Village Introduction _____________________________________________________________________________________ 1
Village Stay Experience__________________________________________________________________________________ 5
Conclusion_______________________________________________________________________________________________ 11

3. VILLAGE INTRODUCTION
Page 1
Village Introduction
VILLAGE NAME & HOW TO REACH HERE
Village Name: Dumuria
Panchayat Name: Dari
To reach Dumuria, you have to take a straight road to Kurudia Chaak from Karanjia and then turn left
towards Bala and then again a left turn to Kianposi. Then you will be reaching a road division, one towards
Pichuli and the other towards Dumuria. Take the right turn towards Dumuria and there you are, you will
soon be near Dumuria Anganwadi. The total travel distance from Karanjia is around 15km
Route Map to Dumuria

4. VILLAGE INTRODUCTION
Page 2
GEOGRAPHY OF THE VILLAGE
 This village has been divided into four divisions geographically called “Sahis”. These divisions are
named as:
1. Bandha Sahi
2. Tala Sahi
3. Upara Sahi
4. Mohanta Sahi
 Here around 250 Ha area is under cultivable domain out of which around 100 Ha is under Mango
and Kaju Cultivation under NREGA.
Rough Overview of Dumuria Village
ECONOMIC DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE VILLAGE
There are total 250 families residing in this village. With a total population of 1300 stands this unique
small village away from the hustles of crowd and rush life of Karanjia, the nearest town.

5. VILLAGE INTRODUCTION
Page 3
But in this village the distribution of land and wealth is non-uniform. With around 70% of population
landless, the remaining area is distributed among the rest 30%.
Among the Sahis, the Bandhasahi has least number of landholders (around 2-3 families own very
marginal land). Maximum of the landholdings rest in the hands of Mohanta Sahi people and the other two
sahis also enjoy some of the landholdings. As a result of which there is difference in their economic life.
Mostly the major source of income comes from Agriculture (for those having land), Contractual Labor
(for those without any land holdings), and Stitching of leaves from the forest.
Average Income of the village is around 20-25k/annum which depends upon amount of land holdings.
The major expenditure comes from buying food items and still here clothing are considered luxury.
CULTURAL, SOCIAL & POLITICAL LIFE OF THE VILLAGE
Here, people celebrate most of the festivals but the grandest among these is the festival called “Makara”
where they wear new dresses, make different types of cakes (Pithas), and organize a Village Fair where
they have village get together and functions.
Also, they have a peculiar tradition of worshiping elephants whom they call “Thakura” (in Odia) or “God”
whenever there is sightings of the elephants in the nearby places.
In terms of Political point-of-view, the Sarpanch of this village doesn’t hold good repo with the Villagers
and such is the case that Villagers even some times return without expressing their concerns in fear of
getting rebuked.
There are 6 SHGs in this village with the following details”
Name of SHG No. of Members
Maa Laxmi 12
Maa Sunamuhi 15
Maa Mangala 12
Jai Bodam 12
MahaLaxmi 12
Maa Tarini 10
As per the caste distribution of the Village is concerned, primarily there are four kind of castes:
1. Bathudi (Predominant)
2. Bhumija
3. Ho-Caste

6. VILLAGE INTRODUCTION
Page 4
4. Mohanta Caste
Now the different castes are geographically distributed as follows:
1. Bandha Sahi contains Bathudi caste people
2. Tala Sahi contains Bathudi, Bhumija & Ho-Caste People
3. Upara Sahi contains also Bathudi Caste People
4. Mohanta Sahi contains Mohanta Caste People
As per the literacy is concerned, most of the people can read and write in Odia. Considering the literacy
rates of different castes:
Bhumija and Ho-Caste have comparatively the most number of illiterate people but the good thing is that
the upcoming generation are mostly enrolled in schools, so people are understanding the importance of
education in life and are readily investing on education of their future generations.

7. VILLAGE STAY EXPERIENCE
Page 5
Village Stay Experience
As a part of DAship Orientation Program, I had this inimitable opportunity of spending 15-day in a village.
Being in an environment of luxury throughout my life, with all the comforts at my disposal, to step into this
unknown area, staying with unknown people was unique and difficult to accept. But resting all the
speculations in my mind, I decided to give it a try.
Now here I am, in an unknown land, living in someone’s house whom I don’t know, eating food to which I
am not accustomed to and drinking water, whose source I cannot be sure of. Still with a desire to learn
something, I decided to at least survive.
Host Name: Padmini Naik
Area: Badasahi, Dumuria
Coming here I suddenly realized, oh! No what have I consented myself into. Can I survive such a sudden
change in lifestyle? To make it worse my Day-1 started with the eldest member of the family scolding me
for over utilizing the water. From there I learnt how valuable can water be for people? A valuable lesson
indeed.
Still confused about my decision in joining the Village Stay, I went to bed hoping a new dawn will bring a
new beginning. Then after a while in bed, I heard a loud snoozing sound from my neighboring room and
adding more to my plight, there was a crawling sound from above my head. Completely terrified, I plugged
my earphones in and tried to sleep but in vain. Then when finally I got some sleep, this time real-time
alarm clocks rang, the “Kukoodo-koo” sound of chickens, that too around 5am in the morning. That was
really quite unnerving.
Finally, my first day ended with sleep deprivation, my still unknown neighbors and bed partners, kittens.
And the snoozing sound came from my next door neighbors: The holy cows. Then came the real surprise,
my to be bathroom for the next 15-days to come, the big Kaju plantation field. Whole field is your area, do
wherever you like was the final suggestion given by my host’s husband. Now this newly turned village boy,
is all set to experiment this new style of bathroom, holding a mug in one hand and Dettol in the other, he set
out his journey to his new 150 Ha large bathroom. I wonder even Ambani can be such a proud owner of
such a large bathroom.!!!! Now comes the real challenge, the water challenge. You have to walk a minimum
of 500m to bring in water after your so called works are over. And for the first time, that was hell of a

8. VILLAGE STAY EXPERIENCE
Page 6
challenge. With no prior knowledge of location of pond and no understandings of the methodology, I had to
apply my engineering jugaadu style to finally accomplish my work.
Fully drained out of energy, finally I thought I will have a good sleep but then a 10-hours current cut was
yet to be experienced by me. Unable to bear any more, I was on the verge of quitting, but later decided to
continue, at least the experience will teach me how to adjust to life.
Then I reminded myself of the objective, why I am here? I wanted to know that basic one difference which
makes a village still striving for development and what makes a city respond too quickly to development?
So giving myself an excuse I continued.
And noting about my new fooding style, my breakfast mostly started with “Chakuli Pitha” (contrary to the
thin ones, here they prefer big sized and large Pithas) and vegetable mix curry from the garden, which will
be carried over to the lunch and this time with rice and for dinner, as contrary to the regular chappati style
dinner, they have rice and again a vegetable mix. Mostly this schedule was repeated, sometimes a new
variety was introduced and sometimes chicken made its place in the culinary menu.
Then despite so many adversities, I continued and slowly started blending in. At first, I was complaining
about my condition to my parents, compared myself to the well-off lives of my friends in cities but later
everything started falling into place slowly. This body got acclimatized to the new, unnerving experiences.
Then I was in a position of asking my friends “Ever been in a Village?:p”
But the most beautiful thing which helped me cope to this condition are the serene surroundings and the
serene people and their simplicity and how they uphold to the long lost saying “Atithi Devo Bhabha”. The
respect they give you when you are with them, the innocent smile in their face when you fail to understand
their terminologies, the way they care about your comfort first rather than looking upon their own. Later I
realized the food I ate, was a luxury for them, and they afforded this luxury solely for me for the last 15
days.
They tried their best to make me feel at home, and this try is the most beautiful thing that gave me hope to
wait for a new beginning. Rather than concentrating on the negative sides, I started concentrating on the
works for which I have been here.
Because of the intermittent rains and busy schedule of my host, Padmini Didi, I have to partner three
musketeers for my village voyage. The three musketeers named Babli, Pintu and Chabi are 6, 6&5 years old
respectively. They bore the lighting torch and brought me in contact with other families of the villages from
whom I got an essence of the life and difficulties of the Village.
To organize my data collection, I thought of making my interaction systematic by focusing on a fixed pre-
determined questions and hence made a questionnaire.
Here is a brief over view of the questionnaire I used, though in many of the cases failed but this helped me
gain insight into the working of this village system.

9. VILLAGE STAY EXPERIENCE
Page 7
Aim of the questionnaire:
1. To know the family demographics
2. To know the average income of a family
3. To know the various source of income for a family and the diversity in income various occupation brings
with it
4. To know the challenges faced by the Village People
5. What are the steps undertaken by them to tackle the problems/ what are the plans they are making to
have a solution to the problem?
6. What are their major expenditure and what are the items considered luxury?
7. Their perception on sanitation and education
The questions that were planned:
1. What is the size of your family?
2. What is the major source of income? And how much do you make in a year?
3. What are the problems do you face?
4. How do you hope to tackle this adverse situations?
5. What is the major source of expenditure? And what according to you is a luxury item?
6. What is your view on personalized toilets and have you heard about Swach Bharat Abhiyaan?
So accordingly, I tried to conduct my interactions and hence got a brief overview of the problems faced by
this village. Some of the conclusions are written in the economic introduction of the village. Though I am
still at a nascent stage in this vicious developmental study circle, I will be suggesting some measures which
can be mapped to solve the problems. Some of these measures are suggested by the villagers themselves
and some are collected online. I will also be giving a “Weight Factor” to the problems which will signify
the gravity of the problem as compared to others with reference to the Villager’s comments and my
perception.

10. VILLAGE STAY EXPERIENCE
Page 8
Challenges Faced Details of the
Problem
Weight Factor (out of
10)
Possible Solution
Water Problem • No. of tube wells
in the village: 3
• Total area
depends on these
3 tube wells
• No dug wells, or
canals due to the
MSL of the
village and the
river are same
• People (mostly
female) have to
stand in long
queues in
summer season
for water
10 • Boring can be done
and more tube wells
can be established
• Ground water
recharge schemes
can be planned
Elephant Problem • A herd of 15-18
elephants
destroy crops
and their menace
is frequent
• So some farmers
fear planting
cash crops
8 • Many research
papers are available
in net which can be
studied and planned
accordingly
Inorganic & Primitive
Methods of Agriculture
• They are still
primitive in
terms of
agriculture and it
comes to stand
still during
summer season
• They produce
tomato,
cauliflower,
brinjal etc during
winter season
during which the
rates are too low
6 • Vermi-Compost can
be encouraged
• Organic Agriculture
can be promoted
• Dug wells and pump
systems can be
arranged for
irrigation during
summer season
• Marketing channels
can be established
and market research
report can be made
available to them so

11. VILLAGE STAY EXPERIENCE
Page 9
to even equalize
the ROI on
agriculture
• They still depend
on inorganic
means of
agriculture.
that they can plant
the vegetables in
required time and
get highest ROI
• Schemes like Kaju
Plantation, Mango
Plantation can be
encouraged more
for more steady
income
• More advanced
methods like
contract farming
can be explored to
increase the
livelihood of people
Sanitation Problem • Around 90% of
families have
open defecation
• Still the
establishment of
toilets are under
discussion and
people are yet to
figure out the
importance of
toilets
7 • Awareness and
toilet
establishments
NREGA Payment
Problem
• Most of the jobs
under NREGA are
watchman for
Kaju Plantation &
Mango
Plantation
• But their
payment is due
for more than a
year which
causes
demotivation for
the villagers
5 • Government
officials should be
notified and the due
payment should be
started
Communication • No picchu roads
to the interior of
villages
• The condition of
roads during
9 • Biju gaan bus should
be started
• Picchu roads should
be made to the
village interiors

12. VILLAGE STAY EXPERIENCE
Page 10
rainy season is
very bad and
even difficult for
vehicles to move
or even
pedestrians to
walk
• No Biju Gaan Bus
facility
• Nearby bus
facility is 8km far
from the village
• Dependent
mostly on
personal vehicles
or on foot
• Difficult while
marketing the
produce
Apart from the above possible solutions, I also would like to give few more recommendations, from my
own insights till now:
• Water shed management should be practiced
• Due to sloping nature of terrain, soil management practices can be planned
• Livestock farming can be planned over the pond(s) available
• Fish culture can be planned and above it chicken farming can be planned
• Honey farming can also be planned.
• Cold Storage can also be planned for storing the agricultural produce and marketing them.

13. CONCLUSION
Page 11
Conclusion
Now putting rest to all my observations, I would like to conclude by answering the three most important
yet delusional questions which matter the most:
1. So, Abinash, Why Village Stay? Is it necessary?
Ans: Why Village Stay?? Let my changed outlook towards village and towards life as a whole speak the
answers. Now for the question, Is it necessary? Nonetheless how can you expect one to have a broader
perspective without knowing people from grassroots itself?
2. So what difference did you conclude that makes a village not receptacle to changes as compared to a city?
Ans: according to my point of view “The Robin hood theory” can suffice the answer. According to my
observation, people here have tremendous potential but they still expect someone to bestow upon them
the solution to their problems. I understand guidance is required but still they need to stop blaming and
start acting. Blaming only transfers hands but action brings hands together.
3. So Abinash, will you continue in this sector and be associated with Pradan?
Ans: Still unsure whether I am suitable for this field. I am still under observation phase, I have many other
personal commitments and many expectations to which I am bound. But I will surely convey my decision as
soon as I am sure of my commitment to this sector. But living here in this village, I am cent percent sure of
one thing: You all are doing a great job here in developing our country and the effects are seen in the eyes of
persons whose lives have been affected. India owes you all for a better tomorrow. Thank you for giving me
a perceptive of this area and the works you all have been doing. Thank You. 