A SMALL Savara tribe settlement in Kurrudih village, under Mukundpur Gram Panchayat of Kartala development block in Korba district, remains isolated from mainstream development, with most residents lacking basic identity documents needed for government welfare schemes. The hamlet houses around 95 families nearly 156 members but the majority lack caste certificates, birth certificates, ration cards, and Aadhaar cards. This deprives them of benefits under Central and State schemes. Villagers say their forefathers’ names were omitted from a British-era survey, preventing any family from obtaining a Scheduled Tribe caste certificate as Savara. Generations have thus grown up without formal recognition of their tribal identity. Education levels remain dismal. Rajkumar, a youth who reached Class VIII, dropped out due to missing documents.

 

“If I had a caste certificate, I could have pursued higher education,” he said. Many children enroll in primary schools but quit over documentation gaps and low awareness. Of the population, 68 people still lack Aadhaar cards. Numerous households have no ration cards, and birth or caste certificates are rare. Without these, families miss food security, scholarships, pensions, and other welfare measures. Traditionally, Savara members sustained families by catching and displaying snakes in villages. Stricter wildlife laws and Forest Department interventions have ended this practice. Now, most rely on daily wage labour, facing irregular income and instability. Social customs are fading too. The ‘Pachhar’ ritual of offering a snake at weddings has vanished due to scarce snakes.

 

Marriages occur within the community, sometimes at young ages, but economic woes have delayed unions for many eligible girls. Migration for work is rampant, with 20-25 families moving temporarily to other parts of Korba and nearby districts. Frequent shifts and no fixed address hinder in the issue of documents, trapping families in a debt-migration cycle. Mukundpur Gram Panchayat Sarpanch Karamdevi Kanwar said efforts are underway at the panchayat level to connect the community to schemes. However, she admitted documentation gaps and irregular habitation pose major hurdles. The Savara hamlet’s plight calls for a special district- or State-level drive to issue Aadhaar, caste and birth certificates, and ration cards. Targeted aid in education, livelihoods, and social security could integrate them into the mainstream while safeguarding their culture.