BENGALURU, 18 APRIL

Crammed into a tiny room and learning for about five to six hours may not be what children look forward to. But it’s obvious that the seven-odd children, aged between 3 and 10, are really happy to be sitting inside the spanking new anganwadi at the Nagarhole Gadde Hadi, a settlement consisting of about 60 families of the Jenu Kuruba tribe in the forests of Nagarhole in Karnataka.

The children are aware that it’s a privilege that no one before them had enjoyed – the anganwadi is the only pucca construction in that forest settlement. The 12×12 room suddenly popped up in July last year, after years of cajoling, possibly because the election is round the corner, said anganwadi worker JK Bhagya. “We even got a toilet. Before this we were operating from a shed,” she added.

These few and far between ‘sops for votes’ are the reason why the Jenu Kuruba community, which is fighting the government for decades for even the basic amenities – like land rights, access to water and electricity – bother to cast their votes, President of Nagarhole Budakattu Jamma Paley Hakkustapana Samiti said JK Thimma.

According to the official website of Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, the forest is home to 45 tribal settlements or ‘hadis’ – 1,703 families belonging to Jenu Kurubas, Betta Kurubas, Yeravas and Soliga communities. “For years, they tried to evict us from these forests by denying us everything. Over the years, we have learned that even if there are many welfare schemes on paper, it rarely reaches us,” Thimma a native said.

For the families that opted to be relocated, hoping for a better life, the situation is much worse. “Not so long ago, vehicles could not come inside our settlement because of the trenches made to prevent elephants crossing over to the coffee plantations. We just needed a bridge connecting us to the road. After years and years of begging, we were finally granted during the last Assembly elections,” said S Ramakrishna,43, who works as a farm hand in Nanachi Gadde Hadi.

Now, prior to Lok Sabha elections, under Jal Jeevan Mission, six months ago, each household was given a tap connection. “But there is no water coming in the tap yet. I suppose we will get them by next election,” said Ramakrishna.