Nirankal Village

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The Makadmare tribe has its settlement in Nirankal, near Bethora in Ponda, where 70-odd members of the group stay together. TOI, in an earlier report, had highlighted the sorry plight of the tribe---picture of deprivation and abject poverty. In the absence of any valid document to establish their identity - birth certificate, ration card, voter identity card et al - they are deprived of all the welfare schemes meant for the underprivileged class of the society. With no basic facilities, the children of the Makadmare are not admitted to school because they don't have birth certificates. Their mothers don't get nutritious food from fair price shops because they don't have a permanent residence address that could get them the ubiquitous ration card. Thus, their kids are born premature and, invariably, underweight. Tribal welfare minister Ramesh Tawadkar had promised to visit the Makadmare settlement "If the Makadmares are staying in Goa for several years, then the benefits of the welfare schemes should reach these tribals. Nobody should be deprived of a ration card. I would like to visit the place where they are staying and see for myself their living conditions. We will have to do something for them,"