Recently a team of doctors, who conducted a medical checkup of the Wanarmare tribals at their habitation on Gawaliwada hillock at Nirankal village in Ponda-Goa, on Thursday, had found some of the children anemic and malnourished. Now In a shocking incident, the Goa State Women Commission (GSWC) has discovered that two children from Wanarmare community are expecting and that they are only aged 15. The chairperson and three members of the commission visited Nirankal on Friday to talk to these people whose huts were destroyed last month. Read the full report here.
According to a source, while expressing shock at the child marriage, the chairperson of the women commission Vidhya Shet Tanawade said the Wanarmare tribes perform marriages mostly at the age of 15 and that there are around 18 families with 25-30 children who are malnourished.
After taking stock of the situation, the chairperson said that “we are ready to provide all necessary support to help the tribe integrate into the normal social life of the village.” The villagers fear them because of their strange behavior, she said. “After inspecting the area and talking to them, we have come to a conclusion that they have been staying here for the last 4-5 years and they keep moving towards forest areas. Hence, we do not find it fit to demand their rehabilitation,” the chairperson noted.
“We do not want donations, but a regular source of income to make a living.” a Wanarmare family member said, When asked about the attention they have been receiving after the hut-destruction incident. After this incident, people from all across the state have been visiting the tribe, offering them food, clothing and other necessities.
A Wanarmare Gopal Powar said that “people are giving us a lot of things these days, but till when they will do so? We are getting a lot of assurances but no one is talking about providing a source of income for our livelihood. No one is talking about providing proper shelter. We want these things, not donations and assurances.”
