The educated youth of Gadchiroli are opting to serve in the Naxalism-hit district and work for the betterment of tribals and locals, and this was an “encouraging” trend, social worker and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Dr Prakash Amte said at an event in Pune on Friday. Advertising Amte was speaking on ‘Lok Biradri Prakalp: A project for the health and development of tribal people in the dense forest of Gadchiroli district’, an event to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary year, organised by the National Academy of Sciences, India and hosted at the National Centre for Cell Science in Pune on Friday. Following in the footsteps of his father, late Baba Amte, who established Anandwan in 1949 to take care of leprosy patients, Dr Prakash Amte and his wife Dr Mandakini have spent more than 45 years working for the Madia Gond tribe, which lives in the Bhamragad forest area of Gadchiroli. Later, the duo set up the Lok Biradri Prakalp Ashram Shala for the benefit of tribal children. The school was launched 40 years ago, when it had only 25 tribal students and its classes were conducted under a tree. Today, this school has over 650 students. Three students, who were among the first batch that completed its schooling from the Ashram Shala , are working as a teacher, a forest officer and a doctor specialising in gynecology. Advertising “Despite several challenges and having fought many odds, the beauty of the project has been empowering tribals with education. Today, over 80 per cent youth are back in their hometowns, working for the local residents,” said Dr Amte. Recalling their initial days in the early 1970s, when a clinic was established in the deep forests of Bhamragad, he said the tribals would hesitate to seek help at the doctor couple’s clinic, and winning their trust was anything but easy. “To be cured of a disease, the tribals would prefer to visit a community priest or perform animal sacrifice, but they refrained from visiting our clinic. Their approach changed only after we treated a few critical patients. We encountered several medical cases for the first time, but never sent them away, as that would have only proved to be fatal,” said Amte, a general physician, who shared his experiences of performing surgeries including caesarean and cataract, as well as treating patients for ENT and dental problems in the last four decades. Later, the Amtes even became mediators for village-level disputes, as the tribal community found it was taxing to approach the police and seek legal recourse every time. “Both the warring parties would come to our home and we would, at the end of a discussion, find an amicable solution,” said Amte, adding that society had been kind to his family and lack of funds never hindered his social work. Often seen clad in minimal khadi clothes, Amte said his life and work was dedicated for the betterment of tribals. He said, “I felt ashamed of being fully dressed, when infants from the tribal community were lying naked at cold conditions, in temperatures of around 5 degrees Celsius.”

Stay updated with all the Pune Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.