GORAKHPUR: "One year ago, I saw television for the first time. It was magical. Our world has changed. It seems we were living in another century," says Chinkiya, a 19-year-old girl residing in Tikonia-3 village near Gorakhpur Electricity for her and her family is a very recent discovery. Living for nearly 100 years inside Tikonia forest, more than 5,000 families in nearly 48 settlements were not considered citizens of India till last year. The Census teams never reached the villages of these Vantangiyas and they were bereft of all basic facilities that the governments extend to rural areas. These included power, health centres, schools, housing and all schemes run by the central and state governments.Vantangiyas villages get electricity nearly after 100 years.Although Vantangiyas made it to the voters' list a few years after enactment of Forest Rights Act, these settlements were bereft of everything else simply because they were not given 'revenue village' status. However, chief minister Yogi Adityanath , who has been fighting for rights of Vantangiyas as an MP for nearly 20 years, gave 'revenue status' to 23 settlements in Gorakhpur and Maharajganj as a Diwali gift last year.With a visit to village Tikonia-3, TOI explores how life has changed for them over the past year. The biggest change in the lives of Vantangiyas after getting revenue status is the presence of electricity, a direct result of which is introduction to smartphones and television. "Two families in the village have managed to buy televisions. We all gather to watch it everyday. It has given us hope and aspirations. Many people also have mobile phones now. Earlier, the few who had phones had to travel at least 3-4km to charge them. Everything seems so easy now," adds Chinkiya.While there was one school set up by Yogi as MP in 2002, the absence of government schools meant very few children got to study. Now, children not only study but also dream of bright futures.Mamta Kumari, a student of class VII, is determined to make a career in medicine. However, villagers do have requests for CM. "We can charge our mobile phones in the village for which we use to travel at least 5km but the signals are very weak so I request the CM to provide to us a mobile tower in the village," adds Ganesh.

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