Tucked away in southern tribal Orissa, Dasamantapur has nothing to offer the tourist, but it can offer the traveller valuable learning into how some people live - among the poorest and bravest people I've seen ... the whole block, traditionally reeling under abject poverty, exploitation at the hands of landowners and moneylenders, and few livelihood options, has been revitalised and made totally self-sufficient because of the work of tribal women in the area, who formed a federation among themselves called Ama Sangathan to begin with and then grew from strength to strength ... now it is big community-based organisation that garners its own folk to carve out livelihood options based on agriculture, natural resource management, food processing and forest produce ... it is able to ward off exploitative forces in the region, demand its rights from the government, and inspire neighbouring villages and blocks to emulate its success ... a 'development' success story in a way...
