Bhubaneswar: Thirty-three-year-old Dambaru Sisa, among over 100 newly elected MLAs including Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who took oath as the members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, is the first legislator from his Bonda tribe.
"I am happy to being the first member from the Bonda community to become an MLA. I will certainly try to project the plights of my community in the assembly," Sisa, a post graduate in Mathematics and law says with pride.
Sisa belongs to Bonda tribe, identified as one of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), whose existence is only found in Malkangiri district.
Recalling his childhood days, Sisa says that he was fortunate enough among the community to get patronage of Sarvoday Samiti headed by Akshya Mohanty in Koraput district.
"I had lost my parents at the age of 12. I was picked up by Mohanty who made me what I am today," Sisa said expressing his gratitude towards Sarvoday Samiti.
Being the first among the Bonda tribe to hold masters degree, Sisa said: "My priority will be providing health, education and sanitation". The literary rate among the Bonda tribes is only 8 per cent.
Bonda tribes, which often being projected wrongly by some mischievous tour operators as "human safari" for their ancient culture of covering upper body parts with metals instead of clothes, lives in Bonda Hills which is divided by Upper Bondas and Lower Bondas.
While Sisa's mother hailed from Upper Bonda Hills, his father was from the lower Bonda area. The young MLA represents both the upper and lower Bonda communities.
Sisa, the first Bonda to contest elections was elected to assembly from Chitrakonda assembly segment on BJD ticket.
Though Sisa joined CRPF as a constable, he quit the job to work for the community. "I was not interested in politics, but for the plight of my community and therefore joined politics", he said.