In Poranki Centre, Vijayawada, traffic jams, bustling markets and a sprawling residential colony set the pace of daily life, while just a few kilometres away, about 40 Yanadi families live in a world cut off from the city’s amenities. The distance between the two is measured not in kilometres but in access to education, healthcare, secure livelihoods and basic services.
The Yanadi settlement sits on a patch of private land that also serves as a Christian burial ground. Makeshift shelters made from plastic sheets and tarpaulins sit on graves, and residents like Thupakula Pottamma speak of living where the dead rest. Landowners have repeatedly asked the families to vacate, yet the families have no other place to go. Over the years they have approached local officials and party leaders for land, only to be told of relocation to Onkuru or Pulipaka, which they say was merely a stalling tactic.
Infrastructure is lacking. When it rains, the mud‑filled pathways become flooded, forcing families to seek refuge in an Anganwadi building or a nearby apartment cellar, a temporary arrangement helped by a local TDP leader. Gravel was laid on the path in the past, but heavy rains washed it away, leaving the path again slushy and impassable. Electricity is available only from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., and the few solar lights donated by an NGO provide some relief for children’s evening homework.
Livelihoods are precarious. Men fish in canals or scavenge recyclable waste, while women collect plastic and metal to make anywhere between ₹200 and ₹3000 by selling recyclable waste. Education is a distant dream, but an NGO’s intervention has enabled a few children to enroll in a nearby Zilla Parishad school. The success of 11‑year‑old Charmudi, who returned home in a school uniform and won a drawing competition, illustrates the potential of giving children equal opportunities.
Yanadi and Chenchu communities across Andhra Pradesh face similar challenges: insecure housing, limited access to basic amenities and a lack of identity documents that hinder school enrolment and welfare benefits. Despite government schemes such as PM‑JANMAN and Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, many families remain landless and isolated, raising questions about whether these programmes truly address the realities of tribal life.
