For Arvinda Barsagade, the sound of gunfire and grenade blasts was part of childhood. She was just four months old when her father left home to join the Sironcha Dalam in south Gadchiroli, at a time when Maoist insurgency was at its peak.
Two decades later, Arvinda, now 20, is pursuing a very different path. A diploma-holder in civil engineering, she is working as a trainee at Lloyds Metals and Energy’s LT Gondwana Skill Hub Pvt Ltd in Hedri, a journey that reflects the changing landscape of a district once associated with Maoist violence and limited development.
How Arvinda’s father was forced to join Maoists
According to a TOI report, Arvinda’s father Rajababu, also known as Kiran or Samayyaya, worked as a peon at Narayanpur gram panchayat in the early 2000s.
Villagers later complained to Maoists that he was allegedly collecting excess house tax. Public humiliation and mounting pressure followed, and in 2005, he was compelled to join the Sironcha Dalam.
Arvinda’s mother, Lata, briefly worked as a peon in Sironcha but left after facing repercussions linked to her husband’s past. She subsequently raised Arvinda, then her only child, by taking up odd jobs.
