Rameshwaris are motevillage in are motegram panchayat. Ambajhari,
in Boudh block of Orissa has just one main road. In October, just before
winter, it’s mostly dirt and stone. During the monsoon, it’s less than that.
The road leads up to a river which can only be crossed by loading motor
cycles onto a raft. From the other bank, it’s another hour or so to Boudh,
the district headquarters. The way to Rameshwar branches off this main
road till Kutkur from where motorcycles have to be abandoned in favour
of a three kilometre walk through jungle. The NRE GA, however, has found
its way to Rameshwar. We were two weeks into the nearly month long study
of the NREGA in Orissa organised by Allahabad University. Two of
Rameshwar’s residents Govind Kanhar and Iccha Kanhar were smiling good-
humoredly as I tallied up the muster rolls and calculated how much was supposed
to have been received by their family.