“You are born with light and we are born with darkness,” says Nandram Jamunkar, sitting outside his mud house. We are in Khadimal village in the district of Amravati which goes to polls on April 26, 2024 in the General Elections. The darkness Nandram speaks about is literal; the tribal village in Maharashtra has never had electricity.
“Every five years, someone comes and promises to bring electricity. But let alone electricity, even they never come back,” says the 48-year-old. Sitting MP Navneet Kaur Rana, an independent candidate, came to power in 2019, after defeating Shiv Sena candidate and former Union Minister Anandrao Adsul. This year, she is contesting the seat from Amravati constituency as a Bharatiya Janta Party candidate.
In this village of Chikhaldara taluka, the population of 198 families (Census 2011), is primarily dependent on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) and a few who own land, practise rainfed-cultivation, mostly growing corn. Khadimal comprises mostly Scheduled Tribes (STs) who have always lived without running water and electricity. Nandram belongs to the Korku tribe who speak Korku, identified as an endangered language by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in 2019.








