Umarkote: A district-level executive meeting of the Panaka community was held at Bhimaguda near Dhodra village in Nabarangpur district under the chairmanship of Subash Panaka.
The chief guest of the event was Dalsaye Samartha, the district president of the Tribal Development Council, along with other dignitaries such as Dhananjit Samartha from Kosagumuda, Banshinghar Panaka from Jharigaon, Laxminarayan Suna, Kamal Saye Panaka from Jharsemla, Patiram Panaka, Chaitanya Panaka from Lanjipir, and Jagadish Mani from Jadaguda.
During the meeting, the attendees discussed various issues affecting the community, including education, social reform, eradication of child marriage, abstinence from alcohol, elimination of superstitions, and the importance of marrying sons after the age of 22 and daughters after the age of 18 within their community. They also discussed how to avail government schemes meant for their community.
Representatives from different blocks of the district participated in the meeting, including Sukchad Panaka from Umarkote, Harinath Das from Dabugaon, Dhanpati Samartha from Kosagumuda-Kelenga, Sabha Singh Mirigani from Khandapuri, Ekamba Panaka from Jharigaon, Jagadish Panaka from Karamari, Bharat Kumar Nayak from Dangariguda-Dabugaon, Chaina Nayak from Kerendimal-Jharigaon, and Ranara Panaka from Mantriguda-Jharigaon.
More than a hundred community members, including representatives from Nayak, Paika, and Samartha families, attended the meeting.