Daitari Naik Biography 
Mountainman of Keonjhar, Daitari Naik, also called Odisha’s Manjhi is best known for carving about a kilometre-long canal in a stream to irrigate his farming land. His efforts have been recognized by government of India, by honouring him with Padma Shri in 2019. His efforts are being compared to Dashrath Manji – The Mountain Man from Bihar who carved a canal singlehanded by breaking rocks and brought water to his village. The living legend Daitari Naik who has been helmed for his social work is now 70 years old. He carved out around three km long canal through a mountain with a hoe and crowbar.
Odisha's Canal Man Daitari Naik owns an incredible story to tell. This tribal man hails from Baitarani village under Banspal block of Keonjhar district, Odisha. He carved the canal to bring water to his village by breaking rocks for cultivation, thus giving a significant contribution towards Green Odisha. His heart-warming story is really incredible as he used only a hoe and a crowbar to create a 3 km canal through a mountain. Odisha’s CM Naveen Patnaik visited him at his residence and praised his efforts.
Many villages in the forest surrounded hilly areas of tribal dominated Banspal, Telkoi and Harichandanpur blocks face water scarcity, for both drinking and irrigation purposes. So they started to work on a feasible solution to ensure flow of water to the fields for cultivation. They mostly depend on rain for cultivation. They even use dirty water from ponds for drinking. That’s why farmers carve the stones and bushes to bring water from the hill to downstream cultivation fields.
Published: February 03, 2019
Updated: February 03, 2019
