Breaking barriers: First Chuktia Bhunjia girl from Odisha clears PhD

A young woman from the Chuktia Bhunjia community, especially a vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) in Odisha, successfully defended her doctoral dissertation at Bhubaneswar on Friday, September 19, 2025 – became the first girl from the tribe to obtain this milestone.

The 28-year-old girl of the Chuktia Bhunjia tribe will soon be at a meeting ceremony at a meeting ceremony with a doctoral degree.

Considering the radical discrimination faced by women in the community, his success is remarkable. Until a few decades, Chuktia Bhunjia was banned from wearing a petticoat, blouse or colored yellow. Girls were not even allowed to wear shoes.

It has overcome social and geographical obstacles to achieve this historical success from a remote village in the Sunabeda shelter.

‘Toxicity and safety results of herbal remedies: a Case Study of Nuapada region’ study, Tinospora Cordifolia, Cymbopogon Citratus and Gymnasium Sylvestre, such as the three traditional drugs, such as the potential harmful effects of the home area of ​​the three traditional drugs.

“While these plants are widely used, there has been no study on toxicity. Using as a model organism of zebrafish, this research, this plant extracts can cause developmental problems in zebra fish embryos, including heart defects, spine deformities and increased mortality,” he said.

Research emphasizes the need for more work to evaluate the safety of these traditional drugs and to identify specific compounds responsible for observed toxicity. Chuktia Bhunjia, daughter of Botanic City -based Kiss University, head of Rasmi Mohapatra, under the guidance of the PhD in five years completed.

Mrs. Jaiminee Jhankar’s journey was not extraordinary – the kind of frequent finding in novels and movies. Until two years ago, the Panchayat Center in Sunabeda, which has been up to 3,500 feet above sea level, was connected for the first time through all kinds of weather.

Before that, Jaimine walked more than 20 km intense forest-intense forests to ride a bus only to reach the university, and sometimes forced to cross the scaly-binic. Each of the academic milestones marked as a ‘first’ for the Chuktia Bhunjia tribe. The male colleague in his tribe had not completed his undergraduate degree in the field of science.

His father Biju Jhankar said, orum I am proud of my daughter. Our tribe has been discriminated against women for a long time. Twenty years ago, women were not allowed to wear peticoat, blouse or colorful sare.

Throughout the generations, girls in the tribe were banned from going to school after reaching puberty. With this biological change, more restriction came: they were forbidden to eat food cooked by others. In public functions, women and girls were given raw food and asked them to prepare their own meals separately.

Jaiminee Jhankar said, “Even though the girls go to school today and wear shoes, many traditions are discriminating against us.

He gives his success to his family who challenges the dictators of the tribe. His mother Baidehi Jhankar was among the first congress wearing a petticoat, blouse and colorful yellow. The family endured five -year social boycotts for this challenge, but opened the door to save other Chuktia Bhunjia women from strict traditions.

One of his mentors, Rajeev Kumar Swain, Bhubaneswar, senior scientist of the Institute of Life Sciences, praised his doctor’s presentation as “impressive ..

Published – 20 September 2025 01:39