Breaking limitations: First Chuktia Bhunjia woman from Odisha clears PhD

A younger lady from the Chuktia Bhunjia neighborhood, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Odisha, efficiently defended her doctoral thesis in Bhubaneswar on Friday (September 19, 2025) — changing into the primary woman from the tribe to realize this milestone.

Jaiminee Jhankar, the 28-year-old woman from the Chuktia Bhunjia tribe, will probably be awarded a doctoral diploma — the best stage of educational qualification — in a convocation ceremony shortly.

Her accomplishment is exceptional given the deep-rooted discrimination confronted by ladies in her neighborhood. Until just a few many years in the past, Chuktia Bhunjia ladies had been barred from carrying a petticoat, shirt, or colored saree. Girls weren’t even permitted to put on footwear.

Hailing from a distant village contained in the Sunabeda Sanctuary, she has overcome social and geographical limitations to achieve this historic achievement.

Her research titled ‘Toxicity And Safety Implications of Herbal Medicines: A case Study of Nuapada District’ investigated the potential dangerous results of three generally used conventional medicines, similar to Tinospora cordifolia, Cymbopogon citratus, and Gymnema sylvestre, that are generally present in her house district of Nuapada in Odisha.

“While these vegetation are broadly used, there have been no earlier research on their toxicity. Using zebrafish as a mannequin organism, this analysis discovered that these plant extracts may cause developmental issues in zebrafish embryos, together with coronary heart defects, spinal deformities, and elevated mortality,” mentioned Ms. Jhankar

Her analysis highlights the necessity for additional research to evaluate the security of those conventional medicines and to determine the particular compounds liable for the noticed toxicity. The Chuktia Bhunjia woman accomplished her doctoral analysis in 5 years time below steerage of Rasmi Mohapatra, Head of Botany Department of city-based KISS University.

The journey of Ms. Jaiminee Jhankar has been nothing wanting extraordinary — the type one usually finds in novels and movies. Until simply two years in the past, her panchayat headquarter at Sunabeda, perched 3,500 ft above sea stage, was linked by an all-weather highway for the primary time.

Before that, Jaiminee needed to cross greater than 20 km of dense forest — usually strolling, generally pillion-riding — simply to catch a bus to achieve school. Each of her tutorial milestones marked a ‘first’ for the Chuktia Bhunjia tribe. No different her male counterpart in her tribe had accomplished bachelor diploma in science.

“I’m happy with my daughter. Our tribe has lengthy discriminated in opposition to ladies. Two many years in the past, ladies weren’t allowed to put on petticoats, blouses, or colored sarees. They needed to attend social capabilities clad solely in a single piece of white saree,” remembers her father, Biju Jhankar.

For generations, women within the tribe had been barred from attending faculty as soon as they attained puberty. With this organic change got here additional restrictions: they had been forbidden from consuming meals cooked by others. At public capabilities, ladies and women had been handed uncooked meals and requested to organize their very own meals individually.

“Though women right this moment go to high school and put on footwear, many traditions nonetheless discriminate in opposition to us. Since I put on footwear and eat meals exterior house, I should bear post-death rituals if I’ll ever prepare dinner in our sacred kitchen again house,” mentioned Ms. Jaiminee Jhankar.

She credit her success to her mother and father, who defied the diktats of the tribe. Her mom, Baidehi Jhankar, was among the many first to interrupt conference by carrying a petticoat, shirt, and colored saree. The household endured 5 years of social boycott for this act of defiance, but it surely opened the door for different Chuktia Bhunjia ladies to free themselves from inflexible traditions.

One of her mentors, Rajeev Kumar Swain, senior scientist on the Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, praised her doctoral presentation as “spectacular.”