Caste and Land : Message from Chengara and Khagaria
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
At the United Nation’s Human Rights Council the member countries, much to the dismay of the faithful Babus of the government of India, passed a resolution terming caste system as a discrimination and violation of human rights. This is an important event though the Human Rights Council off late has become victim of religious right wing elements working in the name of multiculturalism. We all know this council has passed many such resolutions which violate fundamental principal of secularism, freedom of expression and life beyond religious values. However, in terms of issue of caste, one hopes that such resolution will at least force government of India not to oppose such things in future and accept the dark realities of castes in India.
We all know that UN resolutions do not work much. At the end the battle for dignity and equality has to be fought in India and by the people involved. Two important incidents happened in India with far reaching consequences. One was the killing of 16 farmers belonging to Kurmi community allegedly by the Mushahars in Khagaria, Bihar and second the ‘successful’ ‘culmination’ of Chengara land struggle in Kerala. Coming days would be important to understand the ramification of both the incidents.
Khagaria’s killings have been highly unfortunate and need condemnation yet if the reports of radicalization of Mushahars are true then there is a need of introspection.
They remain one of the most isolated and ostracized community in India and there are many such communities who remain completely marginal. They neither have political representation nor know anything of governance structure. The bureaucracy dominated by the caste Hindus do not even consider them as human being. India was among the first countries to have enacted some of the ‘change making’ laws, a secular constitution, equal rights but Indian villages do not portray the same reality of life. In fact, they remain caged in ‘different’ nations where each caste is a nation as described by V.T.Rajshekar, the formidable editor of Dalit voice. These castes do not even talk to each other and the talks of Bahujan and broader Dalit alliance is actually a political construct because very little has been done to culturally integrate with each other. A number of people feel easier to assimilate themselves with caste Hindus then to siding with the other marginalized communities considered to be below them.
And in such a scenario the votaries of Bahujan should understand that their work is much bigger than what they think. By merely chanting anti brahmanical mantra would not work as it has not worked in the absence of discussion the differences between the different communities. One has to understand that in the absence of an ideological clarity no coming together would succeed and would be easily co-opted and misused by the powerful. A mere political coalition would meet the same fate as happened to Mulayam-Maywati coming together and later the efforts by Nitish Kumar in Bihar, who created term Mahadalit to forge a combination with his power community of Kurmis. One need to understand that these political terminologies are more for the consumption of the political class and do not mean anything beyond electoral politics. When the Samajawadi party and BSP came together, it never meant that the Dalits and backward communities particularly the chamars and Yadavs would socialize more. Some people felt but it was not possible unless the backward castes debrahminise themselves. Similar thing happened in Bihar where the Kurmis first thought of Mahadalit as a counter to Muslim-Yadav-Dusadh politics of Laloo and Ramvilas Paswan. In his zeal to divide the Dalits and reap a good harvest, Nitish Kumar appointed a commission to assess the need of the Mahadalits in Bihar. The commission headed by One senior bureaucrat Mr Bandhopadhyaya has submitted its recommendation but the government of Bihar is not keen to present the report in the assembly. Now, the worst things are emerging after Khagaria killings. Initially, the government blamed it on the Naxals but later reports coming in the Indian Express suggested it was an intern caste land dispute and the Mushahars had been demanding land redistribution. The dark fact from UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu are that most of the village land, which is called as government land or Panchayat land in different states, is illegally grabbed the local powerful communities. Hence, when we talk of land reform and implementation of ceiling laws, how the farming communities go jittery and the fictitious unity in the name of Bahujan breaks. The Kurmis have now warned chief Minister Nitish Kumar not to ‘appease’ the Mushahars. ‘How dare they do it?’ The fear among them is that if the Mushahars start questioning about the land ceiling and other acts, then it would be difficult to contain their anger. So for the vote bank the concept of Bahujan bite dust. At the end, it is your caste that matter so if you lose the caste support then the human rights values and all the concerns for the ‘poor dalits’ disappear.
While reports from Bihar suggests concern, another report is emerging from Chengara, in Kerala where the movement for the land rights of the people has culminated in an agreement between the government and Sadhujana Vimochana Samyuktha Vedi led by Laha Gopalan and one can understand how the pink dailies of the country had a sigh of relief terming it one of the biggest victory through Ahimsa in recent years. Even we all know that Laha Gopalan and his organizations had nothing to do with Gandhi, the authors were ready to propagate his movement as that of Gandhian struggle. ‘There is every chance of one getting carried away by the mannerisms of a loser expressed by Laha Gopalan after the discussion on Monday. But, in reality, it was the expression of success in a very peculiar way. Chengara struggle was fought on Ahimsa and won by Ahimsa. The portraits of Buddha and Ambedkar that were seen everywhere in the Chengara struggle heartland were the real driving force behind Laha Gopalan and team. After living in penury for 795 days and sacrificing 13 precious lives, the Sadhhujana Vimochana Samyuktha Vedi could make the Government of Kerala bite the dust. The biggest difference between the Muthanga struggle led by C.K.Janu and Geethanandan and the Chengara struggle led by Laha Gopalan is the result. The Muthanga agitators are still fighting for their promised piece of land while Chengara strikers could fetch a timebound assurance from the Chief Minister that the promises will be fulfilled in three months’ wrote an ‘expert’ in ‘Financial Express’, yesterday.
Now, we all know the Dalits and tribal have been treated worst in the so called left governments whether it is West Bengal or Kerala because they say that they do not belive in caste system hence it does not exist. If people remember well, the way CPI(M) government in Kerala had gone overboard on this issue to avoid a replication of Nandigram. Discussion with activists and friends in Chengara suggest that the government and political parties have done every effort to divide the Dalit movement which was growing and Chengara’s land struggle actually changed the entire situation. For the first time, we witness the Dalits, tribal and other community’s landless people fighting together. They have been altogether these years but now the government’s decision to distribute land has to be seen from a different angle. When everybody of the 1400 odd families fought together for their land right, why is that the compensation is different for different communities. Clear enough, the government and political parties in Kerala are afraid of an independent Dalit-tribal unity. The mainstream political parties always want the Dalits and tribal to be their tail-enders.
Laha Gopalan himself admitted that he was forced to compromise. One has to understand the psychology of the powerful communities in India. All the upper caste forces united under different names in Kerala against Chengara struggle. Even the Christian upper castes of Kottayam and Pathannamitththa were not interested in the struggle. Trade unions ( and our revolutionary friends are very much in owe with the dirty politics of trade unions) joined hand and created a blockade against the people of Chengara. If the Hindutva and Congress created a Salwajudam to get the tribal fight each others in Chhatishgarh, the government of Kerala used trade union of all political parties to create an unlawful blockade against the people of Chengara. One need to see the similar situation which existed in West Bengal when the Sweepers of Howrah municipal corporation, who used to live in 200 years old Belilius park, were thrown away by the state police and none of the political parties in Bengal came in support of these people. Over 7000 families are living in utter humiliation in West Bengal. Every time, one visit to such a state, it does not look different then Gujarat if you want to speak a language different than the CPM people.
Hence the newspapers may write about a victory of Chengara struggle but it is a careful manipulation by the government. It has already asked three months time to give the Dalits and tribal some land. Problem arise, when they are already occupying land which is actually government land as the state must redistribute the ceiling surplus land, where else they can send these people. The land supposed to be given to these people in lieu of leaving the Harrison Plantation would be abysmally low and will not alter any power equations in Kerala. Moreover, activists doubt the availability of land in Kerala. If government is really bothered it must redistribute land in Kerala. Lot of talks about redistribution and ‘progressive’ ‘communist’ government in Kerala but the fact of the matter is the Dalit-Adivasi assertion in Kerala has been successfully countered by the mainstream political parties. First they sidelined Gauri Amma, a powerful backward caste leader and now Laha Gopalan has been successfully brought to the so-called negotiation table to give them peanuts. Perhaps, the Marxists are full of new ideas where they can send these people to different locations and destroy the movement. Activists are fearing that a police action is eminent as there are different fractions in Chengara and not all would like to leave the place. Secondly, none of them know where they will get the plot of land. It is unlikely that people would leave the place without getting rehabilitation.
Both the Bihar and Kerala experience shows how the governments which are in power have used particular ideological formulations to build their own political empire and how they manipulate people’s sentiments. Such stories are emerging from everywhere and they will always happen as long as the movements are not democratic and their leaders embedded with a particular formulation dictate their fancies to the people. The condition of both the Dalits and Adivasis remain a matter of concern in all these states whether they come to power in the name of social justice or Marxism.
When those who claim to stick to the values of social justice and power to proletariat find it difficult to implement land reform and succumb to big industrial houses, hand over state forest, land and water to these big companies without asking the local people and their Panchayats, the impact would be wider and people are not going to sit silently. Governments over the years, have flouted norms developed by them including famous Samatha Judgment where the Supreme Court fixed up guidelines to take permission from the local tribal Panchayats. Yet, the political class continues on selling spree without any shame.
India’s power politics goes via land and participation in power. Land is the most important tool in bringing radical changes in our social structure based on hierarchical values. Historically Dalits have been denied right to own property and access to land. Adivasis had their land in the forest yet isolated and illegally grabbed by local feudal castes. Now the companies have their eyes on it. The political class is using the majoritarian parliamentary system for the benefit of its use, making leaders as messiah who distributes hard cash and liquor during the polls. The depressing scenario is that most of them have billions of rupees to use foul practices to get elected. The democratic system has failed resulting in utter chaos. If those in power use ‘sama, dama, dand, bhed, to destroy people’s movement, there will be further chaos as people are not going to leave their places and it will be a leaderless condition everywhere, very difficult to contain. Hopefully, those who believe in social justice and power to the people, would do the needful, at least justifying their ideology when they are in power. Both Bihar and Kerala need to act immediately, implement land ceiling laws fairly. There will be opposition to it by powerful communities, political interest groups but then international and national laws can not be circumvented to make a few communities and their political leaders happy at the cost of social justice and human rights.
Showing posts with label Mushahars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mushahars. Show all posts
Friday, October 09, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Forgotten Hero : Dashrath Majhi
A legends family languishes in Hunger
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Almost three years after the death of legendary Dashrath Majhi, a visit to the landmark created by the ‘Pahad purush’ i.e. mountain man in Dashrath Nagar, Gehlaur (Gaya) in Bihar makes one wonder how the government’s forgets their promises? The man who hailed from Mushahar community is today revered as Pahad baba. Those who have seen the primitive conditions of Mushahars and their persistent marginalization, they would certainly vouch that the recognition and acknowledgement of the work done by one among them, will go to rejuvenate the community and bring it to the life back. One does not know these facts but Dashrath Majhi’s work might make a fascinating story for young minds and the importance of commitment for a cause.
On August 17th, 2007, when Dashrath Majhi, 70, died of a prolonged illness and the Nitish Kumar government of the time took care of his treatments in AIIMS, Delhi, it looked that they would honor the words given to Dashrath Majhi and his villagers. Not only this, Baba, as Dashrath Majhi, is reverently addressed in the entire area, was asked what should be done for him. ‘Yes, we will provide 5 acres of land to your family’, the chief minister had promised. Baba that time said he did not anything for him but ‘build’ a hospital for the village. After the death of Baba, the government named the road that Baba cut through the huge mountain as Dashrath Majhi Road and the village as Dasharath Nagar. A temple is being constructed in the name of Baba which is called as Ghat.
Born in a deeply poverty entrenched family of Mangaru Majhi and Pattiya Devi in the Gahlor Ghati which was surrounded by the mountains and no connectivity of roads to the nearest town, Baba saw the difficulties of people living in Gehlor Ghati. His wife would go along with others to get water mounting the difficult terrain. He saw tremendous pain of inability for those who needed medical aid and old folks who found it difficult to climb the hill to reach the other side. The other way to reach the nearest town was by road which was about 75 kilometer. It was nearly impossible. Baba decided himself that they need some one way to reduce this and it was only possible if he would cut through the mountain and will make way for every one. While the governance was absent in the village and there was no way for the community to speak to political class to provide them roads and infrastructure. And one can understand what would have been the situation in 1960 when there were not much money and political power was still in the hands of dominant communities. So Dasharath must have felt that the only way to overcome this hurdle was to take some initiative and do the work. Hence then one fine day in 1960 he started his work. The pains and agony of people strengthened his determination particularly as his wife too had to face tremendous problems during these days. With shovel in hand, he started digging the mountains. Actually, Mushahars of the region depended a lot on stone cutting as it is their main source of livelihood. But Baba was not much doing it for commercial gains as he was keen on reducing the difficulties of his fellow villagers. It was a herculean task. The family never liked, the villagers called him mad. ‘How will this man cut such a rocky mountain? Has he gone mad? Does he has no other work to do? What is he doing”, were the scornful questions thrown at Baba. But Dasharath Majhi was determined and just did not care for these remarks. It is not that he was cutting the mountain from morning till evening. Actually, for him it was an additional work, as he had to support his family and it would have been impossible if he was not working on land or cutting stone for his survival. Whenever, he was without work or holidays, he would start cutting the stones himself. No body came to support him. He did not have the tools to cut big rocky stones; neither had he had money, the only thing that was with him, ‘courage and determination, against all the odds which exist in our communities. It was a complete madness towards his work and to relieve people from hardship.
Slowly some of the people realized that he was really into it, so they would help him with voluntary work for time to time. It is rather strange that the government and its authorities were completely unmindful of his work. It shows why a major part of India is still out of governance and people have to depend on their own self for their development. Such a major work was done by a man and his community and yet it remained unseen, unheard, unreported and unchecked. Yet, Baba completed his task by 1982 by cutting about 300 meter long and 25 ft wide mountain and therefore converting the distance of 75 kilometer to just 1 kilometer and it became easier particularly those on cycles and motor bikes to take their elderly people to the nearest town for medical aid. Today, you see streams of people using the way. Women going to forest, getting grass for their pets while motor bikers, cyclists and other villagers are using this path. And this has reduced their burden and pains. Today, Baba has slipped into folklore as a folk hero as people are constructing a temple for him. A local organization has painted the rock on the way saying that legendary Dashrath Majhi completed this herculean task of linking Ghivra mauja of Dashrath Nagar, in Gehlaur Ghati to Atara Prakhand, Wajirganj by reducing the distance from 75 kilometer to just one kilometer, in 22 years.
But after three years of death, none of the promises made by the Bihar government have been fulfilled. Baba’s lonely son Bhagirath is a physically challenged man. His daughter in law, Basanti Devi suffers from physical disability. Baba’s daughter Lavangi Devi too lives in the house along with others as they have a small semi constructed house. Daughter in law Basanti Devi cook mid day meal in the nearby primary school while her husband Bhagirath get Rs 200/- pension every month but not because of any love for Baba but for ‘disability’ reasons. The total land they got was about 1.5 acre which they got along with other villagers long back.
While the family now knows that their Baba was not just a useless mad man but did something for the society yet Basanti Devi was not amused, ‘He did nothing for us. What have we got from his work? Our children are starving and no way to educate them. The government promised us 5 acre land but it never came’. One can understand the frustration of the family members as for them the issue of the survival of their children is more important. Though they know that Baba did wonder yet they feel that the government has not really honored its words. Somewhere they feel that Baba would have asked more from the government so that they could have lived a better life.
Their Indira Awas is still incomplete. The huts are not enough to keep the family better. In one side, the family keeps the photographs of Dasharath. His son and daughter and their children live together though cook separately. Yet, they are hoping against hope as people come and seek their interview.
The situation is pathetic and though the area is open and wide yet a community can not live on ‘fresh air’. It needs work. The road network is now being developed in the area. But one wonder how long will it take. Not many efforts by the government to change the life of the people. No medical assistance, no proper school for the children.Baba’s grand daughter Lakhsmi who is nearly 15 ( I could say less than that) is a married girl. She could not get admission to Kasturba Balika Vidyalaya. She does not know why but most of the children complained about that. She can just read and write and perhaps completed her Vth standard.
The children are hungry and asking for more. The mother beat them for lack of food and virtually annoying. The house is incomplete and in a mess. Tears rolls down from Basanti Devi as she starts talking about Baba and narrate their own plight.’ People come here, ask about Baba, his work and passion, but we remain the same’. We have nothing to eat. I do not know what to tell people about Baba but if they want to see how government honors people, they can see our conditions.’ Actually, after Nitish Kumar government honored Baba, a lot of media hype was created added with Maha Dalit slogan of Bihar government. Nitish had actually called Dashrath Majhi to Patna and asked him to sit in front of him said his son Bhagirath. They were elated at this respect shown by the most powerful man of Bihar but then little did they know that politicians will do everything to gain political gains. Mushahars may not matter as voters for them but honoring Dashrath Majhi gave tremendous good will of the Dalit communities in Bihar.
The village of Dashrath Majhi need a facelift. It need not only electricity and proper road network which is coming up but also development of the community. Often, social activists working among Mushahars, blame them for their laziness and social attitude, but a man called Dashrath Majhi has given example how legends can come from any community. It is time that Bihar government honor its promises made to Dashrath Majhi, take care of the entire Mushahar community, provide them alternative livelihood and make life of Dashrath Majhi as part of the school text books. If the government of Bihar is really sincere towards its promises, it should initiate special schemes for Mushahars in the name of Dashrath Majhi and create more schools with special reference for the poor children, apart from a full fledged government hospital. That would be the best tribute to the man who moved mountain for the benefit of fellow human being and epitomize the tremendous will of human spirit.
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Almost three years after the death of legendary Dashrath Majhi, a visit to the landmark created by the ‘Pahad purush’ i.e. mountain man in Dashrath Nagar, Gehlaur (Gaya) in Bihar makes one wonder how the government’s forgets their promises? The man who hailed from Mushahar community is today revered as Pahad baba. Those who have seen the primitive conditions of Mushahars and their persistent marginalization, they would certainly vouch that the recognition and acknowledgement of the work done by one among them, will go to rejuvenate the community and bring it to the life back. One does not know these facts but Dashrath Majhi’s work might make a fascinating story for young minds and the importance of commitment for a cause.
On August 17th, 2007, when Dashrath Majhi, 70, died of a prolonged illness and the Nitish Kumar government of the time took care of his treatments in AIIMS, Delhi, it looked that they would honor the words given to Dashrath Majhi and his villagers. Not only this, Baba, as Dashrath Majhi, is reverently addressed in the entire area, was asked what should be done for him. ‘Yes, we will provide 5 acres of land to your family’, the chief minister had promised. Baba that time said he did not anything for him but ‘build’ a hospital for the village. After the death of Baba, the government named the road that Baba cut through the huge mountain as Dashrath Majhi Road and the village as Dasharath Nagar. A temple is being constructed in the name of Baba which is called as Ghat.
Born in a deeply poverty entrenched family of Mangaru Majhi and Pattiya Devi in the Gahlor Ghati which was surrounded by the mountains and no connectivity of roads to the nearest town, Baba saw the difficulties of people living in Gehlor Ghati. His wife would go along with others to get water mounting the difficult terrain. He saw tremendous pain of inability for those who needed medical aid and old folks who found it difficult to climb the hill to reach the other side. The other way to reach the nearest town was by road which was about 75 kilometer. It was nearly impossible. Baba decided himself that they need some one way to reduce this and it was only possible if he would cut through the mountain and will make way for every one. While the governance was absent in the village and there was no way for the community to speak to political class to provide them roads and infrastructure. And one can understand what would have been the situation in 1960 when there were not much money and political power was still in the hands of dominant communities. So Dasharath must have felt that the only way to overcome this hurdle was to take some initiative and do the work. Hence then one fine day in 1960 he started his work. The pains and agony of people strengthened his determination particularly as his wife too had to face tremendous problems during these days. With shovel in hand, he started digging the mountains. Actually, Mushahars of the region depended a lot on stone cutting as it is their main source of livelihood. But Baba was not much doing it for commercial gains as he was keen on reducing the difficulties of his fellow villagers. It was a herculean task. The family never liked, the villagers called him mad. ‘How will this man cut such a rocky mountain? Has he gone mad? Does he has no other work to do? What is he doing”, were the scornful questions thrown at Baba. But Dasharath Majhi was determined and just did not care for these remarks. It is not that he was cutting the mountain from morning till evening. Actually, for him it was an additional work, as he had to support his family and it would have been impossible if he was not working on land or cutting stone for his survival. Whenever, he was without work or holidays, he would start cutting the stones himself. No body came to support him. He did not have the tools to cut big rocky stones; neither had he had money, the only thing that was with him, ‘courage and determination, against all the odds which exist in our communities. It was a complete madness towards his work and to relieve people from hardship.
Slowly some of the people realized that he was really into it, so they would help him with voluntary work for time to time. It is rather strange that the government and its authorities were completely unmindful of his work. It shows why a major part of India is still out of governance and people have to depend on their own self for their development. Such a major work was done by a man and his community and yet it remained unseen, unheard, unreported and unchecked. Yet, Baba completed his task by 1982 by cutting about 300 meter long and 25 ft wide mountain and therefore converting the distance of 75 kilometer to just 1 kilometer and it became easier particularly those on cycles and motor bikes to take their elderly people to the nearest town for medical aid. Today, you see streams of people using the way. Women going to forest, getting grass for their pets while motor bikers, cyclists and other villagers are using this path. And this has reduced their burden and pains. Today, Baba has slipped into folklore as a folk hero as people are constructing a temple for him. A local organization has painted the rock on the way saying that legendary Dashrath Majhi completed this herculean task of linking Ghivra mauja of Dashrath Nagar, in Gehlaur Ghati to Atara Prakhand, Wajirganj by reducing the distance from 75 kilometer to just one kilometer, in 22 years.
But after three years of death, none of the promises made by the Bihar government have been fulfilled. Baba’s lonely son Bhagirath is a physically challenged man. His daughter in law, Basanti Devi suffers from physical disability. Baba’s daughter Lavangi Devi too lives in the house along with others as they have a small semi constructed house. Daughter in law Basanti Devi cook mid day meal in the nearby primary school while her husband Bhagirath get Rs 200/- pension every month but not because of any love for Baba but for ‘disability’ reasons. The total land they got was about 1.5 acre which they got along with other villagers long back.
While the family now knows that their Baba was not just a useless mad man but did something for the society yet Basanti Devi was not amused, ‘He did nothing for us. What have we got from his work? Our children are starving and no way to educate them. The government promised us 5 acre land but it never came’. One can understand the frustration of the family members as for them the issue of the survival of their children is more important. Though they know that Baba did wonder yet they feel that the government has not really honored its words. Somewhere they feel that Baba would have asked more from the government so that they could have lived a better life.
Their Indira Awas is still incomplete. The huts are not enough to keep the family better. In one side, the family keeps the photographs of Dasharath. His son and daughter and their children live together though cook separately. Yet, they are hoping against hope as people come and seek their interview.
The situation is pathetic and though the area is open and wide yet a community can not live on ‘fresh air’. It needs work. The road network is now being developed in the area. But one wonder how long will it take. Not many efforts by the government to change the life of the people. No medical assistance, no proper school for the children.Baba’s grand daughter Lakhsmi who is nearly 15 ( I could say less than that) is a married girl. She could not get admission to Kasturba Balika Vidyalaya. She does not know why but most of the children complained about that. She can just read and write and perhaps completed her Vth standard.
The children are hungry and asking for more. The mother beat them for lack of food and virtually annoying. The house is incomplete and in a mess. Tears rolls down from Basanti Devi as she starts talking about Baba and narrate their own plight.’ People come here, ask about Baba, his work and passion, but we remain the same’. We have nothing to eat. I do not know what to tell people about Baba but if they want to see how government honors people, they can see our conditions.’ Actually, after Nitish Kumar government honored Baba, a lot of media hype was created added with Maha Dalit slogan of Bihar government. Nitish had actually called Dashrath Majhi to Patna and asked him to sit in front of him said his son Bhagirath. They were elated at this respect shown by the most powerful man of Bihar but then little did they know that politicians will do everything to gain political gains. Mushahars may not matter as voters for them but honoring Dashrath Majhi gave tremendous good will of the Dalit communities in Bihar.
The village of Dashrath Majhi need a facelift. It need not only electricity and proper road network which is coming up but also development of the community. Often, social activists working among Mushahars, blame them for their laziness and social attitude, but a man called Dashrath Majhi has given example how legends can come from any community. It is time that Bihar government honor its promises made to Dashrath Majhi, take care of the entire Mushahar community, provide them alternative livelihood and make life of Dashrath Majhi as part of the school text books. If the government of Bihar is really sincere towards its promises, it should initiate special schemes for Mushahars in the name of Dashrath Majhi and create more schools with special reference for the poor children, apart from a full fledged government hospital. That would be the best tribute to the man who moved mountain for the benefit of fellow human being and epitomize the tremendous will of human spirit.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Hunger in Uttar-Pradesh
Hungry world of Dalits in Poorvanchal
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The so-called War against Hunger started at the 1997 Rome Summit where world leaders pledged to support programmes to eliminate hunger and alleviate poverty to half of that time’s below the poverty line people who do not even earn 1 USD a day. That time the number was estimated to be 864 million and half of them were in South Asia. It is strange that since 1997, these world leaders have started forcing the third world countries to comply with the norms that are essentially anti poor. Social security is an old word of socialist era and considered to be out of date in India. The Hindutva government that time was going crazy over the India shining approach just ignoring a vast number of masses who were dying of hunger and starvation. In fact, those of us who were bringing these issues to the public domain were discouraged. Media did not want to broadcast and publish the stories which spoil the taste of their subscribers in the morning.
Background of the work on hunger
That way 2004’s general election was a watershed. It was an election fought on the false premise of India shining. Despite hunger and starvation deaths in various parts of India particularly Orissa, Rajathan, Chhatishgarh, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar-Pradesh nothing moved much in the government front. People’s Union for Civil Liberties filed a petition in Supreme Court in 2002 against the hunger deaths in 7 states. The Supreme Court issued notices to these states and their anti poverty programmes and as a civil society follow up of the entire case National Right to Food Campaign took birth. The Supreme Court issued various directives to the governments particularly in relation to Public Distribution System, BPL Cards, Widow and aged pension schemes, Integrated Child Development Programmes. The hearing continue but the real changes do not occur.
The campaign was launched on the premise that Food Corporation of India’s go downs were overflowing with grains ( in fact grain got rotten ) while people were living in abject hunger and poverty was a shame to India.
In the 2004 elections therefore, when the UPA government came to power in Center, it looked as if it has learnt a few lessons from the past government. A National Advisory Council was formed with eminent names like Jean Dreze and Aruna Roy were made members under the chairpersonship of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. The government decided to renew the anti poverty programmes. Since fund were never problems with the government’s finance ministry went out to woe the rural masses. Campaign was launched for a bill like the Maharastra’s Employment Guarantee Programme so that every one gets employment. The government’s bosses also felt that this programme could be a good idea to implement their own liberalization and privatization process and ‘purchase’ the people with one hundred days employment.
One hundred districts were selected for National Employment Guarantee Scheme for the first phase. Now new districts have been added to the list but violence continue in rural India. A large part of India is under the Naxal influence and it is growing day by day. People are still dying of hunger despite millions of dollars being pumped by the aid agencies and the government. We must ponder over this situation otherwise India’s poor will revolt one day and trash everything that we call democratic.
Conditions prevailing in Uttar-Pradesh
It is rather unfortunate that despite a clear verdict of the masses against the concept of privatization and economic liberlisation, the rulers do not want to change their track. Earlier after the elections we saw over throwing of the government in Haryana, Punjab Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The biggest turn around was Uttar-Pradesh. While the analyst might claim that it was Mayawati’s Brahmin-Dalit combination that got her victory, it would be simply generalizing the facts if we ignore the fact the UP people also voted against Uttar-Pradesh Shining and policy of private crony culture of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and his government.
Therefore, when Uttar-Pradesh was shining, just a few months back, I was getting lot of information related to hunger and starvation deaths in the Eastern Part of Uttar-Pradesh. During the past five years in particular, having spend a lot of time with activists and villagers, I realized that the aid agencies, the government and the so-called civil society organizations are far removed from the grassroots reality. Even the media was not reciprocating it at the national level while the local papers were reporting incidents of hunger deaths.
Four districts of Poorvanchal (Eastern Uttar-Pradesh) namely Maharajganj, Kushingar, Deoria and Gorakhpur witness the dance of death every year. Two of these district Kushinagar and Gorakhpur were selected for the NREGA programme while Maharajganj has also been selected for the same from this year. All these districts saw a large number of deaths due to hunger and malnutrition despite all these programmes. The pattern was similar yet nothing happened. When we decided to move on a Padyatra in these districts, it was in fact a reiteration of our earlier stand about the failure of not only aid agencies and government but also civil society. Let us investigate some of these programmes and international campaigns.
18 tribal children died in Raup village of Sonebhadra district in 2004 and the National Human Rights Commission issued notice to the state government. A very senior activist Late M.A.Khan would always question the ‘national’ campaigners who would come for a day in Sonebhadra and disappear after ‘attaining’ everything. These national organizations destroyed the local initiatives by creating division in them. Khan died an unsatisfied man, a man who would have got huge funds to support his work on hunger yet remain penniless till he breathed his last. A mobile library in his ownself, Khan’s work was used by many for their projects in the area.
What irked Khan was that Sonebhadra has a large number of NGOs with ‘National’ outlook. These days apart from being from the ‘press’ get you exclusive sitting at most important places, a tag from human rights also give you strength to manipulate things. With international human rights organization jumping in local fray and acting as a party, the human rights have become abusive term. Agencies write letters on every individual cases of ‘dowry’, ‘rape’ ‘sexual harassment’ and everything under the sun. These organizations are not running any systematic campaigns but are totally depended on the fancy of a few individuals who not only manipulate things but also pretend as if they are the sole protectors of the civil liberties in their area and their life is under the ‘threat’ from the landlords. The agencies who support such propagandists forget to ask their own background as a majority of them have established background and it is rare that they would speak against their own family and caste men. Activists from Uttar-Pradesh are rather smarter in this. They claim to have been fighting against ‘caste’ system but do not give any idea to local communities and people as what is the panacea for it. These are provided to international masters only who present them to their donors as their ‘work’ in India. Most of these international fellows have got strong support from their own communities, as it is rare they would speak against their own community. Hence if you are a Thakur, you will bring the cases of Brahmins, Yadavas, Kurmis for oppressing the Dalits terming them as ‘feudal lords’, while if you happen to be a Brahmin, the cases would be different, so will be the case with Kurmis and others. Everybody try to save the interest of their own community making the other community oppressing the Dalits. So, the downfall of Uttar-Pradesh is in the nepotism and propaganda that these human rights fellows unleash through internet and emails.
The National Right to Food Campaign became a tool to further their own interest and you do not know how many of them exist in Uttar-Pradesh. The politics in the NGOs is more rampant in Uttar-Pradesh. In the name of so-called advocacy and lobbying they make every criminal case as a human rights violation case and if their activists are involved in local feud, it is termed as a threat to their life.
Development need community centered approach
Aid agencies flocked to Sonbhadra, Varanasi, Kushingar, Bhadohi, Bundelkhand and other such ‘poor’ district to ‘eliminate’ hunger yet despite all this people continue to die of hunger. In Kushinagar district’s Koilaswa village became the hub of activities for aid agencies. Number of community organizations were created and their only visible work was ‘wall writing’ related to the rights of Mushahars. One must ask these agencies and their partners as where has the money gone and why even a village with about 500 Mushahar families still have largest number of hungry people and unsafe huts. This village saw 18 children dying of Kalajwar several years ago. Most of the Mushahars here live in huts. Very few of them have got the NREGA card to get some work. None of them can claim to have got even 10 days work under NREGA. Last year, when I visited to this village, a large number of huts were burnt due to fire but this year some of these houses were being constructed under Indira Awas Yojna. The Sarpanch, the secretary of the Panchayats is corrupt say the people but where are the organizations working. Why do they not organize people and take them to the district magistrate and show them them the condition of the NREGA schemes in the area. The fact of the matter is that we claim to create a civil society in the poorest areas. My question is whose civil society it would be ?
How come the work being done on Mushahars, Scavengers do not have persons heading from these communities? It is here the aid agencies have defaulted. They promoted Dalit groups in the name of Dalit identity but rarely bothered to check further whether the same kind of identity which different caste groups are demanding have been accepted by them. When we talk of scavenger or Mushahars or Rajbhars why is that it is the people from other communities leading the movement and not from them. The argument that these communities do not have ‘leadership’ skills is racist and brahmanical in nature and need to be questioned.
It was this long thought that came in mind trying to analyze the caste scenario with poverty that I realize that developmental agenda would have to be community based. Fifty years programmes of development never reached the people. The targets were not specified clearly. They were vague and not according to the demographic set up of the villages. Hence Mushahrs, Bansfors, Rajbhars, Pasis and Chamars remained at the margin. Though people might argue that after Maywati’s ascendance to power Chamar have been ‘empowered’, this notion itself is wrong. The community, no doubt, is politically assertive, yet economically very marginalized in the Eastern Uttar-Pradesh and Bundelkhand.
Humanism Needed
Hunger is not natural but man made with deep socio-cultural dimension. When the major district of Poorvanchal, the rural poor do not possess enough grain to cook two time a meal, the forces of rightwing Hindutva are equally powerful. Just when Navratris are finished, the Goddess Tarkulha Devi’s temple witnesses thousands of goats being slaughtered to please the goddess. And it is not just one goddess, such temples exists all the districts. Kushingar is famous Buddhist center as Buddha preached here for 20 years and died at the end. Japanese, Thai, Barmese, Korean temples are present here. More and more religious groups are coming here to spread their wings. Not only the famous Gorakhdham peeth headed by BJP MP Mahant Aditya Nath have made great inroads among the communities but not on working against hunger but hatred. You can find posters of Hindu Yuva Vahini everywhere. At a place during our Padyatra when I asked to a villager, as ‘which community he belonged to ?’, the emphatic answer was that only ‘Hindus’ live here. Which clearly indicate that they were not keen on speaking on poverty on hunger but on anti Muslim rhetoric’s. In Deoria, we went to a village called Mundera Mishra where a large number of fishermen community live apart from the powerful Brahmins. As soon as we started talking about anti poverty programmes, about the ration cards and other such schemes, the people from Brahmin community came and started altercating with us. ‘ As long as you will allow the Muslims to eat everything that our country produces, we can not alleviate poverty’. I was shocked to hear this as there were no Muslims in the village and we were talking about issue of fishermen, ration card and anti poverty programmes in the village.
Walking towards Rudrapur from Deoria, we met with a group of boys catching rats. They belonged to Rajbhar community. As mentioned earlier three communities of Mushahars, Rajbhars and Chauhans are living in pathological hunger and forced to eat rats. The children who should have been going to school actually were grazing the cattle’s on a rainy day. None of them go to school. The food situation in their house was difficult. They caught several rats and took us to a school to roast them like Kababs. One could see the glee in their faces as they enjoyed their lunch after such hunger. One wonders where the aid agencies have gone. Rajbhar and Chauhan community does not come under the Scheduled Caste category but their condition can not be regarded as better than the Dalits. Yes, they are MBCs and are forced to live in isolation and ostracisation. It was village Sarora where I did not see a single rajbhar house which could be pucca.
On the road we met a Rajbhar tractor driver who was not very happy with the turn of events in Uttar-Pradesh. Clearly, his thoughts were not with Behenji and were saddened with the demise of the Rajbhar party of Om Prakash Rajbhar. I asked them as why don’t they organize community for their socio-economic-cultural benefit. Why we need to politicize all the issues when the basic issue of hunger and poverty have not yet resolved.
Tragedy in Uttar-Pradesh was that while people were politically assertive may be they have sold their conscience to their caste identity but beyond that nothing is moving. Normally, no body question their political leaders for the work they are not doing. People do not seem to be interested in listening to other communities. If you belong to same community they become over enthused. This actually has resulted in a generation of middlemen who sale the community for small pie.
In the Vindhyawalia bastee of fishermen, I did not find a single house to be pucca. The fishermen have lost their habitat because of soil erosion brought out by the river Chhoti Gandak. In the absence of fishing people migrate to other states particularly to Goa for sand mining. We saw many of those exploited hands during our visit. It was shocking to see how the mining has not only made them entire generation of fishermen slave to several diseases including skin problems and breathing problems.
In many Mushahar bastees children do not go to school. At one village out of nearly 300 children, I could speak to only two who claimed they were going to school. The schools are quite far and most of the time the parents have no money to pay the school fee and hence are unable to send them. Moreover, the exploitation is so much that children once scolded by the teachers seldom go back. Local liquor is a daily routine. Most of the women are involved in making liquor. During summers Tadi is favorite drink. Even the children drink it for Rs 5/- a glass. They remain hungry during the entire day.
Japan government and world bank are working on Maitryee Project in Kushingar which will displace about several hundred small farmers as it need to acquire over 600 acre of land to build biggest Buddhas of Bamiyan type. It is very unfortunate that while Kushinagar and all these nearby areas are witnessing Tandava of hunger for the past 10 years, none of the so-called religious groups ever bothered about their fate. Superstition is very high in the region and poverty is linked to fete and the bad karma of the previous birth, therefore justifying the current structure of injustice and exploitation.
That is one reason why during our padyatra, we made it a point to raise the issue of right over people’s resources and for dignity and freedom. Our campaign was not just limited to land redistribution but against the exploitative nature of our society, our caste system and ritualistic religious values which dehumanize the people.
Environmental Dangers
It is strange that the environmental degradation and its impact on communities such as fishermen and farmers have rarely been raised in Poorvanchal. Perhaps because during the past few years environment has become a subject for the urban elite to discuss where they can think of throwing the communities like tribal away from the forest. But, in Poorvanchal, the issue is real and the threat as ever. All the major rivers of Poorvanchal, Rapti, Chhoti Gandak, Gurra, Amy etc are thoroughly polluted. They have turned to gutter as the sewage water of the distilleries and sugar factories flows into them. There is no anti pollution measures and one wonder what is UP Pollution Control Board is doing. In Kaptanganj and Ramkola towns of Kushingar district the local sugar mills and distilleries are throwing huge chemical waste in the river Gandak. The sewage water spills into the fields thus destroying the crops. In fact many time there have been agitation against the same in Ramkola where farmers are genuinely agitated over the destruction of a vast track of their land. The drinking water is contaminated and most of the people in area suffer from various diseases. In March 1999 an agreement was signed in the presence of district magistrate along with farmers and UP Sugar Corporation Ltd under which the sugar mills had to develop sewage water treatment plant and would pay compensation to the farmers. It was also agreed that in Mathura Nagar area of Ramkola over 7 people had died during 1999 with drinking contaminated water. Things have not changed yet after so many years. One can see the burnt field with stinking smell which make any one sink.
About 6 kilometer away from Chaurichaura is famous Sardar Nagar owned by Sardar S.S.Majithia whose terror also run in the village. Without any treatment plant the sewage is drained into river Gurra, a tributary of Rapti. Farmers are agitated over it and fishermen have lost every thing, as there is no fish catch these days. Now, the village people are planning to approach the court. When our Padyatra approached the Sardarnagar distillery and was taking photographs and video shoot of the area, the company stalkers started haunting us. ‘ Why have you come here ? Who are you ? Show us your identity card ? I told the person that we are on a Padyatra and are looking the environmental hazards of the sugar factories and other mills in the area. And that people are complaining and they have a right to seek redressal. The person threatened us not to take further photographs. ‘ We have certificate from UP Pollution Control Board’ he said and I retorted back as why he was worried then?
Sardarnagar factories do not have sewage line. A large number of sweeper who live in the vicinity have been working on contract labour for the past 20 years and their salaries have not gone beyond Rs 3000/-. They were shown the door when they question for more salary and bonus etc . It is no secret that manual scavenging is prevalent inside the campus of the sugar mill and distillery as the toilets are kuchcha. While the company may make the pollution control people fool by saying they have now flush toilets, the fact is that inspite of that, these toilets and their pits need to be cleaned annually and it is the local Hellas (Muslim Scavengers) and Bansfors who are doing the cleaning work.
Apart from chemical waste in the rivers, the other threat to the rivers of Poorvanchal is from the mechanized sand mining. Rivers particularly Chhotigandak has gone deep down with sand mining and it is adding to the woes of farmers every year during the monsoon as often it change the track and erode the different area. Many localities, villages have been permanently submerged because of this soil erosion by river Gandak, and Ghaghara.
They are considered to be the most dangerous rivers. In Gorakhpur district river Rapti often play havoc and people still tremble narrating the horrific tale of flood in 1999 and 2002 when hundreds of villages disappeared. Thousands of hectares of land is now turned sandy and farmers have no other choice but to migrate and become labours.
Prevailing Hunger and malnutrition:
Navami is 25 years old. He has three sons and two daughters. Living as an encroacher on the road, he has turned saffron these days after a cow hit him on his leg. The family went to a local Jholachaap doctor for the treatment who has in fact destroyed his feet. He has become virtually disabled and is barely able to walk. Navmi’s father lives about 200 meter away from his Jhopadi in the Mushahar Bastee of Bishanpurwa village in Premwalia Panchayat of district Kushingar. Bishanpura is predominantly a Dalit habitat in which a substantial chunk of Chamars and Mushahars live. Chamar because of the politicization process in the past 15 years are relatively better organized and aware of their conditions but Mushahar because of their lesser numbers as well as worst economic conditions remains on margin. At a distance of about 8 kilometer from the town Kasaya, Bishanpura present two different world, one of the upper castes, mobile backward communities and the other of Mushahars and Chamars.
Though the village activist claim that the condition of Mushahar in this village was relatively better than anywhere else but a visit to their thatched hut reveal the truth. It is not just the war against a corrupt society but cultural practice which has subjugated them for years. Entering at many houses, I found people cooking snails. At many houses the morning break fast was not ready yet.
Like many others, Navami does not work and his physically challenge father earn livelihood for him. His wife Akali is at the later stage of pregnancy. Looking at her, one wonder, how healthy would be the child when born. ‘We keep fast for most of the days as Navami is not able to work’, says Akali. She adds that he is not interested in the family, as he has now become a saint. “ But how come despite being a saint, you became pregnant, I ask. Don’t you think that it is also your duty to minimize your burden? Her small hut does not have anything. They do not possess any ration card. None of them know about National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme under which every unemployed male or female in a village would get a minimum of one hundred days work. Now the UP government has increased the minimum wages to Rs 82/-. But see the irony Navami has none of these cards. It would not be surprising if in the absence of any government aid he and his family starve. One can imagine as what would be the fate of his unborn child. Navami’s elder daughter is at the field behind their hut doing some work. I ask her about whether she has eaten any thing. The answer is in the negative. She inform me that the family does not cook and that she and her brothers remain hungry. By the time, we were conducting our interview with her, Akali was going to beg the left over food for their lunch.
B: Leelawati Gupta is a young widow living in a small hut in Deoria district. Her husband died of tuberculosis about eight months ago. Gupta was a Halwai who could not afford the family of five children. The family left for Siligudi in the hope for better future. The debt compounded and therefore the local debtors took over the house of the family in lieu of their debt. Gupta died of tremendous pressure. The family did not have anything to eat. A good Halwai family turned into a completely workless family. There was nothing to eat for the children.
Today, Leelawati’s eldest daughter is also left by her husband. She live along with small daughter at her mother’s hut. Half of the week, they keep fasting. No help came from any quarter. Leelwati moved from one place to other but of no help. They did not have a ration card to procure food items. There was no help from any where. The children for not going to school but working. Four months after the death of her husband, the Panchayat thought of her giving her a BPL ration card. She sales the rice from the village and earn around Rs 35 a day but that too in kind form. There is no other source of income. The young daughter left by her husband is equally baffling her. The family is on the brink of collapse and may use escapist tendencies to survive.
Idrish Ansari has a small rehari shop of eggs. With a small gas stove, he make omelet for the customers and also sale boiled egg. In the small town of … one does not know whether he would be able to take care of his family of 9 children. He has got a small house under the Indira Awas Yojna but that house cannot accommodate all the family members hence 7 of them sleep in an under construction under ground floor of a house owned by a local landlord. Idrish has a buffalo as well as horse for marriage parties. But these days when the parties hire cars and electronic items, the bridegroom in horse is becoming rare day by day. The resources are scant day by day. Idirsh does not possess a ration card and his condition show that the family and children are going to face very difficult time in next few months if the help does not come.
In the Deoria town we visited the urban slums. In the Ambedkar Nagar bustee we met a number of Bansfors. The families are living in miserable condition. I met many children and none of them go to school. Most of the people work part time and have no source of income. The women and children are involved in manual scavenging. In the family of Six children, I find them eating Sattu for their lunch. One of the child was epileptic. He was unable to open his eyes. The wife presented a miserable picture. There was no food. No government scheme has reached the village. There was no ration card to procure subsidized rice from the market. It was surviving on the edge and one can rarely describe them to narrate. The child in the family was in danger if not takes care properly. They are three families and the card of Above the Poverty Line is issued to their mother. It was a tragic site as how the sweeper community is facing not only indignity but also ostracisation and starvation. The people claiming to work on hunger are rarely reaching them.
36 families of Bansfors are living in miserable condition on the road at civil lines. They weave basket and barely earn Rs 30 per day. Most of them used to sleep on the road till one day the district administration decided to shunt them away to another place without thinking whether human conditions prevails in that area or not. A number of women still cry, as they have no other source to live.
Hungry Swachchakars
Hunger is everywhere. The only difference is that your eyes and heart need to be sensitive enough to hear those pains and miseries. NGOs have turned hunger into a project for their own self without ever evaluating their own work. It is rare to speak about urban hunger since most of these cases occur in rural area but the Sweeper community in many of these places is suffering in silence. Manual Scavenging is going well without any stoppage. How do you stop without providing alternative to the people? Most of the families were eating Sattu and children do not go to school. No government scheme reach them and very few of them had got ration cards.
In Rudrapur, I found a happy scavenger mother telling me how her 9 years old daughter Arti takes care of the family every day. Arti was grinding Mashala when I met her. Afterwards, her mother took me to her hut and showed that their girl can cook. It was shocking when I ask why were they imposing family burden on a young child. Arti’s father was a Rikshapullar and their earning was not enough to sustain the family. They were not able to send their children to school.
We visited many homes and saw their condition. Writing about hunger make you some time repeating things but then it is the issue and we need to focus more on them. In most of the municipalities including Laar, Rudrapur, Deoria, Gorakhpur, Chaurichuara, Mau the condition need to be assessed carefully. That manual scavenging is going on uninterrupted because the government has failed them to provide any help and the organizations of civil society used their plight for their own purposes without making community feel that there is a discrimination and they should stand up against the same is a national disgrace and we all must take the blame.
In most of the municipalities, many of the Balmikis were kept under contract labour by Mulayam Singh’s ordinance. In towns like Laar, they had not got their salaries till date after their appointment forcing the people to reengage them in manual scavenging.
Right over resources can not be compensated by NREGA and PDS system
It is ironical that campaigns to eliminate hunger are not talking in terms of livelihood. If situation has to be seen in this perspective, most of the Mushahrs are dying because they are landless. They used to depend on forest but that too has been out of reach for them now, as forest department is getting murkier day by day. Rajbhars are another community which is totally landless and live in complete isolation. Their power of vote can not change much of the Panchayats local political equations. We have seen how the NREGA and food for work programmes are being appropriated by the powerful communities of the village. Fishermen are dying of hunger because they have lost everything. Their lakes are drying up and sewage water has killed the fishes. Other communities like Chamars, Pasis, Chauhans, Mushahars are totally landless and therefore workless. They are just political in terms of their caste identities but their political class seems not be interested in raising these issues of livelihood. Even the workers of their community do not seem to be working on socio-cultural revival of the community. Identity is fastly becoming a tool for the political Dalals to mobilize people for their own nefarious goals. This culture of considering communities as pocket borrow will have to be changed in Uttar-Pradesh and that could only happen if the agencies work wholeheartedly on an emergency basis with community’s social organizations. Advocacy and Lobbying for greater ‘national’ cause can not be bigger than the local cause of the communities. Uttar-Pradesh does not have infrastrcture. Schools are without teachers and toilets. The public distribution system is in complete mess in Uttar-Pradesh. This is accepted by the advisers of the Supreme Court in their report. Most of the eligible people never got the entitlement and again the power elite in the rural structure grabbed all these opportunities. But it is also a fact there is nothing in the PDS which any good person would like to purchase. Most of the people never get kerosene, and sugar on their cards. In fact, the activists are now asking that it need to be like supermarket where people should be allowed to procure all other items like stationary, books, masalas, and ration on a subsidized rate.
Government need to focus on education, electricity and drinking water only then Uttar Pradesh will shine for all. For the civil society organizations, it would be better not to consider people as showing their strength in Lucknow and Delhi but do some concrete work at the village level, sharing their agonies and making them feel as part of civil society but not as their leaders but developing leadership qualities in each of these communities. Hunger will not end unless we challenge the very basis of karma theory and bring people out of the religious rituals, which make them bonded to thugs and tantriks. Hunger will not end unless the government and organization feel that it is really not an issue of charity but right over resources. Give the fishermen better rivers and lakes and they will not ask for NREGA. Protect the farmers from the onslaught of the spoiling factories and they will do wonders. And finally do fill your promises to redistribute land to all landless communities and I bet they will shine for us all. If we do not learn lesson from other parts of the country and violence growing there, the day will not be far when we will witness same war in Uttar-Pradesh and peace would be the biggest victim.
CHAURI-CHAURA DECLARATION
Land, Dignity and Freedom footmarch which covered around 140 villages, 7 urban slum in four districts of Maharajganj, Kushingar, Deoria and Gorakhpur district, It started from Tilakwania village in Ghughali town of Maharajganj district on June 1st, 2007 and culminated at Chauri Chaura on June 22nd, 2007 with a total of 370 kilometers. Organised by Uttar-Pradesh Land Alliance and led by Shri Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Director, Social Development Foundation, Delhi, the Padyatra raised the issue of hunger, land, water and sustainable development. Nearly 20 Padyatris including women and girls from the marginalised sections of society walked this distance in scorching heat for full 22 days. It raised the issue of the failure of the previous government to deal with the issue of livelihood of marginalised communities and their continuous marginalisation through hunger, malnutrition, poverty and depression. It also voiced its concern over growing communalisation process as well as spreading of superstition among the poorer sections of society. At many places the marchers spoke to small gatherings, met people, visited affected areas and conducted social audits of schemes like NREGA.
At the culmination of 22 days padyatra at Chauri Charua, we demand the following :
1. The government must take special measures to improve the condition of Mushahars, Rajbhars, Bansfors, Nonias, Machchuaras, Dom, Swachchakars, Pasis and Chamars. These communities are living in abysmally degrading conditions and need special measures.
2. In the Eastern Uttar-Pradesh the Sand Mafias are controlling the rivers like Chhoti Gandak, Gurra, Rapti and Ghaghara. The mechanized sand mining has resulted in soil erosion by these rivers during monsoon. Thousands of hectare of land has turned infertile. In Brahmapur region Rapti has destroyed Ranapar area. In Kaptanganj and Ramkola towns in Kushinagar district are facing severe soil erosion due to sand mining. We demand immediate halt of mechanized sand mining and ask the government to allow the fish worker to do the same but government should fix up a limit for the same.
3. In many villages of Eastern Uttar-Pradesh powerful local people have illegally grabbed the land given to Dalits and Most backward communities. In many villages, the Dalits are not even allowed passage to move out. Government must ensure that every person live with dignity at his/her land that every one has a right to access road in his/her house.
4. The Sugar factories and distilleries in Ramkola, Kaptanganj, Deoria, Rudrapur, Sardarnagar
are throwing chemical waste in the rivers like Chhoti Gandak, Rapti, Amy and Gurra resulting in heavy pollution in the rivers. The fish workers are facing hunger, as the fish catch is almost nil. Apart from this, the waste has spilled over to a vast agricultural land turning them completely barren and dangerous. The ground water in most of the eastern UP town is contaminated which is a severe threat to public health. We demand immediate action against these factory/mill owners and ask the government to compensate the farmers who have lost their land to these mills. The Pollution Control board should be asked to explain as why they continue to allow such hazards industries to run.
5. In Kushingar and Gorakhpur the condition of National Employment Guarantee Scheme is a matter of grave concern. It has not been implemented accordingly. We found work being done through tractors and people without work despite having the valid card. The scheme seems to have failed because of the connivance between the village Pradhans and block officials. We demand severe action against erring officials to implement the scheme and ask the government to form a monitoring and evaluating committee which should include civil society representatives.
6. In Poorvanchal, we found lot of discrepancy in the distribution of ration cards. Those who should have been eligible for the cards have not got it while others have got it. We demand strong action the Sarpanches and officials who are involved in nepotism and corruption. We also demand from the government that the reach of the Public Distribution System should be expanded and it must include important edible items, books, and cloths, Masalas etc so that the poor can benefit from this.
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The so-called War against Hunger started at the 1997 Rome Summit where world leaders pledged to support programmes to eliminate hunger and alleviate poverty to half of that time’s below the poverty line people who do not even earn 1 USD a day. That time the number was estimated to be 864 million and half of them were in South Asia. It is strange that since 1997, these world leaders have started forcing the third world countries to comply with the norms that are essentially anti poor. Social security is an old word of socialist era and considered to be out of date in India. The Hindutva government that time was going crazy over the India shining approach just ignoring a vast number of masses who were dying of hunger and starvation. In fact, those of us who were bringing these issues to the public domain were discouraged. Media did not want to broadcast and publish the stories which spoil the taste of their subscribers in the morning.
Background of the work on hunger
That way 2004’s general election was a watershed. It was an election fought on the false premise of India shining. Despite hunger and starvation deaths in various parts of India particularly Orissa, Rajathan, Chhatishgarh, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar-Pradesh nothing moved much in the government front. People’s Union for Civil Liberties filed a petition in Supreme Court in 2002 against the hunger deaths in 7 states. The Supreme Court issued notices to these states and their anti poverty programmes and as a civil society follow up of the entire case National Right to Food Campaign took birth. The Supreme Court issued various directives to the governments particularly in relation to Public Distribution System, BPL Cards, Widow and aged pension schemes, Integrated Child Development Programmes. The hearing continue but the real changes do not occur.
The campaign was launched on the premise that Food Corporation of India’s go downs were overflowing with grains ( in fact grain got rotten ) while people were living in abject hunger and poverty was a shame to India.
In the 2004 elections therefore, when the UPA government came to power in Center, it looked as if it has learnt a few lessons from the past government. A National Advisory Council was formed with eminent names like Jean Dreze and Aruna Roy were made members under the chairpersonship of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. The government decided to renew the anti poverty programmes. Since fund were never problems with the government’s finance ministry went out to woe the rural masses. Campaign was launched for a bill like the Maharastra’s Employment Guarantee Programme so that every one gets employment. The government’s bosses also felt that this programme could be a good idea to implement their own liberalization and privatization process and ‘purchase’ the people with one hundred days employment.
One hundred districts were selected for National Employment Guarantee Scheme for the first phase. Now new districts have been added to the list but violence continue in rural India. A large part of India is under the Naxal influence and it is growing day by day. People are still dying of hunger despite millions of dollars being pumped by the aid agencies and the government. We must ponder over this situation otherwise India’s poor will revolt one day and trash everything that we call democratic.
Conditions prevailing in Uttar-Pradesh
It is rather unfortunate that despite a clear verdict of the masses against the concept of privatization and economic liberlisation, the rulers do not want to change their track. Earlier after the elections we saw over throwing of the government in Haryana, Punjab Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The biggest turn around was Uttar-Pradesh. While the analyst might claim that it was Mayawati’s Brahmin-Dalit combination that got her victory, it would be simply generalizing the facts if we ignore the fact the UP people also voted against Uttar-Pradesh Shining and policy of private crony culture of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and his government.
Therefore, when Uttar-Pradesh was shining, just a few months back, I was getting lot of information related to hunger and starvation deaths in the Eastern Part of Uttar-Pradesh. During the past five years in particular, having spend a lot of time with activists and villagers, I realized that the aid agencies, the government and the so-called civil society organizations are far removed from the grassroots reality. Even the media was not reciprocating it at the national level while the local papers were reporting incidents of hunger deaths.
Four districts of Poorvanchal (Eastern Uttar-Pradesh) namely Maharajganj, Kushingar, Deoria and Gorakhpur witness the dance of death every year. Two of these district Kushinagar and Gorakhpur were selected for the NREGA programme while Maharajganj has also been selected for the same from this year. All these districts saw a large number of deaths due to hunger and malnutrition despite all these programmes. The pattern was similar yet nothing happened. When we decided to move on a Padyatra in these districts, it was in fact a reiteration of our earlier stand about the failure of not only aid agencies and government but also civil society. Let us investigate some of these programmes and international campaigns.
18 tribal children died in Raup village of Sonebhadra district in 2004 and the National Human Rights Commission issued notice to the state government. A very senior activist Late M.A.Khan would always question the ‘national’ campaigners who would come for a day in Sonebhadra and disappear after ‘attaining’ everything. These national organizations destroyed the local initiatives by creating division in them. Khan died an unsatisfied man, a man who would have got huge funds to support his work on hunger yet remain penniless till he breathed his last. A mobile library in his ownself, Khan’s work was used by many for their projects in the area.
What irked Khan was that Sonebhadra has a large number of NGOs with ‘National’ outlook. These days apart from being from the ‘press’ get you exclusive sitting at most important places, a tag from human rights also give you strength to manipulate things. With international human rights organization jumping in local fray and acting as a party, the human rights have become abusive term. Agencies write letters on every individual cases of ‘dowry’, ‘rape’ ‘sexual harassment’ and everything under the sun. These organizations are not running any systematic campaigns but are totally depended on the fancy of a few individuals who not only manipulate things but also pretend as if they are the sole protectors of the civil liberties in their area and their life is under the ‘threat’ from the landlords. The agencies who support such propagandists forget to ask their own background as a majority of them have established background and it is rare that they would speak against their own family and caste men. Activists from Uttar-Pradesh are rather smarter in this. They claim to have been fighting against ‘caste’ system but do not give any idea to local communities and people as what is the panacea for it. These are provided to international masters only who present them to their donors as their ‘work’ in India. Most of these international fellows have got strong support from their own communities, as it is rare they would speak against their own community. Hence if you are a Thakur, you will bring the cases of Brahmins, Yadavas, Kurmis for oppressing the Dalits terming them as ‘feudal lords’, while if you happen to be a Brahmin, the cases would be different, so will be the case with Kurmis and others. Everybody try to save the interest of their own community making the other community oppressing the Dalits. So, the downfall of Uttar-Pradesh is in the nepotism and propaganda that these human rights fellows unleash through internet and emails.
The National Right to Food Campaign became a tool to further their own interest and you do not know how many of them exist in Uttar-Pradesh. The politics in the NGOs is more rampant in Uttar-Pradesh. In the name of so-called advocacy and lobbying they make every criminal case as a human rights violation case and if their activists are involved in local feud, it is termed as a threat to their life.
Development need community centered approach
Aid agencies flocked to Sonbhadra, Varanasi, Kushingar, Bhadohi, Bundelkhand and other such ‘poor’ district to ‘eliminate’ hunger yet despite all this people continue to die of hunger. In Kushinagar district’s Koilaswa village became the hub of activities for aid agencies. Number of community organizations were created and their only visible work was ‘wall writing’ related to the rights of Mushahars. One must ask these agencies and their partners as where has the money gone and why even a village with about 500 Mushahar families still have largest number of hungry people and unsafe huts. This village saw 18 children dying of Kalajwar several years ago. Most of the Mushahars here live in huts. Very few of them have got the NREGA card to get some work. None of them can claim to have got even 10 days work under NREGA. Last year, when I visited to this village, a large number of huts were burnt due to fire but this year some of these houses were being constructed under Indira Awas Yojna. The Sarpanch, the secretary of the Panchayats is corrupt say the people but where are the organizations working. Why do they not organize people and take them to the district magistrate and show them them the condition of the NREGA schemes in the area. The fact of the matter is that we claim to create a civil society in the poorest areas. My question is whose civil society it would be ?
How come the work being done on Mushahars, Scavengers do not have persons heading from these communities? It is here the aid agencies have defaulted. They promoted Dalit groups in the name of Dalit identity but rarely bothered to check further whether the same kind of identity which different caste groups are demanding have been accepted by them. When we talk of scavenger or Mushahars or Rajbhars why is that it is the people from other communities leading the movement and not from them. The argument that these communities do not have ‘leadership’ skills is racist and brahmanical in nature and need to be questioned.
It was this long thought that came in mind trying to analyze the caste scenario with poverty that I realize that developmental agenda would have to be community based. Fifty years programmes of development never reached the people. The targets were not specified clearly. They were vague and not according to the demographic set up of the villages. Hence Mushahrs, Bansfors, Rajbhars, Pasis and Chamars remained at the margin. Though people might argue that after Maywati’s ascendance to power Chamar have been ‘empowered’, this notion itself is wrong. The community, no doubt, is politically assertive, yet economically very marginalized in the Eastern Uttar-Pradesh and Bundelkhand.
Humanism Needed
Hunger is not natural but man made with deep socio-cultural dimension. When the major district of Poorvanchal, the rural poor do not possess enough grain to cook two time a meal, the forces of rightwing Hindutva are equally powerful. Just when Navratris are finished, the Goddess Tarkulha Devi’s temple witnesses thousands of goats being slaughtered to please the goddess. And it is not just one goddess, such temples exists all the districts. Kushingar is famous Buddhist center as Buddha preached here for 20 years and died at the end. Japanese, Thai, Barmese, Korean temples are present here. More and more religious groups are coming here to spread their wings. Not only the famous Gorakhdham peeth headed by BJP MP Mahant Aditya Nath have made great inroads among the communities but not on working against hunger but hatred. You can find posters of Hindu Yuva Vahini everywhere. At a place during our Padyatra when I asked to a villager, as ‘which community he belonged to ?’, the emphatic answer was that only ‘Hindus’ live here. Which clearly indicate that they were not keen on speaking on poverty on hunger but on anti Muslim rhetoric’s. In Deoria, we went to a village called Mundera Mishra where a large number of fishermen community live apart from the powerful Brahmins. As soon as we started talking about anti poverty programmes, about the ration cards and other such schemes, the people from Brahmin community came and started altercating with us. ‘ As long as you will allow the Muslims to eat everything that our country produces, we can not alleviate poverty’. I was shocked to hear this as there were no Muslims in the village and we were talking about issue of fishermen, ration card and anti poverty programmes in the village.
Walking towards Rudrapur from Deoria, we met with a group of boys catching rats. They belonged to Rajbhar community. As mentioned earlier three communities of Mushahars, Rajbhars and Chauhans are living in pathological hunger and forced to eat rats. The children who should have been going to school actually were grazing the cattle’s on a rainy day. None of them go to school. The food situation in their house was difficult. They caught several rats and took us to a school to roast them like Kababs. One could see the glee in their faces as they enjoyed their lunch after such hunger. One wonders where the aid agencies have gone. Rajbhar and Chauhan community does not come under the Scheduled Caste category but their condition can not be regarded as better than the Dalits. Yes, they are MBCs and are forced to live in isolation and ostracisation. It was village Sarora where I did not see a single rajbhar house which could be pucca.
On the road we met a Rajbhar tractor driver who was not very happy with the turn of events in Uttar-Pradesh. Clearly, his thoughts were not with Behenji and were saddened with the demise of the Rajbhar party of Om Prakash Rajbhar. I asked them as why don’t they organize community for their socio-economic-cultural benefit. Why we need to politicize all the issues when the basic issue of hunger and poverty have not yet resolved.
Tragedy in Uttar-Pradesh was that while people were politically assertive may be they have sold their conscience to their caste identity but beyond that nothing is moving. Normally, no body question their political leaders for the work they are not doing. People do not seem to be interested in listening to other communities. If you belong to same community they become over enthused. This actually has resulted in a generation of middlemen who sale the community for small pie.
In the Vindhyawalia bastee of fishermen, I did not find a single house to be pucca. The fishermen have lost their habitat because of soil erosion brought out by the river Chhoti Gandak. In the absence of fishing people migrate to other states particularly to Goa for sand mining. We saw many of those exploited hands during our visit. It was shocking to see how the mining has not only made them entire generation of fishermen slave to several diseases including skin problems and breathing problems.
In many Mushahar bastees children do not go to school. At one village out of nearly 300 children, I could speak to only two who claimed they were going to school. The schools are quite far and most of the time the parents have no money to pay the school fee and hence are unable to send them. Moreover, the exploitation is so much that children once scolded by the teachers seldom go back. Local liquor is a daily routine. Most of the women are involved in making liquor. During summers Tadi is favorite drink. Even the children drink it for Rs 5/- a glass. They remain hungry during the entire day.
Japan government and world bank are working on Maitryee Project in Kushingar which will displace about several hundred small farmers as it need to acquire over 600 acre of land to build biggest Buddhas of Bamiyan type. It is very unfortunate that while Kushinagar and all these nearby areas are witnessing Tandava of hunger for the past 10 years, none of the so-called religious groups ever bothered about their fate. Superstition is very high in the region and poverty is linked to fete and the bad karma of the previous birth, therefore justifying the current structure of injustice and exploitation.
That is one reason why during our padyatra, we made it a point to raise the issue of right over people’s resources and for dignity and freedom. Our campaign was not just limited to land redistribution but against the exploitative nature of our society, our caste system and ritualistic religious values which dehumanize the people.
Environmental Dangers
It is strange that the environmental degradation and its impact on communities such as fishermen and farmers have rarely been raised in Poorvanchal. Perhaps because during the past few years environment has become a subject for the urban elite to discuss where they can think of throwing the communities like tribal away from the forest. But, in Poorvanchal, the issue is real and the threat as ever. All the major rivers of Poorvanchal, Rapti, Chhoti Gandak, Gurra, Amy etc are thoroughly polluted. They have turned to gutter as the sewage water of the distilleries and sugar factories flows into them. There is no anti pollution measures and one wonder what is UP Pollution Control Board is doing. In Kaptanganj and Ramkola towns of Kushingar district the local sugar mills and distilleries are throwing huge chemical waste in the river Gandak. The sewage water spills into the fields thus destroying the crops. In fact many time there have been agitation against the same in Ramkola where farmers are genuinely agitated over the destruction of a vast track of their land. The drinking water is contaminated and most of the people in area suffer from various diseases. In March 1999 an agreement was signed in the presence of district magistrate along with farmers and UP Sugar Corporation Ltd under which the sugar mills had to develop sewage water treatment plant and would pay compensation to the farmers. It was also agreed that in Mathura Nagar area of Ramkola over 7 people had died during 1999 with drinking contaminated water. Things have not changed yet after so many years. One can see the burnt field with stinking smell which make any one sink.
About 6 kilometer away from Chaurichaura is famous Sardar Nagar owned by Sardar S.S.Majithia whose terror also run in the village. Without any treatment plant the sewage is drained into river Gurra, a tributary of Rapti. Farmers are agitated over it and fishermen have lost every thing, as there is no fish catch these days. Now, the village people are planning to approach the court. When our Padyatra approached the Sardarnagar distillery and was taking photographs and video shoot of the area, the company stalkers started haunting us. ‘ Why have you come here ? Who are you ? Show us your identity card ? I told the person that we are on a Padyatra and are looking the environmental hazards of the sugar factories and other mills in the area. And that people are complaining and they have a right to seek redressal. The person threatened us not to take further photographs. ‘ We have certificate from UP Pollution Control Board’ he said and I retorted back as why he was worried then?
Sardarnagar factories do not have sewage line. A large number of sweeper who live in the vicinity have been working on contract labour for the past 20 years and their salaries have not gone beyond Rs 3000/-. They were shown the door when they question for more salary and bonus etc . It is no secret that manual scavenging is prevalent inside the campus of the sugar mill and distillery as the toilets are kuchcha. While the company may make the pollution control people fool by saying they have now flush toilets, the fact is that inspite of that, these toilets and their pits need to be cleaned annually and it is the local Hellas (Muslim Scavengers) and Bansfors who are doing the cleaning work.
Apart from chemical waste in the rivers, the other threat to the rivers of Poorvanchal is from the mechanized sand mining. Rivers particularly Chhotigandak has gone deep down with sand mining and it is adding to the woes of farmers every year during the monsoon as often it change the track and erode the different area. Many localities, villages have been permanently submerged because of this soil erosion by river Gandak, and Ghaghara.
They are considered to be the most dangerous rivers. In Gorakhpur district river Rapti often play havoc and people still tremble narrating the horrific tale of flood in 1999 and 2002 when hundreds of villages disappeared. Thousands of hectares of land is now turned sandy and farmers have no other choice but to migrate and become labours.
Prevailing Hunger and malnutrition:
Navami is 25 years old. He has three sons and two daughters. Living as an encroacher on the road, he has turned saffron these days after a cow hit him on his leg. The family went to a local Jholachaap doctor for the treatment who has in fact destroyed his feet. He has become virtually disabled and is barely able to walk. Navmi’s father lives about 200 meter away from his Jhopadi in the Mushahar Bastee of Bishanpurwa village in Premwalia Panchayat of district Kushingar. Bishanpura is predominantly a Dalit habitat in which a substantial chunk of Chamars and Mushahars live. Chamar because of the politicization process in the past 15 years are relatively better organized and aware of their conditions but Mushahar because of their lesser numbers as well as worst economic conditions remains on margin. At a distance of about 8 kilometer from the town Kasaya, Bishanpura present two different world, one of the upper castes, mobile backward communities and the other of Mushahars and Chamars.
Though the village activist claim that the condition of Mushahar in this village was relatively better than anywhere else but a visit to their thatched hut reveal the truth. It is not just the war against a corrupt society but cultural practice which has subjugated them for years. Entering at many houses, I found people cooking snails. At many houses the morning break fast was not ready yet.
Like many others, Navami does not work and his physically challenge father earn livelihood for him. His wife Akali is at the later stage of pregnancy. Looking at her, one wonder, how healthy would be the child when born. ‘We keep fast for most of the days as Navami is not able to work’, says Akali. She adds that he is not interested in the family, as he has now become a saint. “ But how come despite being a saint, you became pregnant, I ask. Don’t you think that it is also your duty to minimize your burden? Her small hut does not have anything. They do not possess any ration card. None of them know about National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme under which every unemployed male or female in a village would get a minimum of one hundred days work. Now the UP government has increased the minimum wages to Rs 82/-. But see the irony Navami has none of these cards. It would not be surprising if in the absence of any government aid he and his family starve. One can imagine as what would be the fate of his unborn child. Navami’s elder daughter is at the field behind their hut doing some work. I ask her about whether she has eaten any thing. The answer is in the negative. She inform me that the family does not cook and that she and her brothers remain hungry. By the time, we were conducting our interview with her, Akali was going to beg the left over food for their lunch.
B: Leelawati Gupta is a young widow living in a small hut in Deoria district. Her husband died of tuberculosis about eight months ago. Gupta was a Halwai who could not afford the family of five children. The family left for Siligudi in the hope for better future. The debt compounded and therefore the local debtors took over the house of the family in lieu of their debt. Gupta died of tremendous pressure. The family did not have anything to eat. A good Halwai family turned into a completely workless family. There was nothing to eat for the children.
Today, Leelawati’s eldest daughter is also left by her husband. She live along with small daughter at her mother’s hut. Half of the week, they keep fasting. No help came from any quarter. Leelwati moved from one place to other but of no help. They did not have a ration card to procure food items. There was no help from any where. The children for not going to school but working. Four months after the death of her husband, the Panchayat thought of her giving her a BPL ration card. She sales the rice from the village and earn around Rs 35 a day but that too in kind form. There is no other source of income. The young daughter left by her husband is equally baffling her. The family is on the brink of collapse and may use escapist tendencies to survive.
Idrish Ansari has a small rehari shop of eggs. With a small gas stove, he make omelet for the customers and also sale boiled egg. In the small town of … one does not know whether he would be able to take care of his family of 9 children. He has got a small house under the Indira Awas Yojna but that house cannot accommodate all the family members hence 7 of them sleep in an under construction under ground floor of a house owned by a local landlord. Idrish has a buffalo as well as horse for marriage parties. But these days when the parties hire cars and electronic items, the bridegroom in horse is becoming rare day by day. The resources are scant day by day. Idirsh does not possess a ration card and his condition show that the family and children are going to face very difficult time in next few months if the help does not come.
In the Deoria town we visited the urban slums. In the Ambedkar Nagar bustee we met a number of Bansfors. The families are living in miserable condition. I met many children and none of them go to school. Most of the people work part time and have no source of income. The women and children are involved in manual scavenging. In the family of Six children, I find them eating Sattu for their lunch. One of the child was epileptic. He was unable to open his eyes. The wife presented a miserable picture. There was no food. No government scheme has reached the village. There was no ration card to procure subsidized rice from the market. It was surviving on the edge and one can rarely describe them to narrate. The child in the family was in danger if not takes care properly. They are three families and the card of Above the Poverty Line is issued to their mother. It was a tragic site as how the sweeper community is facing not only indignity but also ostracisation and starvation. The people claiming to work on hunger are rarely reaching them.
36 families of Bansfors are living in miserable condition on the road at civil lines. They weave basket and barely earn Rs 30 per day. Most of them used to sleep on the road till one day the district administration decided to shunt them away to another place without thinking whether human conditions prevails in that area or not. A number of women still cry, as they have no other source to live.
Hungry Swachchakars
Hunger is everywhere. The only difference is that your eyes and heart need to be sensitive enough to hear those pains and miseries. NGOs have turned hunger into a project for their own self without ever evaluating their own work. It is rare to speak about urban hunger since most of these cases occur in rural area but the Sweeper community in many of these places is suffering in silence. Manual Scavenging is going well without any stoppage. How do you stop without providing alternative to the people? Most of the families were eating Sattu and children do not go to school. No government scheme reach them and very few of them had got ration cards.
In Rudrapur, I found a happy scavenger mother telling me how her 9 years old daughter Arti takes care of the family every day. Arti was grinding Mashala when I met her. Afterwards, her mother took me to her hut and showed that their girl can cook. It was shocking when I ask why were they imposing family burden on a young child. Arti’s father was a Rikshapullar and their earning was not enough to sustain the family. They were not able to send their children to school.
We visited many homes and saw their condition. Writing about hunger make you some time repeating things but then it is the issue and we need to focus more on them. In most of the municipalities including Laar, Rudrapur, Deoria, Gorakhpur, Chaurichuara, Mau the condition need to be assessed carefully. That manual scavenging is going on uninterrupted because the government has failed them to provide any help and the organizations of civil society used their plight for their own purposes without making community feel that there is a discrimination and they should stand up against the same is a national disgrace and we all must take the blame.
In most of the municipalities, many of the Balmikis were kept under contract labour by Mulayam Singh’s ordinance. In towns like Laar, they had not got their salaries till date after their appointment forcing the people to reengage them in manual scavenging.
Right over resources can not be compensated by NREGA and PDS system
It is ironical that campaigns to eliminate hunger are not talking in terms of livelihood. If situation has to be seen in this perspective, most of the Mushahrs are dying because they are landless. They used to depend on forest but that too has been out of reach for them now, as forest department is getting murkier day by day. Rajbhars are another community which is totally landless and live in complete isolation. Their power of vote can not change much of the Panchayats local political equations. We have seen how the NREGA and food for work programmes are being appropriated by the powerful communities of the village. Fishermen are dying of hunger because they have lost everything. Their lakes are drying up and sewage water has killed the fishes. Other communities like Chamars, Pasis, Chauhans, Mushahars are totally landless and therefore workless. They are just political in terms of their caste identities but their political class seems not be interested in raising these issues of livelihood. Even the workers of their community do not seem to be working on socio-cultural revival of the community. Identity is fastly becoming a tool for the political Dalals to mobilize people for their own nefarious goals. This culture of considering communities as pocket borrow will have to be changed in Uttar-Pradesh and that could only happen if the agencies work wholeheartedly on an emergency basis with community’s social organizations. Advocacy and Lobbying for greater ‘national’ cause can not be bigger than the local cause of the communities. Uttar-Pradesh does not have infrastrcture. Schools are without teachers and toilets. The public distribution system is in complete mess in Uttar-Pradesh. This is accepted by the advisers of the Supreme Court in their report. Most of the eligible people never got the entitlement and again the power elite in the rural structure grabbed all these opportunities. But it is also a fact there is nothing in the PDS which any good person would like to purchase. Most of the people never get kerosene, and sugar on their cards. In fact, the activists are now asking that it need to be like supermarket where people should be allowed to procure all other items like stationary, books, masalas, and ration on a subsidized rate.
Government need to focus on education, electricity and drinking water only then Uttar Pradesh will shine for all. For the civil society organizations, it would be better not to consider people as showing their strength in Lucknow and Delhi but do some concrete work at the village level, sharing their agonies and making them feel as part of civil society but not as their leaders but developing leadership qualities in each of these communities. Hunger will not end unless we challenge the very basis of karma theory and bring people out of the religious rituals, which make them bonded to thugs and tantriks. Hunger will not end unless the government and organization feel that it is really not an issue of charity but right over resources. Give the fishermen better rivers and lakes and they will not ask for NREGA. Protect the farmers from the onslaught of the spoiling factories and they will do wonders. And finally do fill your promises to redistribute land to all landless communities and I bet they will shine for us all. If we do not learn lesson from other parts of the country and violence growing there, the day will not be far when we will witness same war in Uttar-Pradesh and peace would be the biggest victim.
CHAURI-CHAURA DECLARATION
Land, Dignity and Freedom footmarch which covered around 140 villages, 7 urban slum in four districts of Maharajganj, Kushingar, Deoria and Gorakhpur district, It started from Tilakwania village in Ghughali town of Maharajganj district on June 1st, 2007 and culminated at Chauri Chaura on June 22nd, 2007 with a total of 370 kilometers. Organised by Uttar-Pradesh Land Alliance and led by Shri Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Director, Social Development Foundation, Delhi, the Padyatra raised the issue of hunger, land, water and sustainable development. Nearly 20 Padyatris including women and girls from the marginalised sections of society walked this distance in scorching heat for full 22 days. It raised the issue of the failure of the previous government to deal with the issue of livelihood of marginalised communities and their continuous marginalisation through hunger, malnutrition, poverty and depression. It also voiced its concern over growing communalisation process as well as spreading of superstition among the poorer sections of society. At many places the marchers spoke to small gatherings, met people, visited affected areas and conducted social audits of schemes like NREGA.
At the culmination of 22 days padyatra at Chauri Charua, we demand the following :
1. The government must take special measures to improve the condition of Mushahars, Rajbhars, Bansfors, Nonias, Machchuaras, Dom, Swachchakars, Pasis and Chamars. These communities are living in abysmally degrading conditions and need special measures.
2. In the Eastern Uttar-Pradesh the Sand Mafias are controlling the rivers like Chhoti Gandak, Gurra, Rapti and Ghaghara. The mechanized sand mining has resulted in soil erosion by these rivers during monsoon. Thousands of hectare of land has turned infertile. In Brahmapur region Rapti has destroyed Ranapar area. In Kaptanganj and Ramkola towns in Kushinagar district are facing severe soil erosion due to sand mining. We demand immediate halt of mechanized sand mining and ask the government to allow the fish worker to do the same but government should fix up a limit for the same.
3. In many villages of Eastern Uttar-Pradesh powerful local people have illegally grabbed the land given to Dalits and Most backward communities. In many villages, the Dalits are not even allowed passage to move out. Government must ensure that every person live with dignity at his/her land that every one has a right to access road in his/her house.
4. The Sugar factories and distilleries in Ramkola, Kaptanganj, Deoria, Rudrapur, Sardarnagar
are throwing chemical waste in the rivers like Chhoti Gandak, Rapti, Amy and Gurra resulting in heavy pollution in the rivers. The fish workers are facing hunger, as the fish catch is almost nil. Apart from this, the waste has spilled over to a vast agricultural land turning them completely barren and dangerous. The ground water in most of the eastern UP town is contaminated which is a severe threat to public health. We demand immediate action against these factory/mill owners and ask the government to compensate the farmers who have lost their land to these mills. The Pollution Control board should be asked to explain as why they continue to allow such hazards industries to run.
5. In Kushingar and Gorakhpur the condition of National Employment Guarantee Scheme is a matter of grave concern. It has not been implemented accordingly. We found work being done through tractors and people without work despite having the valid card. The scheme seems to have failed because of the connivance between the village Pradhans and block officials. We demand severe action against erring officials to implement the scheme and ask the government to form a monitoring and evaluating committee which should include civil society representatives.
6. In Poorvanchal, we found lot of discrepancy in the distribution of ration cards. Those who should have been eligible for the cards have not got it while others have got it. We demand strong action the Sarpanches and officials who are involved in nepotism and corruption. We also demand from the government that the reach of the Public Distribution System should be expanded and it must include important edible items, books, and cloths, Masalas etc so that the poor can benefit from this.
7. Hunger and starvation is prevelent in Eastern Uttar-Pradesh. A majority of families do not ration for two times. The children have uncertain futrue. It is shameful that children from Mushahars, Chauhan, Rajbhar etc are eating rats and fishermen are forced to survive on snails.
We demand the government to focus on these communities with special programmes particularly developing schools in the villages with mid day meals and other incentives for school children and their parents.
8. The government must form special Land Courts to settle land disputes and implement the land reform measures strongly and effectively. The government must concentrate on giving communal entitlement. We also demand that women should be given priority in allotment of agricultural land and all new entitlement whether residential or agricultural should have joint entitlment.
Today on the day of culmination of Padyatra we committ ourselves to continue our struggle for Land, Dignity and freedom. We will continue to make government aware of the ground situation while fighting for our rights democratically. We also want to make it clear that this war of independence is not possible with out the support and alliance of anti caste, anti communal, anti superstition and progressive forces in which the role of women, Dalits, Most backward communities and tribals have an important role to play. We also feel that this for dignity and freedom we have to take inspiration from Baa Saheb Ambedkar, Jyoti Ba Phule, Savitri Bai Phule, and EV Ramaswamy Naicar. They remain our icons and role models in our struggle for the creation of a civil society.
Following organisations signed the resolution
Uttar-Pradesh Land Alliance,
Social Development Foundation, Delhi
Food for Hungry Foundation, Delhi
Dr B.R.Ambedkar Gramodyog Sansthan, Deoria
Swachchakar Kalyan Samiti, Ghazipur
Smt Sonia Gramin Mahila avam Bal Kalyan Samiti, Deoria
Lord Buddha Trust, Kushinagar
Hitkari Sewa Samiti, Deoria
Jan Kalyan Sansthan, Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur
Palanjivi Samiti, Rudrapur, Deoria
Mushahar Shakti Sanghthan, Deoria
Tharu Development Society, Lakhimpur Khiri
Tal Ratoy Machchua Jan Kalyan Sansthan, Mau
Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram, Jaunpur
Chitrakoot Sewa Ashram, Chitrakoot
Dalit Mahila Mukti Morcha,
UP Machchua Adhikar Manch, Rudrapur
and number of others
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