Living on the margins of society!

hat will happen if your son falls ill” I asked Shiv Charan after talking to him

for a while about his family and the village. “Kya hoga, jyada se jyada mar

jayega (The worse that can happen is, he will die)” he smiled and said. The

answer was terse and completely bereft of emotions, and his smile seemed as if life has got no

meaning for him… he is living simply because there is no option.

Diverting the gloom I turned my question to his son. “Do you go to School” I asked and he

replied in affirmative. “Do you get food there” with a shy he said “Yes”. Trying to be more

enthusiastic I asked him ‘What do you want to become in your life” and before he could say

“W

“Lamboo” with his relative’s son. They are from Birhor tribe which is fast getting extinct.

anything his mother took her son away making me realize that my question was out of context

and out of the world of Shiv Charan’s family.

This is the case of Shiv Charan, his wife and two kids. He has been living in the village called

Narela, which has the total population of about 400 people mostly Dalits. It’s 15 kilometers from

Kowakol block headquarters of Nawada District in Bihar. The nearest Primary Health Center

(PHC) from the village is about 15 kilometers away, and the additional PHC, which is about 7

kilometers away, perpetually remains defunct.

Shiv Charan’s father owned a small plot of land but gradually they were sold off, now he has

simply enough to live with his two kids and his wife. He is in his 50s and does labour to earn 20-

30 rupees per day. But he is not lucky enough to get work everyday around the year. The roads in

Kowakol are not pucca and they become “un-walkable” (leave aside “un-drivable”) in rainy

seasons. When the crop is good in the village he manages food for his family by working on

someone’s field but when it is not, he is forced to go to the block headquarters. “And what

happens in the rainy seasons” I asked and Shiv Charan became silent. He had no answer or may

be he knew that it had an obvious answer - he may have to ask villagers for food or go hungry.

“You must be getting benefits from the government schemes” I paused for a while and asked him

trying to throw some positive lights into this interview. “My name is in the BPL list but we get

kerosene oil only. We do not get grains”, he replied. “The BPL list is being revised that is why

the administration is not supplying the grains” answered one of the villagers who was sitting

beside him. “What about NREGS. Did you get work through this scheme”. I asked. “We have got

the job card and recently we were employed in a road construction work for three days but after

that everything ended”. “And what about the Indira Awas & other schemes” I asked. Now Shiv

Charan became a bit agitated “these sarkari people, from the chaprasi to the top, want bribes and

then also they do nothing. And they also abuse you when you remind them”.

“Then what do you do when you have no work” I could not help asking this question. He smiled

and said “the villagers give us food, it is on their mercy that we are still alive”.

The case of Bandhu Majhi from Rampur Village is even worse. Rampur village is in Rajauli

block of Nawada district. Bandhu Majhi is above 55 (years) and suffers from a disease called

falaria. His sons have migrated from the village and have left no contacts. His wife is dead. He

eats two times a day- in the afternoon he cooks one roti and some chokha (mashed potato) if he is

lucky otherwise he takes roti with salt. His name figures in the BPL list but due to the revision

going on in the list he is not able to get rations. “Yes the ANM gives me the dose every 15 days”

he says shortly. “What about the other government schemes”, I asked. “ My name has been given

for Vridha Pension but I am not getting anything” he replied. We got few days work through

NREGS but then the thikedars who were organizing the work took away our job cards”. “What

do you do when you do not get work” I asked “ Such Puchiye to jindagi inke chalte chal raha hai,

jarurat mein ye log khana de dete hain… dekhiye kab tak mera jindagi khichata hai (Life is

running because of them, they provide me food at times, lets see till when I continue living)” he

said pointing at the villagers.

Life of “lamboo” from Birhor tribe is more complex. He is over 50 and the traditional mukhiya of

the 50 odd Birhors living in the Birhor Tola of Pawapuri village in Kowakol block of Nawada

district. They are residing there for over 20 years. Lamboo starts his day at 6:30 early morning by

having bhaat (cooked rice) and saag. He goes to the jungle with other men of his tribe with the

dream of hunting animals and finding fruits and roots. But almost every day he comes back

empty handed or with some herbs and cotton. “Our life was good in early times, we used to eat

meat everyday, dance and enjoy, now as you can see there is no wood in the jungle” “Then why

you go to the jungle everyday” I asked. After a short pause he replied “ someday we will get good

meat in the jungle”.

“Did you catch anything today” I asked. “No” he replied shortly. Before I could ask the next

obvious question he said “ a shop at Rani Bazaar (at block headquarter about 7 kilometers from

the tola) gives us grains and that is how we survive”. “May be he is trapping you in debts, do you

leave thumb impression on any papers with him” I enquired. “No it is just that we give herbs or

cotton that we get from the forest” he replied.

I repeated the questions about the government schemes and he replied “through Indira Awas the

government built our houses but we do not live in them, we sleep on the varanda or outside, its

too congested and hot inside”. When I asked about other schemes he said, “No BPL or NREGS

card has been made. There are two hand-pumps in the village one of which has bad quality

water.”

To sum up, the cases of Shiv Charan, Lamboo and Bandhu speak of different caste & culture,

different families and different places but one can find a deep relation between them. All of them

reply in the same manner if we asked them these questions:

Are the government benefits reaching you, and the answer is No.

Is the government providing the environment for you to live (infrastructure-roads, electricity,

water) and the answer is No

Is your life getting miserable every day, and the answer is Yes

How are you surviving, and the answer is at the mercy of the community (villagers)

What will happen if the villagers do not help you in crisis times, and there is No Answer

May be we can get the answer from ourselves if we find some relations between them and us and

provided… we are brave enough to feel that answer.

***

By

Samir Prasad

March, 2007

(The story was put on PACS-1 website, and also carried in official publications)