Bihar Dalits Denied Right to Vote
Jothi
Ramalingam from CRUSADE in Tamil Nadu, joined the AVI team in
Bihar and Jharkhand for a few days in March. These are his
impressions from his first visit to these states.
Darkness was
descending when our team reached Geriah village. We
needed an hour by jeep to cover less than 10 kms from the centre
where we were staying. There was no road worth the name. After
pushing the jeep, we managed to crisscross the muddy beaten
track along the rail line. All the women and children were at
the entrance of the village to greet us.
We settled in the
space in the middle of the village surrounded by mud huts of the
Mushar community, the lowest in the Indian caste hierarchy, to
talk to women members of two self-help groups started by Gram
Nirman Kendra, the NGO working in the area. Men were seated
behind us in a raised place. Mrs Putul (of GNK) explained how
she had led their struggle to get the land where they’re living
now from the Government.
Members of
the women’s groups meet regularly and pool the savings and
deposit it in the group bank account. As all members are
illiterate, they depend on Kendra staff to update their records
in monthly meetings. They are agricultural labourers and get
paid in kind - 3 kilos of rice with lunch (converted into rupee
value, the wage rate is comparable to rural Tamil Nadu). I
asked if men are addicted to drinking? No, the women said,
their husbands do not have the habit of drinking (unlike their
counterparts in Tamil Nadu).
I asked if
they voted in the last Panchayat elections? They didn’t.
Although a man from this village stood as a candidate, when
they went to the polling booth to vote, police threatened to
shoot them dead if they insisted on voting. Fearing for their
lives, they returned without exercising their franchise.
We heard the
same story from another Dalit village – Sabari Nagar –
which also does not have an approach road and electricity. Ram
Raj, a product of the Kendra’s school runs a tuition centre for
school children there and GNK has started self-help groups.
These have had subsidised Government loans sanctioned but not
released, as the members’ names are not in the government’s list
of Below Poverty Line families. Several CRUSADE groups faced
the same situation, but the real reason for the delay was that
CRUSADE groups refused to grease the palms of Government
officials.
These women also said they were
denied voting at Panchayat elections by police. They do,
though, cast their votes in State Assembly elections.
In contrast to those
two villages, the self-help group members of Gour Bigha, a
backward caste village near Gaya, do vote in Panchayat
elections. In fact they are encouraged to cast more than one
vote, some even cast five!
Towards the
end of my stay with the team, I facilitated a workshop with NGO
leaders at NBJK in Hazaribag. In the workshop, I explained the
SHG concept, essential records to be maintained, identifying
Below Poverty Line families through poverty indicators survey,
micro credit concept, viability/profitability analysis of income
generating activities and sustainability.
In the
workshop I shared my impressions of this short visit to a few
villages in Bihar. I felt that the real issues of rural
Bihar is not as much as absolute poverty, but denial of basic
amenities - approach roads, electricity, drinking water,
education – and basic rights – participation in local democracy
– exercising their franchise and holding village assembly.
Later,
discussing with Satish Girija, Mary and Ivan, the idea of a team
from Bihar visiting some of the Tamil Nadu groups for exposure
and interaction was mooted. This might be followed up by a
visit by Tamil Nadu groups to Bihar.
AVI has
agreed to co-fund the first two visits in what will be a very
interesting development of our support for these two
organisations.
Jothi
Ramalingam
14.05.2002
