Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Between a drought and a hard place -Jiby Kattakayam

Between a drought and a hard place -Jiby Kattakayam

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Nov 24, 2016   modified Modified on Nov 24, 2016
-DNA

The Dalits of Bundelkhand, its most oppressed section of society are leaving the region in droves due to a lack of employment opportunities. Meanwhile, their children are being deprived of education, too, either because of a loss of regular income or because of caste discrimination

On October 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a Parivartan rally in Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh where he highlighted the presence of large numbers of migrant labourers in Gujarat. “When I met people from Bundelkhand in Gujarat, I would ask, are you from MP or UP? Most of the people say we are from UP. Why do people from UP’s Bundelkhand region leave their home? Because of the lack of jobs,” Modi posed the question and gave the answer.

Dalit activists, however, have a different answer.

“Who are these people from Bundelkhand who are going to Gujarat, Delhi and Mumbai? They are mostly Dalits who are landless labourers and marginal farmers,” says Kuldeep Kumar Baudh, convener of the Bundelkhand Dalit Adhikar Manch (BDAM), which is active in nearly 500 vilages in and around Jalaun district in UP.

In Navalpura village in Jalaun district, Munna, a landless labourer, is preparing to travel to Surat. He had come home for Diwali, and after spending 20 days is packing to leave again. “All my life I have been a refugee. I am originally from Dehalkhand village, not far from here. The upper castes snatched my father’s land and forced us to flee. We settled in Navalpura, but because of the drought, there is no work on farms. Now, I have to go to Gujarat, and I have to also take my children out of school because it is not safe here. This village has nearly 50 hectares as common property which belongs to the gram sabha. If I get one acre, I can do some farming,” says Munna.

But successive droughts in the Bundelkhand region have rendered small farms unviable and forced bigger farmers to cut back on hiring labourers. Despite agriculture proving unremunerative, there is a clamour for land. Delayed MGNREGA wage payments and a failure to generate works tied to the scheme have robbed the area of a vital safety net.

In rural Bundelkhand, even as migration is disrupting the education of many children, some Dalits are accessing secondary education and beyond. But the education offered in the local government school at Navalpura is dismal. Ashok Kumar Dohare, who owns four bighas of land and has a motorbike, is one of the better-off Dalits in the village. He describes the school, “There are five classes, three teachers and 58 students in the school.

Many of the upper castes who can afford to do so, send their children to private schools. The headmistress will not eat the mid-day meal here. We are certain that this is because the cook is a Dalit. If you want to find out about the learning, just quiz these children.”

Please click here to read more.

DNA, 23 November, 2016, http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-between-a-drought-and-a-hard-place-2276011


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close