Budihalli is a tiny village in Chellakere taluk of Chitradurga district of Karnataka. Of the total 120 houses, 30 belong to the Golla (BT) community, 60 to the Nayaka (ST) community and 30 to the dalit community. The Nayaka and Golla communities own substantial tracts of land (30 to 170 acres per house hold), while Dalits own very little land. Around ten households among the Dalits own up to 4 acres of land and the remaining 20 households are landless. Dalits work on the fields of landed gentry. Dalit women get Rs 25-35 per day as wages while men are paid Rs 50 on an average. In spite of its ST status, the Nayaka community has evolved as a dominant one in Karnataka.
Caste discrimination against dalits is strong here. Dalit women are supposed to cover their heads and keep heads bent. The local hotel has a set of tumblers exclusively kept aside for this community. Dalits do not have their own place of worship. Bonded labor was alive till year 2000. Ever since Dalit women joined the SHGs (sanghas), harassment against them has intensified with taunts like, ‘How dare you people join the Sanghas? Madiga men and women should be kept in place! We will torch you and your house!’
The Madigas (Dalits) were given four houses under the Ashraya scheme, while the benefit of the Ambedkar scheme went to the Nayakas. Two water tanks have been built in the dalit locality, but due to resistance from the landed gentry water was not supplied, forcing them to depend for water on the tank in the ST community area. Many women have thatched roof houses, with no facility for bath and toilet. Women dare to go to these tanks and bathe in the open only after dark.
Apart from social and economical hardships women have been accused of stealing. In one instance of theft, Dalit boys were accused, tied to the trees and beaten. When women protested they were asked, “How come your sambar is tasty with red chilli powder and sambar powder? This must have been stolen goods!”
Each hut is crowded with not less than five to seven inmates. Usually they put their mat outside in the open and sleep. Some times when their husbands are away and in the dark nights men from other community just come and join the women on their mats. This kind of sexual exploitation is very common, and any resistance is met with threatens that houses will be torched. It is important to note that the very next day after the team left the village, two Dalit houses were torched (presumably a punishment for having talked to the team).
In a recent incident on 22 December 2009, Dalits were beaten up when they harvested the jalimara (fire wood of wild shrubs) on Bagarhukum land. Subsequently, Dalits were booked for rioting. Since this incident, a social boycott against Dalits is in place (though all communities have denied it in the presence of administration). If anybody employs Madigas they are fined Rs 500. Since December Madigas are not called to work in the fields. Women, in tears as they spoke to the team, desperately wanted to work and earn wages to feed their starving families. They had demonstrated at Chitradurga in support of their demands for two days. Women desperately wanted a pucca house for dwelling , (so that it could not easily be torched), water for daily chores, bath rooms and toilets in order to become independent of the ST and BT communities and escape daily humiliations.
The Dalits pointed out that waste wood shrubs growing on about 150 acres Bagarhukum (gomala) land had been used by the landed gentry since long. Madigas have been demanding land and the administration had permitted them to occupy the same, but this is resented and resisted by feudal forces. Recently, about 4 acres of land has been earmarked for the Dalits, but the Administration is harassing them by asking for tax-paid receipts etc.
The committee observed that the social structure of Budihalli is reminiscent of Khairlanji, where the so-called `ST’ Nayakas the `BT’ Gollas assert feudal dominance over Madigas.
No comments:
Post a Comment