Jyoti

Sarbajaya Bhattacharya

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“When we sit
down to study, water drips on our books and notebooks. Last year [2022], the
house collapsed in July. It happens every year,” says eight-year-old Vishal
Chavan about his home made
of heavy stones and bamboo.

A student of Class three in the
Alegaon Zilla Parishad school, Vishal’s family belongs to the Beldar community which is listed as a nomadic tribe in
Maharashtra. 

“It is especially difficult to stay inside the hut
when it rains...water drips from different places,” he adds. So, he and his
nine-year-old sister Vaishali,
keep checking for places in
the house where the roof of their home in Alegaon Paga village of Shirur taluka, is not leaking so that they can
study. 

The siblings’ keenness for academics makes their grandmother Shantabai Chavan very
proud. “In our entire khandan [family],
nobody has ever gone to school,” says the 80-year-old, “My grandchildren are
the first to learn how to read and write.” 

But as she speaks about her grandchildren, there
is a shadow of grief mixed with pride on her wrinkled face. “We don’t have a pucca house for them to study
comfortably. There is no light also,” says Shantabai, speaking inside their
tarpaulin hut in Alegaon Paga vasti.

An adult
over five feet tall would have to bend their heads to enter this triangular
structure with bamboo supporting the roof. Their home is part of a cluster of
40 huts belonging to Beldar, Phanse Pardhi and Bhil tribes. It is
located two kilometers outside the Alegaon Paga village here in Pune district.
“It’s difficult to live in a hut, Shantabai says, “But these kids don’t
complain, they adjust.” 

The
tarpaulin sheets of the hut are also worn out. It has been more than nine years
since they last changed the sheets or carried out any repair work. 

“My parents are always away at work,” says
Vishal about his parents, Subhash and Chanda who work at a stone quarry in
Pune. They each earn Rs. 100 a day, breaking and loading stones onto
trucks. That adds up to around Rs. 6,000 a month with which they must support a
family of five. “Oil, grains, everything is so expensive. How will we save any
money? points out Vishal’s mother, Chanda, 42, “How will we build a house?”

Although
there are a number of government welfare schemes to provide housing for nomadic
tribes in Maharashtra, building and owning a concrete house with their modest
earnings is a distant dream for the Chavan family. Schemes such as Shabari Adivasi Gharkul Scheme, Pardhi Gharkul Scheme and Yashwantrao
Chavan Mukt Vasahat Yojna require the beneficiary to produce a caste certificate.
“For any gharkul yojna [housing
scheme], we need to prove who we are. How will we prove our jaat [community]?” says Chanda.

The Idate Commission <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/report-of-the-national-commission-for-denotified-nomadic-and-semi-nomadic-tribes-idate-commission/">report</a> of 2017
shows that poor housing arrangements are common among nomadic tribes across the
country. A point that Chanda raises when she says, “you can see how we are
living.” Of 9,000 households surveyed by the commission, over 50 per cent live in semi-pucca or makeshift structures,
and 8 per cent live in tents with their families.

Several petitions have been raised about the problems in
acquiring identification documents to access government schemes and they have
been recorded as received by the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic
and Semi-Nomadic Tribes. A majority – 304 out of 454 petitions related to
problems with caste certificates. 

To avail of
a caste certificate, under the <a href="http://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/libweb/acts/2001.23..pdf">Maharashtra Scheduled Castes</a>, Scheduled tribes, De-notified
tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic tribes, Other Backward Classes, and Special
Backward Category (Regulations of Issuance and Verification of) Caste
Certificate Act, 2000, the applicant must prove they are permanent residents of
the  area or their ancestors have been
residing in the concerned area on deemed date (1961 in case of De-notified
tribes). “With this provision, it is not easy to get a caste certificate,” says
Sunita Bhosale, a social activist based in Shirur. 

“Many
generations of these Bhatkya-vimukt jati’s
[De-notified tribes] families have been wandering from village to village, from
one district to another,” she continues, “How is it even possible to produce
residential proofs from 50-60 years back? This Act needs to be changed.” 

Sunita, who
belongs to the Phanse Pardhi community established Kranti, a non-profit organisation in 2010,
which handles cases against De-notified Tribes. The organisation also helps
people in getting caste certificates, Aadhaar cards, rations cards and other
official documents so that they can avail various government schemes and
handles cases of atrocity. “In 13 years, we have managed to get caste
certificates for some 2,000 people,” says Sunita. 

Kranti
volunteers work in 229 villages of Daund and
Shirur talukas of Pune district, and Shrigonda taluka of
Ahmednagar district, covering an estimated population of around 25,000 of
de-notified tribes such as Phase Pardhi, Beldar and Bhil.

She says the
process of organising the certificates is tedious, time consuming and
expensive. “You have to spend money from your own pocket for travelling to the taluka office and for xerox
[photocopying] again and again. You have to submit proof of papers after papers
after papers. People give up hope of getting caste certificates then,” Sunita
explains.

“We never
had a place to call home,” says Vikram Barde, “I can’t recall how many times
we have changed places since my childhood.” The 36-year-old adds, &quot;People don&#39;t trust us. Even now. That’s why we move. Villagers put pressure on us to leave the place once they know who we are.”

Vikram, a daily-wage worker, belongs to the Phanse Pardhi tribe and lives
with his wife Rekha in a one-room house with a tin roof. Their house is a part
of a settlement of 50 Bhil and Pardhi families on the outskirts of Kuruli
village, 15 kilometers from Alegao Paga vasti.


Vikram was 13 when his parents migrated to Bhilpuri
Kh village in Jalna taluka of Jalna
district in 2008. “I
remember we used to live in kudacha ghar
[thatched hut] outside Bhilpuri Kh village. My grandparents used to tell
me they used to live somewhere in Beed,” he vaguely recalls. (Read: <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/no-crime-unending-punishment/">No crime, unending punishment</a>) 


In 2013, he
migrated to Pune with his family to the place where he currently lives. He and
his wife Rekha, 28, travel to various villages in Pune district for agriculture
work and sometimes they also work in construction sites. “In a day, we earn a
total of Rs. 350. Sometimes Rs. 400. We don’t get work for more than two weeks,” says Vikram.

Two years
ago, he used to spend around Rs. 200 every month to apply for a caste
certificate. Vikram had to travel 10 kilometres to the Block Development Office
in Shirur four to five times a month to follow up on his application. 

“The fare of
a shared auto ride for both ways was Rs. 60. Then the xerox. Then you would
have to wait at the office for a long time. I would lose wages. I don’t have
any proof of my residence or a caste certificate. So, I stopped,” says Vikram.

Their
children Karan, 14 and Soham, 11 study in a residential government school in Vadgaon of Mulshi taluka in Pune. Karan
is in Class nine and Soham is in Class six. “Our children are our only hope. If they study well. They
won’t have a life of moving around.” 

The PARI
reporter spoke to an official from the Social Justice and Special Assistance
Department of Pune division to know the number of families who have received
monetary help under various housing schemes for socio-economically vulnerable
groups. The officer said, “Rs. 88.3 lakhs were allotted to 10 families from
VJNT [Vimukt Jati Notified Tribes] in 2021–22 in Pandare village of Baramati
taluka of Pune. Apart from that, no
other proposal has been approved for nomadic tribes this year [2023].”

Back in the Alegaon Paga vasti, Shantabai is manifesting a dream of a happy future for her
grandchildren. She says, “I feel confident. We did not live in a house with
concrete walls. But my grandchildren will build a house for sure. And they will
be safe there.”

‘My grandchildren will build their own house'

پختہ مکان کی تلاش میں بھٹکتے خانہ بدوش قبائل

‘నా మనవసంతానం తమ సొంత ఇంటిని కట్టుకుంటారు’

‘என் பேரக்குழந்தைகள் சொந்தமாக வீடு கட்டுவார்கள்’

‘ਮੇਰੇ ਪੋਤਾ-ਪੋਤੀ ਆਪਣਾ ਖ਼ੁਦ ਦਾ ਘਰ ਬਣਾਉਣਗੇ’

‘ମୋ ନାତିନାତୁଣୀମାନେ ହିଁ ନିଜର ଘର ତୋଳିବେ’

'എന്റെ കൊച്ചുമക്കൾ അവരുടെ വീടുകൾ സ്വയം നിർമിക്കും'

'ಒಂದು ದಿನ ನನ್ನ ಮೊಮ್ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಅವರ ಸ್ವಂತ ಮನೆಯನ್ನು ಕಟ್ಟಲಿದ್ದಾರೆ'

‘मेरे पोते-पोती अपना घर ख़ुद बनाएंगे’

‘મારા બાળકો પોતાનું ઘર બનાવશે’

‘घर के सपना मोर पोता-पोती पूरा करहीं’

‘हमार पोता-पोती के आपन घर जरूर होई’

‘আমার নাতিনাতনি নিজের জোরেই দালান তুলবে’

যাযাবৰ শান্তাবাঈৰ নাতি-নাতিনীৰো এদিন হ’ব এটা ভাল ঘৰ…

पक्क्या घराकडे जाणारी भटकंतीची वाट

Alegaon Paga

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‘My grandchildren will build their own house'

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