“Do you know what makes it possible for us to enjoy our rights and freedoms? It is Bharat ka Samvidhan [the Constitution of India].” Rampyari Kawachi held up the volume for a customer who was browsing through the books in his mobile bookshop. The Constitution was the thickest of the books displayed at his stall in the haat at Ghotgaon village, in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district. The weekly market is held about 13 kilometres from his village, Joradabri Ryt, in Dhamtari’s Nagri block.
Rampyari, who cannot read or write, was explaining the Constitution’s importance to whosoever came to see his wares that day. Like him, his potential customers belonged to the region’s Adivasi communities, and the bookseller was only too keen to introduce them to the Indian Constitution.
It is “the one holy book”, said Rampyari, that everyone needed to keep at home, and learn from about their rights and duties. “Do you know, we Adivasis and Dalits get reservation [in higher education and government employment] because of the Constitution of India and its provisions, and the fifth and sixth schedules [that protect tribal communities]?” he said to the people at Ghotgaon, who were at the haat to mainly purchase groceries, vegetables and other essential items.
Rampyari Kawachi looks like he could be 50 years old. He belongs to the Gond community – the largest Adivasi group in Chhattisgarh, where the Scheduled Tribes are one-third of the population. Most of the books he sells – with titles such as Teesri Azadi ki Sinhgarjana; Birsa Munda: Sachitra Jeevani; Bhrashtachar; Hindu Adivasi Nahin Hain – are in Hindi. But he also stocks a few books in the Gondi language, and some in English. When someone picks up a title, Rampyari explains its contents, often sounding like a short book review.







