Land(ed ?) and Bonded

The myth that bonded labor has been abolished can many a time be equated, in its operative logic, to another one, that untouchability no longer exists. Their invisibilization doesn’t point to non existence, does it? Caste keeps invisible bonds of labor intact, more than anything else in rural Purvanchal.

“The last time I could’t go to work because I was sick, the malik (owner) called 100. The Police came and took me to the thana (police station), I had to sit there all day. Then my family came and took me home. This is very common”, says Munni Kumari in a tone heavily laced with indifference and impatience. Its almost like she knows an interview like this won’t change any aspect of her life and if not for her mother, she won’t be entertaining us. Munni Kumari is 16, she stopped school when she was 11 and has since been working in the fields with her family. When asked if she wanted to study further, she glares back and stares away at the opposite direction without saying much.

If one of us ends up not going for work, either the Police show up at our doors or our children will be beaten or we’ll be abused. The other day I couldn’t go to work because I had work on my own land. I came back only to find that all my livestock had disappeared.

Her mother, Panna Devi, calms Munni down before telling us, “If one of us ends up not going for work, either the Police show up at our doors or our children will be beaten or we’ll be abused. The other day I couldn’t go to work because I had work on my own land. I came back only to find that all my livestock had disappeared. After running around for a while, I was told that malik had taken them to the Police Station. I had to beg and plead for hours before the Police agreed to give my livestock back to me that too only after I paid them. Everything that I had saved to buy fertilizer had to be given up to free my livestock.”

Panna Devi, mother of five, three sons and two daughters, also happens to be a farmer. She owns a piece of land which was allotted to her during the BSP government. Her family had to fight for its possession but they managed to wrest it out of those who had occupied it after a legal battle of thirteen years. Her land is 4 kms from her village and is situated along the forest. This is the case with all Dalits who has been allotted land in her village. But those from dominant castes belonging to OBC category have been allotted land away from the forest. The reason proximity from the forest is a factor is because the produce on the farms are constantly destroyed or eaten by wild animals. Panna Devi works on her piece of land whenever time permits, most days she is working on other fields. “The small piece of land that we own, 10 katha, do you think we can live on what we grow there? Of course not. Whatever we cultivate, we eat. For everything else, we work on the fields of others.”

The lands surrounding the settlements of Dalits in Taruanwa village belong to uppercastes. Women go through regular abuse when they use the lands around their house to relieve themselves. “There have been times when I haven’t been able to go to work when my malik waited close to where we relieve ourselves. He would spring on me and abuse me when I am in a state of undress. We are routinely threatened that we won’t be allowed to use the lands close to where we live to attend natures call if we don’t go for work. At every turn, its just abuse.”, says Malathi.

Almost everybody from the Musahar community here has been involved in legal battle to gain possession of their agricultural patta land. This assertion didn’t go down too well with the dominant castes who they are dependent on, for wage labour. “Residential Pattas were allotted to us under Avaz Yojana. After a few years, we were told by government officials that we have to vacate our homes as the land has been reserved for construction of a school. But there is a school just half a km away from here. The government has provided us electricity, water connection, even laid a road here. They did this without knowing the patta we are living on is governmental land? When we talk to them, we understand that this is being done at the instance of the maliks. After fighting for more than ten years to get possession of our agricultural patta land and spending so much money on legal fees, now we are again fighting this in Allahabad High Court.”, says Sukkal, an elderly person in the village. The irony of the lives of the Musahars of Taruanwa is evident. They work on the lands of the oppressors who are trying to keep them in chains to win their battle for land.