Mahottari, 21st January: As the first week of Magh is about to end, the Dalit settlements of Mahottari have not yet been able to escape the cold despite the sunshine that has finally appeared for the past two days. Although the sun has appeared around noon for the past two days, the Dalit settlements are still hoping that the cold wave that preceded it will provide some relief from the cold.
The continuous thick fog that has increased with the recent Maghe Sankranti and the cold wind that flows with it have not yet dried the damp floors of the Dalit settlements. There are some huts with straw walls and straw roofs to live or sleep in. There is nothing to cover or lay down inside the huts. Only straw has been laid, and that too is damp. This is the situation of most of the poor settlements in the local levels of Mahottari. Especially in the settlements of the Musahar and Bantar caste communities, the winter has not yet stopped.
The poor of these settlements, who thought that this year’s hardships were over after the cold wave after mid-Poush and the sun began to appear towards the end, were not able to celebrate Tila Sakrayat (Maghe Sankranti) properly. On the day of Tila Sakrayat (Maghe Sankranti), which is celebrated by hiding their poverty and sorrow, the Dalits of these settlements say that the festival could not be celebrated in the poor settlements due to the increasing fog and cold winds that quickly win the hearts. “The whole body was frozen, what festival should we celebrate?” (The winter was frozen, what festival should we celebrate?) Paro Bantar of the Dalit settlement of Sakari in Bhangaha-3 says, “We are waiting, will someone come as a support?” (We are waiting, will someone come as a support?).
Like Paro, 50 families of Musahar and Bantar from the settlement are now waiting for relief. Hemani Sada Musahar from Musahari Tol in Ramnagar, nearby Bhangaha-4, says that her body is still unable to go to work due to the cold. “I have not been able to go to work anywhere due to the cold, there is no food to eat in the hut, nor any warm clothes,” says Hemani, “I have not understood, I cannot bear this cold.” Not only Hemani, but 35 Musahar families in the settlement are in the same situation.
There are other extremely poor caste communities in the district, but the Musahar and Bantar are in more trouble than others. Like these two caste communities, the condition of the Dalit communities including Mestar, Dom, Khatbe, Halkhor, Chamar and Paswan seems pathetic. However, these communities generally seem to be a little more prosperous than the Bantar and Musahar. When you visit a settlement, even a person who is not familiar with the place can guess that it is a Musahar or Bantar settlement when you see a shack with shacks, says 75-year-old Vridev Singh Danuwar, who lives near the Musahar settlement in Bhangaha-4.
These other communities are seen as slightly above the Musahar and Bantar communities. Among them, Dom, Halkhor and Mestar are seen as inferior to the others, says Praveen Karna of Bhataulia Basti, Ekdara, chairman of the social organization Prayas Mahottari. “The Musahar and Bantar communities have similar thatched huts, their lifestyles, festivals and areas of work are also similar,” says Karna. “These communities are far behind in terms of education, health and other development opportunities.”
Completely unaware of access to education, health and other opportunities for development, the main job of the Musahar and Bantar here is agricultural labor. They have no complaints about their poverty and deprivation to anyone except God. Musahar and Bantar are used as examples for the adage ‘not storing grain, not accumulating wealth’. The grain brought by the Girhat (they call the rich farmers who go to work) as a reward for their work in the fields does not usually remain stale. ‘Brought a hut, ate a roast’ is another adage of their customs.
Amidst the extreme cold that has been prevailing since the last Maghe Sankranti, their only source of warmth is a ‘ghur’ (a pile of burnt rags or straw) made by collecting rags, rags and pieces of plastic thrown on the road. Even though these soaked rags, rags and pieces of plastic and rags do not burn properly and only emit a faint smoke, their entire family is seen sitting around the same ‘ghur’, blowing ‘fu fu’ and spreading their hands in the hope of getting warm. The small children of the slum are seen looking for warmth with their bare bodies on the same ‘ghur’.
Although Musahar, Chamar, Paswan, Dom and Khatbe Dherthor live in all localities in the district, Halkhor and Mestar are found only around Jaleshwor. Similarly, Bantar are found only in the Bhangaha Nagar area of the district. The main livelihood of Musahar and Bantar is in agriculture, while others are also seen in other jobs. Doms raise pigs and make bamboo baskets. Mestar does cleaning work.
Out of the total population of 706,994 in the district, these Dalits constitute about 15 percent. The 2078 national census shows that the population of Musahar in the district is 27,352 and Khatbe is 19,625. Similarly, Dom, Halkhor and Mestar also have about 10,000. The census shows that the population of Chamar in the district is 25,230 and that of Paswan is 17,609.
The rains, the heat of summer, and the cold of winter have become their common destiny. Intellectuals here say that the programs targeted at Dalits by state agencies have not reached the common poor except for a few. “They are like that, where do Dalit-targeted programs reach?” says Saroj Yadav, a socio-political activist from Aurahi-1.
After the cold wave increased after mid-December, some local levels have said that relief and rescue will be provided to the poor settlements, but the poor here have not received anything. Especially among Dalits, the condition of Musahar and Bantar is more pitiful than that of other caste communities within Dalits. Even though one hopes that someone will come to see their suffering at such a time, the Musahar settlement of Bhataulia always tells the story of how no one has come to see their suffering. Musahar is one of the most populated settlements in Bhataulia district. According to Vijay Karna, a social and political activist of the settlement, more than 100 Musahar families live here.
There are no teenagers or young men in the Musahar and Bantar settlements. They go to Punjab and Haryana in India for these jobs. There are only women, small children and the elderly in the settlements. “What should we do, sir, the people here are not making a living, their sons and grandsons have gone to Punjab, they will survive on the money they bring,” says 60-year-old Bhutha of Musaharitol in Aurahi-7, “It is like this, God has given the poor a life, it has to be cut.”
In the most backward Musahar and Bantar families of the district, sweets are eaten the night before their sons and grandsons go to Punjab and the day they return. They eat by borrowing money on the day they go, and on the day they return, with their own earnings. Apart from this, they remember the meat and alcohol consumed by the candidates during the elections. “During the elections, meat and alcohol were consumed for two to three days, after which no one returned,” said a woman from the Musahar community of Bhangaha-2, who did not want to reveal her name (women from this community hesitate to tell others about their names), “Akhni Jad Sa Maraichhi, Koi Nai Takaya” (Now, when I was dying of cold, no one looked after me).
To change the situation of Dalits including Musahar and Bantar, local levels should start planned work to diversify the work they are doing and connect the new generation with education and reliable skills, says sociologist Shivraj Dahal, a resident of Bhangaha-3. He said that since the local leadership seems indifferent in this direction, providing one or two meals a year or giving them a single piece of clothing will not improve the situation.
