A recent visit to a few Sabar villages in the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency’s Ghatshila block debunked the claims of a “double-engine” growth by the Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das, who insists that the BJP state government along with the Centre has delivered on enormous development.
However, one of Jharkhand’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG), the Sabars, continue to live in hunger and extreme deprivation revealing the government’s apathy towards this community.
Denial of ration and social security pensions
According to the Supreme Court’s orders, all PVTG households are entitled to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration cards on which they are to get 35 kg of free grain every month. In Jharkhand, all PVTG households are also entitled to receive social security pension of Rs 600 per month (hiked to Rs 1,000 from April 2019, as per a recent announcement of state government).
Also read: Fact Check: Is Modi Really the Guardian of Tribal Rights in Jharkhand?
Despite these safeguards, Joba and Banawali Sabar of Basadora village barely survive on rice and salt. Like others in their hamlet, they depend on the forest and odd manual labour jobs for their livelihood. A hard day’s labour gets them Rs 200. They neither have a ration card nor do they get the PVTG pension, as neither of them has an Aadhaar.
A dilapidated hut in Basadora. Credit: Siraj Dutta
In the four villages that were visited, at least 45 of 106 families are not enrolled in the pension scheme. Several of them also do not have Aadhaar.
Holudboni’s Sombari and Bhushen Sabar are denied their ration and pensions as they do not have an Aadhaar. Sombari has been ill for a month. The block hospital did not conduct any test and just prescribed vitamin supplements. She continues to shiver, suffer from fever and has progressively become weaker.
Kishori and Malti Sabar of Holudboni are also denied their pensions as they do not have an Aadhaar. Phulmani Sabar of the same village is old and stays alone. Neither does she have a ration card nor is she enrolled for a pension due to the lack of an Aadhaar number.
Destitution and malnutrition
The Sabar families live in dilapidated one-room houses, built by the government years ago. Most members of the community are severely undernourished. In Jharkhand, children are to get three eggs per week in Anganwadis and two eggs per week in the school mid-day meals. But children of Basadora do not get eggs in the local Anganwadi and only one egg per week in the school.
Lal Sabar’s family, in Holudboni. Credit: Siraj Dutta
In Chhotodanga, Malti Sabar’s 23-day old daughter weighs just 1.8 kg. She was kept in the baby unit at the block hospital for five days and discharged with a bottle of vitamin syrup. While medical attention from the Anganwadi worker and the doctor at the hospital may see the baby through, her condition exposes the hunger and malnourishment of the mother.
Also read: Denied Ration for Not Linking Aadhaar, Man Dies of Malnutrition in Jharkhand
Most of the families did not get any work in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in the last year. Many also do not want to work under the programme because of the delays in the payment of wages.
Malnourished child in Chhotadangar. Credit: Siraj Dutta
Lack of education
Hardly any adults from any of the villages are literate. According to the census 2011, only 21% of Sabar adults in Jharkhand are literate.
The government seems to have made no special effort to improve the dismal rate of literacy in this community. Govardhan Sabar and Ravi Sabar of Chhotodanga dropped out of primary school as they were harassed by the non-PVTG students.
Destitution in Basadora. Credit: Siraj Dutta
Also read: ‘No Road, No Vote’: Villagers in Jharkhand’s Alangkera Plan to Boycott Polls
Sabars missing from political discussion
Jamshedpur goes to polls on May 12. The abject deprivations of the Sabar community find no place in electoral discussions. Will the opposition mahagathbandhan wake up to seek accountability from the double-engined BJP on the question of the Sabars in the election season?
Siraj Dutta is based in Jharkhand and has been working on the MNREGA for the last six years.