A “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group” determined to overcome slavery and coercion: The Sahariya, a community of former hunter gatherers – Rajasthan

Sahariya adivasis in Baran in south Rajasthan have waged a quiet war against generations of slavery to local landlords. Pushed off agricultural land and struggling to sustain themselves on deteriorating forests, hundreds of Sahariya families here remained indebted as “hali” — among 31 forms of bonded debt prohibited by Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976 — against small loans to Sikh, Jat, and Dhakad landlords in some instances for generations. But since November 2010, more than 200 Sahariya families have refused to work, farming land and taking care of landowners’ cattle without wages. Even as feudal violence and coercion continued in pockets, this January, 135 Sahariya families sold the first portion of crop harvested on land they reclaimed from the landlords. […]

The extent of debt bondage in Baran is still unravelling.

“My older brother worked as a hali for five years on Hemraj Dhakad’s farm in Achramedha village after borrowing Rs 10,000. He died of a fever but Hemraj claimed my brother had a matha chadha (bonded debt) of Rs. 40,000 and I had to work for him in lieu of the debt. When the news spread that Sahariya had been freed in Eklera, he started locking me up at night but I managed to escape and board a bus,” recounted Jagdish Sahariya, 19, who had fled to Eklera village from Atru, 50 kms away. […]

Sahariya adivasis, identified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group, were hunter gatherers till a few decades back and are concentrated in Shahbad and Kishanganj blocks on Rajasthan’s border with Madhya Pradesh. District officials estimate there are 21,000 Sahariya families in Baran, a majority of who are landless. The death of 47 Sahariyas because of starvation during the 2001 drought even triggered a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court on right to food. Hunger deaths have been reported as recently as in 2004, 2009 and 2011. […]

Feudal violence and coercion continues

BLA Act provided Rs. 2 lakh for a survey every three years in districts to identify and resolve debt bondage. But more than two years since this was brought to the government’s notice, officials have been reluctant to complete this in Baran. The posts of labour inspector, labour welfare officer, lower divisional clerk have been vacant in Baran since five years. […]

Sahariyas families gathered at Sunda and Eklera said the practice continued in Kishanganj. “There are at least 400-500 Sahariya working as hali in Laxmipura, Jaisva, Barauni, Gerda, Bhabhuka, Moeta, Ardanpura, Jagdevpura. In Jagdevpura, those working on Jagdish Aitwal’s farm asked us to help them but how can we reach them?” said Kishore Sahariya. […]

Radhe Shyam Sahariya, 28, then said that he was hali at landlord Har Charan Singh’s farm. “I borrowed Rs. 3,000 from him when I was 15 but now he asks for Rs. 20,000. My wife Leela Devi also works at his farm. Har Charan beats me up. Once he tied one of his hali to a tree and beat him.”

At this point the interview was interrupted, as Har Charan Singh reached the spot and tore the page this correspondent was taking notes on. He threatened everyone present at the meeting. A complaint was registered against Singh at Bhanwargarh police station. But no FIR has been registered against Singh or any landlord in Baran under the BLA Act 1976.

“What the Rajasthan government did by acknowledging and responding to bonded labour is heartening and is a first in many years. Land redistribution is potentially the most significant step to address bonded labour. But this and other measures by the district officials seem concentrated in a small area,” said Harsh Mander, Special Commissioner of the Supreme Court for the right to food. “Making an advance available against MNREGA work could help workers with their credit needs,” he said.

(The reporter worked on this story as part of a Media Fellowship offered by the National Foundation for India.)

Source: “In Rajasthan, Sahariyas throw off generations of slavery” by Anumeha Yadav, The Hindu, 25 February 2013
Address: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/in-rajasthan-sahariyas-throw-off-generations-of-slavery/article4449714.ece
Date Visited: 30 March 2021

[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]

The Aryans describe their enemies as dark in complexion, noseless or flat-nosed, of harsh speech, not honouring the Aryan gods, not observing the Aryan religious ritual, but rich in material possessions and living in fortified cities. They are named Dāsas, Asuras, Panis and Kīkatas. The Aryan invaders finally triumphed over the non-Aryans, many of whom were killed, enslaved or driven further inland. In this land, which the Aryans conquered from their enemies, were founded the early Aryan settlements.

B.G. Gokhale in Ancient India (Bombay, 1959 ed.), p. 22
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