The Hindu : Other States / Rajasthan News : For Sahariyas unnatural deaths are normal

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Monday, Sep 27, 2004

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For Sahariyas unnatural deaths are normal

By Sunny Sebastian

BRAHMPURA (RAJASTHAN), SEPT.26. Over a period, the Sahariya tribals of south Rajasthan have learnt to take unnatural deaths in their families as part of normal life. The high incidence of child mortality as well as mother mortality has perhaps prompted the Sahariyas to produce more children as the tribe has registered a three-fold increase in its population over the past three decades.

Five of the six persons who died in July-August, of diseases resulting from malnutrition in this `Sahrana' (Sahariya settlement) in Kishanganj bloc in Baran district, were children below five years. The sixth person, Sampat (28), had died after child birth. The medical records attributed excessive bleeding as the reason for her death though the neighbours said she did not have proper nourishment after the delivery.

Ram Singh, husband of Sampat, was sleeping in his hut with a drum resting under his wooden cot -- the only furniture one came across in Sahariya houses -- when this Correspondent visited the village in the afternoon. Going by the prevailing atmosphere of disease and morbidity in the area one was tempted to enquire whether he too was unwell. The reply was in the negative from Ram Singh who got up with much reluctance after the prodding from his neighbours. Ram Singh was only catching up with his sleep during the day as he was drumming throughout the preceding night at the mela of Vir Tejaji, a much revered folk deity which is associated with protection from snake bites. There was a look of helplessness on his face when he said Sampat, who had died on August 4, was his second wife. Sampat's child, which survived, is being looked after by the relatives in another village.

Ironically, Ram Singh's first wife too had died a few years back at the time of delivery in a hospital in Baran. From both the marriages he has four boys and a girl as surviving children. On an average each family in the area was found to have five children. There is some awareness about small family norm, as one of the men said without asking, "ham ne operation bhi karvaya''(I have undergone family planning operation also). The Brahmapura settlement, some 100 kms from the divisional headquarter Kota and 33 kms away from the panchayat headquarter Kishanganj, has two Gujjar families besides 148 families of Sahariyas. It has an aganwadi centre and a primary school.

As per a study by the Bharatiya Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), while about 190 children required nutrition in the village only 170 were being provided with. There were six children in third grade malnutrition and four in fourth grade malnutrition, it was reported. The primary school where 200 children are enrolled normally gets an attendance of 60 students. The supply of mid-day meal was reportedly stopped when the school was closed during summer vacation and was resumed only after July 25. In Mayatha village a few kilometers from here, where five deaths of children between the age 30 days to seven years were reported in August the regular supply of mid-day meal was resumed about a fortnight back.

The families in Brahmpura and other affected villages like Mayatha, Asnawar and Jetpura have received grains from the administration after the recent focus on the deaths. The gram sevak in Brahmpura, Jagdish Khatri said all the families would now be provided wheat at the rate of Rs.2 per kg. This has been made possible after listing all the households there in the Antyodaya category. Till now only 35 families were in the below poverty line category while 14 others were in the Antyodaya."In fact a BPL status holds the key for their food and medical security. I have sent a proposal to Government to list all the Sahariya families in the BPL category as the Antyodaya status which is still lower, does not take care of medicines,'' Rajendra Bhanawat, Collector, Baran said. The other major benefits in possessing a BPL card include, a relief of Rs.10,000 in the wake of the death of the sole bread winner of the family and old age pension which otherwise is not given to those who live with adult children.

Sahariyas, a primitive tribe, now mostly confined to Shahabad and Kishanganj blocs of Baran district bordering Madhya Pradesh in south east Rajasthan, are among the most vulnerable of the aboriginals the country has. Mainly dependent on forests for their livelihood as hunters and gathers and a few as agriculturalists they find their existence challenged. According to Sankalp Sanstha, an NGO based at Mamoni in Shahabad, the landless-ness among the tribe is much more than the Rajasthan average. Against the state average of 10.63 per cent the prevalence of landless-ness in Shahabad and Kishanganj stood at 40.21 per cent and 35.58 per cent respectively.

Yet, curiously enough, with all the deaths and devastations the community encountering of late after its rather unhealthy exposure to the modern and exploitative world outside their forest dwellings -- reported 47 deaths in 2002 and 34 deaths in July-August last -- its population has only increased.

The Sahariya population, 27,000 back in 1971 is now around 75-80,000. "Their population had tripled in three decades which is much higher than the average population growth in the country,'' Mr.Bhanawat noted. According to the figures with the Tribal Research Institute in Udaipur the latest literacy rate among the Sahariyas stood at 14 per cent among the females and 33 per cent among the males. One positive sign the Collector wanted to point out about the Sahariya population was its rather favourable sex ratio. In the 0-6 years category there were 946 females against 1000 males. The situation was not the same a few years back is evident from the fact that in the 6-17 years category the sex ratio is 800 against 1000.

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