The Hindu : National : Ban on `mahuwa' brewing adds to misery of Sahariyas

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Wednesday, Sep 29, 2004

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National

Ban on `mahuwa' brewing adds to misery of Sahariyas

By Sunny Sebastian

SHAHABAD (RAJASTHAN), SEPT.28 . Drinking habits among men have been the bane of the primitive Sahariya tribe living on the edges of the fast depleting forests in south-east Rajasthan bordering Madhya Pradesh.

What little dynamism shown by the womenfolk of the otherwise easy going community of less than one lakh population is being continuously neutralised by the Sahariya men's casual approach to life.

Unlike in Rajasthan's southern districts of Banswara, Dungarpur and Udaipur where Bheels and other smaller communities of tribals still continue to brew their traditional liquor out of `mahuwa' flowers, Sahariyas, though poorer and prone to hunger and starvation, are forced to pay more and drink the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). If drink they should, they do not have the option of drinking the country liquor either.

Problem of numbers

Asked about the strange situation in Baran where only IMFL vends are seen and no ``desi'' liquor shops, the District Collector, Rajendra Bhanawat, said that the decision behind blocking the auction of "desi" liquor contract in the district was a well-meaning one to keep away the Sahariyas from drinks. However, in practice it only added to the misery of the Sahariya families, the men spending more money on the IMFL.

``This is again a problem of numbers. For 34 per cent Sahariyas, the Government could not have banned liquor altogether from the district though monetarily it means only a loss of Rs. 16 crores as contract money a year,'' Mr.Bhanawat said.

The Collector as well as activists of the Sankalp Sanstha, which has been working in the area since 1982, wonder whether it was wise on the part of the authorities to stop the Adivasis from making their traditional brew.

Women burdened

``Mahuwa is comparatively a harmless drink. Permitting the Sahariyas to continue with their traditions and eating and drinking habits would have only helped them,'' Komal Srivastava of the Bharatiya Gyan Vigyan Samiti noted. ''The Sahariya men are generally perceived to be lazy. Whatever little they earn is spent on liquor at the end of the day. May be they will be better off if they are permitted to brew liquor from mahuwa,'' she said. ``The Sahariya men are dying at a young age due to the habit of excess drinking,'' said Govind Hari Tiwari, sarpanch of Bhanwargarh. The drinking habits have only added to the burden of the womenfolk, who keep the hearth burning. ``But for their women who are hardworking and committed to the family the tribe would have vanished long time back,'' Mr. Tiwari said.

No specific plan

Yet, the administrators and planners, who now talk about adjustments with the rest of the population, tend to forget the fact that Baran was carved out of Kota as a new district over a decade ago keeping in mind the welfare of the Sahariyas and the Kathodias, another tribe.

It is obvious that the Sahariyas continue to languish unlike their better-off tribes in the Udaipur division because there is no area specific plan for them. There has been a Sahariya development plan in existence for many years with annual allocation of about Rs. 1.5 crores.

Even before the recent focus on the plight of the Sahariyas after the alleged starvation deaths which claimed over two dozens of lives, mostly of children, the Rajasthan Government, had announced a Rs.26-crore package for the tribe in Shahabad and Kishanganj blocks falling in Jhalawar, once the Lok Sabha constituency of the Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje and now represented by her son, Dushyant Singh.

Asked about the allegations of administrative apathy towards the conditions of Sahariyas, Ms. Raje, talking from Jaipur said, ``it has been a neglect which goes back to 50 years. My attempt is to correct past mistakes,'' she said referring to the package.

``It has been only two months since the package has been announced for the Sahariyas and the Kathodias. It takes some time to get things in place,'' she said.

The Tribal Sub Plan programme, in existence for the past many years in 23 blocks in the districts of Banswara, Dungarpur, Chittorgarh, Sirohi and Udaipur, is not applicable to Sahariya dominated blocks of Shahabad and Kishanganj as the latter constitute only one-third of the population. For TSP status, the Adivasis should constitute a minimum 50 per cent of the area's population.

Long-standing demand

A long-standing demand from those who are working for the uplift of the Adivasis in the area has been the assigning of the Scheduled Tribe Area status to it.

``The area concept has not been possible in the case of the Sahariyas as they, being only one-fourth of the population could not have been singled out for uplift,'' M. L Mehta, former Chief Secretary of Rajasthan, who has served as the Tribal Commissioner of the State as well, said.

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