Caste politics has ignored livelihood issues of vulnerable castes

We don’t cast votes, but we vote caste," says M N Karn, a Bihar-based sociologist, as he repeats a popular saying about electoral politics of the state. Karn, who was former vice chancellor of North-Eastern Hill University in Shillong, underlines the importance of the role caste plays in electoral politics. 

Caste may determine how voters group together, but the professions traditionally associated with different castes find no place in electoral discourse. Professions like rearing livestock, and other agriculture-related activities, which have been helping manage the natural resources of villages or regions, always remain on the margins of political debate. 

Nearly 90 per cent of the total population of the state lives in rural areas. According to the seventieth round of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report, nearly 51 per cent of Bihar’s households depend directly on agriculture against the national average of 58 per cent. More than 82 per cent of the state’s 10 million land holding agricultural households are marginal and own less than one hectare of land. Apart from agricultural produce, feed and fodder required by livestock keepers also depend on agriculture. That is why conservation of natural resources is more important than ever for the winning coalition. 

Authentic caste-wise data is still unavailable and caste numbers claimed by community leaders are mostly exaggerated. Some civil society organisations also collect data for research, but most of these numbers are based on sample data. 

An estimated 15.7 per cent of Bihar’s population belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC). Most of the SC population who are landless have been working in production (milk, fish) and service (masonry, pottery) sectors over many centuries. According to the NSSO report, five per cent of agricultural households are landless. Only 22 per cent of rural households possess job cards under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and 30 per cent of households depend on livestock for sustenance. 

Livestock

Rearing of livestock is practised across caste and community lines in the state. Thirty per cent of all households depend totally on livestock. But the rearing of cattle and buffaloes is mostly practised by the Yadav caste which is a substantial proportion of the Other Backward Caste (OBC) group. Yadavs constitute 13 per cent of the total population (100.5 million) of the state. The Scheduled Caste, who are mostly landless, rear animals like goats and sheep.

According to the nineteenth livestock census, the state’s livestock has seen a growth of around nine per cent. The total number of livestock has increased from 30.34 million in 2007 to 32.93 million in 2012.

But the number of cattle has declined by around 3 per cent. Moreover, the indigenous breed of cattle has seen a sharp decline of more than 17 per cent. The state also has 0.26 million stray cattle.

There is no plan in sight to conserve the indigenous breed or stray cattle. As conserving cattle did not appear as a priority in either coalition’s poll promises, the election result is not expected to bring any reprieve for those engaged in rearing of cattle.

Fishermen

After the debacle of parliamentary elections, the then Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sought to placate the fisher community by bringing it into the fold of Scheduled Tribes (ST), but did nothing to address its livelihood issues.

The construction of Farakka Barrage in West Bengal over the river Ganga in the 1980s created a livelihood crisis for this community. Members of the community began moving to other professions and Bihar, which had an abundance of fish, began importing from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

Anil Prakash is a Bihar-based environmentalist who founded Ganga Mukti Andolan (Free Ganga movement) in the early 1980s to bring back the natural flow of the river.

"The Farakka dam proved to be a disaster for the community," says Prakash. "It led to fish depletion. The migratory route of the fish shut down and their breeding ground process was also disturbed forever."

According to Prakash, the Central government has now proposed 16 barrages over the Ganga between Allahabad and Haldia to start water ways.

“These 16 barrages will become the last nail in the coffin of the fishermen and ecology. We are protesting and working with the community against these projects," he says. 

Skinning, rat-eating, scavenging communities

Musahar, a community named for rat-eating in paddy fields, is at the lowest rung of the Hindu caste hierarchy. It is considered as the most deprived community. According to one estimate, there are around 2.5 million Musahar living in abject poverty. Less than five per cent of the total community is literate. Despite a law prohibiting untouchability, Musahar are treated as untouchables.

In 2008, the state government had decided to start a rat farm to help the Musahar sustain their livelihood. But the government faced flak from the opposition and withdrew its plan under pressure.

Uday Narayan Chaudhary, community leader and also speaker of Bihar legislative assembly, says that by eating rats, the community saves the grain in the fields. "Our community eats only those rats which are found in paddy fields. These rats eat and destroy hundreds of tonnes of grains. This contribution is ignored by land owners," says Chaudhary.

Chamar are engaged in the skinning of carcasses of cows and other dead animals for their livelihood. They constitute the largest population among Dalits. The community is engaged in disposing of dead animals but has never got its due from successive governments.

Source: Down to Earth