A Field Worker’s Diary – Part 55
I think it was 2009. We started for Ranchi to do an assessment of a project being implemented in the state of Jharkhand by a voluntary organization working for the elderly. I and my-then colleague Venkat Kolagari were supposed to complete this assignment.
We both reached Ranchi by train from Hyderabad. Even though it had been around 10 years since Jharkhand separated from Bihar and formed into a separate state, I couldn’t see that much development anywhere.
There wasn’t even district headquarters level facilities in the state capital. Accommodation has been arranged for us there in advance. After taking some rest on the night we reached, we started early the next day for the village we were supposed to go.
We headed to a village in Karra block in Khunti district. It was almost an hour long journey to that village from Ranchi. The region was inhabited by the Munda tribal people. Birsa Munda had belonged to this Khunti district only. Although it was a forested area, there were good roads. On the way there was a large reservoir (we stopped there for a while and looked around). All through the way green and tall trees. The name ‘Jharkhand’ meant The Land of Forests, right? Wherever you looked, you can find plenty of tall trees.
First we had a stopover at the Karra village, which was the block headquarters. There, we went to the office of the Karra Society for Rural Action and spoke to the staff. That organization has a stake in the implementation of the project that we were to study. The staff explained to us what their role was in the project implementation, what were the conditions of the elderly there, and the social and economic conditions in the area. From there, we reached the village that we were supposed to go. By the time we reached, around 30-40 elderly people were waiting for us. It was a village inhabited entirely by Munda people. As soon as we went and sat down, they put a glass of water and a plate in front of us and told us to wash our hands.
We told them that we came from Hyderabad and asked the elders there to tell us what programs they have been doing as part of the project. We didn’t know their language. Local project staff acted as interpreter between us
. This organisation had identified some issues generally faced by the elderly such as loneliness, ill-health, lack of children’s support, lack of financial self-sufficiency, etc., and facilitating the combating of these problems by forming elderly groups in the lines of women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs). Through these groups, the elderly have been able to conduct meetings sometimes and support each other. In addition to that, necessary livelihood support and help has been provided to those of the elders who had the interest and the physical strength to work through the groups.
As they were all a group now, they chose some leaders to bring their problems to the attention of the authorities. They also formed some committees. The elders there also spoke about the success stories of their groups facilitating pension for a few members through providing representation on behalf of those elders who were eligible for pensions but were not getting them. Upon asking them what was the main problem that the majority of them faced, many of them replied that it was lack of children’s support and lack of value in family. A few of the women elders who had attended the meeting had babies tied to their backs. While some elders did not even make it to the meeting as they had been caught up with work. I felt really bad after hearing that the elders weren’t being respected by their families even after having worked hard all their lives, shaping their children’s lives, taking care of their children’s children and even doing some work at that age with the thought of providing some sort of support to their families. This is something we usually hear in towns, but I understood then that the situation of the elderly is no different even in rural and tribal communities where people think that affections and attachments still remain. After our meeting with them was over, we went around the village. Actually, we couldn’t see anyone except elderly and children in the village.
Everyone else had left for wage labour work. The village was full of stone inscriptions. When we asked them what they were, they said that it was their history. We didn’t have the time to learn more about them. We talked for a while specifically with the leaders of the elderly groups. I asked them if there had been any changes in their lives after the formation of a separate state. They said, “Unlike earlier, we have good roads which allow us to go anywhere. Apart from that, nothing noteworthy has happened.” The creation of better infrastructure is no small matter. However, we started for Ranchi, wondering what the consequences of decreasing distances between so-called civilized society and the aboriginal tribes who lived far from that society. We saw some clothes hung on electrical wires upon reaching Ranchi and had a good laugh about them.
On the way to the hotel, we saw a life-size statue of Birsa Munda. For a man who had lived just 25 years (15 November 1875 – 9 June 1900), he had so much impact and effect on this land and on his tribe. I thought for a long time as to how it was possible that Birsa had the power to mobilize his entire race and had the determination to fight against the oppressing classes themselves at such a young age. As I write this, I remember the question posed by our Nirmala madam in one of her articles: Should one live a longer life or larger life?
Bharathi Kode