Case Studies

From Darkness to Light

For the last three to four years, the Dalit families of Kabir Nagar (population about 300-400) were suffering the foul smell emanating out of animal carcasses and were falling prey to diseases caused by the germs in the decaying animal remains. The whole atmosphere of the village had become vitiated on this count and people found it difficult to breathe freely.

However, there is a change in the atmosphere today, thanks to the efforts of the Parivartan Project. The members of this project united the people and inspired them to raise voice for their rights. Today, the people of this area can breathe freely and do not have to be scared of any epidemic.

Kabir Nagar is situated in Tindwara, a small hamlet of Banda district. In front of this Dalit colony there is a ground where the leather tanning contractors belonging to a powerful class of society, throw animals carcasses after tanning. Tindwara is a gram panchayat with a population of about 14,000, a majority of them Dalits. Members of the powerful class (commonly called Dabangs) had dominated the Scheduled Castes since independence. Even after the end of feudalism in our country the tyranny of this upper class continued.

The Dalits knew they were being exploited but they did not have enough courage to protest. When the Parivartan project started working in this area, some members of Dalit families came forward and joined SHG. They asked SHG members to do something in this matter. They told the project members about the foul smell, the health hazard and the worsening hygiene conditions because of the disposal of dead animals in front of the colony. SHG members visited the area and urged the poor people of Scheduled Castes to come forward for their rights without being scared of the powerful people.

Members of Parivartan project advised them to get unite and told them of the way out to get rid of this problem. People came forward and filed written complaint to area Member of Legislative Assembly, Chief Development Officer, chief of health department and other responsible officials. However, no action was taken by the administration despite all this because of loopholes in red tapism.

In such a situation, the volunteers of Parivartan project along with SHG members went to the tanning contractors and asked them to dispose their animals somewhere else as the health and hygiene condition of Kabir Nagar was getting worst day by day. The contractors said that this place was basically a cremation ground hence the dead animals were thrown there only. They also said no one could stop them from doing so.

The village people and project members organised a public hearing (jan sunwai) programme in which the District Magistrate, block development officer, gram pradhan, MLA and other officials were present. The villagers proposed an application signed by every villager. And this application was given to the District Magistrate in this public hearing. The District Magistrate, Dheeraj Sahu, consulted the villagers and ordered the authorities to solve this problem as soon as possible. When the land was measured and records were checked, it was found to be a pig farm and no records of cremation ground were present. The cremation ground was shifted to another place and contractors were warned not to throw their animals there.

This incident raised a new hope of enlightenment in this village and the members of the Scheduled Castes who were deprived of their rights and needs became aware. A poor Dalit person Ram Asare got his pig farm back and is happy now. He said that "Is pariyojana ne to hamari our hamari jaat walon ki zindagi hi badal di" (this project has changed my life and also changed the life of people of my caste). He states that he and other Dalits came to the information centre where they got information about the ongoing project and their own strength. "This led us to fight for our rights and today we have gained our status and confidence which was lacking because of continued exploitation for many years."

Today the Dalit and other poor class people are working for their self betterment with the help of Parivartan Pariyojana and a new class consciousness is developing here.

Home