A Socio-Economic Appraisal on Livelihood Struggle of Musahar Community in Allahabad District

This article mainly highlights the livelihood stmggle ofMussahnr communi h) at Allahabad district in Uttar Pradesh. Musahar community is generally considered as Dnlit among the Dalits. This study is empirically limited to only fifty-nine samples in Allahabad district, and fumishes details of the livelihood stmggle ofMusahar communi h). Livelihood struggle among the communi h) under study is due to two reasons; first, they do not have sufficient access to resources such as land, water, domestic animals, and well-paid occupation, and secondly, they are not beneficiaries of the govemment welfare programmes. Besides the above, there are some other causes also for such a poor plight of the communi h), such as, the caste stmcture that prevents them to have access to the mainstream of the society, as also corruption and failure in implementation of the govemntent welfare programmes, such as, NAREGA, PDS, NRHM etc. INTRODUCTION Musahars, in Uttar Pradesh, are listed as one of the scheduled castes. They belong to the 'Dalit' group. They are also considered untouchables. Being landless and in many cases homeless too, they earlier wandered from place to place in search of livelihood. This name was attributed to them for their tendency to eat rodents in times of dire need. Traditionally, Musahars are known as ancient hunting and gathering people. According to Gautam and Thappa-Mager (1994), Musahar community were in a region of present day Nepal. In the beginning, apart from the animals that they managed to kill in those dense and extensive jungles, they also lived on tubers, roots, and fruits etc., that were available there. But in due course, after they got introduced to cereals and food grains, they began to cultivate lands. It was then that they were harassed by rodents, especially rats and bandicoots, which infested their fields and destroyed much of the standing crops. As a curative measure, the community launched a campaign to •Address for Communication: *'Research Scholar at the Department of Anthropology, SHUATS, Allahabad. 2Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, SHUATS. The Oriental Anthropologist, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2018, Pages 121-129 © OICSR, Allahabad Corresponding Author E-mail: mjthomasO@gmail.com 122 Thomas M J and A/am Ara trap rodents and eat them. This resulted in their getting the sobriquet "Musahar', which means those who eat rats-'musa' (rat)+Ahar (food). GENERAL PROFILE Musahar community are mostly found in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In Uttar Pradesh, they are scattered in the districts of Kushi Nagar, Maharajganj, Deoria, Chanduali, Varanasi and Allahabad. There is no district-wise population of the community in detail in the last census. Table 1 Population details Number of Musahar Total Population (including institutional households with at least p Total 52,565 2,57,135 Rural 50,836 2,49,234 Urban 1,729 7,901 Sotme: Census of India: Scheduled Caste Data Tables, 2011 and houseless population) M 1,33,149 1,29,029 4,120 Peoples of South Asia Musahar, Hindu Po...,._: 2.A .. OJ7 --ta:2?• Figure 1. Musahar population in South Asian Region The Oriental Anthropologist F 1,23,986 1,20,205 3,781 A Socio-Economic Appraisal on Livelihood Struggle ofMusahar Community in Allahabad District 123 In Uttar Pradesh, about 42.68 per cent of Musahar population are workers; out of them 62.04 per cent are agricultural labourers, 13 per cent in cultivation, 15.79 per cent in house hold industry, 4.64 per cent in other than house hold industries and the remaining 4.53 per cent in services. The Musahar are involved in various types of work for their livelihood; some have owned little cultivable land, others work as agricultural labourers in seasons, some work in brick-constructions sites, some sell leaf plates etc. As per the census (2011) details of UP state, literacy rate of Musahar community is extremely low. Number of drop outs is very high. Their health condition is extremely pitiable; it is well related to their unhygienic lifestyle and poverty. There are only few literature available on Musahar. Verma A.K. (1991) in his study about "A Social Economic and Cultural Study of the Musahars of Nepal Terai" has observed that landlessness, unemployment, low income etc. are the main causes of poverty among the Musahars. The vicious circle of poverty, malnutrition, disease and ignorance impedes their progress for a bette1 future. Musahars community is considered as the lowest of the low among the Scheduled caste (Dalit) communities Mukul Sharma (2002) in his article "Everyday Life of Musahars in North Bihar" discusses about their everyday work, and their relation to land vis-a-vis culture of the community. Shashi Bushan (2002), in his article, "Reflections on the Material Condition of the Musahar" details about the livelihood aspects of Musahar culture. According to him, they rely on food gathering methods. They travel for a long distance and collect grains. Bushan gives a glimpse of material aspect of their culture also. Kunnath (2012) has observed that the practice of bonded labour (which was earlier venJ much in practice) seems to have undergone some changes, at least in theory, in recent years. Presently, the Musahars and other Mahadalit castes work as either lagua mazdur(attached labourers) or chutta mazdur(free labourers). The lagua labourers or harvaha (ploughmen), as they are also called, are bound to a landlord on a one-year contract. This involves only men; women mostly work in the houses of the same landlords to whom their men are bound by these contracts. This contract is different from the type of earlier bonded labour-ship, in which the labourers were bonded from one generation to another. However, the mechanism of entering into this type of contract usually depends on the same process as the earlier one. The landlord advances a Joan to the labourers and thus secures their services (including those of members of their households) for one agricultural season. Those in the second category of agricultural The Oriental Anthropologist 124 Thomas M JandA lam Ara labour, the chutta mazdur or free labourers, are hired on a casual, day-to-day basis. Both categories of worker are usually paid four or five kilos of either rice or wheat as their daily wages. In addition, the attached labourers are usually given a small plot of land by the landowners for their own cultivation. METHODOLOGY Various research methods such as; observation, schedule, and statistical procedures, such as, frequency distribution of the respondents, mean, and percentage have been employed for data collection and tabulation of this study. The sample population was purposively selected from Amipur village at Dhanpur Block, and Parila village at Bahadurpur in Allahabad District. Since Musahar community are less in number, all the available population have been selected. Due to homogenous nature of the community, this sample can be represented for the entire community. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Access to Resources Major resources related to livelihood of any human beings are land, water, forest and livestock. How does a person relate to these resources determine his/her livelihood status. Musahar community in the selected area do not occupy forest. Other major livelihood resources are land, water and livestock. Table 2 Access to Land Sl. No Access to Male Female Total Land Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 1 Owner 1 1.7 1 1.7 02 3.4 2 Worker 35 59.32 21 35.59 56 94.91 3 Tenant 1 1.7 1 1.7 4 Total 37 62.7 22 37.3 59 100 Above table shows the frequency and percentage regarding Musahar communities' relationship to land in Allahabad District. It can be observed that 94.91 per cent of the community related to land are as workers. Only 3.4 per cent own land. 1.7 per cent of the respondents related to land are as tenants. They are not very much aware of the fact that government also allots land to the SCs, who are landless. The Oriental Anthropologist A Socio-Economic Appraisal on Livelihood Struggle of Musahar Community in Allahabad District 125 Table3 Access to Water 51. No. Source of drinking water Frequency Percentage 1 I Un-covered well 12 20.33 2 Tube-well/borehole 47 79.66