Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Plight of the Invisible – A story of Nomadic and De-notified tribes of India

While reading one famous book by a famous historian, I came to know something about the Indian Hockey team of 1928 which won the Olympic Gold Medal. This team was captained by a person named "Jaipal Singh". He was a Munda from the eastern part of India. During the formation of our constitution in 1946, he made a speech before the house which goes on like this.



"As a Jungli, as an adibasi, I am not expected to understand the legal intricacies of the resolution. But my common sense tells me that every one of us should march in that road to freedom and fight together. Sir, if there is any group of people that has been shabbily treated it is my people. They have been disgracefully treated, neglected for the last 6,000 years. The history of the Indus Valley Civilization, a child of which I am, shows quite clearly that it is the newcomers - most of you here are intruders as far as I am concerned - it is the newcomers who have driven away my people from the Indus Valley to the jungle fastness... the whole history of my people is one of continuous exploitation and dispossession by the non-aboriginals of India punctuated by rebellions and disorder, and yet I take Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru at his word. I take you all at your word that now we are going to start a new chapter of Independent India where there is equality of opportunity, where no one would be neglected."


This speech was made in the context of providing an opportunity of equality to the tribal along with the mainstream people. His aspiration was realized at least on paper on 26 January 1950, creation of tribal states like Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, etc, and through de-notification of tribal communities in 1952. However, in-spite of many-a-such acts, the ground realities picture an altogether different portraiture of what was aspired.

The plight and these ground realities are brought beautifully into light by one such social reformer named "Mittal Patel". I was deeply absorbed by her emotional oration about the de-notified and nomadic tribes of India. She talks about the history of de-notified tribes and their pity. De-notified tribes are the tribes that were originally listed under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. Once a tribe became "notified" as criminal, all its members were required to register with the local magistrate, failing which they would be charged with a crime under the Indian Penal Code. The Criminal Tribes Act of 1952 repealed the notification, i.e. ‘de-notified’ the tribal communities. This act, however, was replaced by a series of Habitual Offenders Acts, that asked police to investigate a suspect’s criminal tendencies and whether his occupation is "conducive to settled way of life." The de-notified tribes were reclassified as habitual offenders in 1959.


There are 315 nomadic and 198 de-notified tribes in India. Though the constitution guaranteed them reservation but these invisible people of the society remained at the mercy of society, administration and political system of the country. Mittal talks about how their primary occupation is inter-twined as an 'essential' for our vibrant Indian society. She goes on listing different nomadic tribes like Sarnia, Natda, Nat (Snake Charmers), etc and how their occupation had been badly ruined in this age of technology and yes ! thanks to thoughtless acts and policies. Tribal people have long being dependent on nature and especially forests and its produce. With the age of industrialization and urbanization they have been forced to move out either to re-rehabilitate or to wander. This has caused them to look for alternate occupations. 


An example of one of the worst affected are the tribals of Vadia village in Gujrat wherein, woman are forced to indulge in prostitution. I was shocked to hear that this happens right from their birth and all of the woman of this village have no other choice. Even their male family members act as agents of this business. Having no other means of livelihood and discarded by the so-called civilized society, it brings a shame to this Shining Country. 

The problems do not end for these ladies and for many more of the de-notified or the nomadic tribes. They have no identity of their own and have no access to any education. The organization named VSSM functional in Gujrat and manned by Mittal is trying hard to provide them these much needed amenities. They are involved in rescuing these ladies and helping them in marriages to restore their respect. They have a mission to provide these de-notified tribes the respect that they really deserve and not being branded as criminals. The efforts of Mittal Patel does qualify her to be called a “Social Reformer” rather than just a “Social Worker” 

The issue raised by Mittal Patal reminds us of what liberty, fraternity and social justice mean in the real context. It is for "We, The People of India" to initiate and help the disadvantaged sections of the society by giving them all they deserve after such exploitation. Be it forest produce rights, be it giving them identity, providing them education, giving them opportunities in employment or any other means that can uplift them and help them to be a part of the main-stream would be incomplete if our perceptions do no change that “they are out-cast”. 

Jaipal Singh is not alive today, but had he been; he would have also cried after seeing the India of 2013. Giving the status if being Indian to these tribes is what they really want. This is all, what they deserve. After-all, most of us are intruders only. It is the tribes who are the real Indians.



This post is written for the Idea Caravan and Indiblogger in association with Franklin Templeton Investments. Franklin Templeton Investments partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012.







Saturday, June 22, 2013

Warning Boards

Three young lads in sweet twenties,
wanted to conquer a land of wild seas.

Rocky cliffs and sailing mighty winds,
calling upon those lads of sweet twenties.

They sat on a thought to set roads towards the west,
then, tried pursuing their dads to their best.

You are kids! You have a little world of your own,
we are concerned for you child, trust me its very little known.

Said one "I do not intend to be coward like you,
I want to be with the world and not behind any few".

Said another "Trust me father, I am a son you would be proud of
I see your concern and I'll do nothing to make you cry of"

The third hardly spoke of a line,
I accept everything as you say and I promise to be fine.

Few more words did hurt the first father,
and convinced the rest but not really rather.

"Okay! I'll let you go,
but then, you will have a rule to follow".

"Done! I am there for any tit-bit ,
let it come as you know, who is paying for it."

"Do not swim in the waters on the sea-shores,
I've been there and I saw many-a-friends floating dead souls"

Casually the lad undermined and accepted those words,
He knew what to be forgotten, once he gets something from his purse.

Two days, after the lads of  twenties,
finally motored their ways to those mighty coaster-lies.

The air was fresh as never, and where,
the skies and waters blue for-ever.

They drink-ed and dined in joy for a day,
then rested in a cottage-hut near the bay.

There was nothing to disturb their calms,
but for a few waves breaking waters through palms.

The rebel boy now spoke in silence,I'll teach you what I am
tomorrow I'll ride over you and you will know "who I am"

Next morning, the rebel boy cried "Come guys, lets sail in the rock shores"
"There is nothing better than this for you sweet folks"

Thus they all reached that place,
where, natures's fury in smoky waters was at amaze.

But then, the third of them yelled towards a board,
This is the same, what my father had told.

"Life is too short, Do not Swim here, It will make you even shorter"
"It is no man, to try such adventure, it will only make your family weaker"

Those words did repel, all but one,
indeed not our rebel boy of twenty and awesome,

"You are morons, and you are cowards,
You are kids, but I am an adult now on-wards"

And, he jumped with joy into a thundering wave,
after-a-while which got lost in a twisty-grave.

Jumped one more to find, where his mate was,
but he too never returned to speak for any cause.

The third one was left standing alone, but to cry,
and those two mates floated, the next-day somewhere nearby.

Those lands and those wild seas conquered us cold,
and what happened to those fathers is a story not meant to be told.

"This is was my own Story O! my son of twenties"
"You heard me all, and now you are free to go those very seas"

"The Moral of the Story is too straight, which you also know,
"Listen to those warning boards, before anywhere you GO"


(C) Raj Jaipal

Monday, May 20, 2013

An Elegy of a Paramour


Dear love, you owe this night to me,
I am the lady you must be with,
Dine my sight; relax that eye-spree,
Comfort my soul, don't mention a kith.

When the food is over, curl-up those fingers round,
Don’t stand! I will be with the cloth,
Look those eyes, where-in I am lost and you are found,
I’ll then jump up to you like a moth.


Take me up-stairs, slow but sure,
Listen to my voice with hairs on your face,
Rest me in a place of just-us and so un-pure,
And then tell me a tale of that two-knotted lace.

I swear not to leave you now or ever,
It was me and will-be me on that only boat,
Please do swear my name dear at-least for-ever,
I’ll hold you like your skin coat.

But that song un-turned with a sight,
That old fagged lady turned up my hubby’s bed,
A look with which I frightened her that night,
Seeing that she tried stabbing but I did stab her red.

He moaned and I joyed and screamed,
He then slapped me and that broke my rhyme,
I put that dagger cutting his heart and thus he bleed,
I drank it all making ‘my love’ only mine,

Alas! I thought, It was just ‘he’ and me nearby,
And I believed him that he said “I am all your”
But I stabbed that traitor again, the moment I opened one eye,
And he poured down from inside me saying “I was never really yours o' my Paramour”

(C) Raj Jaipal

Friday, May 3, 2013

Learning Foreign Expressions

I have a beautiful friend and a person whom I can call my true guide in every way of my life. Whenever I try to learn something new, I would tell that person that I am now going to do something silly, so, kindly criticize. 
This time around, I was reading some foreign words and expressions. I was having some difficulty in remembering them, so thought why not, send it to that beloved in the form of a text-message and yes! it worked wonder.
Here's that message:


If I were to write how I won my battle of the odds. I will start de novo from the ad-antiquo, citing times of my first glimpse and that first blessing of the lords. It would be then a bonafide magnum opus of mine where-in I will narrate a tale of two humans and an epic of one-age. My dream of that el-dorado is the raison d'etre for me to write and bear everything unmerry with sang froid.



Now, to be true, it was just a summary of my dream to write something great for her. 

Thursday, May 2, 2013

An Indian Farmer



















I see every day of that burning heat,
aching legs of those bony feet.
I tire into many-a-filthy fields,
a pond of mud which never yields.

I am a soul known with a sickle,
quarreling wife and kids to un-mingle.
I am a sin that is discarded,
a troubled societal being retarded.

I am the man with no mates any bold,
pinching curses when I am slightly old.
I am the bye to adieu no more,
It was me but just a farmer off-that shore.


(C) Raj Jaipal
* Picture: Courtesy www.youthkiawaaz.com



Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Quit Smoking


I was tired that day,
And that heart ached in an un-fine way.

In my trouble I felt a beat un-heardly,

Then, told all this to a lady so friendly.

It went on with an un-beating that night,

A trouble and a concern for that lady of might.

Mumbled she with a small echo,

"How much do you smoke on a go?"

That anguish and those eyes,

Left no place for any noes or lies.

An illusive face in grim that he did disdain,

Becoming the very reason for his pain.

Finally, that persuasion came to a round,

"Do no bargain with me", You are my dearly found.

"You are a sinister and so be I"
"If you do not quit, then let me try."

It pricked as if a nail piercing by,

Left now nothing for me but to cry.



(C) Raj Jaipal

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Scary Letters


Long ago, there was this dark road,
Where-in a bearded man lived in a shanty abode.

Everything merry passed him missing,
He then turned up his head and found a new wishing.

Turned up that age of sweet dreamy yore,
With her canvassed lass twined in each folklore.

Time passed by into another green day,
And turned up another lady from hay.

Deranged did found that old boy,
In a new thought of this unworldly joy.

But for that ‘second’, was a day in blue,
A thought in paint and which she never knew.

He painted her in shades of his letters,
In a dream for a girl which really matters.

Called it-up numbered like Friday the scary-ly,


Yes it was a dream indeed, and not just fairy-ly

Sunday, February 17, 2013

A Funeral Song

Just when the moon lit light,
I woke her up asking 'you alright?'.

She muttered about a kin no more,
And the words I replied then meant 'no-shore'

A mere face of recollect in my despair,
Pale and grail as of nowhere.

Did she ever say a little line?
I thought I heard when she was fine.

Didn't knew how to have faith in a funeral song,
Its never been heard by me for long.

A departed soul of thine,
I believe 'that departed' hardly did connect mine.

Its a tragedy to console thy remorse,
A pity phrase never fitting, lay a-course.

It wasn't meant to harsh your grief,
But an honest condolence in brief.




(C) Raj Jaipal

Monday, January 7, 2013

It is Time That We Question Ourselves for Reforms Rather than Incremental Changes

The recent rape incidence of a 23 year old girl in Delhi, throws open a wide debate once more. It reflects the imperial derelicts of the past and our inefficiencies in coming up with authentic indigenous ways of serving the en-masses. The incident itself is just a degree more, in what the so called soft-gender is facing from time immemorial.



[Courtesy: thehindu.com]


The vagaries of this land are immense and our forefathers had tough times to gel-together to bind us in one mould of Indian Constitution. The document aimed at protecting the weak and added safeguards against any abuse directed towards the innocent. But, as truly said “It is easier to write constitutions than to run it” and this is what precisely is being happening all around us. There are so many voices “We want justice, we want peace”. Delhi, the capital of India is proudly boasting as being also the rape capital of India. And it is not just Delhi, where we find women being victimized so frequently, there are others too. The only reason for Delhi being at the centre-stage is due to the lack of reporting from other parts the country.