In Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, the upper caste Thakurs don’t conduct the way their ancestors used to. Change is in the air everywhere
A couple of months, I along with some of my colleagues visited a few villages in Azamgarh, situated in east Uttar Pradesh. We spent three days there. There is a Thakur-dominated village that has 43 Thakur families. There are 129 Dalit families. The village has 100 Yadav families and there are Pals (shepherds), Brahmins and Bhars as well.
Circa 1990, all Thakur families had Halvahas. The term ‘Halvaha’ refers to the man who tilled the Thakurs’ land. British termed the Halvahi system as India’s serfdom. Halvaha (ploughman) would get an acre of land from the Thakur and will sow whatever crops he liked. Also, members of the Halvaha family got wages for the work they did at Thakur’s farm.
A Thakur always needed Halvahas because, as an upper caste, he was not supposed to till his land himself. In fact, touching handle of the plough was a sacrilege that would require atonement.
Thakurs with much bigger landholdings had Charvahas as well. The term Charvaha refers to the man who took care of buffalos/ cows and took them for grazing. He, too, would get an acre of land in lieu of the services he provided. like Halvahas, the entire family of Charvahas would work on the landlord’s farms for wages.
A few Thakur families had a third set of servant called Duvariha. The term Duvariha refers to the man who would guard Thakur’s residence. Interestingly, none of the 43 Thakur families in the village I am talking about have Halvaha, Charvaha or Duvariha. Of the 129 Dalit families, 121 Dalit youth have fled to big cities like Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, ludhiana, Nagpur, Pune and Ahmedabad. With their remittances back home as the main source of income, Dalit women have stopped working on Thakurs’ farm. Another 20 to 25 Dalits go to Azamgarh town for work and come back by the evening. Another 10 Dalits are into some kind of business activity locally.
Something similar has happened in Anna Hazare’s Ralegan Siddhi. The way Dalits have become free of Thakurs in Uttar Pradesh, in Ralegan Siddhi, they have become free of Marathas — the caste Anna Hazare belongs to. Since millets are eaten by all, in Anna’s village Dalits too consume it. I visited Anna’s village at the height of his agitation in Delhi.
Surely, the contemporary India is the golden period for Dalits. India, too, is at its best. Beginning 1955 till 1970, a large section of India survived on food provided by the US under Pl-480. Circa 1955, India suffered several draughts, forcing the country to import food. Post World War II, entire Europe and Russia (then Soviet Union) were facing food shortages. Only three countries had surplus wheat/corn — Australia, Canada and the US. India didn’t have foreign currency to pay for the shipment. So, even if Australia or Canada was ready to provide free or cost, India would not take because there was no money to pay for the shipment’s fare.
The US agreed to give India wheat and corn in Indian rupee. Circa 1970, the US Ambassador to India wrote to the then American President to write off the money that is lying in the US Embassy account in New Delhi. The American President wrote off the debt.
In June 1991, India’s foreign reserves was depleted to all-time low at $1.2 Billion, just enough to pay for oil imports for two weeks. India faced the prospect of turning bankrupt. To avoid that humiliation, India airlifted 47 tonnes of gold to the Bank of England. The gold was pledged to get a loan of $2.2 Billion from the IMF. Another 20 tonnes of gold was airlifted to the Union Bank of Switzerland to raise another $600 Million.
Post 1947 till 1990, India has been the biggest donation-seeking country in the world. What about todayIJ A couple of years ago, India gave a loan worth $3 billion to IMF to help solve the eurozone crisis. India is giving aids to a number of Asian and African countries. Today, it is known the world over for its IT miracle. Not long ago, Indians went to Europe for medical treatments. Today, people come here for major surgeries.
Meanwhile, social face of Parliament and State Assemblies have transformed radically. Do I need to explain as to why upper castes in Delhi voted for AAP in DelhiIJ Why did underclass, too, vote for Arvind KejriwalIJ Wait for the next week.
