Across the Great Divide

A small taluk in Karnataka shows India the way to end caste discrimination, writes Ruhi Ahuja

What makes Korategere so special? Across large parts of India, to this day, dalits are looked down upon and ostracized as ‘untouchables’. But Korategere, a small taluk in Karnataka, boasts a record of relative social equality for its dalits. They are being socially and economically integrated into the community and, like every other community, increasingly participate in the public life of the taluk.

Says dalit social activist Venkatesh Murthy, “Untouchability is being removed here and all dalits are given education by the government. Almost 22.75% of the panchayat budget has been reserved for the education of the dalits.” But prejudice dies hard and even in ‘enlightened’ pockets such as Korategere, caste discrimination is an accepted fact of social life.

Murthy says that in Karnataka, the scheduled caste dalits are recognized as touchables while the scheduled tribe dalits are still untouchables. Scheduled caste dalits live with the other communities of people whereas the scheduled tribe dalits cannot and have to live in the surrounding villages.

They are not allotted land where they live and there is no provision of houses for them. Most of them are landless or are marginal land owners and most of them live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their main source of income. The condition of women in dalit society is even worse as they either do not get jobs or are paid less for their work. Most of them work as agricultural labour. Social and economic development has always been the primary concern for the dalits across the state.

The dalits in Korategere taluk are divided into three major categories, namely Adi Karnataka (Madiga) and Bhovi, who are touchables and Adi Dravida (Wolya), who remain untouchables. Over the past 12 years, the Valmiki and Nayaka, sub-divisions of scheduled tribes in the taluk, have joined the community. Like the other dalits in any part of the country, the dalits in Korategere face some problems related to social equality. The government is attempting to address the problem by allotting land to dalits in every part of the taluk, providing them education in schools where the children of the higher classes in the society study and creating job opportunities for both dalit men and women.

Ramamjaiah, an Adi Dravidian dalit who is a broker in Korategere taluk, says, “I haven’t faced any problems in mixing with the society. My children go to school and I get support from the government though not all (laws) it passes are implemented.” He also said that it is only political interference that creates problems sometimes.

Comparing the condition of dalits in Korategere with those in the other taluks in the state, Murthy also said that the dalits in Korategere are in a better condition as they can join any social gathering in the taluk and they get support from the government too. He also said that almost 1,500-1,800 houses for the scheduled caste dalits and 2,500-2,800 for the scheduled tribe dalits have been built in every corner of the taluk.

Manjunatha, a Madiga, says that there is no discrimination in the taluk between the dalits and the other people. The government is promoting social equality although it could do more, he believes. He also said that his children do not face any problem in their school although he works as a coolie and repairs hand-pumps in the taluk. He categorically states that there is no untouchability among the dalits in the taluk.

Anjanappa, an Adi Dravidian, confirms this saying, “I work as a farmer in Korategere and my children go to school. There is no untouchability in the school and not in the taluk either.”

With the efforts of the government and the cooperation of the upper castes in Korategere, the dalits are gradually being integrated into the community. Thanks to land allotment and the creation of job opportunities, the poor dalits in the taluk, especially the scheduled tribes, are pulling themselves out of poverty. According to them, as the problem of social equality receives more attention from the government and as they become more educated, their advancement will help in the development of Korategere taluk itself.

(Also published in www.thesoftcopy.in)

Back from the Brink

Constant vigil is the price we have to pay if the gains of Project Tiger are to be preserved, says Ruhi Ahuja

The long awaited national tiger census that began on January 22 is perhaps the single largest exercise of its kind. The result will determine the success of Project Tiger, an initiative of the government of India launched in 1973 to protect and maintain a substantial tiger population and to preserve biological reserves across the country for their survival.

As Bittu Sahgal, noted environmentalist and editor of Sanctuary Asia magazine says, tigers need food, shelter and absence of human disturbance. “I am fighting to protect the tiger because I know that without them India will lose not just its spirit but also its hope of survival in an era of climate change.” He blames the way humans have been using land for India’s vanishing tiger habitat over the past five decades. “Project Tiger seeks to protect critical tiger habitats as a way to protect the tiger and all other species that reside therein,” he adds.

The first three decades of the project were an undoubted success, with the area under conservation steadily increasing. It began across an expanse of 16,000 square kilometres with a population of just 268 tigers. By 2000, the area under the project’s preserve had increased to about 37,000 square kilometres and the population of tigers had increased to 1,498.

But despite the best efforts, India’s tiger population has fallen sharply in recent years. According to The Hindu newspaper, a nationwide survey conducted in 2006 indicated that the country’s tiger population had dropped to 1,141, with Karnataka being home to 290 followed by Madhya Pradesh. Uncontrolled tiger poaching across various parts of the country, especially north India, has taken a deadly toll and it is in this context that the latest census assumes significance.

In Karnataka, the tiger census is being carried out in four areas including Nagarhole National Park, Bandipur National Park, BR Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary. The resettlement of people in these areas has been going on for years. Says Praveen Bhargav, managing trustee of Wildlife First and a member of the National Board for Wildlife, “Three voluntary resettlement schemes for forest dwellers marooned inside protected areas in Karnataka have provided some solutions.”

The first resettlement effort involved more than 400 non-tribal families living in 16 enclaves in the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary in Chikkamagalur. This project was completed in the year 2003. Under the second scheme in Nagarhole National Park in Mysore, since 1998 more than 350 tribal families have been relocated outside the park and been provided land, housing and other social amenities by the government. The third scheme will adopt an innovative approach in which the resettlement of people will be done through private donor funding. More than 12 families and 700 cattle have been moved out of Kudremukh National Park, Chikkamagalur and resettled on land bought from private conservation funding.

But efforts to save the tiger from extinction in the wild don’t end there. K. Ullas Karanth, a conservation scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society and a trustee of the World Wide Fund for Nature-India suggests camera-trap sampling as one way to keep a constant check on the tiger population and monitor their location. Though the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 have done much to preserve Indian wildlife, the “tiger crisis” suggests that the battle is far from over.

(Also published in The Softcopy, an IIJNM Web Publication. Here's the link: http://thesoftcopy.in/project%20tiger.html)