A S T U D Y O F V I L L A G E : K U D A P I , H A T G A M H A R I A , W . S IN G H B HU M

J H A R K H A N D

GEOGRAPHY

I am doing my village stay in Kudapi Tolla, a hamlet under revenue village Nurda. The hamlet comes under Nurda Panchayath one of the eleven Panchayath (Local Self Governance Body) in Hatgamharia Block, West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Nurda Panchayath has three villages, Nurda(Beda and Chotta) , Illigada and Baljodi which are its 4 , 2 and 3 wards respectively. Kudapi comes under the second ward of Nurda Village. For the report I will be using the word village, though Kudapi is only a Tolla.

Level Name

Tolla Kudapi Village Nurda Panchayath Nurda Block Hatgamharia District West Singhbhum

Table 1

Kudapi is located alongside the National Highway 75 E largely connecting Ranchi to Orissa through Chaibasa. It’s 5 k m s away from Hatgamharia and 12 km s away from Jhinkpani which are the nearest market places to the village. It is in proximity to Illigada, Beda Nurda and Chotta Nurda hamlets of Nurda Panchayath and Ringubasa and Rugubasa hamlets of Baljodi village in Nurda Panchayath. . The village is covered by forests which come under Anjadbera-Bichaberu Elephant Corridor, in its either sides and by its agricultural fields and a pond in the rest.

DEMOGRAPHY

With thirty five households and a population of 2091 the village is considerably smaller to other hamlets of Nurda Panchayath.

Particulars Figure

Number of Households 35 Total Population 209 Sex Ratio 722

1 Survey conducted by Nav Prathamik Vidyalaya. Kudapi in the academic year 2010-11

Table 2

SOCIAL CATEGORY WISE

The population is largely composed of Ho tribal with the title Sinku, followed by tribal group of Kunkal and OBC group of Khandait. Further it could be observed all these categories stayed in separate clusters in the village. Khandait were believed to be traditional herders who were brought to the village by Sinku. Similarly Kunkal who were specialists in traditional medicines were also brought to the village. During conversations with a Kunkal , he happened to tell that , Kunkal Chotta Hey (being inferior to other social categories) and it was also observed in a conversation that Khandait Beda Bath Bholtha Hey (Khandait considers themselves superior and gets into conflicts unlike Tribals who are calm in nature)

Diagram 2

GENDER WISE

The female to male sex ratio of the village is at low figure of 722. I could not observe any sex selection among villagers. But it could be observed that the two Mahila Mandals (women SHG groups) of Kudapi were influential in the village and famous for its effective functioning in Nurda Panchayath. It had its member presence in Block Level SHG Federation. I could also observe that educated women in the village married later in comparison to uneducated women.

Sinku 74%

Khandait 20%

Kunkal 6%

Population - Social Catgeory Wise

LIVELIHOOD AND RESOURCES

The major livelihood option of villagers is agriculture, followed by Horticulture, Livestock rearing Pesiculture, Selling of Forest products, wage labour , migration to other states for contract jobs etc. Before discussing the major resources related to it would be discussed in detail.

Resource Livelihood Activities Market /Consumption

Land Agriculture Home Consumption Horticulture Home Consumption , Markets in like Jamda , Gua ,

Noumadi, Kiriburi, Baspani and Birbil

Livestock rearing Rituals, Agricultural Activity, Baazar in Hatgamharia, Jhinkpani, Chaibasa

Pond Agriculture, Horticulture,

Pesiciculture Local Fish Traders

Forest Firewood Chaibasa

Non Timber Forest Products

Home Consumption

Human Labour and Skill Development

Agriculture , Migration

Table 3

LAND (OTHEY)

Land Usage Pattern

Kudapi lies in a hilly area with usage of land varying with the availability of water. Homestead land and fallow land occupies the uplands, followed by mid uplands ( Godda Jameen) , mid lowlands ( Khundi) and low lands( Beda) formed its land patterns. Homestead and Fallow land gave space for building home, rearing the livestock , for graves (sasan )etc . Godda Jameen were used largely for agriculture with less requirement of water like horticulture or paddy cultivation with broad casted seeds. Further when Khundi land is used for paddy cultivation by irrigation, the low lying Beda land is used for paddy cultivation depending only on monsoon rainfall. Irrigation of fields are based on two sources – one a natural stream and another a lift irrigation facility from village pond. Both sources of irrigation will be explored later in detail.

Diagram 3

PADDY CULTIVATION

The major livelihood activity of Kudapi is centered on paddy cultivation. Their land, water source and livestock are located in terms of its addition to paddy productivity.

There is a cycle of paddy cultivation observed in the village. The broadcasting (Heriya) of seeds in nursery (into the fields directly in the case of Goda dhan) happens following first rains of Monsoon, largely in the month of May. Heriya is done following rituals (Boonga) and hen sacrifices (Sim Hatgoi). By the months of July and August with the full onset of rains, the men move ploughs

(Seeya) on the fields and level it. Later women replant ( Rossa) the paddy from nursery to field. Following the replanting frequent weeding ( domno enta) is done by women.

The Goda Jameen is left free of any of these replanting or weeding since it was directly broadcasted. Further it is harvested (Baba Eer) first in the month of October using sickle (datram). Harvesting of Khundi dhan and Beda dhan respectively follows it. Then , the paddy is brought near houses from the field and thrashed by moving bullock ( Harbi yor) in circles. Following Harbi yor, baba( grain) is separated from straw(Singh).Later , chaff ( Baba room) is removed by thooku ( a wooden stick) by hitting in the hole made in the ground or from rice mill in the village. Finally, Baba is stored in the granary room in the house in Bora made out of rolling the ropes made out of Singh. The cycle of paddy cultivation can be depicted as follows (here details of horticulture , Bagani in the field are also added , which will be explored in detail in another section) :

Type of Land

Jan- Apr May- July July- Aug Sep October Nov- December

Goda Bagani Heriya/ Bagani

No Activity No Activity/ Gangai eer

Baba eer No Activity

Khundi Bagani Heriya Rossa Domno enta Domno enta Baba eer

Beda No Activity Heriya Rossa Domno enta Domno enta Baba eer

Diagram 4

RESOURCES AND TECHNIQUES OF CULTIVATION

Seeds

During conversations, the knowledge of villagers regarding traditional paddy seeds, which they claimed to be more than thousand varieties could be recorded. Some of the traditional seed varieties included Ara Baba , Oon Baba, Goda Baba, Dusar, Sath beri, Gutika, Chawli Baba, Pee arah, Bojona, Karma cha etc. In these Oon Baba and Ara Baba is said to be used widely in Khundi and Beda lands. In Goda land , only Goda dhan is used.

In the fields where SRI is practiced , Diku Dhan ( Foreign grain) like Pankaj, Abhishek , Swarna ( for Beda), Hazar Das, Lalat (for Khundi) that they get through Mahila Mandal , Block Office are said to be used.

Techniques

Though System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) methods of paddy cultivation have been introduced in the village, it was found that it was not widely practiced in the village. On exploring the reasons, heavy rainfall which made the replanting difficult was found to be prominent. So it was planted in haste, not in line. The houses which could afford labour from Kudapi or Baljodi village for Rs 40 per day could complete the replanting in SRI method.

Further it could be observed that such replanting has made weeding difficult and women were found to be engaged in it throughout the day. The activity of weeding required such a physical labour that it consumed more than a month’s continuous and repeated labour. The women had to drench themselves in rain, placing their feet in cold water and bending their back to pluck the weed away. Water was kept in fields to stop the growth of weeds and avoid the drying of field. So in the fields where water availability was less or if the land is tilted, the weeding became difficult.

HORTICULTURE

The harvesting of paddy is completed by December, followed which people started horticulture. They cultivated pea (Rampa), tomato ( benga) , chilly (mirchi), maize (gangai), bitter groud (karela), mulgae( a leafy vegetable) etc The horticulture in the village largely happened in water short months and is heavily dependent on the water from pond in village. But pea, chilly and maize cultivation were also done in rainy season.

Though people in Kudapi consumed the vegetables, they did horticulture largely as a cash crop to sell in the market. The cropping of the plant was observed to be dependent on market price and weather conditions. For example , Kudapi’s maize cultivation was famous with its fields along roadside. But this year, villagers haven’t cultivated much maize due to decrease in its price fetching Rs 20 per kg in market. People were also seemed hesitant grow tomato as they found that due to rain the crop gets soaked in the rain and after rainy season the value of tomato goes down due to surplus production.

For selling the vegetables they depended on local markets at Hatgamharia, Chaibasa . On not finding fair price at these places, they it sold to it traders who came to Hatgamharia railway station from mining settlements like Jamda , Gua , Noumadi, Kiriburi, Baspani and Birbil. It was interesting to observe that, initially they used to sell vegetables in bulk at Jamshedpur market, which fetched Re 1 – Rs 2 more than local market. But later they could not compete in Jamshedpur market with the arrival of year around vegetables and had to recourse to local markets.

WATER (DA HA)

Irrigation

The horticulture in the village largely happen in water short months and is heavily dependent on the water from pond in village. Since the village is on a sloppy terrain towards it base, it provides a good catchment area for the pond. The pond in the village was one of the most crucial resources in the village on which people depended heavily for irrigation and farming activities, especially during summer season and household chores like bathing, washing etc. PRADAN had made a strong intervention in the village by developing Micro-lift irrigation to fields through a diesel engine. The project was implemented in the year 2007-08 MESO through PRADAN have implemented these schemes for micro-lift irrigation, natural resource management etc.

During one of the conversation about cropping during summer when one of the villagers said, yehey pani nehi tho kuch nahi hoga, (If the water by lift irrigation is not there, no cropping would happen in the village during summers).

Kudapi also depended on a natural stream that reached lowlands of its agricultural fields. It was the major source of irrigating the fields before lift irrigation was introduced. In one of the conversation a villager said, Agar opper nala se pani nehi tho hum log yeha nehi hotheye ( if the water doesn’t come from the upstream , we would not have been here).

Pesiciculture

Villagers depended on the pond for pesiciculture. Initially, the norm was such that a group of three to two people bought the rights to leave the fish( Haku) in pond for a year in a bidding manner. This is led to competition regarding the bid price. At times the bid price went upto Rs 15,000 but nobody could pay this much and the pond was left unused. This bought the villagers together to form Adarsh Kisan Samathi in 2012. Now the villagers buy 20 kg of fishes like Rou, Katla from local traders of Jagnathpur for Rs 8000 and share the price between each members. The cultivation happens between July and April. As the water in the pond reduces, they catches it using traditional equipments like Ganjar and Gada Last year the group is said to have earned Rs. 14,000 on selling the fish. Presently Desu Sinku and Bamacharan Sinku are respectively the president and chairman of the Adarsh Kisan Samithi.

FOREST (BURU)

Households in Kudapi are dependent on forest also for their livelihood and other allied activities in varying degree. Most of the families that I could interact depended on the forest for Non timber forest products like oot (Mushroom), karka (the stick taken out of Sal tree used for brushing), fruits ( Boor uye ). Since it was the season of mushroom, it formed one of the major diet content during my stay. Different types of mushroom included Murram (black in colour) , Patha (white in colour) and sim ( red in colour like hen)

On closer analysis I could find that poor families largely depended on forest resources for their livelihood unlike other families. During conversation, people said in case they don’t find employment , they took wood and cut them into bundles of firewood. A bundle of such firewood would fetch Rs 60 in hotels of Chaibasa. They carried at least three bundles on cycle to Chaibasa. But the villagers were not permitted to cut the firewood from the forest area close to the pond as it overlooked by Forest Protection Committee of Baljodi. In case somebody was found taking firewood from there, they were supposed to pay a fine in terms of grains, money or livestock. I could also meet a poor family who did Tasar Cultivation from the forest which was largely of Sal trees.

LIVESTOCK

Cattle and poultry also provided support to the livelihood of people in village. Though the forest and fallow land gave fodder for the livestock, diseases became a crucial problem rearing animals. Though they gave traditional medicines it rarely worked.

People largely used Bullock (Hada) and Buffalo for moving plough in the field. They bought them from nearby markets on a price ranging around Rs 20, 000. There were different people who came from Nurda and Rugubasa, assigned with the role of herders to feed the cattle. One of them came to

my house of stay every morning by eight and took the cattle along other cattle in the village to jungle and open grounds for grazing throughout the day. The cattle sheds were improperly constructed and lacked hygiene. The cattle stood on its dung until being removed in the next morning.

Goat rearing was also practiced by the people. They bought a goat for price around Rs 1500 and after rearing they sold a big goat between Rs 4000 and Rs 5000. Similarly in poultry a hen fetched Rs 100-200 and duck Rs 200-300 on selling at market. I could not find any families that used to sell eggs. On exploring further it was observed that they largely keep the eggs for hatching to compensate for the hen lost following disease. The poultry is said to have getting affected by disease called Rogo twice or thrice a year when the animals fell down dead one after the other. Further the poultry had threat of wild animals.

Four different experiences during the stay, highlights the risk borne by villagers in Kudapi during rearing of the livestock:

1. During my stay a wild animal which was locally called as Bavo, caught the hens of villagers in early morning. People came together to catch animal carrying sticks, iron strings for more than three days. At last they caught the animal by putting a trap and shared the meat of animal between each other.

2. The family of my stay was dependent on poultry and goat rearing for livelihood. Later they stopped rearing it as the animals continuously fell ill.

3. Another experience was shared by a person when his Ox got hurt on striking to a stone and later succumbed to injuries as he couldn’t avail any medicines for the animal. Later he had to borrow another person’s ox and had to plough his field in return of favour.

4. Houses which were well off in the village had better cattle sheds to that of poor families. When poor families converted one of the rooms inside their house or made makeshift places filled with dung for keeping the cattle, the well off families made separate tiled cattle sheds.

OTHER LIVELIHOOD OPTIONS

Other livelihood options pursued by the villagers included migration to cities for government jobs and contract jobs, doing business in the bazaar , engaging in wage labor etc.

Villagers who migrated outside of Jharkhand in search of jobs in places like Goa, Mumbai , Pune, Chennai etc. in search of job. One of them was working in Coalgate tooth paste making factory for more than five years but came back to village without any money. He herds the cattle now and doesn’t want to go back. Similar was the case of another person who went to Andhra Pradesh and came back with no money in hand. Another person went to Mumbai and started working in a construction company when he was young and later got married there. But he also came back to village. All went outside through their contacts in other villages who were already working there. On enquiring about the coming back though they cited personal reasons largely but I could find economic reasons and the freedom and community life that they could get in village as reasons for it.

Apart from these, three families who had their members migrated where in government jobs like railway, defense service. Interestingly those families were well off in the village.

I could also find two families who were engaged in business. When one family maintained a shop providing essentials in village and chana – dhal during Bazar days. The other family bought vegetables from bigger markets sold it in weekly markets. The poorest quartile of village who were also marginally landed engaged in wage labour for rates like Rs 40 per day or one tin ( poyila ) of grain.

CULTIVATION AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

The history of land acquisitions by villagers is quite interesting. The first generation of Kudapi is said to have come from Beda Nurda. They came in search of land and acquired the land after “tasting its soil” and followed clear felling of forest. Later , Amin measured the land and gave land titles. Further it is interesting to note that, as mentioned earlier, the village maintained its social group based clustering in Kudapi. Based on conversations with people , following strata could be identified in Kudapi :

Category

Land

Water Forest Livestock Other Livelihood

Activities

1 Landed Irrigation; Pesiciculture

NTFP Better Cattle shed , More number of Livestock

Government Job

2 Marginal/Landed Irrigation; Pesiciculture

NTFP Better Cattle shed/Less/No Livestock

Business/Migration

3 Landless/Marginal

Irrigation; Pesiciculture

Firewood Poor/No Cattle Shed, Less Livestock

Migration

Even land allocation had a similar pattern. Sinku families had larger landholdings than Kunkal and Khandait families. Within these groups, families who were rich had their major land holdings close to their house and other pieces of land in far away forest fringes near Nurda , Gangumundi etc. At the same time, it could be observed in the poor families I had interacted, they had their land holdings only close to forest fringes. Having houses closer forest not only meant people moving everyday far from their house but also possibility of crop being destroyed by hathika (elephant) , sukuri (wild boar) etc. The dynamics of land holdings based on social category can be depicted as follows:

At one instance of conversations, a woman in the village identified herself as poor. When I asked her what poverty is for her, she said her fields are in forest fringes and is under threat from wild animals. Later, bringing her hands together, she told me “ mujhe ethna hi dhan milthea hey” ( I get this much paddy only). Further it was also found that the two families which had lot of lands could only sell the excess grains to market. Later they could only convert their capital into education and get better educated than the other villagers.

It was also interesting to note the gender based division of labour in paddy cultivation. When activities of men were minimal like moving the plough, the women did all other labour of broadcasting, replanting, weeding and harvesting. It was very similar to logic practiced in families where women were supposed to take care of children. When men checked the water level in fields, roamed around the village, drunk Hadiya ( liquor made out of rice)and took rest in house, women were engaged in labour in fields. It was hard to find women in the village during the day. Even they conducted the weekly SHG meeting in haste so that they may leave for labour.

The gender division of labour in Horticulture varied. Unlike women, men did the majority of activity of moving the plough, broadcasting of seeds, replanting, putting manure, insecticide and weeding.

Gender Paddy /Maize Cultivation Horticulture

Women Broadcasting, Replanting, Weeding Harvesting

Assisting in activities of Men

Men Moving the plough, Maintaining water level

Broadcasting, Moving Plough, Replanting, Weeding, Harvesting

Sinku Rich

Khandait

Sinku Poor

Kunkal

CAPABILITIES AND INSTITUTIONS

While discussing about institutions, I want to borrow the definition for it developed by Amartya Sen. He focuses on the understanding that institutions are places where debates and discussions on setting the values and thus choices to be pursued by the community are developed. All institutions in the village are related to one or the other capabilities of people. So it functioning gives a picture about how much people are deprived of capabilities. Out of all institutions in village Mahila Mandal appears to be most important institution in the village, which will be discussed in length later. Other institutions include the include the ones related to education like School Management Committee, health like Primary Health Centre, Angan Wadi Centre, Gram Sabha, Public Distribution System etc.

EDUCATION

The primary school in the village, Nav Prathmik Vidyalaya is a single teacher school with classes from 1 to 5. It had started functioning from the academic year 2010-11 and presently 40 students enrolled in it. The classes 1, 2 and 3 are held together having 3, 9, and 8 students each and 4 and 5 separately having 14 and 6 students each. The land for school was donated by the family of Desu Sinku and Jango Sinku. 67 families including the ones from other tollas like Illigada, Rugbasa of attended the school. Initially if the nearest school to a Tolla happens to be far than one km the schools were allocated under Sarva Shiksha Abhyan. And following Gram Sabha one person who have cleared inter school were given the role of teacher. But presently following the RTE only teachers who have qualified TET are allowed. Kandey Sinku is the only teacher in school following this guideline.

Mid Day Meal Scheme in the school also could be observed. The children were given 100 gm rice and 20 gm dal . The food was cooked by Jango Sinku from Kudapi and the grains came from FCI godown. Children below the age of six also attended the school. For this, the teacher cited the reason that Kudapi doesn’t have an Angan Wadi Centre.

The school had Village Education Committee where all villagers were members, School Management Committee of parents and selected villagers , Sarswati Vahni Mother’s Committee. I could attend a meeting School Management committee which had a participation of more than 30 members. Despite ongoing agricultural activity, it was active and discussed different agendas placed by the teacher like issues of dropouts, poor attendance etc.

For further studies, students had to move to Hatgamharia Middle School upto 8th, Hatgamharia High School until 10th and for interschool at Jagnathpur or Chaibasa. For higher education, students went to colleges in Chaibasa like Tata College, Mahila College which came under Kolhan University. On conversations with students, it could be observed that distance became a big obstacle. The buses charged Rs 40 per trip and train ran at odd times school/ college timings. This forced students to stay outside the house with huge expenses. Further even after graduation, I could interact with people who had difficulty in finding a job.

Regarding education, it was also observed that the well off families sent their children to Chaibasa for higher education to schools like Lutheran, St. Xaviers Middle School which charged Rs 45O year and Rs 800 for admission. All landed families had atleast one of its younger generation educated

beyond interschool even if its women. It was also interesting observe that families who at least one educated members provided support to other younger generations in relation for higher education

HEALTH

Institutions

The people in village largely depended on private clinic in Hatgamharia for medical service. Though there is a Primary Health Centre in Hatgamharia, during interactions it was mentioned that the doctors are not available there. Further even if they are available, they largely recommend medicines outside the hospital. Further during emergency medical conditions too ,they depend upon the private doctor from Hatgamharia. In case he fails to come, they wait until they could afford to reach Sadar Hospital in Chaibasa. For referral and specialized treatment, the nearest medical facility is available at Jamshedpur, which could only be afforded by couple of families in the village so far.

Water and Sanitation

There are two four major water sources in the village. Two of them were private bore wells , one public bore well on which people depended largely and a public well. It was interesting to note that the families with private bore well are the only ones with toilet in the village. Open defecation is practiced village for which they go early morning in two jungles close to village. On conversations, on this practice, the affordability of toilets, its requirement when population increases, necessity of it being provided by government, being habituated with it are the reason mentioned.

Knowledge and Behavior

During my stay a child of one and half years old died in the village. The best reason I could get about the cause of death was the child was ill since the birth. Villagers said that the child was sick from birth and could not ascertain any particular reason to it. Further I came to know that two more children from the family died two years before. Some villagers found the reasons like booth, house being in not right direction astrological position. The grandfather in the family told me that if Pooja is not done properly death can happen in houses. But later I came to know through the Mahila Sawasth Sevak from Jhinkpani PHC that the child was having Polio since birth and attained acute case. She had reffered the child for better treatment at Sadar Hospital but the family didn’t carry it out Later other cases of infant deaths were also identified in the village

The conception about Health in the village had strong correlation to the knowledge and behavior. Villagers largely did rituals Pooja Pat to protect themselves. One of the reasons for celebrating the religious festival , Parav was to seek protection from diseases. It was also interesting to listen from the experiences of Female Health Worker, Mahila Swasth Sevak from Jhikpani PHC. She have been working since 28 years in Nurda Panchayath explaining her initial four years when people threatened to kill her since they presumed they following immunization children will get lose their procreative ability. The logic she said to keep was Samjana Padutha hey, the requirement of behavior change communication so as to convenience them to carry along the immunization along with Pooja Patt.

Affordability

I had an opportunity to meet a father who was taking his son suffering from Jaundice only after two weeks for better treatment in Chaibasa. I could also meet a family who had to spend Rs 15,000 in their son’s case of prolonged Malaria. The father of the family told me that that at one point of whatever he had earned had to be spent on the child and still he is in debt to the doctor, who has waved it.

In the cases of emergencies and acute disease, it could be observed that SHG credit became a crucial source. While analyzing the SHG accounts book, medical reason formed one of the most frequent reason for taking loans.

Angan Wadi Centre

There was no Angan Wadi Centre in Kudapi. On enquiring about reasons, it could be found out that Kudapi fell in the border of Nurda – Baljodi village, the population of Kudapi fell under 200 etc. The nearest AWC to Kudapi was at Beda Nurda 2. But Kudapi as of now fell under Beda Nurda Tanti Tolla AWC which was more than 2 kms away from Kudapi. Beda Nurda 2 AWC was studied closely to understand about AWCs.

The Beda Nurda 2 AWC was ran by Nandni Sinku , Mother of Mukhya of Nurda Panchayath. Based on the survey conducted by the AWC in December 2013 , it covers 560 men and 580 men ; it had a population of 30 children who was less than 7 months : ; 7 months to 3 years : 65; 3 years to 6 years : 80.

It came under ICDS which had its focus group as women between 15 and 45 , children less than 6 years , lactating and pregnant mother. It gave specific attention to reducing malnutrition removing deficiency of vitamin A and cases of Anemia.

The activities in AWC were to begin with 9 am breakfast of sathu , daliya with milk, lunch with Rice and Masur Dal. The required nutrient intake information for different target group of AWC was displayed:

Categories

Rice Dal Vegetable Oil

6 mon- 3 year 65 36 02 08 3 year – 6 year 60 30 02 08 3 year – 6 year malnourished

90 40 04 16

Adolescent Girls lactating /Preganat Mothers

80

38 02 16

There is provision for woman less than 35 kg getting 6 kg ration every month

It could also be learnt from AWC that a new system of distribution of fortified food has started. Four packets of fortified food for six days each were given to target groups. The children were given micronutrient fortified food of 125 gms and mothers Poshtik fortified multi nutrient Upma of 150 gms

Immunizations for the child for diseases like B.C.G , Hepatitis B , Polio were also carried out there. Malnutrition was monitored through band and weighing . Further separate weigh chart for each child was maintained in AWC. The growth chart for it as developed by WHO and UNICEF can be given as follows:

Age Mild Nutrition Lower limit Extreme Malnutrition Upper limit

Girl Boy Girl Boy

1 6 7 7 8 2 7.5 8 9 9 3 9 10 10 11 4 10 11 12.5 12.5 5 12 12 19 18

It was also critical to note the experience shared by the midwife from the community, Sahiya Janu Sinku . She ensures the awareness generation of pregnant mother so as to ensure safe delivery. But it was hard to note that she was not getting her salary since 2008 and see survives on honorarium she gets while she takes any women for institutional delivery.

POLITICAL

The political structuring and Panchayath Raj Institutions under which Kudapi comes is as follows:

PRI s structuring Name of Person Traditional Ward Level Tulsi Sinku Mukhya /Up Mukhya Bimal Sinku/Turi Sinku Munda Puresh Chandra Sinku Pramukh/ Up Pramukh Bajmati Sinku/Bisingh

Pinkuwa Manki From Bin thopang near

Jhinkpani Further it comes under Sadar Vidan Sabha Mandal with Deepak Kumar Baruwa as the MLA.

Jharkhand has got into Panchayath Raj elections in 2011 December. Until then Gram Sevak and Panchayath Sevak monitored the developmental activity and Munda maintained the political authority. With PRI, Mukhya under Gram Sabha leads the developmental activities of the village but traditional authority of Munda remains. It was interesting to note the apolitical nature of elections in PRI elections. Mukhya’s main duties include the convening of Gram Sabha on developmental issues pertaining to the Panchayath and to hold monthly meeting of Ward members.

GRAM SABHA

I also had an opportunity to attend a Gram Sabha meeting at Nurda Panchayath Bhavan. The meeting had the presence of BimalSinku the Mukhya,Puresh Chandra Sinkuthe Munda and Nayak the Gram Sevak.

The agendas of the meeting included discussions on the name of beneficiaries for different government schemes like MGNREGA, BRGF and Chief Minister’s PCC road scheme. Under MGNREGA people gave their name for constructing 100 by 100, 50 by 50 and 30 by 30 pond in their fields and different road constructions. On conversation with Gram Sevak I came to know that the plan will be send to the District rural development department which will return back the claim after verification. Further following a discussion in the gram Sabha the final list were to be sent to District Authority.

It was an interesting observation that Gram Sevak was insisting that one core has to spend under NREGA in the village .But on a later conversation it could be observed that despite MGNREGA ensuring job security to people especially during lean seasons, people were reluctant to take the Job. In Kudapi despite having a population of 209, only seven to nine people turned up for it. Further, this year the NREGA supervisor for the village and Gram Sevak have decided to give job cards to all families.

Further it was also interesting to take a note on estimates on pond construction to get the scale of work done under NREGA :

100 by 100 costing Rs 3,34,500 ( Labour: 3, 12, 635 ; Material : 21, 865)

50 by 50 Rs. 70,600 (70,600 ; 62,410)

30 by 30 Rs. 23, 100( 16,906; 6194)

It was critical to note that introduction technology- MIS accounting of works and direct money transfer has reduced the role of Mukhya in implementing the scheme.

Under BRGF, names were invited for constructing goat sheds. There was also announcement that Rs 100 is given to all BPL card holders in compensation of losing their labour on the day when they

went for collecting Aadhar Card. At this juncture, I felt badat seeing how a democratic institution has reduced to place for informing and distributing different government welfare schemes rather than engaging discussions for informed choice. This method of conduct infact keep people as beneficiaries disregarding their agency to engage in public debate, get informed , identify their needs and raise voice for it. I compared the cost for constructing 100 by 100 ponds under MGNREGA which came to Rs 3, 34,500 to that construction of toilet which cost only one third of formers price.

MUNDA- MANKI SYSTEM

The idea of Munda was as a hereditary power structure that existed before Panchayath Raj. He resolved conflicts in village (collected a charge based on severity of the case), verified the genealogy (Kurchinama), land title (Khatiyan) , tribe/caste claim before being forwarded to Panchayath for certification etc. Munda’s most important duty was to collect land revenue annually. He was appointed by land revenue department and his claim had validity in courts. But it is critical case when such a non-democratically elected person is given power in democratic institutions. Though Mukhya was elected democratically he was apolitical in nature and was deemed less powerful to Munda by People. Following revolt by in 1831 by Birsa Munda , Sidhu Kanu ,a Santhal , the Bristish Adminstration instituted the Munda system. Munda was selected as an educated person from the village but later it became hereditary. Manki and Kolhan Inspector were regarded to the previous structuring of Munda system.

GENDER

Further it was a critical observation that the only three women who attended the Gram Sabha meeting where from Kudapi. I could find two reasons it. When women in all other Tollas were busy with ropai, these women had the freedom and could afford not doing labour in home. Further all of them were educated and were members of SHG started by PRADAN. It was also noted that out of almost 60 applications that were received for MGNREGA at least 18 were from Kudapi( which only forms 2% of households in Nurda)

CULTURE

When cultural aspect of Ho community is considered , it should be located in the largest context of kul ku speaking Oraon in Gumla, Munda in Ranchi , Santhali speaking Santhal in Santhal Pargana.It was interesting to know that Ho language has its script called Varanchiti very similar to Santhali have Ol Chiki script.

In the initial days the only thing that struck me was the simplicity of life in village – in their clothing, diet, style of housing, conversations- the way of looking at life. Logically I linked it with their probable lack of affordability, sense of satisfaction, or larger dependence on the diversity of nature than the complexity of market. People entered the other’s house without any restrictions and depended on each other on small issues to big. Though there were poor in the village, they were not publicly discriminated because of their poverty.

Hadiya

Further a crucial feature of people, especially men in Kudapi would be their addiction to Hadiya Hadiya is taken by both men and women in the village after hard physical labour, during festivities, even following death or birth and in their free times. Hadiya is prepared by fermenting rice for three days in a pot called dubani (thus a cheap source for addiction). The fermentation is made possible by adding Ranu. Ranu is prepared by adding daviye bought from Illigada bazaar with rice and its paste being rolled. After fermenting the Hadiya is filtered through Jali a basket. Even the weekly markets, bazaars had stalls of Hadiya being sold in Duba. Even houses shared Hadiya between each other.

RELIGION- FESTIVALS

Sarna formed the major religion in the village followed by Hinduism followed by Khandait. It was interesting to observe that Sarna religion based on the worship of nature had space for including Hindu deities or Christian faith. Parav formed central aspect of Sarna. Parav was said to be celebrated for the blessing from the dead, protection from ill happenings in house and for better agricultural yield. If Parav is not celebrated, it is said that the dead gives pain in stomach, snake and scorpion will enter the house or death and disease will happen in family.

Parav was celebrated four times a year. The timings of Parav were fixed based on Chandu (lunar months). The days in the month were calculated with the growth of Nir Chandu into Poornya Chandu( Full Moon). The dates of Parav are announced by Munda through Daku

Mange Parav

Mange Parav also known as Beda Parav is the most important of all festivals in the village . It is celebrated in March-April following the sight of Rajsal Chandu. Duri ( Priest) from Nurda does the two day pooja, rituals invoking upon the nature which creates everything and every Ho is a part of They pray to keep them safe like the previous year.

During Mange Parav the relatives visit houses , Mela, fanfares are held in villages . People wear new clothes, drink Hadiya is celebrated with songs, beating of Dhume-Dhuma drum, dancing and eating chicken.

Ba Parav

Ba Parav is celebrated after one month of Mange Parav. Following the Pooja new flowers ,Sal leaves and fruits are bought into house. Liquor made out of Mahua flower is also taken

Hero Parav

Hero Parav festival another important festival in the month of July-August is identified by goat sacrifice. The festival is celebrated following Hero Chandu is for proper rain while replanting of Paddy . Arjun Patha, leaves are brought to house after to protect from snake and scorpions.

Jaminma Parav

Jaminma Parav is celebrated with beginning of the harvest season. Goda Dhan grain cultivated in upland reaps first. This grain is brought along with moong, makai, balwa patha after pooja. People

believes that if any new grain is brought without the pooja of Jaminma even death can happen in the family.

CEREMONIES –BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH

During the stay I could also see both ceremonies of death and birth in the village. After child’s birth, the mother and child were to stay outside their house for two week. After that there will be a pooja and feast, following which the mother and child enters the house. On the day next to the day of entry the child will be named. It was observed that love marriages happen in the community than the ones arranged parents. The couples meet as relatives visit during Mange Parav.

Following death all dead bodies are buried in a family grave yard (sasan )usually close to the house. One could identify the graveyard by a big tree normally Tamarind (Jojho dhera) Tree and sheets of large stone laid under it. During death ceremony people dig the ditch as community effort, then drink Hadiya and have channa(pea) together. Following it they make a wooden box in the pit, later dead body is placed in the box. The eyes of dead body will be covered with coins and face marked with white dots (same is done during marriage ceremonies in the village). Later the coin is removed as it’s placed in the pit. The body will be placed inside the wooden box in ditch with its head on small heap of rice. Then they put salt and oil, torn cloths of dead over its body. Finally they close the wooden box with wooden pieces and cover it with soil. The men closed to the family shaved their head and people who attended the death ceremony were to take bath following it. Later I was told that when the family will be able to afford they will be placing a large sheet of stone (sasan dhera) over the tomb as in other tombs.

The sheet of stone is brought from Jamuda for a price of Rs 10,000.The community effort during the death ceremony was significant. During SHG meeting, the women contributed money even it’s as small as Rs 5 towards the family of bereaved. The women collected Hadiya or rice to prepare it from all houses to give it the people who came for the ceremony.

DIET

It was also interesting to find that even the kind of diet people had contained the politics of poverty and its indications. I never thought having one curry with rice would be a luxury. My diet at village largely consisted of rice (called as bath too), a curry of dal, chathu(mushroom) and/or leafy vegetables with salt and water. Houses which were well off had the luxury of having tomato or any other vegetable of choice whereas the poor quartile couldn’t move above one curry. Though such a diet with large amount of rice supported their labour intensive life style, I wonder if it provided the right nutrition. Especially I could see it among children in the village who had symptoms of malnutrition like protruded stomach.

People went for hunting (Sankarthana) as group of 20 with jal and danush orey (deer), kooley (rabbit), Sukuri (Wild boar) etc despite the threat Hathika , bhalu and bing (snake)

It was interesting to note different utensils used in the village

Tuma

Basket made of Bamboo used for sowing seeds and collecting mushroom

Atta Bamboo Basket with flat open space used largely for removing chaff from grain.

Geena

For serving curry in diet

Duba

For serving water and hadiya

Thani Flat plate used for taking food Dubani Big pot used for fermenting rice while Hadiya Preparation Chattu

Mud Pot used largely to keep water

Anda

Pot used for boiling paddy before taken to rice mill

SPECIAL OBSERVATIONS

PDS Problem

PDS ration shop covering Kudapi, Beda Nurda and ChotaNurda of 150 BPL , 50 Antyodhya beneficiaries where run by Marshal Hora group in Kudapi. During the interaction I could learn that through the license was in the name of the group, the shop was managed by three women and their family members. When the shop opened on Sunday I could verify the same. While checking the accounts of Marshal Hora group I could find that earnings from the ration shop has been erratic. At some months it was Rs5000, in other Rs 4000 and even Rs 1000. When I asked about the rice distributed I came to know that it was 32 Kg. instead of 35 Kg. as mentioned in Food Security Act, 2013. The worst aspect was that this was fixed by a Gram Sabha meeting and the same case prevailed in whole Jharkhand. On interacting with the women who ran the shop they were complaining about the rice sacks being less than 50 kg, they being had to payRs 500 for transportation and Rs 700 for loading. During the next weeks SHG meeting, when I asked about why women were collecting money which was not recorded in the accounts book, the whole group fell silent. Later when I asked to show the book where they were recording the money thus collected they initially refuse and later gave me the book. I could see names of different SHG members written against with 10 kg and Rs 120 was written. I came to know that the SHG members sold the rice in “black” between themselves.

Some women who wanted to change this practice told me that they lacked the courage even to speak within group about it and asked my support. This finding was surprising for me over the selling of ration items in black. Because Marshal Hora was a SHG that was proud in conducting more than 425 meeting has bank balance of four lakh rupees with its 21 members. They have been fundamental for PRADAN’s intervention at each village. This again points to the grey areas and

power dynamics within SHG which reduces itself as a microcosm exhibiting inequalities of village rather than becoming a site of empowerment.

Sub Divisional Officer giving preference to SHGs for running ration shops . Each FCI having rate list , Chaibasa Monitoring Officer. The structure is BDO to MO . In times of grievance a monitoring committee at village level can be constituted

A public meeting on PDS was organized following SHG meeting . Bikram Da visited houses int he previous night mobilizing all men to attend the metting. The concern was regarding the fact the grains reached the shop with no one going to FCI godown for measurement . There was no idea on weigh which “ sometimes was between 40, 50 , 61”. It was resolved that the problem is people are not raising voice. Another concern was the SHG is not getting any benfit out of PDS. The final decision was to take Bikram Da to godown for grain weighing.

Angan Wadi Centre

It could be learnt that people from Kudapi had given three applications to CDPO for starting an Anganwadi in the village. The nearest AWC was more than two kms away. Further the population of Kudapi was more than 200. The people have conducted Gram Sabha for allocating the AWC in charge and place in village.

SHG MEETINGS

In this section I will be exploring the SHG meetings that I could attend during the stay. Since Kudapi village had two SHGs (Malin Ba and Marshal Hora) and Sunitha Di managed SHGs in Ringubasa (Atal Ba) and Rugbasa (Horyar). All the SHGs came under Kolhan Mahila Mandal Federation of Hatgamhari block. Tulsi Di of Mahil Ba is the president of the federation.

I had an opportunity to witness around six SHG meetings. Thus I could get a comparative perspective on the functioning of Mahila Mandal. I would be moving from one Mahila Mandal to the other to reach final observations at the end.

Atal Ba

Atal Ba, the Mahila Mandal of Ringubasa met on Wednesdays. It had not met for three weeks as Sunitha Di was busy and none of the members in the group were literate. It was the first SHG meeting I attended. After the bell was rung, the women came to meeting place where tarpaulin was laid within thirty minutes. Though it was only early morning past six, I could find woman already in work. But they kept them away in a while came to meeting carrying their breast feeding kids. The idea of box and key being in different persons hand, the small savings on 2 rupees being put together etc were very interesting observation.

I could learn that on taking loan woman were charged 1 % interest per week and it went into the savings of MahilaMandal. When the savings become a big amount (likeRs 10,000) they deposited it in the banks. And when the deposit reaches a certain maturity or after auditing, women took certain

money out and distributed among each other. Most women paid off their loan using that money. I was also interested about the loan system. I could learn that woman who had good amount of savings at least above the loan demanded for it and only for genuine reasons which the group felt were permitted to get loan. While analyzing the reasons for taking the loan I could find that it was taken for largely for medical treatment followed by purchase of cattle, buying ration, for conducting business ( at Ringubasa for Mahua business). I could learn from Sunitha Di that the tollas was comparatively poorer, they don’t practice different agricultural practices introduced by PRADAN and PRADAN’s Dada and Didilog rarely went there as it was inside forest.

The most important of all observation was the fact the women came put the money and went back largely restricted to credit and savings activities. Thus during the second week of stay , I went around houses and interacted in the time they took to come for meeting and later during the meeting I asked them to introduce themselves, then about medical facilities and NREGA WORK. It was quite startling for me when they said since last five years there NREGA job cards are with a Mait in Balljodi village and they have not been working under NREGA since then. Further they told that they used traditional medicines and depended on a ‘compounder’ inIlligada for medical facilities. It was a revealing point as I came to know how poor and illiterate people where exploited by system and PRADAN SHG meetings limited to credit activities couldn’t do much about it.

Horo Ayar

During the Monday meeting of Horo Ayar SHG at Rugbasa, I could find that people here again were poor and illiterate and their SHG activities were restricted to credit and saving. Though Sunitha Di had bought pamphlets on agricultural calendar on right to education, food etc, it was not discussed as the women had to leave for fields. Thus the issues of pertinent to Tolla as it being not electrified, coming under the attack of wild animals , not having proper drinking water or irrigation facilities remained the same despite the several SHG meetings they attended.

The SHG meetings in Kudapi were held on Tuesdays. Both its SHG groups shared different dynamics to the SHG previously discussed. They were proud about the fact they have never missed a meeting since its inception in 2005. Since most members of SHG seemed to be literate, the accounts, the minute books were managed by themselves. Men also met on the same day to distribute the profits earned by pesiculture. On a closer look I could find certain disparities within the groups. Both groups were dominated by women were literate and well off in village. They maintained the records and decided the meeting progress. Both groups begun by prayer which was new thing ,but their activities as in previous SHG s largely restricted to credit activities, except once when they collected money for the family of the bereaved.

THE WOMAN WHO INFLUENCED ME

I would remember any woman in Kudapi for the hard labout she does every day for the sustenance of her family. When men moveda round saying Kya kare kaha gumeye the women moved the agricultural cycle ahead. The woman who influenced me the most in the village was the mother of SunithaDi, JongoSinku, who I called Mami as her children calls her.

She influenced me for she represents to me the pain a woman in rural space finds but the happiness she try to derive from it. After waking at 4.30 until she sleeps at 8.30, she is in one work after the other. She works at the nearby school as Mid Day Meal cook. She influenced me for her admiration for hard work. Even when she sits I have observed that she don’t place her full feet in the ground. She breaks her back working in the field doing ropai and removing weed when men her family roam around drinking Hadiya.

Secondly she influenced me for the image of mother she had drawn me. She comes to my room on meal times and say ,Babuvo Madi Jomathiya. She even asked me how to say that sentence in Malayalam so that she can tell it to me. Despite knowing that I don’t Ho , she would keep speaking to me in Ho about different happening in the house, asks about my mother, different cultivation, marriage, food styles in my home. I could also remember during one of the normal family conversation after dinner she told in front of other family members that I remind her of her son studying at Chaibasa and enquired me about my duration of stay in Hatgamharia. Another day she showed me his picture. On the day when I visited School I visited her. Thinking that I came to meeting since I am hungry, she came back along with me to give me food. I remember her happy laughing face despite it is worn by day to day labour.

May be to bring the more fruits to endless labour that is taken by woman like Jongo Sinku would be the larger perspective I am looking at working in PRADAN. I could remember one instance when the mother was wondering about ants. She said the ants were found keep on moving? When did they ate or drank something? I added one more question to that – like herself?