Fading Folks

The recent SC ruling on sub-classification within the SC and ST categories temporarily lifted the hopes of tribal communities in Jharkhand

- Md Asghar Khan

EDUCATION, as a matter of right, appears a distant dream for the nearly hundred youngsters in Dhapani village in the remote Santhal Pargana division in North East Jharkhand. Until 2018, the Paharia children studied in Dapani village, home to about 80 households. Once influential, the Paharia tribe is now dwindling in numbers and losing socio-political clout compared to larger tribes like the Santhals. In 2018, the local school was relocated to another village three kilometres away. Despite a 2022 petition prompting the district administration to promise reopening the Dhapani school, it remains shut. With no proper road between the villages, Paharia students continue to struggle without basic education.

Recently, in nearby Pergodda village, a 13-year-old Paharia girl was married off, only to be sold by her husband to Panipat when she turned 16. According to Shikha Paharia, a local activist, poverty, limited access, unemployment and illiteracy have driven many Paharia families to send their young children away as bonded labourers, just to survive. “There is a feeling of abandonment,” says Paharia while articulating the need for a focussed approach on part of the administration to help Paharias find their feet. Paharias are one of the eight primitive tribes—among 32 notified tribal communities in Jharkhand— who call the Santhal mountains their home, but now face a fight for their very existence.

Devi Singh Paharia, who works for his community through the Adim Janjati Adhikar Paharia Manch, said that they are disappointed with both, the state and the central governments. “We do not get the benefit of any scheme. Our children and women suffer from the worst form of malnutrition. Our population has been declining. We have neither an MLA nor an MP. Our calls for constituting an Adim Janjati Commission [Primitive Tribe Commission] go unheeded,” he said.