BAIRALAL AND HIS QUESTION

The day long meeting had concluded. It was one of the regular meetings they had periodically. As they got up to leave, they said their usual good-byes. The meeting had been interesting and they always enjoyed this opportunity to meet people from the different villages. But it was also the time when they visited the local market, bought some stuff for their homes that were not normally available in their villages. The end of the meeting was often signalled by a dash to the market. But Bairalal was occupied, deep in thought. His brows were knit. Something surely was troubling him. He lacked the enthusiasm others displayed in their shopping expedition.

This was a monthly meeting of the cluster in-charges nominated jointly by Prayas (a local NGO working in the villages of Chindwada in Madhya Pradesh, central India) and the village communities. Local youth, both men and women, had been identified to oversee development initiatives in a group of 5-10 villages in Prayas’ programme area. One of their key functions was to support the village sangathans (associations), ensure that the sangathan records were maintained properly, that their issues and problems were taken up with the block and district level authorities and to report back to these sangathans and to Prayas what needed to be done in these villages. These were fairly remote villages in the Amarwara and Harrai blocks. The population was largely tribal (belonging to the Gond tribe). Decades of exploitation and isolation had impoverished the people of these villages. Prayas had played an important role, from the late eighties, to organise the poor into village sangathans and plan development of their respective villages. It had not been easy though with the local authorities and the traders alike resisting the efforts of the people and Prayas to bring about a change that would challenge their erstwhile unquestioned authority and influence over these people.

Bairalal had been one of the most outstanding of the cluster in-charges. He was one of the few youth who had managed to get to secondary schooling. He could read and write reasonably well, at least, enough to maintain village accounts, transact small business and write minutes of the village meetings. He was extremely hard working. He toiled in the farms during the day in the agriculture season. Though poor, he had his own dreams of a brighter tomorrow. In the evenings, he would set out for his community work. On most days, he would have a meeting in one of the villages that was part of his cluster. If not a meeting, he would be at hand to help the education team with supervising their learning centres, or with the health team spreading health education messages or with the legal aid team helping with organising legal aid camps. He would supervise the grain bank, the seed bank, check the cash savings to ensure that basic systems were followed. He would spend time with individual families, helping them plan for their future. He would resolve conflicts among families or even among villages. A critical function of his was to accompany those in need to the block or district head quarters to follow-up loan applications with the bank or petitions from individuals or communities for some scheme. But more importantly, he would fearlessly walk into police stations or offices of the local forest department officials (something that was quite unthinkable for a tribal, who were more often than not victims of police atrocities or atrocities of the forest department) seeking redressal for various grievances that his people had or for filing reports against exploitative traders or corrupt officials or simply seeking permission to stage a peaceful protest !

Life was quite busy for Bairalal, but he enjoyed it thoroughly, though his wife often complained about he not attending to pressing needs at home. Bairalal enjoyed it because of the love and respect he gained in the process from his community members. There was a sense of pride and achievement in what he was doing. He had also been recognised by the local officials. More importantly, he felt that he was part of a major change sweeping across the tribal villages of Chindwada, a part of a new assertion, part of creating a tribal identity that was hitherto suppressed.

Coming back to the day of the meeting, it was a meeting with a difference. Unlike earlier meetings, it was not about assessing progress of work done. This was a forward look meeting. Prayas was preparing a long term plan in consultation with the village communities. I was there to facilitate the process. This was in 1995. The long term plan was a strategic plan aimed at visioning where these communities would be in 10 years’ time, and what needed to be done in the intermediate period to get there. It was an intensive process with village sangathans having long meetings at their level. The perspectives that emerged were then discussed at the cluster-level by the cluster in-charges (Bairlal being one of them), which in turn was consolidated at the level of Prayas and its operational areas.

A good part of the morning was spent on discussing various ideas that had emerged on what needs to be done to bring about all-round development in the lives of the people in the villages. Taking a historical perspective, we started discussing the fundamental causes of poverty and exploitation that the tribal communities found themselves in. That was quite a challenge. Since the cluster in-charges were village youth and hence did not have the benefit of a long experience and the wisdom that would emerge from being an elder, it was a difficult topic to discuss. The discussion remained inconclusive. But not for Bairalal. The question continued to perturb him. "Why, indeed, were the tribals in the sad condition they were in" ?

It was with this thought that Bairalal left the meeting room, deep in thought and certainly disturbed. Not many of his peers noticed it though Bairalal was often a cheerful, talkative person. The hurry to get to the market and catch the last buses of the evening that would take them to their villages were more important. Bairalal remembered that he too had to go to the market. He had promised to buy various things to his wife and he knew it was better that he honour his commitment. But he continued to be lost in thought. So much so that he did not notice Thakur, the local cop who knew Bairalal very well (and why not, with the number of times Bairalal challenging Thakur’s authority and actions !). Normally, Bairalal, on his visits, would have a couple of issues to raise with Thakur or his colleagues. But this time, he was very quiet. “Bairalal”, Thakur shouted out. “What is troubling you ? Why are you looking lost”? “I need to find a sound answer to a question”, Bairalal replied. Thakur guffawed. “And pray, what’s that question”? Bairalal turned around, looking directly at Thakur. There was an air of defiance, Thakur felt, in the way Bairalal looked at him. “I need to find out – why are we tribals so poor and exploited”?, he said, turning around and walking away as he completed. It sounded a bit ominous to Thakur. There was a certain sense of determination in Bairalal.

And it is this determination and this questioning that sustained Bairalal’s enthusiasm in the face of the several odds that he confronted in his life and work. He was determined to ensure that his community led a better life, were better respected and were better represented in all walks of life. He didn’t see any logic or reason on why they should continued to be discriminated against and exploited. And it was people like Bairalal who truly managed to change the way the tribals were perceived in those villages of Chindwada where they worked. Village sangathans grew in strength, their solidarity reinforced with the formation of a federation of these networks. They learnt to be assertive, demanding entitlements that were clearly theirs from the district administration. They developed strong links with various line departments at the district level, with technical resource agencies, the media and even the politicians. They knew that their past was well behind them and they could look to the future with a great deal of optimism for their children to lead a better life !