First Year Lesson

In the year that has gone by (till Nov 2010), diversity of activities were conducted to not only understand the socio-cultural profile of kanjar but to test the impact of the interventions on the life and livelihoods of the stigmatized community in Jhalawar. The activities could be grouped under the following:

Social - group formation, constituting dera committee, children education

Technical - provision of drinking water, well deepening, goatry development, distribution of quality seeds and provision of fish nets

Capacity Building - exposure visits, skill training (electrical, mechanical and carpentary training and a stitching centre.

Needless to say, all the activities listed above could tinker the livelihoods of the kanjar at the periphery without making significant impact on uplifting their social status. However, it has helped build a positive rapport with the marginalised community that can help move to the next stage of engagement with them. The essential lessons emerging from the yearlong engagement have been:

1. The need for a programmatic approach to kanjar livelihoods improvement through convergence of existing welfare programs/schemes into a `Kanjar Development Fund' at the State and at the District level.

2. Need to sensitize the police force and the district administrative machinery to show greater empathy towards the tribe. Sustained interaction with the community is critical for building confidence towards the law enforcement agencies.

3. Review of the Habitual Offenders Act and its implications. A policy dialogue on the subject for amending the act, that may have outlived its relevance, can play an important role in mainstreaming the community.

With the Government of Rajasthan having shown sustained interest and commitment towards the initiative, a second phase of the Kanjar Livelihood Improvement Project is being designed to address the essential lessons of the pilot initiative. The Rajasthan Mission on Skill and Livelihoods (RMoL) has been supportive towards developing a long-term proposal (beginning Jan 2011) for Kanjar Upliftment.

Investing in Future

Jhalawar, July 2010 Going by the time-tested principle which states that `educate mankind if you are planning for hundred years', 25 children of Kanjar families from the Gangdhar block of district Jhalawar were sent to Government-run Boarding School in Mandana in adjoining Kota district. Though some 70 children were examined for their capacity to read and write, only 32 were found eligible to join the classes(Picture shows children leaving for the Boarding School in a bus from the District Secretariat, Jhalawar).

In the presence of several district officials and the project staff, the District Collector presented hostel-related material to each of the selected children. It was further stressed that the families of the selected children will receive support under various government schemes on a priority basis. The District Police Chief commented that education can play an important role in bringing stigmaised section of the society into the mainstream.

It has long been perceived that while the `kanjar' households need specific livelihood interventions to wean them away from criminal activities, the children may need to be segregated from the households to lead a decent life through education and better health care. Till all children are enrolled into boarding school, the task may remain far from finished.

Tanks of collective action

Titarwasa, June 5, 2010: Two of the eight Kanjar hamlets, Narayanpur and Titarwasa, in Patan block have now got 2,000 litres capacity water tank each to augment water supply for household purposes. The tanks are filled with water pumped from wells owned by individuals in each of the hamlets. The tanks are a spinoff effect of well deepening work undertaken by the project in these hamlets. While the deepened well in Titarwasa is owned by an individual, the one in Narayanpur is a community well.

Since handpumps in both the localities have failed to meet the growing demand, the need for tapping additional sources of water supply have been felt for a while. A resolution submitted to the district administration for providing a water pipeline from nearby overhead tank has been pending for consideration. However, the collective actions by the households in each of the kanjar hamlets has eased the situation for now. A monthly fee of between Rs 10 and Rs 15 for each of the households is indeed a bargain for the convenience it offers at the doorsteps.
How indeed the water sharing system gets managed and the source gets protected for sustained supply would need to be closely monitored over time? Of additional interest would be the comparison between individual ownership and community-owned water source. Without doubt, these are early days and there is great enthusiasm amongst 83 households in both the hamlets over the success of their collective action.

Credible entry points

Jhalawar, May 2, 2010: Well-deepening work in four dera in Patan and Gangdhar blocks is steadily moving. In Kishanpuria dera, Tezia has been braving the unprecdented heat spell to ensure that sowing doesn't get delayed any further. In Titarwasa, Sugan is excited to observe a rise in his well water. Says Project Coordinator R L Gupta, `these are first of the wells being dug up in the village. We are seeking support from district agencies to revive all the wells in the identified dera.' The overall objective is to engineer a water republic, once the well-digging process is complete, that will help all the households share water on an equitable basis.

In another nearby dera, Chandiakheri, a stitching centre is imparting training to ten women. The two-month training is helping them learn a skill wherein they are not only stitching clothes for their own families but are doing so for other households too. After completing its two-months tenure in Chandiakheri the stitching centre will then move to other village and so on. `To discipline women who used to come to the centre in an inebriated condition has been tough,' recalls social mobiliser Shabnam.

The challenge for the project is to link such entry points activities to the larger objective of the initiative, as also transform the balance sheet of individual households.

Convergence at Jhalawar

Jhalawar, Feb 18, 2010: The District Collector Mr Krishna Kunal and Superintendant of Police Mr Gorav Srivastava convened a meeting of all district level officers to converse with officials of the Rajasthan Mission on Skills & Livelihoods and project team of IFFDC. While Project Director Dr Rakesh Malhotra alongwith Mr Abhishek and Ms Richa represented RMoL, IFFDC was represented by Project Manager Dr R.P S Yadav and Mr Ramlakhan Gupta, Project Coordinator.

Subsequent to the presentations by RMoL and IFFDC, it was decided that all the departments in the district will liaise with IFFDC in providing contributions of their respective componets (programs) towards rehabilitation of kanjars in the district.

Nothing has changed in the last decade

Migration from Rajasthan after Independence proved to be the undoing of the Kanjar Bhat. With no land to call their own and unable to find jobs which could bring home money, some from the community opted for dacoity. And that damned the community. In the eyes of the police and in the eyes of society. Nobody likes the Kanjar Bhat.

The police added to the myth, painting them as diabolical killers with an ancient signal system to warn and make good their escape. Today, the Kanjar Bhat are thought of as a community whose men have an axe for a weapon, who duck the law by letting out cries which mimic the mongoose and the birds.Still, the police are always in hot pursuit. In the last twelve months, a crackdown on the Kanjar Bhat in and around Yavat has led to more than 50 `surrenders'. Now boys from the community are being roped in as `spotters' to help step up the `surrenders'.

Maybe another 50 men will surface in the coming months. It is good going for the police. But what of the Kanjar Bhat? Will the surrenders get them jobs? Can they return to the mainstream? Nobody knows.

The police say that they have sought help from social organisations like the Association for Attitudinal Healing and policewoman Kiran Bedi's India Vision Foundation, both working with prisoners and their families, for vocational guidance. Some plans for schooling and sheep rearing are also being talked about. But officials admit that unless a concrete rehabilitation programme is chalked out, the surrenders will not mean much.

For full story by Rachna Bhist Rawat, published in The Indian Express, Mumbai on March 18, 1999, please click

The debt trap

The baseline survey in kanjar villages (hamlets) of Patan and Gangdhar block in Jhalawar district is now complete. The data reveals a grim situation: 690 households in 18 villages are reeling under a cumulative debt of over Rs 2.5 crore. Even after assigning a correction factor to the data, assuming a high figure gets quoted by respondants for a possible debt relief, the situation with respect to income versus debt remains skewed. The average income:debt ratio in 8 villages of Gangdhar block is 1: 3.3 whereas the ratio is 1: 1.5 in 10 villages of Patan block. For a tribe that is culturally isolated, socially insecure and resource poor, getting out of debt trap is critical for the kanjar to join the mainstream.

The death ritual, called mauser, wherein each household has to make cash contribution is the prime reason for debt accumulation. Another reason for higher debt, in villages of Gangdhar block, has to do with the legal litigation expenses. Since average monthly incomes range from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500, repayment rate fails to keep pace with the rate of debt accumulation. The challenge before the project team is to tweak avoidable rituals through behavioural change process as also to develop a financial statement of income-expenditure for selected households for getting a sense of their survival economics. Improving their resource base and developing livelihoods options is crucial to improve their incomes. Enhancing their incomes 3 to 4 fold over the present seems a formidable challenge?