ISAHAR COMMU- NITY inmanyaneast UP village is socially and economically one of the most marginalised communi- ties in the country and is cat- egorizedas “Scheduled” Caste. Although the practice of untouchability is a crime under rule of law in India, the Musahar community is still not allowed to lead an ordinary They don’t have any prop- erty,ameans of livelihood and arealso deprived of education. They are compelled to work as labourers for survival. And in lieu of hard labour, they get only foodgrain of inferior quality They face starvation when there isnoregular work for them. There are between five to seven lakh Musahars in UP, while their estimated head- count in Bihar is close to 30 lakh. This landless commu- nity, traditionally dependent on forests, was slowly pushed from these areas as forests were nationalised and cut down and a land-based econo- my took over. Without resources, the Musahars found. themselves at the mercy of landowners, who exploited them as bonded labours for weeding, harvesting and clear- M usahars are a deprived lot Guest Column Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi ‘Gwanju Human Right Awardee 2007 ing fields. The work of clear- ing the fields of rats and later using the grain from the rats’ burrows may have given them the name Musahar — musa- rat and ahar-diet — people whose diet is rats. They work as agricultural labourers'and mainly do weeding and har- vesting work. Men of this com- munity earn Rs 40 a day; women earn Rs 25 per day. Asone of the poorest groups sans sustainable livelihood options and constant food inse- curity, they should have been. entitled to receive maximum benefit from government schemes. (As told to Anuraag )