Black earth, red hope

Akash Bisht Surkhet

As the sun sets in the picturesque Surkhet valley in the western mountains of Nepal, hundreds of cattle grazing in the open grasslands start their slow journey back to one of the largest and poorest villages in the region. Known as Kali Mati (literally, black earth) this village is home to one of the oldest and largest ethnic groups in the Tarai - the Tharus. The village is difficult to access as no road connects it to the rest of the valley and it is located in the foothills of a large mountain that is famous for the remnants of an old Buddhist temple.

A muddy and slippery bylane winding down the treacherous mountain is the only way to reach the village. A smoky trail emerges out of every hut in the village that consists of several hutments of different sizes made of wood, mud and cow dung. Some women sit outside cooking food while some carry pitchers of water filled from a nearby pond. Young boys are running around and playing in the mud while young girls help their mothers with household chores. The men sit in groups outside the only shop in the village smoking bidis and talking loudly about elections, agriculture, landlords and wages among others with occasional bursts of laughter.

This village does not have a single family that owns any plot of land, despite the residents being the oldest indigenous group in the region. Tharus are a low caste, poor ethnic community, often referred to as the original inhabitants of Nepal by the locals in and around the valley. They form 6.6 per cent of the total population of Nepal and are one of the most backward and underprivileged people in the country. They have been exploited by local moneylenders and zamindars (landlords) for centuries. The landlords are members of the higher castes or the ruling classes and have access to politicians, bureaucrats and the army.
Earlier, landlords kept members of the Tharu community as bonded labourers under the kamaiya system, which was later abolished in 2002 by Parliament under the king, a political consequence of Maoist armed struggle - the People's War. "I worked as a bonded labourer in a landlord's house but after the 'People's War' gathered momentum, I was freed by Maoists, who also made the landlords flee the village. We were not freed by the king's orders but by Maoist justice," remembers Kalu Ram of Kali Mati village.

It was the 'People's War' that gave power to the Tharus, who were till now considered meek and powerless by the royal establishment. "The war gave us hope as Maoists told us to reclaim land that was always ours with the slogan 'Land to the tiller and landless'. We readily and collectively joined them to fight the injustice that has been imparted upon us for centuries. Men, women and children joined the revolution to fight the royalist forces even if it meant sacrificing their lives," recalls Rukmani Devi, a gutsy woman, representative of the overwhelmingly resilient 'women's power' in the Maoist resistance.

After the rebellion gathered momentum among the kamaiyas, the government decided to distribute small plots of land to poor families. However, that land was basically distributed among some influential Tharus while the people of Kali Mati still wait with anticipation and faith. Now they have hope from the Maoists, who, they firmly believe, are with the poor and marginalised.

(The kamaiya ritual is a bonded labour system in which a kamaiya binds himself and his family to till land of a landlord for an annual payment. A kamaiya is dependent on the landowner as the house in which he lives is owned by the same landlord. The debts are inherited by his sons and family and carries on for generations. Like the slavery system, if a kamaiya is unable to pay his debt, the landlord can sell him to another landlord who will have to pay the kamaiya's debt.)

However, the kamaiya seems to be coming back with a revenge - despite the Maoists. Soon after the current elections, while the Maoists were basking in the glory of their success, busy with hard negotiations in Kathmandu, the landlords quietly crept back in their areas, trying to exploit the community yet again. They again compelled the Tharus to work in their fields. They pay the Tharu landless labourers a pittance of the produce every season. Tharus who got land for a very short period, have again been dispossessed of their land and are being forced to work as sharecroppers and bonded labourers.

"We take a loan of Rs 10,000 from the local moneylender and sometimes more to till the land. If we fail to pay the money in time we again take loan from the same landlord on whose land we work, who in turn takes the larger share of the crop, leaving us with not even one-third of the produce," says Jugram Chaudhary of Kali Mati. Most of the men in this village complain that the landlords ask them to work in their houses and even extort money, wood and grain. "If we do not give in to any of these demands, we are threatened that we will not be able to till their land. We have no option but to oblige," Jugram added.

At present, most men in the village work as daily labourers and masons and earn Rs 100 a day, which makes it difficult for them to help their families lead a healthy life. The women who work in the fields take care of household chores, catch fish and help their men in agricultural work. They have little or no say in family decisions.

A lot of women in this hilly and inaccessible village die during pregnancy as there is no public transport to take them to hospitals. Private transport like cars or other vehicles costs a fortune for poor Tharu families. They just can't afford it. Due to lack of money and basic subsistence, most children have no access to education; they are therefore pushed into manual labour at a very early age, They join their parents in their work or flee to look for jobs as 'domestic slaves', or slog it out in shops, dhabas, hotels, or as helpers in taxis and trucks in Nepali and Indian towns and cities.

Despite these perennial problems of poverty and alienation, Tharus still nourish hope. Soon, they have faith, the Maoists will deliver what they promised - because they are with the poor. They are with the Tharus.