Once upon a time there was a village in which a farmer lived with his two sons. The elder one was Sunil and the younger one was Anil. Sunil helped his father in the field and Anil went to school regularly. One day Anil took a different way back to home from his school. On…
– By Shaan Kumar (Class X) Our Holi vacation started on 23rd of March and we were eagerly waiting for this date. On 23rd of March we went to our respective villages. We were very happy and excited as we were given certain tasks by our respected Chairman sir to be performed at our respective…
Sarmesh Kumar is the first in his family, that comes from the community of rat eaters, to go to college. That is why when he passes his degree in business economics, it will not just be an academic formality but an accomplishment that should make every Indian proud. Archana Masih/Rediff.com met Sarmesh and traveled to…
Members of the dominant Musahar community in Parvarti Nagar village, nestled in the foothills of a hillock in Khizrsarai block of Gaya district, are seething with rage. They have plenty to be angry about. Basic amenities are mostly non-existent and even Jitan Ram Mamjhi, a fellow community member who was the state’s chief minister till…
Rahul Bedi in Patna Rahul Bedi tells the story of Bihar’s ‘untouchable’ Musahar community, which is slowly, but steadily rising to its feet, with the help of J K Sinha, a former intelligence officer and a Good Samaritan. He has built a modest residential school that offers their deprived youth not only free and competent…
After his Bihar development model agenda failed to fetch seats for his party in the just concluded Lok Sabha election, Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar resorted to a bit of social engineering to consolidate his party’s position before the next state Assembly election. He anointed a person from the most backward caste to succeed…
The state of the Musahar community in north Bihar is said to be much worse than any of the indigenous tribals of the country Members of Bihar’s 13-lakh-strong backward scheduled caste Musahar community are selling children to earn a living, according to a report in Outlook. Musahars are people who have traditionally survived on eating…
ATRI/WAZIRGANJ (Gaya): In Bihar’s high-stake political battle, Musahars – an influential group of dalits within the 16% Mahadalit voters in the state – continue to survive in terrible living conditions, without even enough food and clothes. A drive through Banganga-Atri road off National Highway 82 (Nawada-Gaya), reveals that Musahars, an extremely poor community of mostly…
Musahars, who number 3.1 million in Bihar, are the lowest of the Mahadalit community. The term ‘Musahar’ means ‘rat-eater’, which gives an idea of the people’s status. Widespread poverty amongst Musahars has led them to consume rats as a source of protein. Although rat-eating is by no means confined to Musahars, the social stigma attached…
Prolific donors like Chandra would like to see at least a few hundred NGOs operating on scale. His capacity-building forays are beginning to address shortcomings of NGOs that impede quick scale-up. Take Pipal Tree Foundation, which trains unemployed youth in the rural hinterland in skills like masonry, steel work for construction, plumbing and painting. It…
