Analysis of Corona Virus Relief package: Nomadic tribes in Purulia, West Bengal

Press Release

Research team: Prasanta ( PBKSKS), Nirmita, Tarini, Vikas (Praxis)

Analysis team: Dheeraj (Praxis) and Mayank (NAG-DNT)

Advisor: Pradeep (PiC)

Coronavirus Relief Package: Voices from the Margins Series

Farmers and Migrant Workers from the Denotified, Semi-Nomadic and Nomadic Tribes in Purulia, West Bengal

Partners in Change in collaboration with Paschim Banga Kheria Sabar Kalyan Samity (PBKSKS) is working with the De-notified, Semi-nomadic and Nomadic tribes, tribals, migrant workers and other vulnerable communities through various activities like running education centres, promoting kitchen gardens, workshops on health awareness and accessing governments schemes etc. One of the focus areas is working with Kheria Sabar Tribe by building the capacity of financial, governance and programme systems of PBKSKS, a Community-led Organisation of Kheria Sabars in Purulia District of West Bengal. PBKSKS has a network of around 1,500 families in Purulia District. The National Alliance Group on De-notified, Semi-nomadic and Nomadic tribes is the national advocacy partner for this initiative.

In order to assess the impact of the lockdown, Partners in Change along with PBKSKS reached out to 33 villagers from 30 villages of Purlia District in West Bengal. They all belonged to the Sabar tribe, which is a denotified tribe. Most of these are the result of stigmatisation faced by the community because of their status as erstwhile criminal tribes.

The research team spoke to the tribals/villagers on how they are coping with the lockdown and whether they are accessing government schemes, such as PDS, Ujjwala scheme, loans and MNREGA. Interviews were conducted telephonically with 27 men and 6 women between 4^th and 6^th of April 2020. Key highlights from the findings are detailed in the sections below.

FINDINGS

1.1 Wages

Most of the Sabar families are daily wage earners.None of them, as of April 6, 2020have got any wages for the lockdown period. None of the workers haveapproached their contractors for seeking work either, as most of them feared violatingthe lockdown. The fear of virus, as yet, has not percolated. The Prime Minister has requested employers to pay salaries to all workers even for the lockdown period. This does not seem to be happening anywhere here.

1.2 Indebtedness

Of the 33 tribals interviewed, nine of them have already taken a loan during the lockdown period. Of the nine, at least one took the loan from his employer, which means there is a high chance of the worker getting into a bondage situation. Further, one family involved in agriculture has land on lease and has to pay Rs1000 per bigha (14400 Square Feet (sq ft)),per month to the land-owner and it is most likely that they will not be able to make this payment in the upcoming month and seek deference of the same. If the owner agrees to defer payment, the loan will accumulate, and if he disagrees, the farmer will be forced to approach local moneylenders to help with a resolution.

The reasons for the loans, so far, have been to access food. At least one person has specifically stated baby food expense as the main reason to take a loan. The problem is that while there is nil income, the expenses have not come down. The workers are mentally stressed due to this situation. For instance, even a well-resourced farmer felt the pinch when he will have to pay Rs 800 to purchase a gas cylinder next week. He is not sure whether he would get that for free as promised by the government.

1.3 Right to Food

Of the 33 tribals interviewed, all of them have been able to eat at least two meals a day. None of them have gone hungry yet. However, it must be noted that most have been able to get food because of loans, advances or support from local organisations or individuals. Seven out of the 33 had at least one family member who was ill, which means that the family also requires money for medicines. Three out of these seven families had taken a loan.

The Government of West Bengal has proposed to reach out to 7.88 crore beneficiaries through the Public Distribution System. In Purulia, all the 33 families we interviewed had PDS cards. They had all availed PDS but only two of them stated that they got the extra ration of 5kg rice. Of 33 villagers, 24 families are entitled to free grains from ICDS as the family had pregnant women or children less than six years of age, but only 17 of them have received the free grains.

At present, most villagers are surviving with the ration of the previous month. Fourteen villagers stated that they accessed food through other individuals, CSOs, Panchayat and the local MLA. This means a number of other institutionsare also coming forward to support the tribals, but this also shows that the state is still not able to ensure right to food on its own.

1.4 Covid-19 Relief Entitlements

Jan Dhan Account: Only 5 villagers have a Jan Dhan account. Of that, one woman stated, that she received a notification about Rs 500 as deposited but she is yet to confirm.The Government initially announced that 20 crore women Jan Dhan account holders were to each get Rs 500 per month, subsequent to which they stated that it has already credited Rs 500 each to over four crore account holders. At least four women we spoke to, who have Jan Dhan accounts did not receive any funds.

Old Age or Disabled ex gratia payments: 13 families have at least one person registered under these schemes. 11 of them have received this month’s pension. However, they are not yet sure of having received any additional payment as promised by the government.The Centre has decided to give three months pension in advance to all the 2.98-crore beneficiaries. Besides these pensions, they are entitled to Rs 1000 ex-gratia amount, which none of them have received yet.

Ujjwala Scheme: While most villagers were unaware about the ujjwala scheme, 11 shared that they are part of the scheme – none of them had received free cylinders. The central government has announced that gas cylinders, free of cost, would be provided to 8 crore poor families for the next three months.

Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme: Of 33 interviewed;only one of them has stated that he has received Rs 1000/- in March. The first installment in the month of April as announced, is yet to be released.As part of the Covid Relief package, under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Yojana,the first installment of Rs 2,000 due in 2020-21 will be front-loaded and paid in April 2020 itself.

Prochesta scheme: The West Bengal government has decided to provide Rs 1000 for people who are working on a daily wage. None of the 33 villagers received Rs 1000 payable to unorganised labour.

MNREGA: 32 out of 33 villagers have a job card but none of them have got any payment or any job for the last few months.The Centre has stated that MNREGA wages would be raised to benefit five crore families. Every worker will get an additional wage of Rs 2,000 over the next three months. The centre has just released Rs 4431 crores to clear pending wages dues for MNREGA workers. However, none of the villagers seem to have benefited from this announcement thus far.

For more information contact founder member of National Alliance Group on De-notified, Semi-nomadic and Nomadic Tribes, Mayank at nag4dnt@gmail.com