The voiceless communities of Karnataka | Bengaluru - Hindustan Times
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The voiceless communities of Karnataka

BySharan Poovanna, Hindustan Times, Bengaluru
Mar 08, 2021 10:14 AM IST

Communities like the Dhakkaligas are one of the hundreds, if not thousands, whose lives have not changed with the image of India, whose economic might is often showcased worldwide.

In 2013, Shekar Kudri, then a 27-year-old from Muralgi village of Belagavi district became possibly the first person in the Dakkaliga community, a nomadic tribe in Karnataka, to land a government job.

Lack of awareness, education keeps several caste groups deprived of chance at social justice(HT Photo)
Lack of awareness, education keeps several caste groups deprived of chance at social justice(HT Photo)

By their own estimates, there are about 3,000 people who belong to this community, classified as Scheduled Caste (SC), in Karnataka. Kudri’s appointment presents a stark reflection of how smaller and relatively unknown caste groups in the state get so little from reservation, depriving them of opportunities and a chance at social justice.

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“My parents were agricultural labourers and did not know about reservations. I gathered information when I was studying, pursued it and applied for a government job,” said Kudri, now a 35-year-old physical education trainer in a government school in Muralgi.

His relatives at Chikkanayakanahalli in Tumkuru district, however, have not been so fortunate.

Most of the families that live next to the cemetery in the village continue to beg for a living while a few others sell cheap plastic goods to eke out an income.

“We have been fighting to get the government to allocate grants for the construction of houses,” Shantharaju, a small-time trader from the same community, said. Most families in this settlement live in huts, put together with plastic sheets, straws and other material. He described the living conditions of the community as “heenayakara” or deplorable.

Few among these communities are aware of the so-called benefits of reservation due to the lack of education, employment and awareness.(HT Graphics)
Few among these communities are aware of the so-called benefits of reservation due to the lack of education, employment and awareness.(HT Graphics)


Communities like the Dhakkaligas are one of the hundreds, if not thousands, whose lives have not changed with the image of India, whose economic might is often showcased worldwide.

The rise in per capita income, industrial progress and technological prowess has had little or no impact on their lives or livelihood, enunciating the already glaring social and economic inequalities in India. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated this situation as it forced those who tried to break out, right back into poverty.

But few are aware of the so-called benefits of reservation due to the lack of education, employment and awareness.

The conditions of these people are rarely ever deliberated on by the political class, who spare no opportunity to identify with their own caste groups.

The rise of caste-specific ‘mathas’ or monasteries are instruments to uphold the interest of the community and as a consolidation measure to prove strength that would also be used as a political bargaining chip, experts said. There are at least three prominent communities—Panchamasali, Vokkaliga, Kuruba and Valmiki—where a sizeable strength of people from these groups are in active politics, high offices and avail benefits from government schemes and programmes.

To be sure, most of the benefits even within these dominant communities are cornered by a few who are in power, leaving the remaining as vote banks or support systems with little or no benefits other than the name of the community itself.

Experts and social activist groups said the biggest problem for the state is that it does not have adequate information on these communities, their living conditions or their whereabouts since they are nomadic and often move around for livelihood.

The other problem is an argument often used to appropriate the higher allocations to larger communities based on their population, experts said.

“Few communities grab benefits meant for more deprived groups,” CS Dwarakanath, the former chairman of the Karnataka backward classes commission and a civil rights activist, said. He added that there is no source of information to gauge the actual benefit of representation availed by any community.

The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in 2015 undertook a survey to determine the actual living conditions, population and social, economic and educational status of all caste groups in Karnataka. The survey is yet to be released.

Siddaramaiah had initiated the study based on the recommendations of Professor Ravivarma Kumar’s report in 2000. However, analysts said, Siddaramaiah’s reasons may have been more political as he, a Kuruba, who stormed into power with the help of AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits), wanted to challenge the dominant caste theory in the state, dominated mostly by Lingayats and Vokkaligas, who are believed to be the largest with significant political influence.

There are broadly five categories of caste classifications in Karnataka apart from reservations for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SC/ST).

But atrocities against people in the name of caste, religion and subsects, among other reasons, continue to thrive unabated.

A group of 15 people, who see themselves as upper-caste, stormed and assaulted a group of youngsters from the Madiga community in Koppala district, about 351 km from Bengaluru, in October last year.

The youngsters had visited a local eatery where they got into a scuffle with a few people from upper caste boys, who objected to their presence.

Madiga is a term used for over 50 Dalit sub-castes that have been treated as untouchables for centuries in Karnataka and other places. Though untouchability and casteist slurs are punishable offences, few are charged with these crimes as it is accepted as a way of life for many across Karnataka’s rural landscape, experts said. “Many times they do not even have the courage to file a complaint,” Sanna Hanumantha, a social activist in Koppala district, said.

A 2019 study by Swabhimani Dalit Shakti, a social advocacy group in Karnataka, found that the practice of untouchability was rampant in nearly 87 villages in Haveri district, where they were not allowed to draw water from the wells, enter temples or even get a haircut.

“We put up advertisements in newspapers when we visit any district to get more people from marginalised communities approach us and share their grievances,” K Jayaprakash Hegde, former member of parliament and chairman of the Karnataka Backward Class Commission, said.

Hegde said there are cases where spelling mistakes deprive members of marginalised communities a chance to procure a caste certificate, which is mandatory to avail any benefits of reservation.

The lack of awareness is one of the biggest challenges in reservation that leads to abject poverty, exploitation and malnutrition and even genetic problems due to the practice of marriage among close relatives within the community, experts said.

A group of 50 members of the Yerava community, who mostly work in coffee plantations in Kodagu and Chikmagaluru districts, gave a reservation-related representation to the local police as they did not even know who the relevant authorities were.

Bhavya, a 23-year-old woman at Ponnampet in Kodagu district said there are cases where caste certificates are illegally procured by people of upper castes or landlords with the lure of alcohol and money.

Any effort to mobilise the marginalised caste groups is often met with brutal force by landlords, who see this as a threat, experts said.

“Most of these nomadic tribes are people who do not have land, strength of numbers and even voting rights and hence are ignored by the political class,” Dasanuru Kusanna from the Institute of Socio-economic Change said.

He added that the other problem is splintering of sub-castes from the main group, which then becomes a struggle within members of what is categorised as the same community to get benefits.

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