In Kotra, The Youth Want To Leave, But Not Too Far

About The People

Kotra is a tribal block in the southernmost part of Rajasthan and shares border with Gujarat. However, if you dive in, the villages are scattered all over the Aravali ranges. People here live in several smaller hamlets in every village; with a smaller population of the same caste – homogeneous hamlets and heterogenous villages.

Almost 95% of the population consists of the Bhil and Garasiya communities (scheduled tribe). While the rest are people from other social groups; for example the Muslims who dominate the local market space. Unlike traditional notion that ST community is suppressed (which is perhaps the case where they are the minority), here they are in numbers and the society works around and with the tribal population as its central pivot. Others, who seem sort of oblivious to it – it’s just that they don’t wish to get involved in ‘tribal affairs’. So while a majority, it cannot be said that numbers have got them the ‘respect’ from the notional mainstream people.

The Occupied And The Occupation

The ancestors of the community are the ones who fought alongside Maharana Pratap, provided him shelter and care during his early years. Historically, these forest-based communities have focused on hunting, farming, and forest produce for their survival. Currently, the primary income source is agriculture and labor work. The people either enroll in the MNREGA programme or migrate to work as farming labourers, and load carriers, or to work in the stone-carving industry. Due to the remoteness of the community-dwelling, there are several cases of deaths during pregnancy or childbirth.

A disease called Silicosis (read this blog link of another fellow’s who has worked extensively on this illness and its social-political nature) is very prominently seen here – as they work in the stone carving industry, which leads to the development of this disease. It is the deposit of fine silica particles over years into the lungs of those engaged in this occupation, which leads to ‘hardening’ of the lungs – “patthar jaisa ho jaata hai”. Often it is very late by the time it gets detected, as the symptoms are similar to tuberculosis. And being a poor person’s occupational illness, as you would imagine, very little cared for by the public health system.

Winds Are Shifting

However, in the past two or three decades, one can notice a major shift in this characteristic. As the youth move out for work and opportunities, they slowly disconnect themselves from their roots. But again, this disconnect is only cultural, not physical: no matter how far they have to go or how much their lifestyle improves outside of their villages, they always have shown a great desire to return to their homes.

Some elders share that they feel this pull because of the feeling of acceptance and comfort they experience in their villages. Even when young men and women go to cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, or Udaipur for training and work, they face hostility. In some cases, it is just homesickness. So, even with limited resources and some frugal conditions during specific seasons, my community would rather spend their whole lives in the village over moving out from their homes.

Skilling For Job, But Not All Out

KAS has recently started a joint project with STEP Academy that aims to train young men and women (18 years or above) in different fields like mechanical work, marketing, tailoring, and so on. They have designed a workshop cum bridge course and it also has a post placement component.

Our programs for sustainable farming techniques, mechanical work training, and tailoring have been quite successful. Every six months a fresh batch joins the training where the participants complete their training and either go ahead with the placement or start something of their own in their villages. For example: a garage, a tailor shop, etc. However, this is not the same for the marketing workshop. Even when the pay scale and placement guarantee are higher in this program, we have seen a significant number of dropouts each time. This is one of the training programs where we encourage young girls to join as well.

The idea of leaving their homes and families and working in a place far away by themselves is unsettling and they don’t feel comfortable about this. Again, in this case, most of the time, it was a group dropping out at once that led to a massive drop in the number of participants in the training. One other reason that surfaced after having some counselling sessions was that they felt misplaced at such workplaces. The place, the language, and the lifestyle in cities make them feel lower than their peers who are originally from the cities or towns.

Point Of Departure

I have been thinking of this duality – of wanting to go out because the space here stifles your income; but at the same time not to far from the familiarity. So how far is too far really?

Personally, I don’t relate to this characteristic of my community. In fact, I feel it is quite contradictory to what I have ever seen or done myself. Most of the time, I have seen people moving away from their roots for better opportunities and growth. Even with all the difficulties and some not-very-good experiences, I have seen, in my own circle of family and friends, people endure it for a better tomorrow. Even I moved out of my hometown (Allahabad) at a very young age for growth and learning opportunities. I still have no plans to settle in one place till I find something that makes me feel fulfilled. There’s always a longing for a home, but as they say, once you move out, your home is not the same anymore. You become a mere visitor.

And this is definitely not the case with my community – the point of deflection between us. The community you are surrounded by, what is your point where you depart from their norm?