Economic Blockade of Dalits
Posted by Preet Mohan S Ahluwalia on Monday, 1/15/2001 8:21 PM MST

Dalits protested untouchability, now they have to pay for it Express News Service/6 April 1999 http://www.angelfire.com/ak/ambedkar/BRpressgallery.html VISAKHAPATNAM: The upper caste villagers of Pallapu Kumarapuram have given a choice to its 12 Dalit families. They can either starve to death or leave the village. The upper caste farmers in this village in Anandapuram have decided not to hire Dalit labourers. The Dalits are pulling along with the little money they have which will soon evaporate. "We do not know how to manage. We will have to starve," says Aggala Appalaraju, who is doing his second year at the Narsipatnam ITI, and is the only educated Dalit youth here. The economic blockade began ever since Dalits protested against the practice of untouchability. And it peaked when The Indian Express published a report on how the upper caste villagers were not allowing Dalits to draw water from the village well. The upper caste villagers have hit back for bringing a "bad name" to the village by leaking the details of the practice. Today, the Dalits stand ex-communicated. The upper castes, instead of cracking down on Dalits, adopted adifferent strategy. They gave up the village well for the Dalits' exclusive use. The upper caste women are now fetching water from agriculture wells in fields, though they are very far from the village. The upper caste men have stopped hiring the Dalits for farm operations. Their youths insult the Dalit women and youths for making a fuss over the practice of untouchability. "Every one, including small boys are jeering at us," says Aggala Lakshmi, a Dalit housewife. As if this were not enough, the upper caste men have ordered the Dalits to remove their buffaloes from under a tamarind tree and a thatched house next to it which serves as cattle shed. The upper caste men have sacked a Dalit woman who cleans the premises of the lone Ram temple in the village. They have stopped selling milk to the Dalits. "They want to starve us with the hope that we will surrender to them," says Tummi Narayana Rao, a Dalit youth. According to sources, the upper caste men are religiously following the decisions taken at ameeting at Anandapuram to impose fines on their own men if they helped the Dalits. They decided to impose a Rs 100 fine on any upper caste woman if she drew water from the village well, an equal amount on any upper caste man if he employed the Dalits for farm work or allowed them to cut grass in their fields. The Dalits are seething with rage that the upper caste is not selling milk even though they owed money to them. "They are insisting on immediate payment. We have no money as we are not going for work. They would not adjust the money they owe us," says a Dalit woman. But the upper caste people say the Dalits were making an unnecessary fuss. "They wanted to draw water from the well. We gave the entire well to them. Whether we use the well water or fetch water from the farm wells is none of their business.We have freedom to drink any water," Dasapatruni Venkataramana, a village elder from an upper caste community, sa ys. The upper caste men insists that they had been very "nice" to the Dalits andthere were several occasions when they went to their rescue. The upper caste men maintain that they intervened and had the protected water supply scheme repaired when it went out of order. Venkataramana is angry that the Dalits are not considerate to them. "When a calf died in our village, we had to remove it though they do it usually. They wanted to create trouble and that was why they did not come forward to remove the carcass," he says. "What else do they want? Do we have to allow them to live in our houses? Do they want us to give our daughters to them in wedding alliances?" he asks. Meanwhile, the Visakhapatnam Revenue Divisional Officer Ch. Sridhar held an inquiry and took an undertaking from the upper caste not to treat the Dalits as untouchables. The RDO also took another undertaking from the Dalits to the effect that they would not create problems in the village. "There is no incident in the village so far. If they clash, we will have to book them under the law," Sridhar says. Anakapalli MLA DVeerabhadra Rao, in whose constituency the village falls, says he did not know about the practice of untouchability. "I do not know there is such a sharp division between the two groups," he says and promises to go to the village and check on it.

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