The hand pump in front of the house dried up two years ago. An electricity pole stands adjacent to their house, but they have to rely on a tuki (a traditional oil lamp) at night because their house does not have a power meter. They have been married for 10 years, but their marriage hasn’t been registered. And because they don’t have citizenship cards, their son’s birth hasn’t been registered either, which in turn has hindered his school enrolment. These are just some problems that the family of the 30-year-old Rajwati Musahar from Birta of Gaushala municipality in the central plains district of Mahottari has to face. “I often go to the municipality office, but no one listens,” she says.

 

Hand-to-mouth existence

 

Birta’s 60 Musahar families—with a total population of 250—are deprived of even basic rights and state services. “We live hand to mouth,” rues Rajwati. “No one understands our pain.”

 

There is hardly anyone in Birta’s Musahar community who has completed secondary school. Most children haven’t even been to a school. “My children go to morn­ing school, but they cannot be formally enrolled as they don’t have birth certificates,” says Jitani Devi Musahar, another local resident.

 

Rambabu Shah, chairman of ward 4, says the process of getting children enrolled in schools has already begun. “We will also ensure that the children have books and uni­forms they need in school,” says Shah.

 

Toilet woes

 

Part of why the Musahars have been denied government services is that they don’t have a toilet in their homes. The municipality, under its ‘no open defecation’ campaign, has barred households without a toilet from accessing govern­ment services.

 

“We don’t even have land to build a house, how can we build a toilet?” wonders Kabita Musahar, a mother of two.

 

“Our settlement has five hand pumps. Four of them went dry after the 2015 quake. We have to stand in a long line to fill water from the remaining one,” says 70-year-old Sukadev Sada.

 

Bikhani Sada claims that people from other caste groups even stop them from using the hand pump. “We have to go to the nearby pond to bathe and wash clothes. The pond water makes my body itch,” she says.

 

Shivanath Mahato, mayor of Gaushala municipality, claims that he will make sure the Musahar community will soon have ample access to drinking water.

 

BY RAJKARAN MAHATO | GAUSHALA, MAHOTTARI