Jharna Meher – A Survivor of Gender Discrimination in India

We live in a nation  where  a pizza  is delivered  much faster in the cities,   whereas an ambulance  never  able to reach its villages; here the density of cell phone towers are more than  the water  storage tanks;  our farmers produce enough food grains  for the mass  but  million  tons of it  are  laid  rotten  on the  open sky. And finally  the private bankers  send  their sales executives to your home to endorse a car loan, while in the villages chil dren are dropped out from the school due to lack of finance. It is not only our politicians and the bureaucrats, but  every Indian has contributed for this state of affair. This is largely  either due to our  ignorance or  for being a silent observer despite knowing everything.     

Gopaipali village is located 4 kms west to Barpali on the way to Sohila. There is a settlement of harijan or the Schedule Caste (SC) families  on the outskirt  of this village.  Any evening if you visit this village, you are most likely to find children playing  on the street at the dusk hours. Out of them you are most likely to locate a sweet girl of 14 years old while playing with her friends. It is Jharna Meher who hails from a Chammar family. They are out casted by the society as this village has been dominated by the Bramhins. 

She studied up to class 8^th in her village co-educational high school. But subsequently she was  dropped out from the school as her old parents could not afford to send her to the school any more. Her father Laba Meher (52 years) and mother Kumadhani Meher (52) are both illiterate, so they don’t realize the need to impart the education to Jharna any further. Jharna is a survivor of gender discrimination which is widely prevalent in India. Soon after her birth she was thrown out on the garbage at an abandoned place near Lenda village. One warm hearted gentleman of Barpali by the name Bibhuti Bhushan Dash while crossing the road heard the cry of the baby. He was horrified to discover a naked abandoned new born girl child alive with the umbilical cord intact. Major portions of her face surrounding both the eyes were eaten by ants. It was God’s grace as she was not eaten away alive by any scavenger.  He immediately took possession of the baby girl. The girl was admitted in Barpali CHC Hospital and was under  the intensive care for three days.  After months he traced a  childless couple at Gopaipali. They are Laba Meher and his wife Kumadhani Meher. This couple eagerly adopted the baby girl. And ever since they are rearing Jharna.  

[Bibhuti Bhushan Dash could be seen with Jharana Meher]

Unlike other villagers Laba Meher don’t do cultivation, as he is a landless person. Rather he had undertaken the vocation of his community i.e. being a cobbler. Every morning he wakes up at 4.00 AM and travels to different towns to attend the weekly markets called haat. He cycle out the distance of  panch kosh which is equivalent to 40 kms one way to reach the towns like Balpur of Dist.Sonepur and Puttasingha of Dist.Balangir. He stitches the shoes and repairs the umbrellas. In good days he earns INR 150 to 200. Beside that season wise he opts for more lucrative jobs in the brick kilns or in the harvesting of paddy. 

Since Laba Meher don’t possess  a cell phone, you may contact this writer in case you want to provide any stable source of earning to the family of Laba Meher.

PS: Dr.Patricia Peyrat of France wanted to travel to India. While she was searching the Google for the road map from Bilaspur (Chattisgarh) to Balangir (Odisha) incidentally she reached www.barpalidays.blogspot.in . She read this sad life story of Jharna Meher. Dr.Patricia contacted the writer E.Kiran Mohan and expressed her eagerness to help the girl and her family. On 14th November 2014 she reached Barpali along with her two other friends i.e. Cecile and Marc. They donated two goats and one sewing machine to this poor Chamar family to source a permanent livelihood.

kiranbima@gmail.com
WhatsApp# +918249314972

E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)

C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (MD)

Tehsil Chowk,

At\PO : BARPALI – 768029

Dist.Bargarh, Odisha, India