7:29 AM
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.
[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.
E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao
(MD)
Tehsil
Chowk,
At\PO
: BARPALI – 768029
Dist.Bargarh,
Odisha, India