Lohardaga (Jharkhand): Known as the Bauxite capital of Jharkhand, Lohardaga presents a glaring picture of growing inequality in India. The district headquarter is an old town and is visibly prosperous. Palatial houses, vibrant shops, wholesale godowns owned by old trading families, and a landmark office campus of Hindalco Industries that controls ore mining in the region reflect a story of industries and businesses thriving. If you walk two kilometres in any direction from the centre, the change is conspicuous. Agricultural fields are unattended, villages are underdeveloped, there is impoverishment, and poverty-induced distress migration.Almost everyone will tell you that the biggest problem in Lohardaga is one of potable water and lack of irrigation. “A majority of people here are dependent on agriculture. But they can cultivate only once every year, as there is no planned irrigation. They depend entirely on rain-fed paddy cultivation but the changing pattern of monsoons over the last few years have made them more vulnerable than ever before,” said Saniaro Oraon, a MGNREGS activist from Palmi village. People store rain water in Dhanamunji. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta/The WireA single-season subsistence cultivation has forced most villagers in Lohardaga to migrate for almost six months every year to work in brick kilns, mango orchards, factories, and tea gardens of eastern districts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and to an extent Tamil Nadu and Kerala. “Those who go to tea gardens and brick kilns go with their families. Women and children accompany the men but they work in inhuman conditions. They manage to save a bit in such situations, so they go. Education of their children suffer in the process,” Saniaro said. “Only men go to factories and mango orchards. Their living conditions are a little better than those who go to brick kilns, and they also save a little more than others. But they have to stay without their families,” she added. Ranthi Oraon is one of the few villagers to have not left the village of Palmi. “I usually go to Siwan to work in a brick kiln. I get Rs 300 for carrying 2,000 bricks per day. But I couldn’t go because I had to attend to my ailing mother. She recently died,” the 50-year-old Ranthi said. He and his family members scampered to store water flowing from their thatched roofs on a rainy day. “There is no drinking water here. We were promised tap connections. Taps have come, but there is no water. There is one dirty pond in the village but we can’t drink that water. We have to go almost two kilometres to get potable water,” said Ranthi’s wife, Phoolo.Ranthi Oraon and his family in Palmi. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta/The WireBy her side was Sarita, another MGNREGS activist from the village. Phoolo said that Sarita has provided many homes of the village with potable water, as she has installed her own private piped water system with the help of a boring motor that pumps water from the well two kilometres away. But not many in Palmi can afford their own connections. The picture in neighbouring Dhanamunji village is worse. Built entirely on a hillock, the water crisis is more severe here. Recently, officials installed two water tanks in the village but could source no water through boring pumps. “Clearly, the engineers did not do a scientific study to find water beneath the hill. Now tanks have been installed but they have become useless,” said Sarita. A waterless tank in Lohardaga district. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta/The WireAs the Scheduled Tribes-reserved constituency Lohardaga pulls itself towards another round of general elections on May 13, the people appear to be polarised between their multi-layered livelihood concerns that remain unaddressed and a messy electoral battle. Palmi residents do not know whether their water crisis will be resolved anytime soon. “The Modi government has given us free ration, which has helped us a bit. But we want sustainable jobs and some irrigation sources. So many of us joined the army. But now, the Agniveer scheme will give us only four years of employment and without any pension benefits. But no one is talking about those issues,” said Jena Oraon, gram pradhan of Palmi. Also read: In Chambal, Would-Be-Agniveers Now Work as Blacksmiths, Carpenters and ShopkeepersDhanamunji residents, on the other hand, speak about the same problems, about lack of any proper income amidst rising prices of essential commodities and state corruption. Most of them are unexcited by the upcoming general elections, although they have pledged their support to Chamra Linda, a prominent legislator of Bishunpur assembly seat who is contesting as an independent candidate in Lohadaga. Linda has muddied the electoral waters by entering the fray. A militant leader who was elected as a Jharkhand Mukti Morchalegislator and had fought once as the official Trinamool Congress candidate, Linda commands a big following among Oraons who practice the Sarna faith. His single-minded focus has been to implement the Sarna Religious Code so that this practice among Adivasis is officially recognised as a faith. While it has united many Adivasis, his demand has also driven a wedge among Oraons – between those who practice Sarna and those who follow Christianity. According to most observers of the region, almost 50% Oraons have been following Christianity for decades. “But Linda has opened schools and colleges that admit only Sarna Oraons, while schools run by Christian missionaries allow all children irrespective of faith,” said Saniaro. The dirty pond in Dhanamunji, the only source of water. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta/The WireCongress workers in Lohardaga are speaking about the party’s “save democracy” campaign in light of Hemant Soren’s arrest and alleged attacks by the Modi regime on reservation for Adivasis. They have traditionally got the support of Christian Oraons, Muslims, and Dalits in Lohardaga, but hope that the widespread sentiment – that the Modi regime plans to capture Adivasi-owned land – may get it some favour from Sarna Oraons. Illustration: Pariplab ChakrabortyHowever, most of them have been unhappy about Congress’s candidate Sukhdeo Bhagat who has been an MLA but is perceived to be inaccessible and a poor performer. Moreover, multiple factions in the party are also pulling the Congress backwards.The BJP, on the other hand, has replaced the three-time MP Sudharshan Bhagat with its national ST Morcha president and Rajya Sabha MP Sameer Oraon. He is relatively unknown in the region, but hopes to secure votes from Sarna Oraons and voters from the urban settlements. The BJP’s campaign is around Modi’s popularity, free ration, and other welfare schemes, but anchored around stoking anti-conversion sentiments among Adivasis. “Sarna Oraons are a part of the Hindus. The missionaries are forcibly converting them into their faith. We will oppose it,” said Ramashankar Sahu, a businessman in Lohardaga who claimed to be a BJP worker.Back in Lohardaga, most Hindu big and small shopkeepers and a substantial section among the Hindu youth, with whom The Wire spoke to, favoured the BJP, while opposing the Congress as an “anti-development” and “pro-Muslim” party. The Sarna flag behind a defunct tap. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta/The WireAs livelihood issues have taken a backseat, complex religious dynamics are all set to influence the electoral outcome in Lohardaga. The constituency itself has seen extremely close fights in the past. In 2019, BJP’s Sudarshan Bhagat defeated Congress’s Sukhdeo Bhagat by a little over 10000 votes. In 2014 BJP’s Bhagat edged past Congress’s Rameshwar Oraon by only 6489 votes. In 2009, Sudharshan Bhagat defeated Chamra Linda, who contested as an independent candidate, by around 8000 votes. The 2024 contest looks strikingly similar, even as the voter turnout is likely to fall even lower than previous elections, as distress migration among Adivasis has only increased over the last few years.
