PRAVIN KUMAR
Koderma, Oct.15: People living in the Taraghati village of Koderma district’s Meghatari Panchayat, earn their livelihood by picking and collecting Mica, or ‘Dhibra’ as it is known in the local language. The settlement of Taraghati is located on forest land. 150 years ago, people from the Chatra area of Jharkhand came and settled here. The Dalit community makes up the whole population of the village as 55 Dalit families currently live there. The settlement of Meghatari is now inhabited by the fourth generation of its inhabitants. Picking mica from the forests is the primary source of income for everyone in the village. According to the villagers, one family earns only 3 to 5 thousand rupees by picking Dhibra. They don’t even have their own land because the village is located within the Reserve Forest Sanctuary.
Case study 1
Sandhya Kumari’s parents are dead. She is nine years old and studies in Std. 3. She has been working with her other family members and goes to pick Dhibra since she was a young child. Currently she goes along with children of her age from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to pick Dhibra because the school is closed during the lockdown.
Case study 2
Gauri Kumari has lost her father. She studies in class 6 and goes to the forest at 9 in the morning to pick Dhibra. By evening, she collects about 10 to 15kg of Mica and returns home. She complains that her hands and feet get hurt while collecting Dhibra. One has to get down into the mines to pick them. She says that a few days ago, one of her friends got hurt while they were collecting mica and is still sick.
Pradeep Kumar, a village youth aged 25, claims that everyone in the area brings Dhibra from the jungle. He sells them for between Rs.10 and Rs.15 a kg. He’s been doing this work since he was a child. The people of the village rely on Dhibra collection for their livelihood. People in the village do not even have their own land due to the village’s location in the forest.
Shankar Bhuiyan,Ward member of Taraghati says,“ Dhibra has provided a source of income for our forefathers. We have to enter the mine and remove the soil in order to gather Dhibra. All family members can choose a 20 to 30 kilogramme Dhibra together in this work.”
He goes on to say that this work is dangerous. “We don’t spend too much time in the pit. The Dalit families do not receive government assistance in managing the people’s livelihoods; the primary reason for this is that everyone is landless,” he added.
