insideSehrana - a Story of Sahariya Tribe

Abstract

The people of `Sahariya’s’ tribe never used to bother about their future, because they were confident that forests, which they respect and protect, would never leave them hungry. However, the other groups of Society have exploited the forests to the tilt, for meeting their own self-interests. Consequently, the only source providing the food security to the families of `Sahariya’s’ tribe has been irretrievably damaged. Not only other societies but government has also banned NTFP consumption. Left with no alternative, the people of `Sahariya’s’ tribe had to look out for labour work in the local stone mines, construction sites, small manufacturing industries, government daily based contractual work, small merchant shops or gathering herbs to earn their livelihood. Slowly and slowly, they were becoming a tool of exploitation in the wider perspective of our social system. Caught within the web of constant shrinking of forests and strict provisions of various forestry laws, the people of “Sahariya tribe” were left to face an unending state of hunger. Not even the symptoms of guaranteed basic rights of human being i.e. Respectability, Equality and Education, as enshrined in our constitution, are visible in this area and neither these people have any high expectations from the society, law and constitution.