Lighting up their lives

Hardship is a habit for Dungarpur’s tribals. But work in their own villages is scripting a new story

EIGHT months after the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme took off in Dungarpur, it brought unforeseen rewards into the poorest tribal homes of the district: Sweets during Diwali. Some families bought new clothes, others actually had money spare for diyas.

A little over 40, Devilal Hujaji Ghoghra saw a dream come true when he plastered the walls of his mud hut with cement. “I worked as a mason under the NREGS for more than 70 days and earned an extra Rs 7,000,” says the skilled worker. “That’s how I managed to fulfill this long-cherished ambition of mine. We celebrated Diwali like never before.”

Before NREGS came to the district, says Devilal, local tribals had no option but to move to Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh in search of work. “There was no work here, except for some seasonal farming. But running two establishments—one in Gujarat and one here—was expensive and ate into whatever we earned,” he says.

Poor and uneducated, the most the tribals could hope for work as unskilled labour. Construction work was hard, but usually earned just about enough to meet daily expenses. And for those who could not migrate, the sole annual source of sustenance was the earnings from seasonal farming, which was never much.

For the first time in living memory, the festival of lights saw actual celebration in this impoverished district. Says Huresh Dhura, mother to three young children, “Till February this year, my husband, who works as a daily wager in Idar (Gujarat), was the only earning member. Now that I am earning too—I work at a nearby lake under the NREGS—we managed to get new clothes and sweets for our children this Diwali. Usually, it’s either one or the other.”

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