The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the precarity of the Sahariya tribe, one of India’s Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups. The tribe of forest dwellers is found mainly in the districts of Morena, Shivpuri, Vidisha, Sheopur, Bhind, Datia, and Guna in the state of Madhya Pradesh and in the district of Baran in the state of Rajasthan.
Traditionally, they depended on forest lands for their livelihood: cultivating small patches of land, rearing livestock, and collecting forest produce. However, the tribe has been displaced from their ancestral lands.
In the district of Shivpuri, hundreds of Sahariya families who lived in and around Madhav National Park were displaced in the last 20 years. They now live precarious lives in secluded ghettos in various villages.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, vaccine hesitancy, poor health, widespread poverty, debt bondage, and the digital divide put the tribe at great risk of contracting the coronavirus.
To keep health workers and the COVID-19 vaccine out of their village, the Sahariyas have blocked the roads. (Photo by Mayank Jain Parichha)
A deaf ear
The Sahariyas in the Shivpuri district fear what they perceive to be “forced immunization” against COVID-19. “We are not forcing anybody,” says Deepak Sharma, a village official. “But the Sahariyas think that they will be forced to take the vaccine and are fleeing to the jungles.” In fear, the Sahariyas have blocked the roads leading to their villages and moved to nearby areas.
Some community members think that the vaccine kills people, not the disease. Ram Bharosi, a Sahariya from a village called Beelbara Khurd, thinks that the vaccine is a poison. “An 85-year-old lady died after vaccination,” he says. “If she had not taken it, she would have survived at least three more years.”
Puran Sahariya, from the village of Kunwarpur, shares the same concern. “I heard people are dying from the vaccine,” he says. “I am healthy now, what if I got ill after taking it?” He is a laborer and is worried that he can only spare 1,000 rupees (US$13.50) should he get sick. “If it costs more than that, I will die,” he says. “No vaccine can save me.”
The Sahariyas turn a deaf ear to anyone who tries to tell them that the vaccine is safe. “If anyone tries to force me to get vaccinated, I will beat them,” says Kanhaiya Lal.
In Kunwarpur village, where around 80 Sahariyas reside, no one has completed high school. (Photo by Mayank Jain Parichha)
Poor health, widespread illiteracy
Poor health indicators put the tribe at great risk of contracting the coronavirus. Many Sahariyas are afflicted with tuberculosis. A 2019 Lancet study stated that they “probably suffer the highest known tuberculosis prevalence as a subpopulation globally.”
Researchers conducted a study in villages inhabited by the Sahariyas — specifically, women of childbearing age and children under 5 years of age — in three districts of Madhya Pradesh. Their 2013 study showed the following results: 42.4% of the women suffered from chronic energy deficiency, and 90.1% were anemic; 59.1% of the children were underweight, 57.3% had stunting, and 27.7% experienced wasting.
Widespread smoking and alcoholism also contribute to the Sahariyas’ poor health. A visit to three villages — Muderi, Kunwarpur, and Chandanpura — where the tribe lives showed that almost every Sahariya male above 16 smokes tobacco. Death due to intoxication is common.
However, due to illiteracy, this information is not recorded in official documents. The data suggests that 62% of Sahariya children drop out of school even before they complete primary education.
In Kunwarpur village, where around 80 Sahariyas reside, no one has completed high school. When asked about education, Puran Sahariya says with irritation, “We have been telling our kids to study, but they don’t study.”
Debt bondage
Large-scale illiteracy has limited the Sahariyas’ job opportunities to manual labor and resulted in acute poverty. It has forced them into debt bondage, defined by the UN Human Rights as “the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or of those of a person under his control as security for a debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined.”
The Sahariyas pledge to render their services to local landlords to pay off small loans. This form of debt bondage, known as Hali, is banned in India, according to the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act of 1976.
The local administration denies the prevalence of debt bondage in Sahariya districts. However, activists and civil society workers have raised the issue of bonded labor. Nirmal Gorana, the national coordinator of Bandhua Mukti Morcha, a Delhi-based NGO working to end the practice of bonded labor, claims that it is rampant in Guna district, especially among the Sahariyas.
The digital divide
Starting May 1, India opened its COVID-19 vaccination program to everyone above 18. However, the requirement of online registration on Co-WIN portal to book vaccine slots excluded the bulk of the population residing in the hinterlands who have no mobile phones and lack internet access.
For example, in Chandanpura, where 180 Sahariyas live, no one has a smartphone. Given the digital divide in the country, on June 2, the Supreme Court lambasted the union government for the requirement which left many Indians behind.
On June 22, the union government changed its earlier policy and made the vaccine free to all adults. Still, India has fully vaccinated only 5% of its population. Many vulnerable communities, including the Sahariyas, have yet to get vaccinated. The free vaccines are not enough to overcome the tribe’s vaccine hesitancy.
The same study showed that 42.4% of the women suffered from chronic energy deficiency, and 90.1% were anemic. (Photo by Mayank Jain Parichha)
A grassroots effort
Soumyadeep Bhaumik is a doctor and international public health specialist at the George Institute for Global Health. He says that only a community-based approach can help overcome vaccine hesitancy among vulnerable groups. “There needs to be targeted, community-based channels as we did to fight polio,” he says. “It is doable, and India has done it before.”
According to the World Health Organization, India’s “push to vaccinate every child, everywhere, ended polio in India.” The WHO reports, “Apart from equitable access to vaccines, the government simultaneously addressed social and cultural concerns to remove vaccine hesitancy in less developed areas with poor health systems, and among marginalized communities and vulnerable groups by involving with communities and local leaders for micro-level communication and community mobilization.”
Bhaumik adds that vaccine hesitancy is normal and that tackling hesitancy has been part of many immunization programs. He says that finding people among the Sahariyas who are educated and have been vaccinated can help spread the word about the vaccine’s safety.
At the end of the day, reaching the Sahariyas on the fringes of Indian society remains a formidable challenge. On June 19, an expert warned about a possible third wave of COVID-19 in the country. If the wave hits India, it may have disastrous consequences, particularly for the unvaccinated and highly vulnerable Sahariyas. ●
Mayank Jain Parichha is a journalist based in India. He writes about socio-cultural issues, the environment, politics, and human rights.
