Remati did not get social sanction for her marriage while her husband was alive; now, she has no voter or Aadhaar Card and thus cannot access food, widow’s pension or financial support under government schemes
Remati Majhi, a Scheduled Tribe (ST) woman of Dumermunda village in Odisha’s Balangir district, does not know where the next meal for herself and her young son will come from. And she has poverty and the 5,000-year-old institution of caste to blame for it.
The young woman’s only crimes are that she is dirt poor and fell in love with a man not from her social group. Her village falls in Balangir’s Bangomunda block. She was 17 years old when she left her home to work at a brick kiln in Hyderabad, Telangana in 2018.
There, she met Gaurang Sabar, a resident of Ghardhara village in Khariar block of Nuapada district, western Odisha. A landless labourer, Gaurang was working in the brick kiln to sustain his family of two — himself and his aged mother.
Remati and Gaurang fell in love and decided to live together. Remati returned to Ghardhara with Gaurang. He lived with his mother in a small hut on a government plot located a little distance from the main village.
He had been to the local Panchayat and block office several times to seek help in getting proper housing, but to no avail. Remati stayed with Gaurang and his mother in that hut. A son was born a year later.
Remati is a member of the Kandha ST. Gaurang was a Sabar, also a tribal community, though different from the Kandhas.
The couple had to organise a communal feast for getting social sanction for their union. “A ritual known as chaul tika (a mark made by daubing rice on the couple’s foreheads by elders of the village) had to be performed to confirm that we were married. But that required a feast, which we could not organise,” Remati told this reporter.
Six years passed. The couple worked in the brick kiln every year, but could not manage to save money for the feast.
Two years ago, Gaurang’s health started to deteriorate. Despite this, he did not go for a thorough health checkup.
“He didn’t listen to my words, did not take proper medicine. Last year, I took an advance amount of Rs 40,000 from a labour broker to work in the kiln and spent it on his treatment. A medical examination revealed that Gaurang was suffering from tuberculosis and kidney disease,” Remati recounted.
Remati decided to take Gaurang with her to the Hyderabad kiln. “How could I leave him alone at home? Who would have cared for him? His mother had already passed away. So, I took him with me,” she said.
She took care of Gaurang while working at the kiln. Within two months however, Gaurang’s condition worsened. The kiln owner did not grant leave of absence to Remati. Gaurang returned alone.
When Remati returned to the village after nine months, she found Gaurang completely bedridden. He had no strength to get up.
With the help of Dr Ananda Shankar Das, a government doctor, Gaurang was first admitted to Khariar Hospital and then shifted to the District Hospital, Nuapada. “The prognosis was very bad. Nine days after my return home, he died,” Remati recalled with wet eyes.
Holding her three-year-old son, she stood before the village elders with folded hands. “Taking pity on me, they gave me entry into the community and Gaurang’s body was cremated. I was given a place to live in the house of a relative,” she said.
But Remati’s problems continue. The road leading to Gaurang’s hut has been blocked by the forest department with a barbed wire fence to protect forest plantations. Remati can’t enter it anymore.
She has no voter card. She can’t register for Aadhaar without a voter ID. The young widow also cannot get rice under the National Food Security Act, 2013. Nor can she avail financial support under the NFBS (National Family Benefit Scheme) or widow’s pension in the absence of an Aadhaar card.
She is now sustaining with support extended by Das, who has provided rations and other items for her daily needs for three months.
Apart from this, Remati has also been provided with food items by the district administration on the direction of the District Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
“A proposal has been sent to the state government by the District Child Protection Unit to provide her a monthly stipend of Rs 3,000 under a sponsorship programme,” said Fanindam Deo, chairman, CWC.
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Remati and her young son. Photo: Ajit Panda.png)
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