Giant leap of India’s ‘downtrodden’

Teenage community reporter confronts tyranny, corruption

By Stella Paul in Jharkhand, India, for Silent Heroes, Invisible Bridges

Author:

Stella Paul

Mukesh Rajak of Jagdishpur village in eastern India has unusual friends. They sit together on a Sunday afternoon, sipping tea and talking of the village school. The teachers are not regular in the class. Men in the mid and late 40s ask 18-year old Rajak to help.

He confidently advises them to “draft and sign an application for the district education officer, Jharkhand.

The elderly villagers are no ordinary folks but come from powerful ‘Brahmins’ and ‘Kshtriyas’ classes. Rajak, on the contrary, is a ‘Dalit’, the lowest category.

The Hindu society consists of four major classes having a vertical position in the social structure and at the lowest of the order lies ‘Dalit’ which literally means ‘oppressed’.

With his pocket size camera mounted on a tripod, Mukesh Rajak readies to record an interview for his report. – Supplied Photo

Girl students roam around in the Jagdishpur village school until Mukesh Rajak took notice of lack of responsibility. – Supplied Photo

The front gate of a village school, where imparting education was the last priority of the teaching staff. – Supplied Photo

Rajak listen to the complaints from residents of one the 60 villages he is responsible to report from. – Supplied Photo

Rubai Bibi, a Muslim woman, from an Indian village, could regain safety and respect after Rajak reported about her ordeal. She was being condemned for being a witch. – Supplied Photo

With his pocket size camera mounted on a tripod, Mukesh Rajak readies to record an interview for his report. – Supplied Photo

Girl students roam around in the Jagdishpur village school until Mukesh Rajak took notice of lack of responsibility. – Supplied Photo

The front gate of a village school, where imparting education was the last priority of the teaching staff. – Supplied Photo

Rajak listen to the complaints from residents of one the 60 villages he is responsible to report from. – Supplied Photo

Rubai Bibi, a Muslim woman, from an Indian village, could regain safety and respect after Rajak reported about her ordeal. She was being condemned for being a witch. – Supplied Photo

Despite sincere efforts across India, Dalits are still treated as untouchables and handed out the lowest of jobs such as cleaning drains, toilettes, sweeping streets, skinning animals and even manual scavenging.

Evidently, the Brahmins sitting with Rajak and offering advice is a small revolution.

“People call me when I am passing by their homes and offer me a seat. They want my advice and some even address me ‘sir,” Rajak explains.

Only a year ago, this same group considered Rajak as an untouchable as well. After his mother’s death in early childhood, Rajak’s father remarried. Rajak’s step-mother did not treat him well, so he grew up lonely.

“At home, there was nobody to play with. When I went out in the village, other boys would not play with a Dalit,” he recalls the bitter memories of childhood.