Hello,
In circles disengaged from real India, an argument is made that caste does not matter any more in today’s India.
We found it comes into play even in government schemes that are meant to compensate people whose lands have been forcefully taken away in the name of development.
The Narendra Modi-led Union government has pushed through India’s first river linking project in Madhya Pradesh. There are questions of its ecological and economic viability. Of, whether it will destroy lives and livelihoods, submerge vast areas of biological importance.
If for a moment we were to overlook these fundamental questions about the project, we found there is a bizarre story unfolding in how the government is compensating those it is forcefully displacing.
In villages of Panna and Chhatarpur districts in Madhya Pradesh, where the Dhaudhan dam is to be built for the Ken-Betwa link, the lowered caste are being given less money as compensation than the ‘upper’ caste displaced villagers.
Last month, I and my colleague, Angana went to the ground to find out how villagers are affected by this Modi-led government’s grand project.
What we found reinforces, in today’s India caste continues to define a citizen at every stage and moment of their life, including how the government imposes misery upon the people.
Please watch this video story on our investigation: Lowered Caste and Lowered Compensation
For The Reporters’ Collective, issues of the people living far away from Delhi are as important as those living here. And this is why we set out to listen to their stories. All of this, however, requires a lot of resources and funds and we depend on you for your continued support.
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Regards,
Nida Fatima Momin
Video Producer
The Reporters’ Collective