Sitting in the balmy winter sun outside her decrepit hutwith granddaughter Laghu Jogi, Vaju Jogi says she has been running atemperature for the last two days. She shares the hut on the outskirts ofMalawa village of Dhan panchayat in Sirohi district’s Reodar block with heryoungest son Ishwar Jogi, the latter’s wife and three children.
The huts around Vaju are equally dilapidated, occupied byher five other sons and her only daughter, all of whom live with theirfamilies. The men of the household, all daily wage earners, are out, hoping toget lucky today and return with enough cash to feed their families in theevening. The children, 10 out of 12, and women, are out as well: some beggingand others eyeing menial jobs.
So who are the Jogis? Vaju and her extended family’s accountcould be true for all 1,000 Jogi families in Sirohi district. The plot housingtheir huts is said to be the panchayat’s pasture land. And since neither VajuJogi’s extended family nor the other 1,000 households in the district own land,they cannot partake in any government schemes for the poor. In other words,they are invisible for the panchayat, the block, the district, and thestate. They live, but the administrationrefuses to acknowledge them.
The Jogis are one of the many nomadic tribes of Rajasthanwho have moved from one place to another for centuries to ply their trade assnake charmers, singers or dancers. For the last two decades, however, theyhave settled on the outskirts of villages all across Sirohi. Considered untouchables,other villagers keep them out of bounds, and settled on pasture land belongingto different panchayats, the Jogis live perpetually in the fear of eviction.
While the local population has disowned and declared themoutcast, the district administration chooses to ignore the Jogis. It’s a bit of bureaucratic maze coupled witha unique catch-22 situation. There’s no simple answer to the riddle. Agovernment official in the district headquarters blames their plight on thenomadic nature of the Jogis. “Since they move from place to place, they couldnot be included in the 2001 census and thus, unfortunately, they went out ofthe ambit of any welfare scheme,” he explains.
Therefore, even though the community is listed as SC, theyhave been disowned simply because they do not own a patta for land, or have notbeen counted in 2001 census. Further, since people from the community do notvote, they are of little consequence for the political class. The Jogis cannotwork under MNREGS as well, as they do not have job cards. Why? Because oneneeds to be the resident of a village to get a job card. It’s a vicious cycle,and one with no end in sight.
Inassociation with Governance Now
