In 2005, starving members of the Bhuiya clanin one of Bihar’s poorest villages dug up a long-buried dead goat, cooked and ate it. Sixteen people died within days, twelve of them children.
Bengali-speaking Muslims who had moved to Rajasthan from West Bengal in the 1970s and ’80s were summarily declared Bangladeshi terrorists in the aftermath of the 2008 Jaipur bomb blasts. They remain stateless in their own country.
Landless Lodhas, members of an erstwhile ‘Criminal Tribe’ in Bihar, grapple even today with centuries of shame and dispossession.
These stories—along with those of women with mental and physical disabilities in rural areas, homeless men living in Yamuna Pushta, inNew Delhi and patients in a leprosy colonyin Orissa—reveal both stigma and support, harsh lives, an uncaring, corrupt state and moments of resilience.
Drawn from interviews and conversations as part of a study on destitution by the Centre for Equity Studies, Dispossessed: Stories from India’s Margins takes a wide-ranging view of what it means to be destitute, displaced and marginalized in contemporary India. Equally importantly, through these personal accounts of their research, the authors explore their own privileges in comparison.
Written with sensitivity and care, this is an important book that perceptively questions India’s engagement with the people at its margins and should be essential reading for all. About the Author
Amod Shah is a PhD candidate at the International Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, the Netherlands, focusing on land-acquisition-related conflict in India. He was previously a researcher with the S.R. Sankaran Unit on Hunger and Social Exclusion at the Centre for Equity Studies.
Anhad Imaan is a Delhi-based policy and action researcher, musician, film score designer and sports blogger. He is currently in charge of operations and research at YouRTI, an online service and social enterprise that helps the citizens of India file RTI queries to the government conveniently and anonymously. Previously, he worked with Yugantar, a think-tank, as a project consultant. He was a researcher and program coordinator at CES from August 2013 to January 2015. Anhad is a guest blogger for Eventraveler, a sports and music promotional start-up, and is also the founder member of Mellowghost, an instrumental quartet with whom he has designed background scores for documentary films.
Annie Baxi is a doctoral scholar in Psychology and trained counsellor. She is a part of the Housing Discrimination Project affiliated with Centre for Equity Studies. Her academic interests include gender studies, issues of marginality, mental health and qualitative methods. In her work, she attempts to listen to silent aspects of human experiences and is always keen to hear/read stories of others and narrate her own.
Ashwin Parulkar is a Senior Researcher at Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. He was previously with Centre for Equity Studies.
Harsh Mander is a writer, human rights worker, columnist, researcher and teacher; he works with survivors of mass violence and hunger as well as with homeless persons and street children. His books include Looking Away: Inequality, Prejudice and Indifference in New India, Fatal Accidents of Birth: Stories of Suffering, Oppression and Resistance, Unheard Voices: Stories of Forgotten Lives, The Ripped Chest: Public Policy and the Poor in India, Fear and Forgiveness: The Aftermath of Massacre, Fractured Freedom: Chronicles from India’s Margins, Untouchability in Rural India (coauthored) and Living with Hunger and Ash in the Belly: India’s Unfinished Battle against Hunger. He regularly writes columns for The Hindu, Hindustan Times and Mint, and contributes frequently to scholarly journals. His stories have been adapted for films, such as Shyam Benegal’s Samar and Mallika Sarabhai’s dance drama Unsuni.
Rhea John is a student at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex and formerly a researcher with the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi.
Saba Sharma is currently a PhD student in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge, studying the state and ethnic conflict in Assam. She was a former research associate at the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi.
Shikha Sethia is a masters student in Development Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies, the Hague. She was previously a researcher with the S.R. Sankaran Unit on Hunger and Social Exclusion at the Centre for Equity Studies.
