Tom Pietrasik Video & Photography

Anita Devi sits with her three children (LtoR) Sandeep, Sanjit and Deepak (eating the school-provided midday meal). Like many of the men from Jalhe Bogiya village, Anita's husband Sukhdev Mandal works at a brick kiln for 4-5 months a year. ..Lack of irrigation and food security lie at the root of the Maha Dalit community's problems in the village of Jalhe Bogiya. In the exploitative and divisive caste system, Maha Dalits are considered the lowest of the low. Ostracized by wider society (including the administration) illiteracy runs as high as 95 percent. Thanks to Oxfam-supported intervention, Jalhe Bogiya now has an - as yet incomplete - access-road built as part of the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme). And an Oxfam-supported initiative in summer 2010 successfully lobbied the local administration to implement the provision of school midday meals which, by law is the right of every child. It is alleged that the Anganwadi (pre-school) centre administrator, syphons off food meant for young children. Jalhe Bogiya has several hand pumps supplying water but these do not work between the months of May to October. And though the village was connected to the electricity grid six months ago, power-supply is not reliable. Without land-ownership and only irregular agricultural work from which to earn an income, the Maha Dalits of Jalhe Bogiya frequently migrate in search of labour at stone breaking quarries, brick-kilns or undertake menial household work in the homes of the urban middle class in far-away cities. ..Photo: Tom Pietrasik.Mohanpur Block, Gaya District, Bihar. India.February 23rd 2011