Sogio-Economig Study of Kanjars of District Mainpuri (U

SOGIO-ECONOMIG STUDY OF KANJARS OF DISTRICT MAINPURI (U. P.)

DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY, ALIGARH IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ECONOMICS 1 966-67 (in lieu of paper IV)

Written under the supervision of :

Jr, p. (11. J^ANERJGE

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH

BY Roll No. 1 4 7 Enrolment No. E 5 9 6 2 Till

777 P R S ? G 3

Kanjars form one of the most important denotified tribes of the country. Formerly they used to be desi<5natcd as 'Criminal Tribe", After the independence and particularly after the initiation of the planned economic development, the Government has shoi-jn a great keenness to rehabilitate them. Unfortunately there is a lack of sufficient information on the basis of x^ich any scheme for their rehabilitation can be formulated. In the proposed study an effort has been made to fill in this gap in a limited vay,

''The stud;/ is desigrsd to find out the socio- economic condition of the Kan.iars of Mainpuri district, their Income-consumption pattern, the ba-clcground of their life and the mode of utilization of the present educatioral and environmental opportunities,^ It is hoped that a realistic survey of this type \jill help to develop a technique which could be used for more extensive sui-veys of other scheduled tribes living in other areas. The method of study has been empirical in nature. The original data have been collected on the basis of personal investi-jation which have been processed, compiled and tabulated before dramng inferences from them,

To collect the data, I lived at different intervals with the Kanjars of the district under investigation. Being a resident of this area, it became comparatively easy for - 10 - me to create an atmosphere of confidence among ttiam. It vjas encouraging to find that they looked very enthusiastic about the economic, social and educational upliftment of their community, Biis survey on the "Socio-economic Study of the Kanjars" is, In fact, an attempt to investigate in a more coordinated vay, a field hitherto vrorked on divergent lines by specialists, in order to establish the ^ basic principle for the xvelfare of the tribes.

I am grateful to Dr. P.O. Banerjee of the Department of Economics, Aligarh Muslim lTniversity,Aligarh for the most valuable guidance and encouragement. My thanks arc also due to Sri Sukhbasi Lai and Sri Anokhey Lai, the Panch of the Kan jar Community, helped and assisted mo in conducting the enquiry.

Roll No. 147 30th April, 1967. C 0 K T B N T

Chapter Page

I Introduction 1 II The Kan jars 29 III Economic Structure 47 IV Family Structure and 6 o Social Life Y Crime and Social Vice 89 VI Education 108 VII Housing 115 VIII Health and Sanitation 124 IX Welfare 'Activities 133 X Conclusion and Suggestion 143 Appendices 157 GRAPH S

1. ShovAng population

2. Sho\dng occupation

3. Shov/ing incomc

4. Shov;ing budget

5. Shovang crimes

6. Showing alcc^iolism

7. Showing education

3. Showing accorainodation. CHAPTER I

INTROEUCTION

1. Introduction to the subject 2. Importance of the subject 3. Object of survey 4. Concepts and assumption 5. Unit of analysis 6. Morthods of survey 7. Report presented 8. Nature and scope of study 9. Difficulties during investigation. CHAPTER I

INTROroCTION

The evolution of the social structure during centuries of feudalism on regions which were not then developed by communications led to existence of large communities which suffered handicaps and disabilities imposed by other economically and culturally dominant groups. The chief amongst the unprivileged or specially handicapped groups are the "^x-criminal Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Tribal population, and other groups who can be considered to constitute the-weaker section of the population and who are socially, economically and educationally backward.

Kan jars are one of the most important de notified tribes of the country. Formerly they used to be called as 'Criminal Tribes'. The criminal tribes (which, in addition to Kanjars, include Doms, Haburas, Bauriyas, Sansiyas, Karwala, Tharus, Nats and many other similar groups) are made up of a few pastoral communities which could not adjust themselves to the economy of settled life; small sections of forest tribes which broke away from larger tribe because they could not adjust themselves to economies resulting from the forest and land policies - 10 -

Of successive governments; and certain groups -vAiicli were temperamentally and psychologically unable to adjust themselves to a law-and-order society and found it profitable to take advantage of concentrated properties in settled economies rather thah to earn their livelihood by productive labour.

The members of these groups were treated as , born criminals and were subject to vigilant watch over <1 their movement by the Government, These people constituted a separate category of population from 1911. This intentional segregation must have been inspi^red by the belief that they formed a group v»hose special profession was crime and v^o consequently required a special treatment, which the Criminal Tribes Act of 1B71 (modified in 1S97 and 1911) purported to provide. This is born out by the then Member for Law and Order Mr. Stephens, while introducing the bill.^ "The special feature of India is the caste system, A,s it is, trades go by castes; a family of carpenters will be carpenters, a century or five centuries hence, if they last so long. Keeping this in mind the meaning of professional criminal is clear. It means a tribe whose ancestors were criminals from times immemorial, who are themselves destined by the usages of caste to commit crime and whose descendents will be offenders against law, untill the whole tribe is exterminated or accounted for In the manner of the Thugs. \i)hen a man tells you that he is an offender

1. Raghvlah, V: The Problems of Criminal Tribes, 1949, p.6. - 10 -

against the law, he has been so from the beginning, and will be so to the end, reform is impossible, for it is his trade, his caste...... his religion to commit crime."

The Crovernment, therefore, started on two assumptions. First, all persons in a particular group or caste are criminal by birth and, second, once a criminal always a criminal. ' It postulated that the Kanjars, the so-called criminal tribe represented a group of born criminals, that crime was hereditary with their members and that criminals could be reformed by ruthless punishment and lifelong harrassraent. The Goverrwent, therefore, provided for registering all the membsrs of the tribe declared as criminal tribes. It further required so registered members to report themselves to the police authority at fixed intervals for Ha^i, and to notify their place of residence and any change of residence.

But the approach of the Government was found eventually wrong. Criminals are the persons who do not conform to the norms of conduct prescribed by the State and society and vho, due to certain factors of environment, come in conflict with existing laws and suffer punishment and not due to their heredity. They are maladjusted or unadjusted individuals. - 10 -

Also, a fQv anthropological and ^^lological tests, which \jere made by Dr. Majumdar, pointed to the fact that the members belonging to the so-called criminal tribes did not differ either in blood grouping or in anthro-pometrical measurements from other non-criminal tribes and castes. In fact the case with which some of them used to change their dress and appearance and used to pass off as respectable^ persons altogether belied that theory.

Culturally also the different groups stand on different levels. Vftiile the Kanjars of U.P., the Baurias in the Punjab and the Phanesapardhis of Bombay are still in the hunting stage, trapping dear and other beasts and gethering honey, the Gujars of tJ.P. are in the pastoral stage ,

Territorially they do not form a block, they are but distributed all over the country. \«/hen the separate groups stand out as units, ethnically and culturally, their grouping into one group is basically wrong. It should be noted tiat they differ from each in the modes of doing criminal acts, in their codes of conduct and in modes of signs, which they use to convey information to their people. In fact, they forn various caste-groups which have failed to adjust themselves to new conditions and have fallen into anti-social activities. - 10 -

An entire tribe cannot be criminal, neither can a large section of it be so. A few families or a gang may be prone to commit non-bailable offences, but it is not justifiable to dube a tribe as criminal merely for administrative expediency. A restriction on the activities of the leaders of the gang or group wuld serve better. ^ Many members of the criminal tribes do not commit any crime, neither do they have any ambivalence towards crime. Bven the most criminal of the .tribes have supplied responsible warders and watchmen in settlements whose integrity is beyond dispute. No attempt has ever been made to treat individual criminals in these tribes different from the tribe itself. Figures of crime incidence among the criminal tribes are not reliable, but if an effort is made to isolate crime from the criminal, much of the incidence of crime would be traced to economic conditions which compelled these people to take criminal profession.

If we look deeply into the different aspects of criminal tribes and specially Kan^ars, they present a very lamentable picture. Most of the people are extremely poor and have no fixed place of above nor any settled profession. They own no lands. They have no education and do not possess requisite property. They use to roam about the whole country with their families, goods and chattel. They practised quackery or astrology, sold honey, herbs and forest produce, wild birds or cattle - 10 -

mostly stolen In the v/ay, demonstrated monkeys, dogs, bears or serpents or performed some acrobatic feats. Some of them did soma sort of miscellaneous -vjork in which the villagers -were interested, such as merding of bullock carts, fitting iron tyres to cart, repairing grinding stone, cairpentry or blacksmithy. These professions did not yiGld enough returns and to supplement their income men folk committed crimes and women took to prostitlition. The Criminal Tribes Act "Enquiry Committeo, U.P. in 1937 has rightly opined "the criminal tribes a legacy of unhealthy social environments and the wrong methods pursued through many centuries in dealing ^.;ith them. They are not the sinners, they have beon sinned against."

After the dax-/n of Independence, our home Govern- ment thought over the condition of the criminal tribe and the treatment with vMch they t/jsre meted by the former Government and declaring vjhole tribes and castes as criminal for tha faults and activities of a few of their members and dubbing the younger generation of these tribes and castes mth that name only by reason of their birth. Consequently, the Central Government appointed a Committee in 1949, which recommended that the Criminal Tribes Act, which had outlived its usefulness, was against the spirit of our Constitution. Accordingly the Criminal Tribes Act has been repealed by the'Habitual Offenders' Act in 195k;. The repeal of that act has set free 22,68,348 inhabitants from the stigma of born criminality. - 10 -

The repeal of Criminal Tribes Act 1952 embodies a fundamental change in the approach tovards ex-criminal tribes from surveillance and punishment to correctirn, rehabilitation and assimilation to the rest of the comrfiUnity, The rehabilitation of these tribes is a complex one and mere legislative action may not be enough to transform a lawless fraternity inured to crime from birth to a self- respecting and law abiding societies.

Now the problem stems out that how to level the poor and miserable conditions of the ex-criminal tribes to the desired progress. The Planning Commission pointed in the First Five Year Plan: "The Constitution has accepted the principle that no man can be considered guilty unless he is proved to be so in a court of lai-j the problem of the criminal tribes has to be dealt with according to new programmes and policies. The original objective was to safeguard the interest of the larger society, and this was done without much consideration for basic principles of jurisprudence. Even if criminality was a fact, adequate efforts were not made to rehabilitate the individual and the group and to adjust the community economically to the environment. The new policy will be to treat all such communities as backward .classe s. Special efforts win be made by the States to rehabilitate the communities economically. Individual acts of criminality - -

will be dealt with according to the ordinary law." In the Third Five Year Plan the Cominission says, "The rehabilitation of these tribes presents many problems. Lacking in 'education, isolated from others, as a rule they are also inadequate as cultivators, and age-old attitudes take time to change. On the v^ole, the economic development programmes in recent years in the interest of the denotified tribes have had very limited except where groups of p'^rsons could be settled in colonies and developed into a stable and fairly prosperous community. For economic, educational and social programmes to succeed, it is essential that voluntary workers and organisation should be given a larger role. Long years of patient work will be needed among these tribes before their innate fears are laid at rest and confidence gained and the urge to build up a better social and economic life motivates a sufficient number among them to learn new crafts, become efficient cultivators and be integrated with the rest of the population," This shows the importance of various problems connected with the ex-criminal tribes. Hence a clear understanding of all such problems is most essential. One is to go deep to the roots to know the actual conditions of the Kanjars, a section of ex-criminal tribes. Until and unless the real disease is diagnosed, how the prescription can be had for the patient. The castle of the future Improvements - 10 -

of these people's condition can be erected only -when the bony skeleton of the problems of the Kanjars is exposed and hardships to be encountered, are estimated and gauged truly because a hasty and faltering step in the survey of these problems may led to disruption, dis- organisation and disasterous re suits may be detrimental in the interest of the country. One must count the coins not in turns of other countries but our own, one v^io owns the cov, must handle it but its tail.

The aim of such type of reports is to judge the actual conditions of the individual and the collection of such types of reports may pave the way for the solution of the problems and policy of v/elfare of the Kan,iars to be determined.

The path of the survey is not strewn with floors. A social worker is a dedicated person and dedication is something deep ^ojthe skin. He must be well behaving, courteous as constructive courtesy catches friends and friends catch your ideas. A social worker has to undergo great pains while compiling the data and facts. He should work with graat perseverance and firm determination.

Taking this view under consideration, the investi. gator has tried to conduct a socio-economic survey of Kanjars of Mainpuri district. - 10 -

Mainpuri district is in the Agra lUvision, Uttar Pradesh, lying betvjeen 26.53/27.31 latitude and 78.27/79.26 longtitude, with an area of 1,679.4 square milGs. It is bounded on the north by Btah district, on the east by Farrukhabad district, on the south by Etawah district, and on the west by Agra district. The district is well wooded and extensive groves of mango and shisham abound. The temperature is that of Doab generally. It is hot, but not excessively sultry during summer months. The whole district possesses cultivable land and the area is very fertile for rice and wheat. The annual rainfall is 31 inches. Its population according to census of 1961 was 11,80,5?94, out of which 6,34,9v51 were males and 5,49,943 females. The district is divided into five tehsils viz., Karhal, Bhongaon, Jasrana, Shikohabad, and Faibpuri. Tehsil Karhal is situated towards south of the Mainpuri on MaiE5)uri-Etawah road and its distance from Mainpuri is 17 miles. Bhongaon is at a distance of 8 miles from the headquarter and is situated towards east on the G.T.road. Jasrana is situated towards north-west of the headquarter and its distance from Mainpuri is miles. Similarly tehsil Shikohabad is situated on the south-west of the district on Agra-Mainpuri road. Its distance from the headquarter is So miles. - 10 -

There is no big industry in Mainpuri proper, and raost of the population depends upon agriculture. However tvxJ big industries viz., Glass and Bulb have been established at Shikohabad town.

With the h<^lp of well developed and well modified apparatuses for agriculture and the chemical fertilizers rice, wheat, sugar-cane and moongphali are cultivated in a very large quantity. Due to its special geographical situation, the vAiole district and Its neigh- bouring districts are very fertile for rico. Small rice mills are working at Mainpuri, Sirsagan^ under private concerns. Sirsaganj, a town of Mainpuri district has got well established rice market. The investigator does not want to go into more details about the area. The map given her6 shows the whole .Mainpuri as veil as the five tehsils In ^^Aich investigation is undertaken.

The Kan.jars under investigation reside at the outskirt of the passing roads of the towns of Mainpuri district viz., Karhal, Bhongaon, Jasrana, Shikohabad, Sirsagan.1, Mainpuri, Kuraoli and Khija village. y The total number of families in all the towns was 295. The following table shows the townwise distribution of Kan.lar families. c/) Q: < I- o District iikhabad < oc ^I- O

O Z) I- Q. 3 £CO2 < on h- (/)

District Agra - 10 -

Table 1 TOWWS': DISTRIBUTION OF K4NJAR FAMILIES

/ Itt ^ ^ . 4 ^Percentage of Name of town/village jfNo. of families 5 total i } Karhal 21 7.12 Bhongaon 79 26.78 Jasrana IS 6.10 Shikohabad 75 25 .42 Sirsaganj 37 12,54 Mainpuri 22 7.46 Kuraoli 19 6.44 Khi ja 24 8.14

Total 295 100.00

The table below shows that out of 295 families information could be collected from 251 families only. The total mmber of families found absent was 44. The coverage, therefore, is This was due to the fact that Kanjars are wandering tribe -who earn their livelihood and tortoise, by collecting honey./grinding stone etc., and,the refore, move from village to village. Those who declined to give information or who could not be contacted for one reason or the other was none. It may be noted that Khi ja village Is the unique village where not a single family was found absent. - 10 -

Table 2 SHOi-ffNG COVERAGE

T T 5 Covered 5 Not covered 0 Total Name of town/ 0 , J ^ I village jNumberlPer- ONumberJPer- jlNumberOPer- |of fa-$cen- 5of fa-$cen- |of fa-jcea- gmlllesg tage 1rollles|i tage |!mlllesCtage Karhal 16 5.42 5 I. .70 21 7.12 Bhongaon 69 23.39 10 3 .39 79 26.78 Jasrana 15 5.08 3 1 .02 18 6.10 Shikohabad 66 22.37 9 3 .05 75 25.42 Slrsaganj 29 9.83 8 2 .71 37 12.54 Mainpuri 18 6.11 4 1,.3 5 22 7.46 Kurao li 14 4.74 5 1,.7 0 19 6.44 Khija 24 8.14 0 0,.0 0 24 8.14

All combined 261 =55.08 44 14,92 295 100.00

The total population of the investigated families comes to 1,305. Of this there are 310 men, 315? v?omen; 355 boys and 322 girls (children under years of age of both sexes are treated boys and girls). The following table shows the total distribution of population under investigation. Table 3 DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION

Male l4"_ __ 1. Tq^al No. j"No. ] H "I No A .1 Y Below IS years 355 27.21 322 24.67 677 51.88 Above 18 years 310 23.75 318 24.37 628 48.12 Total 665 50.96 640 49.04 1305 100.0

- 10 -

From the foregoing table it may be seen that male below IS years occupies highest percentage as compared to female; whereas reverse is the case with regard to female above is years. But taking in view the whole population there is not significant difference between male and female population.

Both men and women contribute towards the maintenance of the hous'^hold. Generally men do hunting, fishing, food gathering, business of pig's hair, tortoise, eggs and hens, and manufacture sirki pal, whereas women folk make rope, chika, muslka. and kharl.ya etc. As regards matrimony 95.62^ out of the total hquseholds are married and 4.3s^unmarried. Table 4 SHOWING M4TRIM0NY Matrimony \ No. "f Percentage Married 240 95.62 Unmarried 11 4.38 lAHdow & widower 0 0.00

Total 251 100.00

From the above table it wnuld be observed majority of the Kanjars are enjoying family life. Only out of the total Kanjar families are unmarried. This is due to the fact that out of 240 peiple 11 are polygynous and consequently, it appears, they have deprived others to have mates. - 10 -

OBJECT OF aUHVSY

Primarily such type of Investigations v^re Intended for the post-graduate examinations of the University and submission of such t3^es of investigation reports did not possess much bearing for the welfare of the people. But with the change of time and with the establishment of our own Government, such reports showed the!r own colour and had unique importance and sphere in the A/^lfare of the country. While the country is free, it is of paramount importance that every effort of the government and private concern should be centred rouni the reformation and improvement in the present day condition of the ex-criminal tribes. As the aim of Government is to establish a socialistic pattern of society in the country, it is her duty that every chance and opportunity must be provided to ev.ery people of the country so that they may avail these chances to lead a better, prosperous and happy life. Every body is born equal in free count^, so must have equal opportunities.

The members of Kanjar community, the so-called ex-criminal tribe are extremely poor, without house, without land for cultivation, and without,any gainful occupation, which forced them to take up criminal profession, So no stone should be left unturned to make plans for the 16 - rehabilitation and future progress of the Kanjars. The members of this tribe are very sturdy vith virtues, traits and common intelligence, and can adorn the rank of our fighting forces or can be profitably employed in various multipurpose projects and nation-building activities Trfhich are being carried on in various parts of the country. The importance of such surveys lies in the fact that the problems of Kanjars in special and of ex- crlminal tribes as a whole in general, which are located by such inve stigation,are the foundation stone upon which the hopes of the future planning of countrymen's \^elfare are to be erected. As the saying goes -- "No necessity, no invention", and "No problem, no solution". So if there is no problem there will be no planning and thus no development. The aim of the survey is to find out such acute and abstruse problems which are reliable, substantial and which thes'? people have been facing from the time immemorial. So that they may be protected from being steam rolled and opportunities may be given to them to develop themselves and join as equal partners in the building of the nation.

The present report is being initiated with a desire to draw the attention of the common man towards the socio-economic conditions of the Kan jars, the so- called ex-criminal tribe and the measures adopted by the - 10 -

Governm'^nt and the private concerns in the direction of the rehabilitation and w^lfar-^ of the Kanjars, The investigator vas inspired to choose the subject because he has a contact with Kan jars of Mainpurl proper, and has got the sympathy for them, who always missed the chance of educating their children even upto primary standards in the Municipal Board's Schools (v^iere the investigator has served as a teacher) due to paucity of financial resources and backwardness.

'.•ttth its limited resources and time, the present survey could not be but experimental in nature. It has been an explorer of possible avenues of social research in. a particular direction rather than an accomplishment in itself, a beginning rather than an end. This enquiry t-dll be amply rewarded if, besides being of immediate interest as an empirical study of the socio- economic conditions of a section of the population, it also inspires new ideas and is followed by further experi- ments with more elaborate planning and increased re sources. - -

CCNCR^.PTS AND ASSUMPTIONS

An account Is given below of the concepts used in the survey. They are expected to provide a better understanding of the data dealt -with in the statements and analysis that follow. It is needless to point out that attempts to formulate ' true' or 'exact' definitions have met with little success in the domain of social sciences. For the purposes of the survey of Kanjars, it is better to adopt those definitions which mnre or less conform to popular usage and understanding rather than fit neatly into any system of accounting. It was deemed unnecessary to give full description of concepts that ar^ only too well known. Inst'=!ad of it, brief remarks have been made as to what has been included or excluded.

This gives a broad idea of the connotations in which the particular terms have been used in the survey. » (i) "Over" and "under l'^. years" of age mean adult and non-adult. (11) "Income" means cash income which include profit from agricultural amd manufacturing goods sgich as slrki , pal, musika, chika etc. It also include grain which these people get for seelling the above mentioned articles. (Hi) "(Agricultural Property includes land, plough, cart, oxen - 10 -

(iv) "Expenditure" denotes expenditure on food, clothing, fuel and light, house rent, education, intoxication and miscellaneous. It also includes financial assistance rendered to relations or other persons living away from the household. Expenditure on the purchase of property, ornaments excluded, (v) "Food" denotes cereals and pulses, meat, eggs, spices, salt and sugar, oil and fats. (vi) "Intoxication" includes expenditure on all beverages, cigarettes, pan, tobacco, blri, bhang and charas. (vii) Expenditure on "^ilducation" includes money spent on books, newspapers, stationery, school fee and also private tutors' fees. (viii) "Miscellaneous" expenses means all other expenses which are not accounted for unner any given head; specially included are expenses on gambling, sundry goods, fair, postage, payment of loans, and treatment. (ix) "Debt" denotes the amount borrov^ed vith a view to pay it back. (x) "Ceremonial" and "others" in relation to debt include expenses on festivals, marriage, rituals and customs, miscellaneous, unemployment and sickness. It also in eludes expenses on birth and other social and religious ceremonies as well as entertainments and recreations such as cinema, sports etc. (xl) "Implements" means Khanta, Suja, Hansia etc. (xii) "Criminal" means those persons who have committed crime once in their life time such as theft, burglary, robbery, pilfering and others. (xiii) Social vices means persons having indulged in alcoholism, gambling, prostitution and illicit sex-relationship. (fciv) "ijJfelfare activities" means facilJlties provided by Government, Municipal Board and District Board such as housing, educational, money, land, plough, oxen and cart etc. for agriculture and business purposes. - 10 -

UNIT OF ANALYSIS

The survey concerns Itself exclusively with the Kan jars of Mairipuri district. Its unit of analysis is, therefore, a spending unit comprising of one or more persons and having a man as its head.

A spending unit or a household may be defined as a group of persons, related by blood, living together, having a common kitchen arrangement and pooling their entire Income or the greater part of it for their common maintenance and ^11 being.

The size arid composition of a spending unit not is/constant. Births, deaths, marriages and divorces occur; patterns of financial dependence and independence change; family arrangements alter. There vas no choice but to take into account the position at the time of interview and make it the basis of observation.

TIM^ SPAN OF ANALYSES

The survey covers only one month, namely Decemfber 1966. Due to limited time at the disposal and financial resources being limited no further study was possible. - 10 -

METHOD OF COLIBCTION OF DATA

Social scientists are committed to the belief that problems vjhich confront them are to be solved by judicious and systematic observation, verification, classification and interpretation of social phenomenon. Taking this view in mind, the investigator has adopted all those methods and techniques life field-work, observation, historical and statistical, which are reliable to have accurate and genuine results, reaching to the roots of the problems. The survey has been conducted on census basis. Sampling method has not been used because it was feared that many people might not give the required information on account of the very nature of the enquiry and in that case the sample would have become smaller than was intended.

To acquire a vivid picture of facts, first of all, on the spot enquiry was made by the investigator. To probe a way into the thick, the investigator got himself acquainted with all the living conditions of Kan jars and this was the first step in which he cut the ice into slices. The investigator had to devote completely one month for field work and observation and then he was in a position to have a factual knowledge of the exact nature of kanjar families and their way of living. Along - 22 ~

The method of study» therefore, is empirical in nature. The original data collected on the basis of personal investigation has been processed, compiled and tabulated, and drawn inferences from them.

Factual information and other statistical data was gathered by means of cyclostyled schedules (copy attached herewith for perusal). Two types of questions were prepared: 1. General 2, Individual The general question dealt with enquiries of the general nature e.g. working of the families, medical, edn.cation, social and cultural activities and facilities provided by different agencies such as Municipality, Government and private concern.

The individual questions contain-^d Inquiries of personal character e.j^. age, sex, socio-economic conditions and socio-pathological conditions.

The subjects sympathetically and politely interviewed and asked those questions which ivere within the scope of the survey. The constructive approach of the investigator helped him a lot in extracting that information from the Kan jars which mattered hira. Personal interviews were arranged with the Kan jars of the vAiole district, whicli led the Investigator to come to the truth about socio-economic conditions of the subjects. Besides - 10 - this, some neighbours also proved most helpful in the passage of investigation. The old men of the tribe •were a great source of information. In order to make the study interesting and informative charts, tables and graphic representation have also been included in the report. - -

DIFFECTJITIE3 DQRING JITNEY

In spite of the first hand training, the investigator had to face some difficulties in the collection of data, especially because the information sought vras too personal for the respondents to provide vith some hesitation. The people generally regard it tedious to account for their financial actions and transactions, especially their household expenditures, and are somev/hat touchy in giving information about their savings, debts, crimes and social vices, such as gambling, prostitution, alcoholism and illicit sex* relationship. They regarded the investigator as a man of C.I.D. or Income Tax Office,

Stome semi-educated persons v/ho vjere treated as leaders, for their economic position, were also a great hinderance in the passage of the investigation. These netas thought the survey a trick of the authorities to know their loopholes, so they misguided other members of the tribe. Investigator personally met these netas. However after assuring them that the investigator is nothing but a student and collecting information for his examination purpose and his success and failure is in their hands and the information would be kept secret, they came in confidence and gave their full cooperation in the field. - 10 -

Another difficulty faced was in regard to phiotographs. Due to backwardness in education they hesitated very much. Particularly women were not prepared to allow to take photoss because they regarded it against the traditions of the society. Once convinced about it the Kan.jars had no hesitation in having allowed to take photoes on condition that one copy of each photo be supplied to them. The investigator has fulfilled his promise•

There v^re, of course, some pleasant exceptions. It has been felt that even those, who realised the need for such enquiries or who appreciate the cause of research, are generally not happy about such enquiries when they are themselves made a subject of them.

Temperament of "interviewees placed yet another limitation and had to be dealt v?ith tactfully. Exaggera- tion was by no means absent and there was on the part of the Kan jars to overstate their expenditure and under- estimate their income. Therefore, extreme caution was taken to get,as far as possible, accurate data and even a slight doubt was corrected by cross-checking the related data vrf-th the help of the interviewees themselves. Such tendencies of exaggeration and unrealistic figures, however, were of a very small magnitude. - 10 -

HBPOBT PRS.<3ENTH1D

The present survey is an attempt to have a thorough study and knowledge of the socio-economic conditions of the Fanjars of Mainpuri district. The investigator has undergone every pain to go deep to the hair so as to have the relevant, authentic and abstruse data of the socio-economic conditions of the people. In the present report Chapter II deals vrf.th the origin of P'anjars, their sub-castes, their affiliation v4th doras and gypsies, causes of crime among them, the distribution of Kan jars in TJttar Pradesh and Mainpuri district and their population in the district under investigation.

Chapter III studies the actual economic conditions of Kan^ars concerning the family budget. In the family budget the investigator has tried to locate the family income, its source and expenditure on different items. Thus a clear cut picture has been depicted about the budget whether it is a deficit budget, surplus or balanced one. As regards indebtedness, efforts have been made to find out the extent of Indebtedness and for what purpose the money was borrowed. Various sources al so of getting loans have/been located. The rate of - 10 -

Interest to b'^ charged, security and terms of repayment have also been studied.

As far as the Investigation of the working conditions of the Kan jars are concerned, it is to be pointed out that nothing has been left to the best of the knowledge of the investigator. The nature of vork of the subjects and their •(»Drking conditions have also been discussed in this chapter.

A separate chapter deals with the social structure and social life of Kanjars, type of family existing, status of different members of the family, family problems e.g. marriage, widow marriage, divorce, bride price, birtb and death ceremonies, their participation in religious activities, customs and festivals, their belief in magic and si:?)erstitions.

Crimes and social vices have been studied in chapter Vth which exclusively deals >.»ith the criminal habit of the people and the crimes prevailing in the locality. Social vices such as gambling, alcoholism, prostitU(:inp and illicit sex-relations have also been discussed in this very chapter.

Three chapters have been devoted on the study of education, housing, health and sanitation. The chapter on education deals \-Ath the extent of literacy - 10 - among the Kan jars under study; their bent to\-jards education. Every attempt has been made In the investigation of the children v^io are getting their education in primary, secondary and higher classes. The investigator arranged personal Interviews tdth Kanjars and their children and made an on the spot enquiry to have a thorough knowledge of the general conditions of the Kan;Jars and their children, and the facilities provided to them by different sources for their educational uplift.

Chapter VII deals with the housing of the Fanjars. In it we have included the' general conditions of the neighbourhood, condition of houses, accommodation available, material used in the construction and state of repairs and type of ownership. ^^Ihile health and sanitation has been studied in chapter VIIIth. In tbis chapter we have studied general condition of health of the Kanjars,causes of ill-health, their nutrition and sanitary/ condition in the locality.

The role of the welfare societies and development scheme etc. working for the benefit of these people has also been studied in chapter IX.

Besides all this, the investigator has given his own suggestion and conclusions in chapter Xth.

This is, in short, the nature and scope of the present enquiry. CHAPTRR II

THE KAN JARS

1. Meaning of Kanjar 2. Origin of the Kan .jars 3. Sub-castes among Kanjars 4. Derivation of the Ktnjars from the Doros 5. The Kan jars and Gypsies 6. The Kanjars of Uttar Pradesh 7. Factors promoting crime among Kanjars The Kanjars of Mainpari district. - 10 -

CHAPTER II

THE ICANJARS

1. The meaning of the Kan jar:

The word 'kanjar' appears to have been derived from the Sanskrit word "KANANA-CHAR4" in the sense of a "wanderer in the jungle". The Kanjars are an interesting vagrant tribe and their encampants are found all over India. Writing about the Kanjars Crooke says that "a name applied to an aggregate of vagrant tribes of a gypsy character, and probably Drividian origin. There can be little doubt that the Kanjars are a branch of the vagrant nomadic race which includes the Sansiya, Habura, Beriya, Bhatu and more distinct kindred such as Nat,Banjara, Baheliya"! Their natural home was the forest, where they subsist by hunting wolves, hares, and any kind of animal they can kill or catch by gathering such roots and vegetable products as required no cultivation and by extracting juice from the palm tree and its beverage. Crooke, giving the popular native idea of the affiliation of these gypsy tribes, classifies them in twelve divisions.

1. Crooke: The Tribes and Castes of the North-Wfestern Provinces and Oudh, Vol. Ill, p. 136. - 10 -

(a) Kuchbandiya, who make the kunch, or brush used by weavers for cleaning thread, the slrkl or roofing mat, dig the khas-khas gr^ss for making tattls^ tT^dst rope, hunt wolves, and catch vermin. (b) Nat, who is a tumbler and gymnast, dances on a rope, or walks on stilts. (c) Turkata, who takes his name from the tur, or weaver's brush, and is a quack doctor, and sells herbs and drugs, which he collects in the jungle. (d) Beriya, who prostitutes his women and trains them to sing and dance. (e) Beldar, who wanders about and works at digging tanks and building mud walls. (f) Chamarmangta, who cleans the wax out of ears, does cupping, and extracts carious teeth. (g) Sansiya, who begs and, when occasion serves, commits theft and dakai ti . (h) Dom, who kills dogs, acts as a scavenger and exectioner. (i) Bhatu, who lives by stealing and thieving cattle. (3) Qalandar, trains monkey and bears to dance, and makes articles of tin for sale. (k) Baheliya, who is a fowler and hunter. (1) Jogi, who is a snake charmer and blows the tomri or ground pipe. - 10 -

2. The Origin of Kan jars:

There Is not much in their tribal legends which throws light on their history or origin. They trace their descent to their deified ancestor Mana, who is known as Mana Guru, and his wife Nathiya Kanjarin, who Used to live in the jungle, and made their living by hunting and plunder, Mandohar was the mother of Mana, but further than this his origin is a blank. One story runs that Mana once went to Delhi to practice his trade of a brush-maker. The Emperor of Delhi had at that time two famous wrestlers, Kallu and Mallu, who were the champions of the world. They were particularly noted for their skill in swinging the athletes' chain bow (lezam), Mana happened to pass by and, taking the bow, plunged it so deep in the ground that no one could with- draw it, ',^en the Bmperor heard of this, he sent for Mana and made him wrestle with his champions. He defeated them easily and was dismissed with gresit reward. 4fter sometime the Emperor became angry for some reason and siezed all the property of Mana and banished the Mana from his territory. Since then the Kanjars are wandering like gypsy without having permanent abode. - 10 -

3. Sub-castes among Kanjars:

The tribal organisation of the Kanjars is, as might have been expected, Xpmplex. Mr. Crooke divides them into four main sub-castes: (1) Jallad or 'executioners'; (2) Kunchband or 'brush-makers'; (3) Patthar-kat or 'stone cutters' -which, according to Nesfleld connects them -with the Stone Age; and (4) Rachhband or 'makers of the T^eaver's comb' . Mr. Nesfield, in his interesting account of the ^ 2 tribe says that they profess to have seven clans, of •whom five are well-established, and four can be explained by their crafts - (1) Maraiya or 'worshippers of Marl'; (2) Bhains, 'buffalo-keepers'; (3) Sankat, 'stone-cutters'; and (4) Gohar, 'catchers of the iguana (gohO; and (5) Soda. The sub-division of Kan jars is not, according to Crooks, identical every vjhere. it differ from district to district. For example in Aligarh there ars two main branches of Kanjars (1) Kunchband (2) Jallad or Supwala, 'maker of sieves'. Of the Kunchband there are nine sections — (1) Karaiya, 'worshipers of Marl, (2) Bains, 'buffalo-men', (3) lakarhar or 'woodmen', (4) Sankat, or 'stone-cutter', (5) Soda, (6) Kara, (7) Goher, ' iguana»catcgers' (S) Sonra, and (0) Untwar or 'camel, men' •

2. Nesfield: The Kan jars of Upper India, Calcutta Review. Also quoted by Crooke, op.cit. p.137. - 10 -

In Btawah there are five sub-castes of Kanjars viz., (1) Sonra, (2) Maraiya, (3) Sonareson (4) Bhains, and (5) Gohera. In Shahjahanpur there are six sections of them d) Maraiya,(2) Soda, (3) Goher, (4^, Unt-war, (5) Lohiya or 'iron-men', and (6) Lakarha ®r 'woodmen". In Mirzapur there are 10 sub-castes of Kanjars voz., (1) Kanaujiya, (2) Sankat, (3) Sonra, (4) Bhains, (5) Maraiya, (6) Baid or 'physician', (7) Ekthauliya, (5) Untwar, and (10) Barariya. In Bi^nor there are tvjo sections - (1) true kanjars, and (2) Adhela kanjars, -who are of mixed descent. In Agra there are eight sub-castes — (1) Funchband, (2) Singli^la, (3) Fanglvala, (4) Kabutarv/ala, (5) Brijbftsi, (6) Nats, (7) Baddhik, (S) Habura, and (9) Barua. It is significant to note that Kundiband Kanjars have changed their name to ' Ghiyar', and have started to claim a connection -with Ghiyar Rajputs, Similarly, Bhains Kanjars also have changed their name to 'Baiswar' and claim a connection with Bais Rajputs.

4. Derivation of the Kanjars from the Dora:

As It has already been said som^wher'? in this very chapter that the vord "Kanjar" has been applied so-me- what loosely to various snail communities of a gypsy 3 character viho vender about the country. Major GunthroP'?

gives Kanjars and Sansiya as alternative names of the same 4 caste of criminals, and this is also supported by Kennedy. 3. Gantbrope, E.J: Notes on Criminal Tribes, p. 78 4. Kennedy: Criminal Tribes of Bombay, p. 257. - 10 -

Kltts writes of them: "The Deccanl and Marwari Kanjars were originally Bhats (bards) of the Jat trite, and as they generally give themselves out to be Bhats are probably not included at all among the Kanjars re turner^ at the censusi Thev are vagrant people, living in tents and addicted to crime. The ^^men are good-looking, some are noted Tor their obscene songs, filthy alike in --Aord and gestures; >jhile others, vhose husbands play on the Sarangi, lead a life of immorality. The men are often 5 skilful aero bates." " The Sansia family Includes two principal div'.sions represented in Berar by the Kanjars and Kolhatis respectively. They will eat, drink and smoke together, and occasionally join in committing dacoity.

They eat all kinds of nnat and drin6 k all liquors; they are lax of morals and loose of life." In norther India the business of acting as bards to the .Tats and begging from them is the traditional function of the Sanslas; and w© may therefore conclude that so far Maharashtra is concerned the Kanjars are Identical with the Sanslas;while the Kolhatis mentioned by Kltts are the same people as the

Berlas •Jan d the Berias themselves are another branch of Sanslas. There se^ms some reason to suppose that "these four closely allied groups, the T^anjars or Sansia, and the Kolhati or Beria, may have their origin from the graat Dom

5. Kltts: Berar Census Report, 18S1, p.140. 6. Ibid., p. 139. 7. Crooke: op.cit. para I. - 10 -

g caste of menials and scavengers". In the Punjab the Doras are the ref^ular bards and genealogists of the lov^r castes, being knovm as also Mirasi. The wrd 'Mirasi' is derived from the Arabic >jord 'Miras' meaning inheritance:

and the Mirasi is to be applied to the inferior agricultur9e castes and the outcaste tribes vAiat the Bhat is to Rajputs. It has alroady been stated somevjhere that the primary calling of the Sansias -was to act as bards and genealogists of the Jats; and this "common occupation is to some extent in favour of the original identity of the two castes Dom and Sansia though Ibbetson not of this opinion. In TJttar Pradesh Crooke gives the Jallad or executioners as one of the main divisions of the Kan jars and the Jallad of Ambala are said to te th<3 discendents of a Kanjar family who vjere attached to the Delhi court as executioners". the Jallad or Supvra.la is also a name of Doms. The terra 'Jallad', which is an Arabic name for 'A public flogger' , is more especially applied to "those Doms who are employed in cities to kill ownerless dogs and to act as public 12 executioners". Gayer states that as the result of special inquiries made by an experienced police officer it would appear that these Jallad Kan jars are really Doms1. 3

3. Russel, R.V: Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, 1916, Vol. Ill, p. 332. 9. Ibbetson: Punjab Census Report, 1^>81, para 527. 10. Ibid. 11. Ibid. 12. Croolce; op.cit. para 21. 13. Geyer: Lectures on Criminal Tribes of th- Central Provinces, p.59. - 10 -

In Gujrat the Mirs or Miras are also knoifffi as Dora after the tribe of that name; they vjere originally of two classes, one the descendants of Gujrat Bhats or bards, the other, from northern India, partly of Bhat descent and partly connected v/ith the Doms,^'^ And the .Sansias and Berias in Bombay when accompanied by their families usually pass themselves off as Gujrati Bhats, that is, bards of the Jat caste from Karwar or of the Kalis from Gujrat^^ In writing of the Kanjar bards Sherring also says that there are the Kan jars of Gondwoma, the Sansis of northern India; they are the most desperate of all dacoits and wonder about the country as through belonging to the Gujrati Domtaris or Shovjmen. The above evidence seems sufficient to establish a prima facie case in favour of the Dom origin of these gypsy castes. It may be noted further that the Jallad Kan jars of the Uttar Pradesh are also known as Supwala or makers of sieves and winnowing fans, a calling viiich belongs specially to the Domds, Bhangis and other sweeper castes.

5, The Kanjars and Gypsies:

The Kan jars and Berias are the typical gypsy castes of India, and have been supposed to be the parents of the European gypsies. On this point Nesfield writes, "The commonly received legend is that multitudes of Kanjars \oere driven out of India by the opressions of Tamerlane,

14. Bombay Gazetteer, Moharnmadans of Gujrat, p. 83, 15, Kennedy: op.cit. p. 257. - 10 -

and it is inferred that the gypsies of ISurope are their direct descendants by blood., because tliey speak liko thetn If? a form of the Hindi language. Sir G. Grierson states: "According to the Shahnama, the Persian monarch Bahram Gaur received in the fifth century from an Indian King 12,000 musicians i-jho i^re knovjn as Luris, and the Lulis, that is gypsies of modern Persia are the desdendan':s of these." These people •vjere also called Lutt and hence it •was supposed that they \gere the Indian Jats, Grierson, ho1^/ever, shows it to be highly improbable that the Jats, one of the highest castes of cultivators, could ever have

furnished a huge band of professional singers and dancers1. 7 He on the contraiy derives the gypsies from the Dom Tribes. Mr. Leland has made a happy suggestion that the "original gypsies may have been Doms of India." He points out that Romany is almost letter for letter the same as Domni ( ) the plural of Dom. Domni is the plural form in the Bhojpuri dialect of the Bihari language. It was originally a genitive plural, so that Romany — Rye, "A gypsy gebtleman", may be vjell compared with the Bhojpuri Domni Rai, "A King of the Dome". Bie Bhojpuri speaking Doms are a famous race, and they have many points of resemblance with the gypsies of Europe. Thus they are darker in complexion than the surrounding Biharis, are great thieves, live by hunting, dancing and 16. Nesfieldt Op.cit., p.393. 17. Quoted by Russel, R.V. in "Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, 1916, Yol.III, p.333. - 10 -

telling fortunes, their vjomen have a reputation for making love-philtres and medicines to procure abortion, they keep fowls and are said to eat carrion. The gypsy gramraer is closely connected v/ith Bho^puri, and the folloiving mongrel, half gypsy, half English rhyme will show the extra-ordinary similarity of the two vocabularies.

"Qypsj?: The Rye (squire) he mores (hunts) adrey the wesh(wDOd) Bhojpurij Rai mare andal besh(Pers) Gypsy: The Kaun-engro(ear-fellow, he.re) and chiriclo (bird) Bhojpuri! Kanwala chirin Gypsy: You sovs (sleep) with leste (him) drey (within) the wss Bhojpuri: soe andal be si Gypsjt: 4nd rigs(carry) for leste (him) the gono( sack, game bag) Bhojpuri: gon Gypsy: Oprey(above) the rukh (tree) adrey(withinj the wesh BhojpurisIJpri rukh andal besh Gypsy: Are Chi ri do (male-bird) and chiricli(f="male-bird) Bhojpuri: chirin chirin Gypsy: Tuley(below) the rukh (tree) adrey (within) the wesh Bho.1puri:Tule rukh andal besh Gypsy: Are pireno(lover) and pireni (lady.love) Bho;Jpuri: pyara pyari

In the above it must be remembered that the verba]. 18 terminations of the gypsy text are English and not gypsy.

IS. Russell, R.V.: op.cit., p.335, . 39 -

The above argument renders it probable that the gypsies are derived from the Doms; and as Nesfield gives it as a com-on legend that they originated from the Kanjars, this is perhaps another connecting lirfic betv^en the Doms and Fanjars. The vcrd gypsy is probably an abbreviation of 'Egyptian', the country assigned as the house of the gypsies in medieval times. It has already been seen that the Doms are the bards and ministrels of the lower castes in the Punjab, and that Kanjars and Sansias, originally identical or very closely connected, v/ere in particular the bards of the Jats. It is a possible speculation that the Kanjars may have been mixed up with the lower classes of Jats or have taken their name, and that this has led to the confusion between Jat and gypsies. Some support is afforded to this suggestion by the fact that the Kanjars of Madhya Pradesh have three divisions, the Jat, Multani and Kuchbandia. The Jat TCanjars are, no doubt,those who acted as bards to the Jats, and hence took the name, and if the ancestors of these people emigrated from India 19 they may have given themselves as Jat.

19. Ibid. p. 335. - 10 -

6. Factors Promoting Crime among Fan jars:

How this tribe grew and took to criminal activities as a profession cannot be definitely ascertained. But from 1911 these people constituted as a group of criminal tribes. The members of this group •were treated as born criminals and ware subject to vigilant vatch over the movements by the Governnient. Consequently, it was thought that they were congenital criminals. Bit Professor Majumdar has proved by undertaking ar.thropoligical and seriological tests that these so-called criminal people do not differ either in blood grouping or in anthropometri- cal measurensents from other non-criminal population of the country. In fact,these people have failed to adjust themselves to n-^^w conditions and have fallen into anti- social activities. Some factors which forced these people to Indulge in anti-social activities are discussed below:-

(1) Socio-economic conditions:

These people had no fixed place nor any settled profession. They owned no lands. They used to roam about the whole country with their families, goods and chattel. They had no permanent gainful occupation. Some of them sold honey, herbs »nd forest produce while others had sane sort of trading in sirki, pal, pig hair and grinding stones. These professions did not yield enough returns and to supplement their income men folk committed crimes and women took prostitution. - 10 -

(ii) Development of means of transport and ne-w economy:

The economic ruin that has been foisted upon them by the new means of transport and by the new economy had an important part to play in shaping their criminal propensities. For example the chapperband kanjars were at one time "makers of huts" for the Moghul armies and have thgrefore been -without job for the past tvo centuries. Further those kanjars who were bards cannot mamge to eke out their subsistence from their transitional occupation as people have no charm for their geneology.

(lii) Official attitude:

The village officials also help these people in their criminal activities by connivance on the promise of a share in the booty, "If a man is a regular criminal, he manages to square the patll who keeps the register unwritten for 3-4 days. If the man is arrested someUiere else, he marks him absent. On coming back if he shares 20 the poils with the patel, he is marked present".

(Iv) Environmental conditions:

The home atmosphere is also im!r«nsely responsible for inculcating anti-social tendencies in the young child. Economically these people are not well off to provide for the proper growth of children. The father is more often a drurikard and a prison bird; the mother is known for - 10 -

Illicit sex-re lations and at times criminal propensity. The parents, therefore, not only fail to provide a sound moral foundation but on the contrary stimulate immoral tendencies among their offsprings.

V It is not only the hojfie that inculcate criminality but the surrounding too. The men and women whom they move are either hardened criminals or flirts. Wsrse still is the fact that the society of vMch they are members have values and traditions vhich make criminal life their ideal. Cv) Society's attitude:

The society is also equally responsible for inculcating anti-social activities among these people. The Hindu community regasrd it hi^ly religious to give alms to beggars and to show respect to the sadhus. The same is true for Muslims also. This conception of charity and spiritual belief that have encouraged the spelling of fraternities of sadhus have provided facilities to these people for the operation of their criminal activities under the garb of a poor beggar or a sadhu. Besides, the social system does not permit free social inter-course vA th them and people's attitude to this criminal tribe is therefore a blend of hostility, contompt and fear. This results in segregation of these people. The lack of free social inter-course hegatively denies these criminality habituated people an opportunity to reclaim themselves. - 10 -

(vi) Social Security Provision: One of the most important factor contributing to the criminal propensity is the social security provided by their Panchayat. The Panchayat keeps a record of the members of the tribe, organises crimes, depute active members on particular missions to rob, disposes of the booty and distribute the sale proceeds among the members according to their respective shares. Itien any member is arrested during the operation of crime the Panchayat arranges and provides for the litigation.

7. The Kanjars of Uttar Pradesh:

It has already been said previously that the Kan jars are an interesting vagrant tribe who are generally found distributed throughout the province. They belong to all religions, particularly Hindus and Muslims. The Hindus contribute the major proportion of the kanjars. The highest population of these people is found in Kanpur, Bahraich and Basti districts. Next come Agra, Aligarh, Gronda, Sitapur, Moradabad, Mainpuri, Budaun, Fatehpur, and E'tah districts and all the rest of the districts occupy third place,

In earlier days the Kanjars used to practice Jijmani and for entertaining the villagers they passed through, they used to receive voluntary annual but liberal contributions for their services. They had their juris- diction distributed among their families, and each family CwO 0 §(U

B to

•-3

I Ih O } -P • • *• H \ -H l ^ • > w V ^ ft J ...... •H x: oi • / x • P

CO 0) Ti - 10 -

had a few villages on vjlilch they levied periodical charge. They also served the Gujars, the Minas and other castes as bards or geneologists and memorised the pedigrees of the families and their achievements -which they annually recited before them to deserve the voluntary gifts. Today these occupants do not pay, for the people have lost their interest in their pedigrees or they are more interested in their material possessions so that the Kanjars have to eke out their subsistence in other ways. Large sections of these people have settled life, some are cultivators and field labourers; others live in towns and make door screens, baskets, sieves, and the like and some of them in this way have considerably raised their social status. But still there are others who wander in groups of families in search of livelihood and where they fail to make by honest means they take to petty theft, burglary, and pilfering and even to serious forms of crime.

They are traditional beggars and even if begging was not required a kanjar woman would take her bowl and visit the families in the neighbourhood of their temporary encampment. This gives her cliance of exchanging a few words with the house-vrives so that she induce them to part with their money by giving medicines to cure barrenness and any malady in the family. - 10 -

The Kan jars of Mainpuri District:

According to the Manual of Criminal Tribes Act 192^ the Kanjars v?ere declared criminals in the Mainpuri district also. But the Government of India in 1952, on the recom-^endation a Committee appointed for the purpose, has repealed this act by the"Habltnal Offenders' Act" and the repeal of that act has set free the Kanjars of the district too. Again, in accordance with the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Amendment) Act 1956 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes lists (Modification) order 1956 Kanjars are declared as scheduled caste in the district under investigation in order to provide them equal opportunity for economic and social de veloprae nt.

As elsewhere, so in the Mainpuri district "Kanjars are vagrant tribe, and are distributed all over the district. They belong to Hindu religion. Most of the peoplehave settled down in permanent huts at the outskirt of each important town of the district and have taken settled life, but still there are some people who wander from village to village in search of livelihood. Majority of the people are very poor and are without gainful and permanent occupation. They own no land for cultivation. Some are engaged in poultry farming, selling honey while other in manufacturing of - 10 - sirki, pals, rope, chicks, muslkas, grinding stone, etc. Some of the people doing trade of raonkies, tortoise, pigs hair etc. These activities are of primitive type and are seasonal. Some of the irfomen take their bov?l and visit the families in the neighbourhood for begfeing while others sing and dance. 9

There are t>io sub-castes of Kanjars in the district, (1) Kunchhband, and (2) Patharkat. The Kunchhband kanjars have settled down and are engaged in the professions referred to above. As regards the Patharkat kanjars, they roam from village to village with their families,goods and chattel in search of livelihood. They sell grinding stone for hand flour mills (i.e. chakki) and also repairs them. CHAPTBR III

E^CONOMIC STHJCTUfE OF THE KAKTARS

1. Distribution of occupations

2. Isforking conditions and vjorking hours

3. I ncome

4. Expenditure

5. Family budgets

6. Savings

7. Indebtedness

8. Causes of indebtedness

9. Security and mode of repayment of loans - 10 -

CHAPTER III

ECONOMIC STRUCTURE

The study of the economic structure of the Kan jars perhaps forms the most important part of the present enquiry. It hardly needs to point out how largely the economic status of an individual affects other aspects of his life. Both, the present habits and the future aspirations are, to a large extent, determined by the financial position. It is with this idea in mind that their habits and ambitions, customs and traditions, health and education and the pattern of expenditure and savings have been studied with respect to their financial status. It is tempting to enquire how the pattern of living values with a change in the incomes of these people. Under this heading 'the Economic Structure' we broadly include the distribution of the subject according to their occupations, their sources of income, consumption pattern, budget, indebtedness and the working conditions etc. Let us now analyse all these aspects in some details.

1, The Distribution of occupations:

It will not be wrong to say that in India the decision of professions to a greater extent has been based on the C6^t Considerations. To recall the old times, in - 48 ~

medieval India people had little opportunity to think over the choice of profession. The son had to persue the profession of his father. I'^lth the passage of time) the Ctost Consideration, no doubt, began to loose its value and the people given an opportunity to choose a career for themselves. Let it be, ho^^ver, pointed out that the old tradition of Inheriting the profession of one's forefathers is still prevailing among a larger section of our society. In most of our villages and towns, the son of a old blacksmith is still a blacksmith and that of a Harijan a Harljan and so on. Still more unfortunate is the case of the Kanjars, a section of the denotified tribes, for the reasons already explained in Chapter I, They had been till recently treated as criminals by birth both by the Government and the society, Partly because of this negligence and partly because of their family background and surroundings, they are still in a depressed state. The follov/lng faSts and figures provide an evidence to the same fact. Table I .

SHOWING DISTBIHJTION OF OCOTPATirNS

5Total no. 1 percentage Occupations 0 families Agriculture 0 0.00 Animal husbandry 8 3.19 Manufacturing 70 27.89 Trade 121 48,20 Others 52 20.72 Total 251 100.00

- 10 -

From the gibove table it may be observed that a little less than half of the total population lives upon petty trade in monkies, tortoises, honey and pig hairs etc. This is their traditional profession. Manu- facturing, the other source of income is more or less of the same primitive nature, Sirkis, pals, rope, chikas musikas and grinding stones are the only things vAiich they make by thetr ovm hands. A fevi others are also engaged in door to door services, such as repairs of grinding stones and shoes, wrking as hired labourers, begging and dancing etc. A very small percentage, i.e. 3,19 per cent

0 live upon husbandary as a main source of their income. The business is at a very petty scale and is transitory in nature. In other words it is only a meagre source of income. The profession of farming is cqnspicous by its absence , It is v;ell known that traditionally this class has been a property less class and it is only now that some attention is being paid towards this negligence.

• From a perusal of the above facts and figures, it is at once clear that one of the reasons for the criminal habits of this class has been the absence of ar^ definite and permanent source of income. Property apart from being a source of income, does also give a sense of dignity and self-respect which Iceeps us from indulging in anti-social acti vi ties. - 10 -

2. '.(forking conditions:

The working conditions under v/hich a person works have got a marked influence on his health, efficiency, psychology and the quality of -/^ork he does. It is not possible to carry on the vork under unhealthy surroundings.

Really speaking the working conditions of the Kanjars under survey are deplorable. They have no place to house their industry. So they sit on the dirty ground to carry on their work of manufacturing pal^ khas-ki~tatti, rope, chifca and musika. Flooring is uneven and kachcha. Sanitary condition are deplorable. Generally people have quite lon'-^ working hours. Sometime they have to remain engaged with their work for about three or four days because they go outside the town for catching and collecting monkles, tortoises, honey and khas. Long working hours not only cause physical exertion but also keep them away from home for'a long time and they cannot reasonably look after their household affairs and their family members and devote sometime for their physical and mental recreation. Table 2. SHOmKG WORKING HOURS Intensity of wort^lNumber Zf (hours) {families 8 PQ^c^^^age Below 6 hours 5 1.99 6 - 8 " 45 17.93 8 -10 " 110 43.82 10 & above 91 36.26 Total 251 100.00 - 10 -

The above table gives an account that out of the total population as many as 43,82 per cent people work bet-ween B-10 hours per day. The next lowest percentage come from those persons v^o work for more than 10 hours. The reason is too obvious to require any explanation. Rest of the people i.e. 19.92 per cent vjorfc betv^en below 6 to 8 hours per day. This may partly be explained by the fact that some peoples in this category hold good economic position and partly because they are unmarried or widowed and do not have large size of household,

3.. Income:

The financial status has a great bearing on the habits and socio-economic behaviour of an individual. It is, therefore, tempting to correlate the consumption pattern of the people unde? study, their habits and aspirations etc., to their level of incomes. The first step in this direction would be to find out respective proportions of the total population falling in the various income groups. - 52 -

Table 3 SHOWNG nr STRIBUTION OF POPULAHON ACCORDING TO INCOME GROUPS

M^y incomel INO. oft«,sons J il Be lo w 50 10 25 2.5 50 - 100 56 177 3.2 100 - 150 110 50S 4.6 150 - 200 45 250 5.5 200 - 250 15 160 10.7 250 - 300 10 115 11.5 300 & above 5 70 14.0

Total 251 1305 5.2

From the above table it wuld be observed that the highest percentage of the households fall in the income group 100-150, and the first three lowest income groups include nearly three-fourtti of the total number. Thus the majority of these people consists of the poor ones- The last three highest income groups account for 11.95^ of the total subjects s'tarveyed. F^ven these 30 families out of 251 do not enjoy such high financial status perhaps for the reason that their size of the family is large enough ^^^hich might include a large number of earning members among them. Moreover this is not their regular Income. It fluctuates with the seasons.

- 53 -

For example in -winter and summer seasons they earn more because their is great demand of khas-tattis, tortoises, pigs hairs, musikas etc, , whereas in the rainy season most of the people have little earning. Tortoises are mostly exported to Calcutta as it is eaten by Bangalis.

Another interesting thing -which the above table reveals is that as -we move towards the higher income brackets, the average size of the family also increases. Not only this much but the (U.sparity is too wide that the average size of the household in the 300 and above income group is a little more than times of that in the lowest income bracket, i.e. below Rs, 50. This on the face of it seems to be something illogical and comes in contra- diction with the Malthusian Law of Population. As it is well known, the understanding of the Malthusian Law of Population is that the rateof birth decreases with an improvement in the financial status of a household. The above disparity may, however, be explained by the fact that in caseof the illiterate people and specially such a backward class as under study, it is not the economic factor but their social and cultural environment and their strong faith in fatalism which determines the rateof birth. Whatever their financial status may be, their custom and tradition, habits and attitude and the ways of living of these people are more or less alike. An - 54 -

increase in their income, therefore, instead of discouragin^i, gives them a chance to rear a larger size of family.

The following table shovs the variation in the income of the TCanjars under study. Table 4. SHOmNG VAIIATION OF INCOME

Highest income t Lowest income L

Rs. 400/- Rs. 45/-

Table 5, SHOICLNG DISTRIBUTION OF T0T4L INCOME AND PER CAPITA INCOME ACCORDING TO VARIOUS INCOME GROUPS

Po. of ^Tblal no..JAveiag e Jjot^j^ jjper capil Income groups ^familiesfeof per- {size of {income 'income 0 5 sons fifamily \ 0 Below Rs. 50 10 25 2.5 438 17.52 50 - 100 56 177 3.2 4750 26.83 100 - 150 ^ 110 508 4.6 12812 25.22 150 - 200 45 250 5.5 7613 30.45 200 - 250 15 160 10.7 3412 21.32 250 - 300 10 115 11.5 2750 23.91 300 and above 5 70 14.0 1812 25.89

Total 251 1305 5.2 33587 25.74

A simple estimate of the total income of an household cannot give a correct idea of the standard of living of the family and is therefore not a sufficient indicator of

- 55 -

the financial strength of the family. The standard of living of the family depends on the size of the family and per capita income. 'torked oitt on this basis, it may be observed from table no. 5 that except the income bracket 100-150 the per capita income does not exceed such a low figure as Rs, 30.45 per month and touches the lo\^;est point at Rs. 17.52. This is a dipj^rable state of things and accounts for the backvjardness of these people.

4. Expenditure:

The following tables show the variations in the pattern of expenditure with the change in the incomes of the Kan jars under study.

Table 6. SHO'fJING VARIATION OF T,3(PEKDITUIF.

Highest 5 Lo^ st expenditure ?5 expenditure

Rs. 350/- Rs. 45/- O o o O o o o o CO o o o• O• o o• o• o• o o o o o o O E-- o Q Q o o o cc S o S r-i O 03 iO 03 CO § M r- O » c^ o •H ® ® in H CI S O C ^ ^ ^ O-OOO Hs § £ O rt C o O O d-H -H 05 E-' H W+3 CN ^ OOO'O h-i I d o o 03 c- g 3 I O O CO § Oi o CO 00 tC-H • • • • o {H 0+> o o o o o o 0000 (D • 8 • • S td JIh o o o o o r. 00001 H 05 C^ 00 txc to ® • CO• § CO C^• lO• CO CO Mo O CO W H to lO 10 g •p 00 n 10 r-\ CO t> o to • • to to oo a Cr m M 0) o lO o O O O O d la ^ • U5 O to O •H w 8 r-l OJ OJ CO OB E- tiO 1 t 1 1 Ob .6 Io e O o o O o o o O o H »o o 10 o to O C

One thing which is very obvious from this table is that the proportion of expenditure on various items of consumption, in different income groups does not conform to any economic principle. For instance the famous lavj of Engel dictates that the poor people spend a relatively larger portion of their income over the consumption of food. Now, in our table the order of the percentage showing the proportional distribution of expenditure over various items is very distorted. Taking food, for instance, the persons falling in the income group below Hs, 50 spend 52,49 per cent of their total expenditure over it whereas in a higher income group 250-300 the percentage comes to as high as 61.79 and then again falls down to 56.36 coming to the next higher ircome group 300 and above. This may partly be ejqplained by the fact that either in loweror in higher income brackets there is no planning of expenditure. No conclusion can, however, be drawn from such a distorted order. All that we can say is that food represents the largest item of expenditure in every income groups.

Now to other items of expenditure, itmay be observed that the proportionate expen(^iture on such important items as housing and education respectively is either nil or in very insignififiant amount. Bven the families with a income of Rs. 300 and above per month - 53 -

spend such a small percentage as 1.82 of their expenditure over education and nothing on housing. This may partly be explained by the fact that due to poverty most of the people do not educate their children and partly because they do not live on rented house but In their own-made huts. In contrast with this the proportionate expenditure over intoxication and miscellaneous items is conspicuous by its abundance. Let it be pointed out that gambling is one of the important and major items of the miscellaneous. Expenditure on medicines, customs and ceremonies and on travelling etc. are the other items under this head.

Expenditure on clothing ranges between 6.3B and 12.B5 per cent. It is interesting to note that proportion of expenditure on clothing increases with income groups except the Income bracket 50-100 where if falls. Taking into account the total number of family members the expenditure on clothing is insignificant. The present investigator was very much pained to see the wretched condition of these people in this connection. Some of them were actually found without clothing^ wearning only a underv^ar.

5. Family budgets: Table 8. SHO^-JI NG DISP 4RITY OF BUDGBT Di spa ri ty 5No. of families{Percentage Surplus budget 65 25.90 Deficit budget 172 68.52 Balanced budget 14 5.58 Total 251 lOU.OU I I I I - 59 -

From the above table it vrould be observed that a little less than thiree-fourth people are burdened with deficit budget. It is mainly due to poverty and partly due to illiteracy as these people do not plan their budgets. Next percentage (25.90) comes from the families vhich are reported to have surplus budgets, v;hereas 5.58 per cent families possess surplus budgets.

Need for planned budgets

After examining the income and expenditure of the total families of the Kanjars under investigation, the investigator now in a position to state that the family budgets have not been -well planned rather it may be said not at all. As the importanceof the planned budgets can not be ignored because of the fact that it is only through this planned budget that one can know in how much deficit one is running. If one knows how much one has to spend on a particular items according to ones income, the future ejqpenditure can be adjusted and it can save the person from future troubles, ^ In the opinion of the investigator, the course of indebtedness is the result of the poor planning of the family budget. The formulation of the family budget is a tedious problem specially among the Kanjars where the family members are illiterate and ignorant and they cannot make calculation because of the Illiteracy - 60 -

of the subjects under discussion. Therefore no question of planning the budget arises. Proper formulation of yfamily budget is one of the means to raise the standard of living.

6, Saving:

Table 9.

SHO'ATCNG DISPARITY OF SAVING AND DSFICIT

Highest saving|Lowest savi ng iHighest deficit|LoTAiest deficit

Rs, 50/- Re. 1/- Rs, 59/- Rs. 5,/-

Table 10

SHOVJENG TOTAL AND PER CAPITA SAYING

Income Total 1Total { Total 1 per capita Groups i ncome ?e3{pendi turej savings 2 savings

Belov 50 438 663 - 225 - 9.00 50 - 100 4750 4873 - 123 - 0,69 100 » 150 12812 12872 - 60 - 0,12 150 - 200 7613 7475 ^ 138 + 0.55 200 - 250 3412 3263 + 149 + 0.93 250 - 300 2750 2463 + 287 + 1.63 300 & above 1812 1650 + 162 + 2.31

Total 33587 33259 + 328 + 0.25 - 61 -

The above table gives an account of both the total magnitude and the per capita savings. As against that of expenditure on consumption (noted in the preceding section), the pattern of savings is more or less logical. In the first three lower income brackets there is actually dissaving -while in the rest higher income brackets they samehovj save some amount of their income reaching to a figure of nearly Rs. 2.31 per capita in the highest income group.

Information on the choice of particular forms in which a household decides to keep his savings would be quite valuable in the analysis of the psychological behaviour of the subjects under study. With this purpose in view th© respondents were asked as to in what form they would ^ke to keep,if they were able to save some amount. The various forms which they proposed are as follows

Table 11.

SHO\€NG DI3TBIBUTI0N OF THS SXP'^.CT^^D SWING

5 1 Distribution over |No. of familiesjPercentage

An increase in consumption 62 24.70 expendi tare Saving bank account 28 11.16 Hoardi ng 155 61.76 Other forms 6 2.39 Total 251 100.00 - 62 -

From the above table it would be observed that nearly third of the total subjects -would prefer to keep their saved money in the form of hoardings. Generally speaking, it is due to both, illiteracy and the lack of enterprising spirit that people do not like to keep their assets away from their houses. The next higher percentage of the subjects, similarly would like to spend it on their current consumption goods. However the relative strength of those who care to invest in saving-batiks account is as low as 11.16 per cent. Only 2.39 per cent would like to invest their saving in other forms such as purchase of ornaments etc,

7. Indebtedness?

Out of the total 251 households as many as 132 are burdened with debt. The following table, however, gives an interesting analysis of itsdistribution over various income groups. Table No.12. SHOVJING DISPARITY OF lEBT ^ Highest amount 5 Lovjest amount of debt of debt

Rs. 600/- Rs. 50/- - 63 -

Table No, 13, SHOOTG DISTRIBUTION OF DEBT ACCORDING TO VARIOUS INCOME GROTPS

T Familie s T Amount (Bs.) . 5 No. OPercentBlge 0 Rs. liPe rcentaee Below 50 9 6.81 1,300 4.11 50 - 100 38 28.79 6,650 21.03 100 - 150 62 46.97 16 ,050 50.75 150 - 200 20 15.15 5,875 18.58 200 - 250 3 2.28 1,750 5.53 250 - 300 0 0.00 0 0.00 300 and above 0 0.00 0 0.00

Total 132 100,00 31,625 100.00

Out of 132 households as many as 62 or 46.97 per cent are in a single Income group 100 - 150. Then again, the first three lo-wer income groups include as many as 109 families vihich comes about a little over 80 per cent, vrfiereas in the next two higher income brackets the number i s as small as 23, i.e. 13.43 per cent of the total. The last tvjo higher income groups are free from indebtedness.

The amount of debt correspond to the proportion of the number of families under debt. For instancy, in the income group 100 - 1500, the amount'is as high as Rs,16,050 in correspondence to the number (62) of the families under - 64 -

debt. This may perhaps be explained by the fact that o-wing to high bride price system prevailing among the people under investigation, one has no alternative but to resort to borroving If one v/i shes to have his mate, and secondly because to cover the gap between their incomes and expenditures. The magnitude of debt is,no doubt, hi^er in the income group 200 - 150 where the number of units under debt is only 3, but this may perhaps be due to their greater capacity to borrow and so on.

8, Causes of indebtedness:

Distribution of debt according to purpose, shown below, reveals that the bulk of debt has been incurred to cover the ceremonial expenditure. Festival, marriage, rituals and customs are the main source of indebtedness included under 'ceremonial expenditure'. The next Item,

Table No. 14 SHO\€WG DISTRIBUTION DP lEBT ACCORDING TO PURPOSE

5 1 5 Purpose 5No. of femili^jj Amount 5 Percentage 2 I 2 Ancestoral 0 0 0.00 Ceremonial 87 22,149 70.04 Others 45 9,476 29.06 Total 132 31,625 100.00 r 65 -

over Mch they spend by borrowing is miscellaneous (others) item covers nearly 29,96 per cent. Low and irregular income is no less important for the growth of indebtedness. In the present survey several members of the TCaniar tribe are found to be indebted due to poverty, low income and various sorts of social vices such as drinking, gambling and smoking. It may, therefore, be concluded that there are many causes of indebtedness amon^ these people. It is, hoAiiever, an happy sign that they are free from ancestoral indebte dness.

9, Sources of borroT,Ang:

Sources of taking loans also differ from family to family. In the present investigation it is found that there are t-wo main sources of getting loans, i.e. money lender (Mahajan, Bania), and tribesmen. Table No.15. SHOVZCNG SOURCES OF BORROmNG 5 Sources of borrowing UNO. of familiesS Percentage ii 5 Money lender 97 73,49 Tribesmen 35 26.51

Total 132 100.00 - 66 -

The table reveals that out of 132 families indebted, majority of the farailies i.e. 73,49 per cent borrow from money lender (Mahajan, Panjabi or Bania) •while the rest from tribesmen,

10. Rate of interest:

Rate of interest also varies in different cases. The Investigator -was surprised to note that in most cases paid the Kanjars the rate of interest^on loan taken from the money lender is e^diorbitant and it varies from 6^^ to 10^, Bat tribesmen charge nominal interest, i.e. 4$, .

11. Security and mode of repayment:

The respondent were asked about the security and terms of repayment of loan and it was found that in most cases the Kanjars have to give no security for taking loans, and the period of repayment is also indefinite. It is based purely on good faith. The term of repayment vary in different cases. Usually the Kan jars pay their creditors in the busy season when they earn more than in other season.

It is felt that the Kan jars with their small income anyhow try to pull on their farailies by way of - 67 -

providing basic necessities of life. They are totally unable to meet their urgent necessities such as marriages of their children, serious illness etc. Being poor and having low income they have no alternative but to resort to borro-win-^ in order to meet their urgent necessities pertaining to rigid customs and rituals. CHAPTER IV

FAMILY STRUCTURE AND SOCIAL LIF?

1. Tsrpe of family existing 2. Status of different members in ttie family 3. Family problems (a) Treatment of youngers (b) Quarrelling and satisfaction (c) Marriage (d) Methods of contracting marriage (e) Age of marriage (f) Forms of marriage (g) ^Vldow marriage (h) Child marriage (i) Divorce (j) Birth ceremonies (k) Death rites 4. Participation in religious activities, customs and festivals 6. Belief in magic and si:?)erstitions 6. Totem 7. Tribal Council (Panchayat) 5. Dress - 6S -

CHAPTSR IV

FAMILY STRQCTUR^. AND SOCIAL UFE

1. Type of family existing:

Among kanj'ars, the elementary unit of society is the family, consisting of parents and their children - own or adopted. It also includes a son-in-law in cases where a person chooses to have one at home (ghar jamai) in the absence of a male issue. The father is the central figure in the family. All authority is vested in him and lineage is traced through him. Thus there is patriarchal family system, patrilocal residence, and patrilineal descent. All property belongs to him and his sons. In some sections one's grand-parents and uncles, cousins and nephews also live in one's own family house. But generally this is not the case as most young men set up their own houses (huts) after marriage, A wife lives always in her husbands house, and visits her parental house occasionally. The kanjar family is based on monogamous marriage. Polygamy is not, however, completely unknown.

2. Status of different members in the family:

As elsewhere, so among the kanjars, the family provides for the satisfaction of the fundamental bio-psychic - 86 -

drives of hunger and sex, and makes it possible to perpetuate the species through reproduction and the social heritage through handing down of traditions from generation to generation. The kanjar family is an economic grouping: it provides food, shelter and clothin^' for its members, irrespective of their contribution towards the economic activity. The function of preserving the lang'iage, customs, mores and folkways is performed in cooperation with other groups like the clan. The family regulates marital relations between the sexes and the instruction of the yioung.

Husband and wife both contribute to the maintenance of the family, but there is division of labour based on sex between them. Thus the husband goes out for hunting games, digging khas-khas, monkey and tortoise catching, repairing grinding stone, fishing, collecting pigs hair, vhereas the wife make the rope, chlka, musika, sirkl, and £al, hens and eggs selling. The women also draws water and cook food. In spite of the over-ruling role of the husband, wives play an important, responsible and independent roles, particularly in the running of the home, which includes child rearing. The man is the supreme authority in the family and no one can question him. Sons always remain with their father and give their income to the father, who is the head of the household and who is also responsible for the maintenance - 87 -

of the family. But generally after marriage they make a separate home for themselves. Marriage is also arranged by parents and children have no choice to select.

3. Family problems:

(a) Treatment of youngers: The following table indicates the treatment of youngers tcwards the parents. Table 1 SHO\®NG THHJATMENT OF YOUNGF.R TOmRDS PARENTS

' ' I .11 —I - — Treatment } ^^Jlige s I

Satisfactory 209 83.27 Unsatisfactory 42 16.73 Hojieless 0 0.00

Total 251 100.00

The above table reveals that only 42 or 16.' families have been meted out unsatisfactory treatment ty their youngers. The main reason of it seems to be the lack of education and proper guidance of the children. Further, this may also be explaiiBd by the fact that the parents, who are always busy with the struggle of earning livelihood, seldom get an opportunity to guide their children in proper manner. - 88 -

Qaarrelling or dis-satisfaction is also found among kanjars. Table 2 bela-; shov;s the extent of quarrelling among them. Table 2

SHOmNG QUARHBLLING OR DISSATISFACTION AMOMJ KANJARS

Quarrelling or dissatisfaction 5 families rcentage J i Families having <3|Liarrelling 82 32,67 or dissatisfaction Families \

Total 251 100.00

From the above table it is clear that quarrelling or dis-satisfaction is prevalent quite in large number of families. Its main reason Jxerhaps is the poverty, Dae to poverty most of the families are unable to satisfy their bare needs of daily life. Secondly, their home atmosphere is not godd and proper lack of supervision and guidance gives them an opportunity to become delinquent v/hich ultimately leads to quarrelling among them. Lack of education is another factor of quarrelling.

(b) Marriage rules;

The kanjars confine their marriages vlthin the tribe. There are a number of clans among them with exogamous subsepts. The name of the clans are derived - 7.2 - from totem or from trade. Thus this is an occupational caste. Besides the rule of clan exogamy, they also recognise the usual prohibited degrees. These restrictions, however, are not absolute for when they want they can and do marry within the same exogaraous clan. Among more civilized kanjars adult marriage is the general rule. In some cases they have a custom of what is known as '"Pet Mangani" or womb betrothal in v/hich two father engage their children still unborn, Widow marriage and the levirate are both allowed, and the latter under the usual restriction that the widow may marry the younger, not the elder, brother of her late husband.

(c) Marriage ritual - method of contracting marriage:

The marriage customs are quite distinct from those of tbe Hindus. Generally marriages are arranged by tika (betrothal), but other method like capture also found rarely. The father and other near relatives arranges the match. They do not go on thismission themselves, but depute one of their relations, '^en the preliminary arrangements are complete, the father on both sides go and inspect the boy and girl to make sure that there i s no physical defect in either. Next follows the betrothal, when the boy's father and other r^ar relatives go to the house of the bride and the two fathers embrafie with the - 90 -

salutation "Ram Ram", Then, contrary to the ordinary Hindu custom, the father of the youth pays for a dinner of pork, rice, pulse and liquor for his companions and the friends of the bride's father. All of them then join in singing, and this constitute the betrothal (Tika). Next morning the youth's father retitrns with his relatives, and then the marriage follows as soon as may be convenieht, Although arranged marriages (marriage by betrothal) are customary, yet marriage by a mere form of capture is also found rarely. The following table shows the different method of acquiring marriage-mate among the kanjars under survey.

Table 3. SHOmNG VARIOUS FORMS OF CONTRACTING MARRIAC??

Form of contracting fNumber ofj^ marriage. Jfamilies JPercentage 5 2 Betrothal 232 92,43 Capture 19 7.57

Tot^ 251 i^ToO

The above table shows that out of 251 families only 19 have contrafi'ted their marriages by a mere form of capture — a survival of the primitive world-wide custom of marriage. But this system of marriage has been dis- appearing gradually and now even a single marriage is '74'

arranged by this method. It is reported that it was followed in the past.

Betrothal is usually followed by marriage and if it is for any reason postponed, the father of the bridegroom has to make occasional presents to the bride's family so that his interest in the settlement may not be questioned by the members of the bride's clan.

Vftien the betrothal is finally settled, the wedding day is fixed. One of the relatives conveys an invitation to the guests. l-Jhen the youth's party goes to the girl's house, it is accompanied by all the women and children of the family — another violation of Hindu custom. Both the father each arrange a separate shed before the house of the bride. These consist of four bamboos, one at each corner, with a bamboo and gadala (a digging implement with which they dig khas-khas and kill wolves or vermin) set up in the centre, a wooden representation of parrots, and a vessel of water, over which are laid some mango leaves and khas-khas grass. On the top of this they place a saucer full of urad pulse, and upon it a lamp is lighted. A grind-stone is also placed in the pavilion.

When the lucky hour comes, the youth goes into the girl's pavilion, and the women of her family bring out the bride. The pair is bathed in the pavilion, and the - 92 -

girl is dressed in a red'Lehanga<(petti coat) and'kurtaf (shirt) and vlth a set of green glass bangles and the boy in a new coat, turban, draviers, all v/hite and un-washed. First what is known as the Darwaza' or door rite is performed, most of which consists in the waving of a tray on which some milk, ' ghi' , and, a lamp are placed over the head of the youth by the mother of the girl. He then rubs red lead (Ingur) seven times on- the parting of her hair and the bride's sister knots their clothes together. Then the 'Bhanwar' or circumambulation rite is done. The 'phera' or binding part of the marriage ceremony is completed after the couple have circumambulated the marriage pole seven times. This has to be done with caution as the bride,according to custom, may also give a sudden push or pull to the bridegroom so that the later may loose his foothold and step down to the amusement of the crowd. If she succeed, it is believed, that the wife would get the better of the husband.

Then the bride feeds her husband seven times with curds and molasses and he does the same for her. The bridegroom then is seated on a horse and taken from house to house and every family has to pay a certain present, either money or a piece of cloth, and each family is represented by at least one person in the procession. - -

The amount thus collected is spent on feast in which meat and wine figure prominently.

(d) Age of contractirig marriage:

Adult marriage is the general rule among kanjars and it always takes place after puberty. A man must be in a position to earn a living and his wife must be able to run the home which they set up after marriage. The average marriage marriage age for the boys is seldom below 18 years while girls are not married before 14. Puberty sets in about the 13 years and marriage and cohabitation go together, Thus the kanjars practice adult marriage. But due to the impact of the local people there are found some relaxation in this connection among the kanjars under survey and this has resulted in some pre-puberty marriages. The following table shows the age of contracting marriage as revealed by the survey.

Table 4. 3H0WNG AGS OF CONTRACTING MARRIAG"?^.

{[Number of 5 Age of marriage Ofamilies |Percentage

Below 10 years 12 4,78 10 - 18 " 76 30.28 18 and above 163 64.44

Total 251 100.00 - 94 -

It is apparent that majorit;/' of the population i.e. 64.44 per cent contracted marriage after 18 and above years of age while 30.28 per cent persons arranged it between 10-18 years of age. The lo\i?9st percentage (4.78) is of those persons who arranged marriage of their children at the age below 10 years. This is due probably to the influence of Hindu early marriage system prevailing in the locality.

(e) Form of marriage:

Monogamy is the common form of marriage prevalent amont the kanjars under survey. But other forms of marriage too are practised along with the monogamy. Polygyny is rarely found whereas polyandry is completely unknown. A person can marry more than one wife if he is able to feed them. He can also marry his deceased wife's younger sister, but never the two of them simultaneously. Out of 251 families surveyed, only 11 families are found to have more than one wife. The following table shows the various forms of marriage practised among the kanjars under survey. Table 5. SEIO^\n:NG VARIOUS FORMS OF MARRIAGEB'

•• i i Forms of marriage 5 Number of 5Pe rcentage { families Monogamy 229 91.24 Polygyny 11 4.38 Unmarried 11 4.38 Total 251 100.00 - 95 -

It should noted that out of total households surveyed as more as 91.24 per cent families are monogamous, whereas the percentage of those vjho practice polygyny is 4.3R. It is interesting to note that percentage of unmarried people is also 4.33. This may be explained by the fact that because of high bride price system prevailing in the locality only those persons can have mates who are in a position to pay the bride price.

Bride price:

The bride price has remained customary from very early times among kanjars and today it is usually high among them and Is paid in two instalments, on© before marriage and the other after the woman has given proof of her fertility. The custom of bride price and the amount required for it have great influence on the social life of a community for even the marriage age is determined,to a large extent, by these considerations. Out of 251 families surveyed only five families reported to be against the custom of bride price. But during the survey it has been observed that well-to-do and intelligent people like panch etc. are planning to ban the custom of bride price. The investigator was not given any sensible argument for this by the elders, but the motive behind it seems to be a general desire of the kanjar reformers to conform more and more to other caste's practices in the locality. - 96 -

(f) dow marriage:

There are tvjo forms of marriage among the kanjars. One is the ordinary and usual form called 'biwah', the other is called 'Dharauna' or widow marriage. The widow marriage rites takes a very simple form. There is no betrothal and when the match is arranged, the brethern are assembled and the bride's father or some kinsmen knots the clothes of the pair together and the bride is invested with a set of green glass bangles, which are provided by the person who ties the marriage knot. Widows are not forced for a second marriage. It depends upon her choice. If she does not want to remarry she can live with her deceased husband's family. But in case she wants to remarry, the younger brother of her deceased's husband has a right to marry her. In case she does not want to marry him, he or his family receives a heavy compensation from the next husband of the widow, which is settled between the widow and her perspective husband. It would not be out of place if we mention here that this rite is in transitory stage and now widow's ejqjectant husband entertains the clansman by pork's meat and wine. However she is not allowed to take with her the children of her deceased's husband. If children are too small to take from her, she is permitted to accompany them but as soon as they are grown up they are returned to the first husband's family. - 81 -

(h) Divorce:

Dissolution of marriage is made difficult if it is regarded as a religious sacrament, which is not the case vri-th kanjars. Consequently, -we find that divorce is commonly found, and may be obtained by one of the parties refusing to continue to live in ^jedlock, by abandoning the spouse. The kanjars permit the right to demand divorce to either party on the ground of marital infidelity, adultery, barrenness, incompatiability of temperament, refusal of the wife to live wl:,th her husband. If it is instituted by man without assigning any reason, he is punished by the Panchayat by way of fine and it is paid to the women. However, if his wife deserts him or caught in adultery, she has to arrana;e for the return of the bride price her husband paid for her. There is no possibility of remarriage between two such people \jno have separated by divorce. Hovjever, thesettled kanjars do not allow frequent divorce as the wife is expected to be faithful to the husband and loyal to his family. Out of 261 families surveyed, all of them are in favour of the divorce. But it is interesting to note that there is not a single male who has divorced his wife, nor a woman who was divorced any time • - 82 -

Adoption:

Information was also collected whether they would be interested in adoption if there is no issue in the family. Out of 251 families surveyd, 239 families have reported to be agreeable to the adoption but it is preferred if the child to be adopted belongs to the nearest relatives of the person adopting it. Only 12 families are against the adoption. Although there is some social pressure towards adoption of children from one's ov/n family, in practice little regard is shown to this rule and there does not exist any definite rule or tradition binding the family in this matter. Hence in order to have children people generally arrange second marriage,

(i) Birth ceremony

The birth rite is unique among the kanjars. The mother during delivery lies on the ground with her feet to the north and her head to the south. The sweeper midwife cuts the cord, and the mother is then attended by the women of her own family. No cer'^mony is performed during pregnancy. On the third day the mother and child are bathed. On the sixth day "chhati" is performed and dinner is "given to the tribesmen and the women assemble and sing songs and dance in the room in which the child was born. On that day child is also named by an old man of the tribe. - 83 -

(j) Death rite:

Information •was elicited as regards the disposal of deads. It -was told that the deads are disposed of by both ways -- cremation and burial. A man -who has acted as a spirit medium to Mana (i.e. Saint) is invariably buried in the earth. Mana is buried, as some kanjars say, at Kara in the Allahabad district, not far from the Ganges and facing the old city of Manikpur on the opposite baiik. Unmarried and those who die of infectious disease, such as small-pox, cholera and other epidemics are also burled and the rest deads are cremated. In burial the corpse is laid with the feet to the north and the head to the south It is washed by the oldest male member of the family in case the deceased is a roan and by female member in case it is woman, and shrouded in a white sheet. A bier is made of bamboos tied together with "Kalawa" (red thread), and four of the brethern taken It to the burial ground. After the grave is dug, the son of the deceased, or, in his absence, some other near relative, burns the left thumb of the dead man with fire, and then the body is interred. On the funeral day the brethren are fed. Three days after the funeral, there is a feast of vegetable and milk but not meat; and a similar feast is held on the seventh day. On the anniversary a very grand type of feast is given on any day which may be found convenient, and at this banquet flesh of pork and wine are freely consumed. - 84 -

They have no "terahwin" or thirteenth day rite. They observe the fortnight of the' dead (Pitra-Paksha) in the second fortnight of "Kuar".

4. Participation in religious activities, customs and festivals:

(a) Religion:

All the kanjars under survey are the followers of the Hindu religion but they have no temple, no idols and no priest. Their principal diety is the man-god, Mana, who was not only the teacher and guide, but also the founder and ancestor of the tribe. His shrine is at Allahabad. Mana is worshipped with special ceremony in rainy season, when the people are less migratory than in the dry month. The worshippers collect near a tree under which they sacrifice a pig, a goat, a sheep, or a fowl, and make an offering of roasted flesh and liquor. They dance round the tree in honour of Mana, and sing the songs in commemoration of his wisdom and deeds of valour.

As the kanjars under survey are Kunchband Kanjars, therefore, they have a preference for the worship of Devis. The Kan jar Devis or goddesses are Mari, Parbha and Bhuiyan, Mari, the goddess of death, is also known as Maharani Devi, is worshipped as the animating and sustaining principle of nature, Parbha or Prabha meaning 'light' is also known as Juala Devi, is the goddess of health, and more particularly of the health of cattle. Bhuiyan, the goddess - 85 -

of earth, isalso known as Bhawani Devi. The kanjars also wrship Mata Devi (the goddess of sraall-pox) and offer a sacrifice of goat. In addition to this, the kanjars under survey also revere the Panchon Pir, Kamal Khan of Agra, !^hir Pir -with a sacrifice of a cock. The Devis are offered sacrifice of goat and they make occasional pilgri- mages. In addition to these Devis and Pirs, these people also vrorship Jakhiya Deota, -whose shrine is at Karas in the Aligarh District and his feast-day is the sixth of the "Andhera Pak" (dark half) of Magh, when a pig and some sweetmeats are offered to him.

(b) Customs and festivals:

Although the kanjars observe all Hindu festivals but their principal festivals are the Holi, Diwali,Dashera, and Janamashthmi. At Holi they drirk, smoke bhang and charas. At Diwali they drink and gamble and their women washes their houses with 'pota' clay and make some pictures on the wallsof the house and at night offer 'khil' and 'batasha' . At Dauj they slaughter pig and eat its meat and drink wine. They have no special observance of Dashera and Janamashthmi. On the ninth of the 'Ujala Pak' of Kuar they make a present of food to the 'maan» or relative on the female side liio acts as their priest. This is done in the belief that the food thus offered passes through him to their deceased ancestors. - 86 -

5, Belief in magic and superstition:

Information vas also collected in regard to their belief in magic and superstition from the kanjars under survey. Out of total 251 families 223 families reported to have their -faith in magic and superstition. Only 23 families do not believe in it. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the kanjars are more backvTard in education, and hence they believe in it. Some of their belief in magic and superstition are cited below.

In cases of disease or trouble a "Syana" or "Bhagat" is called in to settle the appropriate offering to the particular ghost which is the cause of the trouble, The 'imli' tree is believed to be the residence of the sacred dead. At the burial of the deads thev place orB "paisa" or two "roti" with the corpse as a viaticum. In case of attack by an evil spirit the "Syana" or "Bhagat" fills a saucer with cooked rice, "batasha" and an egg, and place it where four roads meet; the friends of the sick man sing and beat a "fchali" (brass tray) over his head to scare the spirit. The disease is supposed to be communicated to some passers-by. The children who die before the age of twelve return in the form of an evil spirit knovm as "Masan" and which is supposed to be dangerous to the children only. - 87 -

6. Totem: The "kan^ars respect the "imli" or tamarind tree as the abode of spirits. The >khas" grass is a sort of tribal totem, whicfe together vath the leaves of the mango are fixed upon the marriage shed. They swear on the Ganges and on the "pipal" tree, or by touching the head or arm of a son or other close relation. They also siA^ar by Mana. As regards omens, a fox, tiger, -wolf, tortoise and ^^goh" or the saras are lucky if they cross the road from right to left; if from let to right it is an evil. So ivlth a cat, jackal, or cobra, passing from the right to the left.

7. Methods of settling disputes:

Information vas also elicited from the subjects under survey as to how disputes are settled. It vas told that all the disputes are settled within themselves by their Panchayat and they hardly need to resort to legal step. Thus they have a strong 'panchayat' system and its powers are unlimited.

The panchayat usually deals with cases of breach of the marital code, violation of the commensal rules and also disputes between them about property, debt or miscellaneous rights and obligations. Bating, drinking or smoking with members of forbidden caste, keeping a women - 88 -

of another caste as a concubine, adultery with a married woman, breach of promise involving breaking off settled marriages, refusal to send a daughter to her husband's house or to maintain a -wife, killing tabooed animals, e.g. cow, cat, monkey. These are some of the cases that the panchayat has to decide.

Any offence against the tribe or the group is severely punished and there are interesting method of ascertaining guilt. For example, an unchaste woman has to prove her innocence by putting a piece of hot iron on her palm covered with seven leaves and with this she has to move seven steps for\^;ard. If she burns her palm, she is declared guilty. Thus the main purpose of the 'panchayat' system among the kanjars is to regulate activities of members who are considered to bring about social chaos.

8, Dresss

All the Indian dresses such as trousers, pants, "dhoti", shirts and blouse etc, are used by the kanjars under survey. But most prominent dress among the male members is "dhoti", trousers, i^irt. New generation who are under education wears pants also. Ladies put on "Lehanga" (skir t), "kurti", Some progressive women have steerted to wear saris and blouse. CHAPTER V

CRIMES AND SOCIAL YICSS

1. Criminal habits of the kanjars and crimes prevailing in the locality.

2. Use of intoxications

3. Use of alcohol

4. Bad effects on health and morality

5. Gambling

6. Prostitution

7. Illicit sex-relationship - 89 -

CHAPTER 7

CRIMES mi) SOCIAL VICES

I, Criminal habits of kanjars and crimes prevailing in the locality:

Crime and poverty are intimately connected vrf.th each other in all parts of the x^orld, but nowhere is this truer than in India, where the crime barometer rises and falls \^?ith the quality of the harvest. This holds good in case of kanjars also under investigation. The members of the kanjar tribe are extremely poor, without land for cultivation and without gainful occupation. They had no fixed place of abode nor any settled profession. They own no lands. They used to roam about the whole of the district with their families, goodsand chattel. They are traditional beggars and even if begging is not required, a kanjar woman will take her bowl and visit the families in the neighbourhood of their temporary encampment. This gives her chance of exchanging a few words with the housewives so that she may induce them to part with their money by giving medicines to cure barrenness or any malady in the family. All this is cleverly managed and before the news reaches the ears of the head of the family, the encampment disappears and nothing is heard of them for months or more. - 90 -

Music and dance are the ostensible means of livelihood of the kanjars. Besides this, they sold honey, herbs and forest produce, wild birds, collect pigs hair, catches monkey and tortoise. Some of them did some sort of miscellaneous vrork in which the villagers were interested e.g. repairing of "sil", "batna" and "chakki". They are scattered all over the district and though large number of people of the tribe have settled down in permanent huts and have taken to ostensible means of livelihood, there are still who wander in groups of families in search of livelihood, and where they fail to make their livelihood by honest means, they take to petty theft, burglary and pilfering and even to serious forms of crime with or vrithout violence.

On investigation the subjects denied having committed any crime. But on confidential enquiries the investigator came to know that there are about 15 men who have committed crime of one kind or other. They were concealing this fact, for they feared that their confession before the investigator may not be taken to an official admission and conse^^uently facing a trial and other consequences before the police authorities. The following table shows the extent of crime prevailing among the kanjars under survey. - 91 -

Table 1 SHO^.GNG CRIME PRWAIUNG IN THF. LOCALITY

Extent of crime Jpercentage ami lies

Those who. have com ml- 17 6,77 tted crime Those -who have not committed crime 234 93.23

Total 251 100.00

The above table indicates that out of 251 persons surveyed, ther-^ are 17 persoms -who have committeed crime of one kind or other. This includes those persons also who are now very old and have left their criminal habit. Taking into account the whole population under survey, the rate of crime among kanjars is still very high. This may be explained by the fact that in the former days the kanjars had no permanent and sufficient means of living. Their honest source of income did not Jrield enough returns and to supplement their income, they committed crime. It should be noted here that due to improvement in their fimncial position particularly after the Independence, there are few number of criminal cases against them. The table II given below shows the nature of crime prevailing in the locality. - 92 -

Table 2

SHOWING NATQRR OF CRIME PRSVAILING IN TM'i: LOCALITY

Nature of crime . , { Percentage

Th«ft 7 41.13 Robbe ry 0 0.00 Burglary 3 17.65 Pilfering 2 11.76 I-Athout ticket travelling 5 29.41

Total 17 100.00

It is interesting to note that out of 17 households who have committed crime, 7 people are thieves. Vfi-thout ticket travellers come iBxt, i.e. 5 people (29.41^) Burglary and pilfering occupy third and fourth place. One case of burglary -which was commissioned in the Tehsil Karhal cameto the notice of the investigator, when he was collecting data, A group of kanjar approached a village Baniya with a pitcher in the night. There were ornaments in the pitcher. The Baniya, who used to purchase the things of loot and theft purchased the ornaments for Rs. 600/-. Next morning on examining the ornaments it vjas found that they were not of pure natal but of mixed metal i.e. of "gilat" etc.

- 93 -

Hovjever it is stated that majority of the people have left their criminal habit and have taken^jettied life, A few people are reported to be engaged in criminal activities at present. Sut taking into accoant the total number of families surveyed there is still high rate of crime prevalent among them. Table 3 below indicates the various circumstances under which this class resorted to crime.

Table 3. SHOmNG CAU^S OF CRIME AMONG KANJARS

fNaraber"'of fpercentage to I the total

Unemployment 10 58.82 Poverty 7 41.18 Others 0 0.00

Total 17 100.00

The above table reveals tha$ out of 17 persons, there are 10 people who have committed crime of one kind or another due to unemployment. Their percentage come to 58.82 i.e. more than half persons indulged in the criminal activity because they had no means of livelihood. Poverty contribute the second caose of crime among the teanjars under survey. Its percentage is 41.18. It is due - 94 -

to the fact that most of these people have no settled means of earning and those viho have some means that are not permanent one. These unsettled professions do not bring sufficient returns and to supplement their income, these people commit crime. It is also clear from the above table that unless the unemployment and poverty is removed from the people under survey, criminal habit is sure to exist.

Information vas also elicited in regard to the punishment meted out to them for their criminal activities. In spite of the best efforts information in this regard was not available from the subject and the investigator had to depend on third source. The following table shows the punishment meted out to them.

Table 4. SHOlilING BXIRNT OF PUNISiM^NT M^ISD OUT TO KANJARS ^ 1 ^ Y 1 R 5 5 01 to 353 to 656 monthOMore jj { j|Infor-5 No. & jmonthsjmonthsj to 1 {than $ {Cases JmationJ per- 5imprl-5impri-$year jlyearJFlnes junder Onot {Total cen- 5 son- json- nmpri-Oimpri-j {trial {avail-j tage Oment jment Oson- Cson- § j Sable 5 5 I ement jment | 5 C 5 { $ 0 ii { f ( { i 2 1 Jl I I U 5 No .of fami- 5 • - 7 3 2 17 lies percen- 29.41 0.00 0.00 O.OO 41.18 17.65 11.76 100.00 tage - 95 -

The above table reveals that out of total number of persons who have indulged in criminal activities as many as 12 persons i.e. about 70^ are punished. Of these, 29,41 per cent are punished from one to three months imprisonment; \^ereas the percentage of those vho are months sentenced from six/to 1 year imprisonment is nil. Next hjli^iest percentage is of those persons who were fined, as they were found travelling without ticket. Three, cases are under trial in the court and its percentage is 17,65, The table further reveals that 11.76 per cent of the total criminal population have not been punished as information in this connection is not available from the subjects or from any third source. , It is a possibility that these people may not have been arrested or punished. Because usually they have a connivance wtth the local police officials on the promise of a share in booty. It would not be outof place if we mention here that fraud and bribery on the part of the officials have not only encouraged these people to indulge in their anti-social activities but also have blunted their moral sentiment,

2, Alcoholism:

A complex society contains many groups that are distinguished from one another by education, occupation, religion, ethnic, nationality, race and inherited social status. The use and abuse of alcohol varies widely - 96

x^ithin these different groups. Certain tribes have accepted the copious use of strong drink into their mores as an indication of manhood. One pattern regards drinking as evil, immoral, irreligious, disreputable, and otherwise undesirable, while another pattern tends to encourage heavy drinking for recreation, business entertainment, or to escape the boredom or physical fatigue of economic activity.

Among kanjars, drinking is not a moral issue. Both men and women drink, and there is no attendant impli- cation of immorality. The drinking mores exhibit other differences as we move down the socio-economic scale. The phenomena of 'misery drinking' has been common among kanjars and has been especially evident from a very long time. Long hours, insufficient food, economic insecurity, heavy work, bad housing conditions and ignorance have been among the factors contributing to the heavy drinking among the kanjars under survey. Their economic instability has been an additional inducement to over-indulgence. Drinking is ordinarily confined to leisure hours, when the work-day affairs of the world are temporarily laid aside. They are very fond of drinks and would not complete any feast without emptying a bottle if they can afford it. Let us now examine the extent of alcoholism prevalent among the kanjars under survey. - 97 -

Table V SHOVE NG BXffiNT OF ALC0H0LI31

percentage' 5. S

Regmlar drirker 111 44,22 Casual drirker 85 33.87 Occasional drlriker 55 21.91

Total 251 100.00

The above table reveals that alcoholism is more popularly common among the kanjars and cent per cent people use it. It has already been pointed out in chapter III that quite a large proportion of their expenditure is spent on intoxication. Again, it is evident from the table that 44.22 per cent people use alcohol regularly. They are habitual drinkers and there is seldom any day when they do not addict to it. About 33.87^ Use alcohol casually. By casually vie mean those persons who take it once or twice within a fortnight. The lowest contribution in this connection is from occasionally drinkers having a percentage 21.91. These people drink alcohol on festivals and marriages. It is pointed out here that the tendency to drink at marriage parties and other ceremonies appears to bs increasing. It is Interesting to note that none of the people investigated was found of not having used it. This is very sad

, 98 -

state of affairs and accounts for the backwardness. Not to say about men, women also us© alcohol. On festivals and in marriages every woman and man are obliged to take it, Even in betrothal when it is finally settled the farther of ttie groom entertains his relatives together with the relatives of ttoe bride by alcohol and meat. These people also addict heavy alcohol before going on their planned crime, i.e. theft, robbery etc.

One thing is very interesting in this connection is that the Mainpuri district is under the prohibition scheme of the State Goverrraent. Keeping this in view the respondents were asked the source from which they pcocure wine for use. No one responded this question. But on confidential enquirie s, the investigator came to know that there is one woman of the tribe in Mair^uri city who has got illicit liquor distilling centre. It was revealed that all the kanjars who are habitual of drinking purchase liquor from this centre. The presence of the illicit distilling centre in the Mainpuri city makes the investigator to infer(later confirmed by private enquiries) that previously they were concealing this fact for they feared their admission before the investigator may not be taken to an official confession and consequently facing a trial and its other consequences, before the police authorities. - 99 -

"Hukka" and "Bidi" smoking is very common with the exception of infants; every man was found in the habit of smoking. The -women folk of these kanjars have no exception. fSven teen-agers smoke. There are other astray cases in vjhich these people are addicted to certain other types of intoxications like "bhang", "charas","ganja".

The investigator has not included tea among intoxications which has become a necessity of life. The teas is usually taken by the subjects under survey in th^ morning with tbe breakfast.

3. Effects on morality and health of Alcoholism:

yine is the only intoxicant and much prevalent among the kanjars which has contributed a lot in family dis- organisation of the kanjar families under investigation. Some of tlie kanjars are in the habit of excessive drinking, which is generally responsible for deterioration of their family relations among the husband and wife. Some time it create tension in the lA^ole family. The investigator was told by the neighbours that these people after drinking become very aggressive and sometime so rash that they start beating, abusing their wives and children and other inhabi- tant sof their own house as well as the neighbours (tribesman) to whom they have enemity. - 100 -

During the study of kanjars, the investigator found young children addicted to tobacco and biri. It has affected their health a lot. Their faces ^re found to be pale and their teeth red. Early in the morning most important viork they start on is bubble-bubble for their whole day use. Due to excessive smoking their future growth of physique and mind vas found blocked. They very important reason of it is that every intoxication requires some rich diet for the resistence of its bad effects which is totally absent in their families. lb this way it has affected a lot on the health of the kanjars and specially amongst little children who are not sensible enough to understand its demerits.

5. Gambling:

One of the main social vices in which the kanjars under study indulge is the gambling. No racket in modern society operates so extensively and in many devious ways as does the gambling racket. Gambling is a special type of lottery in which the Individual pays to guess certain numbers with the hope of being paid substantially for guessing correctly. The kanjars are very fond of gambling, \fhenever they have some leisure they indulge in this activity.

During the course of survey a case of gambling was noticed at Bhoongaon tehsil. A number of persons v^re - 101 -

found plajring gambling In a "Kothrl". The game was suspended when the investigator reached there for collecting data. One thing to be pointed out here is that these people scattered at once because they regarded the investigator as a man of police. Ho-<^ver after convincing, the investigator was able to get the required information, A reference has already been made in the chapter on Economic Structure in this connection. From the perusal of table 7 of the above noted chapter, it is evident that the expenditure on miscellaneous item occupies next higher proportion of the total expenditure in all income groups. It is assumed that the major part of the miscellaneous amount is spent on gambling, A question vjas put as to whether they gamble or not. Majority of the people responded this c{?aestion in affirmative. The following table shows the degree of gambling prevalent among the kanjars under survey.

Table 6. SHOWNG EXTENT OF GAMBLING —— Extent of gambling ^^ 1 ^families jj the total

THOS? W GAMBIE Regularly 55 21.91 Casually 75 29 Occasionally 39 15.54 Those who do not gamble 82 32.67

Total ' 251 100.00 - 102 -

From the perusal of the above table it is evident that out of total households surveyed there are only 32.67 families -who do not gamble, leaving 169 as gamblers. Again, out of these 169 persons, 21.91 per cent are regular gamblers whereas the percentage of those persons vho gamble casually comes a little more than the previous one, but it is the highest percentage among gamblers. The loTdest percentage i.e. 15.54 consist those persons v/ho gamble occasionally such as on festivals (Di-wali) etc. It is, however, pointed out that the rate of gambling increases in the summer season vihen these people have sufficient leisure at their disposal.

6,. Prostitution:

Prostitution is also one of the social vices prevalent among the kanjars under survey. Although their Panchayat (Tribal Council) does not permit prostitution, it is practised by some people, especially by those who are at the bottom in the social ladder. On enquiry it was found that there are strict regulations which control sex behaviour among these people and if any body found guilty of prostitution the Tribal Council imposes heavy fine upon him. However this rule today is more often broken than observed, and it is probable that the increase in the number of advocators of prostitution among the kanjars is due to the lack of rigidity in the observance - 103 -

of this customary prohibition. The following table will give some idea about the popularity of prostitution among the kanjars. Table 7. SHOI^NG EXTENT OF PROSTITUTION

Number of ! ^ families | Percentage

Persons Wio advocate 31 12.35 prosti tution Persons vho do not 220 37.65 advocate prostitution

Total 251 100.00

The above table shows that out of total subjects as many as 12.35 per cent units advocate prostitution. This is perhaps due to the fact that among kanjars bride price is usually high and those persons who cannot afford it are deprived of having a mate for them. This ultimately leads them to prostitution which is the only available source of sex-satisfaction. The most important cause for preference of prostitution to other forms of sex- satisfaction among the kanjar under survey seem to be that there is no emotional or legal involvement. They pay for sex-satisfaction with no obligations entailed. Again, it may be noted that quite a large number of p=?rsons i.e. - 104 -

87.65 per cent are free from ttiis social stigma. It is a happy sign and will certainly improve the general standard of morality within the tribe.

Information was also elicited as to whether there is any women Uio sells her body on a promiscuous and mercenary basis accompanying emotional indifferences. In all the town of Mainpuri district,except Karhal Tehsil, there was none. But in Karhal Tehsil there was found one woman who had prostituted for about two or three years in the past. She is a beautiful lady and probably this encouraged her to lead her life as prostitute. However she is no more now a prostitute as she has married. During the course of the survey I observed that the Kan jars are not happy with the affairs of this lady and have out- casted her from the tribe,

7, Illicit sex-relation:

The regulations of sex behaviour have been an important consideration in all societies whether primitive or modern. However, primitive societies, because they are small and compact groups, are in a better position to enforce their restrictions than in our complex societies. No phase of human behaviour is so fraught with the possibilities of social condemnalfclon, emotional disillusionment as the experience of those who seek sex-satisfactions out- - 105 -

side the pale of society. This condemnation has been particularly severe i;5)on those illicit unions which are tangibly represented by an illegitimate child.

So among the kanjars under survey illicit sex relations are severely condemned and those who are guilty are punished by way of fine and outcasting from the tribe, as the case may be, by the Panchayat, If illicit sex- relations are carried out vdth outside woman therate of fine is less i.e. Rs. 60/- and in case it is done within the tribe, the punishment is of severe type including fine of Rs . 120/- and a feast of pork's meat. Both men and women have to pay the same amount. However the women aare not required to give feast.

It should also be noted that adultery is always met with fin'?s, when it is with the caste, (with vhich marriage is prohibited), the offender is out-casted and the woman refused social protection.

There is interesting method of ascertaining guilt. An unchaste woman has to prove her innocence by putting a piece of iron "khanta" on her palm covered with seven leaves and with this she has to move seven steps forward. If she burns her palm she is declared guilty.

In spite of these strict regulations prohibiting illicit sex-relations, kanjars are not found to be free - 106 - from this evil as revealed by the survey. Table 8 below shows the extent of illicit sex-relations prevalent among them. Table q. SHO^^ttNG EXTFJNT OF ILLICIT S?X-B?ilLATI0N8 : 5Number of {percentage |[ rami lies

Those ^o have indulged in illicit sex relations 35 13.94 Those vho have not 216 86.06 indulged in illicit sex-re lations

Total 251 100.00

Krom the perusal of the above table it is evident that out of the total families surveyed 13.94 families ar'^ found to have engaged in this activity, at least, once in their life time. It appears that the rules prohibiting illicit sex-re lations are not strictly follovjed. This is because due to free mixing of man and wman in the locality in -which these people live. The second factor promoting illicit sex-relations among the people under survey seems to be the lack of suitable accommodation. The houses in which these people live presents a very wretched condition and are unfit for human habitation. Certainly it is not a desirable place to rear children and to lead a law-abiding life. Due to - 107 - lack of accommodation men and w)men, boys and girls come In close contact at odd hours and this leads to sex-crime.

Another factor of illicit sex-relationship among the kaniars seems to be theover crowding and immoral living conditions. In the state of congestion, maintenance of privacy is impossible and the sex-behaviour of the parents may be imitated by the children at a very tender age. Again in the absence of privacy it is easy for •bad man' or 'bad wman' to pray upon nearby -woman or man directly or indirectly.

Lack of family control seems to be another potent cause of increase of illicit sex-relations among kanjars. The parents v^ho are over busy from morning to night in their struggle for livelihood often neglect their children and deprive them of many common pleasure of family life.

Lack of healthy recreational facilities are no less important factor in the sex^crime. These people cannot afford any wholesome recreation, nor can even afford to go to enjoy cinema, so they enjoy their wives daily by indulging in sexual intercourse with them and when their wives are not with them, they are compelled to prey upon neighbout's woman or girls. Sulemger has rightly pointed out that the boy who uses the street for playing is not more unsocial than the community that fails to furnish him with proper opportunities to play. CHAPTSR 71

B'DUCATIOW

1. Extent of literacy among kanjars

2. Their bent towards education

3. Their aim towards education - 108 -

CHAPTER VI

EDUCATION

Education is the most important singlf factor in achieving rapid economic development and technological progress and in creating a social order founded on the values of freedom, social justice and equal opportunity. It trains the individual to place duties above right and develops in him the power of critical appreciation and the habit of logical thinking. The success of democracy depends on the growth of a spirit of cooperation, disciplined citizenship and the capacity of the ordinary citizen to participate intelligently in public affairs. The need for education is specially urgent in the present era of industrial expansion, when the process of industrialisation may involve the acquisition of workers in large number from agricultural to industrial occupation. If agricultural labourers are shifted to industry in large numbers, it is feared it might have adverse effect on agriculture. So it would be better if these people vho have no occupation, are provided necessary education and training and employed in the industry. If it is done, it will serve two purposes; firstly, these people will get a respectable occupation; secondly, the agriculture will not suffer. It is with this aim tiiat an attempt has been made to stuc^ the extent - 109 -

of literacy among "kariDars under survey and their bent towards education.

1. The extent of literacy among kanjars:

Most of the people under survey are illiterate. The absolute number of what are called 'literate' persons comes 81 out of the total population 1305. Compared with on all India basis accordirg to the Census of 1961 the percentage of literate people comes to 24.0 per cent whereas the percentage of literate people among the kanjars comes to 6.21. Taking into consideration the progress achieved in this direction within 19 years of the Independence it can be said that these people are very backward in education and accounts for extensive measures for increasing educational facilities. The following table shows the extent of literacy among the kanjars under survey. Table 1 SHOmNG EXTENT OF LITERACY

Male I Female | Total No. jj ^ ii No i! ^ il No ii % Literate 74 5.67 7 0.,5 4 81 6, .21 Illiterate 591 45.29 633 48,.5 0 1224 93 .79

Total 665 50.96 640 49 .04 1305 100,,0 0

The foregoing table shows that out of the total population, 93,79^ or 1,224 people are illiterate whereas - 110 -

the percentage of literate Is 6.21. Perhaps this is due to the fact that these people are economically very poor and have only seasonal employment and thus can not afford the expenses of education.

From the foregoing table it may also be observed out of the total population (1305) the percentage of literate males is 5.67; whereas the percentage of literate femals comes to 0.54. Thus literacy among men is higher as compared to v/omen. This may be explained by the fact that females are engaged in the manufacturing of rope, 'Musika"and 'Chika" and they are not allov?ed to go to attend school.

Of the HI literate persons, about 17 can only read bat not smoothly. Again, about 56 persons of the- literate population do not even have a primary standard of education. The number of people vho have attained that standard is 26. Of these, only 9 people have reached up to middle (i.e. VIII class) standard, and only t-wo of the 26 have reached still higher standard of education, (i .e. High School standard). There is none who has reached the standard of intermediate or graduate level. Moreover none has got technical education in any branch. The following table gives comprehensive on the subject under study. - Ill -

Table 2 CLASS'-ttSE DISTRIBUTION OF THE" LIT^RAT^ P^ilRSONS

Stand- 0 5 ard of ( Below 18 years i 18 years and above| educa- 0 Total tion 5 Male 1 Female h Male 1 Female | Class I 8 2 6 1 17 .. II 9 1 5 1 16

" III 9 1 2 - 12 IV 6 1 2 1 10 tt V 4 - 3 - 7

" VI 3 - 4 1 8

" VII 2 - - - 2

"vm 1 - 5 1 7

" IX - - - - -

" X - - 2 - 2

Inter - - - - -

B.A. - - - - -

M.A. - - - -

Technical - - - - - Education

Total 42 5 29 5 81

It may be observed from the above table that out of total literate males below 18 years of age none is getting education in classes beyond VIII class. Similarly,the females iti the same age group are getting education in the first four classes. Again, it may also be observed that in the age group 18 years and above there are only 2 persons vho are getting education in High School (X class), whereas

- 112 -

5 are reading in 7III class. Coming to female side in the same age group majority of the women have read up to IV standard and only one has passed VIII class. There Is not even a single female member In the age bracket 18 and hbove -who is still receiving education. None has reached the standard of Inter, B.A., M.A. and technical education. Taking into consideration the above position it can be concluded that active efforts are not being made to ameliorate the condition of the people under survey. The worth noting thing in thisconnection is that education up to primary standard is compulsory for the sctiool going children in the Mainpuri city, but in spite of this facility the people under survey do not get benefit of the scheme.

Their bent towards education:

';Jlth the overall development of the country, the social values of the people under survey have also undergone a change and these people now do not regard education as a hinderance In their activities. They have ambitions, hopes and expectations for the uplift of education of their children. This is due to the fact that since the repeal of Criminal Tribes Actin 1952 these people have taken settled life and, to some extent, a permanent occupation.

Secondly, the influence of the modern civilization and the rapid growth of economic development and liberal - 113 - help from the Government has changed their attitude towards education. But still the economic conditions of these people are not goot enough and most of the people have no ostensible means of livelihood. This forced them to engage their sons and daughters in the manufacture of rope, "rausika", "chika" etc., collecting pieces of coal because the natural instinct of hinger is first satisfied. In case of people lAiho hardly get bread tvice a day literacy is a tall talk. A hungry man refuses to digest anything but food. However, gradually these people are advancing to\'ards education. In this connection information was also collected from the subjects as to i^ether they are Interested in education. a^rae of them have given their reply in negative with a plea that their financial condition does not allow them to educate their children. Table 3 below shows their interest towards education.

Table 3 SHOICNG INTEREST OF THE KANJARS TOWARDS SUJCATION ^ ^ No. & SlnterestedPO^ Interested in education, as ^ per- jjin educa- 011 eff-jit eff- jit is jjit hind-jjTo-tal cen- 5tion Cects raojects Oexpen- {ers pres-jj tage \ t C-rality 6outlook Ssive Sent eaanAngd

NO'O^ 1S3 12 9 15 41 251 households

Percen- 72.91 4.78 0.00 5.98 16.33 100.00 tafse - 114 -

From the above table it may be seen that out of total families surveyed as many as 183 or 72.91^ have expressed their keenness in education. The percentage of those yio are not interested , for one reason or other,is 27.09. Of these 27.09 families as many as 16.33 per cent are not in favour of getting their children educated as it hinders their present incane; while 5.98 per cent have reported that it is expensive. The loTfliest percentage comes from those persons who think that education affects morality of the children. It should be noted that majority of these people are in favour of getting their children educated but due to adverse pecuniarity circumstances it is not possible for them to send their wards for education.

These people have shown great interest in education particularly after Independence. If we want to bring them to the level of the rest of the community we should promote with special care the educational and economic interests of these people and should protect them from social injustice and ejqjlottation. It is hoped that by the liberal facilities from the Governnent for their uplift these people will develope into a sturdy community and come much closer to the rest of the people of the country. CHAPffiR YII

HOUSING

1. General condition of neighbourhood

2. Condition of the houses

3. State of repair and type of ownership

4. Material used in construction

5. Accommodation. - 115 -

CHAPIBR VII

HOUSENG

The health of a certain pop-ulatlon depends, among other things, on the type of accommodation and the surroundings in vjhich it lives. Habitation comes only next to food and clothing. Lack of proper shelter breeds disease and discontent amongst the people, bruta- lises human beings and kills finer instincts of men. The house is not only a shelter from weather and a place for preparing food and for sleeping,it is also a centre of a complicated social ritual,

1. General condition of neighbourhood:

Really speaking the kanjars under survey have no neighbourhood. These people live at the out skirt of the passing road with the members of their ov/n clan or tribe. In olden days general public treated them as criminal and therefore they developed a blend of hostility, contempt and fear against the kanjars. Consequently they were not allov^d to settle and live in the locality in which the general public used to live. Moreover these people have also been met by coldness and hatred because they wer'3 also treated just like scheduled castes. Still the Uttar Pradesh Government has declared these pedple - 116 - as scheduled castes. This resulted in segregation of these people. The society has also denied them free social inter- course, Hence there ^las no alternative for them but to settle at the outskirt of the roads. Since then these people are living separately and have no neighbourhood except their own brethern (tribesmen),

2, Condition of house:

The present condition of the houses of kanjars under survey are extremely worst. Truly speaking, majority of the people have no houses. Indeed these people live in mud-hut built at the outskirt of the towns. The mud-huts are built close together, eave touching eave, and frequently back to back in order to make use of all the available land. It should be noted that even the land is not owned by them. It belohgs to P,W,D. The sanitary conditions around them are also not satisfactory and the neglect of sanitation is often evidenced by heaps of rotting garbage and pools of sewage, while the absence of latrines enhances the general pollution of air and soil in the surrounding. Huts, usually without plinth, windows, and ventilations, consist of a single room, the only opening being a door way often too low to enter without stooping. Moreover, the absence of courtyard has deprived them.privacy. The following table will give a clear position of the same. - 117 -

Table I SHO'CNG GSN^.RAL CONDITION OF HOU^.S ^

Condition of houses 0 No, 5 Percentage I I Satisfactory 43 17,13 Unsatisfactory 81 32,27 Hopeless 127 50.60

Total 251 100.00

It is apparent that 17.13 per cent of the total families under survey have satisfactory houses; \jhereas 82.27 per cent families have unsatisfactory. It should be noted that the housing condition of 50.60 per cent families is hopeless. Taking into consideration both the unsatisfactory and hopeless houses about 83.0 per cent households possess such a lAorst houses -which are not suitable for human habitation. This is because of the fact that the financial condition of these people is not satisfactory and they possess no land of their cwn to construct house. On account of bad housing these and winter people suffer a lot in the rainy/seasons,

A further analysis of the table will make more clear the position of housing condition of the people surveyed In the month of December 1966. - 118 -

Table 22 SHOICNG TBHSIL-'.€S3 HOUSE KG CONDITION

Name of town or Satis- 5UnsatisJHopeless!Total village |factoiyj|faG tory|

Karhal 0 0 16 16 Bhongaon 16 41 12 69 Jasrana 0 0 15 15 Shikohabad 11 19 36 66 Sirsaganj 0 11 18 29 Mainpuri 1 4 13 18 Kuraoli 0 2 12 14 Khi ja 15 4 5 24

Total 43 81 127 251

It is evident from the above table that the housing condition of the subjects under discussion of tehsil Kahral and Jasrana is deplorable and cent per cent people have hopeless houses which are not fit for human habitation. Next come Shikohabad, Sirsaganj, Mainpuri and Kuraoli ^lere majority of the houses are hopeless. In Bhougaon 41 houses are unsatisfactory and the next lovjer number of unsatisfactory houses is found in Sirsaganj and Shikohabad. The lo>;est ccntribution of unsatisfactory houses comes from Kuraoli. It should also be noted that out of total satisfactory houses (43) as many as 15 are reported to have owned by the people of the Khlja village Bho0gaon and Shikohabad come next respectively. Hfe house - 119 -

was found to be satisfactory in Karhal, Jasrana, Sirsaganj and Kuraoli and Mainpuri is reported to have only one house to be satisfactoiy.

3. State of repair and t^'pe of ownership:

As regards the repair of houses it is stated that it is very unsatisfactory. The following table gives the state of repairs of the houses under study. Table 3 SHOVZCNG STm OF REPAIRS 1 state of repair 5 Wo, jPercentage : I J Satisfactory 28 11.15 Unsatisfactory 71 28.29 Hopeless 152 60.56

Total 251 100.00

Likewise the previous one, this table also shows that 11.15 per cent peoplehave satisfactory state of repairs of their houses; while 23,29 per cent are in unsatisfactory condition. The majority of the people (60.563t) have hopeless state of repairs. It is probably due to their being economically poor and also due to the absence of their ov/n land. Since the land is o\^d by the P.W.D. these people have always a fear of being driven - 120 -

away fron the land by way of ejectment. This hampers them for havini? a provision for suitable houses as well as for repairs.

Information was also elicited from the subjects under survey in regard to the ownership of th® houses. Table 4 shox-is the clear position in this connection.

Table 4. SHO'^NG OWRSHIP OF H0TT3!?S ^ ^ ownership jjWo, of houses 0 Percentarje Ji i Dwned 251 100.00 Rented 0 0.00

Total 251 100.00

It should be noted from the foregoing table that none of the persons among kanjars under survey have rented house. All of them have acquired or built their o-wn houses. The most probable reason seems to be that in the past these peopl^ were treated as scheduled caste and also supposed to be criminal^ and were not allowed to live and mix up with other members of the society. Naturally they were forced to settle down at the outskirt of the passing road by way of putting mud hut of their own. Since then they are continuing to these huts. - 121 -

4, Material used in construction:

The houses (huts) are built of mud, thatched •with grass or 'birki" or roofed with tiles, as means permit. The walls are painted or v/hite-washed with '^pota" clay, and afford an example &f neat workmanship. In many houses, the walls are made of stout and well joined stockading work, covered with mud, and neatly plastered over with cowdung.

As v^ proceed from village to towns, and from rural to urban centres, we notice a change in the technique of house construction. Some families in Bhongaon and Shikohabad tehsils possess houses just like small bungalow, which are built by modern material such as cement, iron etc. However, this is done by well-to-do families only and majority of the families have constructed their houses by mud and thatched with sirki or grass (phoos). The following table shows strength of kachcha and pakka houses found in the locality under survey. Table 5 SHO'.CNG KAGEJHA AND PAKKA HOUS^.S 8 Type of house < Number 0 Perceijtage 1 houses 5 Kachha house (huts) 210 .67 Pakka house 41 16.33

Total 251 100.00 - 122 -

The foregoing table reveals that out of 251 families surveyed 83,67 per cent possess kachha houses (buts); whereas the percentage of the families possessing palcka house is 16.33, This alone accounts for the back-wardness of the community and needs ^mpathetic consideration and help.

5. Accommodation:

Truly speaking the kanjars under survey have no sufficient accommodation for living conducive to their family need. Majority of the families possess only a single-room hut vrfiich serves as a bed-room, and also as store-room. The cooking is done in the open field or in the same room. At the time of child birth this room is used as a lying-in-room, and the children, if any, are removed from it. Information regarding the accommodation^ bath rooms, latrines etc. is given below? Table 6. SHOWENG ACCOMODATION

Rooms I Verandahs per- jOne S^Two xMore jone |More fcourtSLatt ^Bath cen- J room a roomsA^han ^vera- Jthan syard Jrine 5 room tage I J J two Jndah Jone J | | 0 I IS' 5 5 I

Number 241 8 2 13 2 2 2 2 of house s Per- 96.02 3.19 0.79 5.18 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 »

- 123 -

Tlie above table points out that 96,02 per cent families occupy one-room dvjellings, 3.19 per cent tvo-rooms dvjelllngs and only 0.79 per cent more than tvjo-rooms dwellings. Again, it may be noted that about 96 per cent quarters^ have no verandah, only 0,79 per cent quarters have court-yard, latrine and bath rooms. The doors are very low and the rooms are very small. This is mostly because of the fact that these people are not vjell-off.

Looked as a whole, the kanjars under survey have least satisfactory arrangement for latrines, bathrooms, court-yard and verandah. Water supply,curiously enough, has also least satisfactory arrangements.

It would not be out of place if we mention here that such deplorable conditionsof housing have a definite bearing on the health of the kanjars under survey. Nor such conditions of living are ccnducive to the development of mental talents or in the building up of congenial personalities. While good houses means the possibilities of home life, happiness and health; bad housess spell squalor, drink, diseases, immorality and crime. The intolerable housing conditions are in no mean degree responsible for criminality among kanjars. Besides this, over-crowding of people lb dark, ill-ventilated quarters is an important contributory cause of infant mortality and tuberculosis. Over-crowding can never be conducive to family life. Since both sex^s have to - 124 -

share the same room for all purposes, modesty, as that term is understood, is an impossibility for majority of kanjars under survey. The vjomen in such living conditions are also exposed to great moral dangers and most of them lose their self respect and virtue. Hence, until the housing conditions are improved and the kanjars are placed in a healthier and more "wholefsome envirorment vje cannot expect them to develop their mental talents or in the building up of congenial personalities and to become a good citizen. Therefore the importance of providing suitable houses to kanjars should be given the first place in the development programmes of the Goverrment, CHAP TOR 7111

HBALTJ AKD SALTATION

1. General condition of health of the Kanjars 2. Incidence of diseases 3. Causes of ill-health 4. Nutrition 5. Sanitary condition - 124 -

CHAPOF.R VIII

HEALTH AND SANITATION

The poor state of health of the people in this country can be seen from the low expectations of life, which lias been estimated to be 48.7 years for males in contrast to an expectation of 67.14 years in Australia, 67.9 in England, 61.0 years in France, 66.9 years in U.S.A. and 67.67 y-ears in Japan. The health condition of an individual depends mainly upon the types of food eaten, provision of clothes, medical facilities and condition of housing. All these things in turn depend particularly upon the level of income that the.family enjoys.

(1) General Condition of Health:

The general condition of health of the Kan jars is normal but most of them are suffering from under- nourishment, general \^^akness and lack of vitality. To eke out their livelihood most of the people have to vrork quite a long hours. I personally noticed that in the manufacturing of and rope, these people had to remain engaged in their work for aboutlO hours. The long hours of vjorking create tireness lAhich ultimately becomes a cause of their shattered health. Some people in the higher income have slightly better health due to the better state - 125 -

of nutrition and better housing condition. The fo^owing table shows the general condition of health of the people under survey.

Table I SHCVJIKG CEKBML COKDITICN OF ffiULTH . ^ ^ Condition of health 5 No. 5 Percentage I s Good 15 5.98 Normal 167 66.53 Bad 69 27.49

Total 251 100.00

It is interesting to note that only 5.98 per cent of the total population are enjoying good health •while the percentage of the people vhose health is normal is 66.53. The lowest contribution i.e. 27.49 per cent is of those persons who possess a bad health. I have personally seen that of these 27.49 per cent some people are in worst conditions of health and are imable to move and work properly.

The most common diseases from which the people under investigation suTfer are cold and malaria. The follovAng table gives the incidence of these diseases of the Kanjars of different income groups. - 126 -

Table II SHO^CWG S'XTSNT OF DIS^iAS^S AI^ONG KANJARS

I Families sufferef from Income groups 5— Majaria 5 Cold Below Rs . 50 6 6 50 100 17 24 100 150 31 11 150 200 8 2

200 - 250 2 -

250 - 300 1 -

300 and above 1 -

Total 66 43

Malaria seems to be cominon to all the income groups. The Kan jars of low income grou-s are specially susceptible to malaria.

7iewd from the point of view of income, the incidence of both the diseases taken together is the highest in the first three-income groups and is the least in higher income.

For the first three low income groups cold is the diseases affecting the Icanjars most severely, probably because of insufficient provision of warm clothing and lack of nourishment which reduce the pov^er of resistence against cc5ld. Malaria is the next cause of vrorry to them. People - 127 - in these income groups are affected by malaria more than the people in upper income groups — obviously because of bad sanitation of houses in the locality and lack of proper drainage,

(3) Causes of ill-health:

The first cause of ill-health of the kanjars under survey is the lack of hygienic environment conducive to health living. The houses are found consisting of a mass of huts. These people are neglected by Town Areas or Municipal Board as no arrangements of sanitation is provided .to them. The whole day's waste is laid at the door of every hut. The waste water is generally seen spreading over the approach path and some time in pits, giving out poisonous gases which affect the health,

Condly, bad vater supply is also a cause of ill- health of these people. The only source from which water is taken is the wells, having no plinth and washing place. The wells are also used as bathing' and washing place as these people have no bath rooms. The result of all these activities is that dirty water goes in the ^.jell which germinates germs of diseases.

Thirdly, the lov; resistence due to poor nutrition is no less important factor of ill-health of these people. - 128 -

Oving to poverty most of the people cannot take nourishing food such as eggs, butter, milk, and fruits.

Fourthly, lack of medical care and health education is also equally important for ill-health among the kanjar® under survey, A great deal of ill-health is the result of ignorance of simple rules of hygiene on the part of these people. Omng to being uneducated they do not take proper care of their health at proper time. The most interesting thing to be noted in this connection is that some people even do not believe in allopethic medicines and hesitate to take them,

fifthly, their belief in superstition is also equally responsible for thoir ill-health. In cases of disease a syana or wizard is called in to settle the appropriate offering to the particular ghost viiich is the cause of the trctivle and thus the disease gradually reaches its final stage from vhich its treatment becomes impossible.

last but not the least cause of ill-health among these people is the inadequacy of medical facilities prevailing in the locality. Some time a doctor of a Goverrment dispensary prescribes a particular medicine and when the person concerned goes to the compounder with a view to take the medicine, he is not given medicine in the hospital and is told that he should purchase it from th-^ marke t. - 129 -

(4) Nutrition:

Nourishing food has a great bearing on the health of an individual and it holds a crucial place for the improvement of health. Nutrition is related with the economic condition of the people and if a man Is poor, it is absolutely impossible for him to take nourhing diet. Generally the diet of the kan^ars under survey is composed of cereals and is lacking in protecting and body building vitamins. In respect of such commodities as milk, meat, eggs, butter, vegetables and fruits every body has not got a fair notion of the quantity he consumes. From the information collected vje get the folloviing table: Table III SHOWNG FMILY-;^^ DISTRIBUTION OF NOHRISFIING FOOD STUFF

li 5 i 5 11 li No. and 5 5 5 5 5 percentage^ Fruits 5 Milk 5 Butter {Meat IS Bggs 5 Cereals e 0 c 0 0 6

No. 21 78 m 251 43 251

Percentage 8.37 31.07 0.00 100. ,00 17.13 100.00

The above table indicates that meat and cereals are the regular diet of the total populi^tion irrespective of whether a person belongs to lov^r or higher income. This may be explained by the fact that there is no vegetarian among the kanjars under survey. It would not be out of place if we mention he^e that these people can eat meat of - 130 -

any animal except beef, raonlcey, crocodile and snakes, Ilovjever it is pointed out that meat of pork is their favourite nutrition.

Of the total population eggs do not form as a nutrition diet for moi« than 17,13 per cent families. These 17.13 per cent families even do not take eggs as regular diet and this is mostly used by the people of the upper class, as the members of thelov^r class cannot afford it.

Similarly, milk is not also used by the v/aole population as a nutrition because of the high price prevailing in the locality. This is a regular diet of the higher class only. But it does not mean that the average men do not like the milk. The fact is that most of the people use milk mth tea only and not regularly due to their poor finances.

It should also be noted that the consumption of fruits is insignificant among the Kanjars under survery. Of the 251 families as lov; as 8.37 per cent families form the fruit as their regular diet. The reason of low consumption of fruits may partly be explained by the fact that finances of the 91.63 per cent families do not permit them to afford it, and that fruits are not sold at fair price, and partly because they are not available in the local market and one should go to Mainpuri city if one - 131 -

like to havo them which is very expensive and would'cause inconvenience.

It is interesting to note that butter is not popuL-jr among the people under survey, and its consumption among them is nil. Perhaps it is due to the fact tliat it is not produced locally. In its place they use I^lda ghee as pure ghee is very expensive.

(5) Sanitary Condit ions:

Sanitation is perhaps the most important factor in determining the health of an individual. By sanitation is meant suitable arrangements for cleanliness of the locality, latrines, drainage, outlets for water, provision of removing -waste material from the locality, s\i^eping arrangoments for approach roads (paths).

The sanitary conditions of the kanjars under survey are very unsatisfactory. There is no arrangement of cleanliness of the locality and approach road to their houses. Outlets of water are completely unknown and waste water flows here and there in the locality. Mostly these people dig ceasepools near their huts in which the waste ^^ater of the whole day gathers. These ceasepools are a permanent source of breeding mosquitoes and spreading malaria. It has become a general habit of the kanjars, with a fev? exceptions, that they pay no attention to cleanli- - 132 -

ness of their houses; throw all sorts of rubbish just in front of their ovn doors. So with vasto v^iter the heaps of rubbish along v/i-th mud form a very ugly scene, which is totally unhygienic, especially for children who play on the same place. It also seems tliat they mostly do not clean their huts daily. The inside Portions of many houses were dirty and the things t^;erG not properly placed. There is no provision of removing waste material either from the Municipal Board or from the Town Area concerned. I have personally seen in almost all the towns when I was conducting my survey that due to absence of latrines children discharged their excrement near the huts and giving out poisonous gases.

liisanitation among these people is also due to bad housing. Most of the people live in mud huts constructed without any plan or arrangement, without approach paths, without drains, ill-ventilated. Moreover due to absence of land these, huts are built close together, leaving a little space betvjeen them. This results in congestion which in turn is responsible for insanitatioh \>iiich is found in the locality under study. The investigator has personally seen such horrible condition of sanitation in the locality particularly at Mair^uri city and Bhoongaon tov/n. Due to these insanitary conditions, the family members of these people fall on easy prey to the very active enemies of man-kind, namely, germs and bugs, especially malaria. Such a bad sanitary condition of the people under study accounts for serious consideration from the authorities concerned. CHAPTSR IX

ACTIYimS

1. Educational facilities

2. Medical facilities

3. Recreational facilities

4. Housing facilities

5. Other facilities such as land, plough cart, money etc. -133-

CHAPESR IX

mF4RS ACTIVITIES

If it is correct to say that the strength of a chain should be judged by that of its iâkest link, it is equally correct to say that the strength of a nation should be judged by the vitality, progress and iêll-being of the ^«âkest section of the community that comprises it. It is from this stand point that efforts should be made to ameliorate the conditions of the Kanjars, a section of the Ex-criminal tribes. These people have long been living in primitive conditions of life and isolated from the main stream of the nation's life. They are the most dismayed, decayed, deployed, discarded, deteriorated, devastated, desperated, dilapidated, discontented, dejected persons in our country. Pessimism and orthodoxy are like soring ulcar, their poverty carbuncle, îiich is not to be left at God's mercy, but is to be guarded mth great care and precaution. Therefore the problem of Kan jars uplift should be recognized not merely a charitable or humanitarian issue but as one of the restoring human dignity to and acceptance of the sac redness of the human personality in respect of a section of the country's population which had for long remained down-trodden. The - 134 -

Kanjars have acquired the inalienable right to honourable and equal membership of the society of \^ich they are integral part.

In this chap tor \,111 confine our study to the various steps talc on by the various bodies such as Govern- ment, Municipal Board and Zila Pari shad etc. for the rehabilitation and uplift of the Kan jars urder investigation,

Educational FacilitiesJ

In socialization of an individual, education has a vital role to play. Education makes a man worldly vAse, It is only through education that the potentiali- ties of an individual,viilch be in dorment condition, are exploited and an individual is made an useful member of the society. Mr. Joad in his book on education says, "To the man of trained mind and developed tastes, the vrorld become literally a large place, larger and more existing. He is able to see in it more beauty, more variety, more scope for sympathy and understanding than he saw before". Such is the importance of education in the modern world. In fact, the people's right to education is only next to their right of living.

Sdftcation up to middle standard is being provided by two bodies in this locality, mmely, (1) Municipal (Zik Pari shad) Board, and (2) District Board^ The Municipality of - 135 - of the Mainpuri City has introduced compulsory education and by virtue of this provision all boys and girls bet'ween age 6-11 are given compulsory education. In the rest of the toxins of the district adequate facilities are provided by the Zila Pari shad and private schools up to Intermediate standard. TJ.P. Government has also introduced free education to girls upto High School standard. A college has also been established in the Bhoongaon tov/n and a similar college is functioning in the Mainpuri city.

Extensive measures for increasing educational interest for these people have been taken up by the Government. The Government gives various concessions iti this connection. Ihese concessions include free tuition, stipends, scholarships and the provision of bodes, stationery etc.

In spite of these facilities the investigator found lack of enthusiasm among these people in giving proper education to their children. Some of them who really -wanted to send their -wards in schools are really unable to bear the expenses of their children's education. The investigator took great interest in getting those circumstances viiich I'jere compelling them not to bear the burden of rearing their children in a proper manner. The root cause of it lies in their low and irregular income \.jhich in some cases are only Rs. 45/- - 136 -

per month. Thoy also said that they engage their children in the manufacturing of Musika, Chhika, Kharla, Pal, Sirki and rope, and if they send them to school they vAll not be able to produce such qu^ntitjr as they are producing at present and in that case they would not be able to get food even for tw times. It is practically impossible for a man, having five or six children, a vzife, one or t\jo other dependants and himself to satisfy even the bare necessities of life such as fooding and clothing and lodging what to say of education.

Medical Facilities:

As regards medical facilities, their importance for these people can hardly be exaggerated. The people usually take medicines from the general hispitals. They complained to the investigator about the mis-management of the hospitals. One interesting thing which has been pointedout by these people is that except mixture no medicine is given to them, and they are always told that it is not available in the hospital. They are further told by the hospital authorities that they should purchase the medicine from the market.

Moreover due to lack of sufficient medical facilities there is always rush in the hospitals and if one desires to consult a doctor or to take medicine, one - 137 -

tias to -waste t-wo or three hours in the hospital. There is no arrangement of Ayurvedic medicines and those -who are not interested in allopathetic medicines are deprived of the medical bemflt.

Recreational Facilities:

No facilities have been provided by any bodies in the locality under su'ivey. The Kan jars are merely contended to amuse and recreate themselves either on festive or they try to indulge in some vices such as smoking, cinema going, gambling, prostitution, and Illicit sex relationship. There are no facilities of recreation even for children. The children usually pl^y jgUll danda.

Recreation plays a great role in maintaining gaity and happiness in the society. It is the recreation which gives impetus to an individual and stimulate him in his work vS-th double energy. The amusement rubs off the fatigue after a days hard labour. And every body feel afresh and excited after enjoining some sort of recreation. Change is the law of nature. Monotony is also resisted in human nature after a day's hard labour, if one gets some amusement, his monoty of doing the routine wo^k vanishes, he likes to woik vath zeal and spirit next day. - 138 -

Majority of the Kanjars are devoid of any kind of recreation, except biological one, viiich is harmful and also one of the main causes of poverty and large size of household and a most unhealthy practice -when one indulges in such activities.

Housing Eacilities:

Shelf ter or housing is one of the three basic needs of man, the other tyo being food and clothing. Proper housing exercises a profound influence on people's health. The need for adequate number of houses, therefore, is obvious. They should be reasonably comfortable and hygenie and should have the amenities of community life.

The problem of housing of Kanjars is unquestion- ably one of the most important problems as majority of the population possesses no house and is living in mud huts.

The Government has fui:^yrealised the importance and urgency of the problem and is doing its best to provide the houses to the kanjars under investigation.

At the time-of investigation about 50 one-room quarters had already constructed in Bhoongaon and Khija village and 45 more quarters ^r-i under construction in J;asrana, Kuraoli, Karhal and Shikohabad tovms (Karhal 10, Jasrana 8, Kuraoli Shikohabad 19), Out of 50 houses already constructed, 19 belong to Khija village and the rest of 31 houses are found in Bhoongaon. It - 139 -

•was a matter ol" great surprise to the investi^:ator that no house -was found to be under construction at Slrsaganj, and Mainpurl city and maither there vas any plan to do so. Moreover the people of these places were neglected to be given any benefit of this sort in future as there was no plan to construct ary quarters in this locality. The people of these two places a're found to be disappointed. Ho-wever they vjere consoled by the investigator that Government will not neglect thera and \dll provide houses in the years to come.

It is pointed out there that no housing facilities have been given to these people by any other bodies such as Municipal Board and District Board except Government and that too is recently.

Other Pkcilities:

In order to rehabilitate and improve the economic conditions of these people, the State Government has taken various steps. Itie following table will show various facilities ^lich have been provided recently t© thftise people to develop their economic conditions. - 140 -

Table 1 SHO-'SKG OTIER FACILITIBS PHOVID'iiD BY TIE GOW.RKl-C^JNT AI.'D OTIER BODr^.S

J J ^ ^ ^ ^ Name of g Money Land Oxen ^ Card pPlough { ^ed body ijNo.5 % JNO fi'X'ii No} % 5No.FTfiNo.flTpo.J ^ Government 50 19.92 19 7.57 19 7.57 19 7.57 19 7.57 19 7.57 Distt.Board 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 Municipal 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 Board

Total 50 19.92 19 7.57 19 7.57 19 7.57 19 7.57 19 7.57

The table indicates that out of total households of 251 under investigation, 19.92^ are given money for the improvement of their business. The amount varies from person to person and place to place. Fo r example j all the people of Khija village have been given Rs. 100/- each; whereas in Bhoongaon it varies from person to person. Some people are given Rs, 100/- vjhile others only Rs.50/-. As in the case of housing, so in this case also the members of the Kanjars of Sirsagan,] and Mainpuri city have been ignored. This may be explained by the fact that these members perhaps have no 'netas' to approach in the Government offices.

It may also be observed that out of 251 families only 19 have been given land, oxen, cart,seeds etc. All these persons belong to Khija village. No person of other - 141 -

place have been given these benefits. It may be stated here that some families in the Khi ja village are extended families and their sons and grandsons are living with them. Therefore the actual number of persons vho have benefitted with these benefits are 24, About 7 bighas of land has been given to these 24 persons and so is the case with plough, oxen, carts and seed. It is also stated here that only six pairs of oxen, six carts and six modern ploughs have been provided to them by the Government for the use of 24 members. It means one pair of oxen, one plough and one cart for every six persons.

Besides this, irrigation and seeds facilities have also been given to them. Free seeds and free water is allo^'jed to these people for the first cultivation only. The investigator has personally seen the land, plough, oxen and cart. The land is very fertile and rice is grown on it. Before allotting this land to these Kan jars It was a usar land and the Government itself has provided for its reclamation through these Kan jars.

It was also investigated confidentally as to why the people of other places have not been given such berfifits as land, oxen, plough etc. andit was revealed that Government is providing land etc. to those ex-criminal tribes who prefer to live in a village as the usar land - 142 -

is abundantly found in the villages. As regards the Kan jars of other places in the district it came to the light that authorities are considering to rehabilitate these people at one place. CHAPTER X

COICLUSION AND SQGGBSTIONS - 143 -

CH./lPffiR X

CONCLUSION AIID SaGG^;STIONS

1. GONGIUSION:

have by now had a compi^hensive knowledge of the Sbcio-economlc characteristics of the Kan jars, a group of ex-criminal tribes. The main facts and tendencies revealed by the foregoing analysis may be summarized as follows: -

Tho word "Kanjar" appears to have been derived from the Sanskrit word "Kanana-chara" in the sense of a wanderer in the jungle. The natural home of the Kanjars was the forest, ^iiere they subsist by hunting wolves, hares and any kind of animal, by gathering such roots and vegetable products as required no cultivation. They trace their origin to their defied ancestor Mana, who is known as Mana Guru, and his wife Nathiya Kanjarin, who used to live in the jungle and made their living by hunting, and plunder,

A section of this tribe broke away from larger tribe because they could not adjust themselves to economies resulting from the forest and land policies of former governments. Since then the Kanjars are wandering like gypsy without having permanent abode. They had no - 144 -

permanent and gainful occupation, and to supplement their income they committed crimes. The Census of 1911 declared these people as a group of Criminal Tribes and they were set free from the stigma of born criminality as a result uf the repel of the criminal Tribes Act in 19 52. Now these people have settled dov^i in permanent homes and have taken settled life.

The third chapter of the reuort deals vith the Sconomic Structure of the Kanjars. The fact that Indian masses are living under conditions of grinding poverty stands for the concentration of the majority of the Kanjars. Nearly 90.0 per cent families having per capita income below the national standard. Out of 251 families investigated 8 are engaged in anumal husbandary e.g. poultry etc., 70 in manufacturing (i.e. rope, chikas, musikas, pals), 121 in trade (i.e. morikies, tortoises, pig h:irs) and 52 in miscellaneous activities. The total populTtion of 251 families investigated is 1,306 , The vjorking condition of these people are very unsatisfactory and they have no place to house their industry. About BO per cent families remain engaged in their work bet\,)een 8-10 and above 10 hours per day.

The loi^jest monthly income of a family is Rs.45/- per month, whereas the highest income' Is Rs.400/- p.m. The total income of 251 families (including the earnings of - 145 -

their dependents) is Rs. 33,587/- iMle the total expenditure is Rs. 33,259/-. The lou-est monthly expenditure of one family is calculated Rs. 45/- and the highest monthly expenditure is calculated Rs. 350/-. Food represents the highest single item of expenditure. The various items of expenditure are as follows: food - Rs. 19,394/-(58.31^), clothing - Rs. 3,493/- (10.50^), fuel and light - Rs.1,490/- (4.485C), house rent - Rs. nil (o.o^), education - Rs.2S9/- (0.87^), intoxication - Rs. 4,496/- (13.52^), and miscellaneous - Rs. 4097/- (12.32^-). There is surclus budget of of 65 families, deficit budget/172 families and 14 families have balanced budget. The total saving is Rs. 328/-. Out of 251 families only 75 have some savings -whereas 176 families do not save.

The condition of debt is as follows: out of 251 families, 132 families are indebted. The total sum taken on loan is Rs. 31,625/-. The extent of indebtedness is Rs. 600/-. The source of getting loans are many as from Mahajan (Sahukar, Bania) relatives, friends and shop-keepers from \,)here they purchase certain items of livelihood. A few loans are taken on interest. The rate of interest is found varying in different cases. The lo\.jest rate of interest is reported to be Rs. 2,00^ per month, and the highest is reported^o be Rs. 6.00^ per month. The term - 146 -

off repayment is also uncertain. In most of the cases it is monthly or quarterly. They do not possess economic holdings, they are over burdened being mostly poor and illiterate. Tney do not know the formulation of faraify budget.

The fourth chapter of the report deals with the Social Structure and Family Life. The elementary unit of society is the family consisting of parents and their children. The Kan jar family i s an economic grouping. It provides food, shelter and clothin-i: for its members, irrespective of their contribution towards the economic activity. Sons al-ways remain vi th their father and give their income to him. But genarally after marriage ttey make a sep-^rate hut for themselves, Ho-wever the father holds supreme authority and no one can question him.

Out of 251 families investigated 42 have reported to have unsatisfactory treatment from their youngers.Nearly 82 families have quarrelling and dis-satisfaction among them. Marriage is communal undertaking among them. They confirje their marriage -within the tribe but not v/lthin the clan. Marriages are arranged by betrothal (Tika). Only 7.57^ people sre reported to have acquired their mates by mere form of capture. Adult marriage is the general rule among them but child marriage is not completely uriknovm. There are 163 persons v.'ho are married after - 147 -

18 years of age, 76 between 10-lS years, and 12 before 10 years of age. Out of 251 families 229 are monogamous, 11 polygamous (polygynous) and 11 unmarried. Bride price is very high and is paid in tvo instalments, onee before marriage and the other after the -woman has given proof of her fertility. The Phera or binding part is completed after the couple has circumambulated the marriage pole seven times. No Brahman is employed and all ceremonies are performed by the clansmen. Remarriage of a vidov; is allowed, and if the widow does not marry the younger brother of the deceased husband he or his family receives a heavy compensation from the expectant husband of the widow. Divorce is permitted by their Panchayat but there is found none who was divorced. As regards adoption S9 persons are in favour of it, leaving only 12 who are reported to be against adoption. They have no special ceremony of birth except that the women during delivery are laid on the ground with her feet to the north and her head to the south. Deads are disposed off by both cremation and burial, Bhagat (Saint), unmarried, children and those dying of small pox, cholera etc. are buried and the rest are cremated.

The principle diety of Kanjars is the Mana, the founder-ancestor of the tribe. The shrine of the Mana is at Allahabad. They also wrship devis or goddesses - 148 -

such as Maharani Devi, Juala Devi and Bhavani Devi. In addition to this, they revere the Panchon Pir, ICamal Khan of Agra, Zahir Plr and offer a sacrifice of a cock. They Holi and Divali as their principle festivals. Out of 251 persons 228 have their faith in magic and superstitution. In case of disease a Syana or Bhagat is called in to settle the appropriate offering to the particular ghost which is the cause of the trouble. They have some totem also. For example they respect the imll tree as the abode of spirits. They have strong Panchayat ^stem and any offence against the tribe is seveinsly punished.

The chapter fifth has been devoted to the Crimes and Social Vices among the Kan jars under inve stigatien. Out of the total population inve stigated 17 persons are reported to have indulged in criminal activities — theft 7, burglary 3, pilfering 2, and vat:.out ticket travelling 5. Unemployment and poverty are the main causes of their criminal activities. Only 17 persons are reported to have met punishment. The various forms of punishment are: 1-3 months imprisonment - 5 persons, fines - 7 persons, and cases under trial - 3 persons.

Among Kan jars drinking is not a moral issue. These people are very fond of drinking and vwuld not complete any feast mthout emptying a bottle if they can afford it. Majority of the people (111) drink it regularly, 85 casually, - 149 -

and 55 occasionally. Not to say about men, women also use liquor. Liquor is also served in betrothal and every festivals and ceremonies.

Hukkah and Blrl smoking is very common and vjomen have also no exception. Bhang and charas are also used, specially at Holi.

Besides alcoholism, gambling is also one of the main social vices found among the Kan jars under investigation, Out of 251 persons investigated 55 gamble regularly, 75 casually, and 39 occasionally. It increases in summer season, v;hen these people have sufficient leisure at their disposal, I In addition to gambling, prostitution is also prevalent among these people and 31 persons are reported to have indulged in this crime. One women is also reported to have prostituted for about three years in Karhal Tehsil, Illicit sex-relations, as a rule, are strictly prohibited and the Tribal Council deals it severely. But the Kan jars under investigation have no exception and 35 persons are reported to have indulged in illicit sex-relations once in their life time with outside women.

The sixth chapter of the report deals with Education, Majority of the people are illiterate. Out of the total population (13o5) only Si are literate (7 women - 150 -

and 74 men) and 1,224 are illiterate. Vforaen are more illiterate than man. Of the 81 literates, about 17 persons can read but not write. Only 62 have passed the Yth class standard, i-iiile 17 have reached up to middle standard. Obly 2 male member is getting education in Xth class. There is not even a single man or -woman -^^o is receiving education beyond High School or Intermediate or B.A. level. Out of 251 families 183 are in favourof education leaving a balance of 68 families who are against education. Of these 68 families, 41 arc not interested in education as it hinders their present earnings, f-ihile 15 have reported that it is expensive and the rest 12 says that it affects morality. Most of the people seems to be enthusiastic to educate their children but due to poverty it is not possible for them to do so.

The housing of the Kanjars has been studied in chapter seventh. The Kanjars have no neighbourhood except their o^.;n brethren as they live at the outskirt of passing roads. The general conditions of the housing of these people are worst. They live in the huts constructed on the P.W. D. land, most of xiiich are kachcha. Only 17.13 per cent people have satisfactory housing , 32.27 per cent unsatisfactory and 50.60 per cent hopeless housing. The Kanjars of Karhal, Kur'aoli and Sirsaganj to^«n own very deplorable houses in which humah habitation is quite impossible. Repairs of the houses are also not satisfactory. - 151 -

Only 11,15 per cent people have satisfactory r-^pairs, 2S.29 per cent unsatisfactory and 60.56 per cent have hopeless repairs. None is found to ha.ve hired d^^gellings. Majority of tho houses are one room huts. There are only 8 houses which consist two rooms and only 2 houses having moro than two rooms. Similarly 236 houses have no veranda. 249 houses do not possess court-yard and latrines. Only 2 houses maintain bath rooms. There is no privacy at all. Majority of houses (i.e. 83.67^) are kachcha and only 16.33^ are palcka houses. The kachclia houses arc bult of mud and thatched with grass or sirki e tc.'

The chapter eighth has been devoted to Health and Sanitation. The general condition of health is normal but most of them are sufferirg from under-nourishment, general v^akness and lack of vitality. Out of 251 families investigated, 15 enjoy good health,167 normal and 69 bad health. The most common disease from which the Kan jars suffer is Malaria and Cold. 66 out of the total population suffered from malaria and 43 from cold. The main causes of ill-health are* lack of hygienic environment conducive to health living, bad water supply, low resistence due to poor nutrition, the diet of the Kanjars lack in protectin" and body building foods. Due to poverty majority of the people do not take nutrition. Eggs and fruits form as a nourishing diet of 43 and 21 persons respectively. 73 people use milk but not regularly. Butter is - 152 -

completely uflknovjn. Meat, specially of pork, forms a regular nutrition of all the people under investigation. The sanitary conditions of these people are unsatisfactory. Usually children discliarge their exrecmcnts in front of their huts which pollute the environment. There is no arrangement of cleanliness of the locality, drainage, outlets of water, provision of removing \Aaste material from the locality, sviseping arrangement of approach roads (paths) etc.

The chapter nimth of the report deals with the welfare activities provided by various bodies such as Government, Municipal and District Board(Zila Parishad). Education upto middle standard is being provided by Municipal and District Boards. In order to promote education among these people the Government is granting scholarships, stipends, books and stationery etc. In spite of these facilities majority cf the people seems to be indifferent from education because they no permanent means of livelihood and do not earn sufficierit income and to supplement it they engage their children in their work.

Medical facilities are being g'.'ven^by State Government through its hospitals in the district under^ investigation. However they ire not satisfied with these facilities and complained about the non-availability - 153 -

of the medicines. They further complained that except mixture they are not given medicines and are asked to purchase the medicines from the market.

The Kan jars under investigation have not been provided recreational faci^ty by any body, in the absence of ^vhich they indulge in smoking, gambling, prostitution and alcoholism etc. Majority of the people recreate themselves by i-jay of having inter-course with their vaves at their leisure hours xvhich is responsible for the large size of household and in turn for poverty.

The State Government has taken up the construction of quarters for these people, 50 one-room quarters (31 in Bhoongaon and 19 in khija) have been completed and 45 quarters are under -way in other tov/ns of the district. No house is under construction at Sirsaganj and Mair^uri city.

Similarly other facilities also have been confined to the people of Bhoongaon and Khija village only. 50 families have been provided money for the improvement of their business. In order to rehabilitate them and to improve their economic conditions the State Government has also provided some more facilities to the ICanjars of the Khija village v;liich are: 7 bighas land to every man, one pair of oxen, one cart, one plough to every six men. Free irrigation and seeds facilities have also been provided by the state Government to these people for first cultivation - 154 -

only. It is, however, pointed out that no such vjelfare activities have been extended to the Kan jars of other p lace s.

2. SUGGESTIONS:

Closed mouth catches no files. It is not the prosperity which will knock the door of ones bed. It is high time for Indian Governnent to rehabilitate and develope the economic conditions of the Kanjars in particular and of the ex-criminal tribes as a \4iole in genoral. The aim of the investigator in investigating the families of Kano'ars tiad been to locate such state of affairs so that something constructive may be brought forth in the planning and upliftment of them.

If the Government really wants to reform these people she should change their approach and utilise these people in a constructive vay lifting them from economic distress and social disabilities. The existence of such neglected tribe and its manpo^r as a x^jeak link in a strong chain will certainly weaken the nation itself. It will be a happy day vjhen the communal organisations of Various castes and tribes cease to exist and all people live as one group mthout barriers of castes and classes. !3very stop should be taken immediately to bring these people and on equal footing mth the rest of soc ie ty. - 155 -

Dr. Verrier Blvdn, an authority on the vjelfare of tribes, narrates inefficiancy of Government machinery in this regard as most of the staff has no idea of triba^ life or how to adapt to it, and their own lack of kno\-jledge proves a very serious hindrance. Unless vje have a band of intelligent, devoted and sympathetic officials, fired with missionary zeal and who have an intimate knowl^tdge of the tribal ^y of life, we cannot hope to have the desired result. The Government should, therefore, accord a high priority to the issue of Kanjars. Unless, educa- tiorjists, popular elected representatives, workers, sympathisers and the Government in particular bear in mind the ideal of service to these tribes -v^o are keen to talce to a decent life their lot remain as it is.

Free education up to the higher standard, running of free hostels both for boys and girls and schools in each settlement of ccjlonies with prospects of agricultural aid, free housing, nomination on Government Social lifelfare Boards, reservation of seats in educational institutions and assured employment in various grades are some of the remedies to redeem these peoples. Reservation of seats in Assemblies and Parliament should also be made for them.

The investi-^ator has cited above some suggestions and recommendations which may prove fruitful, if implemented, - 156 -

in the economic, social and educational -welfare of the Kan jars. The investigator feels pity over the poverty of the Kanjars i-ho cannot meet their bare necessities of life.

The investigator further recotnmen^that such suggestion and recommendations should be located viiich may meet the dire necessities of the Kanjarsin particular and of the i^x-criminal tribes as a whole in general. M» •CpO 05 o O o CO 8 CO lO 05 o o 03• # • • U p. 03 tH CO o I(D (D CC lO CO CO (M H 03 •P (X, O oo o o o lO o o o 10 o lO 10 lO 03 n to o CO IN to 1 H to lO H H o CO « •c^ioo o CIS e •P o lO CO CO H lO 0• to• 05 • CO• 03• & tuD 05 o o o+ o+ f+H CV+3 o+ CO 0) CO 1 I to •H oo lO CO o 00 03 00 p to 0) 03 to CO CO to 03 r fC 03 H rH OJ H CO (T 1 1 + + + + + o to CO -P cn b ^ g ^ 05• • -o f-< PJ • • • • • (x- cr' 0) cd C^ to 10 O iH CO lO lO 0, o H 03 03 CO 03 03 03 03 i oo o • a Q e M M 00 CO 03 o K o Si H rH lO ix-js: to CO S n a, M IN CO 03 CO x: ® Vi CO (X rt iH liro »H ffl-H 10 03 to 10 10 O 03% fe o N a • • • • • • • OK ^Ti (5 03 CO 10 o H 10 o H H H M > W O fr. E-. o o O to • ^ lO IN CO o O 10 (O P' O o lO o o O O o o • o 10 O to tU5 w H H 03 03 CO Pd K IH 1 O o o o o o o a so H 10 o to o lO o •p C - O O • o § Vi.O • » • • # • o (T +5 H o 10 o O o tJ 03 10 o • 03 03 to CO ^ co to 03 o 10 H H Q o 03 +3 rt o to 00 o tn ^ +3 • • • • V O H 03 0> o H CO •t^ +5 CO 03 o •c OO H d (M O O) CC 03 • S r- § s to to •p p to 00 03 to 03 O IXK § CO 03 H CO E-f Q) CO oo o-o M ® O o lO to to o s CO H to H o !><• o • • • • • • # M o V; H CO 03 o 00 10 o c CO 03 H o o •H oo Ojah H 00 o 03 o 03 ci; • lO H to H 00 •p to 00 c^ 00 lO o PC CO 03 H CO E- CO oo< Do o tp O >i vi pH (hffi -H UD W to 10 lO O 03 • • • • • • # ® to 03 CO to o H to W «i-i H H H to a o o 10 IN O to O to to r- § S to H r- o O Q) (M lO (M H H is: ft oooo m -H<0 OH 10 to H UD to o rt CM •ooooto J ® P! o > O to O o O O o o • O to O lO o M to H H 03 03 CO oc; 1 1 1 1 0» s > 1 H O O O o O O o o Oi o H to o lO o to o CJ

~~be C •H n § 8 8 o V- o a a d o >«HIOOO (T5 ^ © at • • • » • O O o o o o o o o o o Q> »0 ox Jh IN CO CM ?! 00 CO «o V to ^ CO CO la O UD O CO 00 o (P 10 c^ ^ o lO P. O w •H~~

~~Of +> o CD o to O to H 10 H "2 H H lO iH CM C>ooo> O O o O O o 10 o to O tf k r-t H CM CM CO 1 1 oxi O> 91 0 1 (D H . i o o o iH a~~

~~S.No.~~

1. Name of the head of the family: 2, Sex 3, Age: , 4. Economic Condition (a) tot is his/her main Agricultare/Busine ss/Service/any occupation? other. (b) HOII7 many hours por day he/she works? (c) Has he/she got necessary implements? (d) Income for the month of

~~5 Main Income jAdditionar"lncomej Total 5 Source ^Amount vTx Sourc^ .e K8. Amoun t 5 Income~~

(i) Head of Kimily 0 0 5 5 5 5 il 5 (ii) mfe 0 5 5 II 0 5 0 5 (iii) Other depen- 5 5 5 dants 5 0 5 5 H 1. -L (e) Expenditure for the month of. .1 |Amoun7~|Monthly|s^;^ance | m^ - spent j; 1 ncome g g SurplusgDofici t (1) Food (ii) Clothing j (iii) Fuel & light f

(iv) House rent 0 0) (v) Sickness 0 5 (vi) Bdiication 5 5 (vii) Intoxication jf 5 (viii) Hiscellaneousil Total 4- -1 (f) :io\i is saving invested? 3y raising standard of livingAiy keeping in bank and post office/ by hoarding/ any other v/ay. (g) do\} an excess of expenditure is 6ver come? (h) Indebtedness. 1 ^ jj. p!l Nature Causes of ilAmount 5 Source s®- iTerms of indebtedness * " 'curl te- prepayment r (i) Ancestoral 0 (ii) Festival (iii) Marriave (iv) Rituals and customs (v) Unemployment (vi) Sickhess (vii) Miscellaneous

~~Total~~

5. Size of family. iS Belov 18 years X Above is years 5 tSale i Female Male iS Female JL 4- Pdu- 5 5 5 5 0 5 Agejca- X |Age| 0 HAgeJ lAgeJ Ction 5 0 0 0 ^ I 5 0 5 0 5 5 1 0 JL 0 X 5 5 —J- 0 5 5 0 H $5 5 5 iS 5 5 C 5 3 5 5 i 0 5 5 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 I 5 I 1 5 5 5 5 5 5 J 5 5 5 5 11 8 5 -JL 1. 1 I.

~~(a) '.tiat is the treatment of Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory/ his/her youngers towards Hopeless him/he r? - 3 -~~

(b) Is there any quarrelling or Yes/No, dissatisfaction among the f-tnily If yes, state members? reason (c) Does he/she advocate monogamy/ Poly gam If polygamy, stats polyandry/polygyny (d) How marriage is contracted? 3y betrothal/capture/ elopemont (e) At what age marriage is contracted? (f) By vMom marriage negotiations By father/maternal uncle arc carried out? of the boy/any other \]a.y (g) By v/hom marriage ceretnony is pe rf cr::]e d? By Braaman/Clansman (h) Doos he/she advocatos mdow marriage Ye s/Bo (I) If yes, is she married v.lth younger Yes/TTo brother of the deceased husband? (j) If the \-n.do\'j does not mnt to marry Yes/Ho, mth him, has the outside expectant If yes, how much? husband to pay any compensation? (k) Is he/she interested in adoption Ye s/llo in case there is no issue in the family? (1) Are the deads cremated/buried/thrown in the rivers? (in) How are disputes settled? Through tribal council/ any other method. (n) In what religion he/she has faith? (o) To vjhom he/she vjorships? Hardeo/Iiarduar La la/Pa ri ha r/ Ka la bi r/lianaAla ta DeVi/ Zahir Ptr/Kamal Khan etc. (p) VJliat festival he/she observed? Ho li / Df vja 1 i/ Da s he ra/ Janamashtami/any other (q) Does ho/she believe in magic and Ye s/Bo supersti tions? If yes, since \^hen? The Crime and Social Vices. (a) Has he/she committed crime? Ye s/l^o If yes, state: - (i) Nature of crime (ii) What vjero the causes? (iii) If punished, state the nature of punishment, - 4 -

(b) Is he/she interested in alcohalic drink? YesA-o If yes, (i) since T,^hen (ii) Does/she drink regularly/casually/ocassionally. (c) Does he/she gamble? Yes/l^o If yes, regularly/occasionally/casually (d) Does he advocate pros'ci outiLorj? Yes/No If yes, since ^^hen?

~~(e) Has he/she indulged in illicit sez-relation? Yes/No~~

7, Education (a) Does he/she like to educatfe their children? Yes/I^o (b) If not, what are the causes? Education affects morality/ eduifiation affects outlook/ education is expensive/education hinders present earning/ any other (c) What, in your opinion, is the ain of education?

3. Housing: &ti sfactory/unsati sfacto ly/ (a) General condition' of d^'jeliing: hope le s s Sa ti sf a c to -srj/uns a tl s fa c to ry/ (b) State the repairs hope le ss Self/hired (c) Ownership (d) If hired, rent paid (e) Accomniodation

~~\ ^T^ T^ I No. of rooms5Ko. of varandajCourt yardjj Latrine 5 Bathrooms iL I i i I 5 0 5 5 0 5 }t 5 5 5 5 i 5 5 il 5 0 X 5~~

~~9. HealtU and sanitation (a) General condition of health Good/ndrml/bad (b) Which of the food stuff he/she PuIse/rice/vego tableat/ uses in his/her daily life? raeat/egg/fat/fruit/any other~~

(c) Are c!a ni ta •r'3'- conditions sa tl gfac tory/unsat1 sfac tory/bad? 10.Ifare Act!vi tie s (a) Educational facilities provided by Government/ Municipal Board/Zila Prashad/Private bodies/ any other source (b) Medical facilities provided by Government/ Municipal Board/District Board/Private Bodies/any other source (c) Housing facilities provided by Government/ Municipr~l Board/District Board/Cooperative Societies/any other source (d) Recreational facilities provided by Govern- ment/zila Parishad/p'Iunlcipa.l Board/any other source (e) Other facilities by Goverrment/zil-i Parishad/l-Iunicipal Board/ other bodies