Fodder fight: Farmers ban entry of Dalits into fields

CHANDIGARH: Farmers of a village in Yamunanagar district of Haryana have banned the entry of all Dalits in their fields following a dispute between a lower caste woman and a farmer from the local dominating community. The situation have reached such a state in the small habitat of Sabepur, a formal announcement has been made that nobody would be allowed to enter in the agriculture fields even for the purposes of getting fodder.
While no particular caste was mentioned, Dalits are opposing the diktat saying that such a decision would make their survival difficult as they are dependent on the fields of farmers for fodder for their animals.On the other hand, farmers say that they have every right to take a decision on who enters their fields.
Now, Dalit women have taken lead to oppose the diktat of the villagers. As of now no complaint has been made to the police even as resentment prevails among the Dalit community. According to village sarpanch Ravi Kamboj, local officers, including tehsildar and block development and panchayat officer, on Thursday reached the village to intervene into the matter but the standoff couldn't be resolved.
The village has a population of about 4,000 is dominated by men of Kamboj community which falls in the list of backward classes in the state while the Dalits also comprises of a considerable portion of the population here.
About a month back, there was a dispute between a farmer and a Dalit woman. The farmer alleged the woman was stealing fodder from his field while the woman charged him for eve-teasing and castiest remarks.
Following the allegations of the woman, the farmer was arrested. "The farmers felt that they face allegations of castiest remarks, eve-teasing and attempt to rape only because they allow the villagers to enter in their fields. So, as a safety measure, they have decided to ban the entry of everyone in their fields," says Kamboj, husband of village Sarpanch Nisha Devi. However, Kamboj clarified that the village panchyat has nothing to do with the decision of farmers.
On the other hand, a Dalit, Govind Kumar termed the move as an attempt to pressurize the dalits for compromise in the eve-teasing case. "We don't have any piece of land. They (farmers) know that we don't have any option but to depend on them to get fodder from their fields," said Kumar.