Voices From The Ground

Chhapara ki baghal

Village: Baran

Grampnchayat: Antri 

Block; Kumbhalgarah

District: Rajasmand

Chhapara ki Baagal is a small hamlet sitting about 1 kilometer from the main village, Baran, which comes under Antri gram panchayat, and roughly 2 kilometers inside a broken, unpaved road that cuts it off from the main road. The hamlet is located in an isolated area surrounded by the Aravali Mountains and forest. A second hamlet, Khair ka Bhilwada, lies nearby. 30 to 40 families live here in Chhapar ki Baagal.  Somewhere between 100 and 150 families from the Bhill community inhabit the whole village, which forms the majority, alongside smaller numbers of Ametha, Prajapat, and Meghwal households.

Houses are a mix of kachha structures and pucca homes, the latter mostly built under Indira Awas Yojana. Water comes from personal wells through motors. The nearest PHC is in Aantri, 3 kilometers away. A mobile tower stands in the area, but not working. Most families earn roughly Rs. 1,5000 a month, through a combination of agricultural labor, construction work, and migration. 

Families from the Bhill community move seasonally to Pali and Jodhpur for agricultural work, to Surat for labor in sari factories, to Palanpur in Gujarat for diamond units, and to Nasik in Maharashtra, where they earn around Rs. 10,000 to 15,000 per month. Four families had already left for Pali at the time of our visit. What makes this migration pattern particularly serious is that children go into child labor in Surat and Palanpur, pulling them out of whatever schooling they might otherwise access. Only one male person from the entire hamlet has reached the first year of college, and after his support, his wife is in her first year of college. Everyone from the Bhill community dropped out at different points.

The community has a rich cultural life. Gavri Nritya, a sacred folk dance-drama dedicated to Lord Shiva, is performed every Saawan, two or three days after Rakshabandhan, with participants observing barefoot vows for 1.5 months. The Peepal tree is also prayed to. A remark made by a woman from the Bhill community captures the deeper structural condition. When asked about who maintains the temple in the village, she said: 

"Yaha income kam hai na isiliye Bhill hai — warna dusri jaati aa jati hai."

 A library center by Olakhaan has been running in the hamlet for about 10 months. Focusing not only on education, but also  working as an information and Cultural Centre where villagers can get information about government schemes and can also become active participants of the community support system through the tradition of bhajan sandhya

Village Profile: Oladaar 

Library Center by Olakhaan Trust -

Hamlet- Mari Wali Bhagal 

Oladaar is a village under the Kumbhalgarh Block of Rajsamand District, Rajasthan, and falls under its own gram panchayat. The Olakhaan Trust's library center is located in Mari Wali Bhagal, a hamlet within the village with approximately 40 households. The hamlet is about 1.5 kilometers inside from the main road, surrounded by hills and agricultural land, . The population is diverse — Bhil, Rajput, Meghwal, Prajapat, and others — but the Bhil community forms the majority.

Most houses are pucca, with a few mud and semi-pucca structures. Drinking water comes from personal wells and hand pumps. The nearest PHC is about 500 meters away. The hamlet has a primary school, and a higher secondary school is roughly 1 kilometer away. Most families earn around Rs. 10,000 to 15,000 per month, through agriculture and seasonal migration. Families, particularly from the Bhil community, migrate to Surat for work in sari manufacturing and to other places for construction work.

What makes this migration pattern a concern is its effect on children's education. At the time of the visit, several older girls were absent from the library center — they had gone to collect Mahua flowers, reflecting how children's time and labor gets pulled in different directions depending on the season and household need. Some children seen during the visit had dropped out of school at different points. The community observes Gavri Nritya, a sacred folk dance-drama, as its major festival, celebrated a few days after Raksha Bandhan, much like in other Bhil-majority hamlets of this region.

The library center in Mari Wali Bhagal is one of ten centers run by the Olakhaan Trust across ten villages of Kumbhalgarh Block. It has been running for about eight months at the time of the visit. The center is run by Mangli Bhil, a married woman with a child, who is a resident of the same village. The library has no fixed location and typically runs in common spaces — most often the primary school or an open area in the middle of the hamlet. It operates daily from 4 pm to 6 pm.

 The attendance register showed that an average of 18 children attend regularly. Girls participate in larger numbers, and the age group of attending children is roughly 7 to 15 years. Books and sports materials have been provided by the Trust, but more games and relevant reading material are needed to meet the growing demand. When children were asked about the center, they said it was very good, that they had a lot of fun, and learned many new things. Like the other Olakhaan centers, this library works not only as a space for reading and learning, but also as an information and cultural center - a place where villagers