Country: Bihar, India

Group: Musahar

Date Finalized: 11/1/2023

Team: Lacey Hurst (lead), Amar Hammad, Ashley Thompson

Content Warning: violence, caste-based discrimination

Approximate Time Period: 1997 – 2022

The Musahar are an “untouchable” caste who have traditionally worked as agricultural laborers for upper-caste landowners (Sahay, 2019). They rarely own the land where they build their homes (Sahay, 2019). The Musahar are categorized as Mahadalit or “the most downtrodden caste” within Bihar (Sahay, 2019). From 1996-2011, violence between Ranveer Sena, an upper-caste militia, and Naxalites, a Maoist group, forced Musahars from their homes in the village of Mouri (Banerjee, 2011). In the Lahsuna village, Kurmis evicted dozens of Musahar families and looted their homes in December 2004 (Kerkar, 2010). As of 2010, many of those Musahar families were still displaced (Kerkar, 2010). In 2017 in the village of Chhamasia, the Yadav, a dominant caste, and special Bihar police forces raided and burned 80 Musahar homes. In 2022, the Muslim community in Palamu demolished Musahar homes and evicted them from the land (Indiatoday.com, 2022). The Muslim groups claim money was exchanged for the land and the Musahar were justifiably evicted (Indiatoday.com, 2022). Today, the Musahar remains one of the most discriminated castes within Bihar (Sahay, 2019). They remain an impoverished landless caste with little political power due to their status as an untouchable caste (Sahay, 2019).

Data Quality: Data quality is rated 2/3 because there are several resources detailing the displacement of Musahars however some sources may be politically biased.

Sources

  1. Banerjee, S. (2011, July 10). The Hindu. Musahars struggle for resettlement in upper caste milieu: post-ranveer sena, they are still cut off from life’s essentials. Retrieved September 29, 2023. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/musahars-struggle-for-resettlement-in-upper-caste-milieu/article2216572.ece.
  2. Indiatoday.com. (2022, August 30). 50 dalit families forced to move out of homes allegedly by muslim mob in jharkhand palamu village [Video]. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/video/muslim-mob-drives-dalit-families-out-of-jharkhand-village-1994745-2022-08-31.
  3. Kerkar, B.J. Displaced poor struggle against eviction in Patna. Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation. (2010, February 7).
  4. Sahay, G. R. (2019). Substantially Present but Invisible, Excluded and Marginalised: A Study of Musahars in Bihar. Sociological Bulletin, 68(1), 25-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038022918819357
  5. The Caravan Magazine.com. (2017, October 29). After an stf raid, a musahar village is burnt, allegedly by yadavs; ig claims the villagers set their own houses on fire because they are “mahadalits”. Retrieved September 29, 2023. https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/bihar-musahar-village-raided-burnt-stf-yadav.