The doorstep delivery campaign of Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, held between October and November this year, has led to the musahar (rat-eating) community being linked with government welfare schemes for the first time in Jharkhand’s Garhwa district. Musahar community is among the most marginalised and backward communities and comes under the Scheduled Caste category.

They are found primarily in Bihar and the districts of Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh bordering Bihar.

“During the door-to-door survey done as part of the Apki Yojana, Apki Sarkar, Apke Dwar programme, we could identify nearly 77 musahar community members who were deprived of government welfare schemes and started the process of linking them with various schemes suiting their needs. I have already asked block development officers and executive officers of civic bodies to continue with the survey work and identify all such marginalised community members and link them with welfare schemes. We have set a target of January 20, 2023, to complete the exercise across the district. So far, we have identified nearly 927 musahar persons in the district,” said Garhwa deputy commissioner Ramesh Gholap.

The deputy commissioner informed that the 77 musahars were residing in Dharmadiha village in Kalyanpur panchayat of Garhwa.

“All the beneficiaries were linked with pension schemes, Mukhyamantri Pashudhan Yojana and ration cards, while 10 families were approved for Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Awas Yojana (rural housing scheme). Drinking water arrangements are being made to provide pure water to all families. Animal sheds are being made available for duck, goat and pig rearing by connecting five musahar families,” said Gholap.

“The musahars usually travel from one place to another and did not possess their Aadhaar card too as they claimed to have their cards burnt in a village fire a few years back. We are working with UIDAI higher authorities in Bangalore to trace their old Aadhaar cards,” said Gholap.

In the survey conducted in Kalyanpur Panchayat of Garhwa, it was revealed that many children are not going to school.

After this, on the instructions of the Garhwa deputy commissioner, 13 such children were enrolled in the school and given a school kit. The block development officer and the school management have been directed to review these children from time to time so that they do not leave.