Hyderabad: It was just the beginning of monsoons in 2001. A young collector, G Asok Kumar (1991-Batch IAS) has recently taken charge in Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh. But he never thought that his stint as the collector & district magistrate will change his life as a bureaucrat, along with hundreds of Pothurajus forever. This is the story of an officer and how his acts brought social transformation, in all its true sense 20 years back, writes APAC News Network.com.
Pothurajus were a set of people who belong to the scheduled castes in Andhra Pradesh. They were the priests of the scheduled castes. They were divinely ordained many duties. Starting from dancing around the dead bodies, being present in any and every auspicious functions at home to sacrificing hebuffaloes (Pothu in local language) before the start of the paddy plantation to get good crops- Pothurajus played a very important role the village social structure of Andhra Pradesh.
These set of people were never allowed to cut the hair and this was followed by generations after generations. Not only that, If it is a dance in the Gavu festival he has to bite the jugular vein of the lamb and bleed it to death…Yes, you read it right! that was happening even 20 years back also. This is not the end of the saga of Pothurajus.
More important is his role in the life of many hapless young girls in the village. He, empowered by the divine tresses, does the sacred duty of marrying a girl at the age of 5 or so to the local deity. The young bride dedicated to the local deity becomes a “Jogini”, who is the epitome of ultimate human exploitation. She matures in the hands of the village elders and land lords to become a “common property resource” of the rich and powerful.
It was all going like this as a normal tradition till a young officer entered the scenario as the District Collector of Nizamabad. G Asok Kumar has played significant role in various social transformation initiatives over the years of his service, but Pothuraju episode was the beginning.
Now posted as the Additional Secretary & Mission Director, National Water Mission, Jal Shakti Ministry, Government of India, G Asok Kumar’s eyes are all brightened up and emotional, even today when he talks about the phase of his bureaucratic life of 20 years back.
‘When I first came to know about Pothurajus and Joginis, I decided to intervene immediately. But I knew there would be backlash from many sections of the socio-political fraternity of the rural settings as standing for the right of Pothurajus and Joginis and completely stopping this age old tradition was like standing against the entire system,’ said G Asok Kumar.
But he didn’t stop his mission of bringing social transformation by bringing Pothurajus out of their misery.
So what did he do? He invited some Pothurajus in his own home and initiated discussion. Pothirajus were pleasantly surprised to see a very inquisitive but receptive Collector and felt confident to pour their heart to him. They narrated their plight and the sufferings they undergo in the name of tradition. Asok narrates, ‘all of them were of same opinion- they want to the see the end of their pathetic misery.’
In a month’s time, the number of Pothurajus who were willing to come out of these barbaric tradition started swelling from 20 to 100 to 200. Luckily for the Collector, by then the elections to local bodies were announced by the government. The village elders got busy with the Zilla Parishad elections and they did have time or inclination to take the silent revolution brewing in their backyard seriously. Collector came up with an idea which was symbolic yet effective. He decided that in a function, some 40 off Pothurajus will cut their hair and will officially declare coming out of their tradition.
So on 21 June 2001, the function held. More than 500 Pothurajus and 400 jogins gathered along with thousands of villagers and several media personnel. Mass Hair cutting of Pothurajus made headlines next day in many newspapers along with some coverage in TV news media. People hailed young collector G Asok Kumar’s initiative as the game changer for social transformation. That was the beginning. Though some section of village community resisted this and even some section of political class also opposed to this fearing backlash from communities which might affect their election prospects. But ultimately they had to give in. The small fire which started on 21 June 2021, soon became a movement in the entire district and other parts of the state.
‘It even got praise from the then Governor of Andhra Pradesh. Not only that he along with his wife were present in a function later, in which mass marriages of jogins were held and Governor himself handed over the marriage certificates to them,’ informed G Asok Kumar. Not only ending the inhuman tradition (which many called it), the young collector also ensured financial empowerment of the Pothurajus and Jogins through various government programs. And today all of them are living their own financially secured life and with new profession or small scale business.
How do you feel when you look back into the episode of your life as an IAS officer?
‘The smiling faces Pothurajus and Jogins inspires me even today to work for social upliftment of people,’ replies G Asok Kumar, with a smile.
