Siddis Of Kutch

Abstract

Siddis have come here and settled from Africa. They have been in touch with various people with different cultures. The contacts are for many generations and hence they get affected by these cultural impacts. There is hardly any thing like ; traditionalism ; in their social structure. It is an intermix of some cultural traits usually from nearby surrounding. Siddis have their ; Panch ; in each village / area of their residence, which is known as ; Jamat ; . There is also a central ; Jamat ; for all Siddis of Kutch. It is headed by Patel; who presides over a meeting. The Patel of ; Jamat ; is usually honest, efficient and helping type of person who wants to serve his people. It is a good institution for solving their day-to-day problems. It is a socio-religious body. It also employs a Kotwal, who conveys people about Jamat ; s meetings. The tenure for Patel of Jamat is not a fixed period. He continues to serve people till the people want him. Jamat is a social welfare body of Siddis. It brings solution to most of their conflicts. It also examines cases of theft and beatings; and prescribes appropriate punishment after Inquiry. The decision of Jamat is acceptable to all Siddis. Besides Jamat even Muzavir of Dargah; i.e. the religious leader of dargah holds higher position among Siddis; and he enjoys their respect. Siddis live in poverty. They do not have any traditional, occupation after independence and they follow petty occupations for their livelihood. They cannot overcome the problems of poverty through such occupations. They are often exploited by other sections of society, and they face many more problems. Problems sometimes create their distinct identity; and people start believing that Siddi Badshah are idle and easy-go-lucky; that their houses are like those of labourers and that they do not value education etc. etc. Most Siddis of Kutch (over 55 percent) live in town of Bhuj. Those in rural areas have kutcha houses with a room and verandaoh. The houses get often destructed during heavy rains in monsoon. As such, the Siddis in urban areas have more difficult problems, as regards housing. Mostly their houses are rented ones, where facilities are least and rents are unaffordable. Thus, housing is a major problem for Siddis both in urban and rural areas. Some Siddis in rural areas have small piece of land holding. But they do not have adequate equipment's; and therefore they cannot get enough crop from the land. There is no irrigation also; and therefore they produce very little from land. Both in urban and rural areas, they depend more on casual labour work, which is not constant and continuous. Siddis in urban areas find labour work in nearby factories or market. The women go for household work. Summerilly, almost all Siddis live life of BPL. The level of literacy among Siddis is very low. They donot give much significance to education; and hold the view that, education or no education, one will get food to eat. They argue that education is a waste; because if a person goes to school, who will do some work and earn to supplement family income ? Such philosophy and such thinking make them remain illiterate. Parents themselves, being illiterate, do not understand the value of education. Boys attend schools up to primary level, but girls hardly reach up to Std II or III. The negligence for education is not only a rural problems, it is there in urban areas too; the difference being therein is only in terms of degree. Thus, the socio-economic- education conditions of Siddis in urban and rural areas of Kutch is backward and most of the families live BPL life