By Matters India Reporter

Patna, April 12, 2020: A Jesuit voluntary organization in Patna has distributed cooked meals to nearly 5,000 people in 13 Musahar hamlets in various parts of the capital city of Bihar.

The Manthan (Churning) of the Patna Jesuit Society took the initiative on April 11 in view of the nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of deadly coronavirus.

“We have distributed khichdi (rice mixed with lentils), rice, dal and chokha (mashed potato) to members of the ‘Mahadalit community’ or the most marginalized in society, in slums of Roopaspur, Khagaul, Shapur and Naubatpur,” said Manthan director Father Juno Sebastian.

He said they strictly followed social distancing norms while delivering the cooked food to the needy.

Father Sebastian thanked the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation for helping the Manthan “reach out to these needy people by providing the cooked food.”

The corporation handles the catering, tourism and online ticketing operations of the Indian Railways.

The Jesuit priest said said the Manthan members also distributed ration to 300 widows, elderly and sick people in 14 villages of Danapur and Bihita blocks. Other members in the team were Father Jose Kariakatt and Sisters Grace and Pushpika.

According to Father Sebastian, the coronavirus has badly affected people from all walks of life. “But the worst hit are people belonging to weaker sections. Murgiyachak Musahari, an old woman, told us that she had not eaten anything for the past three days. This is a very painful situation,” he added.

He said Manthan has been working in more than 50 Musahar villages in Danapur, Phulwari and Bihta administrative blocks of Patna district. More than 90 percent of the Musahars in these villages go to nearby towns to work for daily wages in construction works, cleaning roads and rag picking.”

Musahars are an aboriginal Dalit community found in the eastern Gangetic plain and the Terai. They are also known as Banbasi, and on the plateau as pasi. Their name literally means ‘rat-eater’ due to their main former occupation of catching rats. They are one of the poorest communities in Indian society.