Paschim Banga Kheria Sabar Kalyan Samity (PBKSKS) is also known popularly as Sabar Samity. It Started in the year of 1968 as a movement on forest rights by the Kheria Sabar tribe of Purulia. Later in 1989 it was registered under West Bengal Society Registration Act, 1961.

Our Origin : How We Came To Be

During the colonial era, forest was a habitation of the Sabar Tribe community as ruled by local rulers. Due to the stigma of born criminals under the Criminal Tribe Act,1871 these communities were socially boycotted, thus took shelter in the forest and remain isolated from the so-called civilized society. Hunting and gathering was the prime mean of their survival along with serving to local rulers. The independence in 1947 lead the transition phase when the property of rulers was handed over to the forest department of newly formed Indian government. Sabar tribes were compelled to leave the forest and had to face several brutalities and torcher form forest and police department. In order to safeguard the community and to exercise forest rights, a community collective in the form of ‘Sabar Samity’ came in to existence on 7th January 1968 at Kuda village of Purulia district which is currently known as Paschim Banga Kheria Kalyan samity.

Mobilisation : From ‘Daal Parab’ to ‘Sabar Mela’

The PBKSKS came into existence by the blood and sweat of nine founding members from Sabar tribe community of Purulia district. One of the founding member Naran Sabar was put into custody in false case for 2 months. This was the striking moment when some of the Sabar tribe people first time felt a need to organize the Sabar tribe community . They at first identified the need to organize the unorganized Sabar tribe community spread across the district and state. They extensively travelled to various remote places to make Sabar community aware and unite to form a union of Sabar tribe across the district. Thus, the Sabar samity was established on 7th January of 1968 with nine founding members at Kuda village. Stigma of Criminality and dislodgment of Sabar from forest were at the core of Sabar tribe’s plight. Hence, struggle for forest rights has been one of the most crucial components of Sabar development identified by founding members to organize the scattered community. Since then conservation of forest, water and land (Jal, Jangal Jameen) has always been the core activities of the Sabar samity.

Those Who Dared : Our Founding Members

In the absence of means of communication it was utterly difficultto bring together the Sabar tribe people from other villages and blocks to a common platform. Hence, the founding members organized a ‘Daal Parab’ folk art fair for Sabar in order to unite Sabar people from different parts of the district/state every year. During this folk-art fair, need of Sabar tribe unity, extreme needs and possible solutions were discussed every year. Gopiballav Singha Deo the ‘Sabar Pita’ (Father of Sabar) being one of the prominent founding members of Sabar Samity has played a crucial role in establishing and guiding the Sabar Samity along with other eight founding members. All nine founding members were from 6 different villages of four blocks of the Purulia district. Two of them Budhan Sabar and Suku Sabar were freedom ghters who even went to jail during colonial period. The samity gradually got members from all corners of the Purulia district. In the year 1983 Jnanpith awardee, social activist and renowned writer Mahasewata Devi joined the Sabar Samity as a ‘Sabar Mata’ to guide and support the samity as an acting working president. In the year 1983 the Daal Parab festival was renamed as Sabar Mela, the festival was graced by the presence of freedom ghter Mr. Lachu Sabar and freedom ghter Mr. Kanuram Sabar. Since then Sabar Mela has been organized every year to unite them, showcasing folk art and to discuss the needs and probable solutions of the Sabar tribe community.

Sabar Mela: 1995

Daal Parab at Jahanabaid: 1970

Brief History

The office of Pashim Banga Kheria Sabar Kalyan Samiti (PBKSKS) is located at Rajnowagarh village, about 30 KM from Purulia town. The organization started to address three core issues: Jal-Jangal-Jami (Water-Land-Forest). Social stigma, fundamental rights, atrocities against them etc. were part of the movement. Later other areas, e.g. legal support, livelihood, health, education etc. were included in the agenda. The key Achievements of the Samity is as follows:

1968-1975: In this period Kheria Sabar community organized itself for claiming forest rights. The Samity at that time took up the fight against the state as the forest department prepared to evict the Sabar tribe from the forest area. During this period the Samity, having strong collectivization, did not allow most of the Sabar tribes to be displaced from the forest, despite facing social boycott from the upper castes as well as police department. Our Secretary still recall that when he was 8 years old, after the first meeting of the Samity during late 60s, the police filed false theft case on every Sabar leaders who came for the meeting. They remained disguised for almost six months.

1976-1985: During this period the Sabars were able to settle down in designated areas, leaving the nomadic life behind. The Samity played a key role in this. However, they were able to get legal entitlement only after 1982. The first forest land entitlement was issued in 1982 in Ganga, Manga and Srika villages in Bandwan block. In 1983 Mahasweta Devi got associated with the organization as working President and this provided the much-needed courage to the Sabar for claiming forest land. Approximately one thousand families have been able to get forest entitlement in 150 hamlets.

1986-1990: The Sabars built houses in the forestland. The samity fought on issues of stigma against the police and administration. The Sabar Mela (fair) emerged as one of the important tools as it went beyond cultural programs and different stakeholders like political parties, academicians, members of the Judiciary, and state administration used to join the Sabar Mela. The core issues of the Kheria Sabars highlighted at the political arena of Kolkata.

1991-2000: This is the phase when the Samity joined hands with the government in the implementation of education programs. It used to run 60 non-formal education centers for children to encourage them to join school and 100 adult literacy centers. The work on handicrafts started and a training centre was initiated to facilitate links with the Ministry of Textiles and other agencies. The Samity built six community centers for the Sabars supported by Magsaysay Foundation, Indian Oil and others.

In the same period two writ petitions (W.P. No. 3715 of 1998 and W.P. No. 3446 of 2000) were filed in the Kolkata High Court. One was related to the custodial death of Budhan Sabar and another related to the under-development of the Sabar community. As a result of the second petition, the State secretary with senior Judges visited Purulia. This had helped to liaison with the state administration.

2001-2010: With the efforts of the Samity, ‘Antyodaya’ card was issued to all Sabar families in 2003. In same period the organization worked with UNDP on a project called pro-poor initiative program in 20 Sabar villages for education, land & irrigation development. In the same period a hostel with a capacity for 45 student was also constructed along with 20 new community centers. The Sports Authority of India selected five Sabar students for Archery in which Gopal Sabar won the Gold medal in the junior category at the national level.

2011-2018: The organization had to deal with internal crises. Gopiballav Singha Deo and the other founder member passed away. Mahasweta Devi started falling ill and finally passed away. Lack of fund forced the Samity to focus on legal issues only. Till date the Samity has been able to deal with over three thousand cases of which 18 are serious cases of murder.

2018-Present: The Samity took up development work with much vigour and persistence. The programs are aiming at holistic and sustainable development of the entire community. Here are the core initiatives of focus: Livelihood (Agriculture, Irrigation, Handicrafts, Animal husbandry), Health (Health Awareness, Drinking Water, Pregnant Women, Kids and lactating mothers’ health), Nutrition (Nutritional food and supplements for the kids, Pusti Bagan), Education (Community Learning Centers, Sabar Girls Hostel, Education assistance to high-school students, Higher education support, Forest Education), Biodiversity, Climate Change action and Adaptation, Restoration of Forest, Land and Water Conservation, Entitlements, Forest rights, Socio-legal aid and counseling, Fellowship, Preservation of Culture and Language.

The other activities are Sabar Mela, Handicrafts promotion, Emergency support, Youth camps, Health camps, Eye camps, Health awareness drives, Addiction control, Awareness drives against early marriage, Sports, Skill development and Women Empowerment.

Meet Our Founding Members

LACHU SABAR- The Freedom Fighter

HARADHAN SABAR

CHUNARAM SABAR

NANDA SABAR

NARAN SABAR

BUDHAN SABAR

SHAMBHU SABAR

MADAN ROY

SUKU SABAR

GOPIBALLAV LAL SING DEO

Who We Are

The Sabar samity/PBKSKS works with Kheria Sabar also known as Kheria Sabar, Lodha Sabar, Savara etc. The Sabars are one of the principal Munda-speaking tribes widely spread over hill regions within Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. The word Khaida/„Kheda’ is etymologically derived from rabbit. The people of Manbhum called them kheda ironically. Later the word Kheda was modified and variously moulded to Kheria or Kharia.

The Kheria Sabar tribal community, originally a nomadic hunter-gatherer group, was listed under ‘The Criminal Tribes Act’ of 1871 in British India. Later in 1952, the dreaded Act was revoked by the Government of India and the Kheria Sabar was ‘Denotified’ from the list but in practice, their miseries continue till today.

The Indian Forest Act of 1927, a replica of the British Act of 1865, denied this forest-dependent forager’s livelihood. Further blows to these nomadic landless forest dwellers came after the nationalization of forests in 1952 followed by the Forest Conservation Act 1980. The Sabars had no option but to enter into revenue villages in search of food. They resorted to stealing and lifting food and other essential goods for their survival.

Much awaited return of their rights over forests has been enacted as the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006. But in practice, the majority of their families are still waiting for actual benefits.

Now only around 40 percent of households are small and marginal cultivators having less than 1 to 2 hectares of agricultural land holdings. Hence 89 percent of them are living on daily wage and agricultural labour. Many Kheria Sabar families do not possess land papers, making it difficult for them to claim ownership and access government schemes. The land allotted to the Kheria Sabars is often barren and stony, making it challenging to grow crops and sustain them. The community faces limited access to resources, including water and fertile land, further exacerbating their struggles. They gather food items like wild fruits, roots, tubers, birds, rodents, frogs, snakes, fish etc from the forest regularly and especially during lean periods.

Sabars have a low literacy rate compared to other tribes staying there. Their overall literacy rate remains as low as 24 percent and female literacy is around 10 percent. On the other hand, due to the lack of access to quality and postnatal care, inadequate nutrition for mothers and children, lack of immunization coverage, malnutrition, and infectious diseases cause high levels of infant mortality and low life expectancy among the Kheria Sabar community.

Where We Work

PBKSKS has been working closely with Sabar tribe communities residing in Purulia and Bankura districts of West Bengal. Purulia district has the 2nd largest population of scheduled tribes in West Bengal. Purulia came into being as a district of West Bengal in 1956. Purulia is the westernmost district of West Bengal. The literacy rate of the district is 64.5% (much lower than the State average of 76.3%) thereby making its rank 17th in the State.

Tribal societies in Purulia have unique characteristics of their own. They basically live in forested mountainous areas and plateau areas of the district. They have distinct cultures, traditions, religions, festivals, languages and strong ethnic identities. Most of the Tribal of Purulia district being of Proto- Australoid group, speak in Santhali, Gond, and Kheria languages. Major tribal communities in Purulia are namely Santhal (60%), Bhumij (18%), Sabar (7%), Munda (6%), and Bihor (1%). Among the 20 blocks of Purulia, Sabar Samity works in eight Blocks namely – Hura, Puncha, Manbazar I, Manbazar II, Barabazar and Bundwan, Purulia-I and Balarampur. From these eight blocks, PBKSKS has reached out to 3176 families & 12344 populations under 44 Gram Panchayat. From 168 Sabar hamlets of the Purulia district, PBKSKS covered all villages in various schemes and Activities. In the District of Bankura, Sabar Samity is working in the 33 hamlets under Ranibandh block with more than 3000 population.