As a US-based Parsi woman chronicles the history of the African origin Gujaratis, popularly known as Siddis, DNA takes a look at one of the interesting micro-communities of Gujarat.
The deprived Siddi community is struggling to earn its livelihood and keep its traditions and culture alive in India.
The government has declared the community a scheduled tribe (ST), still no benefits reach the community, complain its members.
The Siddigoma Al Mubarik Charitable Trust was founded in 2001 by Farida Al Mubarik, who is a Siddi. Farida has dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of the community.
She gave up the aspiration to become an athlete and is still unmarried.
“Being an ST, I got a job in a bank. My career was progressing smoothly, when one day I realised that I was working only for myself. What about my community? This awakening came when my grandfather and I attended a conference at Ratanpur on the Siddi community,” recalls Farida.
Soon after, she established the trust which works to educate the community and also resolves problems faced by members.
Two major problems faced by Siddis, she says, are lack of education and absence of a good leader.
“Many families have not been given ST certificates so that they can avail government benefits. When approached, officials at Rajkot say they will be issued soon, but this does not happen. Moreover, some officials tell us to show them proof that we are STs. At times, the government invites other communities for a conference, but leaves us out,” says Farida.
Morarji Desai had called her community 'India's kachha (raw) gold', she stresses.
Many students and volunteers from abroad come to stay with the community to understand its culture and traditions.
“They contact the trust and I ask them to stay with me. One group from Mumbai taught English and general knowledge to many Siddis,” she says.
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