Diktats, boycotts and the fight for rights

For over two years, 45 toddy-tapper and 10 Dalit families in Nizamabad’s Tallarampur have allegedly faced a complete social boycott for defying their Village Development Committee’s (VDC) orders. Denied access to groceries, medical aid and social gatherings, they have been pushed to the margins of everyday life. The growing clout of VDCs and nearly 90 complaints of alleged excesses before the Backward Classes Commission bring the larger issue into focus, as Ravi Reddy finds during a ground visit