Chinawal

The village has a Primary Health Centre and ambulance run by the state government. It is well-maintained and hence in February 2006 it was nominated for Maharashtra state level Anandibai Joshi Awards for meritorious services in public health. But the village has no private hospital with modern facilities for emergency treatment.[16] In 2013, Maharashtra state govt has launched Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Arogya Yojana for free medicare to poor people of the state of Maharashtra. Under this scheme, people receive free treatment in the selected hospitals at district places for 975 types of diseases and surgeries and govt bears cost of it up to Rs.1,50,000 per year per family. Poor villagers of the Chinawal village go to these hospitals at Jalgaon city to avail this facility. Govt arranges health camps all over the Jalgaon district from time to time and villagers take free treatment at any such nearest health camp.[17][18]

Gram panchayat elections

[19][20][21][22]

17 gram panchayat members were elected in the December 2012 elections

• Surekha Narendra Patil
• Shaikh Kalim Shaikh Nyajuddin
• Manish Sharad Borole
• Jayashri Nitin Patil
• Chandrashekhar Sudhakar Kirange
• Manisha Sunil Bhalerao
• Sanjivani Sharad Bonde
• Chandrakant Dongar Bhangale
• Rekha Jitendra Nemade
• Begum Sandu Tadavi
• Suresh Girdhar Garase
• Vinod Pundlik Bavaskar
• Shaikh Azgar Shaikh Siraj
• Gauri Yogesh Bangale
• Yogesh Suresh Borole
• Madhuri Yuvraj Mahajan
• Asha Kamlakar Nemade

[19]

Panchayat samiti and Zilla parishad

[23][24]

One of the oldest temples in Chinawal village, Ram Mandir

Another old temple, Maruti Mandir, in Chinawal village

Ganesh Visarjan during Ganesh Chaturthi at Chinawal village in 2014

Durga Visarjan during Navaratri at Chinawal village in 2014

A blue flag at Chinawal with Dhamma wheel and Bhim word which represents the Dalit Buddhist movement

Muslim prayer place Masjid in Chinawal village

The population of the village is predominantly theist. Philosophically the Hindu villagers believe in one god, but in practice the spiritual energy of the villagers is distributed in worshipping many deities and saints. In some corner of every Hindu home, a small temple (devghar/devhara) containing deities or photos of the deities can be found. If there is not enough space for the miniature temple, photos/deities are kept on a small wooden stool or fixed on a wall. Choice of the deities varies from home to home, but popular deities are Lakshmi, Shiva-Parvati, Vithoba, Saptashrungi, Ganesha, and Dattatreya.

The old tradition of long daily prayers with rituals has somewhat become extinct, though it is followed during the festivals and on special occasions. In daily prayers, people simply light a diya and incense sticks and pray with folded hands for a few minutes before continuing their work. The village has Ram mandir, Maruti mandir, Mahadev mandir and other temples. Some villagers go to one of these temples daily for prayer, others visit only during the festivals and on special occasions. Muslim villagers offer namaz daily and most of them fast during the month of Ramzan.[30]

The social evil of untouchability, which once plagued Chinawal village like any other village in India, has ended here, and those inhuman visuals have become a thing of the past. The Bara Balutedar system has also ended, and now any individual, irrespective of his caste, is free to do any work in the village or anywhere in India, though some villagers still prefer their centuries-old hereditary occupation if they find that it is convenient and profitable. There is no discrimination in public life on the basis of caste, but caste still plays an important role in personal lives of villagers, and intercaste marriages are very rare.[31]

Not only the caste system, but a centuries-old belief system is crumbling. A Brahman priest does not enjoy the same influence he would have had 200 years ago. Schools teach rational thinking and science, not traditional religious rituals and stories of gods or saints. TV has reached almost every home. The collective result of this is that many old traditions have either disappeared or receive less importance. Occurrences of pravachan, bhajan, and kirtan are on the decline. Every field used to have some presiding deity in the corner of field. That practice has largely disappeared, except for some small temples in a few fields or on the side of the road. The cruel practice of animal sacrifice in front of deities has become extinct long ago. Most of the 16 samskara rituals prescribed in the Hinduism are also long extinct. Some rituals like piercing ears and upanayana recorded in recent history are rarely seen now.

Not only rituals, but some deities have also disappeared. The tiger deity Waghoba and cobra deity Nagoba have disappeared, as the danger from tigers has ceased to exist and danger from snakes has become very rare. The buffalo deity Mhasoba also disappeared when the dominant occupation of the villagers changed from herding to farming.[32]

In this disappearing act of traditions and rituals, some traditions have remained constant, and some new rituals have emerged and gained popularity. Rituals of firecrackers, electric lighting, and greeting cards were added to the Vijayadashami-Diwali celebrations during the last few hundred years. Ganesh Chaturthi was an important household celebration before 1894, but now it has been transformed into a big public celebration with erected pandals on the streets, music and dance. In the last few decades, Navratri has also turned into a big celebration like Ganesh Chaturthi. The Holi celebration in the village was almost nonexistent just three or four decades ago, except for lighting holika at a few places. But now teenagers can be seen celebrating and playing with colors. Other festivals like Krishna Janmashtami, Gudhi Padva, Rama Navami, Hanuman Jayanti, and Raksha Bandhan are celebrated with traditional religious fervor, but do not receive much attention from the younger generation, while Hartalika, Akshay Tritiya, Vat Purnima, Nag Panchami, Kojagiri Purnima, Makar Sankranti, and Maha Shivaratri are celebrated in a subdued manner. Some festivals like Pitru Paksha, Pithori Amavasya/Pola Tulsi Vivah, Rotpuja, Kakarpuja, and the tradition of observing fast on days like Ekadashi are falling into oblivion.[33]

Most of the Muslims in Jalgaon district were originally Hindus from the Maharashtra and north India who, voluntarily or under force, converted to Islam during a period spread over centuries. A few of them are descendants of the Arabs who arrived in the Khandesh region to serve the Faruqi dynasty during 1370-1599. Leaving the past behind, they are all followers of the Islam religion, though the influence of the local culture can be seen in their food, clothes, and housing. Ramzan Eid, Bakri Eid and Eid-e-Milad are the biggest festivals of the Muslims. On Ramzan Eid, it is a tradition of the Muslims to send Sheer khurma for their Hindu friends. Some rich Muslims buy clothes for poor Hindus and this tradition has been maintained over centuries, barring the period of some occasional disturbances in the communal harmony of the village. An azaan is sounded daily by a muzim five times a day from the turret of a masjid as a call to assemble for the namaz. Along with daily namaz, some Muslims also worship Pir Baba. Every Muslim aspires to become a hajji by paying visit to the Mecca in his lifetime.[34] Dalits are emancipated from centuries old oppression in the society because of great efforts from B. R. Ambedkar and as a mark of respect, his birth anniversary, Ambedkar Jayanti, is celebrated like a festival. During the last few decades, statues and photos of Dr. Ambedkar, along with the dhamma flag, have gained immense cultural significance in the landscape of the village.[35]

The Ram Mandir in the Chinawal village was built in around 1863. Its property is the cause of dispute between Shri Ram Mandir Charitable Trust Chinawal and some villagers. A court case regarding this property dispute has been going on for many decades.[36]

The main crops grown by the farmers are bananas and cotton, with priority given to the banana. Kharif crops are harvested during the monsoon season. Water for rabi crops comes from wells. In the decades running up to 1990, flood irrigation was extensively used, due to which the water level in the wells dropped to an alarming level. Because of awareness programmes run by the farmer Vasantrao Mahajan, social worker Digambar Narkheda and Jain Irrigation Systems, farmers have started using agronomic practices, soil testing, drip irrigation, and fertigation to conserve water and increase productivity. These modern methods of cultivation were noted by a team of agriculture officers from the government of Kerala who visited Chinawal village in June 2004.[37] 99% of the banana cultivation in Chinawal village is under drip irrigation, which has increased per-plant yield from 15 kg to nearly 30 kg, averaging 65 tonnes per hectare.[42][43]

Bananas are cultivated on 72,000 hectares of land in Maharashtra, out of which the city of Raver's contribution is 22,000 hectares.[37][44] This heavy production of bananas, including that from Chinawal village, is exported to north India by trucks and railway. Raver Tehsil has three railway stations exclusively for loading bananas.[37]

Not everything goes smoothly. Farmers suffer loss due to a volatile market,[45] damage to crops due to intense heat[46] and storms,[47] non-irrigation of farms due to frequent load shedding,[13] plant diseases like karpa,[44] and the poor condition of roads in and around Chinawal village.[12] In 2012, the government recognized bananas as 'fruit' and extended weather-based crop insurance to banana crops, which is now helping the farmers to bear the losses.[48] But an uncertain market for bananas remains the concern. In 1992, due to the Ayodhya dispute, recession struck the industry very hard and farmers had to destroy their banana crops,[45] while in May 2014 the market price of banana fluctuated between ₹625-₹1000 per quintal.[49] Some farmers take loans from banks, co-operative societies, and friends for the cultivation of bananas, but often they can't repay loans and are pushed into poverty.[45] Despite these uncertainties, some better informed farmers like Vasantrao Mahajan and Dnyandeo Mahajan have successfully cultivated bananas for many decades.[37][50]

After the banana, priority is given to the cultivation of cotton, gahu and jwari. In pulses, first priority is given to harbhara, followed by udid daal toor daal, bhui mug and mung daal, while teel, maka, soyabin, bajri are also favorite crops of the farmers. Cultivation of rice is non-existent in the Chinawal village.[51] Some farmers have started growing turmeric and potatoes as alternative crops to the banana.[52]

Satpura range is 10 km away from the Chinawal village, so water from the Suki dam cannot reach through canals to the farms in Chinawal village. As a solution, eight water wells alongside the bank of the Suki River are artificially recharged by releasing water in the bed of the river. Filling of these water wells leads to increase in the water level of 600 water wells in Chinawal and other surrounding villages. This water is used for irrigating the farms.[53]

All farmers of the Chinawal village cannot afford to buy modern agricultural machinery. Only a handful of farmers own tractors and threshers, which are rented to the other farmers. Tractos are used for the initial laborious work of tilling the hardened soil. Then later on, an ox-driven plough, is used for sowing and weed control.[54]

Farmers keep part of their produce for their own consumption, some may be sold to other villagers, and then the surplus produce is sold in the Raver and Savda markets, both of which are less than 20 km away from the Chinawal village.[55]

Other needs of the villagers like spices, oil, salt, stationery, and medicine are provided by the retail shopkeepers who buy these articles in wholesale from the neighbouring towns and sell it to the villagers. A bazaar is periodically held in Chinawal where small traders sell various commodities at negotiable rates.[56] 973 villagers are involved in non-agriculture work to offer what farmers cannot produce. Their occupation includes domesticating dairy cattle like buffalos and cows for dairy products, retail stores, service and repairs, healthcare, hotels, tobacco selling etc.[1] There are some very poor villagers who work as the agricultural labourers and they get work only during particular seasons. The government supports them with the food scheme Antyodaya Anna Yojana.[57]

General life and culture of the Chinawal village. Some villagers at a bus and auto rickshaw stop in the village.

In the dress of male Hindu villagers, the old fashion of white pheta, topi, dhoti, loose pyjamas, kurta, uparne, barabandi, kopri, angarkha, and dagla has largely disappeared and it has been replaced with shirt, banyan, T-shirt and pants of different colors. In the dress of female Hindu villagers, the old fashion of nauvari sari/paatal, bangles, nathni and earring has largely disappeared and it has been replaced with sari, petticoat, blouse and salwar. The tradition of wearing mangalsutra remains, but the fashion of kunku has largely been replaced with bindi.[70]

The dress of Muslim men is much like the dress of Hindu men, and can not be differentiated unless Muslims wear taqiyah and sherwani, and keep a beard. The dress of Muslim women is the hijab.[71]

Representative image. Shevbhaji from Khandesh.

The Indian breads bhakri and poli are the villagers' main staple foods. Along with these breads, various types of bhaji are eaten. At weddings, festivals and special occasions, varan-poli (or varan-batti) and vangyachi bhaji (curry made of eggplant) are typically favored, while baigan bharta, vangyache bharit, brinjal bharit, eggplant bharit, udid dal curry, shev bhaji, pooran-poli and kheer are treated like banquet. Thecha-bhakri is eaten like fast food as it is easy to prepare and carry in the farms. Non-vegetarian villagers prefer goat meat over chicken. In general most of the dishes of the Maharashtrian cuisine are part of the villagers' dishes.[72]

Irrespective of caste and religion, children in the village play various games for physical development. Children from 4-10 play simple games like running around and tagging each other; rope swinging; imitating train, motorcycle and horse-riding; driving old bicycle tires on the streets; playing with marbles, and playing red hands. Older children play abadhabi, lapandav, aandhali kosimbir, bhavra, kite-flying, volleyball, badminton, and musical chairs. Skipping rope, hopscotch, fugdi, sagargote and songtya (Indian version of backgammon) are popular games among the girls. Kho kho, kabaddi, viti-dandu, langdi, atya patya are traditional games played at school. Lately children have started favoring video games on cellphones and computers. Most of the traditional games are falling into disfavor and eventually all traditional games are overshadowed by cricket; many children can be seen playing cricket anywhere, even in small rooms.

The forms of entertainment have also changed in the village over the ages. Bhajan, kirtan, Bhagavad Gita parayan, pravachan, gondhal, bharud, jogwa, jatra, yatra, and dindi were major sources of entertainment for the villagers in bygone eras. Tamasha, lavani, and natak were favorites of the younger generation. After 1950, most of these were slowly replaced by the phonograph, radio, movie theater, audio cassette player, video cassette player, CD player, television, computer and cellphone. Bollywood films and TV have played a major role in transforming entertainment in the village. Remnants of the past can be still found in the form of an occasional bhajan, kirtan and parayan, but they are now performed for the religious purpose and not for the entertainment.

Something has remained constant over centuries: for some villagers, wine and tobacco are traditional sources of recreation.[73]