Haryana Assembly polls: Parties chase Dalits; voters chase papers
Gurdeep Lal flips through a small booklet issued to him in 2015 by the Haryana Building and Other Construction Workers Board, which lists 22 welfare schemes aimed at providing for every eventuality in life and also death. In the nine years that he has been enrolled with the programme, he laments, he has not been able to access any of these schemes.Mr. Lal, 39, belongs to the Baazigar community and runs a grocery store in Chapra village in Haryana’s Shahbad Assembly constituency. As a Scheduled Caste voter, he has emerged as a prime target for the major political parties in the State’s upcoming election.He runs his finger through the promises of financial support listed in the schemes: ₹51,000 for wedding function of girls; ₹3,000 to purchase a cycle; ₹3,500 to buy a sewing machine; and ₹15...