JOHAR JHARKHAND

Who speaks for the Adivasi’s right to the forests?

2011-05-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

Thaindia News

Sunday, April 17, 2011 1:39:58 PM by ANI ( Leave a comment )

By Aloka KujurRanchi, Apr 17 (ANI): Much is at stake for the Adivasis in Jharkhand. Inhabitants of a region heavily forested for hundreds of years and rich in mineral and ore deposits, they have lived in close contact with nature, turning to the forest for many of their needs.
That itself has been the basis of the protection of forests, which have remained the wealth of the region. This has been probably the most defining character of not only Adivasis in Jharkhand, but tribal communities across the world. Adivasis have an inherent right over forest produce and this is implicit in the nature of their traditional relationship with the land and forests. The governing classes have been constrained to recognise it as such from the time of the colonial rulers.
After Independence and the making of a modern nation state, things began to change. The inherent and even unquestionable right of the Adivasis over forestland now began to be questioned. Indeed, the nature of their link with the forest was now threatened by the new economic and industrial forces, which came into play. This in a nutshell is the root of a conflict between forces industrialisation for an exploitation of the rich natural resources of the region and adivasi way of life, which is based on retaining the forests. What is crucial in such a debate or even conflict is the stand by the government of the land. Whose interest will it protect and to what extent? Indeed the challenge for any government and policy maker is to evolve a development model, which focuses on the interests of these forest communities yet opens out the potential of the region to forces of modernisation and puts in place a people-centric development.
It is, however, easier said than done. Let us put it in perspective. Jharkhand is governed under the V Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which applies to states having a dominant tribal population. There exist a slew of measures, of Laws and Acts, inherited from the colonial period, and others passed by Parliament meant to augment, strengthen and protect interests of the adivasi, his link with the land, water and forests.
Of course, these did not come as largesse from an enlightened establishment. Many of these were hard fought battles, which mark a little known history of the adivasis in this eastern region. The Chota Nagpur Tenancy Agricultural Act (CNT) 1908 and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Agricultural law (SPT) 1949 have been a result of such agitation. The CNT expressly states that agricultural land cannot be sold or transferred to a non-adivasi and certainly not for commercial purposes.
Infact both these Acts are singular in their provisions for protection of adivasi lands, traditional self-governance and preservation of cultureThe agitation and the issues that it stood for have remained a truism for the region over the last few decades while new political systems have marked history beginning with Independence. More recently in 2000, the formation of new states including Jharkhand carved out of the erstwhile larger ones also signified a change. What did these changes signify for the adivasis?
With priorities of the ruling classes changing, with larger industrial and commercial interests taking predominance, there has been over this period, a gradual but palpable dilution of the commitment towards protection of these forest communities. According to sources, there has been a loss of 22,00,000 acres of land due to breaches in the existing Laws ever since IndependenceThe ruling classes have unfortunately shown themselves as complicit in the crime. In 2003, a committee was formed to make amendments in CNT and SPT Acts. In a nutshell, the entire effort has been to push the people out from the forestland and make it available for the industrial and commercial lobby eying the land, the forest produce and what lies beneath the ground.
What this government and any government needs to unequivocally do is to ensure that this is protected and the Adivasis have an unfettered rights to the forests, centered around their traditional relationship with the land. Instead, there has been a reversal, a violation of these rights in subsequent measures including through legislation.
The Land Acquisition Act 1894 upholds the supremacy of the sovereign for total colonization of any territory in the name of ‘public interest’ The 2007 Amendment to this historical Act dealt with the rehabilitation and compensation of communities having traditional rights over lands taken over by the government The devastation that such measures have wreaked is all too obvious. The Torpa region, 90 km from Jharkhand’s capital, Ranchi stretching over about 12,000 acres is home to the Munda Adivasis.
Breathtakingly beautiful, dotted with mountains, forests, rivers and canals, this has been protected by the CNT Act and the community enjoyed control over all collective resources of the land. Now, this land has been marked to be allotted to Mittal Steel in sheer violation of not only the spirit, but the letter of the Acts that are in place. The area marked is not only forestland but fertile. According to the CNTAct, such a transfer requires the express consent of the Gram Sabha. These are not isolated cases. Across its pristine landscape, tribals are getting displaced due to various developmental projects. Baitala’s Munda Adivasi are displaced by HEC. The Adivasi of Barwadih, Manika, Vishnupur, Satbarwa forest region are struggling for resettlement. Meanwhile the plunder continues. According to Munsawar, a villager: “Baitala region was once very rich. But the mafia has cleared the forests, the forests department doesn’t take any action against the mafia, but when the local people cut wood or take forest produces for their routine use, they are sent to jail. People are unaware of their rights on the forest as the Right on the Forest Act is not properly publicised here.”The powers that be are playing for very high stakes in Jharkhand. The communities most vulnerable to this onslaught are clearly the ones, who will lose not only the physical access to land but see the destruction of a way of life which has sustained them for generations.
Not that they are giving in without a fight. The Bhumi Raksha Morcha has started a movement covering 44 villages, which are threatened by such displacement. Such movements will need to be augmented and supported by all those who believe development models need to fine-tuned to the intrinsic and organic needs of a settled community and not the other way round.
Writing for Charkha Development Communications, the author feels the government should protect the rights of Adivasis and ensure they have unfettered rights to the forests, centered around their traditional relationship with the land. (ANI)

More at : Who speaks for the Adivasi’s right to the forests? http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/feature/who-speaks-for-the-adivasis-right-to-the-forests_100526848.html#ixzz1NtDR6h00

In Jharkhand, the forest is like a mother to Adivasis

2011-05-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

2011-05-04 16:50:00

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For Adivasis, the forest is their provider, taking care of food, medicine, firewood and herbs. Forest produce like lac and mahua are sold in the market for cash. Small wonder then, that for the Adivasi, the forest is like a mother's bosom.
So, why is it that this harmony is lost on those who make policies? The government's program, in the name of Joint Forest Management, highlights this lack of understanding, this denial or refusal to accept and enhance the equations that exist on ground.
In Jharkhand, this has a tragic consequence. The state is blessed by nature including mountains and luxuriant teak forests. Teak not only symbolises the culture and way of life of the Adivasis, it also has a very important role of retaining ground water levels.
Ask any Adivasi, and you will get an anguished response to this. Seeing the depletion of forest cover, they recognise the threat to not only to their physical existence, but also their entire belief system, cultural and social practices, and in a larger sense their identity. This may be seen as subjective, and even a non-intellectual response, but it is for the government to go about collecting data and putting together an objective forest policy framework.
In Bonda village, in Chanho block, the collection of fuel from the forest is affected. Chandra Dev Tana Bhagat, a villager rues, "In and around the forest, all such trees are being planted, which is not useful. Its leaves can't be used.
According to him, the forest has a wisdom, an innate sense of what to allow to grow and what to throw out. Yet, there is now an outside force that is derailing this natural process. Bhagat goes on to say, "Suddenly, the government has started planting useless trees which can damage the traditional forest property."
Not that the communities have been passively accepting their fate. There has been noise and agitation around the issue.
Soma Uraon of Chauda village says, "The people who live around the forest have been fighting against this new form of encroachment for many years".
Yet it is so much water off duck's back and government continues its mindless plantation, its replacement of precious forest wealth with cheap alternatives.
The question is why? Is this sheer mindlessness or is there a larger conspiracy at work? he answers are not so hard to find, you simply need to join the dots. The teak wood in the forest is priceless and is vanishing at an alarming rate. It is an open secret that the timber mafia is entrenched in the area. .
The thick forests of Khunti are completely destroyed because of wood smuggling. In Ormanjhi block, teak worth probably lakhs has been cut. Infact to put a price on it would be a disservice, and still undervalued. Its worth in terms of its value to the Adivasis is infinitely more.
At another level, the suppression of the rights of the Adivasis continues. The police acting upon the complaint of the Forest Department arrest forest settlers of the region slapping on cases of encroachment of forestland.
The pity is that these incidents, this fear and insecurity continues despite the existence of the Forest Act, 2006 which clearly safeguards the rights of the forest communities in relation to the forest and its produce.
Sub section 5 of Article 4 of the Act states that unless the process of claim of trespassers on the forest land is not complete, the police or the officials of Forest Department cannot remove them from the place, Yet the police, mostly at the behest of the Department continues to slap cases against the hapless villagers. Is this then not a violation of the Law?
Such cases abound. In Adasadam village of Jarideeh block the police slapped cases against 15 villagers. According to the FIR, these villagers are booked for cultivating land meant to plant trees.
What has been overlooked is that the eight families who have been affected are domicile since 1939 and have 'zamindari' receipts to corroborate their rights on the land. They also have receipt for the land that was given to them in 2005. So what is the justification for such arbitrariness, such flagrant violation of the law of the land?
There is none but then why are those that are inflicting injury not being brought to book? Do we need a super-cop, a super-authority to oversee the functioning of those who have been vested with power and authority in the first place?
The Charkha development communication network feels that the government needs to wake up to the importance of nurturing forests and the rights of the communities connected with it.
The preservation of the bond of the Adivasi to the forest, the spirit of protecting and nurturing it should be the policy. It would make governance and development in tune with the needs of the people, not antithetical to them. By Aloka Kujur (ANI)

All About: Ranchi

http://epaper.risingkashmir.com/2342011/default.asp

2011-05-21T18:50:00.001-07:00

Strange bedfellows

2011-05-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

Aloka kujur, Charkha Features (www.deccanherald.com)

Gizmos and ‘adivasis’ represent two opposite ends of a pole, yet Chinese products have brought them together! Aloka kujur explores this strange reality in the interiors of Jharkhand.

Political issues or the trade imbalance with China notwithstanding, there is a serious Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai bonhomie happening in Jharkhand, a region which falls under the V Schedule of the Constitution as having a large scheduled tribe (ST) community. Politics makes strange bedfellows but trade and commercial interests also are great levellers of intellectual, ideological, regional or cultural differences. Often, it is based on treaties and agreements signed between governments and heads of state. Sometimes, it is in response to a demand of goods on the other side of the border, a need which finds its way through other channels.

Rather than sermonise about it, condemn or alternately condone it, it may be useful to examine the underlying factors which make the goods of one country find a bustling market in another. The study becomes even more interesting when this reflects the needs and aspirations of rural communities living totally cut off from the world of consumer goods. This is exactly what is happening in Jharkhand, where the adivasi or tribal communities are joyfully buying up goods which traditionally they never used, or perhaps had no access to. Suddenly the sale of mobile phones, batteries, torch, radio, TV, LCD, DVD, camera and electronic toys has picked up and doing brisk business.

Of course, Jharkhand is not the sole state to be bitten by the Chinese bug. Over the last few years, Chinese products and goods first made their presence felt in India, when customers, mostly from the middle class, woke up to the plethora of ‘Made in China’ goods ranging from watches to garments to crockery. They were cheap, useful and readily available, meeting a variety of household needs. That these were lapped up by a burgeoning middle-class, largely urban, is not difficult to understand. Driven by a need to acquire all the items of a good life has been an aspiration for this class, particularly the lower middle-class. The catch was that their income was not commensurate with their needs, and this is a gap, which was amply, and indeed cleverly filled by Chinese products, a perfect fit.

What is more difficult to understand is how this fit works in the tribal areas of Jharkhand. The adivasis who inhabit these lands are known to be ‘forest dwellers’ living off the forest produce like lac, tendu leaves, tamarind combined with some agriculture for their needs. Their way of life and socio-cultural patterns are entwined with the forest, worshipping nature, and in a deeper sense, protecting the natural resources.

Yet, it is curiously amongst this community which has carried these traditions from time immemorial, preserved the unique culture and dialects, that indeed Chinese goods have created a niche. It is perplexing, this coming together of opposite poles of lifestyle, one based on an intuitive and symbiotic bond with nature in its pristine form, and the other, based on acquisition of a large number of cheap utility items; ‘utility’ as defined by a popular consumerist culture. A clash of civilisations, it would seem, but in Jharkhand, it is apparently not so, with both co-existing and even dovetailing into a composite whole.

Suddenly, the dark huts of the forest, abode of thousands of adivasis, are starting to
shine with the white light of Chinese torches. Mobile phones, say a decade ago, were out of reach for these people, yet obviously the yearning was there. Especially amongst those who migrated in search of livelihood and were unable to buy a mobile phone to be in touch with their family. This gap was filled after 2000, by cheap Chinese electronic goods, including mobile sets, and spread literally like bush-fire, lapped up by the local population. This was not all. Labourers in agriculture or industry across the region were attracted to the new gadgets which opened up a new world for them. It was inconceivable for an adivasi to buy a branded colour TV or any electronic item produced in India by an established company. It was simply beyond their means.

Yet, these items represented a world of aspirations, entirely different from what their culture and tradition bestowed on them. The lure of material goods, of a lifestyle that boasted of these and brought modern facilities into their life was something they consciously reached out to. It was not inherited along with the socio-cultural patterns sanctified by their symbiotic link with the forest. This latent, unexpressed need has now found an outlet. Gizmos and adivasis represent two opposite ends of a pole, yet Chinese products have brought them together! This too is an aspect of an adivasi aspiration, and not necessarily what the intelligentsia and ‘culture-vultures’ of our age have categorised them into.

Indeed, it can be an eye-opener for policy makers and activists alike. That an adivasi can also make a conscious choice and aspire towards acquiring consumer goods reflects changing socio-economic priorities. It may sound simplistic and perhaps too premature to arrive at any conclusion, but at the same time, it should not be ignored. There is a view that it is imperative for the world at large to ‘preserve’ the old way of life of the tribals in its pristine glory. The popularity of Chinese products makes a hole in the theory. Safdar, an organisation working in the region, made a study into usage of battery-run TV, mobile, emergency light, torch charger, and pen. Their findings confirmed the fact that all these had become necessities in the lives of rural population. There is also another aspect of this proliferation of goods and that is the livelihood opportunities for those who stock and sell these products. In sum, everybody is happy.

There has been much talk about the lack of development in tribal areas and government’s plans to allocate resources towards regions which, since India’s independence, have remained on the fringes. Perhaps, this is one way that the tribal communities living here have spoken, in an unpretentious way about their aspirations and priorities, in their journey towards this larger development. It would be wise to factor in this aspect while planning for the development of tribal areas, and the move to mainstream adivasis inhabiting these into the rest of society.

[ Post Comments ]

By: ranjitgrover
On: 17 Apr 2011 08:06 pm

it only goes to prove that the social mores are not hard wired into the forest dwellers. their way of life is imposed on them by the financial and local circumstances. they too have the normal "wants" and "needs" that are taken as natural in an ordinary citizen of the nation. the fact is that the romanticized part of their life is a myth. they have a hard life. an LED solar rechargeable light is a great comfort for them. it is not a luxury.

Reply | Report abuse

Has the paradigm for women labour changed?

2011-05-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 02, 2011 5:46:25 PM by ANI
(www.Thaindian News)

By Aloka KujurRanchi, Mar 2 (ANI): Across millions of households in India, straddling the rural and urban, there seems to be a tacit understanding that women of the house including girls should put in long hours of work to ensure the functioning of the house and the comfort of all members.This assumption invariably is followed by another one that the work done by women across millions of households across the country does not amount to a contribution to the family or society or the economy. In a nutshell, the hours of cleaning, cooking, rearing children, looking after the sick and elderly, fetching water, cattle rearing and a multitude of tasks especially in agricultural based homes is simply unrecognised. The term for it is ’service’, in the larger ambit of ‘family and social duty’ and is perceived to be different from the contribution of men, which is ‘labour’. This view pervades across society. In a personal or subjective sphere, this would amount to an undervaluing of women, leading to discrimination. In a larger arena or a more objective sense, this engenders an erroneous evaluation of the women’s contribution to society, and a miscalculation of her worth to the economy. If one were to calculate or put a figure on it, the picture could change drastically. The wheels of social progress, the growth of the economy is today dependent on the labour of women. This needs to be quantified so that it is recognised and due value given to it. It should also lead to changing social perceptions, which view women’s role in society as ‘unproductive’. Apart from domestic or household work, more women are likely to be involved in ‘undocumented’ or ‘disguised’ work like farm labourers, domestic or artisan. According to a 1991 World Bank Report this could be 90 per cent of working women.Women are also less likely to be counted into the official workforce as many of these overlap with the ‘household’ work category. In fact it is crucial that such errors are dispensed with and the leaders in society and indeed the political leadership in any region or country factor this in while planning for economic growth and social development. From the four walls of domesticity, this view pervades the larger labour market. Invariably women get lower wages than men. It is true that in modern economies, the opportunities for women have opened up and they ‘man’ or perhaps to use a more appropriate term, they ‘woman’ diverse fields from agriculture, construction, healthcare, banks, schools, marketing, science, research, infact practically every field or endeavour of human activity.Yet they remain marginalized; and are a category of citizens who provide equal work on lower wages. Given the entrenched systems of thought and practice, it has been a long struggle by women’s groups and social activists of questioning fundamental attitudes of discrimination towards women, one that reflects in economic disparities and of course in social mores. Women in India are gradually becoming aware of their rights, but the pace is painfully slow. That the odds are heavily stacked against them is a given; the challenge is how to go around it.Movements that demand ‘Equal Wages for Equal Work” is one. Clarity and vision needed to give women their due place in the social, economic and political spheres of the country. Understandably this is a huge challenge. It calls for not only changing stereotypes, but also evolving policies, allocating funds and ensuring implementation. One of the crucial areas, which are crying out for this kind of attention, is the issue of women labourers working in the unorganised sector.According to 1991 census, alarming 95 per cent women belong to this category. Do they get equal wages for their labour as men? What about facilities which women workforce requires and infact is an agenda for many social and political movements. Maternity benefits, crèche or day-care facilities for children, toilets form this agenda which governments are then pressured to adopt. Again, the extent to which women are taken care of shows the maturity of not only the women’s movements but the stage of evolution of any society across the world. We are sadly not very high on this scale. A report prepared by the Lok Sabha Standing Committee on Labour under Sudhakar Reddy in 2006 outlines the unorganized labourer social security. Women who do not get salary, wages or benefits from the market are excluded from the term ‘labourers’. Nor does it provide for labour rights, or social security rights, for women.It then seems preposterous to say that women, the large unorganized, unrecognized workforce is at the crossroads.Terming the ‘labour’ of women as ’service’ or ‘devotion’ or ’shramdaan’ does not hide the calumny; it brings it out in even sharper ways. The Constitution of India seeks to promote and sustain democratic values, social justice and equity.The Government of India is meant to take this as the foundational guideline and evolve policies to further a prosperous, just and equitable society. So why are women sidelined in countless ways as she goes about her business of living, earning, nurturing, and contributing to society? Why this endemic discrimination, both at the work place and at home, her supposedly safe haven? Infact, the Charkha Development Communications, feels the safe haven needs to extend beyond the home to the larger society and nation. Only then can our society and this nation really evolve. (ANI)

Adivasis: Pawns in Development?

2011-05-21T18:16:00.000-07:00

new kerala new.com by ANI

By Aloka Kujur, Ranchi, Jan 15 : Down the ages, the adivasi community, which inhabits what is presently Jharkhand, have lived their lives closely connected with the land, mostly the forests that both sustain them and they in turn nurture.

They have faced challenges in the past that threatened the symbiotic connection between their lives and natural resources be it water forests and land (Jal Jangal Jameen).

Historically, the dreaded famine of Bengal in the 1770's the famine triggered off a wave of migrations from Bengal into adjoining lands the Santhal dominated areas of present day Jharkhand, notably Potka. Communities like ' Sundi' (Mandal) and 'Baniya' (Monalaha) made this their home and lived amongst adivasi communities notably the 'Bhumij' and 'Santhali'.

The clash between the non-adivasi and the adivasi way of life and thought was based on the relationship to Jal-Jangal-Jameen. For adivasis this was a hallowed bond, life would be inconceivable without it. For others, it was a more practical approach sans the reverence. Infact many of these communities were engaged in non-forest activities for their livelihood like trading ('Khoja' in colloquial terms) and wine-making.

Today the contemporary realities in Jharkhand are quite different yet these differences still play themselves out in the modern context. The land is still largely inhabited by adivasis. The predominant face is still very much the farmer, the agricultural labourer. Society is still defined by the bond that communities share with the land.

Yet super-imposed on this picture of the yore is another super-structure of economic and social relationships. In essence, this is a reflection of the industrialization and globalisation that is sweeping not just this state but also the entire country.

Industry is not new to Jharkhand. This too like the socio-economic patterns of society has been part of another kind of tradition. Beginning as early as 1905, the present-day Jharkhand has been home to major engineering works and large companies like Tata Steel, Bokaro Steel Corporation and Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC).

Today, Jharkhand with its immense deposits of mineral and iron ore is being eyed as a gold-mine of opportunities by industries. The political establishment regardless has gone all out to open the doors to the modern industries.

Quick on the heels of the formation of the state of Jharkhand, carved out of Bihar, Chief Minister Babulal Marandi set the ball rolling in 2001 with Industrial Policy. This proposed a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) from Barahi to east Singha Bhoom in Hazari Bagh.

This was taken forward by another leader Arjun Munda who by 2005 had signed a number of MOUs with industrialists on a variety of projects to exploit the state's natural wealth. To facilitate these, the political bosses perceived a need to amend the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act, considered safeguards for Adivasis.

Around the same time a Delhi based company Bhushan Steel and Power Limited approached the state government with its project and rather summarily, without a formal MoU began the selection process of land for its unit. In 2006 came the MOU with Mittal Steel, which is hailed by the government as a landmark achievement. 14 villages in Potka were identified.

Yet through this trajectory of industrialisation in Jharkhand runs a parallel story of displaced lives, unfulfilled promises and broken dreams. Right from the inception of industrialization, this has been the case. All industries today stand on lands of adivasis who have been displaced, been promised jobs but find themselves on the margins today.

A typical scenario runs like this: Factories which acquired lands by promising employment gave one member from a displaced family the job. But what about the others given the fact that there would invariably 6-7 potential job-seekers in any one family?

The army of the landless and the disposed increased while the select few got jobs. Clearly Jharkhand's massive industrialization drive was not based on the sound principles of equity and social justice.

There is another factor , a more technical one which drives this 'joblessness' Jharkhand has been primarily an area for the mining industry. The lack of technical expertise amongst the locals prevented their large-scale recruitment. Perhaps one of the family members got absorbed into the 'non-technical' field say a peon. For the rest, industry preferred recruitments from outside, skilled persons who were readily available.

Obviously the social commitment of industry was not advanced to a level to plough resources into training of the local populace. Nor did the Government step in which is a serious flaw. It should have woken up to the immense potential of industrialisation in the state and linked it to creating new livelihoods.

The trend to downscale and trim down workforce only added to the angst of the people. It makes sound business sense perhaps but has a human fall-out. Ramesh Sharan is economist in Ranchi University does not envisage big industries creating employment opportunities.

The recent economic recession was bad news for this shrinking job base. Every company retrenched its employees. This has coincided with Arcelor- Mittal's plans to set up a steel plant in Potka region. It has unabashedly declared that its work force would be drawn in from outside.

Kumarchandra Madi a long-time social worker in Potka says "The existence of Adivasis is linked with their culture. Their livelihood is linked with water, forest and land. 62 years' experience of Independent India tells us that the Adivasis lost everything in this rat race of development. A recent statement of the Minister of Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, recognises that the single biggest threat to forests comes from development and growth.

There is a growing realization in the policy circles that this needs change. Control over forest land needs to rest more and more with the local community and farther away from the government. Otherwise the drive for industrialization and growth as currently defined in the economic sense would continue to threaten the country's forests.

This means a community-led approach to forest conservation. This holds out a hope for the adivasis in Jharkhand who have unwittingly found themselves in a game or a race towards 'development'. This has nothing to do with their interests; infact runs contrary to it. Charkha Development Service points out how this more holistic, inclusive concept of replaces the current exploitative one will depend on the sagacity of the government and the political will to stand by it.

--ANI

IT triggers migration in Jharkhand

2011-05-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

OPED | Monday, January 11, 2010 The Pioneer
This is not necessarily good news. A lot more needs to be done in rural areas, writes Aloka

We are living in times when the world has shrunk. The marvel of Information Technology has brought people, places and ideas closer. It is time to think about what this phenomenon is doing to villages in Jharkhand and rural areas across the country where agriculture is in peril. In the face of rising input costs, inadequate attention by the state and lack of alternate livelihoods in the agriculture sector, small and marginal farmers are being pushed to the brink. They are compelled to join the multitude of rural folk migrating out of their villages in search of livelihoods to become labour force in urban industrial hubs.

Migration was once regarded as a last-ditch move but it has now become a matter-of-course. There was a time when only small farmers and agricultural labourers used to migrate to cities from villages following drought or floods. Now, people from all sections of rural society are migrating to cities. While poverty and failing agriculture are the factors that result in mass exodus, there is another ‘pull’ factor at work hidden but powerful.

And that is Information Technology which has virtually connected villagers from remote areas to economic prospects in cities. Its affect on the minds of rural communities cannot be trivialised. Earlier it was through word of mouth that rural folks would come to know about employment opportunities outside their villages. In this day and age, means of communication have improved and much more is known about the kind of work, payment, etc than in the past.

There are other compelling reasons for this ‘communication-induced’ migration boom which lie in the emergent economic forces that rely on capital-intensive and not labour-intensive industry. These economic forces ‘need’ cheap labour to migrate to urban centres, where capital is concentrated so that the wheels of industrialisation can be kept running. In fact, the extension of railways, road networks in addition to the spread of telephone and even internet have all come together to create and maintain the emerging economic patterns of society.

The underlying problem is larger, that of development or a warped form of development that is based on allowing big companies to swallow villages, forests and mountains and build urban centres of prosperity.

New technologies have also often deprived people of their livelihood options. Instead of addressing the needs of the rural communities in remote areas, the focus is on centralised development.

Whatever the factors leading to this skewed development model, the effect is quite tangible. Besides, the migrants face immense difficulties in new areas of their settlement. Whether it is crossing the rural-urban divide or coping with differences in cultural and social patterns in other regions, the migrants face identity crisis and are bereft of the support structure that was accessible in their villages. Therefore, a problem which began as an economic one becomes a social one.

Probably, the most affected are the children. With the head of the family often being the one to migrate, children grow up devoid of the presence and support in their formative years. The attention to their schooling, food, medical needs and the imparting of values that take place seamlessly within families in rural areas becomes a casualty.

There is possibly an even bigger casualty that does not figure either as a statistic or an accepted social indicator. With the face of migration changing, instead of groups, people are migrating individually for better and more lucrative prospects. Earlier the migrant group would stick together and customs, cultural patterns and social equations would continue to flourish as they did back in village. There would be interfaces with different communities in the new areas leading to an exchange of ideas and knowledge. It has also helped to soften the barriers of caste and region. But the change has also created an ugly scenario. People are pursuing individual goals even in the migratory circuit and thus are estranged from each other. A village society and economy which is based on collective strength and co-existence is giving way to individualistic way of life marked by a lack of concern for the collective.

The new Government in Jharkhand has its work cut out quite clearly as it has to take measures to make agriculture profitable for farmers so that they stay back and stick to it. Industry and new economic activities can be on the agenda but not at the cost of what sustains the livelihoods of vast sections of its population.

More at stake than bird flu

2011-05-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

The Tribune chandigarh

by Aloka

IT seems that bird flu has now come to stay in this country much like foreign companies which reached the land and then overtook the traditional economy and industry. A fatal disease, which affects poultry in the rural areas, this strain of virus seems bent upon finishing off traditional cottage industries in the rural areas.

Most of the areas affected by this disease are largely tribal where farmers have taken to poultry breeding as a source of income for tribal and rural families over generations. Particularly now , as current trends go, chicken has become part of the food platter across the country and in fact the world over, giving a big push to this indigenous industry .

From the traditional breeds of chicken, which were once sold in the local village markets or Haats, the demand has opened up new markets on a larger scale. As this trade grew, “broilers” replaced the traditional breeds of chicken fetching a higher price.

Bird Flu, however, threatens to destroy this budding industry. Over time, it has received a wide coverage in the national media resulting in culling of millions of birds. The attempt has been to kill millions of traditional breeds in the rural and tribal areas.

If one just steps back to get a wider picture of serious health hazards facing our people, then the attention given to bird flu seems gigantic and out of proportion. In our country, the problem of malaria is widespread in both rural and urban areas taking lives of hundreds of common people.

Now one can clearly see the absence of chicken in rural areas. In contrast to the reports in the press and the nation-wide hysteria, rural communities have a perspective. They say that it strikes at the fundamentals of their economy, way of life in which they see a larger design of economic powers that are pushing them out of this space, the markets that they have so naturally accessed.

The neglect of other life-threatening diseases in comparison to the attention and resources ploughed into curtailing bird flu is apparent to village locals. Padah Raja and social activist Polus Hember of Adaki panchayat maintains that malaria is more devastating than bird flu in our country.

On the ground the situation is pathetic. For many of those living in rural areas local availability of medical facilities or even transportation facilities to reach hospitals are sorely lacking, thus leaving them at the mercy of the killer disease. Yet it is not reported in the media in the way bird flu gets widespread coverage. Ironically, bird flu has not claimed a single life

Malaria is a disease which is rampant and can be cited to illustrate the gravity of the health hazards that common people face. There are several dreaded water borne diseases which take a heavy toll as well. Diarrhea, typhoid, dysentery, cholera kill millions every year.

For scores of rural communities across the country, access to potable water lies at the core of these diseases and their vulnerability towards it. Polluted water leads to the widespread prevalence of these diseases. Malnutrition and hunger stalk the land while diseases like leprosy cause ravage.

In hospitals in villages across the country, there are neither doctors nor medicines available. People are forced to go to cities for treatment an excruciating effort for rural people, one which not many survive. Those who survive face a financial ruin as they do not have resources to meet the escalating costs of healthcare. Often have to take loans against their land to pay for their treatment which they are unable to pay back.

In large parts of our country malaria claims lives in the absence of adequate public health facilities for the poor to access. On a lesser scale but equally pathetic is the situation of leprosy patients. The government claims it has eradicated leprosy from India.

Belying this claim is a leprosy colony which exists just four kms away from Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. The government has constructed mud huts which house the 500 affected families. Basic facilities are poor, abysmal.

There is no availability of power or provision for sanitation. The 10 kg of rice provided by the government to each family is often rotten and worm-infested. People prefer not to take this rice and instead rely on begging.

Diseases widely prevalent like malaria and those on a smaller scale like leprosy are taking a huge toll on human lives. This is apparent to anyone who even visits villages. It is, however, not apparent to the government nor the media. It does not move them enough to act upon it.

Meanwhile, those who are poor and struck by disease continue to die from it as a final solution, a chilling statement of our times. In the midst of such raging problems, we continue to focus all our attention on bird flu, putting everything else on the backburner. Is this justified?

— Charkha Features

Rural jobs scheme fails to stop migration

2011-05-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

PED | Monday, August 31, 2009
May 22, 2011 6:32:21 AM
The Pioneer Delhi

Tribal women in many blocks of Jharkhand are leaving their homes to earn a livelihood elsewhere, writes Aloka

While the UPA Government gets ready to take its flagship programme NREGA to the next phase of implementation, some niggling doubts and unresolved issues of the previous phase of the NREGA and its present level of implementation need to be addressed.

Recently, there has been a surge in migration from rural areas with a largely tribal population in Jharkhand. Promise of jobs under NREGA has not left much here to one’s imagination. If the Government claims of providing jobs to the people in the remotest villages, why are they migrating in droves, leaving behind their homes and lands? According to various estimates, last year alone about 80,000 girls moved from Jharkhand to Delhi. The migration is mainly from tribal areas of Gumla, Giridih, Ranchi, Hazaribagh and Lohardaga. A large number of employment agencies that have sprung up in Ranchi, Gumla and Delhi for assisting these girls in getting jobs are a testimony to this disturbing trend.

Interestingly, a law was passed two years ago which clearly provides for an unemployment allowance to the targeted beneficiaries who are not provided with the stipulated 100 days’ of work and the ensuing wages under NREGA.

Poor villagers complain that the employment guarantee scheme has not benefited them in anyway. “It is impossible to meet the needs of my family with the wages earned by one member which is what the Government provides. This cannot cover even basic needs like food,” says Etwa Oraon of Tuki colony in Mandar block. Oraon’s daughter Rameeya has gone to Delhi in search of work. Many young women from Mandar, Budmu, Raatu and Kanker blocks have found employment in brick kilns in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

The large-scale migration of women is not only a reflection of the lacunae in the NREGA but also at several implementation stages of the scheme. There is a strong nexus of middlemen and contractors at the block level which corners the benefits originally meant for poor women. NREGA implementation in Jharkhand is characterised by fake muster rolls, delayed payments and irregularity in job card distribution. In the absence of panchayat elections, Gram Sabhas in several villages have been inactive, thus adversely affecting implementation of the scheme.

In Budme block 40 women who worked for a week to dig a pond were not paid any wages by the contractor. These women had no choice but to join the bands of migrating workers. In another instance one Sukri Oraon was provided work for only six days but in her job card it was entered as 15 days. However, even for the legitimate six days of work Sukri did not receive any wages. The experience has left her bitter and today she has no illusions about the much-touted programme. Sukri, who has now moved to another city where she has found work, say that the NREGA cannot provide work to poor women like her.

One must, however, remember that unlike other states Jharkhand has unique geographical features and local communities are not entirely dependent on farming to earn a livelihood. Non-farming activities are very much part of their earning sources. Thus, wages for labour through NREGA would be highly appropriate in the region.

While many other women leave their homes and prefer working in coal mines in other districts of the State where they get a comparatively better wage of Rs 200 a day than a mere Rs 73 under NREGA, the reasons for doing this is quite clear. For the Government and its authorities at the programme implementation level it should be a wake-up call which reflects the inability to translate the potential of NREGA to transform the lives of the poor.

Gross irregularities mar the lofty claims of job guarantee

2011-05-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

The pioneer
May 22, 2011 6:29:57 AM

There has been a deep disconnect between the intent of the NREGA and its implementation on ground, writes Aloka

While the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has been hailed as a socially relevant legislation addressing the concern of livelihood for impoverished rural masses, there seems to be a disconnect between its intent, principles and the translation of these on the ground.

In the two years since the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was implemented in the Manatu block of Palamu district, Jharkhand, those for whom the law was enacted find themselves left out in the cold. Those who are poor, unemployed, and for whom the Government’s provisions held out a ray of hope, find that now vanishing.

Sadly, the failure starts at the early stages of implementation. Panchayat sevak, who plays a key role in the implementation process, rejects several applications on the ground that the applicant’s name is not in the BPL list. In what has been a blatant disregard for the provisions of the Act, in some villages, applicants were rejected for being women.

Further, the job card were not provided to villagers who had applied for it and were found eligible. The irregularities are not the preserve of errant panchayat sevaks alone but seem entrenched in the system of local governance itself. In Jharkhand, the Gram Sabha is supposed to choose the work according to peoples’ choice, supervise it and do its social auditing. At the level of the panchayat, the planning and implementation of the chosen work is supposed to be done. Registration of families, applications for the work, distribution and allotment of work are primarily panchayat’s responsibilities.

In Manatu, however, things are otherwise. The Gram Sabha was not consulted before choosing the work and an announcement was made to construct ponds whereas most of the villagers wanted wells to be dug. Nor was information on construction of wells, roads or bridges displayed in Panchayat offices which is required.

Violating the rules and withholding vital information seem to go hand in hand in the implementation process. Effective communication is the key to take this legislation to the common people. Information on wage rate, name of implementing agency, cost of the project and date of beginning of work are to be displayed at work sites, which are rarely found in sight.

For instance, according to the rules, a person who is eligible to get work under the scheme and does not get it should be paid a fraction of the minimum wages, which has to be paid by the State Government. The display of this vital information is conspicuously missing at all work sites.

Corruption runs like a common thread in the entire chain of operations. Many villagers claim to have paid Rs 100 as bribe for getting their job cards. It has also come to light that each applicant was being charged from Rs 35-50 for getting photographed for the job card.

To make things worse, there have been cases of discrimination where several families headed by women were not allocated the job cards. On many occasions, Muslims were intentionally left out and those belonging to the Yadav caste were given preference.

The muster rolls were supposed to be filled on a daily basis and a copy of it was to be made available at the programme office as well as at gram panchayat level. The muster roll must be available at the work site also. This was far from the ground reality in Kusmatad, Chunka, Senari, Pakriadeeh, Hamhari and Jashpur, where there were simply no muster rolls at the work place. In Jaspur village, thumb impressions of workers were taken on empty muster roll. In several places, wages were not given accordingly.

There is obviously a deep disconnect between the lofty principles of the Act and its implementation on the ground. Unless these are addressed and a high degree of accountability is injected into the system, the NREGA rather than helping the poor to break out of poverty will only reinforce the social dynamics which keeps them poor.

Chinese consumer products popular in Jharkhand (From ANI)

2011-05-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

Ranchi, Feb 20: Political issues or the trade imbalance with China notwithstanding, there is a serious 'Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai' bonhomie happening in Jharkhand, a region which falls under the V Schedule of the Constitution as having a large tribal (ST) community.|
Politics makes strange bedfellows but trade and commercial interests also are great levelers of intellectual, ideological, regional or cultural differences. Often it is based on treaties and agreements signed between governments and heads of state.
Sometimes it is in response to a demand of goods on the other side of the border, a need which finds its way through other channels.
Rather than sermonize about it, rather than condemn or alternately condone it, it may be useful to examine the underlying factors, which make the goods of one country find a bustling market in another.
The study becomes even more interesting when this reflects the needs and aspirations of rural communities living lives cut off from the world of consumer goods.
This is exactly what is happening in Jharkhand where the adivasi or tribal communities are joyfully buying up goods which traditionally they had no use for, or perhaps had no access to.
Suddenly the sale of mobile phones, batteries, torch, radio, TV, LCD, DVD, camera and electronic toys has picked up and doing brisk business.
Of course Jharkhand is not the sole state to be bitten by the Chinese bug. Over the last few years Chinese products and goods first made their presence felt in India, when customers mostly from the middle class woke up to the plethora of 'Made in China' goods ranging from watches to garments to crockery.
hey were cheap, useful and readily available meeting a variety of household needs. That these were lapped up by a burgeoning middle-class, largely urban is not difficult to understand.
Driven by a need to acquire all the items of a good life has been an aspiration for this class particularly the lower middle-class.
The catch was that their income was not commensurate with their needs and this is a gap, which was amply, and indeed cleverly filled by Chinese products, a perfect fit.
What is more difficult to understand is how this fit works in the tribal areas of Jharkhand, The adivasis who inhabit these lands are known to be 'forest dwellers' living off the produce of the forest like lac, tendu leaves, tamarind combined with some agriculture for their needs.
Their way of life and socio-cultural patterns are entwined with the forest, worshipping nature and in a deeper sense protecting the natural resources.
Yet it is curiously amongst this community, which has carried these traditions from time immemorial, preserved the unique culture and dialects, that indeed Chinese goods have created a niche.
It is perplexing, this coming together of opposite poles of lifestyle, one based on an intuitive and symbiotic bond with nature in its pristine form and the other based on acquisition of large numbers of cheap utility items; 'utility' as defined by a popular consumerist culture.
A clash of civilizations it would seem but in Jharkhand, it is apparently not so, with both co-existing and even dovetailing into a composite whole.
Suddenly the dark huts of the forest, abode to thousands of Adivasis are starting to shine with white light of Chinese torches. Mobile phones, say a decade ago were out of reach for these people, yet obviously the yearning was there.
Especially amongst those who migrated in search of livelihoods and were unable to buy a mobile phone to be in touch with their family.
This gap was filled after 2000 by cheap Chinese electronic goods including mobile sets and spread literally like bush-fire lapped up by the local population.
This was not all. Labourers in agriculture or industry across the region were attracted to the new gadgets, which opened up a new world for them.
It was inconceivable for an adivasi to buy a branded colour TV or any electronic item produced in India by an established company. It was simply beyond their means.
Yet these items represented a world of aspirations, entirely different from what their culture and tradition bestowed on them.
The lure of material goods, of a life-style that boasted of these and brought modern facilities into their life was something they consciously reached out to.
It was not inherited along with the socio-cultural patterns sanctified by their symbiotic link with the forest.

This latent, unexpressed need has now found an outlet. 'Gizmos' and 'Adivasis' represent two opposite ends of the pole, yet Chinese products have brought them together! This too is an aspect of an adivasis aspiration and not necessarily what the intelligentsia and 'culture-vultures' of our age have categorised them into.

Indeed it can be an eye-opener for policy makers and activists alike. hat an adivasi can also make a conscious choice and aspire towards acquiring consumer goods reflects changing socio-economic priorities.

It may sound simplistic and perhaps too premature to arrive at any conclusion but at the same time, it should not be ignored.

There is a view that it is imperative for the world at large to 'preserve' the old way of life of the tribals in its pristine glory. The popularity of the Chinese products makes a hole in the theory.Safdar' an organization working in the region made a study into usage of battery run TV, mobile, emergency light, torch charger, and pen.

Their findings confirmed the fact that all these had become necessities in the lives of rural population.

There is also another aspect of this proliferation of goods and that is the livelihood opportunities for those who stock and sell these products. In sum, everybody is happy.

There has been much talk about the lack of development in tribal areas and government's plans to allocate resources towards regions, which since India's independence have remained on the fringes. erhaps this is one way that the tribal communities living here have spoken, in an unpretentious way about their aspirations and priorities in their journey towards this larger development.

Writing for the Charkha Development Communications, the author feels it would be wise to factor in this aspect while planning for the development of tribal areas, and the move to mainstream adivasis inhabiting these into the rest of society. By Aloka Kujur
Copyright Asian News International/DailyIndia.com
China new’s. net, indiatimes.com, .newkerala.com, n.news.yahoo.com, .anhourago.in,
.china-focus.net

Impact of population outburst on the Globe:

2010-08-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

Aloka Ranchi

The huge population of India, which is fast growing has become a cause of concern for the country. It has left indelible impact on land, water resource, food, forest, green space, and others such things. The growing population has required more habitat, more industrial units to satisfy the myriad needs, mining et al. This has direct bearing on the land, forest, water resource and things like this. The space for wild life is decreasing as industrial and mining units are growing at a high speed in order to create room for mass employment of a huge manpower. As a result, it is creating ecological imbalance. The wildlife in acute shortage of habitat, which has to be secluded, is coming out into the villages in search of food and place to live in. This has put wildlife in direct loggerhead with human beings.

The population in India as at 0:00 hours on 1st March 2001 stood at 1,027,015,247 persons. With this, India became only the second country in the world after China to cross the one billion mark. The 2011 Census of India, exercise for which has already begun, may touch the 120 crore population mark.

India's population rose by 21.34 per cent between 1991 - 2001. The sex ratio (i.e., number of females per thousand males) of population was 933, rising from 927 as at the 1991 Census. Total literacy rate in India was returned as 65.3 per cent.

Source: Provisional Population Totals : India . Census of India 2001, Paper 1 of 2001

Population of India . Religion, caste: Although India occupies only 2.4 per cent of the world's land area, it supports over 15% of the world's population. Only China has a larger population. Almost 40% of Indians are younger than 15 years of age. About 70% of the people live in more than 550,000 villages, and the remainder in more than 200 towns and cities. Over thousands of years of its history, India has been invaded from the Iranian plateau, Central Asia, Arabia, Afghanistan, and the West; Indian people and culture have absorbed and changed these influences to produce a remarkable racial and cultural synthesis.

India Population : India accounts for some 2.4 percent of the world's landmass but is home to about 16 percent of the global population. The magnitude of the annual increase in population can be seen in the fact that India adds almost the total population of Australia or Sri Lanka every year. A study of India's population notes that India has more people than all of Africa and also more than North America and South America together. Between 1947 and 1991, India's population more than doubled.

Throughout the Twentieth Century, India has been in the midst of a demographic transition. At the beginning of the century, endemic disease, periodic epidemics, and famines kept the death rate high enough to balance out the high birth rate. Between 1911 and 1920, the birth and death rates were virtually equal--about forty-eight births and forty-eight deaths per 1,000 population. The increasing impact of curative and preventive medicine (especially mass inoculations) brought a steady decline in the death rate. By the mid-1990s, the estimated birth rate had fallen to twenty-eight per 1,000, and the estimated death rate had fallen to ten per 1,000. Clearly, the future configuration of India's population (indeed the future of India itself) depends on what happens to the birth rate. Even the most optimistic projections do not suggest that the birth rate could drop below twenty per 1,000 in the coming years.

The upward population in India spiral began in the 1920s and is reflected in intercensal growth increments. South Asia's population increased roughly 5 percent between 1901 and 1911 and actually declined slightly in the next decade. Population increased some 10 percent in the period from 1921 to 1931 and 13 to 14 percent in the 1930s and 1940s. Between 1951 and 1961, the population rose 21.5 percent. Between 1961 and 1971, the country's population increased by 24.8 percent. Thereafter a slight slowing of the increase was experienced: from 1971 to 1981, the population increased by 24.7 percent, and from 1981 to 1991, by 23.9 percent.

Population of India growth in the years between 1950 and 1970 centered on areas of new irrigation projects, areas subject to refugee resettlement, and regions of urban expansion. Areas where population did not increase at a rate approaching the national average were those facing the most severe economic hardships, overpopulated rural areas, and regions with low levels of urbanization.

The hilly, inaccessible regions of the Peninsular Plateau, the northeast, and the Himalayas remain sparsely settled. As a general rule, the lower the population density and the more remote the region, the more likely it is to count a substantial portion of tribal (see Glossary) people among its population (see Tribes, ch. 4). Urbanization in some sparsely settled regions is more developed than would seem warranted at first glance at their limited natural resources. Areas of western India that were formerly princely states (in Gujarat and the desert regions of Rajasthan) have substantial urban centers that originated as political-administrative centers and since independence have continued to exercise hegemony over their hinterlands.

The vast majority of Indians, nearly 625 million, or 73.9 percent, in 1991 lived in what are called villages of less than 5,000 people or in scattered hamlets and other rural settlements. The states with proportionately the greatest rural populations in 1991 were the states of Assam (88.9 percent), Sikkim (90.9 percent) and Himachal Pradesh (91.3 percent), and the tiny union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (91.5 percent). Those with the smallest rural populations proportionately were the states of Gujarat (65.5 percent), Maharashtra (61.3 percent), Goa (58.9 percent), and Mizoram (53.9 percent). Most of the other states and the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were near the national average.

Family Planning does not seem to succeed:

True, the literacy rate of the country has increased over the years and many families have highly educated people now. But, even today, families prefer boys over girls. In search of a boy, several families can be noticed going for more that two kids or at times till they get a boy.

More deaths from malaria than birdflu

2009-07-08T23:25:00.000-07:00

Aloka

The disease named birdflu has reached in the country as far as the foreign companies have reached। Birdflu is a fatal disease, which affects poultry in the rural areas. This could be seen as an attempt to finish off the traditional cottage industries in the rural areas. Most of the areas affected by this disease are largely tribal where farmers take to poultry breeding.On the other hand we have problem of malaria, which is widespread in both rural and urban areas in India causing death of hundreds of common people.Poultry has been a source of income for tribal and rural families since ages. Over a period of time, the chicken became a part of the food platter all over the world and hence poultry became a big business.As this trade grew, “boilers” replaced the traditional breeds of chicken as they fetched higher price. Earlier chicken was sold in local village markets but then gradually domestic market replaced this. Thus the problem of birdflu got wide coverage in national media resulting in culling of millions of birds. The attempt has been to kill the traditional breeds in rural and tribal areas.One could observe while visiting the rural areas that one doesn’t get to see chicken any more. Mani Singh, a resident of Van village said, “Sixty years back no such diseases existed but now in the garb of birdflu, poultry in rural and tribal areas is being killed. It seems that there is an attempt to push packaged food.It is clear that the birdflu scare in international market has affected the local poultry industry.” Padah Raja and social activist Polus Hember of Adaki panchayat is Ranchi Distract said malaria is more devastating than birdflu in our country. So far not even a single person has died of birdflu in our country whereas millions have perished because of malaria. The national media doesn’t cover this whereas birdflu was given so much coverage. It is clear that not enough is being done to eradicate malaria whereas this worst affects those living in the hinterlands. They don’t have medical facilities neither do they have transportation facilities to reach hospitals. Thus media has become a tool in the hand of the western markets.There are several waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid, dysentery, cholera, tuberculosis, malaria etc, which kill millions every year. Most of the people in rural and urban areas suffer from the problem of polluted potable water. Thus in rural areas people die of diarrhea. In addition to that people suffer from many other diseases such as leprosy, malnutrition etc. People die of hunger in rural areas. Ninety eight percent of the expenditure on public health services is being borne individually by the patients. There are hospitals in the villages but they have neither doctors nor medicines. Many of the victims have to go to cities for treatment and they die in the process at times. Those who survive get ruined financially and are not able to recoup. They often have to take loans against their land to pay for their treatment.Satendra Yadav is a social activist in Marupidi village under Budum block of Ranchi district. His brother-in-law died of cerebral malaria. He belonged to a farmer’s family. The family got him admitted to Mandar hospital but he was sent to Rajendra Medical collage in Jharkhand Capital in Ranchi Baryatu it is bigger hospital in Ranchi hospital from there where he died due to lack of attention and proper treatment. Yadav revealed there were not adequate arrangements for the treatment at the hospital. In cerebral malaria, kidneys stop functioning but there is no provision of dialysisThis is the situation in Mandar hospital situated just 30 kms away from the capital Ranchi. Here villagers from Mudma, Mandar, Budmu and Thakur villages come for treatment. This is a tribal area; most of the families have farming as source of livelihood. There is no arrangement for treatment of serious diseases here.In fact malaria has affected several parts of the country. Those who can afford go to cities for treatment but those who can’t pay with their lives. There is no dearth of such incidents here. Sibni, a resident of Mudma village in Ranchi District has suffered from malaria thrice. Despite getting treated by a private medical practitioner she is still grappling with this disease.Similar is the situation of leprosy patients. The government claims it has eradicated leprosy from India. But just four Kms away from Ranchi assembly, a leprosy colony exists without having any access to even basic facilities. In the name of this colony, there are few mud huts constructed by the government where around 500 families are living.There is no power and sanitation. The 10 Kg rice given to each family here by the government is often rotten and worm-infested. People prefer not to take this rice and instead rely on begging.During our visit to the villages we found that the diseases, which are killing human beings, fail to move the government as well as the media. A poor person has to die if he or she falls sick, as there is no other way for him or her to get rid of the disease. And here we are going all out and focusing on a disease called birdflu putting everything else on backburner.(Charkha features)

Police Lies Exposed – More adivasis killed in police atrocities than stated –

2008-12-15T00:08:00.000-08:00

Dumka District in the Santhal Paraganas of Jharkhand wore a deserted but tense look this morning after a day long tussle yesterday. People in Amgachi, along with activists have launched a hunger strike in their villages and have declared the continuation of their own section 144 in the cluster of villages, that is, Janata Curfew for all officials of the Jharkhand Administration.

While official sources stated that one person – Lukhiram Tudu of Daladali – died in hospital after receiving bullet injuries (police did not name him), Jharkhand Ulgulan Manch said that three persons have been killed as a result of the police firing. Manch leaders are yet to receive the bodies of those who died in the hospital. Some persons were missing.

Others injured in the police use of undue force on a peaceful process include, Rupa Hembrum of Mahajda, Sagar Hansda of Daladali, Shivlal Murmu of Daladali, Saigat Marandi of Panchwahini in Shikaripada Block, Sangram Hansda of Daladali, Ravan Soren of Bilkaikandar in Shikaripada Block among others. Ulgulan Manch leaders reported that police chose three women among the marchers for oppression and molestation. These were named as Subeha Hansda, Rupa Marandi and Subaj Tudu. These escaped after their colleagues from their villages arrived on the scene.

Till late last night (6th December 2008) Reports from Kathikund and Amgachi said that at least three persons to a maximum of seven persons were injured when police opened fire on peaceful agitators in Dumka District of the Santhal Paraganas Region of Jharkhand after first “herding” them into a maidan in Kathikund. The firing was sequel to police setting fire to their own vehicle (later found to be a passenger vehicle forcibly acquired by the police) near Kathikund as a ruse to open fire on a peaceful agitation of adivasis over the Jharkhand government taking over their community land for setting a thermal power plant and building a dam across a local river.

A procession of more than 5,000 adivasis from Shikaripada in the northernmost tip of Dumka District and marched on to Dumka, the sub-capital of Jharkhand in what they termed as the second Hul (Revolution/rebellion in Santhali Language). The Administration had clamped Sec. 144 of the Cr. P.C. banning assembly of more than four persons throughout the district. They had refused permission for road transport (buses and cars), trucks and other vehicles on the highways and other main roads in the district.

The police disappeared after setting fire to their jeep and opening fire on peaceful processionists, who after a brief stop continued towards their goal of reaching Dumka. They also took into custody the driver and vehicle which had moved into the area to pick up the injured and take him to hospital.

The procession organised by various gram sabhas in the region was taken out at the end of a seven-day ultimatum issued by the Mode Manjhi (Traditional Chief of a cluster of villages in the Santhal Paraganas)

The upsurge of PEOPLE’S POWER against STATE POWER began in April last with the Mode Manjhi in cluster meeting at Amgachi-Pokharia declared that all those who supported the erection of the thermal power and construction of the dam would be subjected to Social Boycott.

This was enhanced to carrying another the Second Hul after the Government detained and arrested Jharkhand Hulgulan Manch leaders on the same charges including illegally detaining government officials and intruding into government offices without permission.

Others have also been charge sheeted including Amelia Hansda, Jharkhand Ulgulan Manch Leader, President of the National Adivasi Alliance and member of the core team of the National Alliance for Peoples’ Movements (NAPM).

The NAPM leader Medha Patkar on 4th December 2008, written to the Jharkhand Chief Minister, Mr. Shibu Soren, stating that he was expected to support the struggle of the adivasis against corporate giants, who were trying to acquire adivasi community land for their ventures. However, despite repeated denial of the adivasis through their gram sabha meetings, the response of the government had been intervention, unlawful arrests and more oppression.

Medha Patkar and other NAPM Core team members who wrote to the Chief Minister, stated in their letter that it was imperative on the part of the Jharkhand government to protect the constitutional rights of the adivasis and that the so called development needs to be democratic as per the constitution and the law.

This letter was dispatched on 4th December 2008 and then when on 6th November 2008 police oppression on adivasis, during which two more activists of the Jharkhand Ulgulan Manch were arrested, Medha Patkar and other friendly organisations were informed of the situation in Dumka, the NAPM in a quick response deplored the police atrocities and urged the National Human Rights Commission to intervene in the matter.

More protests are being organised today elsewhere including New Delhi where black flag demonstrations are being held and in Ranchi the Capital of Jharkhand and Madhupur in the Santhal Paraganas where a mute procession is being organised.

Adivasis are not beggars

2008-11-27T01:17:00.000-08:00

- Context: the ridiculous proposal of R & R policy to give 1% of the annual profit of the industrialist to Adivasi land-owner -

Stan Swamy

There should be a limit to the greed of the industrialists. They want to take the 99% of the annual profit their companies make and throw one trivial per cent at the Adivasi in whose land all the mineral wealth is stored. It is like a rich, fat man giving a ten-paise alms to a hungry beggar. The contradiction in this is that all the mineral wealth is in the land of the Adivasi and therefore it is given by nature and he is the rightful owner of what is on, above and beneath his land. The country’s capitalist law makes the State the owner of the minerals and hence it is violative of the law of nature. The law of nature is above any state law.
This was the way the ‘natives’ in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand were deprived of their rights to the land and forcibly put in secluded pockets during the colonial period. If this process of dispossession continues in India, our Adivasi People will not even have secluded pockets to live in but will just be eliminated.
Adivasi land-owner’s share in the value of the minerals: Let us take one concrete example of this industrialist loot. This is from Santal Parganas in Jharkhand. In 1988, a systematic exploration for coal was initiated in an around the villages of the Pachuara region by the Geological Survey of India. The Pachuara region has reportedly 562 million tonnes of coal reserves in an area of approximately 1300 hectares.
Pachuara Central Coal Block in Pakur district of Santal Pargana. The Jharkhand govt has given lease license over 1300 hectares covering nine Santal Adivasi villages to a private mining company called PANEM to excavate coal
As per the report published by PANEM Co, 562 million tons of coal is to be excavated from the 1300 ha of land slated to be taken from the people of Pachuara Central Coal Block. The monetary value of coal must be estimated as per the current market value for 562 million tons and divided by 1300 hectares, and at least 50% of it must be paid to the land owners.
A rough calculation shows that the value of 562 mill. tons is Rs. 1,12,400 cr. divided by 1300 hectares gives Rs.86 cr per ha, and converting it to acres it works out to Rs. 34 cr per acre. It means every acre has a coal deposit to the value of about Rs. 34 cr. The owner of the land should be entitled to at least 20% of the value. That would work out to Rs. 6.8 cr., and this should be credited as shares in the company in favour of the land owner.
Putting the above facts more graphically…

Coal mining in Pachuara Central Coal Block in Pakur Dt of Santal Pargana.
( a rough estimate )

Value of one kg coal Rs. 2 (at a minimal level) Value of one ton coal Rs. 2000 Value of one million tons Rs. 200 crores Value of 562 mill. Tons Rs. 1,12,400 cr Divided by 1300 hectares of land Rs.86 cr p/hect Divided by 2.5 to convert hectares to acres Rs. 34 cr p/acre 20% of value in favour of land-owner to be converted into shares Rs. 6. 8 cr

This is not being unfair to the industrialist because from the remaining value of 80%, the industrialist may spend about 30% in putting up the infrastructure, purchase of technology, paying the managerial personnel and labour force. So he will still have 50% of the value as his profit. That should be more than enough to satisfy his thirst for wealth.

Similar calculation can be done anywhere depending on what mineral deposits are there and the market value of such minerals. It is necessary to keep in mind that this is the only way the nation’s wealth can be equitably shared and the industrial production can lead to the development of all. Needless to say, the government of the day should have the honesty to accept this as a just policy and should have the political will to implement this.
Besides, this is in keeping with the Preamble of the Indian Constitution where it affirms that the Indian State is committed to realising a ‘socialist society’. Again it is confirmed in the Samata Judgement of the Supreme Court of 1997 where it says ‘at least 20% of the profit of the company should be ploughed back to the community for welfare & development work’.

Certainly, the Jharkhand Govt should change its R&R policy and industrialists should accept to share their profit more justifiably with those who give their land freely and willingly. The necessary intermediary is the Gram Sabha.

People are awakening to their rights. Resistance Movements are building up. The nation’s wealth should be evenly shared. That alone will lead to the development of the country as a whole.

24 November 2008

Land and Agriculture alone can sustain the Adivasi Industry has failed the Adivasi in the past and will do so in future too

2008-10-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

Stan Swamy

What is it that keeps a people alive and well? It is not just the fulfilment of their material needs. But the source from which they fulfil their needs is as important. The age-old source of physical sustenance has been their land (jal, jangal, jamin). This land has also been the spring of a spirituality around which revolves every aspect of their life, i.e. social, political, economic, religious and cultural. The most prominent values characterizing the life of Tribal People can be summed up as:
- a basic sense of equality among the members of the community
- an attitude of reaching out to each other in a spirit of cooperation
- a keen motivation of commonality on all that nature has freely endowed, especially. jal, jangal, jamin
- a cherished process of community decision-making by consensus
- a closeness to & respect for nature with all that it contains
All these together made their life human and humanazing.
But these very values are presently under serious threat and are in the process of being undermined:. It is not just their land which the industrialists want to capture, but by doing so they will destroy the Adivasi spirituality.
- social equality is no more a desired value
- cooperation has been replaced by competition in every sphere of life
- commonality has yielded its place to private property and privatisation
- consensus decision making has been thrown out and majority-decision holds sway
- respect for nature is over ruled by ruthless exploitation of nature

A study by the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, found that between 1951 and 1990, about 2.13 crore persons were displaced by various projects, and that only 54 lakh were resettled. There were 85 lakh tribals among the displaced – 40% of the total – and only 25 lakh of them were resettled. The undeniable fact is that 75% of the displaced were not resettled.
As a result of displacement, Adivasi land owners became rickshow-pullers in our towns and cities. Industrialists make tall promises in the process of acquiring land, but once the land is in their hands, they conveniently forget their promises. Those who lost everything have to run from pillar to post to be resettled. But all they finally get is some cash compensation. This is spent soon, since the whole family is wholly dependent on it. Then, the people become beggars. To remain alive, men become coolies, rickshow-pullers and casual labourers, and women become domestic workers and coolies. This has been the story of resettlement and rehabilitation in the country!

Industrialists are motivated by profits and profits only. What happens to the poor displaced farmers is not their concern. They hide their thirst for money behind the cloak of ‘national development’. They travel by private planes, live in palatial bungalows, use swanky luxury cars, and buy off government ministers and bureaucrats with the money they took from the poor. When dealing with those who demand their due, industrialists however invariably resort to police protection.
The government, for its part, far from being a neutral mediator, is partial in favour of industrialists. What happened on 2nd January 2006 in Kalinganagar, Orissa, is a typical example. The people were demanding a higher compensation for their land. Instead of heeding their demand, the Tatas came to the site to start the construction of a demarcating wall, accompanied by 11 platoons of armed police. When people objected, the police opened fire, killing 13 Adivasi land owners. They even mutilated the dead bodies.
In this process of siding the industrialists against the people, the govt is using
archaic, colonial laws such as the Land Acquisition Act 1894, which the British
rulers made to deprive Indian citizens of their land. The govt has also diluted
protective laws such as the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908, Santal Pargana
Tenancy Act 1949, meant to protect Adivasi land in Scheduled Areas. Even
progressive SC judgements like the Samata Judgement 1997, and Parliamentary
Acts like the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996, have been
made ineffective by the attitude of the govt.

It is not to say that industrialisation in tribal areas should not take place at all.
Rather, it must take place keeping the Adivasi land owner at the centre of the
industrialisation process. First, the industrialist will pay a negotiable percentage
of the value of the mineral to be excavated as premium to the land-owner, and
this premium will be counted as the share-capital of the land-owner in the
mining company.
Second, the industrialist will pay the land-owner a yearly rent that will be the
equivalent of the yearly agricultural produce from the land.
Third, the land-owner will continue to be the owner of the land throughout the
mining process, and at the end, the land will be restored to the original land
owner in a form and shape that it will be possible to resume cultivation.
As for non-mining industries, land for land will be the strict principle and
regulation. The govt will have to give the same quality and quantity of land or
give the equivalent sum of money so that the farmer can purchase such land.

Let us now see how industrialisation & urbanisation have betrayed the Adivasi time and again. The details given below include both the already displaced and to be displaced during the last fifty years:

Projects
No villages/families
No of persons
No of acres of land
Netarhat Field Firing Range Project
245 vill
245.235 Persons
6,25,000 acres
Koel Karo dam

135 vill
2,50,250 [90% Tribals]
66,000 acres
Sankh Dam
208 vill
46,694 persons (35,187 Tribal)
19,000 acres
Wild animal Sanctuary
79 Mouja villages

45,790 acres
Chandil Dam
120 villages
6773 persons

43,500 acres
Icha Dam
5600 families

28000 acres
Hirakud & Madira Dam [Orissa]
18936 families
94,680 persons
37,645 acres

CCL
32,751 Families
163,755 persons
1,20,300 Acres
ECL

80,000 acres
TISCO
7000 families
35,000 persons
Jamshedpur 3,564 acres; Adityapur 34,432 acres
HEC- Ranchi
12,990 families
64,950 persons
9,200 acres
Bokaro Steel Plant
12,487; families
62,435 persons
34,224 acres
Subernarekha Multi Purpose Project
68,400 families
3,42,000 persons
85,000 acres
Tenughat Thermal Power
76,300 families
3,81,500 persons
97,843 acres
Total

17,10,787 Persons
24,15,698 Acres

The sad fact is that out of the 17 lakh Adivasi & Moolvasi who have been displaced during the last five decades, only about one-fourth of them have been resettled. But none of them have been rehabilitated because rehabilitation involves other dimensions such as the social , cultural, communitarian. The R & R policy announced by the Jharkhand govt falls short of people’s expectations. It cannot fulfil the aspirations of the Jharkhandi People. Hence it is to be rejected.
So, if the government and the industrialists are serious about doing justice to the people who have been displaced and are to be displaced, let them first rehabilitate the 12 lakh who have already been displaced and left unsettled. After that, let them think of displacing more people by bringing in their industries and mines. In the meantime, let them not make any tall promises.

26 October 2008
Bagaichac/o Agricultural Training CentreNamkum P.O.RANCHI - 834 001Jharkhand__._,_.___

Cricket : a game by the leisurely, for the leisurely

2008-10-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

Stan Swamy

Cricket game has become a contagious fever. This fever comes especially to the youth of middle and lower-middle classes. Now that TV channels are bringing it ‘live’, which ever be the country where it is played and whatever be the odd hours when it is played, the youth are ready to keep awake just to be able to watch it. Often it looks as though these young people have nothing else to do in life. Cricket as a leisurely and long drawn out game stands in such contrast to other games such as Hockey, Football, Basket Ball, which are played with tremendous intensity and exertion so that it is all over within a maximum of two hours.
If the Indian team is doing well and is winning, there is tremendous cheer and fire-crackers are liberally exploded; if, on the other hand, our team is doing badly and is losing, there is grim silence. When the Indian team returns home as winners, the players are cheered as ‘heroes’; if they return as losers, they are booed as ‘villains’. The State and Central Governments vie with each other in rewarding the players in cash and kind.
Unfortunately these young people do not realize that cricket is used by the capitalist ruling class as a safety-valve to diffuse the socio-economic tensions the youth face and divert their attention from the serious problems such as unemployment.
Let us probe a little on the history of this game and discover the contradictions thereof. Colonial origin: The origin of cricket as a game is.to be traced to the British colonial period. The first rules were written in 1744 and exported to all the British colonies. It is not a surprise, therefore, cricket has become popular in the erstwhile British colonies such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies, South Africa. The illegal British occupation of Australia where the native Aborigines were massacred and marginalised, made it possible to export cricket there also.
This was a game of the British upper class and was meant for their relaxation. It was played mostly during Sundays which was a day of rest and relaxation. The elitist character of this game is that the lower class were not supposed to play this game. It was a preserve of the white ruling class. It is significant to note that although colonialism as a political factor has come to an end, the local native population is hardly represented in the teams of Australia and South Africa. Verily smacking of racial discrimination.
Destructive of local traditional games: Traditional games like hockey which used to be considered as India’s game and in which we were so good that India just could not be defeated at international level has been pushed to lower levels of esteem and attention. Now many other countries have overtaken India to the extent that the Indian team could not even qualify to compete in the next Olympics.
Another heartening feature of hockey is that the tribal boys and girls have been excelling in it at local, national and international forums. It used to be a pleasant sight to see small tribal boys and girls in villages playing hockey with self-made hockey sticks made out of small tree branches in open spaces and even in the fields. But sadly, even this home-game is fast losing out to cricket.
Another destructive aspect of cricket is that it takes such a long time to be played. It normally takes two, three, four consecutive days to conclude. Even the one-dayer takes one full day. That means the viewers have to take the day off from all other occupations inclusive of earning one’s livelihood. This way, cricket encourages laziness in the young viewers and distracts them from gainfully employing themselves in life. More damaging is the fact these young people are slowly drawn into outright unethical practices such as gambling and betting on which team will win. Thus there is every possibility of these young people will grow up to becoming irresponsible adults.

Cricketers have become purchasable commodities in the market : One writer observes that today’s cricketers are “being evaluated like prize-bulls bought up by the super-rich” ! Thus we have a handful of new crorepathis and the only gain the nation can have is a few crores of rupees realized as income tax.
One often wonders what motivation these cricket-heroes have in playing the game.
Is it their name and fame? Is it our country’s prestige? Or, is it the Dollars?
From the way the game is organised and the players are rewarded, it looks that Dollars is the most important and coveted factor. This is very unfair towards the rest of the country men majority of whom are struggling to make both ends meet. It is very unjust towards the Indian government which foots their extravagant air & surface travel, stay in luxury hotels and all other arrangements for the players comfort and enjoyment.

Show-pieces for cheap advertisements of consumerist goods:
Just like cinema-stars who allow themselves to be used for cheap money in ads for consumer items like soap / talcum powder / TVs / computers / motor-bikes / cars etc
cricketers also have become show pieces in cheap ads. Very few of them really stand up in defence of human values and concerns such us human rights / stand against displacement / steps to reduce unemployment of the youth / dignity & respect for women, child-workers etc. In other words, cricketers by and large are not desirable models for the rest of society to follow. They are playing for their own name & fame and are keen on earning as much wealth as they can when the wind is still
blowing in their favour.

A capitalist game at home in the capitalist society:
Capitalism by its very nature is promotive of leisure, comfort, luxury, inequality.. Cricket also by its very nature is a leisurely game and promotive of the values of capitalism. Mass media, both print & electronic, in capitalist society make the cricket stars objects of purchase & sale. So, as long as capitalism will prevail, cricket also will flourish.
10 October 08
Bagaichac/o Agricultural Training CentreNamkum P.O.RANCHI - 834 001Jharkhand

by Jharkhand form .

cutscy from Jharkhand form

Let me congratulate the JAMIA TEACHERS SOLIDARITY GROUP for condemning

2008-09-26T02:28:00.000-07:00

Anil Sadgopal -- Prof. Anil Sadgopal Former Dean, Faculty of Education University of Delhi

Let me congratulate the JAMIA TEACHERS SOLIDARITY GROUP for condemning “the communal witch hunt in Jamia Nagar and demanding an independent and impartial enquiry.” I wholeheartedly endorse this bold, pro-people and patriotic stand. This is precisely the way the nation expects its intellectuals, whose education has been funded by the sweat and blood of the toiling masses, to act. It would help greatly if this statement is printed as pamphlets in Hindi and Urdu and distributed widely in Delhi, especially in Jamia Nagar and the surrounding localities. In these difficult times, the people need to know that they are not alone. Being in Bhopal, I am clearly not in a position to share the “sense of alienation, terror and insecurity” the students and teachers of Jamia Millia Islamia may be experiencing. However, I am seriously concerned about the manner in which the dream of India as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual nation is being challenged. This is precisely the dream for which all sections of the Indian people fought together against the British Empire for our freedom. I have just now seen a powerful statement of Gandhi, cited on this yahoogroup/ googlegroup by someone while commenting on the anti-Christian attacks in Orissa (I would love to have the precise source of this statement): “Test of our citizenship will be when Muslim or Hindu concerns are no longer concerns only for Muslims or Hindus, but become our concerns.” The JAMIA TEACHERS SOLIDARITY GROUP has shown that, in the hour of national crisis, there are citizens in the country who can pass this litmus test of India’s citizenship. Let us also recall that the Jamia Millia University was founded at the initiative of Late Dr. Zakir Husain as part of the freedom struggle. The declaration by the University Vice Chancellor Prof. Mushirul Hassan that the university feels morally bound to defend its students until proven guilty, is very much in line with the glorious tradition of Jamia’s contribution to the building of modern India. This reminds me that whenever the British Police wanted to enter the campus of the Benares Hindu University to arrest the students fighting for freedom in the 1920s or 1930s, the Vice Chancellor Late Shri Madan Mohan Malviya would take a stern stand that there is no place whatsoever for the Police in the university campus. And the British Police would not have the moral courage to cross the university gates. Prof. Mushirul Hassan’s stand puts him in the same genre of India’s educational leaders as Shri Madan Mohan Malviya. Hopefully, the Vice Chancellors of all the 300 odd universities of India would stand up with Prof. Hassan and take a similar stand in defense of the Fundamental Rights enshrined in the Constitution, whenever the dignity of the academic community (for that matter, any citizen of India) is challenged. We need to learn to fight terrorism, including the state terrorism, without falling in the trap of religious fundamentalism and communal politics. This would be India's unique contribution to the world. Given our culturally diverse polity, there is probably no country better placed to learn this lesson than India. May be Jamia’s academic community can show us the way forward. If it makes a difference, please add my name to list of people who are endorsing this statement. - Anil Sadgopal -- Prof. Anil Sadgopal Former Dean, Faculty of Education University of Delhi E-8/29, Sahkar Nagar Bhopal 462 039

Maoist as terrorist force killing innocent people

2008-09-24T23:51:00.000-07:00

ambarish raiLok Sangharsh Morch

wonder, if people are considering Maoist as terrorist force killing innocent people. They don't know enough about Marxism, leninism and Mao-thoughts. Terrorism and the struggle for liberation of oppressed, both are opposite ideology. Oppressed people have fought in the past and still their struggle are being continued against terrorism for better world under Marx-Mao thoughts in several countries. They have won and will win in future. Look latin American countries and Nepal recently...Viatnam and kuba...china and USSR in past. Two asian countries, India and China liberated at same time with the difference of one year...look the difference between both countries regarding development index.Don't try to mix maoist with terrorists having wepon everytime...they have nothing to do with voilence as per my understanding...they are fighting for social justice and equity making society egalitarian. As i know they are fighting against the terror of state leading by fudals and bourgeois trailing behind imperialism. They want real democracy...equal opportunity for all with equal participation. Arms is not priority for them. What do you think about American empire killing innocent people either through war or anti-people policies emposing on poor countries..which is now more favorite of ruling elite of this country.Don't think, i am favouring them..i am sharing only my informations to all.

EVERYBODY LOVES A NATURAL DISASTER

2008-09-23T02:32:00.000-07:00

Jayanta Bandyopadhyay

The Kosi floods were a predictable ecological event. But Indian politicians have no time for the science of rivers, writes Jayanta Bandyopadhyay The author is professor at IIM Calcutta. He drafted the chapter on the world’s mountains in Agenda-21, the global agenda adopted at the Rio Earth Summit, 1992
Price of intervention
The recent inundations by the waters of the Kosi in Bihar and the resultant widespread human suffering have been declared a “natural disaster”. Relief contributions are pouring in and the prime minister has sanctioned large amounts from his official funds. Political leaders have got busy blaming one another for relief not reaching the marooned, all the while looking for small political gains. As the waters would recede, and people would start returning to their original habitat, there is no doubt we will get back to business as usual, thinking that the natural disaster has been successfully taken care of.
In future, it is certain, similar events would recur, may be in a different setting each time. The monsoon inundation by the numerous tributaries of the Ganga or the Brahmaputra originating in the eastern Himalaya will cause more human tragedies. It may be the Teesta, Sankosh, Manas, or Subansiri or some other river. A different variety of annual inundation would spread over large areas in Bangladesh too.
Is our political leadership aware of the immense risks associated with the ‘business as usual’ approach to the flooding by the Himalayan rivers? The public, which has paid thousands of crores of rupees towards the relief of the Kosi victims, deserve a comprehensive report on the ecological background of the Kosi tragedy. Before we forget the Kosi episode and get busy with some other, is it not important for people to know what went wrong or where nature became irregular?
The two-and-a-half monsoon months bring about 80 per cent of India’s annual rainfall. It is well known that such rainfall is intense in the Himalayan watersheds. The heavy monsoon precipitation on a young and still growing high mountain would fill the flow of water with a load of sediment and high mechanical energy. It is a process that has been happening over millions of years. When a river in high flow, loaded with energy and sediments, comes down from the uplands to the plains, it will need space and time to stabilize itself. Shifting of its course is only natural at this stage. This is part of the basic knowledge of Himalayan hydrology and geomorphology. Within the period of recorded mapping — which is about 240 years — the Kosi has moved westwards by about 180 kilometres. The Teesta, the Brahmaputra and the Bhagirathi-Hooghly have also shifted their courses. What then, was unusual about the Kosi inundation? Was it something unexpected in river science and engineering?
The ecological complexity of the Himalayan rivers is nothing new, but the knowledge of their hydrology and geomorphology is old, though it has remained underdeveloped. Owing to unexplained governmental reservations on disclosing detailed data on these rivers, related river research has not been taken up in the public domain. It will not be an unfair to say that the management of these rivers is going on without much contact with the advances in interdisciplinary knowledge on river systems made in the recent decades.
Thus, instead of a national discussion on the ecological reasons behind a human tragedy involving millions of people, we accept the sugar-coated explanation of “natural disaster”. The Union railway minister, Lalu Prasad, touched upon the possibility of human failures in the Kosi calamity, but he quickly got busy putting the blame on his former comrade and current rival, the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar. He forgot that the Kosi has defied embankments ever since they were erected in 1954. Thus, most of the breaches preceded the reign of Nitish Kumar. India will profit greatly if politicians recognize that before we intervene in the lives of the powerful Himalayan rivers, a great deal of ecological and scientific knowledge needs to be acquired.
The annual per capita water availability in India has gone below 1,000 cubic metre — the situation would be described by experts as scarcity. Himalayan rivers are the largest sources of water for India. As a result of global climate change, there may be significant changes in the water endowment pattern. Continuing with our ad hoc, ‘business as usual’ approach based on outdated knowledge is just a convenient way of wriggling out of a systematic ecological research by hiding under the ‘natural disaster’ excuse.
In a globalizing and interconnected world, ecological links play significant roles. Ecosystem-based management has become the global practice. The Himalayan rivers connect Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India and Nepal ecologically. The pressure of population and demand for more land for agriculture, industry and habitation have pushed men deep into the floodplains and caused considerable ecological damages. During the monsoons, a river needs the lost ground to discharge its high flows. If engineering interventions in the Himalayan rivers are guided by the recent holistic knowledge base, we would see that monsoon inundations are not always hostile acts of nature. Recent advances in the study of the ecosystem of Himalayan rivers show that the annual inundations are useful, as they recharge groundwater, transport and conserve fish biodiversity, and replenish farmlands with fine silt. Only in the event of extreme precipitations, the inundation would be longer, deeper and disastrous.
The Kosi floods that ravaged 16 districts of Bihar were caused by the collapse of man-made embankments. It was not the natural geomorphological shift of the flow of the river. It is well-known that while rivers normally flow below the land around it and act as drainage, in the case of the Kosi after it was embanked, the river bed often lay several metres above the land outside the embankments. This may have facilitated the draining of the river into the land, and not the other way round.
The failure of the embankments has prompted many to demand a high dam on the Kosi. Even though the comprehensive assessment of dams around the world is increasingly discouraging such options, India is still opting for expensive and risk-prone large dams without any open scientific assessment. Even if a dam is built, its ability to control floods would depend on whether heavy rainfall is occurring downstream or upstream. Heavy rain downstream of the Kosi dam site is likely to cause floods too. There is no dearth of examples in India where opening the sluices of dams to protect them from overtopping caused floods.
India and Nepal had signed the Kosi agreement in 1954. Following the recent disaster, there have been calls for a re-look at it. However, where can a re-look with a vision of traditional engineering lead us? It is necessary for both Nepal and India — and probably Bangladesh and Bhutan too — to gather holistic ecological knowledge on the Himalayan rivers and create an informed approach for their sustainable management. If the ‘problem rivers’ from the Himalaya are to be converted to ‘prospect rivers’, we have to avoid the ‘problem engineering’ of the past and make use of modern ecological engineering.
Time is running out for India to take the difficult but inevitable path of using ecological sciences, instead of taking the unscientific escape route of describing extreme but predictable ecological processes as ‘natural disasters’. The cost of delay will be very high, in terms of frequent recurrence of the widespread devastation and human misery as we have seen in the case of the Kosi.
by jharkhand form

After Bihar Flood, now Orissa Flood

2008-09-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

A Flood warning and high alert has been sounded in several districts of Orissa, as severe floods are set to hit Orissa. With torrential rainfall in the catchment area of Mahanadi River and Hirakud dam crest gates open, the situation could get worse. If the havoc created in Bihar by the Kosi River was not enough, certain districts of Orissa are set to face devastating floods in the days to come. The Bihar floods had seen more than thirty lakh people being affected, displaced or rendered homeless. More than a hundred people lost their lives, whereas hundreds are still reported missing. Just as the flood waters have receded, the threat of epidemics is still looming large. The situation in Orissa is expected to be grim and reminiscent of the floods in the year 2001 which had affected more then fifty lakh people all across the state. The floods in 2001 were said to be the worst floods since independence to have hit the state of Orissa. Meanwhile evacuations have begun so that people in low lying areas can move to some place less dangerous. More than one lakh people have already been evacuated and move to safer grounds. After the devastation caused in the Bihar floods, the state government of Orissa does not want to take any chances. A high alert has been sounded in four coastal district of Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Puri. The Hirakud dam built on the Mahanadi river has also been affected and due to the rising water levels l, more than twenty gates of the dam have been opened to allow for the discharge of water. The capacity of the reservoir is 630 feet, and the level has been hovering near that mark and so the crest gates had to be opened. The state of Orissa has not been averse to the destruction caused by the floods. In the year 2001 too a similar situation had been witnessed when the Mahanadi River overflowed and almost 15 lakh cusecs of water passed through the plains. The year 1982 had faced worse floods as almost 16 lakh cusecs of water had flooded the area. The Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force has set about evacuation people from the danger prone zones. With the help of power boats, the district administrations have set about their task of rescuing people. An alert has been sounded and people have been advised to carry valuables and food supplies to last them for three days and move to places where they are being advised to. The state government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the safety of the people of Orissa as the Special Relief Commissioner of Orissa N K Sunderray said that 14 lakh cusecs of water has crossed the Naraj bridge in Cuttack, and it is a huge flood. More than ten districts of the state are going to be affected and already it's reported that 16 people have been killed in the torrential rainfalls that have hit the state of Orissa. The situation could get worse and like Bihar, the people could face the dangers of the lack of food, medical supplies and clean drinking water in the future. The state government is doing its best to evacuate people from the flood hit zones and hoping that the flood waters will recede in the next forty eight hours.

by jharkhand form

The Long Wait BIBHUTI PATI

2008-06-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

Twice displaced for development projects, Orissa's Machkund Adivasis are yet to get the compensation due to them, reports Displaced twice, that is the fate of Adivasis residing in 154 revenue villages of Panasput, Jodamba, Ralegada, Papermetla, Andrapalli and Badapoda gram panchayats in Orissa. These Machhkund Adivasis were firsT rehabilitated in the Chitrakonda area to make way fro the Machhkund project. They again lost their land to the Balimela dam project, the foundation stone for which was laid in 1964 by Jawaharlal Nehru. And till date basic amenities are a far cry in these cut-off areas.
Incidence of malaria and water-born diseases is quite high in these villages. There is little in terms of treatment with mobile health units visiting the area only once a month. Sharmila Mohanty, an anganwadi worker posted in Panasput is of little help with no anganwadi center.
"Death is the ultimate relief for anyone suffering from malaria", said Gurudra Hantal of Papermetla, village. "Malnutrition cases too have come to the fore and even the minimum facilities elude Adivasis. This so called development in the undivided Koraput district has badly hit the local Adivasis. Even according to conservative estimates, the livelihood of around 1.5 lakh Adivasis of undivided Koraput and Kalahandi districts have destroyed. Sadly to say, in the past five decades, in the name of so called development a large chunk of forest land has been cleared up during construction of different industries, dam and hydel projects, like Indravati, Machhkund, Kolab, Balimela, NALCO and HAL etc. Thousands of Adivasis have been displaced, but they are yet to be properly rehabilitated," told social worker Narendra Maharna of Sanskar.
Local MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati says, "The government is blindly changing laws in the name of controlling forest produces, but not in a single case the rights of Adivasis and jungle dwellers have been safeguarded. If the government hands over the remaining forest lands to the so called development process without considering the social-economical and environmental impacts on the people at large, it would lead to a devastating situation. These areas are home to around two-third of the total Adivasi population in the state. They will be affected if all the projects are implemented."
The ST&SC development minister says, "No, this is not the real fact. We are always considering Adivasis help and protecting their livelihood. Our government's rehabilitation policy is one of best in the world. If anybody has any complaint, he can write to my office. Within one month, I will take proper action."
Infertile land and hilly terrain have forced the villagers to take up cultivation of turmeric, maize, ginger, cereals and pulses. Unfortunately, they do not get remunerative price for their products in absence of marketing and communication facilities. "We get a better deal for our products at the Rudakata market in Andhra Pradesh (AP)," said Radhika Dugal. Disappointed by the state government's negligent attitude, many of them have decided to migrate to AP.
Lack of education, basic amenities like health, drinking water, communication and kerosene, these villagers are isolated from rest of the world. "We sacrifice our land, village and river but we are not getting electricity, without kerosene we have been living in dark," said Karunakar Murmu. Although there is an Ashram High School run by the SC & ST Development Dept. in Panasput, lack of adequate staff, proper infrastructure and other facilities are the major hindrance in development of education in the region.
This is not the end of the sorrows. About half Adivasi people in the deep forests of Raighar, Umerkote and Jharigam blocks in the districts are leading a very pathetic life due to the indifference of the Government. The problems of these people are only increasing by the day.
They remain deprived of even one square meal a day; forget about malaria or influenza tablets and other institutional benefits. Raighar and Umerkote blocks are situated bordering the Naxal infected Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. Local people admitted that taking the continued negligence by government, occasional Naxal movements have come up in the bordering remote forest areas. The Adivasis are spread over 290 hamlet villages, inaccessible, situated mainly on hill-tops in the deep forests. After the communal clashes in 2001 these villages were surveyed. But as these are situated in the reserve forest areas these villages have not so far been recognised as revenue villages.
These Adivasi villagers were not being covered by any of the anti-poverty schemes. Their only fault is that they have been living in the forest and displaced areas. The Parliamentary Committee on ST&SC Welfare, which visited these areas in 1992 under the chairmanship Khagapati Pradhan, noted in its report that Adivasis, who have been living in the deep forests for years, should not be harassed and disturbed by the forest officials. And they should be permanently settled and provided with every benefit. But, although 18 years passed no changes in these villages," says a local journalist Susanta Panda.
The ST&SC development minister of Orissa says, "We are in the process of surveying the villages. We have identified many villages and listed them as revenue villages. We have provided BPL cards. We are going to establish schools and health centers in many villages."
The people living in the areas belong mostly to primitive Kondh and Gond tribes. They depend on shifting cultivation. Official figures show that these people have till now encroached 66,000 acres of forest land, and have been raising crops on it for a long time. Except this occupation, their families have no other source of income. The state government had made a policy decision to settle the lands situated in forest area in favour of Adivasis who have settled there prior to 1980. Besides there was also a decision to recognise some forest villages as revenue villages. But it did not materialise. The delay in settlement has further worsened their socio-economic condition, which may force them to join the Naxal camps.

Stir to continue against Ripun: AASAA

2008-06-12T01:58:00.000-07:00

GUWAHATI – The All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam (AASAA) today said that it would continue its agitation until former Education Minister Ripun Bora is hanged on charges of murdering Daniel Topno. It has also described Congress as a party of murderers. Sticking to power is the sole aim of this party and it does not hesitate even to kill its rivals for achieving this goal, said the AASAA in a statement while expressing gratitude to the people for peacefully observing the 12-hour Assam bandh it had called for today in this connection.

The Congress-led State Government had been trying to avoid handing over the Daniel Topno murder case to CBI and providing protection to Ripun Bora for the past eight years. Staining its hands with the bloods of the five Adivasis killed at Khowang on September 29, 2003, another eight Adivasis killed at Paneri on July 25, 2003 and finally with the blood of those tortured and killed at Beltola, the Congress has proved itself to be anit-Adivasi, said the AASAA.

The students' body has also warned the people in general and the Adivasis in particular to remain vigilant of the Congress.
Meanwhile, Our Kokrajhar Correspondent has reported that the AASAA-called bandh passed off peacefully in Kokrajhar district

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Jharkhand tribal girls 'sold' to job agency in Delhi

2008-06-12T01:54:00.000-07:00

RANCHI: Five tribal girls from Dhurwa area of Ranchi have been reported missing from their homes for the last three weeks. According to their families, middlemen lured the girls, aged between 12 and 15, to Delhi promising them jobs.

The families also claimed that three girls in their locality helped the middlemen ''sell" the girls to a private agency in Delhi that provides domestic helps. The girls have been missing since May

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Adivasis struggle for forest rights

2008-06-12T01:48:00.000-07:00

THE STRUGGLE between the forest dwellers including Adivasis and the state (Orissa government) has been continuing for years now. The forest dwellers are its natural inhabitants. So, their life is inseparable from the same. They, howsoever, are poor, illiterate and innocent because of which they are not aware of their rights relating to forest vis-a-vis their lives and livelihoods. Also, it is very unfortunate to know that the state government has branded them as encroachers of the forest and forest lands.

As per the Supreme Court judgment in 2002, a nation-wide eviction process started to make the forest free from the so-called encroachers. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Environment and Forest on August 16, 2004, admitted that just between May 2002 and 2004, eviction operations were carried out in 1.52 lakh hectares of the forest land.

As a strong reaction to this, a massive protest did begin across the country. Serious debates and discussions took place at government and non-government forums. The letter dated February 5, 2004, of the inspector general of forest had clearly stated that the traditional rights of the forest dwellers could not be settled due to many reasons. This resulted in the serious injustice done to the forest dwelling communities, which became 'encroachers' in the eyes of law.

Pressurised enough by the civil society organisations and eminent persons, and to redress the injustice meted out to tribals, the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, drafted a Bill to recognise the Scheduled Tribes and forest dwellers' rights over the forest and to provide for a procedure for verifying and recording their occupations in the forest and forest lands. This Bill took the final shape of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

Subsequently, the forest rules were also introduced. In spite of certain loopholes in this Act, it assures some benefits to the Adivasis and the other forest dwelling communities. The Act clearly states that to ensure their rights over the forest lands, people belonging to Scheduled Tribes must prove that they were living on the same forest land before December 13, 2005, and in case of forest dwellers other than ST, they have to prove that they were living in the same forest areas since before three generations. Here, one generation means 25 years.

The Forest Act excludes the traditional rights of hunting or trapping or extracting a part of the body of any species of wild animals. The gram sabha, as per the Act, determines the extent of the forest land occupied by any individual or the community or by the both. If any person fails to find justice in the decision given by it, as per the provision of the Act, that person has the right to appeal to the sub-divisional level committee within 60 days of the decision of the gram sabha. In case, if the same individual again fails to ensure justice for him at this level, the aggrieved person may move to the district level committee within the next sixty days.

The National Campaign for Survival and Dignity (NCSD) had played a very significant role in condemning the government's eviction process and pressurising it to make an Act in the interest of both the Scheduled Tribes and the forest dwellers. In order to ensure solidarity to the common issues, Orissa Development Action Forum (ODAF), being a part of the NCSD process, organised seminars, workshops, rallies, campaigns at the state and the national-levels to make the Act pro-people. It also took initiatives in sensitising the media, political party leaders, intellectuals, and the marginalised community.

District doctor Nityanand Pradhan from Nayagarh, finds lots of problems coming in the way of the Act's implementation. The two dates were declared by the state government to constitute the Forest Rights Committee (FRC) but were not constituted properly as per the procedure. He says, "We are looking carefully to form gram sabha. People are unaware about the Forest Act and Rules."

Sarat Tading from Koraput stated the FRC being constituted. There are two types of forms like individual/family and at community level. In 30 villages, they have distributed the forms and caste certificates are necessary to fill those up whereas most of the Adivasis do not have caste certificates.

Sunam Hontal spoke about his experiences at the local level. He met with the officials to get the caste certificates to be used for the Forest Act.

Prof Radhamohan, former commissioner of state, Right To Information (RTI) Act suggested to meet with SC and ST department secretary and explain them on the basis of this Act and pressurise to get the caste certificates; likewise to meet with revenue secretary, chief secretary and in case of need even approach the Supreme Court to suggest them the extension of time. There are irregularities in the formation of FRC, SDLC and DLC. There is one RI for seven GPs.

Eminent writer Bibhuti Patnaik said that these things should reach to the people at grass-root level. He also stated that the Adivasis are not cultivators; they are the children of the forest. They are traditionally coping with the forest since their birth.

Here, the government means forest officials. Adivasi products like turmeric, drumstick, broomstick, honey etc are purchased by others and they become rich but do not know what their rights are. Training is necessary for them. He has suggested the movement will be built with all the people's organisations and cooperation.

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