India Losing It’s Biggest Asset In Pakistan

By: Zaid Hamid

This article is extracted from a situation report released by BRASSTACKS, a security and defense analysis firm.



ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—“Fighting insurgency is like eating soup with a knife. It is always long and messy affair”—Lawrence of Arabia.

Pakistan’s most wanted man among the militants fighting the state is Baitullah Mehsud. He is under pressure now as he has been abandoned by his mentor, Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

Last week we wrote the following note about him:

“Once Baitullah Mehsud and his Uzbek allies of Tahir Yeldeshev group were isolated within the local Taliban and abandoned by the Afghan Taliban, the government decided to go after this terrorist with full force. These are the most difficult times for Baitullah Mehsud who is now under pressure from all sides and is being convinced by his friends to leave the area and escape to Afghanistan. He is reluctant as he does not want to fight the Americans since he was paid by the Indians and perhaps the Israelis to fight Pakistan army. For the first time, he has sent tribal Jirgas to political parties and the government trying to find terms for peace. He is desperate now and the pressure is increasing upon him. The entire Mehsud tribe is suffering because of him and there is also local pressure on him to stop his militant activity against Pakistan. This is the time to neutralize him. All he wants is time to regroup and reorganzie after taking serious losses in the past few weeks. The Swat rebellion is almost crushed, the Darra Adamkhel rebellion is also beaten to pulp and his own base of South Waziristan is now under siege with fears of being over run by the Federal forces. If Pakistan army can remain focused, Indians are about to lose their prime asset in the tribal regions and obviously Baitullah is panicking.”

Our last week’s analysis was confirmed this week as Mehsud offered peace terms to the government for the first time in years. He is under sever pressure but wants a face saving exit.

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We're behind Nandigram turmoil, admit Maoists

From an undisclosed location in Chhattisgarh: The Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its People's Liberation Guerilla Army are gearing up to meet the strongest possible offensive from the Indian state in Chhattisgarh.

In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, a key member of the Maoist organisation has accepted that the Maoists are being cornered and survival is now an issue as security forces are mounting a strong pressure on them.

The Maoists, however, claim they are preparing for a long-drawn battle against the security forces. They call it teer khale jung

It was an interview organized by the Maoists to send out a message to the Prime Minister and the state. And it took a 10-day trek to reach the Maoist heartland.

Walking with an armed escort, this correspondent managed to meet Comrade Sonu, the Number Two in the politburo of Communist Party of India (Maoist) after Ganpathi.

First, Comrade Sonu admitted to the presence of Naxals in Nandigram.

"Yes, we are in Nandigram, we have worked there. But the people themselves are fighting there. We have just joined them to fight the CPI-M goons," Comrade Sonu reveals.

Explaining his party's opposition to SEZs, Comrade Sonu says: "There are 432 SEZs all over India. The Central and State governments are giving our land to multinationals. Many laws are being changed. So the people are opposing it. We are also opposing it."

Asked about the wrong tactics adopted by his party in Andhra Pradesh, he says: "Actually we have had setbacks in Andhra Pradesh. We adopted some wrong tactics in the state, so we are very weak over there right now."

The CPI (Maoist) politburo member admitted some of his key comrades are now behind bars. "Many of our comrades are in jail. On December 17, Kerela Central Committee member Comrade Satena was arrested. Central Committee member Comrade Vijay has been arrested. Comrade Sanyal is also in jail. This is normal in any revolution. But certain arrests have happened because of our weaknesses," he says.

Asked to comment on the Salwa Judum movement, Comrade Sonu said his party will defeat the Salwa Judum. "Because it is a threat to the tribals. It is the duty of the people to defeat it. It is a fascist organisation. It must be defeated."

Narrating his party's war tactics against the Indian state, the CPI (Maoist) leader said his men have adopted guerrilla tactics to fight the Indian state. "The Indian Prime Minister says Naxalites are the main threat to internal security. We know the state is at us. So we have adopted guerrilla tactics. With the common man, we will defeat the state. We will die for the people, we will work for the people, we are the servants of the people."

READ MORE - We're behind Nandigram turmoil, admit Maoists

The Doctor, The State, And A Sinister Case

The untenable imprisonment and victimisation of Dr Binayak Sen, a heroic humanitarian from Chhattisgarh, exposes Indian democracy as increasingly hollow, says SHOMA CHAUDHURY. Photographs by SHAILENDRA PANDEY

FAR AWAY from the glittering salons of Bombay and Delhi, away from its obsessions with booming malls and plummeting stocks, a good man waits in jail. He’s been in for nine months. But it is unlikely that the story of Dr Binayak Sen would have caught your attention. He’s been written about in bits. Some channels have covered him. But even though he is a mesmeric character — intense, articulate, idealistic, a man of privilege who seeks nothing for himself — and his imprisonment is a scandal that should shame any civilised society, for the most part, news of him here has been overwhelmed by hotter media preoccupations. Lead India competitions. And polls on who should be awarded Indian of the Year. Shah Rukh, Manmohan, or Vijay Mallya? Men like Dr Binayak can wait their turn in jail.

The story of Binayak Sen is the story of the dangerously thin ice India’s democratic rights skim on. The story of every dangerous schism in India today: State versus people. Urban versus rural. Unbridled development versus human need. Blind law versus natural justice. It is the story of an India unraveling at the seams. The story of unjust things that happen — unreported — to thousands of innocent people, the story of unjust things waiting to happen to you and me, if we ever step off the rails of shining India to investigate what’s happening in the rest of the country. Most of all, it is the story of what can be done to ordinary individuals when the State dons the garb of being under siege.

But, first the facts of the story.

A paediatric doctor by profession — a gold medallist, in fact, from the prestigious Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore — Binayak Sen, 56, has worked for more than 30 years with the tribal poor in Chhattisgarh, battling malnutrition, tuberculosis, and the lethal falciparum malaria strain rampant in the area. As a young man — star pupil with the world at his feet — he had turned his back on the many rich career options before him to take a job at a rural medical centre in Hoshangabad run by Quakers, where he was greatly influenced by Marjorie Sykes, Gandhi’s biographer. Ideas of public health, sustainable development and a just society obsessed him. Walking the slums of Vellore as a graduate, he had understood very early that there is a crucial link between livelihood, living conditions and health. Bolstering this with a degree in social medicine from JNU, Delhi, he moved from Hoshangabad to Chhattisgarh in 1981, to work with Shankar Guha Niyogi, the legendary mine workers’ unionist. Here, famou - sly, he helped set up the Shaheed Hospital at Dallirajhara, built from the workers’ own mo - ney. Later, he moved away to the Mission Hospital in Tilda, and then, in 1990, joined his wife, Ilina Sen in Raipur, to set up Rupantar, an NGO through which the couple have worked for the last 18 years in training village health workers and running mobile clinics in remote outposts.

Drive 150 kilometres away from Raipur into the unforgiving dustiness of the forest around Bagrumala and Sahelberia in district Dhamtari, where Binayak ran his Tuesday clinic, and the heroic dimension of his work overwhelms you. There is nothing that could have brought a retired colonel’s elite, accomplished son here but extraordinary compassion. Scratchy little hamlets, some no more than 25-houses strong. Peopled by Kamars and other tribals, the most neglected of the Indian human chain, destituted further by the Gangrail dam on the Mahanadi river. No schools. No drinking water. No electricity. No access to public health. And increasingly, no access to traditional forest resources. Here, stories of Binayak Sen proliferate. How he saved young Lagni lying bleeding after a miscarriage, how he rescued the villagers of Piprahi Bharhi jailed en masse for encroaching on the forest, how he helped Jaheli Bai and Dev Singh, how he helped create grain banks. “Do something. Save the doctor,” says an old man in Kamar basti. “We have no one to go to now.”

OVER THE YEARS, Binayak’s medical work had morphed into social advocacy — the two umbilically linked in a state like Chhattisgarh. As Dr Suranjan Bhattacharji, director, CMC Vellore, says, “Binayak walked the talk. He was an inspiration for generations of doctors. He stirred us. He reminded us that it takes many things — access, freedom, food security, shelter, equity and justice — to make a healthy society. He was the alternative model.” In 2004, CMC honoured Binayak with its prestigious Paul Harrison Award. In a moving citation, it said, “Dr Binayak Sen has carried his dedication to truth and service to the very frontline of the battle. He has broken the mould, redefined the possible role of the doctor in a broken and unjust society, holding the cause much more precious than personal safety. CMC is proud to be associated with Binayak Sen.”

Yet, barely three years later, on May 14, 2007, in a Kafkaesque twist, the State pressed a button and deleted Binayak Sen’s long and dedicated history as a humanist and doctor. The police arrested him as a dreaded Naxal leader and charged him with sedition, criminal conspiracy, making war against the nation, and knowingly using the proceeds of terrorism (sic). Imagine the bewilderment. “Just a namesake doctor” the prosecution asserted, and with that act of wilful cynicism, a life of soaring vision and service was extinguished. Reduced to the rubble of the Indian justice system.Since Binayak was arrested, three courts have denied him bail, most damagingly, the Supreme Court on December 10, 2007 — International Human Rights Day: an ironic detail. In this august court, Gopal Subramaniam, Additional Solicitor General of India and counsel for the Chhattisgarh government, argued that the Indian State was investigating terrorism in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and Binayak Sen was not only a part of this network of terrorism, but a key figure in the web. Granting him bail would jeopardise the health of the nation. The evidence available to back this claim would make dishonest men blanch, and honest men weep.

Sometimes the true measure of people is revealed in the small, random remarks of those who know them. When the Supreme Court denied him bail, an old man told an activist at a rally for Binayak, “If the courts are not going to free our doctor, should we storm the jail?” Then he continued ruefully to himself, “But what’s the use? All the other prisoners would run away, but Dr Binayak would stay back.”

DESPITE THIS formidable reputation, nothing has succeeded in bailing out Binayak Sen. Not affidavits by doctors from AIIMS and CMC who, inspired by Binayak, left cash-rich urban jobs to start the rural Jan Swasth Sahyog medical centre in Ganyari. Not 2000 signatures of doctors across the world. Not Binayak’s years in the Medico Friends circle. Not his stints as a member of the government’s own advisory committee on public health, not his pioneering work in creating the Mitanin health workers programme. Not even the fact that he voluntarily ret urned from Kolkata, where he was visiting his mother, to Raipur to confront the police about what he thought was a “simple misunderstanding”. In a crushing irony, on 31 December 2007, seven months after he was arrested, the Indian Academy of Social Sciences conferred the R.R. Keithan Gold Medal on Binayak. Its citation said, “The Academy recognises the resonance between the work of Dr Binayak Sen in all its aspects with the values promoted by Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation.”

Reasonable, one supposes, to incarcerate such a man in jail. As Vishwa Ranjan, the Director General of Police, Chhattisgarh, says, “So what? One can be a humanist and idealist and still be a Maoist.” You could safely take his to be the wise voice of the State.

The most pressing question then, why was Binayak Sen arrested? What catalysed the catastrophic switch of identities that has overtaken his life? The surface details first.

PIECES IN A PARANOID JIGSAW Going by available evidence, the three main actors in the police’s case against Dr Binayak Sen have very little in common, except ordinary human transactions. However, an atmosphere of dread has been built around them by booking them under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and Chhattisgarh Special Security Act

BINAYAK SEN Doctor-activist With a track record of 30 years of social advocacy and medical service behind him, Binayak Sen stuck by his sense of duty and intervened to get legal and medical aid for Narayan Sanyal, an old Naxal ideologue in Raipur jail, even though he knew it was like entering the “lion’s mouth.” He was arrested for this on May 14, 2007. He is still in jail

NARAYAN SANYAL Naxal ideologue Arrested in Andhra Pradesh in 2006, Narayan Sanyal was let off on bail. He was then arrested by the Chhattisgarh police on a murder charge. Sanyal’s brother asked Binayak to help him get attention for a painful condition in his hand. Though every visit was officially sanctioned, the police now allege Sen was acting as an illegal courier

PIYUSH GUHA Businessman Piyush Guha is a tendu patta businessman from Kolkata. Known to Sanyal’s elder brother, he was carrying Rs 49,000 as fees to be delivered to Binayak and handed to the lawyer. The police produced him on May 6, 2007 with 3 letters on him, allegedly from Sanyal. Guha says he was picked up on 1 May. The police claim him as their main evidence

Two years ago, in January 2006, Narayan Sanyal, 67, an elderly Maoist ideologue was arrested in Bhadrachalam, Andhra Pradesh. He was suffering from an extremely painful medical condition in his hand called Palmer’s Contracture. The jail officials at Warangal had sanctioned treatment when Sanyal was let out on bail. He was immediately arrested by the Chhattisgarh police on a murder charge in Dantewada and taken to Raipur jail. In May 2006, Sanyal’s elder brother, Radhamadhab, who lived in Kol - kata, wrote a letter to Binayak Sen, as the general secretary of PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties), copied to other human rights organisations, asking for help in getting Sanyal a lawyer, as well as medical attention. As one of the most eminent human rights activists in the region, Binayak intervened. He got Bhishma Kinger, a lawyer who lived in the flat opposite his, to take up Sanyal’s case, and also began corresponding with jail officials to facilitate Sanyal’s surgery. Radhamadhab, old and himself ailing, came less and less from Kolkata, happy to have Binayak substitute in his affairs. Routine burdens of conscience, as any human rights activist will tell you.

On May 6, 2007, the Raipur police suddenly arrested Piyush Guha, a small Kolkata-based tendu patta businessman and an acquaintance of Radhamadhab, who was carrying Rs 49,000 to deliver to Binayak as fees for Kin ger. They also claim they found three unsigned letters on him addressed to a ‘Mr P’, a ‘Friend V’, and ‘Friend’, innocuously complaining about jail conditions, age, the onset of arthritis. These letters, which the police believe are from Sanyal, also contain amorphous advice to P, V, and Friend to expand work among the peasantry and urban centres, congratulations on a successful “Ninth Congress”, and sundry other things. The police claim that Guha confessed that these ludicrously explosive letters of uncertain origin had been given to him by Binayak, acting as an illegal courier from the jailed detainee. As soon as Guha was produced before a magistrate, however, he said he had actually been arrested on May 1, and illegally detained and tortured for five days before being forced to sign a blank statement. The police further claim — in what seems a preposterous leap of imagination — that the Rs 49,000 was “a proceed of terrorism,” despite the fact that, even nine months later, they have not been able to unearth any terrorist act whatsoever from which that money proceeded.

On this flimsy evidence, the police declared Binayak, who was in Kolkata, an absconding Naxal leader. The local media faithfully carried the story. Hearing of this and completely appalled, Binayak — certain of his own integrity, certain of his impeccable track record, and believing in the constitutional framework of the Indian State — returned to Bilaspur to sort out the misunderstanding, contrary to advice by well-wishers to stay away and take anticipatory bail. In Bilaspur, the police asked him to “just stop by” at Tarbahar police station for a statement. He did so, and was promptly arrested on May 14, 2007, under two of the most draconian laws in the country: the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Chhattisgarh Special Security Act: aggravated mirror images of the dreaded TADA and POTA.Under these outrageous laws, merely to think something can land you in jail. As Kinger says, “I knew the judges would deny bail. If you are booked under these laws, you are done for. They are designed to create prejudice and a particular mindset in the judges.”

One of the prosecution’s weightiest accusations against Binayak is that he met Sanyal – a known Naxal ideologue — in jail 33 times. Set aside for a moment the many valid reasons why he might have done so: Sanyal’s medical condition, the surgery, the intricacies of his case. Suppose even for a moment that Binayak was indeed a passive Naxal sympathiser, the moot point here is that each of those meetings were legally sanctioned and conducted under supervision. Is that fair reason to steal a man’s freedom? The prosecution claims Binayak masqueraded as Sanyal’s relative, but his wife, Ilina invoked the RTI Act and extracted all the letters Binayak had written to the jail authorities seeking permission to meet Sanyal: all of them were on official PUCL letterheads, duly signed by Binayak as its general secretary.

SINCE BINAYAK was arrested, the police has continually gone fishing and, post facto, pulled out the most absurd evidence against him, building the case up desperately, bubble by bubble, on the most laughable of things: a confessional love letter between supposed Maoists in which Binayak’s name appears as a possible source of moral advice; a scrap of paper in Gondi allegedly recovered from an encounter site, which no one can decipher but in which the words PUCL and the Chhattisgarh Special Security Act features; a letter by Naxal leader Madan Barkade to Binayak complaining about jail conditions which he published among the human rights community. Innocuous, explainable things. Nothing there to the common eye that suggests Binayak is a grave threat to national security who must be denied bail pending trial.

What then explains the State’s inordinate zeal to put away Binayak? What explains its intractable need to erase his gentle, morally unim-peachable, identity and erect a dread criminal in its place? Why is it literally manufacturing evidence against the good doctor? For instance, DGP Vishwa Ranjan claims Piyush Guha is their main evidence against Binayak. Yet, in a seemingly desperate attempt to make Guha look more incriminating than he does, weeks after he was arrested, the police suddenly took him to Purulia on June 4, 2007, and made him an accused in an old bomb blast case in Thana Bundwan — a case in which his name was not even mentioned in the original FIR, filed a full year and a half earlier in October 2005! Why this inordinate zeal to paint Binayak black?

TO UNDERSTAND the full horror of Binayak Sen’s case — to get a grip on its significance for the sanity of this country at large — one needs to take a close look at the state of Chhattisgarh. The story of Binayak is just the most high-profile example of hundreds of unnamed individuals like him, caught in the cross-hair of a State at war with its own people. Like theirs, his story is the story of suspended reason, suspended logic and suspended freedom that is the inevitable outcome of a State that paralyses itself with the scare of “national security.” In many ways, Chhattisgarh is now seen as the epicenter of a Maoist insurgency that cuts across 13 states. In Chhattisgarh, by the government’s own admission, most of Bastar and Dantewada are out of its jurisdiction. This is undoubtedly a difficult situation. Each year, hundreds of policemen, hapless tribals, and symbols of the state — bridges, jails, telegraph poles — are blown up by extremists. By Home Ministry estimates, there were 311 casualties in Chhattisgarh in 2007; 571 nationwide. Sympathisers will tell you Maoists have local support — how much of this is voluntary, how much coercion, one can never accurately tell: the only way you can report on the Maoists is if they take you into the jungles to their camps. What you get then is obviously selective information. Typically though, all the regions under Maoist influence are regions where the government has been culpably remiss. Either schools, primary health care, roads, electricity, livelihood — all the benign functions of State — are completely missing. Or, the government is on a rampage of development and industrialisation, which is at odds with local aspirations and needs.

With predictable myopia, the Indian State has been meeting grievance with violence, illness with extermination. Not cure. Draconian laws. CRPF battalions. IRP battalions. Increased militarisation. Thousands of crores for upgrading police. Special funds for Naxal-affected States. An invitation to competitive violence: that has been the government’s response to grassroots militancy. In Chhattisgarh, this manifested itself particularly harmfully in 2005 as the government-sponsored counter-revolution: the now infamous Salwa Judum, which pitted villager against villager and triggered a bloody civil war. 644 villages have been forcibly evacuated by the government, their residents forced into sub-human camps. Smoke out the support, is the State’s war cry. Civil rights activists tell you, the State’s real quarry is not even the Maoists, but the iron-rich soil, ready to be handed to private corporations, Nandigramstyle. There are rumours that the makeshift camps are now going to be turned into official revenue villages, which will force tribals to abdicate all the original evacuated land to the government. All of that is speculation still; but the excesses of the Salwa Judum are real.

It is against this backdrop that Binayak Sen caught the self-serving eye of the State. Narayan Sanyal is perhaps the least controversial case he had espoused. Santoshpur fake encounter. Gollapalli fake encounter. Narayan Kherwa false encounter. Raipur false surrender. Ram Kumar Dhruv’s custodial death. Ambikapur. Lakrakona. Bandethana. Koilibera. Each of these hieroglyphs has a searing back story: some excess of State that Binayak and other human rights activists investigated and criticised. Most damningly, in December 2005, Binayak led a 15-member team from different organisations and published a scathing report on the Salwa Judum. It was the first of many reports that would expose and embarrass the government.

It’s this back story that made Binayak so unpalatable to the government. Consciously or subconsciously, it wanted to make a lesson of him. Perhaps even that is to accord more coherence to the State than it deserves. The real story of Binayak is the myopia of an unintelligent, scare-mongering State. Having declared Maoists as the “gravest threat to national security”, the Indian government has got itself into a George Bush like-twist. It sees weapons of mass destruction where there are none. Men like Binayak Sen start to look like Osama Bin Laden. Such are the perception tricks the “national security” prism can play on you.

In a mellow moment, DGP Vishwa Ranjan will admit there has been a miscarriage of justice. “Left to myself, I would have kept Binayak under surveillance, not arrested him,” he says. A big admission. In the same breath though, he will tell you conspiratorially that they have a mountain of evidence gathering against him. Evidence they can neither show you, nor yet present in court. Binayak Sen however can moulder in jail, while they construct their paranoid jigsaw.

ON FEBRUARY 2, 2008, a windy, brisk morning in Raipur, Binayak Sen is produced in the sessions court, nine months after his arrest, for the framing of charges. A surreal mood descends. The jostling cops contrast badly with the dignified calm of the frail handsome man who climbs down from the police van. A cold, firm handshake, a clear, refined voice, “Thank you for being here.” Then everyone is in the court room. Judge Saluja mumbles out the charges, distinctly uncomfortable. He can drop some of the inflated accusations, but he doesn’t. Binayak, listening in the witness box, denies all the charges, then asks for some time with his wife and lawyers. The judge concedes.

There is a palpable fear in the air. Several doctors who’ve come in solidarity are afraid to talk. There have been a series of arrests across Raipur the previous day: two women making an arms drop, a travel agency owner, a journalist. Everyone’s feeling hunted. It’s difficult to tell truth from lie. The framed from the genuine.

There is a palpable fear in the air. Several doctors who’ve come in solidarity are afraid to talk. There have been a series of arrests across Raipur the previous day: two women making an arms drop, a travel agency owner, a journalist. Everyone’s feeling hunted. It’s difficult to tell truth from lie. The framed from the genuine.

Binayak Sen, however, seems curiously aloof from all of this. As the police hustle him into the van, he presses his face against the iron bars and says urgently, “You must understand, there is a Malthusian process of exclusion going on in the country. You cannot create two categories of human beings. Everybody must wake up to this, otherwise soon it will be too late.” The concerns of the humanist are apparent even through the imprisoning bar. “If they arrest people like me, human rights workers will have no locus standi. I have never condoned Maoist violence. It is an invalid and unsustainable movement. Along with the Salwa Judum, it has created a dangerous split in the tribal community. But the grievances are real. There is an on-going famine in the region. The body mass is below 18.5. Forty percent of the country lives with malnutrition. In Scheduled Castes and Tribes, this goes up to 50 and 60 percent respectively. We have to strive for more inclusive growth. You cannot create two categories of people…”

Hardly conversation designed to dismantle the Indian nation. Ask him why he lent his services to Narayan Sanyal, a self-confessed Naxal, and Binayak’s answer captures the essential sanctity of civil rights across the world. “I knew I was entering the lion’s mouth,” he says quietly, “but if you start stepping back, where do you stop? You cannot discriminate. Everybody has the right to legal aid and medical care. That is written in the Constitution. That is the basis of individual, human rights.”

One of DGP Vishwa Ranjan’s grouses is, “Why does he criticise the Salwa Judum more than the Maoists?” Binayak’s answer would be that the Indian State has a greater responsibility to abide by the Constitution and due process of law than Maoists who’ve abdicated from the State. But that’s a moral nicety official India obviously finds difficult to grasp.

Ask Ilina Sen where she finds the strength to fight this battle, and she says, “I realise this goes beyond Binayak and my family. We are part of a much larger fight. We are struggling for the right to dissent peacefully. Our commitment to that gives me strength.” Again, a moral nicety official India would find difficult to grasp. Take Medha Patkar: 20 years of peaceful resistance. No result. Take Sharmila Irom: 7 years of heroic fasting. No result. Take Binayak Sen…

Binayak Sen will soon be on trial. To continue his imprisonment during this period is to foreclose the space for peaceful protest in India. It is to nurture weapons of mass destruction. It is to invite violent conversations. It is to further rent a tattered Gandhian dream.

WRITER'S EMAIL:
shoma@tehelka.com

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Outstanding STs to be awarded

Bhopal, Feb 13: Members of Scheduled Tribes performing outstandingly in various fields would now be awarded with the National Tribal Award. These annual awards are being instituted beginning the year 2008. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India has made a provision of Rs. 14 lakh for the four awards to be given away this year.

The Minister for Scheduled Tribes Welfare, Kunwar Vijay Shah said that the National Tribal Awards are being instituted to motivate the future generations of tribal population through performance of several tribal persons who manage to excel in different fields in spite of adverse geographical and cultural conditions. Shah said that such success stories should be publicly recognized so that the individuals concerned become role models for younger tribal generations.

The National Tribal Awards include National Award for the Best Janjatiya Achiever, National Award for Exemplary Community Services rendered to the Scheduled Tribes and National Award for the Best Performing ITDP/ITDA.

There would be two awards preferably one for a male Scheduled Tribe achiever and other for a female scheduled tribe achiever under the national award for the best Janjatiya achiever. The achiever giving outstanding performance at national or international sports events or outstanding performance in engineering, medical or any discipline at graduate level course or outstanding and long time contribution in the performing arts such as dance, drama visual arts etc. or outstanding contribution in the field of science, technology, entrepreneurship and biodiversity conservation and any other field will be given away this award. Each award would carry an amount of Rs. two lakh a letter of citation and a trophy.

The national award for exemplary community service rendered to the Scheduled Tribes would carry a cash prize of Rs. three lakh, a citation and a trophy. There would be one award for the exemplary contribution towards the development of any scheduled tribe community by individuals and organizations namely NGOs and voluntary organizations and community based groups.

There will be one award for the Best Performing Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP)/Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA). The award would carry Rs. five lakh cash, a citation and a trophy. ITDP/ITDA will be required to use the award money for creation of community assets. The award money can be dovetailed with money available under any other scheme to them or their own funds.

For more read Sinlung News

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Tribals turn refugees in MP

By Vivin Matthew and Gautam Sreenivasan

Daudi village in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh is a predominantly tribal area. It is seeing a conflict between the tribals and the government's various projects. The tribals who are displaced need alternative livelihoods than just land.

Rekhiram said he feels like he has been a refugee most of his life. His entire tribal village was first moved out of the forest almost 35 years ago, when the Tava dam was being built. At that time, the government gave each family five acres of land near the dam site, on which they could build homes and start farming. But the waters of the dam caused more problems.

“A lot of the land we were given gets submerged. Hence, we have much less land for farming,” said Rekhiram.

There's more bad news for the villagers. When Daudi village was first transplanted many years ago, the villagers lost the use of the forest as a source of income. So, they turned to the waters of the Tava, where they fished very successfully for about 10 years. But just a few weeks ago the Forest Department banned fishing in these waters.

Now, the villagers say they are left with very little option than to become migrant labourers. It is not just this one village alone. We attend a meeting where representatives from over 230 villages in Hoshangabad district are in attendance. Most of them are being evicted from their homes either for dams, factories or wildlife preserves. They say previous experience has made them distrust the government's promise of re-habilitation.

"The adivasis and the forests have lived in harmony for centuries. Without each other, their survival itself at stake,” said Sunil, Leader, Samajvadi Janparishad.

But the future is not completely hopeless. Rajkumar Bakoria, is one of four children from his village that has moved to a government funded boarding school 25 km away from is village. In spite of all the hardship he has seen his people go through, he wants to serve the nation once he's done studying.

“I want to join the Indian navy and protect my country,” said Rajkumar Bakoria.

If this remaining goodwill is to be preserved, the government must give the displaced education and alternative viable livelihoods.

READ MORE - Tribals turn refugees in MP

Maoist influx in Assam tea estates feared

Guwahati : There are fears that tea plantations across northeastern India's Assam state may have been infiltrated by Maoist rebels with trade union leaders sounding the alarm and asking state authorities to focus their attention on the threat.

"Such a possibility of penetration by Maoist elements is not unlikely, considering the fact that the situation in the tea garden areas is very fluid now," Madhusudan Khandait, general secretary of the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS), told IANS Wednesday.

The Sangha is the apex trade union body representing about one million tea garden workers in Assam. The state accounts for nearly 55 percent of India's total tea production of 900 million kg a year.

The workers in Assam's 800-odd tea plantations are tribals who had migrated to the state nearly 200 years ago from what are now Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh states.

Tea community leaders from the ruling Congress' Tea Cell and the ACMS called on Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi this week and told him of their apprehension.

"The state government should address various grievances of the tea communities immediately so as to nip such threats in the bud," Khandait said.

Tea garden areas across the state are restive with the tribal immigrants intensifying their demand for inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST).

The Assam government favours the move and is already considering setting up a development council for the tea tribes independent of whether or not the communities are included in the ST list.

The possibility of Maoist rebels infiltrating into tea garden areas in Assam has increased with the emergence of a shadowy tribal insurgent group in Assam with definite links with some of northeastern India's frontline separatist groups and a possible nexus with the Maoists.

The All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA), formed in 2004 to push the interest of the tribal or tea plantation workers' community across the state, has shot into the limelight after the group claimed responsibility for the Dec 13, 2007 bomb attack on a New Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express in eastern Assam that killed five passengers and injured nine others.

"The AANLA has a written agreement with the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) for possible joint operations against the security forces and of not carrying out extortion in each others' areas of influence without prior notice," an Assam Police official told IANS.

The AANLA is trying to capitalise on the tribal sentiments after the community's agitation for ST status has gained momentum after the rally in state capital Guwahati Nov 24 last year that turned violent after protesters clashed with local residents.

IANS

READ MORE - Maoist influx in Assam tea estates feared

Three Gujarat tribals killed in police firing

Three tribals were killed in police firing Wednesday as an agitation in north Gujarat over forestland rights turned violent.

Two people were killed on the spot while the third succumbed to injuries while being taken to hospital, officials said.

The incident occurred at the office of the forest ranger in the Vijaynagar block of Sabarkantha district, about 150 km north of here, where five tribals were picked up from neighbouring villages in the morning.

Tribal agitators had allegedly occupied 10 hectares of forestland in what is known as the Polo forest area for the last four days. Forest department officials insist that they occupied the land by felling trees and setting fire to shrubs and other vegetation.

As the news of the five tribals' detention spread, people in large numbers converged at the forest office. They had an argument with officials and soon the situation turned violent, resulting in police firing.

IANS

READ MORE - Three Gujarat tribals killed in police firing

Uranium, that strategic metal

India's ambitious nuclear program is based on the availability of sufficient uranium. But, do we have enough uranium resources in our country to meet the increasing demand? M S S Murthy thinks not.

The key to the success of a country's nuclear program is the availability of uranium. At present, the share of nuclear power in the country is only about three per cent of the total electricity generation. This is contributed by 17 power plants with a gross capacity of 4120 megawatt-electrical (MWe). Answering a question in the Loka Sabha on March 14, 2007 the government replied that it plans to progressively increase the nuclear power generation to 7280 MWe by completing the seven projects under construction by the end of 11th plan (2007-2012). In the 11th plan it is proposed to start work on another 7600 MWe capacity, reaching a total generation capacity of 15,000 MWe by the year 2020 through indigenous efforts. All this capacity build-up will be based on indigenously designed natural uranium and pressurised heavy water moderated reactors. Do we have enough uranium to achieve this capacity? Exploration Uranium occurs in nature in the form of minerals like uraninite, pitchblende and coffinite. These are found in various types of rock formations in the earth crust. The ore grade concentration of uranium in the rocks ranges from 250 to 1700 ppm in India. Uranium is mildly radioactive. It decays with a long chain of radioactive elements to stable lead. Some of them emit powerful gamma photons which can be easily detected during exploration. The Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and research (AMD), set up under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), is entrusted with the task of uranium exploration in the country. Various strategies such as satellite pictures and aerial survey are employed to delineate geological formations which can harbor uranium bearing minerals. Airborne reconnaissance survey with sensitive gamma ray detectors further narrow down the target areas. Then radiometric survey with hand-held gamma ray detectors and geological survey localise the possible deposits. Samples taken from both surface and at various depths from such areas are analysed in the laboratory for confirming the presence of uranium and its concentration. These parameters help in deciding whether it will be economical to mine uranium from the site. The first uranium mine was commissioned in 1967 at Jaduguda in the present Jharkhand state. Since then three more mines have been established, one each in Narwapahar (1995), Turamdih (2002) and Bagjata (2007), all in Jharkhand. Some of the other deposits that have been identified in Jharkand are located in Mohuldih, Nandup, Rajgaon and Garadih. AMD has discovered sizeable deposits in other states also: for example, Bodal and Jajawal in Madhya Pradesh; Domiasiat (known to be one of the largest and the richest), Wahkyn and Tyrani in Meghalaya; Lambapur-Peddagatta and Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh; Bastar district in Chhattisgarh and so on. These are in various stages of development and mining is expected to begin at some of these sites by 2010. Favourable uranium mineralisation has also been identified at Gogi in Karnataka, Gandi in Andhra Pradesh, Rohil in Rajasthan and Durg district in Chhattisgarh. From Ore to Reactor The mined ore is processed at uranium mills at Jaduguda, Batin and Narwapahar, where it is converted into uranium oxide - popularly known as 'Yellow cake'. It is then sent to the Nuclear Fuel Complex at Hyderabad for fabrication into fuel for the country's pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR). Total uranium from currently known deposits is estimated to be equivalent of 94,000 tons of yellow cake. It is estimated that it can support a nuclear power program of 10,000 MWe for a period of 40 years. But all is not well on the uranium front. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), under the DAE, has acknowledged that the industry is facing a severe mismatch between the demand and supply of uranium. A reactor of 220 MWe (which is the installed capacity of most operating reactors in the country) has to be initially loaded with about 61 tons of U3O8 as fuel. To maintain efficient performance, about 33 tons of fuel has to be replaced every year. Hence, to keep the reactors producing electricity at the maximum capacity factor, more than 700 tons of uranium oxide is required per year. However, the amount of uranium produced in 2006 was only about 260 tons. Hence, about 12 of the 17 plants which produced about 15.6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2006 have been working only at 50 to 70 per cent capacity factor against a capacity factor of 90 per cent. Why so? According to the DAE, three positive developments have contributed to this mismatch. First, it is the rapid increase in the nuclear power program in the recent years. Secondly, with improvements in technology, the power plant capacity has steadily grown. Each reactor can now burn more uranium and produce more energy. Thirdly, the gestation period, that is - the time between the civil work and commissioning of the reactor - has been reduced from 10-12 years to 4-5 years. This has reduced the lead period for planning. Unfortunately, there is also a negative side to the story. Though new deposits are being discovered, environmentalists, citizens' groups, NGOs and even political parties are raising objections to mining and processing activities. Pollution of water resources from uranium tailings, radiation hazards to people living in the vicinity, displacement of tribals, inadequate compensation for the land acquired, encroachment to reserve forest areas, etc. have all been cited as reasons. These problems have been affecting not only new sites but also working mines. The NPCIL has cautioned that delay in commissioning new mines and mills could lead to further fuel shortage and jeopardise the nuclear power program. One may argue that the country has abundant resources of thorium which can be converted into fissile material in breeder reactors. However, nuclear scientists feel that the prerequisite for the thorium utilisation program is the setting up of at least 10,000 MWe capacity (PHWR). The government is ambitious of increasing the nuclear power capacity to 50,000 MWe by 2032. The present technology of natural uranium fuel in pressurised heavy water reactors, on which most of the current Indian program is based, is not best suited for this quantum jump. Light water reactors with enriched Uranium-235 (to about three per cent) is the technology employed the world over. It may also help an earlier induction of the thorium cycle. However, India does not have enough expertise in light water technology. Faced with this triple constraint of limited uranium deposits, opposition to uranium mining, and an urgent need for jacking up energy production, the government is seeking international cooperation in the supply of both fuel and technology. The civil nuclear agreement between India and USA has to be viewed in this context.

READ MORE - Uranium, that strategic metal

baba amte a man, a legend, a fearless leader

baba amte is dead. a man, a legend, a fearless leader - who stood for his principles till the very last has passed away this week.

right from starting his social work with leprosy patients onto his numerous other causes including fighting stupidly planned and fake huge dams - baba amte stood a great man amongst cowards who pushed development in all its filth and dirt.

notable to know that baba amte returned the padma shri and padma vibushan awards to protest against the dastardly attack on innocent tribals on each and every turn of building the abusive sardar sarovar dam project. what use is awards given by the state, when the same state hits, bulldozes and abuses it's own poor and marginalised people?

though the legend has passed away, let his ideas and philosophies grow. for they are needed in much bigger way to even stand up to the fight against the fake development that pervades each and every corner of politicians, businessmen and media's booklet.

READ MORE - baba amte a man, a legend, a fearless leader

MDS directed to provide 'information sought'

February 06: Failing to provide information sought by Tribal Vigilance Forum, Manipur, (TVFM) under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2005, the Manipur Information Commissioner has directed the Manipur Development Society (MDS), the Department from which the information was sought, to furnish the required information to the complainant, within fifteen days from January 14 under the provision of RTI Act, according to the Tribal Vigilance Forum members.

Manipur Information Commissioner, RK Angousana has directed the SPIO of MDS to provide the information sought by the TVFM regarding the fund details received/deposited by the State Govt for execution of infrastructure development of the state for the period 2004 till date, and informed the SPIO to submit a show cause why the penalty as prescribed under section 20 of the RTI Act and why disciplinary action should not be imposed on him for failing to furnish the information within the stipulated time under RTI Act, added the tribal activists

READ MORE - MDS directed to provide 'information sought'

New Leader, Chennai, Interfview with Dr John Dayal

This interview of John Dayal with the New Leader, one of the oldest news magazines in Asia, was recorded in November 2007, weeks before the Christmas Week violence against Christians erupted in the Kandhamala district of Orissa, India. New Leader published in its February 2008 issue.

Questions:
QUESTION 1. Church in India should thank and congratulate you for your relentless fight on behalf of the Christian community in India. What motivates you?
JOHN DAYAL: Nothing that a human rights and civil society activist does can really compare with the courage, faith and forbearance of the victims, and those who survive persecution, terror, coercion, the physical violence and the humiliation that comes when there is an assault on his God given human dignity, the erosion of the freedoms guaranteed to a citizen by the Constitution of India.
Nothing can, of course, replace a human life lost, or recompense a widow or an orphan. We can pray with them, and in that prayer, find the strength in ourselves, as individuals and as society, to try and see that such tragedy is not repeated, such impunity is not allowed to go unchallenged.
It is perhaps that moment of prayer that sustains me as an activist, now nearing forty years in standing together with many others to say `Stop that tyranny, curb that vicious torch, be shamed of defying laws made by men, and afraid before you defy the law of God’. Activism, at the end of the day, is not a display of courage, or duty, or even love. It is surrender to God’s Will. After that there is no fear. It is the means, and it is an end in itself. I, therefore, seek no one’s gratitude. I do seek understanding, for sometimes one has to go against the grain. And I seek forgiveness, for sometimes what I say or do or write may seem to offend Hierarchy, leaders and others, or embarrass them in their own attempts at peace, reconciliation or negotiations with their tormentors.
QUESTION 2. Recently in a press statement, you had mentioned that roughly four incidents of Christian persecution take place in a week in India. This is shocking, since we had assumed that the plight of Christians in India will improve, once the BJP-led coalition lost power at the centre. Is anti-Christian persecution restricted to the BJP-ruled States in India?
JOHN DAYAL: I studied Physics as a student, and then worked in areas of Operational Research, surveys before becoming what is now called an Investigative Journalist back in the first years of the 1970s. That has taught me the power of data, of number crunching, in proving a point, and of field studies in discovering what others may want to remain hidden. These issues have included drugs and human trafficking, corruption and instances of bigotry and injustice, the forcible sterilizations of the Emergency of 1975-77, and of course the massive and penetrating sabotage of the Indian psyche and of its secular ethos by the Sangh Parivar from when it was just the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and the Bharatiya Jan Sangh. That is how, leaning on the strong staff of the late Archbishop Alan de Lastic of Delhi, I could publish the first Unofficial White Paper of Violence against Christians in 1998, exposing the massive persecution of Christians across the country. We have sought to be able to publish that document every year since then, and I am happy its data, carefully collected and correlated, is by and large accepted by national and international Human Rights and Freedom of Faith institutions and organisations. It is in analysing such data that we find that even in 2007, there are almost 200 cases in 11 months – the year is yet to end, and these are but recorded and reported cases. Maybe there are hundreds of other cases which have not come to my notice.
Careful analysis shows persecution to be a complex criminal phenomenon. It involves massive hate campaigns. It involves vicious political forces and week Governments. Above all it implies slice, complicity or impunity of Government agencies such as police, civil administration and subordinate judiciary. Government is deaf and blind to hate campaigns, whether it is congress which is ruling or the BJP which is in power alone or in collation. The police will not register complaints. The civil administration will gleefully coerce schools, pressurise priests, abet religious fundamentalists, and often accompany mobs as they assault Christians. They ill not arrest culprits, nor will they convict guilty or award them just punishment. No wonder fundamentalists and mobs are encouraged. Media perceptions and unconcern aggravate matters.
Surely the religious fundamentalism and the criminal concept of nationalism that the Sangh Parivar espouses make persecution quite the norm in states ruled by them. The Sangh also penetrates the police, administration and local judiciary, and that means the entire system is loaded against the weaker elements of the minority communities, especially against Christians.
Sometimes, as in Himachal and other areas, the local Congress leadership seems to be in completion with the Sangh Parivar in appeasing the majority. Himachal hardly has any Christians, and neither does Rajasthan, but both states have laws designed to curb conversions! Mrs. Sonia Gandhi once responded to me to assure her Party, the Congress, opposed such laws, but apparently the Himachal chief minister does not care for what his political leader feels and says. His eye is always on the next election. We can challenge the Sangh, but when secular groups such as the Congress and the Left for political reasons actively or by default join forces against Christians, it really saddens me. Then I almost feel helpless.
3. Apart from the vicious campaign by the Sangh Parivar, are there other factors that contribute to anti-Christian violence?
There is what I call the Ravi Shankar-Niyogi Syndrome. You will recall the rule of Pandit Ravi Shankar, a Congressman but an arch Hindutva protagonist who was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He defied Jawaharlal Nehru, ignored his caution, and appointed Justice Niyogi to head a farcical commission designed to indict the Church for fraudulently and forcible conversions especially of tribals. That report mothered the anti conversion laws in many states.
That explains it all. The persecution is not a legitimate, if violent, response to Christian spiritual violence -- if you so want to describe evangelistic activity in urban, rural and tribal areas. The laws, which include the Presidential Order of 1950 which deprives Christian Dalits of their development rights, and the social and political perceptions, are designed to keep a vast population of the Dalits and the poor in the thrall and slavery of a few from the traditional social elite. There is virtually no persecution in areas which also do not also have harsh caste distinctions and Dalit or Tribal persecution. It is a one-on-one match! Political groups either encourage or condone persecution of Christians for political reasons.
QUESTION 4. Have national bodies like National Integration Council, of which you are a member, and the National Minorities Commission done anything to stop this?
ANSWER: The National Commission for Human rights does not look at religious persecution, leaving it to the national Minorities commission. Even otherwise I have problems with the NHRC whose focus is essentially on police and jails and torture, and that too not always honestly. It is little more than lip service. I recall at least one former Chief Justice of India who became NHRC chairman was strong supporter of the black law called POTA, used mostly against Muslims.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes had, till Dr Buta Singh became its chairman, adopted a very hostile attitude towards Dalit Christians - whether the chair was a Congress person or a Bharatiya Janata Party ideologue and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh stalwart.
The National Commission for Minorities, barring the brief interlude when Dr James Massey, a Dalit, was the Christian member, has almost always had time servers or political appointees whose interests were anything but relating to the community. Some have been hostile to the community, some have been corrupt, and some have been retired politicians or bureaucrats whose ignorance has been exceeded only by their unconcern.
One went to the extent of saying he saw no persecution, because he had never been persecuted. Another was keen to bring the community to its knees before the RSS in the guise of a dialogue. Little wonder, therefore, that when the Union Cabinet devised the so called Communal Violence prevention Bill, it just did not cover the issues of Christians, and hate crimes and persecution of the micro minority. The Muslims, after their Gujarat pogrom experience, and Sikhs with the 2004 massacres, rightly rejected the CV Bill out of hand because it strengthened the hands of the police without helping the victims of communal violence. The CV prevention Bill did not even understand the persecution of Christians in various parts of India, or the massive hate campaign against the community carried out in tribal belts, villages and even in cities. Sad to say, in the many seminars organised by Civil Society and by Muslim groups and intellectuals, there were hardly any Christians present and almost no formal representation by Catholic and Protestant hierarchies.
QUESTION 5. Do you think individuals like the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and Sonia Gandhi are fully aware of this continuing harassment of Christians in India?
ANSWER: I am sure they are aware. It is not just the many memorandums the community has submitted to them in the last four years. Governors of many states have repeatedly written to the President and through him to the Home Minister. The Police Intelligence must have told them too. But I expect little of political figures.
QUESTION. Are human rights organisations outside India aware of this situation?
ANSWER: Every Human Rights group in India and abroad worth its salt is fully aware of the situation. Firstly, it is not just persecution of Christians. There is persecution of Muslims. There are issues of delayed justice for the Gujarat massacre victims, for the widows of the Sikhs killed in 2004, and of course much delay in registering cases of persecution. The issue has figured in Amnesty reports, the US Government’s annual reports on International religious Freedom, and reports of NGOs.
As part of our larger advocacy exercise, we have kept the global village aware of what is happening to our community here, and in other countries too. India is a signatory to international Treaties and Resolutions on Human Rights, Freedom of faith and similar civilisation value documents. We hope international peer pressure will force the Government of India to take action and meet its Treaty obligations. India’s Human Rights record is up for review in April 2008 in the United Nations Human Rights Council, which replaces the old UN Human Rights Commission. This is a body directly answerable to the UN General Assembly. India eagerly looks forward to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and I hope the Government will take this opportunity to assure the UN of its honorable intentions in safeguarding full minority rights in the country.
But I wish to make it clear once again that we will never seek any punitive action against India, or sanctions of any kind, that may eventually impact on the poor of the country. We hope to fight and win this battle on our terms, and in utter peace.
QUESTION 7. Is there anything the Christian community in India can do to protect itself from such attacks?
ANSWER: We do not seek anything other than our full and honest rights ads citizens of this great country. It is for those in authority to seek that justice prevails and citizens’ security is safeguarded. That is what Governments are for, that and the fact that they must also ensure economic and development justice. Christians are the worse off in this matter too. And Government has not even bothered to set up an assessment committee such as the Justice Rajinder Sachchar high powered committee that the Prime Minister set up for Muslims.
There are precautions, of course, including prayer and unity amongst all Christians. There is the need to be aware of out rights, and not to be afraid of going to the police and insisting that they register a case if there is violence doe, or threats made. Evangelists need to evolve a new vocabulary. Human rights must be a part of the curricula of every Bible school, every seminary. There is need to dialogue with all groups, and to participate in civil society duties in speaking out for others when they are victimised and targeted. We must stand together with anyone who is victimised. That is the only way to ensure we will not hang separately.
Bowing to pressure, accepting defeat, toadyism and displays of weakness will never assure security. The hierarchy and NGOs with FCRA accounts permissions to protect must recognise this. There can be no dialogue between dead bodies and their killers, or between rapists and their victims. Dialogues take place between peaceful persons. Truce is not peace. Peace without justice can be eventually fatal. And in the short run, it merely ensures servitude and a loss of civil rights. I hope it never happens.
QUESTION 8. For quite some years now, you have boldly spoken out for the Christian community. Have you faced any personal threats or risks as a result?
QUESTION; I am not afraid. Like anyone else, I fear the thought of pain, but I do not fear death. In a lighter vein I may say the material and economic violence against me has been more than the physical. But of course as many a priest and lay activist, I have often been threatened with personal injury. Cyber police and security agencies are investigating a recent threat, to me and some top Congress leaders, which had roots abroad. For some time in the past, the Government had given me armed bodyguards, but mercifully they were removed after a time. They were an embarrassment, and guards have never saved anyone. That is what history shows us. I am protected by the prayers of many.

READ MORE - New Leader, Chennai, Interfview with Dr John Dayal

Tribals demand ID proof to avail of schemes

Kolkata, February 8 A Majority of the state’s tribal population does not have any official document to prove their identity. According to experts working with them, only 30 per cent of the tribals have a Scheduled Tribe (ST) identity card.

Holding a demonstration at Rani Rashmoni Road today, the West Bengal State Committee of All India Adivasi Mahasabha demanded identity cards for the state’s entire tribal population.

“The Left Front government must ensure that the state’s tribal population does not lose out on the benefits accorded to them. This is not possible unless they have identity cards,” said Shibcharan Munda, the general secretary of the organisation. About 4,000 villages in the state, mostly under developed, have a dominant tribal population.

According to the 2001 census, 44,06,794 people (around 5.5 per cent of the total population of the state) were found to belong to various tribes.

According to the people working closely with the community, the tribals want ST status as this would help them avail of the various schemes for their development.

Their other demands include the use of forest resources, allotment of land and houses under the Indira Awas Yojna. Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, north and south Dinajpur, Bankura, Birbhum and Purulia are some of the districts in the state with a considerable tribal population.

At present, the state government has initiated various policies for tribals, including an assessment on whether they want to study in Santhali, and opening Santhali medium schools for them.

The minister for water resources, investigation and development, Nandagopal Bhattacharya, also addressed the gathering.

He said that the Left Front government is keen on providing tribals education accompanied with an increase in their earnings. “For the development of education, the government is buying books free of cost for the children and coming up with scholarships for them,” said Bhattacharya.

READ MORE - Tribals demand ID proof to avail of schemes

Girijans to get patta before July

HYDERABAD: State government has fixed July as the deadline for all district collectors to ensure that Girijans get patta for forest land, but not exceeding 10 acres per family, for the purpose of horticulture.

At a video conference, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy made it clear that implementation of the decision of Government of India should be taken up immediately and none of the officers working in tribal areas and involved in the process of issuing pattas should either be transferred or granted leave. Those who achieve the targets will also be given state level awards, he said.

The idea is that apart from helping Girijans to earn additional income of about Rs 8,000 per year, it would also help in protecting the forests and put a check on illegal felling of trees. Since it would take some time for the fruit bearing trees to give returns, the government would also give them cash doles under national rural employment guarantee scheme.

He asked the collectors to find out if there was need for construction of percolation tanks to supply water in these areas. The district authorities have been asked to dig borewells or provide drip irrigation wherever possible, and also to provide motors and pump sets. The CM said the government would bear its expenditure. He also asked the district administration to encourage the tribals to go in for goat rearing and dairy farming through stall feeding.

READ MORE - Girijans to get patta before July

Resistance Studies

The first issue of Resistance Studies has just been made available online. You can find it in PDF format here and read a press release about the project here.

The following is a summary of its content (provided by the publishers):

The article by Karl Palmås discusses the possible rupture in the strategies of activist groups, where the abstract mechanism of the motor is replaced by another abstract mechanism - the computer model. Palmås draws from contemporary debates in philosophy and sociology, as well as from recent societal and economical developments. In his case study of the Adbusters movement, he notices a shift in how the practice of resistance is modelled. Instead of “jamming” or “blocking” capitalism, Adbusters have turned to a computer-like model where capitalism is “hacked” or “re-written” just like software. This, in turn, leads to a new agenda for resistance, an agenda which works by making new arrangements instead of blocking the old ones. Palmås’ text introduces an interesting perspective on resistance and social change, which instructs us to look at the abstract mechanisms and models, both in order to understand resistance as such, but also to understand power.

Tim Gough’s “Resistance: Under what Grace” is another theoretical article on how to understand the concept of resistance. He invokes the paradoxical nature of resistance, and its relationship towards the existing prevailing order. When an order is opposed and changed, and resistance triumphs, it immediately turns into a new order, which in turn may be resisted. Since this paradoxical logic is always at work, we must displace the question of a beginning and an end in terms of our common-sense understanding of the concept of time.

Instead of separating resistance and order, Gough suggests an “awareness which in the context this cunning and simultaneity becomes the act of a being which, in its difference, makes that difference an issue for it; this folded characteristic being the very possibility of resistance”.

Jeffrey Shantz too challenges the grand theories of revolution, and instead discusses how anarchist futures are made right now. He draws his examples from the “anarchist transfer culture”, which is attempting at building sustainable communities within the context of the old society. Instead of purely speculative social analysis, the desirable society must be made, and the only way of doing that is to learn the practices. The capitalist relations between consumers and producers, for example, can be overturned, at least on a small scale, by developing gift-economies. We have seen this trend on a large scale in computer software and copyleft media. However, this model is also applicable in building alternative forms of welfare based on mutual aid and autonomous networks, which could endure the trends of the market or the budget of the State. The concept of resistance, then, turns into something readily available in everyday life, not merely reacting against obvious structures of power, but primarily with a potential positive task of building new arrangements. This is why, Shantz argues, the anarchist futures need to be understood in a present tense, since they are already in the making right now.

Patit Paban Mishra rounds up this issue with the historical case of the Orissa tribals in India, which resisted the 1874 revenue settlement imposed by the colonial rule. The settlement led to poverty and misery or the tribal society. However, in heterogeneous constellations the struggle continued up until 1946, displaying the ever-changing dynamic of oppression and resistance.

For more information, visit this link.

READ MORE - Resistance Studies

Congress, BJP jostle for tribal votes in Madhya Pradesh

With assembly elections due in November, tribals in Madhya Pradesh seem to be under the spotlight with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani choosing Jabalpur to launch his 'sankalp yatra' and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following two days later with a visit to Jhabua.

While Advani launched his campaign tour from the tribal dominated Jabalpur Feb 6, Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation stone of a new rail line in Jhabua district Feb 8.

Tribals dominate both Jhabua and Jabalpur regions. They play a decisive role in 91 of the state's 230 assembly constituencies. Of these, 41 are reserved for the community.

Tribals would play an even more significant role if the delimitation of constituencies takes place before the polls. Under the new system, the number of tribal seats would go up.

According to experts, the significance of the tribal vote was demonstrated in the 2003 assembly polls at Nimar, Malwa, Mahakaushal and Vindhya regions. The BJP swung 15 percent of the tribal votes away from the Congress and won three-fourths of the tribal seats.

While the BJP has 38 tribal legislators and four tribals MPs, the Congress has only two tribal MLAs and one tribal MP.

'But much water has flown down the Narmada - the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh - since then. Tribals appear to have disassociated from the BJP as indicated during the Khargone Lok Sabha and Sanver and Lanjhi assembly by-polls which the BJP lost,' said Brijmohan Shrivastava, the state Congress spokesperson.

The role of the Gondwana Ganatantra Party (GGP), which has its strength in the tribal areas of the Mahakoshal region, will also be crucial.

Both the BJP and the Congress are watching out for GGP. If the Gonds in the Mahakoshal region, where 60 percent of the voters are tribals, vote in bulk for GGP, the electoral prospects of the two mainstream parties could be dented.

READ MORE - Congress, BJP jostle for tribal votes in Madhya Pradesh

Beware: Black Gold will turn their future black

An account of the impact of iron ore mining on the Tribal Communities in Goa by Mihir Bhonsle of NCAS, Pune.

We all must have visited Goa!The Goa Tourism Website says 'Goa: Mind, Body and Soul, A perfect Tourist Destination.' Any reference to this land immediately brings to our minds the exotic beaches, rich cuisines, hospitable locals and more of a place where one can hang out. Not, very far from my own state Maharshtra, I have always wanted to be there to experience a great weekend. But, till very recently I did not know that there is another face to this land of beauty, which tends to get lost in the beechy landscapes. Contradictions have become starker, motivating the tribal communities to organize themselves and resist the exploitation of their livelihood sources.

Exploitation of tribes in Goa, have been prevalent even before the Portuguese Colonial rule, but their condition has since then worsened. The Portuguese state, which till the early 1900s had explored that the land which they had colonized, was rich in Iron ore. The tribes like Gawdas (one of the earliest settlers) who were already being deprived of their lands after the intrusion of the Bhats and the Desai's (upper castes), were further pushed to the margin during the Portuguese rule. Mining leases were granted to local businessmen to start extracting iron ore, especially in the Sanguem, Quepem, Bicholim, Sattari, Bardez and Pernem talukas. These regions were mainly inhabited by the tribes. The mining activity cost dearly to the tribes residing in this area. After, the exploitation of the tribes continued after the liberation of Goa in 1961.

Till, 2001 i.e. after 40 long years of being Indians, the Government did not grant Scheduled tribe status to the Tribes namely Gawda, Kunbi, Velip and Dhangars. Gawda, Kunbi and Velip got Scheduled Tribe status, but Dhangar tribe are yet to be included in the Scheduled Tribes. The struggle of the tribes for getting SC status, which is on, since the liberation Goa continues till today. But, little did they know that in the years to come they would have to fight for their right to livelihood. The most vulnerable sections of the mining activity are the tribal communities as most of the mining leases granted by the state are in the forest cover region, where tribes have resided for several thousand years. But, due to rampant mining activity, the livelihood of the tribal communities has got a severe blow.

"The state government has always used the Sakharecha Sura (Sugar Coated Dagger) to stab us"; remarked Durgadas Gaonkar, the President of GAKUVED (Gawda Kunbi Velip and Dhangar Federation). GAKUVED has been organizing the tribes for demanding reservation since 1997. He was speaking at a meeting which was organized by the people of Colamb (Sanguem taluka) to discuss the impact of the mining activity in the vicinity of Colamb village. The villagers of Colamb have always resisted the mining activity, which is in operation in their vicinity. Fomentos group of mining has been extracting iron ore in the nearby areas of the village, which are classified as forest land by the State Government. Fomentos is operating the mine on behalf of Hiralal Khodidas and Company, the later being granted a lease since the colonial times and which has continued in Independent India. Saptu a villager from Colamb complaining about the mine said, 'The mud dug out by the excavation process falls in our farm-lands, spoiling our yield".

Villagers have always been vocal of their problems faced due to the mining activity. Not only the silt, but mining has caused the depletion of the surrounding natural resources like water, the water table for land has been reduced substantially, the water bodies have been polluted by the mining silt, which makes it unfit for palatable purposes. Houses falling in the area have developed cracks due to the explosives used for mining. The mining company has converted forest areas into rice plantations and has used it for dumping wastes. Expansion of mining activity into newer areas has caused large scale displacement of local people. Overall, the mining has led to a systemic degradation of the livelihood sources of the tribal communities mainly that of the Gawdas and has also led to the destruction of the surrounding environment. The compensation, the company is paying to the villagers comes to around Rs. 400 per person a month. The compensation offered does not hold any value to the tribals residing in the areas, as the mining activity is threatening their source of livelihood.

As a villager rightly pointed out, "Iron ore is black gold." So, the vested interests are trying to plunder it, at the cost of the livelihood of the people.

The State Government is not heeding to the demand of the tribal communities. Rama Velip, a villager of Colamb who has been vocal of the situation of the villagers of Colamb, displayed a map to me, which identified the active iron ore mining leases. The number of squares rounded-up in the map was shocking. Starting from the Southern part of Goa, extending up to the North –eastern part, the whole of this belt was marked as a mining belt i.e. active leases have been granted for mining of iron ore. These leases have been retained after the liberation of Goa and the formation of the independent Goa state. Government of India enacted a law known as the Goa Daman and Diu mining Concessions (Abolition and Declaration as Mining Leases) Act, 1957. By the virtue of this law, the mining leases granted by the Portuguese colonial state were brought under the purview of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. That means that the mining leases, which were granted in the colonial rule were refreshed. Also, Mining is one of the major contributors to the State's revenue and hence whichever party comes to power, it is reluctant to curb the massive exploitation of tribals and the natural resources.
Goa has always been promoted as a Tourist Destination, which has hidden the larger questions, which the state faces. We have always been shown the glamorous side of the land, which is no doubt worthy of notice, but realities in which the local people live are very different from the merry-land we aspire to visit. The livelihood of the tribal communities is being plundered, pushing them to the brims in the so called developed state. This small state whose geographical limits do not extend to a few hundred kilometers has as of today around 1,600 active mining leases, that talks about the massive kind of exploitation which the people of the state have to go through. The tribals are fast grappling to the situation and are realizing the violation of their right to livelihood, protected by the law of the land. So, next time any of you visit Goa, do bother to turn to the Southern part of Goa and see experience the hospitality of struggling tribals.

Ref.: LAND, MINING AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN GOA: AN OVERVIEW, A SAIP Study Project By Sebatian Rodrigues.

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Andhra Pradesh: 5000 years old tradition

A prince of a tribal realm vanished all of a sudden some 5000 years ago. He was venerated as a god. The spot of his disappearance was converted into a temple and that day has become an annual event for tribals.

A FAMOUS tribal festival named Nagoba starts in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh on February 6. Tribals, particularly Gondu and Mesrum sub-castes, follow this tradition since five thousand years. Nagoba (Nagadevatha) is the god of tribal castes of Gondus and Mesrum. Nagoba temple is situated in Keslapur village of Indravelli mandal in Adilabad district. Lakhs of tribals from various places come and participate in this ‘Jaatara’ (festival). Government of Andhra Pradesh has also recognised this festival and it is also included in the state festivals’ list. This festival will be celebrated till February 9.

Tribal people strongly believe that Nagoba will protect their crops, and bring peace and good health to them on ‘Amavasya’ (new moon night) in the ‘Pushya masam’ (as per Telugu calendar) every year.

The history of Nagoba is also very interesting. Approximately 5000 years back, the queen of tribal kingdom named Naagaayi Mothi gave birth to a beautiful boy. Everybody believed that the boy was God Sarparaju himself, who they worshiped daily. In a dream, God himself told this to Mothi and asked her to introduce each and every newly married couple to him.

One day, that boy disappeared in the fields of Keslapur, presently situated in Adilabad district. Tribals strongly believe in this fable. They built a Nagoba temple at the same place where the boy supposedly disappeared. Since that day, they offer prayers to God Nagoba every year on this day.

A day before the beginning of the festival, all Mesrum people arrive at Nagoba temple and stay there for four days. Anyone is allowed to enter that temple only after completion of prayer by the Mesrum people.

Before this festival, on ‘Purnima’ (full moon night), nearly 20 tribals along with Mesrum people go to the Godavari River and bring the auspicious water of the river in new pots. The festival starts on that day formally. After 15 days, on the Amavasya, they offer that auspicious water and milk to the God.

Another interesting thing is that they cook only on 22 flames, albeit the population is in lakhs. These flames are also inside the compound of the temple. People other than Mesrum community, cook at their own places.

This festival has another significance. A tribal court is conducted on this day, which is also an old tradition. Nearly 60 years back, there was no transport in tribal villages. People belonging to plain areas treated tribals as barbarians. Tribals, in turn, were afraid of these people. No official would go to tribal villages. At that time, the Nizam appointed one human environmentalist named Professor Hyman Darf for detailed study on tribal life. He came to know that all tribals gathered on the occasion of the festival of Nagoba. Immediately, he thought of conducting a court on that day to solve the problems of tribals. In the year 1946, Darf conducted the first court (Girijana Darbar) in that village. After independence also, this tradition continues by district collectors. This court is held on the last day of the festival, wherein all the elders of tribal sub-castes are present.

Courtesy : Merinews

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Vidarbha farmers suicides unabated, 12 more in 4 days in Feb.

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net

Bhopal: With 12 more farmers suicides reported from Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in first four days of this February month the death toll has mounted to 92 in the current year.

The fresh victims of Vidarbha agrarian crisis are: Santosh Pradhan, Haridas Baiskar & Shrikrishana Ambhore (all three in Akola); Kashiram Khodake, Sahebrao Surushe & Vasanta Kakad (all three in Buldhana); Motiram Jadhav, Dadaji Darun & Ganesh Jivtode (all three in Yavatmal); Ramdas Paridhe & Vasant Mute (both in Wardha) and Mahadev Shirbhate in Amaravati.

According to a Press release issued today by Nagpur-based Kishor Tiwari, president Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, (VJAS ), as per reports last month too i.e. in January 80 farmers committed suicides in Vidarbha.

Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is visiting Gondia in Vidarbha on February 9 after 18 months he announced on 1st July 2006 Rs. 3750 crore relief package to stop the ongoing farm suicides in Vidarbha. However, more than 2000 farmers committed suicides as per official Maharashtra Government reports which is highest in the history of agrarian crisis, Tiwari pointed out.

Hundreds of widows of farmers, who committed suicide after announcement of the relief package and have been denied the relief-aid on technical grounds that these farmers committed suicide due to distress other than agrarian crisis, will meet Indian Prime Minister on February 9 to show their pathetic condition and apathy of Maharashtra Government.

More than 90 per cent farm suicide cases have been rejected in order to show that there is slow down in farm suicides and relief package are working well. "We have requested Indian Prime Minister to give time to these widows in order to understand the hardship of dying farming community but if administration is not giving us official time then we will march to Gondia will protest in the function", Tiwari informed.

VJAS has been demanding to include Vidarbha region in NFSM (National Food Security Mission) and special outlay of RKVY (Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana) alongwith a comprehensive policy for land rights to landless, marginal farmers and tribals cultivating barren land and raise the demand to allocate dedicated funds on the lines of AIBP for farm ponds, community tanks and give incentives to farmers / villages who/which harness water.

VJAS has urged Indian Prime Minister to arrange food security, health security and employment opportunities to dying west Vidarbha farmers as at the ground level minimum food, medicine, social system support is missing.

'Total apathy of administration has made this condition of rural Vidarbha so pathetic due to non-serious attitude towards agrarian crisis and it has resulted that the relief declared year back has not reached to dying farmers after lapse of one year. It is the need of the time to provide food security health care to minimum 4.34 lakh farm families who are identified by administration as farmers in deep distress, Tiwari added. (pervezbari@eth.net)

READ MORE - Vidarbha farmers suicides unabated, 12 more in 4 days in Feb.