www.sacw.net > Human Rights in South Asia
India - Uttar-Pradesh: Living on the Edge
By V.B.Rawat
[September 1, 2004]
Sonebhadra is famous for five power plants in eastern Uttar-Pradesh. River Sone provides lifeline to the area though people in the town neither get electricity nor water regularly. None of the outsiders can realize the pain of Sonebhadra if (s)he travels by car from Varanasi. The beautiful wide roads that link to Sonebhadra and later equally marvelous Sone Valley creates an illusion about Sonebhadra and its people. It is one of the poorest areas of the country and yet its natural resources are being plundered by not only state owned and private corporations but also by the so-called Naxalites.
Interestingly, Sonebhadra has also become a hunting ground for the ëNGOsí working for the ërightsí of the marginalized. And as one enters the town, the virtual NGOisation is visible with big hoardings and banners greetings ëgreatí people from Delhi to visit the town and raise their issues. And therefore after ëpressí and ëpolitical connectionsí the third important connections have become ëmanavadhikarí or human rights. So if you say that you are from the human rights, the implications and meanings are that you belong to ëNational Human Rights Commissioní, and that is why so many organizations have cropped up with name ëRastriyaí and ëManavadhikarí with them. But despite all these Sonebhadra remains volatile and tense, its Adivasis remains powerless as usual. Their problems have become ëfashionableí to discuss. People raise issue, print their photographs, get funds or awards but the situation remains the same. This apathy of the social action groups comes handy to the Naxalite groups who have virtually won over the Adivasis and Dalits of the area. Local police, CRPF and BSF have been active in the area and it is alleged that the special anti naxal drive has over Rupees 200 crore budget is futile as police dare not to go in the deep forests because they fear the naxals have better equipments with them. However, in the name of anti naxal drive, Sonebhadra witnessed highhandedness against the common man. The atrocious Prevention of Anti Terrorism Act ( POTA) had the highest number of casualties from this place. About 27 of them were arrested against whom the charges could never been finalized alleged M.A.Khan, who heads ëChaupalí a mass organization of the local people for the right to information.
Waiting for Death: Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav is concentrating on the development of Uttar-Pradesh and his officials are much ahead of him. At the district headquarter of Sonebhadra in Robertsganj, about 40 tribals have come to narrate their plight. Travelling for over 40 kilometer in which more than _ of the journey was done on foot and took about five hours, these Adivasis came to meet the district magistrate and show him his condition. They wanted to handover a report done by ëChaupalí regarding the corruption on the Survey being done by the UP government under the instruction of a ten year old judgment given by justice P.N.Bhagwati and justice Rangnath Mishra. Both the judges are living their retired life. One is internationally known for his human rights activism while the other became chairman of the National Human Rights Commission and later Member of Parliament. But the survey completed by the UP governmentís Kaimur Survey Agency has done more harm to the Adivasis then relocating them as would have been the intention of the Supreme Court judgment. The Survey done by ëChaupalí was a survey on the government survey and it revealed startling facts about the corruption in the revenue department. A prominent novelist Shivendra, who heads the Chaupal intellectual Forum says that about 4 judges were suspended on the charges of corruption in this survey but still we donít have the information as why were they suspended and what were the charges. M.A.Khan, who himself is a ëmobile information centerí said that the officials asked for heavy ransom from the poor tribals failing which their names were withdrawn from the list. Hence nearly 40 tribal men and women travel for over 5 hours on foot to the district headquarter. It has been raining for the past three days and made it impossible for other villagers to move out of their huts. Nevertheless, they reach the district headquarter around 1 pm. Outside the collectorate, the men and women sit in a circle and display the forest leaves and herbs that they have been eating in the absence of daily diet. Kalawati, who is about 30 years of age, looks older then her age says : ìI have a son and we live in a hut. For the last two months we have nothing to eat. We are eating the forest produce. What can we eat?î Phoolwati and her husband work as farm labours but due to drought they could do nothing. They have six children. They were given one bigha land entitlement but could not get the possession. Sukhdev has 11 children. He works as a carpenter in the village. They have one bigha of concrete land. Instead of getting cash he gets 2-1/2 kg of rice from the farmers whose work he does. Satya Narayan says that they eat ëNamak rotií, if they get the flour otherwise have to survive on the green leaves, roots in the forests.
It is difficult to give the biological names of the products they have been eating but the local names of the products these Adivasis mostly Ghasias have been eating are : Suren ( root), Mahua ( fruit), Nakwa( Kanna), Dhuru Kanna, Tenu, Kena, Surwari, Chaurawi, Koilar, khukhari, Laltamica, Arwath, Kheksa ( all last seven are green vegetables). The total number of these kinds of products are 32 on which the tribal survive.
It is a fact that officially nothing can be declared as a hunger death unless a person is hungry for 42 days and it is easier to project that the death was not due to hunger. It is unfortunate thing that all these cases are of malnutrition. This is a slow poison and the person does not die all of a sudden. This will ultimately ruin their immune system and finally they will succumb to the pressure. It is a case worst than hunger, for civil society just make case of hunger deaths to get big headlines but does nothing to stop it. Can it not do such case works and enlighten the authorities that people are facing malnutrition and must act on it.
Reports of Hunger and Malnutrition are obstacles in UP Shining: Hence the hungry people were waiting in rain that some body from the district headquarter will come and listen to them. The district magistrate was not available hence the activist could get the Sub District Magistrate who happened to be a Dalit. With his two gunmen the SDM arrived at the ground outside the Collectorate and started speaking to the Adivasis. ì Why have you come here? ë Sir we donít have anything to eat. We donít have any work. We are eating these roots.í ìOkey, we will take care of you. We will not allow you to die, said the officer.î As Khan was narrating him the incident, the officer got angry. You NGOwallahs are inciting the Adivasis. You get loads of funds and do nothing. Suddenly we saw Khan was almost surrounded by many ëSarkarií people and abuses being hurled on him for allegedly inciting the Adivasis of ëDarma ë village which has become focus of some of the ëinternationalí organizations for the dispute between the forest department and Adivasi land. As Khan intervened and asked me to see the officer. He said that: Rawat is an activist and a film makerí, the officer got furious. You make films for foreign people, sale Indiaís poverty, eat money meant for the poor. I intervened: Sir, if you the Sarkari officers, were kind enough to the people and were doing your duties well, things could not have reached to this stage. If I am writing on this issue, it is not meant to harm the interest of UP state but to help the poor people. Are we waiting for people to die and then shed the crocodileís tears? Why are the officials unhappy with peopleís peaceful protest at the secretariat? Should we snatch their right of meeting with the official? And fortunately, this meeting was not a meeting of that sort where people protest to get photographs at the media, more for a mark of show and less for the real work to be done. The way official treated the Adivasis and asked them to leave the place immediately show the pathetic state of Indian civil services. ë We all have to work hard, he preached and added that not all can have the same amount of work and money. ì I get around Rs 20,000 and you get around Rs 20 a day but all have to work. You cannot depend on me for your problems. Still we will try to help you out. I am sure when this officer will retire, he will become a champion ë Ambekariteí.
As far as the people are concern, there is no school for them to study. They have so-called ration card but ration is not available to them regularly. There is no hospital in and around the village and they will have to come to Robertsganj in case of any eventuality. By the time they reach the hospital everything is gone.
Raupís Adivasis are still waiting for action: Last year a petition was filed with the National Human Rights Commission by a Varanasi based organization PVCHR alleging the deaths of 19 children due to hunger in village Raup. The NHRC had issued notices to the state government and for the next few days the officials started coming up and taking notice of the area. They were given 5 kilogram of wheat, 2 liter kerosene, 2.5kg rice and 2.5 kg potato for survival. These Ghasia tribes have relocated themselves from a far away village Cheruhi. Now two points are important from these things. One, what happened after highlighting the event last year? Some people allege that NGOs raise their issue and disappear. Secondly, how are we going to address the situation? Can we resolve the starvation deaths due to this uncharitably charitable approach? Secondly, not all 18 children died in a day period. They died over a period of a month and definitely these were malnutrition deaths. Now after delivering their charitable items the government felt it has done its duty.
As I visit the village, a large number of people come. We see the condition of the village and a repetition can happen. The fact of the matter is that there are many ëRaupsí in not only Sonebhadra but other eastern district of Uttar-Pradesh but then we wait for people to die and then cry, a cry that does not help the people but the organizations that raises the issue. Surely, we could have done more to help the people rather than just crying in pain and expecting a ëheartlessí bureaucracy to help them.
So what is the problem of Raup and its Ghasia tribes? Surely, people here are happy that their issue has been raised internationally and at the National Human Rights Commission. They thank Dr Lenin for giving them an opportunity to participate in the World Social Forum, in Mumbai and explain it to the fellow activists about their plight. They are equally hopeful that something will happen. But how is that going to happen if we are unable to raise the issue of right over productive resources.
There are around 54 families in this village who migrated from a village called Markudi which is about 10 kilometer away. Most of them had land there but it was a concrete land. Villagers complain that it was not possible for them to survive in those difficult circumstances. As far as work is concern, some of these people work as farm labour, others work as cleaner as well as drivers. Interestingly, the entire ration cards issued to them is from village Markudi and they are legally not recognized as part of Raup Village. Gram Panchayat of Raup is not willing to accept them. Hence after some time, when this issue receded into the background, they will have to vacate the place. The area where these Adivasis are living at the moment is expensive area and many big companies and corporations are in the look out for such an area. So it would be easier for them with the help of an unwilling Village Panchayat to displace them. None of the Adivasis have any house. No Indira Awas for them. Gajadhar, an Adivasis of the area said that first the government officials rebuked them for having informed about the events to the ëoutsidersí. Naturally, pressure from Delhi and Lucknow does not make the officials happy and they use this ëangerí at a later stage when the Adivasis goes for smaller mercies from them. It is not that the Adivasis have got everything in Raup. They have to walk around 1 kilometer for water. School is similarly placed in about _ kilometer from their place. No mid day meal. For the last three months no ration has been distributed by the schools. There are about six to seven widows but none of them get a widow pension.
Hansuís two children died of malnutrition. One was one year old and the other around 4 years old. They suffered from fever. There was no help. Before reaching the hospital they died.
A look on the face of the children at Raup village would confirm the level of Malnutrition there. The resisting power is finished. With no help and a civil society that wait for deaths, I wonder, how many times are we killing these children of forest before they actually die? This is a question to civil society that how can you think of teaching about fundamental right to a community that does not have basic things to survive. After all rights are the talk of those who are powerful and atleast ability to fetch themselves. In Sonebhadra, the resisting power of the Adivasis is over. If the government betrays them and NGOs use them for their own purposes, then what should they do? And interestingly, the Naxalites jump as a robbin hood for them.
Hit and Run Case: As we were watching interesting altercation at the Collectorate between the tribal and the officials, some forest officials also cropped in along with their ëpublicí support and a few gun men. The ëPublicí cried against the NGOs and human rights activists that they are misguiding the poor people of Darma, a village which has gained international fame as activists after activists are descending from Delhi to ëliberateí the people of this village which the forest officials claim falls under the Sections V of the forest department. ë You people are collecting Rs 50/- from the poor tribal and have so far amassed over one and a half lakh rupees, said one of the official. Why are you cheating the Adivasis in the name of land, which is not theirs? They have no objections and yet you people come in and become leader of the Adivasisí. As the officials were clubbing all the NGOs and civil society together, the lawyers got angry with them and threatened unrest if they donít stop. Some revolutionaries also intervened and the matter was calmed down. As every official is not corrupt so is the case with NGOs and by the way why should we just blame NGOs when the entire society face degradation. Why donít we talk about the media, judiciary and academics? So there are good people and bad people everywhere and the matter ended.
The story of Darma village is an interesting one which also tells us that we should desist from ëhit and runí theory. If we are raising an issue, we must stand before the people all the time. We must ensure that they get support. But what is happening here is that every event is organized for a different audience sitting outside India and that makes people vary of the good organizations also because despite so much of reports, ultimately, things have not changed. As I said, the NGOs or the right based groups or the government or the media still look for the ëhunger deathsí that makes ëmasalaí headlines. We flash stories and do not even make any effort to do a little bit. Let me share this detail which has become the bone of contention. While the local court has rejected the claim of the Adivasis over land and handed it to the forest department, Adivasis who participated in the movement on 22nd July 2004 to capture land or desist the forest department officials are facing charges. It is a difficult situation and must be fought with a more caring way. What happens in this entire exercise is that those who intrude from outside are saved and people who face tyranny of the forest department have to pay the price of their revolt.
Darma and the new Zamindars : Forest department :
Darma village comes under Vikas khand Chotara and the Gram Panchayat is Karondia. It is a entirely Adivasi village with Gond and Dhangar communities living there. Even the Pradhan at the moment belong to the Gond tribe. Before 1959, the people used to plough this land but how it went to Section V of the forest is still unknown. May be the Panchayats were not powerful that time or still the revenue department has no strategy to repudiate the ëforest departmentí which has become the biggest Zamindar today. In 1960, according to M.A.Khan, of Chaupal, about 42 families filed a petition to FSO Ramnagar. This case went till 1972 and nobody touched the Adivasis. They were allowed to work on their respective fields. In 1985 when the Chakbandi was done by the state government, strangely, this land went to the forest department. Again people wrote to the authorities and in 1990, it is alleged that the district magistrate asked for the files that had gone to Chakia, about 40 kilometer from Robertsganj. Nothing happened. Nobody knew where the files have disappeared. It was actually a land of to Sections V of the forest act, which means it is a private forest. Not many people knew about it. Finally on 2nd May 2001, it was converted to Sections IV of the forest act, which means that it is a forest land.
Darma comes under thana Pannu ganj and hence when the forest officials forced their visit to this village on July 22nd 2004, obviously, the adivasis were well prepared for the same. The situation became tensed and police had to fire. Now the forest officials blames certain NGOs for inciting the people. According to them, this movement was initially launched by the local people but the NGOs, in their effort to look more radical hijacked this. This is unfortunately the story that many other activists whom we were able to meet in Sonebhadra.
It is not fare to raise finger against any particular person as the forest department is saying because such atrocious behavior on forest department is visible everywhere. The ësarkariípeople always pretend to be in the ërightí side of the law and wrong every one. Nor it is ethical for them to say that the NGOs have no business to come and ëinciteí the people. The matter of the fact is that there is growing awareness among the people and one must give a little of its contribution to civil society which not every one is ready to accept doing the fantastic work. Unfortunately, such a situation is not just in Sonebhadra but all over India where the tribals face a threat to extinction. We have information, facts and stories how the big industrial houses have been given permission to ërapeí the forest under political protection in most of the states while the Adivasis are being asked to vacate without providing space for them. An enormous human catostrophe is therefore waiting to happen not only in Sonebhadra but different parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Chhatisgarh and Orissa.
Enter the dragons: While the civil society boast of its ësuccessí in Sonebhadra, the fact of the matter is that the Naxal groups have made their presence felt in this region. At the Pannuganj police station, we can watch the vehicles of the PAC, CRPF and BSF to counter the Naxalites, however, it is another question whether the ërealí naxalites are caught or the villagers and poor adivasis are facing the hardship. The horrific event of 19 people killed in an ëencounterí, three years back is not forgotten. In the name of anti naxal operation, the police raided the house of a person where people were watching video after the marriage celeberations, and killed as many as 19 people. One does not presume that every body was innocent but will the police and the authorities allow a legal course of action or just kill every one and claim that they have got rid of this menace. Therefore, it is important to understand the influence of the Naxalites in the region and a wide support that people have given to them. And it is not a coincident that all the Naxalite prone areas in India have rich natural resources where oppression level has been high and justice to the poor almost naught. Interestingly, these areas have now become heaven for the bigger corporations. The connecting road to Sonebhadra from Varanasi is so beautiful that one may not even think that this town has a history of feudal relations. That this area still have bonded labours, child labours and huge money lending by the moneylenders. That for even Rs200/-, many adivasis have given their land to these bloodsuckers. That the Adivasis are the true children of soil and if nothing is done to rescue them then the things are going to be difficult even for the so-called civil society in these areas.
Conclusion:
Sonebhadra is sitting on the time bomb of history. The lesson is clear that if the civil society, political leadership as well as the feudal structure remain the same, the poor Adivasis will go to that side which looks more attractive. And what could be more attractive then working for your honour and self-respect. Ironically, they feel they get these tools from the Naxalites and hence despite heavy policing in the area, things have gone from bad to worst. It is a wake up call for all those who harp on development as the only answer to every kind of oppression and injustice. They say that development brings awareness but then what kind of development we want. Is it nature friendly and pro people or it is meant to create another hunting ground for the rich and wealthy in Delhi and Lucknow to visit and appreciate its ëbeautyí. It is equally necessary for the forest department to introspect about itself. The department cannot gain credibility by keeping its eyes closed on the massive corruption that they are involved in. It is not the tribals who sale the trucks loads of wood and forest produce? You cannot term the Adivasis as anti forest. In fact their services need to be taken in the Joint Forest Management to save not only environment but also the nature. Forest feel threatened not from the Adivasis but from the forest Mafias, its officials and political class which has betrayed the cause of the Adivasis. If there is a dispute between the forest department and revenue department anywhere in India, why has it not been resolved but we have seen cases where the department are using ërighteousí language like using the term ëencroachersí for the tribals. There is a dire need to approach the political leadership on the issue because every good ëenvironmentalistí is seeking refuse in the active judiciary without understanding the human miseries these things are bringing in the regions. There is a need for clear cut policy from the government side which unfortunately it is not doing. There is a need to include more areas under the special tribal areas act of Schedule IV of the constitution. Tragically, the Aryan raiders have become the ëlaw abidingí citizens of the country while those who were the rulers of the forest have become virtually beggars with ëintellectualsí and ëactivistsí jumping in to provide ëhealingí touch which has not reached them. Let us not make these peaceful region fertile ground for arms struggle and police butcheries which has never helped the poor Adivasis but which will explode like a time bomb if things are not handled properly.
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