Serious threat to India

by Jagdish Keshav

Arundhati Roy wrote a brilliant essay last March which was published in Outlook magazine about her experience of spending many days and nights in the company of mostly young folks in the deep forests of Dandakaranya in the Dantewada region of Chattisgarh State.

The young folks I am referring to are the tribal lots who have been living here since the beginning of time. This vast forest area has been their home, but sadly ignored by its protectors, the elected governments and the selected officials.

Their pristine home has been repeatedly ravaged, protesting men folk killed, their young women raped, entire villages brutalised and wiped out by armed forces. Why have these terrible episodes repeated over the decades with no end in sight that would provide solace or justice to these dwellers of these forests? It is the so-called progress whose primary aim is to bring in mining and other industries. But it would force these indigenous people to be displaced permanently from their ancestral homes.

Not too long back a mining conglomerate called Vedanta Corporation that is based in the UK tried their hands at starting a Bauxite mine at the Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha. This raised an uproar along the length and breadth of the country and even overseas since the project endangered many species of wildlife, would eliminate the existence of many rivers and an entire forest area would've disappeared if the project had succeeded. To top it all, many thousands of tribal residents would have been permanently displaced or simply put, made homeless.

Fortunately, there was a man at the Centre, Jairam Ramesh, who was the minister in charge. He saw the truth of the devastation this project would've brought about, went ahead and cancelled the license of Vedanta Corp to operate this mine. By the way, this man Ramesh was shunted out recently, obviously by corporate pressure on the government at the centre and replaced by a person who apparently is friendlier to ventures that can make inroads into the deep and timeless forests of Central India.

This does not augur well for these tribal populations. They have been at the receiving end of a system that has provided nothing but injustice to them for decades. Prior to 1947, colonial masters called the British Thugs ruled over these children of the soil with an iron fist and an armed rebellion started way back then. It has continued against exploiting land owners, the Zamindars, the money lenders and now against an establishment that is aiming its well oiled guns at these hapless folks for dissent.

'Operation Green Hunt' was launched, though un-officially by the Home Minister Chidambaram against these tribal folks who have been forced to take up arms in defence of their survival. This Operation consists of sending central paramilitary forces to combat the 'menace' caused by these forest dwellers. According to the ruling coalition at the centre, the areas infested by Maoists need to be cleaned out. According to Oxford dictionary 'infestation' means an area that is covered by contagious pests like bacteria etc.

So do these beautiful people of the forests who number in a few millions fall into this category? Of course not! And all the so-called Maoists are not tribals and not all tribals are Maoists!. The distinct line that divides this has been deliberately overlooked by overzealous armed forces it seems.

By the way Chidambaram before entering politics was a corporate lawyer who had represented Vedanta, Enron amongst others and has earned a fortune by doing so.

It is not a new phenomenon for these tribals to take up arms against the exploiters who enter their home territory by force. As mentioned earlier, this has been going since the British Raj era. It is only since last few decades the rebellious folks have earned the names of being Naxalites or Maoists.

In the year 1950, the government at the centre tragically passed a law that brought these forests under State custody thereby ratifying a colonial era law. This was a big blow for the tribals to become more marginalized and isolated. The law made them squatters or refugees in their own homelands. It denied them the traditional rights to forest produce and in the process criminalized them if they tried, say to till their own land for cultivation.

Rich and powerful landthe owners with political connections and help of the police force have been trying to give death blows to these innocent children of the soil. Naxalism grew out of this as an antagonist force in the villages of Bengal. Now the names may get mixed up with Naxals/Maoists etc.

But it is a rebellion brought about by the brutal and greedy powers who want to exploit the rich resources of the forests. The resources are so rich, especially in mining operations in these areas, where it is officially acknowledged that for every tonne of iron ore mined by a company, the government gets a paltry Royalty of Rs 27 while the mining company makes Rs 5000!!.