CPM proud of Angaria accused

Shyam Sundar Roy
The Statesman, 14 December

MIDNAPORE, Dec. 13: CPI-M’s Midnapore West district committee member Tapan and the party’s Garbeta zonal committee secretary Sukur, the two accused in the 2001 Chhoto Angaria massacre in Garbeta are a part of the newly formed 81-member district headed by Mr Dipak Sarkar.

Charges were framed against the duo on Wednesday in the court of district second additional sessions judge under several Sections of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act. They are now in custody.

After being caught red handed while whisking away three BUPC activists from Nandigram on 10 November at Egra in Midnapore East, Tapan-Sukur were designated as the “assets and heroes” of the party by Mr Sarkar while Mr Binay Konar, central committee member, said “we are proud of Tapan-Sukur for wresting Kespur and Garbeta from Trinamul with their armed brigade”.

They have been booked under charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, armed assembly with the intention of committing murder, causing mischief by burning dwelling house and causing disappearance of evidence and possession of illegal arms. But they pleaded their “innocence” in the court.

Bail petitions were moved by their lawyers but later withdrawn when the judge, Mr Abdul Kuddus, stated that the case will come up on 19 December to hear their appeal to be adopted with eight other witnesses in the case.

The duo along with five other party cadres from Garbeta had been absconding since they were chargesheeted by the CBI in 2003 and declared “fugitive” by the district police.

Though absconders under alleged police favour they were never the CBI’s dragnet unless they took part in 10 March Nandigram recapture operation and were intercepted along with 11 other party cadres from Garbeta while returning.

Altogether 13 CPI-M comrades were found guilty by the CBI in the massacre committed in the house of Mr Abdul Rahaman Mandal, a Trinamul activist, at Chhoto Angaria on 4 January 2001.

They allegedly torched the house after butchering five activists while they were holding a meeting.

However, no slain bodies could be traced.

While five other accused are in jail since their surrender in the court in 2005 another was shot dead by some criminals in 2003.

READING THE TEA LEAVES - The understanding of tribal status must be rid of colonial errors

SANJIB BARUAH
The Telegraph, 11 December

After the mayhem in Guwahati around the adivasi rally of November 24, the government of Assam is reportedly considering legislation that would restrict the public display of bows and arrows and other ‘traditional’ weapons.

That a group that provided the muscle for the 19th-century capitalist transformation of Assam today finds the bow and arrow to be an attractive ethnic symbol is rather interesting. So is its preferred self-description as adivasis, in sharp contrast to the English term ‘tribe’ preferred by most other groups that have legal recognition as scheduled tribes in northeast India.

The adivasis of Assam trace their roots to Munda, Oraon, Santhal and other people of the Jharkhand region. They are descendants of indentured labourers brought to the tea plantations of Assam. Adivasi activists argue that since their ethnic kin in their places of origin are recognized as STs, they should have the same status in Assam.

According to some estimates, there are as many as 4 million adivasis in Assam — more than half of Assam’s tea labour community. They constitute the majority of the tea labour community in Lower Assam, but other groups outnumber them in Upper Assam. If ST status is about whether a group deserves reservations in jobs and in educational institutions, the case for adivasis being recognized as STs is indisputable.
A study on the tea labour community by the North Eastern Social Research Centre found that 60 per cent of the girls and 35 per cent of the boys in the age group of 6 to 14 are out of school, and only 4 per cent study beyond class VII. Tea plantations are still the major sources of employment: half of them live near plantations and work as casual labourers.

Many adivasis were displaced during the Bodoland agitation because they or their forefathers had settled in reserved forest lands after giving their working lives to tea plantations. Since their villages were not legal settlements, the government did not facilitate their return to their homes even after the Bodo movement ended.

Political mobilization of a community in support of a demand for inclusion on a schedule that would entitle them to preferences is not surprising. Yet the demand of the tea workers’ descendants for ST status, and the framework within which the debate is being conducted, draw attention to our continued reliance on a highly questionable stock of colonial knowledge about Indian society and culture. This should be a source of embarrassment, as well as cause for serious introspection.

The tribal affairs minister, P.R. Kyndiah, a politician from the Khasi community, recognized as a scheduled tribe, says without any sense of irony that ST status for adivasis would involve examining the case using the criteria of “tribal characteristics, including a primitive background and distinctive cultures and traditions”.

Ethnic activists opposed to the adivasi claim cite with approval the statement of the home minister, Shivraj Patil, that the adivasis have “lost their tribal characteristics”. They also argue that the adivasis are not “aborigines of Assam”. Since STs of Assam are not treated as STs in other parts of the country and even Bodos are not recognized as STs in Karbi Anglong, says a leader of an indigenous tribal organization, migrant communities cannot be recognized as STs in Assam.

The argument points to a peculiarity of ST status in northeast India that goes back to British colonial thinking about race, caste and tribe in this region. However, whether migrants should be considered ST or not, given the contribution of the tea labour community in blood and in sweat to the formation of modern Assam, no other group has a better claim to full citizenship rights and compensatory justice than they do.

Colonial ethnography relied on racist notions of tribes having fixed habitats and ethnic traits that are almost biological and even inheritable. In northeast India, the so-called ‘hill tribes’ were thus all fixed to their supposed natural habitats. Therefore, it became necessary to distinguish between so-called pure and impure types to account for those that stray away from the assigned physical spaces, or do not conform to particular ethnic stereotypes.

The distinction between plains tribes and hill tribes can be traced to this difficulty of colonial ethnic classification. As the anthropologist, Matthew Rich, has shown, the relatively egalitarian mores and habits of many of the peoples of northeast India — for instance, the absence of caste in the hills — presented a ‘problem’ for colonial ethnographers.

Since India for them was a hierarchical and a ‘caste ridden’ civilization, the question was: were these people outside or inside India? There was no easy answer, since many of the ethnic kin of the people without caste also performed Hindu-like rituals just a short distance away.

The opposition between hills and plains became the solution to this conceptual ‘problem’. It is this history that explains why a number of groups that today seek ST or sixth schedule status were distinguished sharply from ‘hill tribes’ in the colonial classificatory system. For instance, the Koch Rajbongshis were labelled caste Hindus and not a ‘tribe’, and the Bodos were labelled a ‘plains tribe’.

Tea workers posed a classificatory problem for the census as early as in 1891. The “aboriginal tribes of central India” were explicitly excluded from the “forest and hill tribes” in the census of Assam, and instead were classified simply as labourers.

Colonial knowledge continues to shape categories of Indian census. Thus of the 23 STs in Assam, 14 are hill tribes and 9 are plains tribes. Since the census counts tribes only in their supposed natural habitats, it produces the absurdity of the number of people classified as plains tribals being zero in the hills, and those classified as hill tribals being zero in the plains. This is the source of the complaint of Bodo activists that Bodos are not a scheduled tribe in Karbi Anglong, which is a hill district. Thus, if one goes by the Indian census, the number of hill tribals living even in metropolitan Guwahati is zero.

The discourse surrounding the adivasi claim to ST status underscores a major structural dilemma for our practice of citizenship. The effect of making indigenousness the test for rights, says the African intellectual, Mahmood Mamdani, in another context, is that the state penalizes those that the commodity economy dynamizes.

Seen through the prism of the global political economy, the adivasis of Assam are part of the same 19th-century migration that took Indian labourers to plantations in various parts of the British Empire, such as Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius or South Africa.

We now celebrate the Indian diaspora. The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas honours descendants of those migrants to far-away shores, some of whom rose to become presidents and prime ministers of their countries. But the descendants of those who remained within India’s borders are reduced to defending their ordinary citizenship rights, and making claims to compensatory justice, with a borrowed idiom of remembered tribal-ness.

It is time to rethink our image of northeast India as remote and exotic, and recognize that the region was incorporated into the global capitalist economy earlier and more solidly than many parts of the Indian heartland. The basis for making claims to rights and entitlements in such a region must be common residence and a vision of a common future, and not only a real or imagined shared past.

The genocide in Rwanda was ultimately the product of the Hutu and Tutsi being constructed as native and outsider, thanks to the legacy of colonial knowledge embedded in African political institutions. This should serve as a warning against trying to manage conflicts in northeast India by simply tinkering with institutions such as the sixth schedule and ST status that have ample traces of colonial knowledge built into them.

The author is at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi and the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati

Oris-saga

Patkar’s visit on 11 Dec

Statesman News Service, 10 December

BHUBANESWAR, Dec. 9: The anti-Posco groups who have been cornered by recent developments at the proposed site area are pinning their hopes of eminent social and human rights activists as they expect leaders like Medha Patkar to visit the area.

Reliable sources said the visit of B D Sharma and other activists from Nandigram had given a boost to the local anti-project activists. Now Ms Medha Patkar is expected to come on 11 December and tour the villages before joining those on hunger strike in front of the district collectorate at Jagatsinghpur.

It is pertinent to note that both Mr Sharma and Ms Patkar had earlier expressed solidarity with the peoples movement against displacement . They had squatted on dharna* at Bhubaneswar and had also led a protest rally against the Posco project to chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence.

The Nava Nirman Samiti, Sarvodaya leaders and the Rashtriya Yuva Manch which are active in Jagatsinghpur district have had strong links with Mr Sharma and Patkar led peoples organisations.

The activists are now mobilising support from outside. They are reportedly in touch with some Delhi based activist to try and organise protests at the national level and draw attention to the alleged violation of human rights in Dhinkia since 29 November.

Within the state the activists of various movements including the one against Tata Steel plant project at Kalinga Nagar, the anti alumina project movement at Kasipur and the one against Vedanta project are all planning to join hands to express solidarity. The congregation of such activist leaders is likely to take place at Kalinga Nagar soon, said these sources.

Meanwhile, leader of the Opposition Mr JB Patnaik today warned the government against use of force. If everything is hunky dory in the proposed site area and people are supporting the Posco project why has the government deployed over 13 platoon police force. Is it not intimidation and a method to stifle the voice of people, he asked.

Addressing a press conference here today Mr Patnaik said the locals refuse to be displaced as the area is agriculturally prosperous. He however emphasised on the water problem and said farmers of undivided Cuttack district and the coastal areas will take to agitation just as their Sambalpur counterparts had done recently.


As such water from Jobra barrage does not meet the agricultural needs of farmers and if water is to be given to Posco plant from this barrage it will cause severe shortage to the agriculture sector, he said. It is not a question of Dhinkia, Nuagaon or Gadakujang areas which come under the proposed plant site, it relates to farming in coastal districts of the state.

Similarly diversion of forest land also affects the entire coastal belt as this was a unique coastal forest meant for mangrove plantation and protection against cyclonic storms. One cannot compensate such an area by inland plantation he remarked.

Mr Patnaik reiterated the state Congress stand that iron ore requirement of steel plants in the state should be met by the Orissa Mining Corporation. They should buy their ore from OMC at a certain rate, he said while rejecting the move to provide captive mining lease to steel plant projects.


Patkar to visit Posco hit areas

Statesman News Service, 11 December

JAGATSINGHPUR Dec. 10: The proposed visit of Medha Patkar to Posco affected villages today has triggered hectic activity on both pro and anti Posco fronts here with a section of the villagers of Nuagaon, Gadakujang and Govindapur threatening to prevent the entry of Patkar and ‘outsiders’ and the rival groups preparing to play host to Patkar.

Ms Patkar, Kumar Prashant founder member of the Rastriya Yuva Sangathan and other social activists are to reach Jagatsinghpur tomorrow. They will attend a satyagraha being staged by activists of Nava Nirman Samiti and Rastriya Yuva Sangathan in front of the collectorate.

Subsequently, they are scheduled to visit Nuagaon and a few other places to access the situation.

It may be noted here that activists of the NNS and RYS are on a hunger strike since one week alleging that democratic rights of protest had been trampled.

They alleged that attempts to stage a protest at Balitutha had been foiled by goons in the presence of the police. Shockingly Gandhian leaders were abused and a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi was kicked, they decried.

To provide moral support and strength to such activists B D Sharma had visited the place recently and his visit is to be followed by Kumar Prashant and Medha Patkar.

Ms Patkar is to attend a public meeting at Jagatsinghpur which has been organized by Zilla Gansangram Parishad . Then she will go to Nuagaon village with Satyagrahis and will interact with the villagers before staying at the village overnight. She is expected to move around the troubled Dhinkia and Govindpur villages also.

But the disturbing development today was that some people of Nuagaon, Gadakujang, Noliashai, Govindpur held meetings to discuss ways of obstructing or protesting the entry of ‘outsiders’.

Niravaya Samantray , leader of the Posco Jana Samaprak Bikash Parishad informed that villagers have decided to protest the entry of Patkar. Another pro-Posco activist Tamil Pradhan alleged that ‘outsiders’ were fuelling trouble in the area. The assistant superintendent of police, Paradip Mr Rabinarayan Patra has expressed that police has not yet received any information about the visit of Ms Patkar and no special arrangement has been made.

Stir by anti Posco group

JAGATSINGHPUR Dec. 10: Activists of Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) staged a mass demonstration in front of the collectorate here demanding cancellation of MoU between the state government and Posco and the immediate arrest of those involved in the 29 November violence at Balitutha bridge.

The SUCI leaders expressed grave concern over the plight of villagers of Dhinkia and the alleged reign of terror that has been spread by hired goons as well as the police.

People of Dhinkia are not coming out of the village fearing state repression as well as attack by hired goons, they charged.

The SUCI has sent relief materials to Dhinkia. Mr Pradipta Ram said a truck load of relief from SUCI and other orgaisations had been sent to Dhinkia.

SUCI leaders Mr Udhab Jena, Subash Swain, CPI leader Mr Sasibhusan Swain and others were present at the dharna spot today.

They submitted a memorandum to district collector.

Tribals stage rally

KEONJHAR, Dec. 10: Tribals today took out a rally before culminating at the collector’s office where they staged a demonstration. There they handed over a letter meant for the chief minister to the collector. The demands are implementation of Forest Rights Act-2006, transformation of the jungle villages into revenue villages, no compensatory plantation on lands owned by them, to stop any activity which adversely affects global warming.

Combing operation

ANGUL, Dec. 10: Amid the fresh reports of Maoist appearance at Tikarpara in Satkosia jungle police today launched combing operations in the area to trace out any Maoist presence. The operation came after villagers of Karadapara and Ramimunda reported to police about four persons in uniform snatching a goat from the area on 4 December. One of the goat rearers complained to the police that one of his goats was snatched away by the uniformed men.

Earlier in adjacent areas of Tikarpara area of Satkosia forest region rural people on several occasions spotted some unidentified persons roaming in the jungles. Police started a combing operation in the area after receiving reports but found nothing.

Health camps in Maoist infested Kankadahada

DHENKANAL, Dec. 10: In tribal and Maoist affected Kankadahada block district administration organised a mega health awareness and mega camp at Rameswar high school premises on Sunday. The camp was organised in collaboration with the health department and support of several wings of administration with all facilities for tribals.

At least 2,527 patients were examined and provided free medicines with test facilities like Ultra sound, ECG, HIV, AIDS, leprosy and malaria on priority including other diseases. Specialists doctors of several disciplines examined patients. The camp also carried out blood grouping test of school students.


Government has launched many development works in tribal dominated Kankadahada block. Chitagyan Charitable trust also participated in conducting the camp. SP Sanjay Kumar Kausal, CDMO Dr Surendra Kumar Mohanty and administrative officials were involved in smooth functioning of the camp. Elaborate security arrangement was made in and around the camp site.

Appeal to help administration

PHULBANI, Dec. 10: The district collector, Mr Bhabagrahi Mohapatra, has appealed to the senior elite citizens to extend their moral support and cooperation to the administrative machinery with a view to make it a dependable and a public welfare oriented organisation.

He was speaking at the fourth annual function of the Kandhamal district citizens’ forum here yesterday.

Due to illiteracy, lack of awareness and growing poverty, the district is lagging behind as far as progress is concerned. Time has come to do something about it.


The poor and the backward people of the district should be helped, Mr Mohapatra said.

The district SP, Mr Narasingha Bhol, warned about Naxalite activities in the district.

He categorically stated that the Naxalites are strengthening their base in Kothgarh, Daringbadi and Raikia blocks, especially in the tribal pockets.
All of us should come forward with a clear-cut strategy and try to combat the increasing Naxalite activity, Mr Mohapatra said.

Among the others, the president of southern Orissa development council, Mr Dayanidhi sahu, and advocate Mr Gouri shyam Panda also participated in the function.

On this occasion, two seminars were also organised.

Three eminent social workers, the Sarvoday activist, Mr Biswanath Patnaik, Mr Panchanan Sahu and Mr Sarat kumar Sahani were felicitated.

Anganwadis in poor condition

DHENKANAL, Dec. 10: Mismanagement and lack of administrative concern and absence of houses have put children of anganwadi workers in unhygienic and poor sanitary condition in all blocks of the district.

There is no concern, care or review on running of the centers . No administrative reaction on collection of feedback seems increasing apathy for the tender child.


According to administration sources as many as 60,056 children go to 1,121 centers opened in eight blocks including tribal dominated Kankadahada block. Administration claims they are provided medical care, nutritious food, taking care of their periodical weight, playful learning activities in which government provides facilities to children aged three to six year in the centers. Both BPL and APL family children are allowed to the centers.

In Hindol and Kankadahada tribal dominated blocks more number of BPL family children go to the anganwadi centres. In Hindol children of 13,477 BPL out of total 18,808 and 22,735 BPL families out of 34,258 families are in dire need of anganwadi support.

Official sources said 819 anganwadi centers of 1,121 have no building to house the children and foodstuff to take due care of the childrcen. At least 131 in Sadar block, 147 in Gondia , 126 in Odapada, 117 I Hindol , 75 in Parjang, 72 in Kankadahada, 75 in Bhuban and more than 76 in Kamakshanagar blocks run in residential verandah, school verandah and Kothaghar. Villagers allege that many anganwadi centers run on Kothaghar and residential verandah near cowsheds which are very unhygienic. Food served to the children are prone to infection. No space to store foodstocks and basic care meant for them not possible. According to administrative sources department of child and women had sanctioned Rs 93,000 plus last year for construction of anganwadi center building each for about 453 places.

Gram panchayat were asked to add Rs 30,000 each with the said amount. GP offices were allotted through DRDA for construction but most of them have not submitted Utilisation certificates to DRDA. Reports said administration is yet to review the status of construction though funds allotted directly to GPs. Dhenkanal among all districts was allotted highest amount of funds last year. But the fate of the centres and children remain unchanged as before sanction of funds.

The government-run centres function with one anganwadi worker and another helper in each center. Anganwadi workers said the centers are difficult to run with absence of own buildings. Schools and villagers often object for their inconvenience in which care for the small children becomes difficult. The ugly ground reality affects nutritious standard as basic care could not be taken despite availability of funds and facilities.

When asked about utilization certificates DRDA Project director Khagendranath Jena said administration had directed GPs and BDOs about utilization certificates and status review. BDOs should enforce but utilization certificates to the tune of Rs 1 crore is yet to be submitted, district unit of social welfare said so.

Hunger strike

JAGATSINGHPUR, Dec. 10: Balram Sethy of Arana village and his family are on a hunger strike in front of the collectorate to demand justice. Sethy, a helper at the Manijanga community hospital alleged caste discrimination and is of the view that his service records were destroyed to deny him promotion.

Sethy charged that before being posted at Manijanga, he was working at the Raghunathpur community health centre. It was during then that his service records were destroyed.

Sethy said that since his attempts to draw the attention of the district collector has failed, he has been compelled to start hunger strike.

Growth momentum - Strength & Resilience Can Overcome Obstacles

SS Kothari
The Statesman, 11 December

The Indian economy has entered a high growth trajectory which ought to be sustained. India has the potential of becoming a developed nation by the middle of this century, if not earlier. The growth in GDP in 2006-07 has been 9.4 per cent ~ one of the highest in the world. Investment in the year has risen to 35.1 per cent, while savings have increased to 34.7 per cent. What is significant is that the savings and investment ratios are moving towards alignment with those in East Asian “miracle countries” ~ Malaysia, Singapore et al.

While moving in the high growth trajectory, difficulties will have to be overcome. Consider the present situation. The RBI has increased the cash reserve ratio (CRR) to 7.5 per cent from 7 per cent, impounding about Rs 16,000 crore particularly to manage excess liquidity in the economy consequent upon massive capital inflows. The status quo in respect of the bank rate and repo rates has been maintained. Although wholesale price inflation has been reduced from 6.4 per cent in April 2006 to 3.1 per cent in mid-October this year, RBI is concerned over high food prices and volatile international oil prices.

Money supply

Money supply at 21.8 per cent is above the RBI’s target of 17.5 per cent; the acceleration is due to fiscal spending and exchange market interventions. The partial impact of the international prices of crude oil and food, which could accentuate consumer prices, is indicative of suppressed inflation which has a disturbing potential for the future.

There have been massive inflows of FII and FDI and the Reserve Bank had to resort to intervention to check the rise in liquidity and increase in the value of the rupee. With effect from August 2007, it had increased the CRR to 7 per cent. CRR deposits do not bear any interest. The value of the rupee increased substantially from Rs 46 per dollar in July 2006 to presently below Rs 40 per dollar. These measures reduced liquidity, but not to the desired extent.

The effect of these measures however resulted in a sizeable increase in the interest rate structure. And they have impacted the growth rate to some extent. Industrial production which increased by about 11.1 per cent in the first half of 2006-07 came down to 9.2 per cent in the first half of the current year. During the same period, the growth of the manufacturing sector declined from 12.3 per cent to 9.7 per cent.

Industrial production during September 2007 declined to 6.4 per cent as compared to 12 per cent in September 2006. Manufacturing growth was reduced to 6.6 per cent against 12.7 per cent in September last year. This has been attributed to deceleration in consumer demand largely due to high interest rates.

Not only consumer durables, but the growth of infrastructure industries also declined during the half year 2007-08 to 6.6 per cent from 8.7 per cent in the corresponding period in 2006-07: crude petroleum 0.7 per cent (4.1 per cent last year); petroleum refinery sector 9.8 per cent (12.3 per cent); steel 6.6 per cent (12.2 per cent) and cement 8.3 per cent (10.6 per cent). This was principally due to a sharp decline in infrastructure growth to 6 per cent in September 2007 as compared to 10.6 per cent in September last year.

Actually there has been a decline in bank credit from 33 per cent in June 2006 to 23 per cent in August 2007. It is felt that higher interest rates on working capital and other loans by banks to industry were adversely affecting profitability, cost of industrial expansion and investment. High interest rates, with US Federal rate cut, provide a stimulant to further capital inflows.

The RBI has a dual perspective: of price stabilisation as also sustaining the momentum of growth. Monetary policy and fiscal policy should be integrated by the government and RBI. This will ensure that the growth trajectory of the economy is not hampered. If the momentum decelerates, it would be difficult to regain it.


RBI has a distinguished record of insulating the economy against international crises. The Indian economy was not affected by the 1997 East Asian meltdown. As regards inflation, the wholesale price index is around 3 per cent, which is quite below the RBI’s target of 4-4.5 per cent. Regarding the consumer price index, the prices of food articles have to be brought down more by supply side measures. Monetary measures are not likely to have much of an impact.

International prices of crude oil are unconscionably high exceeding $90 a barrel. Three measures are recommended for the domestic sector: the issue of bonds to oil companies; some increase in the domestic prices of petrol and diesel; and reduction in excise and other taxes which constitute a sizeable portion of prices.

The value of the rupee may be allowed to rise to around Rs 38 per dollar. This reduces the total cost of oil imports and prices of intermediates and the capital goods for industry. The interest rate structure should be brought down by RBI in the interest of sustaining the momentum of growth. Taking a slightly longer term view, the finance minister is optimistic that both industry and services could reach a growth rate close to 10 per cent for 2007-08. This implies that 83 per cent of the economy is growing at the rate of 9 to 10 per cent.

The International Monetary Fund has cautioned against measures to decelerate capital inflows. FDI inflows should be welcomed. The Planning Commission, in the context of formulating the 11th Plan, is also in favour of relaxing FDI norms in key sectors like insurance, private banking, broadcasting, defence production, print and electronic media, as also air transport, asset reconstruction firms and cable networks. This would stimulate transfer of technology which is critical for improving competitiveness.

Critical elements

The plan will also urge the government to consolidate gains from FDI by reducing delays in state level clearances. Growth should also be made more inclusive by effective monitoring of poverty alleviation programmes at the national and state levels. As regards FIIs, SEBI has rightly imposed restrictions on fresh investments through participatory notes (PNs) and directed that derivatives-based PNs should be wound up in 18 months. SEBI is also modulating the broad direction on three critical elements ~ access, products and disclosure of investor’s identity so as to allow entry of “good money” only. Anti-money laundering guidelines will be an important element in the formulation of a disciplinary code for FIIs. Thus with regard to registering new FII’s, their credentials and creditworthiness should be scrutinised and easy accessibility to markets restrained. In any case, SEBI is the best judge on how to regulate and modulate FII inflows.

The Indian economy has acquired considerable strength and resilience and it has the ability to overcome obstacles to growth.

The writer is a former member of the Lok Sabha

Behind the Adivasi unrest in Assam

M.S. Prabhakara
The Hindu, 3 December


The Adivasis’ fight is not so much for their recognition as a tribal community as for the restoration of the tribal identity to which they believe they are entitled.

— Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar Vigilantist retaliation: Local residents of Dispur and Beltola beat up Adivasi protesters in Guwahati on November 24.

The continuing violence in Assam over the last few days, in particular the wanton vandalism and the crude and vigilantist retaliation that took place in and around Dispur in Guwahati on November 24, has rightly attracted wide and critical notice. However, any exclusive concern with the violent events of that Saturday, in particular the voyeuristic focus by the visual media on the shameful attack on the person and personal dignity of a young woman by the mob that has been unreservedly condemned by the people of the State, may obscure the real issues: the demand of the Adivasis for classification as a Scheduled Tribe, and the complex factors that inform the resistance to that and similar demands.

The Adivasi, a nomenclature now adopted by the approximately 20 million strong Tea Garden Labour and ex-Tea Garden Labour community, is not the only community in Assam seeking classification as a Scheduled Tribe. Five other communities (the Tai-Ahom, the Moran, the Motok, the Chutia and the Koch-Rajbongshi), all presently classified as Other Backward Classes (OBC), have also for long been pressing for recognition as Scheduled Tribes. The first four live predominantly in the districts of Upper Assam while the Koch-Rajbongshi live predominantly in western Assam, sharing broadly the same physical (and political) space as the Bodos, the most numerous of the tribal communities of the State. The Adivasis are, for the most part, settled in the vicinity of the tea gardens.

Contrary to the general impression, the clashes do not bespeak any deeply ingrained hostility between ‘tribal people and non-tribal people,’ or between the tribal people and caste Hindus, in Assam — a convenient distinction between supposedly irreconcilable categories made in much of the analysis of the so-called ethnic clashes in Assam and the north-eastern region. The Adivasis, though aspiring for recognition as a tribal community and indeed historically belonging to authentic tribal stock, are at present not recognised as a tribal community. It is only in popular usage that they are referred to as Tea Garden Tribes and ex-Tea Garden Tribes. Strictly speaking, their fight is not so much for their recognition as a tribal community as for the restoration of that tribal identity to which they believe they are entitled, being the descendants of various tribal communities of Central India who, over a century-and-a-half ago, went or were indentured to work in the gardens of eastern India. What they are fighting for is therefore the restoration of their legitimate cultural patrimony.

Why and how did the descendants of the tribal people whose ancestors were brought to Assam from other parts of India cease to be tribal people in their present environment? The answer lies in the peculiar rules that determine such recognition, according to which a person’s tribal identity is irrevocably and forever linked to her or his place of origin — in the present instance, the persons’ ancestral origins. For instance, the progeny of a Munda, a recognised tribal community in Jharkhand and other contiguous States, one of the 96 communities listed under the category, Tea Garden Labourers, Tea Garden Tribes, Ex-Tea Garden Labourers and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes in the official ‘Central List of Backward Classes, Assam,’ who was taken to Assam to work in the tea gardens over a century-and-a-half ago has lost his tribal identity, though were such a person to return to his (now notional) ancestral place, he would regain his tribal identity.

Such absurd rules and requirements do not however obtain in other cases of migration. A non-tribal person moving, say, from Karnataka to Assam continues to retain all the socio-cultural coordinates of his or her identity.

Indeed such absurd anomalies govern even the movement of tribal communities within Assam, and in the States that were carved out of colonial Assam after independence. For instance, the 23 recognised tribal communities in Assam are broadly identified under two categories: the Hill Tribes, that is, the 14 communities recognised as ‘tribal’ in the ‘hill areas,’ now comprising the two Autonomous Districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills; and the Plains Tribes, that is, the 9 communities recognised as ‘tribal’ in rest of Assam, supposedly all ‘Plain’. Neither of the locational identifications is accurate, indeed cannot be accurate, given the facts of geography but that is the least of the problems.

More materially, neither of these two categories carries its tribal identity when it moves out of its ‘designated areas.’ Thus, Census figures for Guwahati city, very much in the Plains of Assam, which has people from every part of the country and also from foreign parts, do not enumerate a single person belonging to any of the 14 ‘Hill Tribe’ categories. Indeed, every Plains district enumerates zero population of Hill Tribes.

Similarly, the Census figures for the two Hill districts do not enumerate a single person from any of the nine designated ‘Plains Tribe’ categories. The reality is different; however such personas living outside their allotted spaces are for official purposes simply made ‘un-persons’.

While the Adivasis’ case for the restoration of their primordial tribal status seems strongest, the issues and demands underlying the struggle of the five other communities seeking recognition as Scheduled Tribes are equally complex. The Koch-Rajbongshi, also known as Sarania Kachari, historically part of the Bodo Kachari stock, lost their tribal identity over a long period going back to the days before the colonial conquest of Assam through a complex process of conversion and acculturation into the Vaishnavite variety of Assamese Hinduism. Such advantages as the conversion may have brought have lost their relevance in post-independence India where, increasingly, the tribal identity is getting to be perversely privileged by non-tribal communities. Corresponding urges and expectations no doubt drive the demands of the other communities seeking to be classified as Scheduled Tribes.

The State government says it is not opposed to conceding the demands but has pleaded its inability in view of the existing rules. There are indications that these rigidities may be relaxed, at least in respect of the Adivasi demand. However, if the Adivasi demand is conceded, the demands of other communities too will have to be eventually conceded. The issue also has national implications, in the context of the contradictions highlighted in the presently dormant Gujjar agitation for classification as ST.

The more immediate opposition in Assam to the extension of ST recognition to the six communities is however likely to come from the presently recognised Scheduled Tribes. The estimated 20 lakh Adivasis constitute about 60 per cent of the total ST population of the State which, according to the 2001 Census, was 3,308,570.

The addition of such a large population to the present ST pool will undoubtedly affect existing allocations in areas such as reservation of seats in legislative structures, higher education and jobs. Put simply, such identity struggles carry a cost, and a price.

(For a more detailed discussion of these issues, see Manufacturing Identities? Frontline, 7 October 2005; In the Name of Tribal Identities, Frontline, 2 December 2005; and Separatist Strains, Frontline, 1 June 2007.)

Indian farmers need human rights

C. Raj Kumar
The Hindu, 7 December

We may have reasons to be pleased with the growth rate and economic development of the country, but there is an urgent need to recognise the growing sense of frustration and disillusionment among the farmers.

Extreme poverty and its human rights consequences are numerous. But the ability of the system of governance to respond to such consequences has unfortunately been limited. While the normative framework for upholding human rights is reasonably well-established in India, enforcement remains a key challenge. This is most pronounced in the traumatic saga of farmers committing suicide in different parts of India. It is clearly one instance where institutions of governance have not been able to respond effectively to the extreme impoverishment prevailing among the farmers. One cannot help but wonder how our country is not able to deal with this depressing issue, when the story of India shining is highlighted, both domestically and globally. Obviously, the benefit of economic growth has not sufficiently percolated, resulting in the gap between the rich and poor widening. There is something fundamentally unethical in the system of governance that does not value in right measure the lives of the poor and vulnerable. It is indeed a fact that the poor and the marginalised have always found it difficult for their voices to be heard. But they have a right to hope that the system of democratic governance that we have institutionalised in our country would slowly but definitely respond to the crisis of extreme poverty among farmers.

Today, the statistics relating to farmers’ suicides is indeed alarming. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra have witnessed 89,362 suicides between 1997 and 2005. A recent study by Professor K. Nagaraj of the Madras Institute of Development Studies notes that on average, one Indian farmer committed suicide every 32 minutes during all these years. Since 2002, that has become one suicide every 30 minutes. It demonstrates the seriousness of the issue. While we may have reasons to be pleased with the impressive growth rate and economic development that the country is witnessing, there is an urgent need to recognise the growing sense of frustration and disillusionment among the farmers and other poor and vulnerable sections of the populace. We cannot sustain the present level of increasing disparities of income and wealth or for that matter demonstrate our inability to stop the farmers committing suicide. The question that deserves deeper examination by all concerned is with regard to why farmers are committing suicide and how to prevent them.

The continuing suicides have brought out the urgency of dealing with the issues relating to governance, vote bank politics, farmers’ rights, and parliamentary intervention:

Ineffectiveness of the governance machinery: There is an urgent need for the different institutions of administration to galvanise support to respond to the crisis of governance. The problems of suicide and extreme poverty among farmers need to be urgently addressed by the joint efforts of the State and Central governments. The bureaucracy has to find ways to formulate and implement the right kind of policies that will change the situation. There is no room for delay, as we cannot afford to be lethargic on this issue. In its report, aptly titled Serving Farmers and Saving Farming, the National Commission on Farmers has noted thus: “Some areas in the States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala have been affected by a serious agrarian crisis, leading occasionally to farmers’ suicides. The time has, therefore, come when we should focus more on the economic well-being of the women and men feeding the nation than just on production.” The recognition of the human development perspective by all institutions of governance becomes critical for responding effectively to deal with the problem of farmers committing suicide.

Vote bank politics and the vulnerability of farmers: In democratic politics, different constituencies create legitimate pressures to initiate and support policies that are of deep concern to them. Politicians and political parties in India, like elsewhere, also take up issues with an eye on vote banks. Although they constitute a significant vote bank, the issues of deep concern for the poor, marginalised, vulnerable and disempowered farmers tend to be ignored. On the issue of suicides, it is the extreme poverty, vulnerability and lack of political voice that have made them ignorable, if not completely voiceless. This has created a situation where even though numerous reports relating to farmers committing suicide have been brought to the headlines, not much seems to have been done to change the situation. Of course, there have been visits by dignitaries to the villages, where these suicides have occurred and comprehensive relief packages have been announced but unfortunately, this has not changed the situation. It is important for other actors to take up the cause of farmers so that the political brass and powerful bureaucracy can better recognise the situation.

Extreme poverty

Human rights of farmers: There is little doubt that the human rights of farmers are violated due to their extreme poverty situation, leading to them committing suicide. The report of the U.N. independent expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty, Dr. Arjun Sengupta, has underlined the importance of this inevitable link: “Any society would recognise that poverty is something repugnant and unacceptable because it represents denial of human dignity. However, in order to make the eradication of poverty a human rights entitlement, there has to be a categorisation of the social forces that would be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices by redistributing resources or by mobilising special services and targeted programmes.” It has to be recognised that farmers’ suicides are indeed a violation of their human rights. The rights institutions need to consider how to approach this issue. It becomes the duty and responsibility of institutions such as the National Human Rights Commission and the State Human Rights Commissions to respond to this problem. They will have to engage with the State and Central governments to impress upon them the need for taking cognisance of farmers’ suicides, given the huge consequences such incidents have on the family members and the community as a whole. There is a case for creating a Special Rapporteur on Farmer’s Rights. Civil society has an important role to play in this regard. Farmers’ suicides are a continuing disaster, and it does not need natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunami for disaster management efforts to be activated in India. Farmers’ suicides are an ongoing disaster that needs necessary response, including support to the victims from governmental and non-governmental actors.

Need for parliamentary intervention: The issue is serious enough to call for a special session of Parliament to discuss it threadbare. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited a number of districts where the suicides were particularly high. The government announced a special rehabilitation package to mitigate the distress of farmers. Unfortunately, these measures have not been able to make a significant difference to the ground reality. The discussion in Parliament that is being proposed is not only to actually culminate in specific policy outcomes leading to urgent reforms, but more important to sensitise and make aware the Members of Parliament about the deplorable situation. This is precisely what parliamentary democracies are expected to do when dealing with crises.

It was none other than the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, who poignantly remarked in 1947: “Everything else can wait, but not agriculture.” With Parliament currently in session, it is an opportune time to hold a special session to discuss the issue as it is one of the most disturbing contemporary human rights challenges of India’s governance.

(C. Raj Kumar is Associate Professor of Law at City University of Hong Kong and Honorary Consultant to the National Human Rights Commission in India.)

WHAT HE SAID AND HE DIDN’T - After words of regret, the chief minister must now govern the state

Rudrangshu Mukherjee
The Telegraph, 9 December

Words, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein famously declared, are also deeds. Words do something, they have intent and purpose. The question may legitimately be asked what Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was doing, or trying to do, when he uttered the words of regret in New Delhi.

His statement can be broken up into three components. One was an apology for having said that those opposed to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Nandigram had been paid back in their own coin; and, as chief minister of West Bengal, for having spoken of “us” and “them”. Two, he was admitting in unambiguous terms that Nandigram represented an administrative and political failure. And three, he was declaring his openness to a dialogue with members of the Left intelligentsia who, in the aftermath of the violence in Nandigram in early November, had expressed their disillusionment with him and his party.

At one very obvious level, Bhattacharjee was attempting to recover lost ground. An individual is made up of multiple and overlapping identities. One of the identities of which Bhattacharjee has always been proud is that of an intellectual. He is proud that he reads books; has Tagore, Jibanananda Das and other poets at his fingertips; he is more comfortable in the company of artists and poets than that of politicians. He once said in an interview that when he feels depressed or down he immerses himself in Proust and Joyce. Immediately after he became chief minister, he described his own situation by quoting Shelley: “I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!”

For such a person it is not easy to accept the loss of goodwill of large sections of the Left intelligentsia (including that of one of his favourite contemporary poets who he referred to fondly as Sankhada, even after Sankha Ghosh had spoken out against Nandigram). If Bhattacharjee, as a lifelong worker of the CPI(M), had a core constituency, it was the Left intelligentsia. The violence in Nandigram and his subsequent partisan utterances made this intelligentsia see Bhattacharjee without his intellectual mask. He is now eager to dispel the disillusionment. It cannot be without significance that in describing his relationship with the governor of West Bengal, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the chief minister said that he exchanges books with him.

The admission that Nandigram was an administrative and political failure was intended to dissociate the government from the party. The government had failed to quell the unrest in Nandigram, and this had created the opportunity for the party cadre to move in. By admitting this failure, Bhattacharjee is trying to reclaim his status as a chief minister who is honest, transparent and not unwilling to admit to failures and errors. One wonders if he has quite thought through the implications of this admission. From March 2007 to November 2007, Bhattacharjee’s government did scarce little to restore normalcy in the area; it started no process to bring back those who had fled from their homes and their occupations. If the state’s own resources were not adequate, why didn’t Bhattacharjee ask for the CRPF till so very late in the day? There is evidence that initially the CRPF was not allowed to move into the area and to operate freely. Prima facie all this suggests something more than failure on the part of the government: it suggests connivance. Even if such a conclusion is taken to be prejudiced, what does the straightforward admission of failure on the part of the chief minister say about the competence of his government and even about his own competence? It is not enough to say that it was a failure. As the chief minister of the state, he owes the people of West Bengal an explanation: why did he fail? What is the guarantee that such crass incompetence will not recur?

I have left the most important component till the last. This is Bhattacharjee’s statement that he should not have said what he had about the violence in Nandigram. Here is an attempt to reestablish himself as the chief minister, after having spoken like a loyal party person and thus having landed himself in a soup. I do not want to raise the question of Bhattacharjee’s sincerity. What is critical, however, is that certain aspects slip through the gap between the intentions behind his statements and their reception.

Bhattacharjee expressed regret for what he had said, not for what his party had done. His (in)famous words after the Nandigram incident in early November were, in fact, uttered to justify the violence of the CPI(M) cadre. There is thus an element of disingenuity in the expression of regret. It is not enough to apologize for words: as chief minister, Bhattacharjee needs to say sorry for deeds.

There is another significant aspect that cannot be allowed to pass without comment. This is Bhattacharjee’s choice of location. He chose to make the statement in New Delhi. It would be unreasonable to assume that the choice was not deliberate. New Delhi is as far removed from the people of Nandigram and their problems as one can imagine. Bhattacharjee could equally well have voiced his regret in New York or Beijing. Even after his return to Calcutta, there has been no echo of the statement in anything that Bhattacharjee has said. What was he attempting when he chose to speak in Delhi and not in Calcutta or Nandigram? Who was his target audience?

The decision to speak in New Delhi may have had something to do with the timing: Bhattacharjee spoke immediately after the conclusion of the politburo meeting in the capital. This leads to the suspicion that he spoke only with the sanction of the highest body of his party. In other words, he was not speaking as a chief minister, but as a party person. It is within the realms of possibility that Bhattacharjee persuaded his comrades in the politburo that he should make a statement expressing his regret to try and retrieve some of the goodwill he and his party had lost subsequent to Nandigram. Whatever be the background, this much is clear that there exists some confusion between Bhattacharjee’s constitutional role as a chief minister and his role as an ideologue of the CPI(M). Time and again, he has given precedence to the latter, thus violating the former.

This is not the first time that Bhattacharjee has expressed regret over violence in Nandigram. One of his former supporters has alleged that he did it once before — after March 14 — but was unable to prevent the November outbreak. This would suggest that Bhattacharjee has little or no control over his party, and the latter makes him transgress his role as chief minister. A less charitable view of things is that Bhattacharjee is not such an unwilling victim of circumstances. One cannot forget, that when Brinda Karat gave her call for Dum Dum dawai, Bhattacharjee was next to her on the dais. How credible is Bhattacharjee’s willingness to talk to the intelligentsia when that same intelligentsia is described in his presence by Prakash Karat as anti-people and anti-country? Will it be too unfair to suspect that there is a duet going on between Bhattacharjee and the CPI(M) leadership, the former representing the “soft” face, the latter the “hard” one? The proverbial carrot and the stick.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s credibility and goodwill are at their lowest today. He has no enemies, but none of his friends likes him. If he is to appear sincere, he must follow up his regret by separating his government from the party; he must govern, instead of listening to a party he considers infallible. Without these follow-up measures, he will convince only the converted.

Serial deaths in hi-tech plant

M.R. VENKATESH AND OUR BUREAU
The Telegraph, 9 December

Sriperumbudur/Mumbai, Dec. 8: Three engineers and a contract worker dropped dead in succession at a state-of-the-art sewage plant in Hyundai’s car factory last night, possibly suffocated by gases released during a test run of newly installed machinery.

Site engineer Anandan Maran, 33, was the first to choke inside a six-metre pit into which he descended to test the machinery, setting off a chain of events that snuffed out the lives of three others, police sources said.

Electrical engineer Mohang Hingne, 25, followed Maran into the pit after getting no reply from him for a while. Then chemical engineer Shirish Garate, 22, went down as there was no word from Hingne either.

Wondering what could be keeping the engineers for so long, contractor Muthu, 40, went down too. But a deathly silence followed him.

By then, engineer Santosh Gowda had grown panicky. Unthinkingly, he rushed into the pit but was hauled up with ropes by site workers who had got wind that something was terribly amiss.

Sources said the killer lurking at Hyundai’s Irrungattukottai factory, 40km from Chennai, was most likely to be a mixture of methane and hydrogen sulphide gases given off by the used water and waste flowing in a sewer below it.

The fire services personnel at the plant pulled out the bodies today. The engineers were employees of Pune-based Thermax Ltd, which was commissioning a second sewage treatment plant at the factory. Muthu was probably engaged by Hyundai.

This is the first major accident in the complex since Hyundai started production five years ago. But it is ironical that methane deaths, known to happen in remote villages while wells are dug, should occur in a modern facility.

The plant, to be operational by January 2008, is almost complete. It will handle the sewage from a second manufacturing facility of the South Korean auto major coming up in the same complex.

Thermax and Hyundai Motor India Ltd issued a joint statement confirming the accident but declined comment on the cause of the deaths.

“It is too premature to hazard a guess on what exactly caused the accident. What we know is that a group of four entered the holding tank area in the sewage treatment plant and were impacted by some chemical formation or gas,” Thermax executive vice-president, human resources, Sudhir Sohoni said over phone from Chennai.

Sohoni said Maran, who was from Chennai, was “a very experienced staffer and knew all safety procedures”.

Hingne was from Pune and Garate from Chandrapur in Maharashtra. Muthu was from Tamil Nadu. Gowda, who is recuperating in hospital, is from Orissa.

Thermax, which has had a good safety record so far, has flown in the victims’ families.

A spokesperson for Hyundai said: “The onus of the mishap cannot be put on us only because we own the premises. The job was outsourced to Thermax.”

Oris-saga

Statesman, 9 December

Samiti ups the ante on Posco stir

JAGATSINGHPUR, Dec. 7: Holed up in Dhinkia for over a week, fearing assault by hired goons and police arrest, the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) has drawn the attention of the civil society and human rights activists. Fact finding teams are making a beeline to the area. The Nava Nirman Samiti and other organisations, who have been opposing the project in a more Gandhian manner, declared that they would launch a satyagraha in front of the collectorate from 14 December.

In Bhubaneswar, several sarvodaya workers and freedom fighters submitted a memorandum to the Governor, after expressing solidarity with NNS. Tomorrow the former Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr Rabi Ray, Mr BD Sharma and others are expected to apprise the media about their findings.

The plight of the women and the children in Dhinkia is said to be pathetic. They are living in fear. Prices of commodities have sky rocketed. They are afraid to go out of the village due to police deployment and the presence of goons whohurled bombs and attacked them at Balitutha bridge on 29 November. The anti Posco activists have blocked the road to Dhinkia to prevent police entry. Sources said that the condition of 10 persons injured in clash on 29 November, is bad. They cannot avail of treatment.

The daily wage earners who used to go to Paradip, Kujang and other nearby places on a daily basis are without jobs. The chairman of PPSS, Mr Abahya Sahoo, alleged that essential commodities are not reaching the village. Meanwhile, the convener of Bharat Jan Anodalon, Mr BD Sharma and his team, which visited the village today said that the moral of the people is high and they are determined to carry on their struggle. District authorities informed that PDS supply has not been disrupted. Last month’s quota had been given. They said that disruption in communication have caused problems.

Women to gherao PS over murder

JAGATSINGHPUR, Dec. 7: Peeved over police inaction and callousness, hundreds of women have threatened to gherao Erasama police station tomorrow.

The women are agitated over the fact that a widow had staged a hunger strike, demanding the arrest of the accused persons, who she alleged, had murdered her husband. She had also demanded a crime branch probe into the murder case.

The widow, Bharti Sahoo and her relatives, demonstrated in front of the Erasama police station for four days to voice their demands. The alleged murder had taken place on 3 October. Though three persons have already been arrested, the main accused is absconding.

Later the police requested them to vacate the place to take admission in
medical but they refused to take admission.

The police forcibly shifted the agitators and chased them which resulted in a clash. Kanan Parida, Manorama, Mani Mallick and Kamini Parida have been injured during the clash.

The Erasama police have registered a case against Mrs Bharti Sahoo under section 309of IPC, for attempting to commit suicide in the name of hunger strike.

White paper demanded on water allocation

BHUBANESWAR, Dec. 7: The Orissa development group has demanded a white paper from the government on the allocation of Hirakud water and the status of water distribution as a whole in the state. It has sent a letter to the chief minister on this issue. The recent agitation by the farmers in western parts of the state has opened a Pandora’s box. A detailed white paper report would help evolve a wider consensus and reduce tension. There is no data available. Allocation of water for industrial use is an important issue which has been overlooked. As a result of this, the forum feels that there is an urgent need to examine all the points. It is a well established fact that farmers would be deprived of water and agriculture would be hampered. Details of the volume of water impounded in the Hirakud Dam area on 1 October every year, including the water which is let out into the canals between 1 June and 30 of September should be provided.

This can tell the maximum quantity of water which was impounded in the early years when there was little siltation. A minimum amount of water has to be kept in the reservoir, which cannot be let out, since the canal heads will be above the water level. This is likely to go down over the years due to siltation. The white paper should also reflect the amount of water released every year, between 1 October and 31 May for irrigation and hydel power generation. Noting that agricultural demands for water continues to be high because of outdated technologies, the forum wanted the government to record the steps taken to modernise the existing sources of water and the efforts taken to check water waste. The forum has also demanded a detailed evaluation of watershed management which is being implemented as a part of the backward district initiative and backward regions grants programme.
The forum questioned whether the government has analysed the current reality of water flow and capacity and made attempts to compare it with the demands of industry and farming. It may be noted here that the forum had elicited response from eminent experts, before sending the letter to Mr Naveen Patnaik, who is in charge of the water resources department.

The ration revolt - How Dishonest Dealers Shortchange The Cardholders

Sunil Banik
The Statesman, 8 December

The ration shops in several towns and villages of West Bengal have been the target of public fury since the second week of September. It persisted even during the festive season in October. The public rage followed the prolonged failure of the ration shops to comply with the obligations of the state government under the public distribution system of essential commodities.

The PDS plays an important role in governance. It distributes rice, wheat, sugar and kerosene at subsidised prices, compared to the rising market rates. The state's ration shops, about 20,372 in number, have persistently failed to provide weekly supplies of such items in the specified quality and quantity to the ration card holders.

Those who come under such categories as Above Poverty Line, Below Poverty Line, Antyoday and Annapura Yojana are dependant on the rationing system. Ration dealers, appointed by the state's food department, get their supplies from the Food Corporation of India. The local panchayats or civic bodies have been entrusted with the task of ensuring proper distribution. The block-level food inspectors, appointed by the food department, are supposed to oversee the process.

No transparency

Despite such checks, the people, particularly in the rural and semi-urban areas, have not been getting rations regularly and properly. They are often denied ration for months on the plea of lack of supply. The dealers in most cases do not notify, as per rule, the supply position on their shop notice boards. This is intended to ensure transparency, but the rule is followed in the breach. Nevertheless, the food inspectors or panchayat monitoring committees have often certified the deal, to the effect that they are functioning properly.

On10 October 2007, the FCI declared that there was no shortfall in the PDS supply of wheat and rice and the state had a stock of 1.70 lakh tons of rice and 2.33 lakh tons of wheat, enough for two months. The chairman and managing director stated that the crisis was embedded in corruption on the part of the dealers. He also mentioned intelligence reports that PDS commodities were being smuggled out to Bangladesh.

The smuggling has compounded the corruption of dealers in collusion with the elected and paid officials of the panchayats and the food directorate. The bulk of the items, earmarked for the ration shops, is being sold at a higher price in the open market. Panchayat functionaries and ruling party leaders are also involved. The allotted FCI commodities sent by trucks are routinely diverted to the distributors’ godowns, there to be adulterated with inferior rice and wheat, brought from the rice or flour mills. And these are then packed in reduced quantities and sent to the ration shops. The dishonest dealers in turn shortchange the card holders. While the commodities are sold in the open market at a premium, cardholders are told that the ration shops are not getting their supplies from the FCI.

The diversion of kerosene follows a similar procedure. The tanker, carrying better quality kerosene, is replaced with another tanker with adulterated kerosene and of much reduced quantity and then sent to the dealers’ retail outlets.

The inspectors hardly take any step to detect and destroy the ghost and irregular ration cards. Such cards are largely retained by the dealers who regularly draw government-subsidised ration items against them, only to sell the commodities in the open market. This is done in cahoots with dishonest local officials and vested ruling party collaborators. In this way the dealers do business, running into crores. They gradually become rich and powerful enough to intimidate the poor and economically weak card-holders. Violent mobs have raided the houses of dealers, many of them palatial. Some even have swimming pools. The owners are members of the ruling party.

Even so, the secretary of the Ration Dealers Association, has informed the government that dealers would surrender their permits if the commission rates are not raised and if they were not given adequate security. They admitted that many dealers had to sell “APL wheat”' in the open market to compensate for the losses incurred under the defective rationing system.

The government has assured the dealers’ association that their grievances would be looked into. The public rage continued nonetheless. The licences of some top functionaries of the association, who attended the food department meetings on their grievances, have been cancelled or suspended because of malpractices.

The district magistrates and the block development officers have palpably failed to check corruption. A DM, after taking charge of a backward districts in 2006, had started a probe into the local rationing system. The official stumbled on to a cesspool of corruption. The inquiry was called off under political pressure.

The extent of the corruption was exposed on 16 September when a spontaneous riot broke out in Bankura’s Sonamukhi area. The ration revolt was led by some disillusioned ruling party supporters. Bankura witnessed a similar revolt in 2004. This time it spread to large parts of South Bengal. The enforcement branch of the state police, which probed the Sonamukhi revolt, found that the allegations against the dealers and their collusion with the local officials were correct. But the scam was kept under wraps.

A ‘farce’

The riots spread and the Chief Minister’s assurance that action would be taken against the guilty had no impact. On the contrary, it became a subject of inter party kerfuffle as a Forward Bloc minister heads the food department. The FB holds the CPI-M responsible for selecting corrupt distributors and contractors for which the PDS had been reduced to a “farce”.

By resorting to this this blame game, the food minister cannot absolve himself of his ministerial responsibility. In fact, his department appoints the food inspectors who have been found to be in league with the rogue dealers, and have played a major role in the ration scam. He has woken up to the crisis only after the Chief Minister censored his department for the unrest.

Soon after the CM’s remarks, some corrupt food department officials were arrested, about 198 dishonest dealers suspended, and the licences of 90 dealers cancelled. Only 10 out of 719 distributors were suspended on charges of corruption. He has now decided to restructure the shop-level monitoring committees and appoint 2000 new food inspectors. Had these steps been taken by the food minister, he may not have regretted the fact that under his stewardship, the rationing system had been rendered defucnt and reduced to what he calls is a “farce”.

The writer is former Secretary-General, Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.