LALGARH NEWS

Maoists threaten Lalgarh war
The Telegraph CORRESPONDENT

Midnapore, Nov. 12: Maoists today threatened an armed resistance in West Midnapore’s Lalgarh where tribals have been protesting police raids and detentions following a blast that missed the chief minister by minutes.

CPI (Maoist) state secretary Kanchan said: “We are with the people of Lalgarh. Our guerrilla squad is with them to build an armed resistance. I appeal to the Lalgarh people to follow the Nandigram path by setting up road blocks and snapping electricity and telephone connections to teach the CPM and police a lesson.”

Villagers armed with bows and arrows tonight placed at least 30 trees at various points on the road that branches off NH 6 and leads to Jhargram town. They also blocked the road connecting Jhargram with Jamboni. “They are trying to cut off the town,” a police officer said.

The road to Jhargram from Midnapore town had not been touched till late tonight.

In East Midnapore’s Nandigram, villagers led by the Trinamul Congress and all- egedly aided by Maoists had created a similar island of unrest, cut-off from the administration.

In Jhargram, the villagers wrote on the road: “The police have to explain why innocent villagers were arrested on suspicion of being Maoists.”

Tribal youths continued to obstruct the state highway connecting Midnapore town with Bandwan in Purulia.

“The Maoists have been instigating the villagers. We have got some vital information after questioning three persons picked up from Binpur and Jamboni on November 6,” said West Midnapore police chief R.K. Singh. He declined comment when asked why the intelligence branch had failed to tip off the administration about Maoist activities.

Armed policemen had pounced on schoolchildren returning from a soiree and tried to link them with the rebels while probing the blast at Salboni that hit a car in Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s convoy on November 2. Women were allegedly beaten up during the raids that followed.

District magistrate N.S. Nigam said the allegations of police misconduct would be probed. “I appeal to the agitating villagers to return home and let us redress their grievances through talks,” he said.

Detentions by ‘mistake’ that made Lalgarh dig up roads
PRONAB MONDAL

Lalgarh (West Midnapore), Nov. 11: Headmaster Asim Ganguly woke up on November 4 morning to hear two of his Class VIII students had been arrested in connection with the Maoist blast two days earlier. He couldn’t believe his ears.

“They are normal, innocent boys who wouldn’t dream of doing anything subversive,” the head of Vivekananda Vidyapith in Kanthapahari, Lalgarh, said today. “The police action was absurd, cruel and high-handed.”

The arrest of the two 14-year-olds and a friend — and police raids that led to women being beaten up — were the main reason Lalgarh’s villagers have dug up roads, Nandigram style, to keep the administration at bay.

Buddhadeb Patra and Goutam Patra were picked up with Aben Murmu — a 15-year-old Class VIII student from Ramakrishna High School — on November 3 night on suspicion of links with the Maoists who had tried to bomb the chief minister’s car the day before.

All three were freed on bail four days later but Ganguly hasn’t yet recovered from the shock. “Why didn’t the police get in touch with me first? I’ve taught these boys and watched over them for so many years now — wouldn’t I know what sort they were?”

Perhaps to give their action a semblance of credibility, the police had initially bloated the ages of the boys by four years each to 18, 18 and 19. However, the man they dragged out of bed at 3 the next morning in Barapelia village was 62.

Retired teacher Khamananda Mahato, who used to teach at Ganguly’s school, said: “Some 200 armed policemen surrounded my house, their faces covered with black cloth. They ordered me to accompany them.”

Mahato’s wife was ill and he requested them to wait till morning, but they would not agree. At Lalgarh police station, he was asked to identify a man he had never seen, and was held till 4pm. Mahato today said he was still “traumatised”.

“Mastermoshai was a very popular teacher. It’s absurd to link him to any anti-national activity,” Ganguly, 40, said of his former colleague.

District police chief Rajesh Kumar Singh admitted the arrests and the detention were “mistakes”. He said: “We had no evidence and so did not oppose the boys’ bail plea. We also dropped their names from the chargesheet.”

Mahato, Singh added, “lives in an area that is a Maoist corridor; so we thought he might know some of the suspects. Later we realised that he didn’t.”

The boys said they were returning from a baul performance at Kanthapahari, 4km from their home in Banshber, around 11pm when armed policemen pounced on them.

“They threw me by the collar inside a van, flat on the floor, my face shoved between their boots. Not a single question was asked, not who we were, or where we were from,” Aben said.

Within minutes, Goutam and Buddhadeb too were flung inside the van and, like Aben, lay prone on the floor.

“I was so frightened, I started crying,” Goutam said. “A policeman prodded me with his boot and shouted he would kick me to death unless I stopped. I tried to smother my sobs and then the van started moving.”

At Salboni police station, when the boys were repeatedly asked to name their dadas (Maoist seniors), one of them, clueless about what they were being asked, replied he didn’t have a dada (elder brother).

“The police slapped us and beat us but they got nothing out of us because we didn’t know anything,” Buddhadeb said.

After some time, they were pushed into the lock-up. “One night here, and you’ll be talking tomorrow,” a policeman said.

The boys were charged with waging war against the country, causing hurt with dangerous weapons and attempt to murder.

“How could the police think my son would do any such thing?” wept Pratima Patra, Goutam’s mother, at her mud hut. “I went to Lalgarh and fell at officers’ feet but they wouldn’t listen.”

The boys were released only when village after village erupted in protest. The agitators today dug up a road in Salboni and continued blocking the Midnapore-Bandwan highway despite a promise yesterday to repair it.

In Lalgarh, CPM leaders run for guns

Indian Express

Kolkata, November 14 : When it comes to political leaders moving with a gun-toting entourage, there is little difference these days between Western Uttar Pradesh and the Maoist-affected areas of West Midnapore.
During its trip to Lalgarh, several encounters of The Indian Express with the zonal leaders of the CPM proved that panic has struck the party hard ever since the tribal agitation began on November 5.

Those blessed with clout are granted security personnel from the state’s armed forces. The officials in the district administration confided that over 100 grassroots leaders now move with private protectors. The threat perception is said to be “real” from Maoists, who have strong pockets of influence in the region.

On way to Lalgarh, at Bottola Chalk near the local CPM party office, The Indian Express met Anuj Pande, the party’s zonal committee secretary. Moving around with gun-totting securitymen provided by the government, Pande still looks a scared man.

Mahatma and EMS - Gandhi Still An Enigma To The Marxists

Subrata Mukherjee
The Statesman, Nvember 5, 2008

EMS Namboodiripad has provided a penetrating evaluation of Mahatma Gandhi in Mahatma and the Ism (1948). He wrote: “It is a measure of the enormous significance of the role played by Gandhiji in the history of our national movement that every trend and faction inside the Congress, and almost every political party barring the Communist Party, uses the name of Gandhiji and his teachings for justifying and defending its policies. Serious attempts to assess the role and significance of Gandhiji and his teachings should, therefore, be considered of enormous practical importance for the further development of the democratic movement”.

Namboodiripad has highlighted Gandhi’s ability to organise the masses against the forces of imperialism and feudalism. This was his major source of strength. His weakness was his firm belief in non-violence. “It served to restrain the mass of workers and peasants who want to shake off the triple yoke of imperialism, feudalism and capitalism”.

Three features

EMS has examined the three striking features of the Gandhian movement in South Africa: (1) it was a movement encompassing all classes; (2) even with the support of the richest sections of Indian society, the movement’s real strength came from the militant and the self-sacrificing spirit of the poor working class of Indians in South Africa; and (3) in spite of this, the course of the movement was decided by Gandhi rather than by the representatives of the working class. Arguably, the most important aspect was Gandhi’s general outlook and the gulf between his ideas and those of Marx, Engels and Lenin.

As Namboodiripad saw it, a person with such reactionary perceptions entered the Indian political scene towards the end of the First World War and became the undisputed leader of the national movement. On the face of it, this appears to be an extraordinary achievement especially when few people agreed with the basic principles of Gandhism. But a deeper analysis brought to the surface the reasons for Gandhi’s almost instant success. “For, all that was out of the ordinary, religious and spiritualistic in Gandhi’s social outlook, all that was unique in the tactics which he pursued in order to realise his political aims and objectives, had one peculiar quality ~ they were all perfectly suited to the requirement of the class (bourgeois class) that was daily growing in Indian society and was increasingly asserting itself in the country’s national-political life.”

In spite of this basic coherence, there were important differences between other leaders of the bourgeois-democratic movement and Gandhi. The others applied the political process of modern capitalistic countries, especially Great Britain to India. The “moderates’’ and the “extremists” were fashioned after the Tories or the Liberals. But Gandhi “based himself not on the philosophy, economics, sociology and political science of the modern bourgeoisie, but on Hinduism with a perceptible influence of Christianity”. Yet, the same group eventually accepted Gandhi’s leadership. Unlike the other leaders, “Gandhiji associated himself with the masses of the people, their likes, problems, sentiments and aspirations”.

In Namboodiripad’s reckoning, the non-cooperation movement failed because Gandhi and his advisers did not appreciate the militancy of the people and their participation. Gandhi’s doctrinal adherence to non-violence limited his leadership. The result was that, though Gandhi “spoke out so magnificently against exploitation of India’s masses, he largely did what the exploiting interests wanted. The people’s upsurge was like a pawn on the counter of bargaining with the British and when it threatened to go out of hand and smash Britain and Indian vested interests, the reins were tightly pulled back”. However, in this assertion there is no attempt to analyse the Indian situation in depth or give specific examples to substantiate the charges.

On the salt satyagraha, Namboodiripad remarks that “while the people were magnificently responding to the call of the Congress, its leadership headed by Gandhiji was doing its best to divert their enthusiasm and militancy to channels which were safe for the bourgeoisie”. This was done in a number of ways: (1) though the Congress leadership headed by Gandhi accepted on paper the immediate object of complete independence, this was not followed in actual practice. The 11-point demand, on the fulfillment of which he promised to call off the movement, had nothing to do with attaining the objective of complete independence; (2) The direct action was limited to a few satyagrahis even though there was talk of mass civil disobedience; (3) With the obvious intention of restricting the scope of the movement, the demands of workers and peasants were completely excluded.

However, in the subsequent Karachi session of the Congress, many demands of the working class were accepted and the resolution on fundamental rights was passed. However, this change was accepted not on a belated realisation of their problems, but as Namboodiripad contends, due to two political considerations: (1) to create an impression that the Congress was leading the fight for the realisation of workers’ and peasants’ demands; and (2) to secure the implementation of the 11-point demand from the British administration on the basis of popular strength.

In 1932, Gandhi was arrested. According to Namboodiripad, instead of leading massive political movements he was focused more on relatively minor issues of social reform. He has also raised the issue of why Gandhi changed his technique ~ especially when there were no signs of violence. His attention to such social issues as Harijan uplift was a well thought out tactic for meeting the challenge of the political situation. Otherwise, it would not have secured the unanimous support of the right-wing leadership of the Congress.

Namboodiripad ignores Gandhi’s political philosophy which, in passing, he refers to it as reactionary. He has acknowledged that in spite of his leadership of the bourgeoisie, he was not with this class on every issue. It is Gandhi’s idealism that made him the Father of the Nation. As evident from the Mahatma’s reference to the Italian example, he was not only concerned with the oppressed people under colonialism but also with the nature and content of freedom.

Unique role

The shortcoming in Namboodiripad’s analysis is his dismissal of Gandhi’s political theory which dealt with rural and urban differences and conflict, the need for labour intensive industry, the labour-capital relationship, the education system and the village as the basis of swaraj. He was focused on Gandhi the social activist.

There is no denying that Gandhi was essentially a political activist and any evaluation would have to deal primarily with that aspect. But this does not mean that the entire assessment should be confined exclusively to his role in the various movements in which he participated, especially when there existed a theoretical side of considerable importance.

Namboodiripad credits Gandhi for initiating mass movements and his unique role as an anti-imperialist fighter but ignores the Mahatma’s constructive programme, his assessment of the Indian situation as outlined in his Autobiography which largely reinforced belief in the policy of “one step at a time’’ and the compulsions to provide a united front to counter British Imperialism.

The inadequacy of Namboodiripad’s analysis, like that of Hiren Mukerjee’s critique of Gandhi, both written immediately after independence, is aptly reflected in Sardesai’s lament in the Mahatma’s birth centenary year. He continues to be an enigma to the Marxists even 60 years after the publication of Namboodiripad’s classic.

The writer is Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi

CURRENT AFFAIRS gujarat: How To Elect A Fascism

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 4, Issue 50, Dated Dec 29, 2007 , CURRENT AFFAIRS gujarat: special report

Narendra Modi has married progress to Hindutva with a diabolical brilliance the Congress has offered few answers to. SANKARSHAN THAKUR reports

MR MEHTA told me a simple and quite stunning thing: To understand Gujarat, understand Gujaratis first, there is nothing that matters more to them than dhando and dharma, business and religion. Would it be in that order, Mr Mehta? Quite, he said, what dharma are you going to do on an empty stomach? But please understand this carefully because a lot of you don't, Gujarat is what Gujaratis make it, not what people like you want it to be, don't fit our image to the requirements of your frame.

It had begun with a casual remark on the flight from Delhi to Vadodara, but slowly turned into a long and blunt discourse on understanding Gujaratis. "So you are one of those people," he had said, with no wish to veil his sardonic tone, "You will go to Gujarat and tell the world what a terrible place it is, what a terrible people Gujaratis are."

But terrible things have happened in Gujarat.
And a great many good things too, why does everyone ignore that? We are the country's most prosperous part, everybody is happy. Not everybody, there are lots of people who are terribly unhappy, they have suffered, they are denied justice, they live oppressed.

Oh, only a small part, and that happens everywhere, injustice is everywhere. And why do you only always talk about them? Muslims are only a small part of Gujarat. But they are part of Gujarat and they live like second-class citizens.

Then they are free to leave, this is a free country, go away. There are many others in Gujarat, why do you not talk about them? Most people are prosperous and happy, nobody talks of them, they are Gujaratis too, why is nothing said about how they are, what they think, how they want to run their lives, what they think is right? You cannot tell us what is right and wrong, we must judge what is right for us.

Killing thousands of people and denying them justice cannot be right.
Of course not, I am not supporting what happened in 2002. And I probably know more about what happened then than TEHELKA has reported and the likes of Teesta Setalvad scream about. But these things happen, they happen everywhere, not just in Gujarat, people react, political parties react and often the reaction is violent. It happened in your Delhi in 1984, nobody goes on and on about it. Why do people go on and on about 2002, as if that is the only thing that happened in Gujarat? Many other things have happened, nobody talks about them. Do you know we have not had a single riot since 2002? And do you know why? Because it was made clear to Muslims we will not put up with nonsense any more, they were taught a lesson and they remain reined in. Peace has been achieved.

And at what cost?

That is not important, what is important is that there have been no riots, what is important is that Gujaratis are prospering and are happy. Gujarat is not Muslims alone, Gujarat is many, many more people. Why does nobody talk about them? We are not man-eaters, but we are entitled to our likes and dislikes. It is important to learn what we think, what is right for us.

And what is right for you?

But don't you know already? You will know soon, and you will stay say it is wrong, that electing Narendra Modi is wrong. Can't you see the fallacy of it all, telling the people they are wrong, telling Gujaratis they are wrong, they voted wrong, is that not anti-democratic?

Hitler was elected too, and we all know what he did. So are you telling me you agree with what the Jewish nation is doing in the Middle-East? I might agree with it, but do you...

That's an entirely different context, history has moved.

This is a different context too, but people like you will not understand because you don't want to, you will impose the will of a small minority on the majority. But why? Is that not wrong too? Don't try to preach to Gujaratis what to do, which way to go, they know well enough, and they will let you know soon.

YOU DON'T ask in the cities and towns. It's a waste of time, unless, of course, Modi worship is music to your ears. The most diehard Congressman, the most optimistic liberal will tell you that — pointless asking about in the cities and towns, barring a few pockets of Leuva Patel rebellion in Saurashtra, they are all quite Modified.

Urban Gujarat is a partitioned demography presided over by the smug Modi smile, architect extraordinaire of fractures. Everywhere you go, you see the neon-lit eruption of seething frontiers mined with malevolence: distilled prejudice and hatred, often bilious flashes of anger, always displays of distrust and suspicion, of vile and vicious myth — the first thing a Muslim child is taught is how to slaughter a cow, Hindus are bent and devious, that is why they produce the best spinners. Bigotry begets bigotry, there's little to choose between one kind or the other. But divides have their uses, especially at election time. Modi has reason to wear that smug smile, on his face and on the millions of China-made masks his propaganda machine has blitzed the state with. He has the greater bigotry behind him in urban Gujarat, there's no arguing with that.

In most other states, that could be cause for comfort to the adversary — how far can a party with an urban base go, after all? But in Gujarat, that Indian truism stands upended. Close to 60 per cent of Gujarat is urban or semi-urban today. Thirty cities with populations in excess of one lakh, thirty other towns that have more than 50,000 people. A city hasn't ended when a town begins and where the town tapers off and you are announced into a village, you must often gape — metalled streets, concrete housing, water, electricity, satellite TV, drainage and, fairly routinely, an NRI-fed stretch of ultra well-being: ATMs, air-conditioning, food courts that offer a vegetarian carnival. "The last few years have been great," says Sudarshan Vyas, "Strong leadership and good governance have given people like me a stake in coming back and investing. This is what we have always needed." Vyas has come back from the United States to his oncehumble village near Anand in central Gujarat to vote Modi. "This place is a sea-change from what it used to be, I can be in Ahmedabad in less than an hour, the roads are so good, and there is constant electricity so I can provide my old parents all the worldly comforts they can have. What more do you want?" Pointless querying Vyas about Gujarat's Muslims; he'd tell you much the same things as Mr Mehta: Modi has made Gujarat safe and profitable for us, who cares what happens to the rest?

"Urbanisation is happening at a brisk rate in Gujarat," says social scientist Achyut Yagnik, "and Modi has cleverly married the logic of Hindutva to the interests of that notion of prosperity to the exclusion of all else, that is the bedrock of Modi's support base." In that sense, Modi's appeal isn't very dissimilar to the alchemy of nationalism and progress Nazism once sold. Many have come to believe that Modi's hard and heavy-handed Hindutva is the only insurance against disruptions that would imperil dhando. It's a belief that holds good for the big industrialist and the small cornershop owner alike. "I'll get to work only 20 days out of 30 if Modi is gone," says our taxi driver, "There will be clashes and curfews every other day, we will sit idle and lose money. Under Modi nobody feels encouraged to disrupt life, that is what is good about him, strong man, no nonsense permitted."

It is a myth, of course, that Modi is the fount of all of Gujarat's visible prosperity, but it is a myth he has been able to sell well, it is a myth popularly believed, it is a myth that has become babble on the tongues of the thousands you meet wearing Modi masks. You don't need Modi to announce any more that his five years in power have been better than the 45 years of the Congress, every other person you come across will tell you that until you begin to go numb with the truth of the myth. "Look at the Sensex," argues a hosiery merchant at his till in Dahod's chaotic hub, "Would the Sensex go so high without Narendrabhai? Think about it." Popular election- time rhetoric has little time for analysis or history. With those that have convinced themselves of the Modi magic, it is pointless arguing that Gujarat has always been a relatively prosperous state, that Modi inherited a sound eco nomic base, that Gujarat is also reaping the rewards of the buoyancy in the national economy.

And those that could have credibly challenged the myth did not. The Congress joined the argument too late and when it did, it did so with unstrategised dissonance. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in Gujarat singing a song of liberalisation and of his party's "big role" in the well-being of Gujaratis. His partymen are still extolling Nehruvian socialism. In the tribal heartland of Dahod, where the Congress is meant to be doing extremely well, party leaders are chanting the Indira mantra. "Modi is the party of the rich, the Congress is the party of the poor," says Jaisingh Dangi, Congressman and tribal sarpanch of Mota Hathidra. "The poor, they are all with us, you will see, Indiraben had given us the right slogans." But who remembers Indiraben anymore, you wonder. "The old kakas all remember Indiraben," Dangi announces enthusiastically. But this campaign is not about the kakas. Garibi Hatao seems no longer a resonant cry in these parts, it's swung on Amiri Badhao; the local grocer is playing the satta-bazaar on his mobile.

The Congress campaign lumbers from blunder to blunder, utterly uninspired by selfbelief. Its tagline for the poll is a skittish response to Modi's "Jeetega Gujarat". It reads"Chak de Gujarat". Most of its talking points are reactive rather than proactive and they achieve more for Modi than for the Congress.

The latest is a poll ad with a picture of Masood Azhar emblazoned on top, the Congress' way of trying to embarrass Modi on the handling of the Kandahar hijack. But that's grist to Modi's mill; he's able to turn it around to telling effect. "There was a time when Mahatma Gandhi's photographs used to appear on Congress posters, now they have Masood Azhar." The crowd is in splits. This is Borsad in central Gujarat, traditionally Congress territory, home to Madhavsinh Solanki, former chief minister, and Bharat Solanki, current state Congress boss. But fifteen minutes of Modi demagoguery and you would not believe Borsad had never returned anyone but a Congress candidate since Independence. The man is almost Lalooesque on stage, casting a spell on the crowd with a rich weave of colloquialism, hyperbole and sarcasm until he has begun to command it like a puppeteer.

"They are calling Gujaratis murderers, tell me are you murderers?"
NO!"They are calling me a murderer, tell me am I a murderer?"
NO!!"You elected me last time, tell me did you elect a murderer?"
NO!!!"Have you ever heard a corruption charge against me?"
NO!!!!"They say I have 250 pairs of clothes, tell me should I be walking naked?"
NO!!!!! And rapturous laughter.

Modi flags are fluttering. Men wearing Modi masks and Modi shirts are doing mock victory laps in the crowds, waving, cockading, Modi-style. This is the Laloo Yadav of 2000, playing on hurt provincial pride, turning the "jungle raj" slogan against him upside down. So is Modi exhorting Gujaratis to send a response to all those who've been criticising Gujarat. "They say horrible things have happened in Gujarat, have horrible things happened?" NO!!!!!!!

You'd worry to your bones if you were a Congressman at a Modi show. You'd worry even if you were BJP, for this campaign has been the foundation ceremony of a separate entity: the Modi cult. His masks, his posters, his slogans, Modi, Modi, Modi all the way. The Sangh and the BJP are not used to such individualism, they work with cadres and command flows top down. Modi hasn't seemed to care. "He has bypassed the party and the Parivar and gone straight to the people," says a senior Ahmedabad journalist. "So much so that Advani has seemed to want him more than the other way round. And if he wins this one, the BJP will have a serious problem on its hands."

You can sense what he is riding on all across Gujarat — the oppressive power of the excess of numbers. The subtext of these elections is not the idea of equality, it is the affirmation of the hegemony of the many over the few. Modi has refused even to acknowledge the minority, leave alone woo it. "Nobody talks about the Muslims," says Prakash Karan, a retired engineer. "Nobody discusses what happened or is happening, nobody is interested, as if it was a closed chapter, it is suffocating. I have known people who fear to utter a word against Modi in public, there's a frightening conspiracy of silence. If you are for Modi, you shout it out from the rooftops, if you are against, you merely listen."

NOT FOR nothing does JS Bandukwala, probably the most celebrated and articulate survivors of Gujarat's poisoned flames, go around preaching forgive and forget. Not for nothing is Usmancha, vendor of luscious kebabs in Ahmedabad's Bhatiargali, arguing it is better Modi comes back to power."Aur lafda nai hone ka, aur pitai nai khane ka, dhanda karna hai ne, chup se baitho, paisa kamao, zindagi chalao (don't want more trouble, don't want to be hit again, stay silent, earn your buck and get on with life)." Usmancha's friend, wizened, white-bearded, is nodding assent. "Kya fayda? Modi aane se hi aman hai, sabko pata hai kaun kitne paani mein hai, hum to akliyat hain na (what's the use? It's better if Modi comes back, everybody here knows who stands where, and after all we are in a minority)."

Tridip Suhrud, one of the few liberal and forthright voices you come across in Gujarat, would still pin hope on those who do not speak, or speak out. "There is a section that does not like Modi, wants him out, but they are silent, it is time they spoke." Suhrud himself has been speaking out at every forum he can find but he can sense the absence of resonance. Last week, members in the audience of a live TV show protested his presence on the panel and shouted him down. Retired police officer RB Sreekumar, who has been exposing the Modi administration's partisan excesses in 2002, had to be escorted out of another show under guard. "In many senses, Gujarat has become a terrible place," Suhrud says. "Even in Ahmedabad there are very few people you can talk to, and few whom you can reason with." So, much as Suhrud and his like may hope, they themselves are proclaiming minority status in Modi's Gujarat. And waiting, in desperate hope, for silence to speak.

writer's email : sankarshan@tehelka.com

MODI has it easy

Statesman News Service, 24 December

GANDHINAGAR, Dec. 23: Gujarat today voted chief minister Mr Narendra Modi back to power for another five-year term, in an election which he fought entirely on his own steam and in his own terms. Mr Modi will be elected leader of the BJP Legislature Party tomorrow. After being elected leader he will stake claim to form a government. Mr Modi will be sworn in as chief minister for the third time on Thursday.

Interestingly, while the BJP managed a sweeping win all over the state, except in central Gujarat, seven ministers of the Modi Cabinet lost this election. They are Mr IK Jadeja, Mr Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Mr Prabhatsinh Chauhan, Mr Kaushik Patel, Mr Ratilal Sureja, Mr Dilip Thakor and Mr Chatrasinh Mari.

For the BJP rebels, it was a worse scenario, as only one, Mr Bavukabhai Undhad, could win out of 10. The big losers were Mr Dhirubhai Gajera and Mr Becharji Badhani, who led the rebel brigade.

The chief minister termed the election result as “a positive vote for the government to continue’’. He told reporters that “the people have rejected negativism. The Gujarat virodhi (opposition) forces have been defeated. The slogan Jeetega Gujarat has got more power after the result’’, he said. Looking ahead, Mr Modi said that in 2010 the state will observe its golden jubilee and he appealed to all parties and people to join hands “for a golden future for Gujarat”.

The chief minister mentioned that the Prime Minister had congratulated him on his victory. When asked whether former BJP chief minister Mr Keshubhai Patel had done the same, he said: “I accept congratulations from any quarter, and even if you congratulate me, I shall accept’’.

Mr Modi, who won from the Maninagar constituency with an increased margin of 87,000 votes, defeating Mr Dinsha Patel of the Congress, termed the win as “a victory of the 5.5 crore people of Gujarat’’. He thanked party workers and central leaders and said the victory “was the result of a joint effort. This is the fifth time the BJP has won since 1990 in Gujarat, Mr Modi pointed out.

Mr Modi indicated that he would address the Vijay Diwas rally in Ahmedabad tomorrow. The election results showed that the BJP has got 50 per cent of the vote share, in an election where voting was above 60 per cent. The Congress has got some 40 per cent of the votes, with the rest going to others. Mr Modi made it clear that his party had won “despite the negative propaganda, language and tricks’’ used by his opponents.

The election results showed that the BJP base has not eroded anywhere, except in central Gujarat, where in 2002 the Godhra verdict turned it into a BJP territory. Saurashtra, which was expected to be the losing ground for the BJP owing to the rebel factor, actually returned more BJP candidates this time around.

The same story was repeated in south and north Gujarat, where the BJP maintained its winning spree.

Though the BJP rebels belonged to Saurashtra, like Mr Keshubhai Patel, and south Gujarat, like Mr Dhirubhai Gajera, this had no effect on the Modi juggernaut. The rebel factor just did not count, and Mr Gajera and Mr Becharji Bahadani, both BJP rebels, contesting on Congress tickets, lost. The Congress, too, was hoping to make a killing in Saurashtra, but could make little headway. The mood at the BJP headquarters was upbeat. Mr Modi told party supporters to attend tomorrow’s rally.
Once it became apparent that Mr Modi was marching to victory, an SMS purportedly sent from the chief minister`s office was received by reporters. The SMS read: Dil Se Modiji, Phir Se (Modi once again). It further said: “I did not become CM on 7.10.2001. I have always been CM, I am CM today and shall be CM for ever. CM means Common Man, for me’’.

Oris-saga

The Statesman, 10 December

Patkar faces stiff opposition at Posco site
JAGATSINGHPUR, Dec. 11: Medha Patkar’s visit to the trouble torn Posco affected areas here went on expected lines with the pro-project activists confronting her with placards of 'go back' and the equally determined social activist making her way into the villages saying she will not bow to the designs of the state and ‘hired goons’.

In fact pro-project activists relented to allow Medha Patkar into the village only after the local police intervened at Badagabpur. There were heated exchanges but no violence.

The pro-Posco activists had however issued a ‘fatwa’( dictate) of sorts to villagers of Nuagaon warning that those who speak to Medha Patkar will be penalized with a fine of Rs 1000.

Though she moved from door to door at Nuagaon, panicked villagers did not come forward to speak to her. Some of them even shut their doors as she approached them. The sequence of such events started right at Badagabpur village while the team of social activists, sarvodaya leaders were proceeding towards Nuagaon.

Some people obstructed the activists and raised a protest with placards reading 'Medha go back, we want Posco'. Medha Patkar and her team tried to reason it out with them saying they were keen on peaceful and negotiated settlement to all issues but protestors did not relent till the police stepped in. A heated argument took place between the pro-Posco activists and members of Nav Nirman Samiti, Rastriya Yuva Sangathan who were accompanying Medha Patkar.

Later as the visiting team entered Nuagaon, some of the pro-Posco activists sat on dharna at the Ramchandi temple with a banner they said: “We will solve our problem and outsiders are not allowed to interfere in it”.

Villagers, on their part, were scared of talking to Medha Patkar due to the threat of fine and the repression that was likely to follow. RYS convener Mr Biswjeet Ray informed that one person who committed to provide accommodation for Medha to stay overnight at the village suddenly refused due to threat by hired goons. All these goons have been hired from neighbouring Paradip and Kujang areas, he pointed out before alleging that they were working in tandem with the local police and a senior bureaucrat.

Earlier, on arrival here, Medha Patkar led a rally from Gandhi chowk with all activists of NNS and RYS and held a meeting near the collectorate where NNS and RYS activists were on hunger strike since last week.

Addressing the gathering, she criticised chief minister Naveen Patnaik for selling minerals and water to industries at the cost of the farming community. She alleged that the state government was using hired goons as a cover to help repress democratic movements against the Posco project. The goons are a shield behind which the government is trying to push the project against the will of the people, she charged.

Innocent villagers are being subjected to terror and torture, she alleged referring to the violence on 29 November and the assault on satyagrahis as well as the photograph of Mahatma Gandhi.Such ‘Sultanraj’ here cannot continue for long, earlier kings used to resort to deploying soldiers and armed troops to crush rebellion, she observed.

Only a coward fears and acts in such a manner, she chided while noting how social workers were being viewed as ‘terrorists’.

How did the government approve 1,135 acres of land for the plant without consulting the villagers or holding a gram sabha, she questioned.

She vowed to fight against Posco steel project with the cooperation of villagers. No threat or pressure can suppress the voice of common people.

Others including founder of RYS Mr Kumar Prashant exhorted people to unite against the anti-people and anti-state policies of the government. State repression will not be tolerated, he said.

In another incident here pro-project activists of Trilochanpur protested and humiliated another team of professors of Delhi University who were on their way to Dhinkia village with relief materials.

A team of Delhi University led by Professor Mr S Bhattacharya KR Chaudhury, R.K.Das , leader of All India Youth Association Mr Prasant Rout and RK Sarangi from Intellectual Forum were prevented and humiliated.

Harassed at such protests the team returned without being able to reach Dhinkia.

Protest by varsity students

SAMBALPUR, Dec. 11: The students of Sambalpur University (SU) at Burla, 15 km from here, gheraoed the administrative building and paralysed its activities yesterday, demanding action against outsiders and the general secretary of the students’ union, who, they alleged were attacking the inmates of hostel often.

At the same time, outsiders in large numbers, are entering the campus and loitering near the ladies hostel to pass comments on the girls.

Though there is a police outpost nearby, these hooligans are not afraid of their misdeeds. The students further alleged that they have lodged complaints with the police earlier regarding the attacks on students by outsiders and also mentioned their names. But the police is yet to arrest the evildoers.

“If the accused persons are not arrested within 24 hours, we would start a hunger strike to bring in an atmosphere of peace in the campus,” one of the students said.

Neither the varsity authorities nor the general secretary, against whom the students have complained, were available for comments.

A platoon of police force has been deployed inside the campus to meet eventualities, the DIB sources said. Senior officers are keeping a watch on the situation.

Stir for jobs from Visa Steel

JAJPUR, Dec. 11: Hundreds of members of Vyas Unemployed Youth Organisation (VUYO), a forum formed for the interest of the local unemployed technical youths, staged an agitation in front of Visa Steel officers’ guesthouse today. It is located in Vyas Nagar, the gateway to the steel hub of India in Orissa’s Jajpur district.

The youths demanding jobs. The agitators, led by its president, Mr Bidyadhar Mohanty, locked up the guesthouse and prevented the exit and entry of Visa officials. Tension prevailed when security personnel of the steel company forcefully tried to drive the agitators out, and the latter in turn attacked them. After being informed, police reached at the spot and chased away the agitators.

Altogether 25 agitators were arrested and later released on bail. They were protesting against the engagement of non-Oriya people in the plant, located in the Kalinga Nagar by the Visa management.

The unemployed youths claimed that the steel plant has been utilising their area’s land and water and polluting the nearby villages around it. Hence the steel company should give priority to local candidates during appointments.

“After the Kalinga Nagar police firing in which at least 14 people were killed in police firing, while they were opposing land acquisition by Tata Steel plant on 2 January 2006, we were assured of being absorbed in the plants by the then Jajpur collector, Mr Arabinda Padhee.

Accordingly a directive was issued to the all the steel plants to engage local people first. But the Visa management is engaging non-oriya people,” said Mr Pradeep Samal, secretary of the VUYO.

“As per as advertisement, 39 technical youths had gone through the interview, both written and viva, on 13 May, 2006. We are educated and possess technical, engineering, and industrial training certificates, as advertised by the company about two years ago. But the authorities are yet to declare the result,” said Kailash Das, an engineering graduate.

He alleged that while aspirants are waiting for results, the company authorities, in the meantime, have appointed some non-Oriyas and outsiders. “During a bilateral agreement, it was decided that the steel company will engage local people in its plant on priority basis. But none is caring for the agreement and appointing the people as per as their wish,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, two FIRs have been lodged with the Jajpur Road police from both the groups. While the security officer of Visa Steel Mr AK Pati alleged that the agitators held them in confinement, Kailas Das, a member of the association alleged the company authorities threatened them of dire consequences for the agitation.

When contacted, AK Agarwal, vice-president (commerce) of Visa Steel however denied to comment on this matter.

Landmine blast injures three jawans

MALKANGIRI, Dec. 11: One Special Operation Group (SOG) constable KC Biswal was severely injured and two others Hrushikesh Patra and PK Sabat received minor injury while defusing a claymore mine near MPV 31 village under Kalimela police limits during the early hours today.

All the three injured jawans were immediately taken to the district head quarter hospital at Malkangiri.

Later they were air-lifted to Vishakapatnam hospital by two navy choppers in the afternoon. The condition of Biswal is stated to be critical.

Earlier on 7 December, Naxals had dug up State Highway-25 about three-feet deep during their continuing PLGA week from 2 to 8 December.

Combing operation by police had been intensified in this region and they had traced a claymore mine during the operation.

Sources said while defusing the claymore mine, another pressure mine, which was kept near it, blasted first and by the sound of the first blast, the clayore mine blasted in the hand of the Jawan KC Biswal.

13 December

Locals demand security step-up

JAGATSINGHPUR, Dec. 12: Panic stricken and anguished villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur narrated their sordid tales to social activist and environmentalist Medha Patkar on the second day of her two-day visit to the proposed Posco area. They also urged upon her to provide them security and liberty to live peacefully in their villages.

Despite yesterday’s agitation to prevent her entry into the project area, Ms Patkar visited Dhinkia, Gobindpur and other villages and interacted with the panic-stricken villagers.

Patkar opined that the villagers have lost their freedom and sovereignty due to threat of anti-socials and attack of Posco supporters. She expressed solidarity with those who over the last two years had led a non-violent peoples movement against the project.

She alleged that many villagers of Dhinikia have not yet received
BPL cards, rice under Antodaya and Anapurna schemes. “Several people including women told me that they had been warned against talking to her and that they would face a heavy fine if they met me,” she said.

The virtually ‘terrified’ villagers even requested her not to reveal their names lest the anti-Posco activist would impose fine of Rs 1,000 on them as per their fatwa.

The matter went to such an extent that Abhay Mallick, who had served meal to Patkar during her last visit to Nuagaon was found avoiding her. His wife met Medha with tearful eyes to apologise.

Women of Dhinkia narrated their plight and the scarcity of essential commodities ever since the police deployment had been made on 29 November.They dare not venture out of the village even to harvest their crops fearing arrest by police and attack by hired goons, noted Ms Patkar.

One Phularani Jena of Gobindpur village described how her son was unable to return home fearing repraisal by pro-Posco goons. Others wanted Ms Patkar to provide security to them.

Sixty-year-old Raghu Swain told her how he was being forced to part with his land and betel vines to the company. Earlier , Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti organized a meeting at Dhinikia village where Ms Medha, Jay Prakash Andolan movement leader Mr Rakesh Raffique , PPSS leader Mr Abhaya Shaoo , social activists from Mainpur Tikendra Bhai and Engineer Meher , Rastriya Yuba Sangthan founder Kumar Prashant, and others addressed the gathering and urged upon them to continue with their struggle.

Health camps a success

ROURKELA, Dec. 12: Four health camps organised by the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) at Belpara, Sindhekela, Bharsuja and Tusra of Bolangir district witnessed overwhelming participation by the people. The camps were held from 7 to 10 December.

The mobile team of RSP, comprising specialist doctors of IGH, visited these areas and provided medicines to the needy. The villagers were diagnosed and advised on health related issues. Free medicines were also distributed to the patients. More than 1,500 persons in Belpara, 2,000 in Sindhekela, 2,400 in Bharsuja and 2,300 in Tusra were treated and given free medicines. The district administration, the local health officials, the district Red Cross, NGOs and leaders provided local logistics. Mr RS Gopalan, collector Bolangir inaugurated the camp on 7 December and was present on all the four days. The effort was highly appreciated by the locals.

RSP would organise similar camps at Narkundi, Adri, Ghutrukhal and Mohulpatna in Kalahandi district from 13 to 16 December. Earlier, in the 1970s, RSP had organised relief camps in Kalahandi when severe drought hit the district.

Maoists surrender

SAMBALPUR, Dec. 12: Two young girls who had joined the Maoist cadres surrendered along with their arms here yesterday night. They had joined Maoist cadres in 2005 and were promised a lot. “But we found a totally different atmosphere in the camps,” said both the girls while talking to reporters after laying down their arms. “The only job of top cadre Maoists is to extort the rich and kill innocent people who dare to protest their illegal activities,” they added.

The girls who surrendered before police yesterday night were Miss Scholestica Minz alias Sujata (24) daughter of Lucas Minz of village Mendhiakani and Miss Rashmita Nayak alias Kabita of Jadagola village. Both the girls belong to Deogarh district, the SP of Sambalpur Mr Sanjaya Kumar said.

The girls had expressed their willingness to surrender through the OIC of Sadar police station Mr Manas Garnaik.

Accordingly arrangements were made to enable them to surrender smoothly, informed the SP. “The girls would be properly rehabilitated with adequate safety for then,” said the collector of Sambalpur, Mr LN Nayak who was also present in the said press conference.

It is worth mentioning that few days back another cadre girl Miss Dipti Nayak also surrendered before the police.

Change in mines Act demanded

BHUBANESWAR, Dec. 12: Newly-floated political party Samruddha Orissa today urged upon chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik to demand the amendment of Section 9 of the contentious Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act 1957 in the impending meeting with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on 19 December. The state government should demand at least 50 per cent of profit from mineral as cess and total control over minerals excluding strategic minerals, it observed. If the demanded 50 per cent cess will be accorded to the state, Orissa will get a whooping of Rs 12,250 crore per annum.

Addressing a press conference here today, Samruddha Orissa president Dr Jatish Chandra Mohanty said that the total profit from the mines and minerals extracted from the state was approximately Rs 24, 500 crore during 2006-07. The production of iron ore, chromite, coal, bauxite and manganese were 62 MT, 3.7 MT, 81 MT, 4.6 MT and 0.7 MT respectively. But the state got a meager sum of Rs 900 crore as royalty, thanks to faulty mines policy and apathy of the state government, he said. While 46 per cent people are living below the poverty line, the big sum as demanded would do wonders in eradicating poverty by creating employment for at least 50 lakh youth of the state, he added.

Describing the present mines policy as a ‘grave injustice’ for the state, veteran leader and former parliamentarian Mr Trilochan said that Mr Naveen Patnaik had failed miserably in protecting the interest of the state during his tenure as Union minister and the imminent meeting with the prime minister will be an ‘acid test’ for him to prove his sincerity, and competence. While the state list in the seventh schedule of the Indian Constitution has maintained that the taxes and mineral rights should vest with the states and the centre is entrusted with the development and regulation only, the control exercised by the centre is unnecessary and to some extent, curtails the role of the states. Underscoring the need of a simplified mineral policy, he opined to form an independent expert committee to decide the cost and profit as per the global market mechanism.

Daily labourer dies

JAJPUR, Dec. 12: A daily labourer died on the spot after he fell from a 150 feet tower at Baladev Patana near Bhuban village under Dharmasala police station limits today.

The deceased has been identified as Jayadev Nayak (25) of Balipasi village of Anandapur in Keonjhar district.

According to the police sources, Jayadev, a daily labourer,used to work in Solax company.

The company was erecting a tower near Bhuban village for Vodaphone.
While Jayadev was working on the tower, he fell down, and died on the spot.

14 December

Patkar ready to mediate between villagers & CM on Posco

BHUBANESWAR, Dec. 13: Social activist Ms Medha Patkar dared chief minister Naveen Patnaik to a public debate on the Posco project and displacement related issues or for that matter any other project be it Vedanta, Kalinga Nagar or KBK plan.

She even offered to mediate between villagers and the CM, provided the latter agreed to a talk on the Posco issue. The gram sabha is the final word be it at the plant site villages or its proposed mining area at Khandadhar where tribals stay, she noted. Let him talk to the gram sabha and if required we are prepared to facilitate this, she remarked.

Evidently taking a dig at the CM for having said that Medha Patkar ought to realise that Orissa is a poor state and projects like these would bring in revenue and employment, Ms Patkar today said let him agree for a public debate.

Conscious of the fact that the CM shies away from public discussions, Ms Patkar recalled, earlier for 20 days people were on dharna demanding a discussion on Posco, she and Mr BD Sharma had even squatted before the CM’s residence demanding a discussion but it did not materialise.

More recently, I had written a letter to the CM for a dialogue and negotiation but there has been no response till date, she said.

With regard to her two-day visit to the project site villages, Ms Patkar said people were silenced and their ‘silence was pregnant' . She condemned the terror and state repression that had taken place in villages of the proposed Posco project site. Talking to reporters here she demanded immediate withdrawal of police force, stern action against hired goons who were patrolling the area and establishment of democratic rights of the people.

The police and hired elements followed me wherever I went over the last two days. Women who had fed me during my last visit welcomed me with folded hands but did not speak.

I was told that they were all threatened, yet the fact that hundreds moved with me silently, greeted me at Nuagaon and other villages, stood by the roadside spoke volumes, she observed.

Majority of the people do not want to give up their land, betel vines and right to fish but the state wants to impose the project on them. Gram sabha has the right over the resources not the Naveen Patnaik government, she charged.

Reacting to the charge that even the anti-Posco activists had harassed and tortured people in villages, she said about 50 people had met her saying they were neither pro and anti-project and yet they had been ostracised. These people should return home, she said adding that some of it was highly exaggerated as she found only 18 homes deserted but all belongings inside the house were intact. Prof. M Engineer of the teachers and scientists against mal-development association of West Bengal, who had accompanied Ms Patkar, said that proposed Posco site was fast slipping into a Nandigram like situation. The move is to keep others out, isolate the area and impose the project, he alleged.

Relaxation of rules to clear Posco project alleged

BHUBANESWAR, Dec. 13: The Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) has alleged that regulatory agencies have relaxed rules to clear Posco steel plant’s captive port project.

The World Bank is lobbying for the project as the US pension funds and corporate investors have a huge stake in Posco, Mr Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of WSO, said.
The speed at which clearances have been accorded and preferential treatment given to the company, has raised everyone's eyebrows even within the concerned departments, Mr Mohanty noted.

Indian companies face numerous hurdles and delays in obtaining routine clearances for even small projects. Recommendations made by the officials of the ministry of environment and forests, Bhubaneswar, to carry out detailed impact studies have been ignored. Similarly, the recommendation letter dated 26 June, 2007, of the Orissa forest department is full of misleading data. It conceals the fact that the beaches at Jatadhar Muhan is a significant nesting ground for Olive Ridley turtles and has justified the location of the project at Paradeep.

The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) studies are inadequate. Instead of carrying out a study of the offshore sea currents for a period of one year, the study has been made for only 34 days.

Dredging of 28 million cubic metres of sand for setting up the Jatadhar Muhan port would be disastrous and would affect the food chain of the Olive Ridley turtles.

According to official comments on the EIA of the captive port at Jatadharmuhan creek, sent by the chief conservator of forests, of the Eastern India Regional Office, (MOEF), Bhubaneswar, to the Government of India in August 2006, it has been pointed out that the company has carried out a rapid EIA for three months only which is insufficient.

The inadequacy of the rapid EIA study was objected to by a senior professor, who is a member of the State Coastal Zone Management Authority (SCZMA).
He said that the data is inadequate and a time of three months is not enough to study the life and habitats of many species.

MOEF has strongly recommended that impact studies on Olive Ridley sea turtles should be carried out. who live near the Orissa coast for at least six months.

The forest advisory committee has granted forest clearance, Mr Mohanty said despite the absence of impact studies.

The wildlife wing of the government has also claimed that the coastal waters is the migratory pathway for the turtles.

The project is likely to make a negative impact on the marine ecosystem.
Ironically, instead of demanding studies to ascertain the impact on the turtles and other marine organisms on which little data is available, the wildlife wing has demanded a five per cent of the project cost of Rs 2,550 crore for research.

Due to the hostile attitude of the villagers, officials cannot visit the site to verify the data.

An aerial inspection was done which is a departure from the process under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, for forest diversion.

Left-wing extremism has dropped: Kumawat

BHUBANESWAR, Dec 13: Except for three or four incidents of Chhatisgarh the violence level in Left wing extremist affected states has dropped considerably claimed Mr ML Kumawat, special secretary ( internal security) here today.

Mr Kumawat was talking to reporters after a meeting of the task force on Left wing extremism here. Top cops of nine Left wing extremist affected states, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and UP discussed various aspects of intelligence sharing and effective security measures.

The violence level and casualty has come down drastically he said while exuding confidence of ending the menace soon.

The focus was on synergy and improved sharing of intelligence amongst states as well as between the state and the centre. The synergy on both development activity and security aspects were discussed and each state put forth its views.

He lauded the efforts of Orissa in this direction and said they had done an excellent job.

Prisoners call off fast

KORAPUT, Dec. 13: Hunger strike by the prisoners of Koraput district jail was called off late in the evening today with the intervention of the district administration.

All the 729 prisoners of the jail were on a hunger strike demanding transfer of the jail superintendent along with some other issues. The prisoners have alleged that the quality of rice used in the jail was sub standard and they were served only radish and potato in their meals while the district jail was producing many other vegetables, Niranjan Das, jailer of the district jail said. Speaking to Balakrushna Sahu, the district collector of Koraput and UR Rao, the SP of Koraput who had met the prisoners inside the jail, the prisoners had urged them to ensure better quality of food, to provide a telephone booth inside the jail premises for the prisoners and to give cash instead of biscuits. Apart from demanding basic amenities inside the jail they also demanded for granting parole to all the prisoners by giving relaxation in the existing norms and conditions. While the district collector had agreed to see that qualitative food with better rice and fresh vegetables was given in the prison, he however expressed his inability on solving other issues and hence assured the intimate their demands would be passed on to the higher authorities.

The situation turned tense as the prisoners looking at the failure of talks with the administration in the morning attempted to keep the staff members including the officials of the jail in their captivity. With the fear of getting assaulted by the prisoners no jail official dared to enter the jail premises the entire day, especially after the prisoners made an attempt to catch Mr Das, the jailer, while he was going on his regular rounds.

Moreover all the 729 prisoners attempted to break the main gate of the jail in the morning, Mr Das added. As a result a portion of the main gate and at some other places were damaged. Additional police force were deployed in the jail to avoid any untoward incident. While there were many instances where individual prisoners had gone on strike for meeting their personal demands, this was for the first time that such a unified strike was called by the prisoners in the district jail of Koraput.

Police outpost a bone of contention

KEONJHAR, Dec. 13: The house from where the Ghatagaon police circle inspector office is running is going to be a bone of contention between the Ghatagaon Samabaya Samiti (GSS) and the Ghatagaon police.

The Ghatagaon police has not yet given a single pie as rent to the GSS for the house that the former got from the latter through a resolution.

Sources say on December 21, 2002 as per a resolution, GSS made available its three houses to the Ghatagaon police for the office of the circle inspector. The then circle inspector Sri Maheswara Sethy took the charge of the house through a bi-party resolution.

Four years have passed, but the GSS which is under Dhenkikote has not got even a rupee as rent. As such 15 members of Dhenkikote passed a resolution as per which two months time would be given to the Ghatagaon police to deposit the four years rent amounting of Rs 48,000 or vacate the house. In this regard the Ghatagaon circle inspector Mr BB Patel said that as some documents were not with the department, so it failed to give the monthly rent. But the pending rent would be paid soon.

Villagers ‘solve’ murder case

SAMBALPUR, Dec. 13: What trained police could not do, common men have done that. They successfully cracked a murder case and exposed the culprits.

The incident took place in Singhpali village under Aithapali police station where a youth Saroj Oram was absconding for two days after the death of his father.

His widow mother and villagers lodged a FIR suspecting that hewas murdered due to property dispute. But police took it lightly. Even after one month of the incident the matter remained a mystery.

The villagers handed over a youth including two others to Ainthapali police on the same night and gheraoed the police station.

Then only police swung into action and on the information from the accused youth police searched a big pond from where the decomposed body of Saroj was recovered. Villagers, earlier, informed police that the opponents of Saroj might have thrown him into the pond after murdering him which was true.

Police arrested Margasira Oram, Mahadev Oram, Bhagaban Oram and Biranchi Dila of Singhpali village and forwarded them to court. They admitted killing Saroj, the police said.

It needs a mention that Ainthapali has emerged as a crime prone area in the district. Senior police department officials worried that they should do something to save the image of the department.

However, Ainthapali police maintained that they had not neglected the case in any way, and it was only that they were overburdened and busy with a lot of work.

Larger Than Life - Modi is not just another politician; he is a phenomenon

Swapan Dasgupta
The Telegraph, 14 december

As he criss-crosses Gujarat gathering support in an assembly election that is increasingly turning into a referendum, the chief minister, Narendra Modi, has encountered a problem that most politicians would revel in: media over-interest. The state headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Khanpur, Ahmedabad, has been inundated with requests from countless media organizations demanding “exclusive” interviews. The insistence on speaking to Modi, even if it is only for five minutes, has not stopped at polite requests. At every public meeting, he is dogged by intrepid journalists demanding they be allowed to climb on to his campaign van.

Nor has it stopped at reporters. The charms of political tourism drew a clutch of high-profile corporate bigwigs and senior editors — they were put down as the “limousine liberals” in the BJP’s programme sheet — to Gujarat, forcing the chief minister to devote an hour to them after a late-night meeting in Rajkot. The interaction, predictably, centred on the “Muslim question”, which the liberal intelligentsia insist is what Gujarat is all about.

It was so different in December, 2002. I recall spending three full days with Modi on the campaign trail not because the helicopter was bigger or that he needed to woo me specially. It was just that there were hardly any takers for reports that involved actually rubbing shoulders with Modi. In the aftermath of the post-Godhra riots, he was an outcast — someone who had to be consciously shunned. The press conference Modi hosted in Delhi after his landslide victory was boycotted by a large number of journalists for the simple reason that they didn’t like the verdict.

In the battle for winning the hearts and minds of Gujarat or projecting the state to the wider world, the media have been a major player. The past six years have witnessed a collapse in the distinction between journalists and activists. While some have saluted the media for exposing the “dark side” of democracy in Gujarat, many have lamented the fact that the coverage in the past five years of Modi’s government has been woefully partial. It has been suggested that in its bid to highlight the tragedy of the riot victims and Modi’s imperious personality, the media have completely overlooked the near-revolution in the culture of governance in Gujarat. This may explain why the frenzied scrutiny of all aspects of the chief minister’s combative political rhetoric, including his controversial references to a terrorist killed in a false encounter, has coexisted with the dismissive disdain of his obsession with the economic development of Gujarat.

The present election is being fought on two parallel lines. Modi’s opponents — notably the Congress, the rebels from the BJP and the media — have sought to persuade people to vote along local lines. They have tried to build an aggregate of disparate disquiet which includes dissatisfaction with the government’s stringent action against power thefts, its disavowal of political patronage and the perceived grievances of a section of the dominant Patel community. Against this, Modi has sought to make the assembly election a referendum on himself — his style, his record in office and his ideology.

If the former prevails, the BJP will be at a disadvantage and the election results will vary from constituency to constituency. The verdict, in short, will be a fragmented one. On the other hand, if Modi becomes the overriding theme of the election — as BJP strategists have tried to make it — Gujarat may end up giving a conclusive mandate to Modi to govern for another five years.

The point to note is that Modi has a larger-than-life presence throughout Gujarat. He evokes sharply polarized responses. Those who admire him do so with a passion that has hitherto been reserved for pop stars and religious gurus. Those who are against him also hate him unreservedly. In the case of Modi, there is little scope for indifference or neutrality.

It would be unduly simplistic to attribute Modi’s appeal (or negation) to his Hindu face alone. That his invocation of Hindu pride is an important facet of his political personality is undeniable. When he feigns outrage over the charge of the All India Congress Committee general secretary, Digvijay Singh, of “Hindu terrorism” in Gujarat or rubbishes the liberal concern over Sohrabuddin Sheikh, he touches a chord among Hindus who believe that secular leaders take India’s majority community for granted. It not only contributes to his standing in Gujarat but is also a factor behind his significant pan-Indian appeal.

Today, Modi is India’s foremost political Hindu; he has completely overshadowed the ageing Bal Thackeray and the much mellowed L.K. Advani. If Modi repeats his 2002 victory, there is little doubt that opinion polls will record a sharp increase in the numbers of those who see him as the prime minister India should have.

Yet, there is more to Modi than just his Hindu face. He has successfully blended Hindu identity with regional Gujarati pride and produced a combination that his opponents find impossible to match. Gujarati pride in the state’s inherently dynamic and entrepreneurial personality has never been couched in separatist logic. For practical reasons, not least of which is the large Gujarati diaspora, Modi’s sense of regional pride mingles happily with robust Indian nationalism. He complements it with a whole-hearted endorsement of globalization, which he views as a phenomenal opportunity and not a threat. To this extent, he differs markedly from many Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and BJP stalwarts who are attracted to Fortress India.

To add to his political appeal is Modi’s forceful personality. In 2002, Modi rode the crest of Hindu anger. He personified a phenomenon larger than himself. Five years later, it is the personality of Modi that has subsumed wider political impulses.

The image of Modi that comes through and which appeals to the electorate is a mishmash of boundless energy, administrative acumen, unimpeachable integrity and, not least, machismo. Modi’s appeal in Gujarat is inspirational and cuts across regions, gender, castes and generations. He is seen as a leader who has overcome fear and is not afraid of doing what he thinks is right, even if it involves treading on the toes of his own party. He has made enemies inside his own party and in the wider sangh fraternity because of his stubborn refusal to provide special accommodation to political friends. Ironically, these attributes have added to his public appeal and created a halo around him.

There are certain unwritten rules of politics over which there is a national consensus. To many, these have enhanced the quality of Indian democracy. To others, the consensus is stifling and has prevented India from realizing its true potential in the world. Modi is not a corporate CEO as some have made him out to be. He is a consummate politician who has detected a constituency impatient with bullock-cart capitalism and a slothful approach to development. He has preyed into Young India’s sense of impatience and the natural Gujarati urge to succeed.

Modi is not just another politician; he is a phenomenon. Whatever the outcome of this week’s election, his name is certain to reverberate throughout India in the coming years. The editorial classes, like the symbols of old money in Ahmedabad, may nurture an aesthetic dislike of his brashness and his refusal to genuflect before the holy cows of society, but they will no longer be able to ignore him. Moditva is certain to alter India’s landscape dramatically.

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.

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.)