Everything you always wanted to know about India and more
India’s Superpower Euphoria CXCI
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2011/01/10/indias-superpower-euphoria-cxci/
10 01 11 Written by navanavonmilita
India Together: Adivasis
Un-shining India
The struggle in Kashipur against mining in sacred adivasi lands is just one example of an India we cannot forget, says Kalpana Sharma. Economic progress comes at a cost. But we can still ask whether the cost has to be borne by people who will never see the benefits of such progress.
December 2004 – Why do we feel a sense of relief when the year comes to an end and celebrate the dawn of the New Year? Surely when the year has been good, you should feel sad that it has ended. And perhaps apprehensive that the year to come will not be so good. Whatever our feelings, the close of the year makes at least some people pause and think about the year that is about to end, about its highs and its lows.
2004 has been a year of change for us in India, most principally because of the change of government at the Centre. The hype around “India Shining” has disappeared. But the India Un-shining has not yet registered. For the first part of the year, we thought only of politics and elections. Once that episode ended, and also government formation, our attention shifted elsewhere. Now we have the property battles of the wealthy, the Birlas and the Ambanis, the public behaviour of the famous, like the recent Shahid-Kareena episode, and the court battles of religious figures, like the murder charges against the head of the Kanchi Mutt that dominate the news. And, of course, the antics of the rebellious women in the out-of-power Bharatiya Janata Party, Uma Bharati and Smriti Irani. In between all these media preoccupations, there is not much space or time left to report on what is happening in the other India, the one that is not shining.
So spare a thought as the year ends to the adivasis of Kashipur in Orissa. The State appears and disappears from the news. It appears when there is tragedy, flood, drought, cyclone. It disappears when no such natural or man-made calamity kills and maims hundreds of thousands. The fact that regardless of major tragedies, there are minor disasters occurring almost every day in Orissa is not the stuff of headline news.
Orissa is poor, but it is also incredibly rich. Beneath its luxuriant forests, inhabited mostly by the adivasis who form 22 per cent of the population, lies a huge store of precious minerals. Orissa has 70 per cent of all the bauxite found in India, the sixth largest deposit in the world. It also has 90 per cent of India’s chrome ore and nickel and 24 per cent of its coal. Multinational mining companies have long been making a beeline for the State mostly to invest in the mining industry. Despite its poverty, Orissa is amongst the top 10 States to attract Foreign Direct Investment.
Yet, if you ask an adivasi woman or man what they think about all this, they will tell you that they are not impressed. They do not like the idea of their sacred mountain being carved up by a mining company to extract the mineral that lies beneath. They do not care to be forced to leave their ancestral lands and forests to be relocated in cement boxes that are supposed to be their new, “modern” homes, which they are told to accept gratefully as symbols of “progress”.
From December 1 to 16, hundreds of adivasis, mainly women, have been demonstrating against the company determined to mine bauxite in the Kashipur block of Rayagada district. These people have fought against the mining company for 12 years and have successfully blocked access to Baphlimali, a sacred mountain that is the site of the mine.
“No one, I repeat no one will be allowed to stand in the way of Orissa’s industrialisation and the people’s progress”.
- Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik
Four years ago, on December 16, three young men were killed in police firing when hundreds gathered to oppose the project. Four years later, the mine remains a lure for multinationals. Despite the withdrawal of the Norwegian company Norsk Hydro, Canadian multinational Alcan remains in this joint venture with Indal as part of the Rs. 4,000 crore Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL). The people however continue to oppose the project while the government is determined to push it through. “No one, I repeat no one will be allowed to stand in the way of Orissa’s industrialisation and the people’s progress”, the Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told an Oriya TV news channel on December 4.
And to prove his point, the police lathi-charged a peaceful gathering of adivasis protesting against the project and marking the anniversary of the police firing of 2000. Sixteen people including three women were injured. Such news has become so commonplace that it failed to make the national news although one hopes that at least the local papers in Orissa reported it. I looked in vain in a number of newspapers, including one that circulates in the east, and found not even one paragraph on this protest.
The struggle in Kashipur is just one example of India Un-shining, an India we cannot forget. Economic progress comes at a cost. But we can still ask whether the cost has to be borne by people who will never see the benefits. Displacement for the adivasis of Kashipur will mean, inevitably, them joining the ranks of the urban poor. And as we know in Mumbai, there is no welcome awaiting them in our cities. On the contrary, they have been labelled “outsiders”. Even if they manage to find a spot to live and some work, they will soon face demolition and displacement, not unlike what they are fighting against in Kashipur. Can one blame them if they prefer to stay where they are and fight it out?
As the year ends, we can certainly celebrate the progress India has made, the recognition it is getting for some of its skills.
We can also applaud a government that is moving in the direction of recognising the rights of the poor to work and of women to an equal inheritance. Yet, we cannot forget that large parts of India still lag behind in basic social indicators such as education and health, that the male-female sex ratio is a scandal, that violence against women continues unabated, and that the disempowered, like the adivasis of Kashipur, continue to fight an unequal battle for their rights. ⊕
Kalpana Sharma
December 2004
Kalpana Sharma is Chief of the Mumbai Bureau and Deputy Editor with The Hindu, and a regular contributor to India Together. Her opinions, which appear in a regular column with The Hindu, are concurrently published on India Together with permission.
Do reservations work?
A number of researchers in economics have started to look closely at political reservations. In one recent instance, Professor Rohini Pande of Yale University has found that reservations in state legislatures do increase influence in policy-making for scheduled castes and tribes. Tarun Jain reports.
15 April 2005 – In an editorial last year, India Together argued in favour of reservations for lower castes. In their piece, Ashwin Mahesh and Subramaniam Vincent commented on the reasons we have reservations. Affirmative action policies they argued not only directly benefit lower castes through higher incomes, but have a larger impact on public policies when individuals from lower castes are given a voice in the decision making process. Other commentators on these pages have followed a similar line of reasoning. For instance, when advocating for reservation of Parliament seats for women, Kalpana Sharma writes that “there is a greater chance of mainstreaming women’s concerns if there are more women in positions of power from where these concerns can be addressed.”
“Are reservations working?” ask Mahesh and Vincent, who say that the impact of reservations on public policy would be most visible in legislatures and panchayats. Despite their arguments, none of these writers are able to provide any evidence that the legislators, once elected, actually behave in ways expected of them. The complexity of the political system means that there are a number of ways in which legislators get impeded in their work. The legal scholar Upendra Baxi argues that SC and ST legislators need to appeal both to upper-caste constituents in reserved jurisdictions and to the primarily upper-caste membership of their parties. Also, the dynamics of political parties and bargaining within legislatures can dull activism of individual legislators in favour of their communities. Or MLAs and MPs might simply concentrate on increasing their own wealth and not care about their constituents at all. Kalpana Sharma, perhaps thinking about the behaviour of Indira Gandhi, Mayawati, Rabri, and other women in power, writes that “there is no guarantee that [women’s reservation] in itself will make a difference to the status of women in the country.” These are prescient words, for casual empirics do not explain what has been the actual result of political reservations in India.
When casual empirics fail, perhaps it is time for a more rigorous approach. A number of researchers in economics have started to look closely at political reservations, both for lower castes and tribes and for women in India. In an important paper published in the American Economic Review in 2003, Professor Rohini Pande of Yale University asked if reservations in state legislatures increased influence in policy-making for scheduled castes and tribes. She concluded that they did, and backed up this assertion by presented evidence of targeted redistribution policies passed by SC and ST legislators.
Legal identification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
Selection criteria for scheduled castes
1. Cannot be served by clean Brahmans
2. Cannot be served by the barbers, water-carriers, tailors, etc. who serve the caste Hindus
3. Pollutes a high-caste Hindu by contact or by proximity
4. Is one from whose hands a caste Hindu cannot take water
5. Is debarred from using public amenities such as roads, ferries, wells, or schools
6. Will not be treated as an equal by high-caste men of the same educational qualification in ordinary social intercourse
7. Is depressed on account of the occupation followed and, but for that, occupation would be subject to no social disability
Selection criteria for scheduled tribes
1. Tribal origin
2. Primitive ways of life and habitation in remote and less accessible areas
3. General backwardness in all respects
Source: Constitution of India
For her analysis, Pande exploits a particular feature of the Indian representative set-up. Each state legislature has seats reserved for SC and ST candidates, but the proportion of seats varies by state. There are more seats for states with higher proportion of SC and ST population, and vice versa. Also, between 1950 and 1980, the seat allocations kept changing as new data from the census became available. So these variations allow Pande to compare the policies in states with higher SC and ST representation to those with lower SC and ST reservation.
Increasing SC reservation does not have a significant impact on general spending policies such as total spending, spending on education or land reforms. However, it has a significant impact on targeted spending policies. • Women’s representation
• The merit of reservations
• Caste: Don’t ask, don’t tell
Pande’s results show that reservations impact different groups differently, depending on the policy. Increasing SC reservation does not have a significant impact on general spending policies such as total spending, spending on education or land reforms. However, it has a significant impact on targeted spending policies. Increasing reservations by 1% increases job quotas for SCs by 0.6%, but does not affect spending on SC welfare schemes. This split between general and targeted policies sits well with the social structure of these groups. Compared to STs, SCs are well educated but geographically distributed, so they rely on individual specific schemes such as job quotas. An SC legislator who advocates group-specific policies cannot be sure that they will actually be used by the community that she or he wants to target.
In contrast, ST reservations have an impact on a broader range of spending policies. Increasing ST reservation by 1% decreases spending on education by 0.4%, but increases spending on tribal welfare schemes by 0.8%. Again, this matches what we know about tribal communities in India. They are remote from the major population centres yet live cohesively. So they are able to take advantage of and prefer group-specific programs over individual-specific ones.
Pande’s research is one of the first threads in an emerging literature on the behaviour of elected representatives in office. In 2004, Professors Raghabendra Chattopadhyay of IIM Calcutta and Esther Duflo of MIT published their research on the impact of reservations for women in panchayats, specifically looking at Rajasthan and West Bengal. Their analysis pointed to important differences in policies enacted by panchayats headed by women and men, debunking the myth that women sarpanches are puppets controlled by men. Even in panchayats with “unassertive” women as sarpanches, the presence of a woman in a position of authority often inspired other women in the Gram Sabha to speak up, changing the dynamic of village policy making.
In another 2004 study, Professors Tim Besley, Rohini Pande, Lupin Rahman and Vijayendra Rao found that if the Sarpanch position is reserved for person from a Scheduled Caste or Tribe, then SC or ST households are 7% more likely to have access to a toilet, an electricity connection, or a private water connection via a government scheme.
Among economists, the debate on the merits of reservations is just beginning. The precise relationship between political power and policy implementation is still not clear. And there are a number of unresolved issues for everyone involved.
For political parties, there is a concern how political reservation would change the people being elected to Vidhan Sabhas, and the ideologies and policies they would back. Could this change be significant enough to change the top leadership of the party and government? If the change is perceived as minor enough, perhaps existing legislators could be convinced to vote in favour of more reservation, which includes women.
Finally, voters themselves must be concerned with reservation. How does their involvement in the political process change as a result? Does voter turnout increase or decrease when only certain kinds of candidates can stand for elections? And how can voters signal political support for or in opposition to reservation? Answering these questions is a collaborative exercise. Social scientists bring their best tools to understand what society is saying, but first the people must themselves debate and decide their preferences. Hopefully the results of reservations in the past will inform both the debate and the decision. ⊕
Tarun Jain
15 Apr 2005
Tarun Jain is a Ph.D student at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
References
1. Pande, Rohini (2003) “Can Mandated Political Representation Provide Disadvantaged Minorities Policy Influence? Theory and Evidence from India” American Economic Review, Vol. 93 (4), pp. 1132-1151.
2. Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra and Esther Duflo (2004) “Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India,” Econometrica 72 (5), pp. 1409-1443.
3. Besley, Timothy, Rohini Pande, Lupin Rahman and Vijayendra Rao (2004) “The Politics of Public Good Provision: Evidence from Indian Local Governments” Journal of European Economic Association Papers and Proceedings, Vol. 2, 2/3, pp. 416-426.
4 years old, miles to go
Tribals constitute 32 per cent of Chhatisgarh’s population. Yet, four years after the state was born, the status of the tribal population does not seem to be improving. At a recent meeting in the state, a network of journalists and activists took stock of the situation. Surekha Sule reports.
01 May 2005 – Like an aspirant young couple separated from the joint family, citizens of four year old Chhatisgarh too dream of an ideal home carved out of the larger state of Madhya Pradesh. Seventy five Chhatisgarhis (calling themselves ’36garhi’) gave vent to their feelings at a “Dream Chhatisgarh Meeting”. They met in the forests of Barnavapara in Mahasamunda district during April 7-9. I attended this meeting. The participants are part of a larger e-group on the internet called Chhatisgarh-net.
Dream they did, but with feet firmly on the ground reality. This reality continues to be as summed up in following verses by the well known Hindi poet and novelist, Vinod Kumar Shukla.
A lone tribal girl
is not scared of dense forest.
But she is scared to go to
Geedam’s market to sell
Mahua flowers.
It’s a market day!
With basketful of Mahua
on the head or the shoulder
these simple tribal(girl)s walk down
the hill & gather near a tree
to go ‘together’ to the market!
A discussion session is on at the meeting. Pic: Aman Namra.
The reality still includes many custodial deaths too. Goldie George of Dalit Mukti Morcha told me about a boy who was caught by the police. His crime was that he was carrying a few sticks collected from the jungle. The authorities charged him with ‘stealing forest resources’! The boy was detained by the police and beaten up. For his release, George reports that police asked the parents to cough up a ‘ransom’. They could not afford it, so the boy was beaten up till he died.
Another case is of the journalist Akshay Thakur who brings out from Rajnandgaon, a local Hindi newspaper which criticizes the establishment and gives voice to the downtrodden. He was implicated in a fabricated case of printing naxal handouts to instigate tribals. After 23 months in jail along with his five other journalist colleagues, he was lucky to win the case and all were released. But no such luck for over 2000-3000 similar false cases against poor tribals and dalits charging them as naxalites. Their crime! They raise their voices against the corrupt police or greedy jungle contractors.
For ages, tribal people and forests have complemented each other in India. Tribals have taken as much as they need from the jungle and given back, perhaps in a way that no economic theory has ever looked at. For generations tribals in the Chhatisgarh region have lived on collecting forest produce like Mahua, Tendu leaves, variety of tree bark & resin and so on. But markets started intervening and the tribal-jungle relationship as well as trade changed. With the entry of agents and intermediaries began the never-ending saga of exploitation of tribals followed by repression.
“Tomorrow, if a foreign company claims rights over a research of a variety, a mere search on Google will produce my article exposing their IPR claim,” says Pankaj Oudhia of Botanical.com. • Chhatisgarh media : new and old
• Chhatisgarh rice bowl loss
Suddenly the new forest law tells them that such collection is illegal and asks them to produce evidence of their right to live on their land. A forest guard took some 107 adivasis’ thumb impression saying their 300 acre land is being regularized but actually the land was given to develop a nursery. Such incidences of outright cheating of tribals are rampant. And these all were the very reasons for naxal uprising which is strongest in Bastar. It is not for no reason that the tribals resist forest and police departments who they feel are filled with are outsiders, exploiting them.
Tribals constitute 32 per cent of Chhatisgarh’s population. Yet, four years after the state was born, the status of the tribal population does not seem to be improving. At the meeting, participants began from how and why Chhatisgarh was created, how the Chhatisgarh-net e-group was mooted by its coordinator and former BBC journalist Shubhranshu Chowdhury and went to discuss a variety of issues related to agriculture, water, tribal & forest, naxalites, dalits, industry & power, mining, social development and the media situation.
Chhatisgarh was carved out of a part of Central India inhabited for centuries by tribals – and rich in natural resources. The region is famous for its biodiversity — rice varieties and medicinal herbs. One of the early controversies was over rice varieties. 20000 indigenous varieties of rice seeds had been painstakingly collected by the famous rice researcher, the late Dr. Richaria. Richaria had documented each rice seed variety in minute detail from the tribal farmers. There was an outcry on the suspicion that top scientists from Chhatisgarh’s Indira Gandhi Krishi Vidyalaya (IGKV) were going to sell this information to agribusiness multinational Syngenta. The fear was the traditional knowledge of Chhatisgarh’s farmers would loose out to private intellectual property rights.
Dr Richaria’s collection of rice germ plasm has not been put into public domain despite public opinion and media outcry. This worries activists and vigilant Chhatisgarhis who would like to take action to prevent private interests from accessing these seeds. But establishment secrecy on the goings-on is the dilemma of the 36garhis. How to fight an unseen enemy? 36garh e-group member Jacob Nellithanam is an activist and expert on rice farming in Chhatisgarh. He appealed for the formation of pressure groups to save the situation in the state where 80 per cent of cultivable land is under rice and 90 per cent population depends on the agriculture.
Sensing similar danger from another private firm to the traditional knowledge of Chhatisgarh’ s simple, poor and illiterate people, Pankaj Oudhia – an e-36garh group member and renowned agronomist – has taken upon himself a mammoth mission. He is single-handedly documenting Chhatisgarh’s varieties of medicinal herbs numbering over a lakh, talking to the local people who know about these varieties, their characteristics and their usefulness.
Over last four years, Oudhia has uploaded about 12000 such documentation on www.botanical.com and to meet his objective of 1 lakh such documents going on to the public domain in his life time, Oudhia goes on at an astonishing speed of three such documentation a day plus one or two articles for Hindi media for mass circulation. “Tomorrow, if a foreign company claims rights over a research of a variety, a mere search on Google will produce my article exposing their IPR claim,” says Oudhia.
Adivasis performing a traditional dance at the meeting. Pic: Aman Namra.
There is also the famous case of a stretch of Shivnath river in Chhatisgarh given to a private company. This was first documented by e-36garh member Arun Singh. In Raigarh district, three rivers were to be similarly ‘privatised’, but the government did not go forward because resistance from the people. The Shivnath issue is in the Courts and is subjudice. Farmers took loans to dig bore wells but private firms dug deeper rendering 15-20 villages without water. Farmers now fear that hundreds of villages will run out of water. Industries digging deeper and taking away water are also causing pollution in the region. The pollution is taking its toll reflecting on 30 per cent less of Mahua flower produce – a main livelihood source of the tribals.
The making of the Chhatisgarh state actually never had tribal issue as the central issue and unlike Uttaranchal and Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh was not born out of people’s agitation demanding separate statehood. It came much easily and because of political compulsions. Tribal welfare was a suitable guise for fulfilling political aspirations. The non-tribal view is that the tribal should retain their independent identity. Hence on the topic of tribal welfare and development, the talk veers away towards meaningless issues like searching for alternate systems for the tribals, instead of the real issues related to the lacuna in the mainstream system, says an e-36garh member, Sudip Thakur, a Delhi based journalist.
Thakur raised pertinent questions like whether just making a separate state amounted to giving control in the hands of tribals, or whether the administration was going to truly take cognizance of tribal problems. What is the role of the tribals in the development of this state which is so rich in natural resources? Is it not high time to change our scientific understanding taking into account the reality about tribals? Otherwise how long are you going to make them dance in their traditional attire in the Republic Day Parade, quips Thakur.
The failure tribal politicians elected through reservations to get justice for their people must be seen together with the fact that naxalite rule is now strong in Bastar and Rajnandgaon of Chhatisgarh.
Thakur says that whatever the outcome of debate on jungle-tribal relationship, they will never get justice unless they get greater partnership in political power. Though there is reservation in assembly and parliament, this very provision is used as a strong political weapon. Even when some adivasis have gotten politically powerful, they have been sucked into the system and have not done justice to their brethren. The naxalite rule strongly in Bastar and Rajnandgaon of Chhatisgarh and make their land immune to outside influence. But in areas where no outsider can dare to enter, e-36garh member Ruchir Garg – editor of Deshbandhu – a local paper — went in several times to study their life and working style.
The knowledge and experience rich e-36garh members communicate online everyday and spread the news and views on Chhatisgarh. Alok Putul – resident editor of Deshbandhu, Aman Namra – editor of Charkha and Shubhranshu Chowdhury send daily updates. The medium is evolving into an effective alternate digital media that has potential to act as pressure group and a watchdog. Media outside Chhatisgarh could use the postings on this group to know more about this little, new state. The group has plans to launch a website as well.
* * *
Chattisgarh-net is an internet e-group. Archives of messages and discussions are public. At the time of writing this report, the list had 324 members. Groups.yahoo.com/group/chhattisgarh-net. ⊕
Surekha Sule
01 May 2005
Surekha Sule is a freelance journalist and an environmentalist based in Mumbai, and a Media Fellow of the Ministry of Water Resources of the Government of India. The Chhatisgarh-net group had invited her to the April’05 meeting.
Nomads together
A National Convention of Nomads and Adivasis was organized last month in Delhi. This was perhaps one of the first attempts to give a unified political voice for Adivasi and Nomadic communities in India. G. N. Devy writes on the efforts to make this convention happen, and its import.
23 May 2005 – Nomadic communities, wrongly notified during the colonial times as ‘criminal communities’, found the earliest expression of their agony in the report of a reform committee headed by Antrolikar on the eve of India’s independence. But the issue had to wait for a voice till Marathi writers like Laxman Mane and Laxman Gaikwad came up with their life-stories in the early eighties. These writings were initially seen as ‘experimental dalit writing’ by readers of Marathi literature. Nomadic communities in the states outside Maharashtra did not find similar spokespersons.
My attention was drawn to the enormous scale of the problem – there are nearly six crores of denotified and nomadic ‘citizens’ in India! And when, together, we founded the Denotified and Nomadic Communities Rights Action Group in 1998, I found to my utter surprise and dismay that even the most enlightened of the progressive sections of Indian society had barely been aware of the plight of India’s nomads. Invariably one had seen the Banjaras and heard of the Pardhis, but one was not aware that these had been victims of a hugely discriminatory law, the Criminal Tribes Act, subsequently replaced by the Habitual Offenders Act. Therefore, bringing the denotified and the nomads of India together was not an easy task.
I was convinced from the beginning of the struggle that the denotified and the nomads have to make common cause with other tribal communities from the adivasi groups and the pastoralist communities such as the Bharwads and the Dhangars in order to be effective in even a small measure, and mainly because numbers matter in democracies with a weak fabric of social justice holding it together. But, bringing the nomadic, pastoralist and adivasi communities together has not been an enviable matter. One imagines, in a theoretically loaded discussion room, that being marginalised the communities would be all ripe and ready to fall within a single basket of a marginalised class; but the differences between them are quite stupendous.
The denotified communities have been asking for a Third Schedule, and think of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as far more fortunate. Adivasis have, even in a small measure, an acre or two of their own, even when its legal title has been a matter of dispute between the Forest Department and the Revenue Department. Adivasis have a profound equation with the land of their habitation going back to times beyond one’s memory; the nomads have neither the land nor the relationship of any lasting nature. The nomadic world-view is unique. The pastoralists have a completely different set of issues surrounding their lives. They have a large movable property in their cows and sheep, but the grazing land traditionally available to them has been rapidly shrinking. These are relatively prosperous communities forced in our time to shift their occupations. Jal, jungle, jhamin are the central concerns for the adivasis, livelihood and food security, social respect and legal protection are the crucial issues with denotified and nomadic communities, and respect for non-sedentary cultures is the main preoccupation with the pastoralists.
I tried to bring them together several times during the last decade, and met with failure every time I made the attempt. Twice, in Delhi, we had meetings of representatives of these three sections, once at the India International Centre, with speakers such as Ashis Nandy and Justice M N Venkatachaliah, and another time at the Constitution Club with Mahashweta Devi herself to guide our footsteps. These meetings progressed well till the concluding sessions; yet, in the conclusion differences took over similarities. The common cause theory failed disastrously.
Therefore, before making yet another attempt, my colleagues in Bhasha and I had long consultations, lasting almost over a year, and decided that we would approach the matter more through cultural practices than through political aspirations of the communities. However, we felt that a mere cultural mela would amount to a cruel travesty of the agony and suffering of the adivasis, nomads and pastoralists. Therefore, we put forward the proposition that “the primary mission of the predatory state is sedentarisation of the subject.” Nomads and pastoralists responded to this premise very enthusiastically, and the adivasis decided to join in on the plank of the state’s being predatory and, therefore, self-aggrandising.
After we came up with this formulation, we had a series of discussions with the Adivasi Ekta Parishad, which has an impressive spread in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, and the newly formed DNT network under the title Lokdhara, which has started energising the DNTs in Maharashtra. My own Bhasha Centre contacted adivasis in the north-east, Orissa, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, as well as my colleagues in the now ceased DNT-rights action group. They responded promptly. Besides, of the hundred and forty NGOs working with tribals who had come to Tejgadh last November for the Tribal Policy Conference, were contacted. In about eight weeks of campaigning, we found that about two thousand individuals were prepared to participate in a convention, should such a convention be held. When we approached Dr. Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi, he more than welcomed the idea of so many numerous communities coming together at the IGNCA campus with their dances, theatre, musical instruments, life-styles, traditional knowledge, medicinal systems, and so on. This is how the first ever National Convention of Nomads and Adivasis was organised at the IGNCA from 21 to 24 April this year.
We put forward the proposition that “the primary mission of the predatory state is sedentarisation of the subject.” Nomads and pastoralists responded to this premise very enthusiastically
The format of the Convention provided space for every participant to express herself or himself. The mornings and afternoons were devoted to discussions on resources, rights, cultural identities, legal and social justice, constitutional and human rights, and gender equality. The early hours of evenings were given to special lectures in which practically every major tribal/nomadic activist was present; and the evenings were left open for cultural expression of every manner. Delhi, and India, had never before seen Medha Patkar, B. D. Sharma, Pradip Prabhu, Ashok Choudhary, Balkrishna Renke, Ram Guha, Ramanika Gupta, and Justice M N Venkatachaliah come together on a common platform. I wish I had been able to get there C. K. Janu, Kishore Sant and Ram Dayal Munda, who were not there for logistical reasons. Even Gadar had given his consent, and Mahashweta Devi had sent a special message for the Convention from her hospital bed in Kolkata.
The desire to come together was clearly the dominant note in the Convention. But, as expected, the drive for unity was sustained by the amazing show of cultural diversity seen in the dances, theatre, acrobatics, music, rituals and everything that was put on that remarkable and magnificent display by the adivasis and nomads of India. In terms of documented materials alone, the IGNCA had gathered a pile of about three hundred hours of cultural and social documentation.
The numbers need to be understood in their proper context. When an adivasi or a nomad travels to Delhi from his or her village or basti, the expenses involved sometimes cross the ability of that person to earn over a period of several months. Their days in a conference such as this one count back home as days of no-income. It is at a great personal cost that such delegates participate in such conferences. To have fifteen hundred delegates for the Convention, therefore, expressed a nation-wide and deep seated desire of the adivasis, nomads and pastoralists to be seen as belonging together where their cultural identities are not threatened, where they can express themselves without being intimidated into a ‘single’ class as ‘subjects’ victimised by the predatory state whose mission of sedentarisation has marginalised the resource base of these communities.
Nomads together with adivasis in Delhi’s Convention in April, have, in my opinion, spelt out the beginning of a new chapter in the history of social struggles in India.
Ganesh Devy
23 May 2005
Dr. Ganesh N. Devy is founder trustee of Bhasha Research and Publication Center in Baroda.
Remote adivasis face health care chasm
Despite crores of rupees having been spent in name of tribal and other development programmes in one block of Palakkad district in Kerala, the region suffers from poor access to decent health care. 80 per cent of the adivasi population here are living in abject poverty. M Suchitra reports.
25 July 2005 – The afternoon is hot. Pappa sits in the shade of a tree in front of her mud-thatched hut holding her baby close to her bosom. The child is groaning with high fever. Pappa is only thirty years, but looks much older. Thin with a pale face and tired eyes, she is an agricultural labourer, earning Rs 40-50 per day. She has five children.
Ill and impoverished. A tribal mother and her child, Sholayur panchayat. Pic: T Mohandas.
All the five times, Pappa delivered her baby at home. She worked until her labour pain reached its peak. When she felt that it was about time for the baby to come out she would stop work, get into the hut and squat in the dark dingy room. Then the expectant mother would hold on to the knotted rope that was hung from the ceiling for strength. Pappa delivered all her babies squatting. There had never been any one to attend to her during delivery. Each time, she cut the umbilical cord herself, bathed the baby herself and buried the afterbirth herself.
“To stop the bleeding from the umbilical cord all you have to do is to pour some kerosene oil on it and then put some dough on it. If that isn’t enough, you can also put some talcum powder,” the mother of five says with all the assurance of a doctor. Asked why not go to a hospital for delivery, Pappa answers with another query. “Why should anyone go to hospital for delivery? They don’t do things our way. You have to lie down to deliver your babies there!”
In April 2006, M Suchitra was named the Development Journalist of the year at the Developing Asia Journalism awards, for this article in India Together. Click here to see more.
This mother and her children belong to the Muduga tribe, and live in Varagampadi Ooru (a colony) in Sholayur Gram Panchayat in Attappadi block of Kerala’s Palakkad district. They are are lucky. The proof is in the fact that they are alive. This is not a piece of luck that every adivasi mother and her children living in Sholayur as well as the other two gram panchayats — Agali and Pudur — have. It’s true that Kerala claims to have attained a high Physical Quality of Life Index – as high as 80 – and has maternal and infant mortality rates much lower compared to that of other states in India. Ninety-nine percent of deliveries are institutionalised in the state. But statistics at the Community Health Centre at Agali, the block’s headquarters, show a different picture.
A different story altogether
In the period between March 2003 and March 2004, there had been four deaths in the 603 births that had taken place. When 12 children die in every thousand births in mainstream Kerala, infant mortality including those stillborn is 66 for Attappadi. Eighty percent of the newborn babies are under the normal weight of 2.5 kgs. The real picture could be worse than the one statistics reveal.
The large incidence of maternal and infant deaths are malnourishment, and this in turn is due to poverty, inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the health services provided by the government and the tribal people’s inaccessibility to it. There are three government primary health centres (PHC), one community health centre (CHC) and 27 subcentres in this 745-sq kms block. But a large number of tribal women in this region prefer deliveries at home.
The Bethany Tribal Mission Hospital, which functions near Anakkatty near Sholayur on the Kerala Tamilnadu border, reports 230-275 births in a year of which adivasi women account for only ten or twelve. These women are usually from the Irulas who could merge into the mainstream lifestyles. The Kurumbas who have not yet emerged out of the forests and the Mudugas who have still not adjusted to the life outside forests hardly ever come to the hospital. In the process of mainstreaming the tribal communities over the years, the tribe of traditional midwives has almost died out.
The posts of gynaecologists and pediatricians remain vacant in many hospitals. A gynaecologist who joins a government hospital is entitled to a pay of Rs 8000 to Rs 10000. But private hospitals pay specialists anything from Rs 25000 to Rs 30000 when they sign-up. • National meet – nomads, adivasis
• Why their kids are dying
Even though adivasi women have the self-confidence to have their deliveries at home, childbirth in the absence of trained midwives often leads to tragedy. Cutting the umbilical cord with rusted knives or razor blades, tying stones to the end of the cord so that it falls off, tying up the cord with dirty bits of string, applying mud to stop the bleeding, leaving the mother dirty even when the child is cleaned up — all these happen when inexperienced women help in the delivery process.
To make the matters worse, many of the subcentres do not have ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife). All the subcentres are in isolated areas, and government nurses are scared to stay at these places alone. Most of the nurses, recruited from far away places, are hesitant to work in this remote and backward tribal belt, and they stay away from duties on continuous leave. The deserted sub-centres often become centres for gambling and drinking and even for brewing illicit liquor.
The women are often unable to reach hospitals even if they want to. They have to walk over difficult hilly terrain for eight and ten kilometres before they can get hold of a vehicle. For adivasis who live in hamlets like Galasi, Thudukki, Moolagangal etc., in Attappadi block, even the community health centre at Agali is a distant world.
“The tribal women, when they reach the hospital after a complicated delivery are very often in a critical condition,” points out Dr Prabhudas, an Assistant Surgeon at the Primary Health Centre at Pudur. Dr Prabhudas has been working in Attappadi for the last 20 years. “As the facilities for attending a complicated delivery case are inadequate in the primary health centres and community health centre, we often refer them to a taluk hospital or district hospital.”
And to reach the Mannarghat Taluk Hospital from Agali, one has to travel two hours by bus. The district hospital at Palakkad is further one hour. There is nothing surprising about the fact that patients in critical condition mostly die on the way, says Dr Prabhudas.
Even on reaching the government hospitals after a lot of effort, the adivasi women and children are not fortunate enough to be treated by specialists. The posts of gynaecologists and pediatricians remain vacant in most of these hospitals. Specialist doctors prefer private hospitals to government hospitals. A gynaecologist who joins a government hospital is entitled to a pay of Rs 8000 to Rs 10000. But private hospitals that charge hefty fees for abortions and caesareans are willing to pay much more. Specialists are paid anything from Rs 25000 to Rs 30000 when they sign-up. Naturally, doctors prefer private hospitals. Adivasi women who work as casual labourers do not have the financial wherewithal to get treated at private hospitals.
“Earlier, at least graduate doctors used to show some interest in being posted to such remote areas, as such services entitled them to preference in admission to post-graduate courses. Now that the government stopped giving preference to remote area services during admission to post graduate courses, even graduate doctors are reluctant to work in remote and backward places like Attappadi,” says Dr Prabhudas.
Whether the deliveries take place at home or hospital, doctors point out that tribal mothers are not healthy enough to deliver healthy babies. Most pregnant women and lactating mothers hardly have enough for two square meals a day. “Almost all of them are terribly anaemic. Either they have sickle cell anaemia or anaemia from lack of proper diet. Most of them suffer from protein deficiency too. It is dangerous for a pregnant woman to have a haemoglobin count below ten. But most pregnant adivasi women have counts of seven or eight. It even goes down to five or six in some,” says Dr. Muralidharan, the Medical Superintendent at the Bethany Tribal Mission Hospital. According to him, Eclampsia (high blood pressure and seizures) is very common in the third trimester in Attappadi’s adivasi women.
Uprooted first, and then mainstreaming fails
Their tragic tale started when the forest reached the hands of the government and the land around it, in the hands of the settlers. Earlier, when they lived in the forest their diet was a balanced one, consisting of tubers and fruits and meat. And they used to cultivate protein-and-iron-rich food like ragi, maize, pulses and chama. But later, during the influx of settlers, tribals were forced to retreat to the barren, parched, uncultivable hill-slops. Adivasi communities constituted 63% of Attappadi’s population in 1961. According to the 2001 Census, the total population of Attappadi is 66,171 and Scheduled Tribes constitute 27,121. Adivasi population has come down to 41%.
A survey report prepared as early as 1977 by a project officer at the state’s Integrated Tribal Development Project reveals that the tribals had then lost 14,000 hectares of fertile land to settlers, and now 27,000-strong tribal people hold just 2,000 acres of land.
A tribal family ifrom Pudur panchayat. Pic: T Mohandas.
Most of the adivasi women shoulder the responsibility of raising the family on their own, while their men enslave themselves to liquor. The women have no option other than going back to their wage labour within a few days after delivery. Many of them suffer from acute and chronic back pain.
Attappadi testifies how a mainstream development process could deeply shatter an erstwhile self-sustained community. It is the first block in Kerala where the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) was initiated by the state government. It had been declared an ITDP block in 1970 after the State Planning Board assessed it as the most backward block in the state. Ever since, the state government implemented a good number of special projects — Attappadi Co-operative Farming Society, the Western Ghats Development Programme, the Attappadi Valley Irrigation Programme — for the development of the block, and many other poverty alleviation programmes under the ITDP and Integrated Rural Development Project.
According to the State Planning Board, during the Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) Rs 13.28 crores have been spent in this block alone. Out of this amount 20% was spent in the health sector. A Rs 219-crore eco-restoration project (Attappadi Comprehensive Environmental Conservation and Wasteland Development Project) aided by the Japan government is being implanted in this area since 1996 through Attappadi Hills Area Development Society (AHADS), a state government agency.
Yet, the region remains a symbol of backwardness with about 80 per cent of the tribal population living in abject poverty. None of the projects implemented here so far has taken the peculiarities of adivasi culture and beliefs into consideration. Even the much-hyped People’s Planning Programme implemented in the state during 1997-2002 as the Ninth Five Year Plan turned out to be a failure in Attappadi since non-tribals constitute majority of the population, and also, due to the illiteracy (overall literacy rate of Attappadi is 49.5 per cent in sharp contrast with the totally-literate mainstream Kerala) and lack of political and administrative awareness of the adivasis.
State’s priorities change
There are stark disparities in the healthcare services available to remote tribal regions compared to other parts of the state. Also, as Dr B Ekbal, national convenor of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (People’s Health Movement) points out, there has been a definite decline in the public health care system in the state since the 1980s. Starting from the 1980s there was an overall drop in the rate of growth in government health expenditure due to a fiscal crisis. This was accentuated after 1991 as a result of economic liberalisation policies.
In a study of the impact of macroeconomic adjustment policies on access to healthcare, Dr D Narayana of the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, notes that between 1981-82 and 1997-98, the state’s expenditure on medical and public health services, as a proportion of total expenditure, declined from 9.62% to 6.98%. Capital expenditure on medical and public health services, as a percentage of total capital expenditure, plunged from 9.61% to 1.57%.
“As a result of this rolling back of government support to healthcare, the first major casualty has been the rural health sector,” says Dr B Ekbal, “It’s actually the lack of political commitment that has largely brought about a decline in the public healthcare system in Kerala. The state doesn’t even have a health policy of its own. There has been no proper planning at the policy level. The government is spending more money on super speciality hospitals than focusing on the primary health care system.”
The State Health Department takes an indifferent attitude towards the health issues of the tribal communities. The last comprehensive survey in Kerala on the state of health and socio-economic status of the adivasis was carried out in 1992. Instead of seeking sustainable solutions to the problems faced by the tribal communities as a result of their alienation from land, forest and culture, what is being done is the distribution of free rice and iron tablets when starvation and anaemia become acute. When a good amount of money is being otherwise spent on development projects through the three-tier panchayats and the centrally-assisted welfare schemes, is providing basic healthcare services to the tribal communities that difficult? (Quest Features & Footage). ⊕
M Suchitra
25 Jul 2005
M Suchitra is a Kochi based journalist associated with the Quest Features and Footage. She was named the Development Journalist of the year at the Developing Asia Journalism Awards 2006, for this article. For more, see awards.
The betrayal of tsunami survivors
A blinkered bureaucracy has proved to be utterly insensitive to the Andaman and Nicobar islanders. Instead of helping them rebuild their lives and revive self-confidence, the government is reinforcing practices of dependence and subservience while pushing its warped version of relief and redevelopment, writes Colin Gonsalves.
Combat Law, Vol. 4, Issue 3 – Though much has been written about the situation in Tamilnadu and Pondicherry, the conditions of tsunami survivors in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is little known. Many NGOs working in the area are collaborating with the administration and are apprehensive about speaking out. With the arrival of the monsoons, rehabilitation work has become slower. Many journalists covering the Islands budget for a few days only, spend most of their time at Port Blair, and cannot always make it to the smaller islands. The Human Rights Lawyers Network team was on the Islands immediately after the tsunami and has maintained a presence there to this day. This is their report of the betrayal of the tsunami survivors.
The neglect of the people has its roots going back many decades and is to be located in the isolation of the Islands from mainland India and the consequent freedom given to the administration to do as they please. Central scrutiny is minimal, few NGOs exist, the national newspapers find it too expensive to cover the Islands in normal circumstances and the Bar at Port Blair is not accustomed to doing public interest petitions. All this creates a ripe situation for the exploitation of the tribals who suffer without demur and protest injustices done to them with amazing politeness.
Photographs by Sunil Kumar Jojo
Before the tsunami, the tribals had their own plantations, were accustomed to fishing and had a certain sense of well being and self-confidence. Though the balance of power between the administration and the tribals always tilted in favour of the former, the tribals were often determined to speak their mind and do as they please. The tsunami changed all that. A once proud people are reduced to living in tin sheds and on the free rations of government. They are shaken and afraid. The administration could have responded to restore confidence and self-esteem but did just the opposite. They reinforced practices of dependence and subservience.
All that the people wanted in the first days after the tsunami were tools so that they could build their houses with the timber lying around. The government refused. Instead a hare-brained scheme for providing tin sheds was floated at Delhi and pushed down the throats of the tribals in the Islands. Tin sheds have been tried and have failed everywhere. And yet in the Islands tens of thousands of these sheets were ordered and distributed. From the cool confines of their machaans made of wood the tribals were shifted to ovens where they baked in the afternoon sun. These temporary structures had no flooring and so when the rains came inside, so too did the slush.
Everywhere the tribals protested but they were scared that their criticism of the tin sheds may be seen by the administration negatively and may result in the withdrawal of benefits. So they suffered the stupid mainlander. But they would ask again and again ‘give us tools’; they were ignored.
Then and now: The once proud Nicobari people living in their natural habitat have been forced now to live in abominable conditions in tinsheds.
That single act, the provision of good wood cutting tools would have restored the confidence of the tribals. They would have built their houses of wood once again. There was no need to have two phases, one for the construction of temporary shelters and another for permanent housing because the tribals would have merged the two phases and expanded and consolidated the temporary shelter to convert it into their final home. I have no doubt that had the administration done this simple act of providing tools, all the tribals in the Islands would have been housed within a month after the tsunami.
Instead what do we have? As long after the tsunami as May 2005, when we visited the Islands, we found even the temporary shelters incomplete everywhere, and the tribals leaving their homes and going into the forest areas in the afternoons to escape the heat of the tin sheds. And as we were leaving the monsoons first showers came in, making the houses unliveable.
Then we learned that someone at Delhi has taken a decision to build pre-fabricated houses, either of reinforced cement concrete or a steel tubular structure, as permanent housing in the Andamans. The salinity of the air will cause the RCC structures to corrode and the tubular structures to rust. The tribals will not be able to maintain these houses and repair them, having no skills to do so. If this dubious plan works, the whole Andaman and Nicobar Islands will be converted into a giant concrete slum. There are officials overanxious to push this plan through, going from island to island and village to village giving the people three plans to chose from: all RCC or steel but not wood, giving the people the impression that they either accept that or they will get nothing at all.
And then casually, almost as if by chance, we heard from the mouth of a senior administration officer that the free rations will be discontinued from October. There can be no greater injustice than this. The lives of the tribals have been shattered, their communities splintered, their livelihood destroyed, their homes washed away and, in these circumstances, all that they have, in the name of a little bit of security, is their free rations. They have no boats so they cannot fish. Free grains is what they depend on to survive. What we would like to know is: Who has taken the decision to discontinue the provision of free grains and why are the people not being told about this decision?
We found water shortages everywhere. People were drinking contaminated water. Children were falling sick. Truly no one cares for the little children. In the six months since the tsunami, apart from a few sporadic attempts, their education came to a standstill, with the State not bothering to supply text books and note books. Had that elementary thing been done, the teachers in the villages would have ensured that the students not lose any time.
Many villages were in darkness. Where the electricity lines were up and the generators in place there was no kerosene. In some places public transportation was at a standstill and people had to walk long distances to reach their villages.
It is pathetic to see the manner in which the people travel from island to island and that too in the Andamans which houses a large and sophisticated naval base. The ships have no fixed timings. When they sail they carry passengers many times their capacity with people huddled on deck like cattle. The toilets are stinking and overflowing. Sometimes for days the people wait.
Like the demand for tools we heard the demand for boats everywhere. Like the demand for tools this was also something that would restore self-confidence and a sense of self-worth. The people would fish. They would travel from island to island carrying their vegetables and doing some trade. Independence, morale and self-confidence of the tribal people must be a priority.
Where has all the money gone? Ask an official, and he will give you a lump sum figure. Ask another and he will give you an entirely different sum. Why is it that the Government of India refuses to put up on a website or publish in a newspaper the list of beneficiaries with the amounts donated? There is strong resistance to this in the administration. It is not the business of the NGOs to ask such questions, we were told in a meeting. Large sums of money exist and must be used for the purpose it was intended for. A CAG inquiry may be of some use. But there is no excuse for a government, committed to the Right to Information, not to disclose to the public at large details of the money received and precise details as to how it is being spent. The greatest justification for this is the fact that on the ground the tribals suffer deprivation and ill health.
It is pathetic to see the manner in which the people travel from island to island and that too in the Andamans which houses a large and sophisticated naval base. The ships have no fixed timings. When they sail they carry passengers many times their capacity with people huddled on deck like cattle.
In the past two months the situation has shown some signs of improvement. The Chief Secretary has initiated a larger process of consultation with tribal leaders. Non-governmental organisations find themselves better placed to engage with the administration and provide the much needed support to affected communities. Whether the administrations good intentions will be backed by action that improves the conditions of the tsunami survivors is yet to be seen.
While the basic requirements of food, shelter, education and livelihood have not been fulfilled, grand plans are afoot to convert parts of the islands into a thriving tourist hub, with little thought to the strain on the already fragile ecology of the battered islands. On 24 July 2005, another offshore earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck the islands causing panic and the fear of another tsunami. Now more than six months after the tsunami, the administration must quickly move beyond workshops and start a systematic process of community disaster drills. Communication with certain islands continues to be erratic. The task is enormous. The efforts must be visible in the lives of the common people without any further delay.
Colin Gonsalves
Combat Law, Volume 4, Issue 3
August-September 2005
(published 11 September 2005 in India Together)
CONSERVATION VS. TRIBAL RIGHTS
Ecology for the people
The ongoing vigorous debate between wildlife enthusiasts and tribal rights activists must be steered by a vital lesson from past conservation failures – that India’s unparalleled riches of biodiversity can only be protected by working with, rather than against, the rural and tribal communities who live closest to them, writes Ramachandra Guha.
14 November 2005 – Early in 2005, a vigorous debate broke out within India about the status of the country’s national animal, the tiger. Reports began appearing in the press suggesting that there had been an alarming drop in the animal’s numbers. In several formally notified Project Tiger sanctuaries, such as Sariska, no tigers were spotted for weeks on end. Anecdotal evidence from other parks – particularly those in northern India – also confirmed the decline. This fresh manifestation of a ‘tiger crisis’ led to the prime minister constituting a Tiger Task Force, and, beyond this, to a wider debate on the best means of preventing the tiger from sliding into extinction.
As it happens, with this debate on the tiger was commenced, simultaneously, a debate on the rights of adivasis in forest areas. This was sparked off by a new legislation proposed by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which seeks to give ‘a permanent stake to scheduled tribes’ living in the forests. Based on the (correct) presumption that the colonial regime had committed a ‘historic wrong’ in wresting rights of forest ownership from the tribals, the new law wishes to make amends, by now involving them more directly in forest use and forest conservation.
The tribal rights bill has been vigorously opposed by wildlife conservationists. In their view, it would only put further pressure on the natural forests that are the last remaining redoubt of the tiger. The prominent conservationist, Valmik Thapar, insists that “tigers have to be saved in undisturbed, inviolate landscapes… You either create landscapes that are undisturbed, or you don’t save tigers. As far as I’m concerned, tigers and human beings – forest dwellers or tribal peoples – cannot co-exist.”
“… tigers have to be saved in undisturbed, inviolate landscapes… You either create landscapes that are undisturbed, or you don’t save tigers. As far as I’m concerned, tigers and human beings – forest dwellers or tribal peoples – cannot co-exist.”
- Valmik Thapar
• Understanding encroachments
• Forest fights, Indian style
• Recognition of forest rights
• “They are people too”
On the other side, anthropologists and tribal activists dismiss the views of such conservationists as arrogant and elitist, as putting the interests of animals above that of poor humans. Elitist these views probably are, and very definitely unhistorical. For, in fact, tigers and tribals have co-existed for centuries in India. True, in some parts they now compete for survival and subsistence. But the reason for that is that the living space and natural resources of both have shrunk because of economic processes powered by humans who are not tigers, nor tribals either. The shrinkage of the tiger’s habitat, and the shrinking of their numbers, is the result of such things as large dams, iron ore mines, and menus in Beijing and Taipei restaurants – in sum, the result of the lifestyle of the urban elite and the industrial and commercial interests that go with them. It is fair to say that in the unfolding of these processes, the tribal has been almost as much a victim as the tiger itself. The solution urged by Thapar and his colleagues is to punish one victim in order, ostensibly, to save the other.
The media, naturally, have seized on this debate between ‘the tiger’ and ‘the tribal’. However, two recent and quite soberly presented reports allow us to go beyond these polarized positions, towards a more scientific approach with regard to biodiversity conservation in India. The first is a fascinating study of the country’s biodiversity commissioned in 2000 by the ministry of environment and forests, and coordinated by the pioneering environmental group, Kalpavriksh. Covering all of India’s states and Union territories, this was the most participatory exercise in environmental planning ever undertaken in the country’s history. (It is also, most likely, without parallel elsewhere in the world.) Kalpavriksh worked with state and Central governments, NGOs, scientists, and peasant and tribal communities to produce nearly one hundred plans, these grouped under political regimes, ecological zones and subject themes. Each report aimed at integrating the ecological security of the region or state with the livelihood security of those humans who most critically depended on its biodiversity. It studied and critically assessed biodiversity in the wild as well as in cultivated areas, and gave a special focus to the rights of women and children (the main cultivators and collectors of this biodiversity).
These various specific studies have been synthesized in a ‘final technical report’ entitled Securing India’s Future (see this link for more). Where traditional conservation focusses merely on saving large mammals – those ‘megacharismatic metavertebrates’ – what we have here is a far more sophisticated approach, and in at least three respects. First, it is ecumenical with regard to scale, whereby small patches of refugia, such as sacred groves or ponds, are given the same loving attention as are large areas of wilderness. Second, it is ecumenical with regard to species, with rare plants (including cultivated plants) and insects being valued along with megacharismatic metavertebrates. Third, it respects not just the human rights, but also the knowledge systems of local communities, in order to incorporate folk ecological knowledge in the management of conservation regimes.
This final technical report, summarizing all the others, recommends that in matters pertaining to biodiversity management, “the State becomes a facilitator rather than a ruler”, by nurturing “a decentralized natural resource governance structure”. It argues that a viable long-term policy must “strengthen and support community conservation areas – across the entire rural land/waterscape”.
As it happens, the report of the Tiger Task Force, also just published, likewise recommends a shift from ‘exclusive’ to more ‘inclusive’ methods of national park management. It deplores the tendency of “tiger lovers … to band together into a select group that would control policy and programme formulation” in the “belief that the tiger can only be protected by building stronger and higher fences against ‘depredators’”. In contrast to this centralizing perspective, the task force draws attention to the vulnerability and suffering of the underprivileged Indians who “share their resources with the tiger, without getting any benefits in return … To succeed, tiger conservation … has to bring benefits to [these] poor people.”
How might this be accomplished? One way is to turn those who lived in and around national parks “into the frontline defenders of the forests and protected areas, rather than see them as antagonists”. Their knowledge and skills could be used to guide researchers and eco-tourists, rather than poachers. Rather than ban all human use of the forests, the state might encourage the sustainable extraction of non-timber forest produce, such as honey, as was in fact being done, very successfully, in some parks in south India. The choice was between working with local people “to create situations in which they can live within the rules of the protected areas and in fact to strengthen [their] protection”, or working against them “so that they increasingly turn against the protected areas and animals”. If the latter alternative was preferred, warns the report, the state would have to “invest more and more into protection – more fences, guns and guards. Maybe we will win. But it is more likely we will lose”.
Both within the state bureaucracy, and among traditional wildlifers, there is a strong resistance to change, a knee-jerk reliance on a narrow-minded, centralizing and essentially punitive approach to conservation.
These two quite outstanding reports draw on years of cutting-edge research by Indian scientists. Thus, biologists like Raman Sukumar have shown how it is possible to resolve conflicts between large mammals and vulnerable villagers living in and around park areas. Sociologists like Ashish Kothari have convincingly argued that, in the long run, only a more participatory approach will save the forests and their varied inhabitants. And ecologists like Madhav Gadgil have outlined how conservation needs to move outwards, from saving species towards protecting habitats and biodiversity as a whole.
The three scholars mentioned in the previous paragraph are all internationally renowned for their work. They are regarded, outside India, as global pioneers. Sadly, they have sometimes been prophets without honour in their own country. For both within the state bureaucracy, and among traditional wildlifers, there is a strong resistance to change, a knee-jerk reliance on a narrow-minded, centralizing and essentially punitive approach to conservation. This makes it all the more necessary that these truly visionary documents do not gather dust in sarkari offices. It was the government which commissioned these reports; pressure must now be brought to bear to ensure that they are implemented. For the lesson of our past conservation failures is simply this – that India’s unparalleled riches of biodiversity can only be protected by working with, rather than against, the rural and tribal communities who live closest to them. ⊕
Ramachandra Guha
14 Nov 2005
Ramachandra Guha is a historian, and a regular columnist with The Telegraph of Calcutta. His writings are republished here by arrangement.
CULTURE
Gonds nourish aspirations at annual fair
In what is supposed to be an annual religious and cultural gathering, nothing is more mixed up than the speeches. Talks that start with the fine points of Gondi religion, its practice and ritual, inevitably delve into subjects with deeper socio-political resonance. From interior Maharashtra, Aparna Pallavi reports on the annual Kachhargarh fair.
28 February 2006 – “What are you looking for in this place? If you are hoping to find answers here, you are in the wrong place. The only worthwhile thing you can hope to take back from here is questions,” says the serious, bespectacled Justice L R Maravi, a sessions judge in Gondia district, Maharashtra and a Gond community leader. One hardly knows how to respond to this staggering but forthright piece of advice. What kind of answers can you expect anyway in this place where everything refuses to conform to your ideas of what they ought to be?
It is Maagh Purnima day, and we are at the annual Kachhargarh tribal fair in the deep interior Salekasa tehsil of Bhandara district, Maharashtra. The fair is held to celebrate the day when, in Gond mythology, the children of Mata Kali Kankali (not to be confused with the Hindu deity Kali), mother goddess of the Gond people, were rescued from a cave by the Gond religious leader Kari Kupar Lingo and his sister Jango Raitad.
As we thread our way through thick crowds towards the little village of Dhannegaon located at the foot of Kachhargarh hill, Dr Motiram Kangali, a prominent Gond community leader and head of the Gondi Punem (religion and culture) Mahasangha — the apex religious body of the Gonds, updates us on the history of the fair. Kangali is with the Reserve Bank of India and is a Ph D. “In the year 1976 some of us, then students active in the tribal students movement, read about this fair in the books of Russle and C U Wills.” Kangali, and two of his friends K B Maraskole and Sheetal Markam, (who later went on to form the Gondwana Mukti Sena, one of the constituent bodies of the Gondwana Ganatantra Party) visited the place out of curiosity. “We found that the fair had shrunk from the grand affair it once used to be to nearly a non-event, with hardly 500 people visiting the spot annually.”
After visiting several other Gond pilgrimage centres in Central India, the group selected Kachhargarh – originally known as Koili Kachar Lohgarh, as the most convenient spot where Gond tribals from Central India, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh could be brought together under a common identity. “It was also around the same time that we realized that there was no written documentation of Gond history, culture, mythology and ritual,” says Kangali. This prompted him to take up the work of research and documentation.
It was ten full years after this first visit, from 1986 onwards, that the fair started being held at the present large scale. The organisational activity that went into the fair also led to the formation of the Gondwana Ganatantra Party (GPP), the political organisation of the Gond people. Today, as many as 3-4 lakh Gond tribals from the above-mentioned states visit the fair over three or four days around Maagh Purnima time. The number of non-Gonds is negligible. Mostly, it is journalists and social observers or just curious urbanites. There is no tourism value to this cave or fair yet.
People hovering at the entrance of the sacred Kachhargarh cave. Pic: Aparna Pallavi.
Within an hour of arrival, we commence the three km walk to the sacred Kachhargarh cave – the most important part of the pilgrimage. The last stretch is a difficult climb over a jagged hillside dotted with ancient trees. It is awesome and breathtakingly beautiful to the eyes, and a torture to limbs long habituated to urban ease.
But it is worth the trouble after all. The ancient cave, with its dark, damp walls, and the cool, heavy air that pervades it, belongs to another time. Its stream is a not-very impressive trickle in February, but it swells to a torrent during the rains. It is too dark inside to trace the stream’s origin, but the gurgling sound inside the cave is enchanting. Deep and wide enough to accommodate some 20,000 people at once, Kachhargarh cave retains its timeless quiet despite the presence of a few hundred people in it.
Even if one misses the religious or mythological significance, there is no way one can miss the spirit. For once, we are back to the days of the earth’s youth. Here is meaning. Here is beauty. Here at last you learn the meaning of the words ‘peace that passeth understanding.’ Here time does not exist. Here all questions dissolve, and so do answers. There is nothing to look for any more, and nothing to hold on to either. If only you could stay in this place and this state of mind for ever, things would be all right.
But it is getting dark, and we have to get back down. Back to today.
Down to the tiny hamlet of Dhannegaon, whose every home is an open house during the three days of the fair (February 11, 12 and 13 this year). “You don’t have to know the residents,” says Chandralekha Kangali, “You can camp in anyone’s courtyard, cook food, eat, sleep, and stock your luggage.” Over tea, Maharashtra state chief of the Gondwana Ganatantra Party, Raje Vasudev Shah Tekam says, “This is mainly a cultural and religious fair. We Gond people have lost our identity, our culture and religion – we have become a scattered people. Through this fair we want to refresh our understanding of these things, and rediscover our identity and dignity as one people.”
The GPP is not politically very strong, at least yet. Hari Singh Markam was once elected to Parliament in what is now Chhattisgarh. Some people have been elected at the local level, again in Chhattisgarh, and very few in Madhya Pradesh.
Gondi world view
The Gond religion is nature-based. The Gond style of social organisation is based on the ‘saga’ (clan) system. Under this system, which was established by the Gond religious leader Kari Kupar Lingo, there are 12 ‘sagas’ or groups which are further divided into 750 ‘kur’ or clans.
Each clan is bound by the Gondi religion to protect one tree or plant, one animal and one bird. The clan names are based on this categorisation. For instance, the name Markam relates to the mango tree, while the name Kangali refers to a certain climber.
The marriage rules of Gond tribals are also based on this organisation. All the clans in one ‘saga’ worship a certain number of deities, ranging from 1 to 7. Intermarriage between members from different clans is permitted if one clan worships an odd number (visham) of deities and the other an even (sam) number. The clans with odd and even numbers cannot intermarry.
In several parts of India, Gond communities have forgotten this system of marriage. At present, research is on to rediscover the vital details of this system. Community leaders feel that the reestablishment of this system is vital to the identity of the Gond community.
Women: Gond mythology has it that Kari Kupar Lingo’s sister Jango (rebel) Raitad started a social reform movement for the rights of women, after which widows were given rights to maintenance in the marital home as well as remarriage. Also, a woman’s consent is important for marriage. Women have equal educational status.
• Caste panchayats and Gond women
• Convention of adivasis and nomads
Politics, he explains, is not on the fair’s agenda, but it is impossible to keep it out entirely, as political overtones to the religious and cultural message are inevitable.
“We Gonds want to resurrect our social and religious structure — the system of 12 sagas and 700 kur (clans),” says Anandrao Madawi, mursenal (chief) of the Jagatik Gond Saga Mandi, the apex body of the Gond tribal panchayats, “We want our own state, our own language, our own punem (religion). We want others to recognise that we exist.”
A quick ramble in the little makeshift market – the kind that inevitably springs up at such places — makes for interesting observation. There are several stalls selling books on Gond religion, culture and even the basics of the spoken language. “A lot of our people have forgotten the Gondi boli (language),” explains Kangali. His books are being sold under the name Motiravan Kangali – a small but startling piece of tribal self-assertion against Hindu assimilation. Kangali is known by this first name in the Gond community, and retains his original first name, Motiram, at work.
At other stalls, Gond religious symbols are for sale – some emblazoned on T-shirts, some framed together with Hindu symbols. Stalls selling traditional Gond paraphernalia of worship – exotic roots and herbs – sit cheek by jowl with others selling incense, coconuts, tulsi and rudraksha beads. Several stalls selling cassettes and CDs of Gondi songs are doing brisk business. But beneath their glossy, faux filmi covers, (one has a picture of a popular Hindi film actress) it is impossible to determine which ones are authentic and which have been created for the market.
“Each year the number of people at the fair goes up,” quips a senior journalist from Nagpur, Jagdeesh Shahu. “But each year you see lesser and lesser traditional clothes,” he adds.
“It is certainly not easy,” admits Tekam, “Our people want to recover their religious-cultural identity, but the Hindu and global cultures do have an insidious grip over their minds. There are contradictory pulls.”
But there are positive signs too, says Kangali. At one time Hindu assimilation was so complete that Gond people were ashamed of their identities, and even clan names had been modified to sound like Hindu surnames, he points out. “But since the resurrection of this fair, a large number of people have resumed their original identities and clan names. That is a beginning, at least,” he says.
Meanwhile some Angadevs have also descended from the cave. The Angadevs are very small idols, 33 in number, and symbolise the children of the mother goddess who were rescued by Lingo and later became the emissaries of his message. They are put on ornate palkhis (palanquins) and brought to the fair. The original idols are very small. It is not clear if they always accompany the palkhi, and the palkhi itself is the symbol of the Angadev, I am told.
An authentic, unadulterated cultural ritual unfolds. Clad in clean white cotton half shirts, half dhotis and head-scarves, — proper Gondi costume — the bearers of the palkhis dance around the Gond flag to rhythmic drum beats. Men and women overcome by hypnotic emotion whirl round and round in the spaces between. Since there is no fixed time of the Angadevs coming and going, the dance takes place as and when some idols are ready to return.
One of the palkhis descending from the hill. Pic: Aparna Pallavi.
7 pm. Time for today’s session of the Gond religious conference. The huge marquee, with a capacity of at least 20,000 people, is crammed full. They squeeze tighter inside the marquee and spill our over the huge ground at the centre of which the marquee has been erected. By midnight, the crowd will have swelled three times this size, say community leaders, and a visual estimate indicates that this may not be an exaggeration.
We are huddled on the dias — which appears to be an open-for-all area where people come and take up space at will — with a motley crowd of about 70 people. The speakers are a mixed crowd of politicians, religious leaders, community elders and others whose identities are not very clear.
Nothing is more mixed up than the speeches that are made. In the very beginning, the announcers have instructed all speakers to stick to religious matters. But talks that start with the fine points of religious precept, practice and ritual, inevitably slip off into subjects with deeper socio-political resonance. Language, culture, identity, exploitation, the need for organisation and political self-assertion, the need to resist cultural assimilation — all interlace with rhetoric, religion, myth, ritual and even superstitious mumbo-jumbo to form one complicated fabric in which it is impossible to identify or sort out the different strains of thought.
The resolutions that are passed are definitely not religious — inclusion of the Gondi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and Gondi as an optional subject in schools in the seven states with a high proportion of Gond population. Community leaders say there are about 14 crore Gonds in the country — twice the population of Maharashtra.
One is tempted to be judgemental — no clarity, no coherence, no order. No one knows what they want. Why do they want to hold a religious fair if they are going to talk politics?
Have you made your contribution?
Dear Reader, if you have been a regular at India Together, then you already know that informative reporting on India Together is kept viable by a partnership between you and us. If you haven’t yet made an annual contribution, now is the time to change that. Support us at one of the following levels:
– Rs.1000 (recommended)
– Rs.5000 (Friends of India Together)
– Rs.500 (basic)
Contribute now | Why your support matters
p.s.: Your support is voluntary. Nevertheless, we rely on it.
Or is it so? How much coherence can you reasonably expect from a people who, along with their fellow adivasi communities, have been victims of ruthless uprooting, exploitation and assimilation for centuries? A people who are mostly impoverished, uneducated, have no recourse to social or political power or sanction? A people who must create a past, present and future; a history, identity and aspiration for themselves — an entire discourse — all at once? Is twenty years enough for such a mammoth task?
The questions do not allow easy responses. The realities are complex and multilayered, and concerns that look overly simple one moment are mindboggling the next.
Or maybe we are just missing the desperate undertone to everything else — get together to survive! Hold on to each other — any link, any reason will do. Just stand together…..
Meanwhile it is midnight. On the dias and in the marquee, people are curling up to sleep where they can, even as a cultural programme is announced. There is nothing to do but to follow suit.
As I work my tired body into a semi-comfortable posture between other sleeping bodies, Justice Marawi’s eyes are suddenly just two inches away from my own. “Did you get any answers?” he asks in a whisper. Did I? I shake my head. “Pay attention to the questions, though,” he whispers back, “Who knows one day they will lead to answers.” ⊕
Aparna Pallavi
28 Feb 2006
Aparna Pallavi is a journalist based in Nagpur, and writes on development issues.
PRS LEGISLATIVE BRIEF
STs (Recognition of forest rights) bill
Who can live in forested areas? What rights to they have over lands they have lived in for generations? Can they be relocated, and if so on what terms? Legislation in Parliament attempts to balance forest dwellers’ rights with economic and environmental objectives. Kaushiki Sanyal presents a legislative brief.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BILL
(Read this section in detail)
*
The Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005 seeks to recognise forest rights of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDSTs) who have been occupying the land before October 25, 1980.
*
An FDST nuclear family would be entitled to the land currently occupied subject to a maximum of 2.5 hectares. The land may be allocated in all forests including core areas of National Parks and Sanctuaries.
*
This page is organised as follows: The highlights of the Bill and the key issues to be considered are listed briefly first; the details of each are presented thereafter. Click here to see the highlights in detail, and here to see the detailed analysis of key issues.
In core areas, an FDST would be given provisional land rights for five years, within which period he would be relocated and compensated. If the relocation does not take place within five years, he gets permanent right over the land.
*
The Bill outlines 12 forest rights which include the right to live in the forest, to self cultivate, and to use minor forest produce. Activities such as hunting and trapping are prohibited.
*
The Gram Sabha is empowered to initiate the process of determining the extent of forest rights that may be given to each eligible individual or family.
KEY ISSUES AND ANALYSIS
(Read this section in detail)
*
There are no reliable estimates of the likely number of eligible families although the Bill proposes to vest forest land rights to FDSTs. Therefore, it is not known whether there could be significant risk to existing forest cover.
*
If FDSTs in core areas are not relocated within five years, it could lead to loss of forests, which are crucial to the survival of certain species of wildlife. Large-scale relocation, on the other hand, could result in possible harassment of FDSTs.
*
Communities who depend on the forest for survival and livelihood reasons, but are not forest dwellers or Scheduled Tribes, are excluded from the purview of the Bill.
*
The Bill specifies October 25, 1980 as the cut-off date to determine eligibility. However, it does not clarify the kind of evidence that would be required by FDSTs to prove their occupancy.
*
Terms such as ‘livelihood needs’ have not been defined. This could lead to litigation and delay in implementation.
PART A: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BILL
Context
The Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005 was drafted to fulfill the need for a comprehensive legislation to give due recognition to the forest rights of tribal communities [1]. These rights were not recorded while consolidating state forests during the colonial period as well as in independent India.
Recognizing the symbiotic relationship between tribal people and forests, the National Forest Policy, 1988 [2], made provisions to safeguard the customary rights and interests on forest land of tribals. In order to implement these provisions, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) issued a set of six circulars [3] on September 18, 1990 which decreed that pre-1980 occupation of forest land would be eligible for regularization provided the State Government had evolved certain eligibility criteria in accordance with the local needs and conditions. The State Governments, however, failed to implement the 1990 Guidelines.
Meanwhile, a Supreme Court order [4] led to large scale evictions by the Forest Departments of various states. Following mass protests by tribal communities, the MoEF issued supplementary guidelines on February 5, 2004 to address the issue of recognizing the legal right of tribal communities to forest land and resources. However, the Supreme Court issued a stay order on the Guidelines.
Key features
* Rights of Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes
The Bill seeks to recognize and vest forest rights in forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDSTs), where they are scheduled, with respect to forest land and their habitat. The forest rights in the core areas of National Parks and Sanctuaries shall be granted on provisional basis for a period of five years from the date of commencement of this Act. If the holders of such rights are not relocated within five years with due compensation, the rights would become permanent. The rights can be inherited but they are not transferable.
The Bill delineates 12 rights of FDSTs over a variety of subjects. The rights include: (a) living in the forest for habitation or for self cultivation for livelihood, (b) community rights such as nistar (the right of a resident of a village in respect of cattle grazing and collection of jungle produce), (c) right to own, use or dispose of minor forest produce, (d) conversion of forest village to revenue village, (e) conversion of pattas or leases issued by any local authority or any state government on forest land to titles, and (f) other traditional customary rights. Customary rights exclude hunting, trapping or extracting body parts of any wild animal. FDSTs also cannot indulge in any activity that adversely affects wild animals, forests and the biodiversity in the local area and need to ensure that adjoining catchments areas and water sources are adequately protected.
Forest rights of FDSTs would be subject to the condition that such communities had occupied forest land before October 25, 1980 [The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 came into force on this date]. The Bill specifies that no FDST shall be evicted from forest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is completed.
The Bill states that forest rights would be vested on such land which is occupied by an individual or family or community when the Act comes into force. The rights would be restricted to the area under actual occupation and shall not exceed an area of 2.5 hectares per nuclear family. The title would be registered jointly in case of married persons and in the name of the single head in case of single member households.
Forest rights would be conferred free of conditions such as Net Present Value (NPV) and compensatory afforestation for diversion of forest land [5]. Under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, the state government or any other authority cannot divert forest land for non-forest purposes without prior approval of Government of India. In case it is diverted, a certain amount of money (NPV of the land) has to be deposited with the government for purposes of compensatory afforestation, and the State government has to keep aside a proportionate area of land for afforestation.
* Authorities for Vesting Forest Rights
The Gram Sabha, a village assembly of all adult members of a village, shall have the authority to initiate the process of determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights that may be given to FDSTs within the local limits of its jurisdiction under this Act. The Gram Sabha is empowered to receive claims, consolidate and verify them, and prepare a map delineating the area of each recommended claim in such manner as may be prescribed for exercise of such rights. It would then pass a resolution to that effect and forward a copy to the Sub-Divisional Level Committee (SDLC).
The SDLC, which shall be constituted by the State Government, would examine the resolution passed by the Gram Sabha and prepare the record of forest rights. It would then be forwarded to the District Level Committee (DLC) through the Sub-Divisional Officer for a final decision. The DLC would be the final authority to approve the record of forest rights prepared by the SDLC.
A State Level Monitoring Committee would be formed to monitor the process of recognition and vesting of forest rights. The Committee would submit returns and reports to the nodal agency (the ministry dealing with Tribal Affairs). The SDLC, DLC and the State Level Monitoring Committee would consist of officers from the departments of Revenue, Forest and Tribal Affairs at the appropriate level as may be prescribed.
If a person is not satisfied by the ruling of the Gram Sabha, he can file a petition to the SDLC who would consider and dispose of such petition. If a person is not satisfied by the decision of the SDLC, he can petition to the DLC within 60 days of date of decision of the SDLC. The DLC’s decision would be final and binding.
* Penalties for Offences
In case a person is found guilty of contravening or abetting the contravention of the provisions of the Act, engaging in unsustainable use of forest or forest produce, killing any wild animal or destroying forest or any other aspect of biodiversity or felling trees for any commercial purpose, he shall be punished with a fine which may extend to Rs 1,000. In case the offence is committed more than once, the forest rights of the guilty person would be derecognized for such period as the DLC, on the recommendation of the Gram Sabha, may decide. The penalty would be in addition to any other law for the time being in force.
If members or officers of authorities and committees commit an offence, they would be deemed guilty and can be fined up to Rs 1,000.
PART B: KEY ISSUES AND ANALYSIS
The Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005, aims to recognize and enforce the rights of FDSTs to forest land and resources. The main challenge of the Bill is to harmonize the potentially conflicting interest of recognizing forest rights of FDSTs while protecting forests and wildlife resources. Lack of data
• Ecology for the people
• Forest fights, Indian style
• Understanding encroachment
• Their lands, our laws
Although the Bill proposes to recognize and vest forest land rights to FDSTs, there are no reliable estimates of the number of families who will be benefiting from the proposed legislation. Secondly, although the government estimates that there are around 2-3 million people living inside India’s protected areas (national parks and sanctuaries) [6], there is no census of the number of FDSTs residing within the core areas of national parks and sanctuaries [7]. Therefore, it is not possible to calculate how much forest land would be required in order to implement the provisions of the Bill.
Tribal Rights vs Environmental Conservation
* Differing Viewpoints
There are three main streams of thought regarding this issue. Some experts say that tribal communities have lived in forests for centuries, and granting them the formal right over forest land is just undoing a historical injustice. On the other extreme, some conservationists say that certain species of animals (such as the tiger) cannot co-exist with humans, and there is a need to reserve at least some parts of forests to conserve these species. They also say that increased human habitation in forests will cause depletion of forest cover, resulting in significant ecological costs. A third view is that traditional forest dwellers help in preserving forests, and giving them land rights would actually help in ecological conservation [8]. However, there does not appear to be any clear evidence to conclusively support any of these views. Some of these issues are discussed below.
* Allotment of Land
The Bill prescribes 2.5 hectares as the upper limit of forest land that an FDST nuclear family may be allotted. However, there is a possibility that it might result in elimination of legal protection for forest cover, which could lead to heavy ecological damage [9]. For instance, the possible depletion of watershed forests of Central India, which allow penetration of rain water into the sub soil, could lead to drying up of rivers such as Narmada, Tapti, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Cauveri [10]. The counter-argument is that the Bill only seeks to recognize the forest rights of FDSTs who have been cultivating the forest land for generations. In any case, the total forest land under encroachment is estimated by the government at 13.43 lakh hectares [11], which amounts to about 2% of the recorded forest area in the country [12].
It is also possible that confiscating forest land from the tribal families, who possess more than 2.5 hectares of land, could lead to further impoverishment of tribal communities [13].
* Core Areas
The Bill grants forest rights to FDSTs in core areas [14] of National Parks and Sanctuaries provided they are relocated within five years. If relocation does not take place within the prescribed time period, the holder would get permanent right over forest land. Therefore, there would either be large scale relocation of tribal communities or they would get permanent right over land in core areas.
Given India’s poor track record in relocating people affected by development projects, such as the Narmada Dam [15], or from sanctuaries such as Sariska and Gir [16], the possibility of large scale relocation from core areas raises the spectre of loss of livelihood and hardship for FDSTs.
There could also be an argument against advocating coexistence between wild animals and tribal communities. Certain species such as tigers, rhinos, and elephants are vulnerable to pressures from human land use [17]. These species are typically large-bodied, slow breeding, need large areas, and vast resources for survival. Some experts argue that it might be more realistic to identify protected areas, which consist of National Parks and Sanctuaries (about 4.7% of India’s geographical area [18]) as inviolate while areas outside such reserves could be utilised to serve the needs of tribal communities [19].
Coverage
* 1980 ‘cut-off date’
The Bill takes October 25, 1980 as the cut-off date for vesting and recognizing forest land rights of the tribal community. However, the Bill does not specify the kind of evidence that FDSTs would require to prove their occupancy of forest land before 1980. Although states such as Maharashtra have adopted more effective procedures than just documentary evidences (oral testimonies, evidence of elders of the village etc.) for verifying claims [20], it is not mandatory for every state to adopt such practices. Therefore, there might be a case for specifying a set of admissible evidences in the Bill itself.
Also, it is unlikely that FDSTs would have the required documentary evidence to prove their occupancy over forest land before 1980 [21]. Thus, in order to minimize evictions, a case could be made for settling the claims of FDSTs on the basis of current occupancy of forest land.
* Exclusion of certain communities
The Bill only recognizes forest rights of FDSTs who are defined as ‘Scheduled Tribes who primarily reside in forests and includes the Scheduled Tribes pastoralist communities and who depend on the forests or forest lands for bona fide livelihood needs.’ Other communities who depend on the forest for survival and livelihood reasons, but are not forest dwellers or Scheduled Tribes, for instance in large sections of Chattisgarh and forest tracts of Uttaranchal [22], are excluded from the purview of the Bill. This could lead to large-scale eviction of such people and increase social tension among the various forest communities.
The Bill also specifies that FDSTs would be granted forest rights only in places where they are scheduled. However, such a clause could lead to denial of rights to tribal communities on the ground that they do not reside in the area where they are scheduled even though many tribal people have been displaced due to development projects and creation of protected areas [23].
Role of Gram Sabha
Although the Gram Sabha has been given the power to initiate the process of determining forest rights, the final decision rests with the DLC. The DLC is also the authority that would decide the period for which an FDST’s forest rights is to be derecognized in case of repeated contravention of the provisions of the Act. Although the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill envisages involvement of democratic institutions at the grassroots level, the Gram Sabha does not have the power to recognize forest rights or enforce such rights.
Eviction and Relocation
The Bill does not place any explicit restriction on the methods that can be used to remove non-eligible forest dwellers. This is a concern, given the history of cases where brutal force has been used to evict tribal families [24]. The Bill mentions that FDSTs would be relocated from core areas of National Parks and Sanctuaries with due compensation. However, the Bill does not clarify exactly what kind of compensation would be offered to the tribal people, what recourse they would have if such compensation is not satisfactory or is altogether denied.
Definitions
Certain terms mentioned in the Bill have not been defined. It could lead to difficulty in implementing the provisions of the Bill. Clause 3 (j) mentions ‘the right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource which they have been traditionally protecting and conserving for sustainable use.’ The term ‘community forest resource’ is not defined, and hence, it is not clear whether these also include resources within government owned forests including National Parks and Sanctuaries. The term ‘nuclear family’ has also not been defined, though each ‘nuclear family’ has a right up to 2.5 hectares of forest land. FDSTs are defined as those ‘members or community of the Scheduled Tribes who depend on the forests or forest land for bonafide livelihood needs’. The term ‘livelihood needs’ is not defined which leaves the scope of activities allowed open to interpretation.
Penalties
The Bill imposes a fine of Rs 1,000 on FDSTs in case of contravention of provisions of the Act. If the offence is repeated, the person’s forest rights might be derecognized for such period as decided by the DLC on the recommendation of the Gram Sabha. However, the Bill does not specify whether an FDST has the right to appeal such a ruling of the DLC to a higher authority (such as the State Level Monitoring Committee) other than to a court.
The member of a committee is also required to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 if found guilty of contravening the provisions of the Act. However, this amount might not be a sufficient deterrent. ⊕
Kaushiki Sanyal
15 Apr 2006
Kaushiki Sanyal is a researcher with Parliamentary Research Service, a unit of the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. PRS is an independent initiative to make the process of law-making in India more transparent, better informed and participatory.
• Write the author
• Post a comment on this article
• Forests
• Adivasis
Notes
1.
The National Advisory Council (Chairperson: Smt. Sonia Gandhi), made certain recommendations, including the need for central legislation, to improve the condition of the tribal population (see http://nac.nic.in/concept%20papers/evictions.pdf)
2.
National Forest Policy, 1988
3.
(FP1) Regularization of Encroachment (FP2) Review of Disputed Claims over Forest Land (FP3) Regularization of Pattas and Leases (FP4) Elimination of Intermediaries and Payment of Fair Wages to the Labourers on Forestry Works (FP5) Conversion of Forest Villages into Revenue Villages and Settlement of Other Old Habitations (FP6) Payment of Compensation for Loss of Life and Property Due to Predation/Depredation by Wild Animals.
4.
In T.N. Godavarman vs Union of India (Writ Petition (C) No. 202 of 1995), the Supreme Court issued an order “restraining the Union of India from permitting regularization of any encroachments whatsoever without leave of this Hon’ble Court.” However, a letter of Inspector General of Forests, dated May 3, 2002, instructs state governments to evict the ineligible encroachers and all post-1980 encroachers from forest land in a time bound manner. The letter refers to the SC order of Nov 23, 2001
(see http://nac.nic.in/concept%20papers/evictions.pdf).
5.
Net Present Value (NPV) and Compensatory Afforestation are requirements associated with using forest land under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. NPV of the diverted forest land is a measure of the potential value of such land. The Supreme Court, in the course of Godavarman case, mandated that any user agency, prior to diverting forest land, would have to pay the NPV of that land to a Court created Central Government agency called Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Agency. The value, which is subject to upward revision, was set at the rate of Rs 5.80 lakh to Rs 9.20 lakh per hectare of forest land depending upon the quantity and density of the land in question converted for non-forest use.
(see http://164.100.194.13/allied_forclr/htmls/Guidelines/Guidelines.htm, and
http://www.elaw.org/resources/text.asp?id=2998)
6.
Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India
7.
M.D. Madhusudan, “Of Rights and Wrongs: Wildlife Conservation and Tribal Bill”, (Economic and Political Weekly), November 19, 2005
8.
Pradip Prabhu, “The Right to Live With Dignity”, (Seminar), No. 552, Aug 2005
9.
P.V. Jayakrishnan, “Is there a need for this Bill?”, (Seminar), No. 552, August 2005
10.
Beware of Tribal Bill’s Consequences: Buch, Hindustan Times, May 21, 2005
11.
Press Release, Ministry of Tribal Affairs
12.
Bela Bhatia, “Competing Concerns”, (Economic and Political Weekly), Nov 19, 2005
13.
Madhuri Krishnaswamy, “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back”, (Economic and Political Weekly), Nov 19, 2005
14.
Core Areas: National Parks and Sanctuaries are required to keep certain areas inviolate for purposes of wildlife conservation. The areas may be determined by the Ministry of the Central Government dealing with Environment and Forests.
15.
Mike Levien, “Narmada: Life, Struggle and Exodus”, (India Together), August 2004
16.
Ghazala Shahabuddin, Ravi Kumar, Manish Shrivastava, “Pushed over the Edge”, (Economic and Political Weekly), Aug 6, 2005
17.
Refer M.D. Madhusudan (Note 7)
18.
Wildlife Institute of India’s Executive Summary, “Wild Life Protected Area Network in India: A Review”
19.
Valmik Thapar’s Dissent Note in the Report of the Tiger Task Force (Joining the Dots) set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forest
20.
Jean Dreze, “Tribal Evictions from Forest Land”, March 2005
21.
Refer Madhuri Krishnaswamy (Note 13)
22.
Refer Madhuri Krishnaswamy (Note 13)
23.
Madhu Sarin, “Scheduled Tribes Bill, 2005: A Comment”, (Economic and Political Weekly), May 21, 2005
24.
Refer Jean Dreze (Note 20)
Comments (1)
* Posted by Dambarudhar Jamuda,
The FDSTs are mostly illiterate. Hence their gram Sabhas may not deliver goods. Whether the rules made thereunder require the Authorities to act as facilitators for the same and whether there is provision for fixing responsibility in case of lapses. Any legislation without teeth becomes ineffective, more so for the Acts meant for down trodden.
IN PICTURES – Fight for Survival, documentary, 20 mins.
For more information on the film: madari.shorturl.com
27 April 2006 – It is often overlooked that laws are driven by the values of the law makers. When these values turn against a particular community, such as the African-Americans in the Jim Crow South, zealous do-gooders often use the protection of the “law” to brutalize those communities. In India, the Animal Rights Act is such a cover, used by animal rights NGOs and forest department officials to prosecute the Madaris, an iconic community that has worked with animals through the millennia.
Fight for Survival won the second prize from amongst 85 films at the South-Asia Livelihood Documentary Festival “Jeevika”, organised by the Centre for Civil Society, in New Delhi from 20-28 January 2006.
• Convention of nomads and adivasis
• Gonds nourish aspirations at fair
In the film, Fight for Survival (20 mins), director Dakxin Bajrange shows us the results of this persecution. In Gujarat in 2003, the Animal Help Foundation and the forest department literally took the fight to the Madaris. Under the guise of protecting animals, Madaris were beaten by hired thugs, dragged out from their bastis, and locked up in dog-cages. Their snakes were taken away, depriving them of their only source of livelihood. But in the ruling values paradigm, officials and the urban NGO have greater credibility than the Madaris who are seen anyway as representative of an ignorant India, an India that ‘India Shining’ seeks to leave behind.
Bajrange spoke to the NGOs who decry that “India is known as a country of elephants and snake-charmers” and forest department officials to get their side for the film. The officials brush off the complaints of torture and beatings declaring that “to bring any change, some pain is necessary.” Despite its focus on particular episodes of persecution, Fight for Survival is a rich record of the lives of the Madaris. The Madaris emerge not just as “snake-charmers”, but a living, thriving, dynamic community.
Being a member of a stigmatised tribe himself, Bajrange brings to the film a sense of the real, lived experience of being on the wrong side of the law. In highlighting the situation of the Madaris, he speaks out for voiceless communities everywhere.
Tarun Jain.
27 Apr 2006
Tarun Jain is a Ph.D student in Economics at the University of Virginia.
• Adivasis
• Society
• Gujarat
• Post a comment on this article
Comments (2)
* Posted by Radhika Sharma,
I believe there are two ways of getting out of any situation; the one that makes the situation better and the one that makes it worse. The way that Animal Help Foundation and Forest Department are trying to solve this issue (and I say this with all due respect to the cause), is an example of the latter way.
India is indeed the land of snake charmers and elephants. And there are ways to make sure it stays that way, without the consequent harm to the animals. What if, for example, we were to introduce a system of licensing these madaris. Only the license holder madaris would be allowed to perform at predesignated places. These people could be subjected to regular inspections/surprise audits of the animals and the conditions they are kept in. Better still, these guys could be provided some basic training on how to look after their animals. This calls for more intervention and commitment from the government. The non-licence holder madaris, if trying to run a illegal show, can be then taken to task.
A cultural tradition should be provided more support to sustain and flourish, not eliminated.
* Posted by sandeep kumar,
respected sir,
I think the possible answer to this problem is to engage these snake charmers in
conservation of snakes by promoting venum cooperative which has helped the Irula tribe in Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. This will not only help the snake
charmers but will also help in snake conservation as well as snake bitten
people.
yours faithfully,
sandeep kumar,
jharkhand 827006
THE NARMADA SAGA
Shunglu committee : familiar fait accompli
Both the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister recognised that rehabilitation for Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river was incomplete, but neither was willing to fulfil their legal responsibility to actually stop construction. Instead, the the Shunglu Committee is now “independently” investigating rehabilitation and it appears compromised, worries Mike Levien.
3 July 2006 – Once again this year’s monsoon rains will bring destruction instead of kharif to the people of the Narmada Valley. Yet again the government has raised the height of the Sardar Sarovar (SSP) dam without providing rehabilitation to those who will be displaced. Successive dharnas by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) in Delhi, including a three week fast by Medha Patkar and dam-affected villagers Jamsingh Nargave and Bhagwatibai Patidar, have failed to make the government listen.
In May, 48 dam-affected villages presented overwhelming evidence in their Supreme Court application that rehabilitation of all affected families at the impending 122m dam height is incomplete. Both the government-appointed Group of Ministers who visited the valley and the Madhya Pradesh government in its own petition to the court confirmed this assertion. Despite all this, the Supreme Court allowed construction on the SSP to continue. It is indisputable that this decision is a direct violation of the apex court’s previous decisions and relevant law.
Without the threat of stopping construction, the states have no incentive to actually provide the required rehabilitation to project affected families.
• A moral breach in the dam
• The dams balance sheet
According to the Narmada Waters Dispute Tribunal Award (NWDTA) and the Supreme Court’s own decisions of 2000 and 2005, rehabilitation of all Project Affected Families (PAFs) in all three affected states (Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra) must be totally completed six months before each successive increase in the dam height. Anyone who cares can look this up in the original NWDTA decision and also the Supreme Court’s 2000 and 2005 decisions. Construction on the dam thus cannot legally precede full rehabilitation of affected families.
The Shunglu Committee
Both the apex court and the Prime Minister recognised that rehabilitation was incomplete, but neither was willing to fulfil their legal responsibility to stop construction. Instead, the Prime Minister created, and the Supreme Court endorsed, an Oversight Group (known as the Shunglu Committee) to “independently” investigate the rehabilitation situation in the Narmada Valley. The Court indicated that it would be willing to stop construction if the committee finds rehabilitation to be incomplete.
First, this decision employs a very strange logic. The Shunglu Committee was supposed to report back to the Prime Minister about the rehabilitation status in the valley by 20 June (this has since been delayed). Based on this report, the Prime Minister is supposed to issue a recommendation within seven days to the Supreme Court, which is expected to make a decision by July 3. Even if the committee finds that rehabilitation is incomplete (which it will if it conducts its mission in good faith), by this time construction up to 122 m will be finished!
This means that regardless of the committee’s findings, over 35,000 families in the Narmada Valley will see their homes, fields, and communities flooded before the vast majority of them are given their legally guaranteed rehabilitation. It must be stated again that this is entirely illegal according to the NWDTA and the Supreme Court’s previous decisions. Furthermore, as history shows, without the threat of stopping construction, the states have no incentive to actually provide the required rehabilitation to project affected families. Thus, lakhs of adivasis displaced at 110m, 100m, 90m and below are still languishing without alternative livelihoods to turn to, as any trip to the Narmada Valley will show.
Second, the survey of dam-affected villages that the Shunglu Committee has been conducting with the help of the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) is methodologically flawed in several ways. First, the instructions given to the committee by the Court only allow it to investigate whether those affected between the 110 and 122 metre dam heights have been rehabilitated. However, it is clear that lakhs of people below that height are still unrehabilitated due to past illegal height increases. Further, the committee is only allowed to verify the information presented in the state’s rehabilitation reports and cannot look beyond them.
Even if the committee finds that rehabilitation is incomplete (which it will if it conducts its mission in good faith), by this time construction up to 122 m will be finished!
Thus the committee is not investigating the status of affected people who are not on the government’s official lists. But one of the biggest problems with rehabilitation in the Narmada Valley is that thousands of people have been entirely left off the official PAF lists! Even as the committee is in the valley on its investigation, Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) officials are also there, resurveying and adding hundreds of more people to the lists daily. But none of these people will be shown in the committee’s report. Gramsabhas have also conducted comprehensive sample surveys in four villages, which show many more people affected by submergence than are on the government’s PAF lists. But the Shunglu Committee refuses to take all these into consideration.
Third, the way the surveyors are asking questions guarantee that they will miss much of what’s happening in the Narmada Valley. The surveyors are only asking people yes or no questions, and thus not allowing villages to provide open-ended answers that would shed light on the real rehabilitation realities that people are facing. For example, in one village an interviewee reported that he had not received compensation for his soon-to-be submerged house. Instead of noting this, the surveyor asked him if he had received a houseplot. The interviewee responded that he had on paper, but had not received compensation for his house and thus could not build a new one, and that moreover there were no civic amenities like electricity at the site. But the surveyor simply recorded that the person had received a houseplot! In another example, surveyors refused to listen to villagers who were trying to tell them that their land would become tapu (surrounded by water) because they did not have a column for that on their survey. Without open eyes and ears, how is the committee supposed to understand the actual situation in the valley?
Reports from many villages also indicate grave and inappropriate behaviour by government surveyors, which severely call into question their “independence” and impartialness. While surveyors are not supposed to be accompanied by government patwaris, NVDA officials have been seen with almost every team. Clearly this is inappropriate influence by an agency that has a vested interest in continued dam construction. Meanwhile, villagers not being directly surveyed and the people’s representative organisation (the NBA) are not allowed to talk to surveyors. Even more disturbing, surveyors have been propagandising and even making speeches to villagers about the dam project. Some surveyors have encouraged villages to accept the meager (and illegal) cash compensation that the government of Madhya Pradesh is offering instead of demanding the land they are legally entitled to. In another village, one of the surveyors (who happened to be from Gujarat) actually gave a speech to PAFs about how the dam was in the national interest and that they should make a sacrifice for it. Another told them that they should move to Gujarat. Is this an impartial survey or propaganda for illegal government policies? The Shunglu Committee appears not to be an independent investigation, but a stalling tactic, allowing dam construction to proceed before full rehabilitation is completed.
The patent absurdity of all this would make the situation comic if it weren’t so tragic. When the monsoon waters back up behind the 122m dam wall, many thousands of people will be flooded from their homes. Small adivasi villages and densely populated towns of Nimad will be submerged, along with their shops, markets, and temples. Farmers will lose their fields and crops, and since the concerned governments do not recognise many of them as affected, they will be shoved off without compensation or alternative land to turn to for their livelihood. Those who are identified as affected will be dumped in tin sheds with no cultivable land if they are lucky (even these tin shed homes have yet to be constructed in many of the rehabilitation sites). Others who are not officially counted could wind up in the slums of the nearest cities, as happened to many evictees of the upstream Bargi Dam. How many this will happen to is hard to predict as it depends on the size of the monsoon rains. But it’s a lot more people than all three state governments are recognising, and is certainly measured in lakhs.
What next?
Given the sheer number of oustees and the gaping holes in the governments’ rehabilitation plans, it is impossible that this could be corrected before the August-September submergence, even if the governments were making an effort. The Group of Ministers team sent to the Narmada Valley by the Prime Minister reported that rehabilitation in Madhya Pradesh at the 122m dam height would take at least another year.
The government must take several steps immediately. First, the problems with the Shunglu committee’s investigation must be acknowledged. Whatever the committee’s conclusions, it is already clear that their survey will provide only a very partial and incomplete picture of the rehabilitation situation in the Narmada Valley. The committee’s final report should take into consideration the information and critiques brought to light by the gramsabhas and the NBA. Two, with the impending monsoon rains, the government must act on war-footing to provide rehabilitation to those who will be displaced.
The glaring injustice and illegality of this must also serve as a lesson for next year, when the government will again try to push the dam height to 140 metres. But the law is clear. No further height increase should be allowed until it is shown that every family in the submergence area has received its full, legally-guaranteed rehabilitation. So far, the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister, and the three respective state governments have all failed to live up to their responsibility to enforce the law and protect the rights of people in the Narmada Valley. ⊕
Mike Levien
3 Jul 2006
Mike Levien is a Ph D Student in Sociology at the University of California-Berkeley. He can be reached at mlevien @ berkeley.edu. He has recently been travelling in the dam-affected villages and rehabilitation sites of the Narmada Valley, where he has spoken with dam-affected people. He previously spent a year in 2003-2004 writing about the Sardar Sarovar Project and Narmada Bachao Andolan.
MONSOON REPORT
Horrifying face of the dammed river
Incessant rainfall in the catchment area of the Sardar Sarovar dam, coupled with less water being allowed to flow into the Narmada main canal led to an unusual overflow in early August, despite upstream dams not recording downstream releases. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports on the devastation in the Narmada valley.
30 August 2006 – On 28 July, a news story filed by The Indian Express correspondent reported inflow of 651.29 cubic metres (23000 cubic feet) water per second at the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river. Four days later, on 2 August, a press release from PTI filed from Ahmedabad flashed the news of the controversial dam overflowing. Per second inflow of water at the dam was 3308.40 cubic metres (1.16 lakh cubic feet) and outflow through the sluice gates downstream was 1324.60 cubic metres (0.46 lakh cubic feet). Overflow was registered at 122.50 cubic metres (0.04 lakh cubic feet) per second.
Behind these apparently obscure numbers is the real story. This summer, following the clearance from Narmada Control Authority to raise the height of the dam from 110.64 to 121.92 metres, Gujarat had raised the height of the dam to 119 metres before the onset of the monsoon and had to stop the construction work when monsoon rains arrived. The water level at the dam had touched 119.11 meter mark, as indicated by a flood control room official. And as predicted, by the end of July, submergence had already started with increased inflow of water.
So there was a natural curiosity as to how effectively and optimally did Gujarat utilise the fresh impoundment water in the reservoir?
A correspondent with Gujarati language newspaper Sandesh reported that “the gate of Main Narmada Canal is just 0.5 metre open and the water flowing down the main canal is merely 580 cusecs (i.e. cubic feet per second).” A glance at Gujarati newspapers suggested that Narmada Main Canal was carrying such a meager amount of water thanks to breaches at several places. This situation led to the sudden build up of water at dam site since while the inflow of water into reservoir went up, following intense rains in the catchment area in Maharashtra, the volumes of waters flowing into main canal was very meager. (Breaches in the Narmada canal have occurred routinely during past couple of monsoons due to failure to provide for adequate drainage structures. See: Rivers and Plans run Off Course, Sep. 2005)
In the past years, the water level at Sardar Sarovar Dam site rose only after the release of water from upstream Tawa, Bargi and Indira Sagar Dam.
• In the dam’s waters they trust
• Overflowing with the official view
India Together readers will recollect the remarks made by P K Laheri, chairman of SSNNL on how would they utilise waters to be impounded in reservoir, were they allowed to raise the height of the dam (See: Overflowing with the Official View). Last year on 1 August, The Indian Express report quoted him saying, “All this water could have been saved. Two months of storage in the dam has been lost. If the level had been five metres higher, the curve of power generation would have been optimum. We could have filed up reservoirs in scarcity prone areas of Surendranagar and Banaskantha, or released water into more rivers like Sabarmati. We wanted to do all this in this monsoon. It is unfortunate…we will have to wait for the next season.”
The controversial dam has generated much debate and the summer of this year witnessed hundreds of oustees affected by the dam camping at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. And since the first week of August, the dam started overflowing leading to wide spread submergence in the river valley. The incessant rainfall in the catchment area of the dam, coupled with meager amount of water being allowed to flow into main canal led to a rather unusual event, where we witnessed the dam overflow even as upstream dams on the Narmada river had not recorded downstream releases. In the past years, the water level at Sardar Sarovar Dam site rose only after the release of water from upstream Tawa, Bargi and Indira sagar Dam. (Such downstream releases from upstream Tawa and Indira Sagar Dam started from August 15.)
On 4 August, water level at the dam site had reached a high of 127.4 metres.
The local people were planning to launch a satyagraha at three different villages slated to drown under dam waters starting during 5-7 August. But the sudden rise in the water levels at dam site led to drowning of houses from Dhankhedi, Bhadal and Danel villages in Maharashtra. Hamlets in other eight villages were just on the brink of submergence. Two jeevanshalas (boarding schools for adivasi students studying in 1st to 4th standard) in Danel and Bhadal village got submerged. But this did not dampen their spirits, more than 3000 adivasis and farmers marched to Badwani, M.P., a district headquarter that has been base of Narmada Bachao Andolan for last two decades, braving incessant rains. After taking out a rally at Badwani they gathered at Rajghat on the banks of Narmada river to launch a satyagraha with a resolve to fight the injustice. They were joined by the supporters and fraternal organizations from various states including Gujarat, Tamilnadu, Kerala, U.P., West Bengal, Delhi and other states.
But even as they moved to another adivasi village, Bhitada in Alirajpur tehsil of Jhabua district in M.P., they were in for a very grave situation with Narmada waters constantly rising. More than 120 children studying at Jeevanshala in Danel got stranded and had to face rising waters, until a barge from Maharashtra came around – not to rescue them but to arrest them. When the police arrested them and took them to the dam site, they took out a march against the displacement and the dam in Gujarat. They all were brought to Akkalkua later.
By the afternoon of 7 August 7 (at 1 pm), water level at the dam site had risen up to 127.35 metres. At Rajghat, the waters were overflowing the bridge connecting Nisarpur and Badwani towns. Even as this figure was reported, news agencies quoted Bharuch District Administrator suggesting that the water level at dam site may rise up to 129 metres by that time. The activists who returned from Bhitada and Chimalkhedi villages on 9 August described the situation in the submergence villages as horrifying. Noorjibhai Padvi of village Danel told visitors, “the huge mountains that took us hours to climb are all gone under water. It’s an awesome, horrifying face of the river that till the dam came was so friendly to us. It is this government that has robbed us of our friendly river and in turn given us this swollen reservoir that has unleashed large-scale devastation.” The hills the villagers referred to are part of Vindhya range.
Additionally, all roads leading towards the valley were blocked due to the heavy downpour. Apart from the cutting off the mountain routes, the waters had blocked the entry from Dhadgaon, from Madhya Pradesh or Gujarat to the villages affected by the Sardar Sarovar dam.
In the rehabilitation sites in Gujarat also, most of the fields of resettlement villages were inundated, destroying crops. In many sites such as Karnet, Thuvavi, etc., water entered the houses. In Maharashtra, waters entered in houses in Vadchhil and Javda and one ‘nullah’ burst, destroying the houses and sown fields. Keshav Vasave from Maharashtra pointed out that not only the Madhya Pradesh government, but Maharashtra government too failed to provide any decent and legal resettlement to the tribal oustees in the state. “There are no basic services like drinking water, fodder, fuel, cultivable land, protection from rains in these places. We are cheated and live the life of destitutes.”
The situation in the Narmada valley remains severely grave. In the absence of proper planning, what we have witnessed is that all the states are committed to thwart the debate and raise the dam height. And with ad hoc administration, they have created devastation in upstream submergence villages as well as downstream villages. Any further increase in the height has to be questioned, since not only have the state governments failed to rehabilitate affected people, they have also wreaked havoc with lives of people upstream and downstream.
Earlier, Supreme Court judges used a report of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Shunglu-committee, which does not present the ground level truth. They posted the next hearing in the ongoing case to September. Also, administration and news agencies in Gujarat have been issuing statements regarding situation downstream of the Sardar Sarovar dam, which is equally severe with 8.5 metres overflow registered at the dam site. Several villages and a large part of Bharuch town (downstream) got inundated with floodwaters.
To add insult to injury, the NVDA in Madhya Pradesh issued a press briefing that only spoke on affected people accepting the disbursal of cash compensation and passed it off as if they were getting rehabilitated with alternate land. The Pioneer reported this on 6 August. But that the cash compensation was illegal and that the NVDA was maintaining silence on the situation of adivasi villages affected by submergence, went unreported.
With a very high inflow at another dam – Ukai on the river Tapti – the city of Surat in south Gujarat was also severely affected by floods. Prime Minister Singh did undertake an aerial survey of Surat and south Gujarat. But he chose not to fly over the submerged Narmada valley, look at the large expanse of villages drowning under waters and then try to find on returning, what the Rehabilitation Oversight Group commented on the probability of submergence. Neither did the rising waters also ask the affected people before submerging their lands and homes. But making an oblique reference to the fate of the Narmada Dam oustees at his Independence Day speech, Singh said: “When I see large development projects coming up, while one rejoices at the progress that is being made, one worries for those who are displaced, for those who have lost their land and livelihood.”
This will not do. The decisions that have imposed submergence on affected people without properly rehabilitating them must be reversed. ⊕
Himanshu Upadhyaya
30 Aug 2006
Himanshu Upadhyaya is an independent researcher working on Public Finance and Accountability issues.
• Write the author
• Post a comment on this article
• Adivasis
• The Narmada saga
• Maharashtra
• Reprint permissions
Comments (3)
* Posted by kirti patel,
I just want to clarify that dam or higher dam hight were not the cause of flood.
1) With or without dam, the downstrean areas would experience floods when there is too much rainfall upstream for a small river chennel to manage the water flow.
2) Dam hight contains the waterflow resulting from excessive rain upstream. So dam height can prevent floods and not cause them.
3) The only times flood can still result is that rainfall is so heavy upstream that height of dam is not high enough to hold all that water forcing the authorities to release excessive water from the dam to prevent dam to be brown away.
(3) One can argue all day as to how much water should have been released and how and when – but it is not exact science – it depends on human judgements and how nature would behave over next several hours to days. Nobody can procrastinate how much rain would fall and how much water will be collected in upstream areas and how much excessive water that dams would have to handle – even best estimates are mere guesses and nature can prtove all of them wrong forcing unplanned and unanticipated actions that involves minimizing the fallout – choosing between lessor of the devastation. To politicise them is worst kind of political opportunism.
* Posted by K.Sriharsha,
The article by Mr.Himanshu Upadhayaya, clearly brings to fore the fact that even repeated blunders in the so called path of development with the lives of the marginalised do not bring about any change in the attitude of the rulers.
As amply portrayed in the article by Mr.Upadhayaya, the situation since the previous monsoon has only worsened if anything.
We can talk about the techicalities of water storage and discharge, but the question here is much graver than that. The question here is of lives of the poor.
* Posted by Himanshu Upadhyaya,
To totally miss the point that my article talked more about the devastation caused by Sardar Sarovar (Narmada) dam upstream due to submergence results probably from a biased misinterpretation. Those readers who miss the point the author wants to convey are free to read the said article and other articles hyperlinked on the page again. To merely behold an overflowing big dam and shout “a dam is overflowing and everything is at peace on the earth” is to close rational questioning at one’s own peril.
VERRIER ELWIN LECTURE
The tribal world and imagination of the future
“The Constitution is yours. The borders are yours. The sovereignty is yours. The flag is yours. What is ours? What is that is both tribal and Indian in the Constitution?” Shiv Visvanathan recalls an Independence-era conversation that marks the passage of the adivasis, unheard and unheeded, between two worlds.
14 November 2006 – Social scientists make poor story tellers. They get absorbed in the objectivity of roles and institutions, and are also unable to handle the nuances of repetition and redundancy, mistaking them for cliches. Yet social scientists must tell stories.
On November 9th, 1947, negotiations between the tribal communities of Chhotanagpur and the Indian government had broken down. The Indian army under General Cariappa was worried, its focus already under strain with the joint tensions of Kashmir and Hyderabad. Only Sardar Patel was cool. He said, “we don’t fight the tribals. These people fought wars of independence years before 1857. They are the original nationalists.”
Patel’s sentiment had the idea that these tribals wanted a nation without the nation-state. They loved the idea of Gandhi as father of the nation but they would not accept the idea of the nation-state which was anathema. For India, the problem of the Constituent Assembly had become a fractured dialogue confronting a divided nation. The first division was the silence of the Partition, the absence of the Muslim League in the making of the Indian state. But the second break that perplexed Patel, Nehru and Azad was the recalcitrance of the tribes. It was not just the claim that they were autochthonous, more original and native to India. It was not the argument that now that freedom was coming, the Indians as conquerors should leave like the British were leaving with their baggage of modernity, isms and the Janus gift of progress. Two outsiders being shown the exit door was high drama, but as comedy. For the tribals, while British hegemony was tragedy, Indian democracy would be a farce. Neutral observers cringed at this fatal use of Marx.
“These people fought wars of independence years before 1857. They are the original nationalists.”
Nehru and Sardar were clear. The tribals were not razakars. Their culture was different. Their plea was different. Their world and their arguments were an appeal to a different imagination. The tribals, the leaders felt, had to be talked to. Or, in the more dialogic language of democracy, they had to be talked with. A change of prepositions was becoming a change of propositions. Grammar was the first signal of change, language, the first semiotics of freedom.
While the call for dialogue was in the air, there were a few violent skirmishes. A few criminal/denotified tribals were lynched in public. Two young boys were tortured to death. The osmosis of power was clear. British or Indian, tribes were to be the cannon fodder of the emerging state. The criminal justice system was irrelevant to them. Of course witnesses in official time would laugh cynically. The Indian state was still feeble, still hesitant. It had yet to offer its great contribution, the drama of encounter deaths, to the world. Encounter. Let me tell the reader it was not a dialogic idea which summoned a Buber or Gandhi. Encounter was an asymmetric event, a zero sum game where any random tribal was shot dead because he was seen as guilty by being. The Indian police in later years would add their own privatized twist to it by creating a perverse system of accounting. They would file for excess ammunition and sell it off to the arms market.
Despite the violence the tribal leaders held their peace. They wanted their world along our world. They wanted to be separate, equal and reciprocal. The Gandhians and socialists were the most perplexed. Jaipal Singh, one of the leaders, tried to explain. He asked them to recollect the early days of the constituent assembly when the groups were discussing the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP). He reminded them of the discussion on prohibition, the state’s right to prohibit alcohol. Singh reminded them that at that time, he had said he could not think of tribes without their wine. He recollected how the Gandhians had reprimanded him. When he had said a tribal’s drink was a part of his being, his identity, his festivals, his celebrations of life, the Gandhians had turned preachy, saying it violated the precepts of the master, turning tribals into a social work problem.
Singh laughed at this, and said either the missionaries had never left or when they left, they had left behind the Trojan horse called ‘social work’. He asked them to look at the violence of social work, where some group is always defined as problematic, unreformable, and refractory to the state. Social work problematizes the tribal as alcoholic even before he accepts the state.
Nehru summoned Jaipal Singh, Ram Dayal Munda and other leaders to Delhi. The men from Chhotanagpur spent their day with their old Christian friend J C Kumarappa. The acerbic Gandhian welcomed them and proceeded to quarrel with Nehru and Singh. Late next day, he drove them in a tanga from the locality of Paharganj to Parliament. There was a commotion near India Gate. The army held up the tanga saying it was not allowed on public roads. Kumarappa argued that the army could not decide what was public. The guests watched curiously wondering if the Viceroy’s horse had similar problems. Eventually a phone call from Nehru cleared the controversy and the dissidents made their regal way to Parliament offices.
The two teams met and Nehru talked about history, the new tryst with destiny. He felt at ease. Singh was also a Cambridge don, a hockey blue. Singh listened and told Nehru he did not believe in history. He asked Nehru whether he had heard of the new word which had just been invented by President Truman. He called it ‘development’. An innocuous word, colourless, odourless like most poisons and equally lethal. Munda warned him that development would claim more victims than any religion, any dogma. Nehru was distracted and wondered what he was talking about. Only Kumarappa stood still, as if he had seen a new horseman of the Apocalypse. The two groups decided to meet over the next few weeks to talk things over. Nehru and Patel were clear they could not think of an India without tribes. The tribal team agreed whole-heartedly.
The Kumarappa papers
The report of the discussion that followed was found in the Kumarappa papers. It came to light only in 2005, when two young researchers, then-diasporic Indians from the University of Maryland, Venu Madhav Govindu and Deepak Malghan, obtained a fellowship to write a biography of the man. The report is a portion constructed on the basis of Kumarappa’s minutes. The report is a bit secretive as to names, occasionally using initials, which were a trifle confusing. The debates of ideas, the politics is starkly there but the gossipy richness of who said what to whom is occasionally lost.
The meeting with the Chhotanagpur Five was held in Teen Murti Bhavan, then home of Jawaharlal. The meeting was attended by Sarojini Naidu, Abul Kalam Azad, Kaka Saheb Kalelkar, Nehru and Patel. Benegal Rau, ICS, was secretary and rapporteur. A British anthropologist, a certain Verrier Elwin, also informally attended some sessions of the meeting.
The meeting broke into a furore even before the terms of the discussions could be elaborated. The unfortunate event that led to the confusion was the word ‘secessionist’. Mrs. Naidu’s use of the term was objected to. The Chhotanagpur five not only objected to the use of the term, but also what they claimed was the misunderstandings it created. Secession, they felt, was an unfortunate term. Secession was the key word in a political discourse and it unfortunately assumed the baggage of state discourse, of passports, nationality, boundaries, borders and security. Oddly, it was Mr. Elwin who grasped it with typical understatement. He explained to Mrs. Naidu, “Our Munda friend is not talking politics. He is talking as kinsmen. When families mature or when a young man decides to marry, he takes a new home close to his old one. The new house is different from but connected with the old home. Segmentation would be the more appropriate word. Only now the older home is demanding a distance from the new.”
In India, citizenship belongs not just to a domesticated middle class, but its millions of nomads, its pastoral groups, its tribals who were not part of the constituent assembly and probably never heard of it.
One of the five, Dr. Raphael Horo, himself part of the new Ranchi Institute of Research, agreed vigorously. But Singh intervened to add, “yes it is a kinship term. We are kinsmen. But there is a politics to it. One has to redefine secession separately. It is not just the physical movement of a group away from the ruler. In that sense, India was always full of secessions, full of a million quarrels or mutinies. Villagers used to move away from the ruler whenever he turned oppressive. In many cases, the ruler sent a messenger beseeching his subjects to come back and they did.” (Elwin notes in his diary, that Patel grunted at this movement.)
The Chhotanagpur five argued that Indian democracy would always have to be fluid or different. It was not a stock of collectivities but a flow of people. In India, citizenship belongs not just to a domesticated middle class, but its millions of nomads, its pastoral groups, its tribals who were not part of the constituent assembly and probably never heard of it. Their way of life, their taxonomies defied the nation-state. India could only be India if yesterday’s secessionist was today’s citizen. It was a cycle of life, lifestyle, of livelihood that transcended the current ideas of politics. Modern politics hovers between taxonomy and taxidermy. Either way, it wants to pin you down. Benegal Rau, remembering his revered Laski and Dudley Stamp, blurted that this challenged the current ideas of place and space. Elwin brushed it aside by commenting a nomad carries his place with him. But a tribal leader emphasized there was more to it.
Dr. Horo chuckled quizzically. He explained to Elwin that it is not anthropology you need but science fiction. Quoting Margaret Mead, the young Columbia University anthropologist explained that what anthropology invents of the past, science fiction does the same of the future. It is the anthropology of the future, a visionary science which would be taught in a post-colonial age. The structure of India is such that it needs renewal and dynamism. People seceding and returning will be a cycle of political seasons. “Our new Ranchi Institute survey projects that by the 1980′s at least 20-30 million Indians and not just tribals would be seceding in some form or other.”
Nehru snapped abruptly saying, “Enough of H. G. Wells and Verne.” Munda replied, “Wells as a novelist was a fertile imagination. It was Wells as a Fabian who went dead politically.”
An uneasy silence followed. Rau notes in his minutes that Nehru was wondering whether it was Columbia University rather than LSE he should be worrying about. Columbia produced Kumarappa, Ambedkar, and now Horo. This lot unlike the Laski troupe were more unpredictably political. Nehru added that when he told Horo that SF was not even literature, Horo is said to have replied, “you have to think beyond Leavis. SF is bad text trying to capture the oral nature of storytelling. As archive, it is miserable, as conversation and dream exquisite.”
Kumarappa, in his minutes, notes that Patel, listening to all these asides, was getting impatient. He turned to Jaipal Singh and said, “All this is meaningless. We are not debating a syllabus, we are discussing a constitution. Constitutionally what you are suggesting is not possible.” Patel insisted, “Our preamble is non-negotiable. Our borders are non-negotiable. This is not a seminar or a haat. It is about our country you are talking about.”
Singh nodded sadly, realising that when push came to shove the “tribals were not yet Indians. Only potential Indians, problematic Indians, primitive Indians, but never Indians per se. India, like Brahminism, needs twice-borns not the twice-aborted.” Both groups realized that positions were polarized and old wounds had surfaced. Mrs. Naidu proposed the group meet early the following day. That was the only item of consensus that day.
The next day began warmly, like old friends reuniting over tea. Yet the mood shifted oddly within a few minutes when Raphael Horo asked, “what about the third secession?”
Panditji exploded, “There has been no other act of secession. Partition is not secession. Yours is the only event of secession.” Jaipal Singh immediately agreed that the question of Partition was different from the tribal debate. But then added quietly, “what about CPR?”
There was a sense of defeat on both sides. Both realized they had been upstaged by history with capital H.
• Year of birth: 1871
• For tribals, only paper pledges
It was Patel who answered. “Travancore did not secede. C. P. Ramaswami pledged total loyalty to India. CPR is not the Nizam. He is totally Indian.”
It was one of the five who intervened. His name is not mentioned. He said, “what if?” There was an incredulous silence. He said, “what if ecology demanded that Kerala secede but allow its citizens to migrate and work in India? Would India or Kerala have lost anything? With its land reform, its openness to women, its social movements for temple reform, it might be an alternative model to India.” Patel dismissed the Marxists as a bunch of Brahmin boys. Munda noted that the original description was Ambedkar’s.
Then Jaipal Singh began one of his longer speeches. He looked only at Nehru and Patel. He said, “there is little you are offering us. The Constitution is yours. The borders are yours. The sovereignty is yours. The flag is yours. What is ours? What is that is both tribal and Indian in the Constitution? What is the shared legacy, the common weave? You have defined rights, the isms, the industry, the science, let something be ours.” It was then that Nehru proposed that maybe Singh could define Directive Principles of State Policy. Singh added wryly, “Ah the non-justiciable part.” Nehru added, “It is a vision of the future.” Munda said he liked the irony, “your past as your future, our anthropology now as your science fiction.” Over the next two days, the tribals wrote or itemized the dreams of the future into the Directive Principles of State Policy.
The Kumarappa diaries mention that the debates around the DPSP became one of the most vibrant dialogues about the future of India. What struck him most was that tribals as an interest group did not begin with their sense of victimhood, of wrongs to be righted, but of democracy as a fundamental question.
The Kumarappa report indicates that the Chotanagpur five were excited by the prospects of the exercise and adds that their discussions provided one of the most interesting chapters of the new constituent assembly debates. As Raphael Horo said later, “It is only when anthropology confronts science fiction or when primitivism meets robotics that the basic assumptions of a society begin to reveal themselves.” One also understands the difference between pre-emptive futures captive to old isms and the preferred futures, the song lines of freedom. What remains today is the preamble the group wrote to the Directive Principles.
The DPSP, they argued, was a gyroscope for the future, a sociological litmus test, an early warning system telling you whether the directions make sense. Horo, its principal author, began by contending, “A constitution is a symbol of homecoming. It enfranchises all those made homeless, made helpless by old laws. It is an invitation to the marginal, the vulnerable, the outlaw, the dissenters to experience the constitution as a dwelling, a place for multiple beings and becomings. The future is only a possibility for citizenship.”
The paradox of the Indian Constitution is that it disenfranchises thrice. It disenfranchises, outlaws and negates the tribe. Its ideas of sovereignty, its notion of the eminent domain assures the tribal or the peasant has no access to the forest. He has no access to his resources or a theatre for his cosmology. His food, his medicines, his play all came from the forest but forest is no longer a commons. The drama of common access and common maintenance is now over. It is the ultimate paradox of anthropology where the native becomes outlaw in his own land. We face the paradox of a constitution that criminalizes its own citizens.
Munda notes added that the disenfranchisement of the marginal tribal peasant was hidden in the abstractness and alleged universalism of the Constitution. A constitution that floats in abstract time is genocidal. Worse, it has no memory of its own executions as it fails to record the logic of its own erasures. The group feels that all constitutions that float in abstract time are cosmically homeless. A constitution must embody multiple time – the time of the nomad, the seasonal time of pastoral groups, the time of agriculture and women’s time. The DPSP is a ganglion of times that connects to official constitution based on clock time. Clock time for the constitution is both empty and necrophilic.
The ecological embedding of the constitution needs not only an embedding in time, but in the life-worlds of its people. A constitution can’t only deal with life in the abstract as a system. It has to connect life, life world, life cycle, livelihood, lifestyle to the life chances of the people. To speak of electricity and nuclear power in the world of the forest is lethally paradoxical.
A constitution cannot tacitly speak the language of an official science. If every citizen is a man of knowledge, then the constitution must be a referendum of multiple knowledges. The citizen is not an object of science. Instead, every man must be seen as a scientist, every village a science academy.
To officialize western science is to pre-empt a future. It privileges the synthetic fertilizer over the earthworm and all the other organisms that make life possible. It is a constitution that privileges taxidermy over life. We understand the dreams of science but we demand it understands other forms of knowledge not in the museum or the laboratory but in the domain of life.
Given the gigantic technological projects emerging around roads, factories, dams, the old panchayat of consensus and participation is not adequate. We need a new concept that brings the tribe, the policeman, the healer, the shamam, the doctor, the psychiatrist, the vaid and the hakim into a conversation of knowledges. But a mere dialogue is not enough. We suggest the new concept of cognitive justice, the right of different knowledges to co-exist and thrive together. Medical policy then must reflect the grammar of these different notions of suffering, health and healing. The pluralism of ecological, medical, agricultural systems may not survive without cognitive justice.
A technological project is not an act of innocence. But it needs a new democracy of vigilance. We propose:
* That human rights teams be attached to every project.
* That every project be subject to rules of transparency.
* That the methodology of doubt and skepticism that science made famous be applied to every project beginning with the Damodar Valley Corporation.
* That each project be subject to referendum and occasional recall.
* That the language of evaluation should be also in the language of subjects, their notions of memory, their ideas of well being, their sense of fairness.
After the meeting
The Kumarappa documents end with this fragment. Legend has it that there was a longer extract focusing on the everyday-ness of culture, politics and technology. When the documents came up for discussion, the beginning of the end was clear. The Gandhians and socialists and the Marxists treated it with contempt. The document lacked the Linus blanket of progress. It appeared like a letter from another world.
Both Nehru and Sardar were too preoccupied with the Partition. Sardar had become more Bismarckian than ever refusing any negotiation on the nation-state, “We need a copy book nation. If I allow you the freedom to experiment, the whole of the north east would go on fire.” Nehru struck a different chord echoing the other half of Sardar’s mind. He said, “the partition has been too traumatic. Over one million people dead and 16 million people displaced. We need time to heal” he begged. The rest sympathized but Horo blurted, “one day you will create more refugees from your dam projects. DVC will be an epidemic”. But there was a sense of defeat on both sides. Both realized they had been upstaged by history with capital H. The legal expert Rafael Lemkin had just coined the word Genocide to refer to the holocaust. Partition, everyone realized, could be the invisible Holocaust.
The meeting broke down soon after. Nehru and Sardar had joined the costume ball of the state. Governance has its dramas which are demanding. Jaipal Singh and Munda returned to wait as Nehru advised. But the opportunity never came. Sometimes tragedy is a drama whose time never comes. All it leaves is the salty stale bitter taste of irony of a forgotten people.
Rememberance
Of the Chotanagpur five, only one remains alive, Raphael Horo. He left soon after the meetings for a small college town in the United States to teach anthropology. Horo had built a tremendous reputation as a linguist. His dictionaries were standard work.
I bumped into him at a conference. He sensed my presence, deftly moving away and foiling my first attempts at meeting him. I ambushed him over coffee one afternoon and asked him about his reflections. There was no bitterness in what he said. It was almost as if history was a trickster from whom we must learn. “Independence was a time for hope. We were like kids at Christmas, each leaving his socks out hoping for his own version of freedom. I guess we realize independence is not freedom. It is like space and place. Independence is like space. It is official. Freedom is a place, it needs to be built again and again.” He paused and suddenly asked, “Have you been to Jamshedpur, the home of Tata Steel. I used to watch the Dalma hills where my tribe used to practice Jhum, setting fire to the forest. It was a stupendous, almost mythical blaze. On one side of the hills, you could see the forest on fire and on the other, the Tata factories pouring slag down their huge factory mounds. Two fires, two modes of creativity and for a while I thought they were balanced. After all there was the kinship of iron and steel within us.”
“It did not work.” There was a silence, a thoughtful one as if Horo was collecting the right word. “It was a victory of stereotypes. The government read us as a bundle of complaints, a trade union of tribal rights and interests, but we were not interested in being interest groups of foisting victimology. We wanted to join the festival called freedom, offer our ideas, our philosophies, our vision of India, but we had already been museumized or criminalized. We went as philosophers and were dismissed as savages.”
“Have you read the Brundtland* report? It is supposed to be on sustainable development, on energy. It is bowdlerised idiocy. There is more sustainability in Jhum, in shifting cultivation, that in the entire report. If Brundtland is the Charles Lamb, shifting cultivation is a Shakespearian drama of sustainability.”
He laughed and shrugged. “Take care,” he said.
I never met him again. ⊕
Shiv Visvanathan
14 Nov 2006
Shiv Vishwanathan is a sociologist based in Ahmedabad. He teaches at Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Infortmation and Communication Technology. This article is the text of the 2006 Verrier Elwin lecture organized by the Bhasha Research and Publications Centre. The lecture was delivered in the form of historical fiction. Both the meeting descibed herein and its report attributed to J C Kumarappa are fictional and not real historical events.
* The Brundtland report is the report of the UN World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland.
Comments (4)
* Posted by G.K.Subbarayudu,
Fascinating. One India or Many? The question is better issuized here than in other sub-national discussions. For the first time, I see the issue as larger than political ideologies of region, language, religion, caste, class, community which were hell-bent on trivializing sub-nationalisms for limited gain. What this post shows is that the way forward is for India to have a more expansive and responsive political attitude to what are essentially cultural differences. Homogenising is a restrictive practice that fuels conflict. The flowing movements adduced here are more likely to keep an India together with minimum friction than the hardened borders of constitutional delimitation. Thoughts of uniform codes by politically motivated groups must be dumped . Let code-mixing happen in a more natural time-frame than the artificial, legislated, majoritarian, insistent ones adopted by politicized hustlers.Political objectives should not be allowed to override and hasten cultural flows and directions.
I am not sure I am saying anything with any degree of clarity. What I do know is I am beginning to see something refracting, and my certainties will no longer be self-validating.
Thanks .
Sincerely
Subbu
* Posted by sipra mukherjee,
Fascinating. A land furore happening in bengal’s singur right now that carries the same echoes – whose land? whose government? who decides? But what is interesting – perhaps heart-sinkingly disappointing – is that even the sound of these echoes is beginning to get distanced from reality. Do the sounds that reach us emanate from the mouths of the natives, – or the political parties? Or is it a case of appropriation of the native protest by the political leaders? It is impossible to say any more. The stereotypes seem to have taken over here too.
* Posted by Anil,
superb piece indeed, it very beautifully takes us to a differnt level of understanding which needs to be understood especially in thses turbulant times when the prophecies are coming true. In fact I am of a firm belief that indigenous people’s ways of society offers a sustainable development model.
only thing that keeps me wondering is how can the author say only one is alive as Our very own Ram Dayal Munda is very much alive.
* Posted by Ranjeet,
Great reading! And what to say about the vision of these Great Adivasi leaders! But the sad part is that though a tribal’s drink may be a part of his being, his identity, his festivals, his celebrations of life, there can be no arguments that it also has proved to be the downfall of many promising, Jaipal Singh included.
PUCL Bulletin, February 2003
The Adivasis of India -
A History of Discrimination, Conflict, and Resistance
– By C.R. Bijoy, Core Committee of the All India Coordinating Forum of Adivasis/Indigenous Peoples
The 67.7 million people belonging to “Scheduled Tribes” in India are generally considered to be ‘Adivasis’, literally meaning ‘indigenous people’ or ‘original inhabitants’, though the term ‘Scheduled Tribes’ (STs) is not coterminous with the term ‘Adivasis’. Scheduled Tribes is an administrative term used for purposes of ‘administering’ certain specific constitutional privileges, protection and benefits for specific sections of peoples considered historically disadvantaged and ‘backward’.
However, this administrative term does not exactly match all the peoples called ‘Adivasis’. Out of the 5653 distinct communities in India, 635 are considered to be ‘tribes’ or ‘Adivasis’. In comparison, one finds that the estimated number of STs varies from 250 to 593.
For practical purposes, the United Nations and multilateral agencies generally consider the STs as ‘indigenous peoples’. With the ST population making up 8.08% (as of 1991) of the total population of India, it is the nation with the highest concentration of ‘indigenous peoples’ in the world!
The Constitution of India, which came into existence on 26 January 1950, prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15) and it provides the right to equality (Article 14), to freedom of religion (Articles 25-28) and to culture and education (Articles 29-30). STs are supposedly addressed by as many as 209 Articles and 2 special schedules of the Constitution – Articles and special schedules which are protective and paternalistic.
Article 341 and 342 provides for classification of Scheduled Castes (the untouchable lower castes) and STs, while Articles 330, 332 and 334 provides for reservation of seats in Parliament and Assemblies. For purposes of specific focus on the development of STs, the government has adopted a package of programmes, which is administered in specific geographical areas with considerable ST population, and it covers 69% of the tribal population.
Despite this, and after the largest “modern democracy” of the world has existed for more than half a century, the struggles for survival of Adivasis – for livelihood and existence as peoples – have today intensified and spread as never before in history.
Over centuries, the Adivasis have evolved an intricate convivial-custodial mode of living. Adivasis belong to their territories, which are the essence of their existence; the abode of the spirits and their dead and the source of their science, technology, way of life, their religion and culture.
Back in history, the Adivasis were in effect self-governing ‘first nations’. In general and in most parts of the pre-colonial period, they were notionally part of the ‘unknown frontier’ of the respective states where the rule of the reign in fact did not extend, and the Adivasis governed themselves outside of the influence of the particular ruler.
The introduction of the alien concept of private property began with the Permanent Settlement of the British in 1793 and the establishment of the “Zamindari” system that conferred control over vast territories, including Adivasi territories, to designated feudal lords for the purpose of revenue collection by the British. This drastically commenced the forced restructuring of the relationship of Adivasis to their territories as well as the power relationship between Adivasis and ‘others’. The predominant external caste-based religion sanctioned and practiced a rigid and highly discriminatory hierarchical ordering with a strong cultural mooring.
This became the natural basis for the altered perception of Adivasis by the ‘others’ in determining the social, and hence, the economic and political space in the emerging larger society that is the Indian diaspora. Relegating the Adivasis to the lowest rung in the social ladder was but natural and formed the basis of social and political decision making by the largely upper caste controlled mainstream. The ancient Indian scriptures, scripted by the upper castes, also further provided legitimacy to this.
The subjugated peoples have been relegated to low status and isolated, instead of either being eliminated or absorbed. Entry of Europeans and subsequent colonisation of Asia transformed the relationship between the mainstream communities and tribal communities of this region. Introduction of capitalism, private property and the creation of a countrywide market broke the traditional economy based on use value and hereditary professions.
All tribal communities are not alike. They are products of different historical and social conditions. They belong to four different language families, and several different racial stocks and religious moulds. They have kept themselves apart from feudal states and brahminical hierarchies for thousands of years.
In the Indian epics such as Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas (folklores) there are many references to interactions and wars between the forest or hill tribes and the Hindus.
Eminent historians who have done detailed research on the epic Ramayana (200 B.C to 500 B.C) have concluded that ‘Lanka’, the kingdom of the demonic king Ravana and ‘Kishkinda’, the homeland of the Vanaras (depicted as monkeys) were places situated south of Chitrakuta hill and north of Narmada river in middle India. Accordingly, Ravana and his demons were an aboriginal tribe, most probably the Gond, and the Vanaras, like Hanuman in the epic, belonged to the Savara and Korku tribes whose descendants still inhabit the central Indian forest belt. Even today, the Gond holds Ravana, the villain of Ramayana, in high esteem as a chief. Rama, the hero of Ramayana, is also known for slaughtering the Rakshasas (demons) in the forests!
The epic of Mahabharata refers to the death of Krishna at the hands of a Bhil Jaratha. In the ancient scriptures, considered to be sacred by the upper castes, various terms are used depicting Adivasis as almost non-humans. The epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata, the Puranas, Samhitas and other so-called ‘sacred books’ refer to Adivasis as Rakshasa (demons), Vanara (monkeys), Jambuvan (boar men), Naga (serpents), Bhusundi Kaka (crow), Garuda (King of Eagles) etc. In medieval India, they were called derogatorily as Kolla, Villa, Kirata, Nishada, and those who surrendered or were subjugated were termed as Dasa (slave) and those who refused to accept the bondage of slavery were termed as Dasyu (a hostile robber).
Ekalavya, one of their archers was so skillful that the hero of the Aryans, Arjuna, could not stand before him. But they assaulted him, cutting his thumb and destroying his ability to fight – and then fashioned a story in which he accepted Drona as his Guru and surrendered his thumb as an offering to the master! The renowned writer Maheshwata Devi points out that Adivasis predated Hinduism and Aryanism, that Siva was not an Aryan god and that in the 8th century, the tribal forest goddess or harvest goddess was absorbed and adapted as Siva’s wife. Goddess Kali, the goddess of hunters, has definitely had a tribal origin.
History of the Adivasis
Little is known about the relationship between the Adivasis and non-Adivasi communities during the Hindu and Muslim rules. There are stray references to wars and alliances between the Rajput kings and tribal chieftains in middle India and in the North-East between the Ahom Kings of Brahmaputra valley and the hill Nagas. They are considered to be ati-sudra meaning lower than the untouchable castes. Even today, the upper caste people refer to these peoples as jangli, a derogatory term meaning “those who are like wild animals” – uncivilised or sub-humans.
The Adivasis have few food taboos, rather fluid cultural practices and minimal occupational specialization, while on the other hand, the mainstream population of the plains have extensive food taboos, more rigid cultural practices and considerable caste-based occupational specialisation. In the Hindu caste system, the Adivasis have no place. The so-called mainstream society of India has evolved as an agglomeration of thousands of small-scale social groups whose identities within the larger society are preserved by not allowing them to marry outside their social groups.
The subjugated groups became castes forced to perform less desirable menial jobs like sweeping, cleaning of excreta, removal of dead bodies, leather works etc – the untouchables. Some of the earliest small-scale societies dependent on hunting and gathering, and traditional agriculture seem to have remained outside this process of agglomeration. These are the Adivasis of present day. Their autonomous existence outside the mainstream led to the preservation of their socio-religious and cultural practices, most of them retaining also their distinctive languages. Widow burning, enslavement, occupational differentiation, hierarchical social ordering etc are generally not there. Though there were trade between the Adivasis and the mainstream society, any form of social intercourse was discouraged. Caste India did not consciously attempt to draw them into the orbit of caste society.
But in the process of economic, cultural and ecological change, Adivasis have attached themselves to caste groups in a peripheral manner, and the process of de-tribalisation is a continuous one. Many of the Hindu communities have absorbed the cultural practices of the Adivasis. Although Hinduism could be seen as one unifying thread running through the country as a whole, it is not homogenous but in reality a conglomeration of centuries old traditions and shaped by several religious and social traditions which are more cultural in their essence (and including elements of Adivasi socio-religious culture).
Adivasis at the lowest rung of the ladder
Adivasis are not, as a general rule, regarded as unclean by caste Hindus in the same way as Dalits are. But they continue to face prejudice (as lesser humans), they are socially distanced and often face violence from society. They are at the lowest point in every socioeconomic indicator. Today the majority of the population regards them as primitive and aims at decimating them as peoples or at best integrating them with the mainstream at the lowest rung in the ladder. This is especially so with the rise of the fascist Hindutva forces.
None of the brave Adivasi fights against the British have been treated as part of the “national” struggle for independence. From the Malpahariya uprising in 1772 to Lakshman Naik’s revolt in Orissa in 1942, the Adivasis repeatedly rebelled against the British in the north-eastern, eastern and central Indian belt. In many of the rebellions, the Adivasis could not be subdued, but terminated the struggle only because the British acceded to their immediate demands, as in the case of the Bhil revolt of 1809 and the Naik revolt of 1838 in Gujarat. Heroes like Birsa Munda, Kanhu Santhal, Khazya Naik, Tantya Bhil, Lakshman Naik, Kuvar Vasava, Rupa Naik, Thamal Dora, Ambul Reddi, Thalakkal Chandu etc are remembered in the songs and stories of the Adivasis but ignored in the official text books.
The British Crown’s dominions in India consisted of four political arrangements:
1. the Presidency Areas where the Crown was supreme,
2. the Residency Areas where the British Crown was present through the Resident and the Ruler of the realm was subservient to the Crown,
3. the Agency (Tribal) areas where the Agent governed in the name of the Crown but left the local self-governing institutions untouched and
4. the Excluded Areas (north-east) where the representatives of the Crown were a figure head.
After the transfer of power, the rulers of the Residency Areas signed the “Deed of Accession” on behalf of the ruled on exchange they were offered privy purse. No deed was however signed with most of the independent Adivasi states. They were assumed to have joined the Union. The government rode rough shod on independent Adivasi nations and they were merged with the Indian Union. This happened even by means of state violence as in the case of Adivasi uprising in the Nizam’s State of Hyderabad and Nagalim.
While this aspect did not enter the consciousness of the Adivasis at large in the central part of India where they were preoccupied with their own survival, the picture was different in the north-east because of the historic and material conditions. Historically the north-east was never a part of mainland India. The colonial incorporation of north-east took place much later than the rest of the Indian subcontinent. While Assam ruled by the Ahoms came under the control of British in 1826, neighbouring Bengal was annexed in 1765. Garo Hills were annexed in 1873, Naga Hills in 1879 and Mizoram under the Chin-Lushai Expeditions in 1881-90. Consequently, the struggles for self-determination took various forms as independence to greater autonomy.
A process of marginalization today, the total forest cover in India is reported to be 765.21 thousand sq. kms. of which 71% are Adivasi areas. Of these 416.52 and 223.30 thousand sq. kms. are categorised as reserved and protected forests respectively. About 23% of these are further declared as Wild Life Sanctuaries and National Parks which alone has displaced some half a million Adivasis. By the process of colonisation of the forests that began formally with the Forest Act of 1864 and finally the Indian Forest Act of 1927, the rights of Adivasis were reduced to mere privileges conferred by the state.
This was in acknowledgement of their dependence on the forests for survival and it was politically forced upon the rulers by the glorious struggles that the Adivasis waged persistently against the British. The Forest Policy of 1952, the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972 and the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 downgraded these privileges of the peoples to concessions of the state in the post-colonial period.
With globalisation, there are now further attempts to change these paternalistic concessions to being excluded as indicated by the draft “Conservation of Forests and Natural Ecosystems Act” that is to replace the forest act and the amendments proposed to the Land Acquisition Act and Schedule V of the constitution. In 1991, 23.03% of STs were literate as against 42.83% among the general population. The Government’s Eighth Plan document mentions that nearly 52% of STs live below the poverty line as against 30% of the general population.
In a study on Kerala, a state considered to be unique for having developed a more egalitarian society with a high quality of life index comparable to that of only the ‘developed’ countries, paradoxically shows that for STs the below poverty line population was 64.5% while for Scheduled Castes it was 47% and others 41%. About 95% of Adivasis live in rural areas, less than 10% are itinerant hunter-gatherers but more than half depend upon forest produce. Very commonly, police, forest guards and officials bully and intimidate Adivasis and large numbers are routinely arrested and jailed, often for petty offences.
Only a few Adivasi communities which are forest dwellers have not been displaced and continue to live in forests, away from the mainstream development activities, such as in parts of Bastar in Madhya Pradesh, Koraput, Phulbani and Mayurbanj in Orissa and of Andaman Islands.
Thousands of Korku children below the age of six died in the 1990s due to malnutrition and starvation in the Melghat Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra due to the denial of access to their life sustaining resource base. Adivasis of Kalahandi-Bolangir in Orissa and of Palamu in south Bihar have reported severe food shortage. According to the Central Planning Committee of the Government of India, nearly 41 districts with significant Adivasi populations are prone to deaths due to starvation, which are not normally reported as such.
Invasion of Adivasi territories The “Land Acquisition Act” of 1894 concretised the supremacy of the sovereign to allow for total colonisation of any territory in the name of ‘public interest’ which in most cases are not community notions of common good. This is so especially for the Adivasis. The colonial juristic concept of res nullius (that which has not been conferred by the sovereign belongs to the sovereign) and terra nullius (land that belongs to none) bulldozed traditional political and social entities beginning the wanton destruction of traditional forms of self-governance.
The invasion of Adivasi territories, which for the most part commenced during the colonial period, intensified in the post-colonial period. Most of the Adivasi territories were claimed by the state. Over 10 million Adivasis have been displaced to make way for development projects such as dams, mining, industries, roads, protected areas etc. Though most of the dams (over 3000) are located in Adivasi areas, only 19.9% (1980-81) of Adivasi land holdings are irrigated as compared to 45.9% of all holdings of the general population. India produces as many as 52 principal, 3 fuel, 11 metallic, 38 non-metallic and a number of minor minerals.
Of these 45 major minerals (coal, iron ore, magnetite, manganese, bauxite, graphite, limestone, dolomite, uranium etc) are found in Adivasi areas contributing some 56% of the national total mineral earnings in terms of value. Of the 4,175 working mines reported by the Indian Bureau of Mines in 1991-92, approximately 3500 could be assumed to be in Adivasi areas. Income to the government from forests rose from Rs.5.6 million in 1869-70 to more than Rs.13 billions in the 1970s. The bulk of the nation’s productive wealth lay in the Adivasi territories. Yet the Adivasi has been driven out, marginalised and robbed of dignity by the very process of ‘national development’.
The systematic opening up of Adivasi territories, the development projects and the ‘tribal development projects’ make them conducive for waves of immigrants. In the rich mineral belt of Jharkhand, the Adivasi population has dropped from around 60% in 1911 to 27.67% in 1991. These developments have in turn driven out vast numbers of Adivasis to eke out a living in the urban areas and in far-flung places in slums. According to a rough estimate, there are more than 40,000 tribal domestic working women in Delhi alone! In some places, development induced migration of Adivasis to other Adivasi areas has also led to fierce conflicts as between the Santhali and the Bodo in Assam.
Internal colonialism Constitutional privileges and welfare measures benefit only a small minority of the Adivasis. These privileges and welfare measures are denied to the majority of the Adivasis and they are appropriated by more powerful groups in the caste order. The steep increase of STs in Maharashtra in real terms by 148% in the two decades since 1971 is mainly due to questionable inclusion, for political gains, of a number of economically advanced groups among the backwards in the list of STs.
The increase in numbers, while it distorts the demographic picture, has more disastrous effects. The real tribes are irretrievably pushed down in the ‘access or claim ladder’ with these new entrants cornering the lion’s share of both resources and opportunities for education, social and economic advancement.
Despite the Bonded Labour Abolition Act of 1976, Adivasis still form a substantial percentage of bonded labour in the country.
Despite positive political, institutional and financial commitment to tribal development, there is presently a large scale displacement and biological decline of Adivasi communities, a growing loss of genetic and cultural diversity and destruction of a rich resource base leading to rising trends of shrinking forests, crumbling fisheries, increasing unemployment, hunger and conflicts. The Adivasis have preserved 90% of the country’s bio-cultural diversity protecting the polyvalent, precolonial, biodiversity friendly Indian identity from bio-cultural pathogens. Excessive and indiscriminate demands of the urban market have reduced Adivasis to raw material collectors and providers.
It is a cruel joke that people who can produce some of India’s most exquisite handicrafts, who can distinguish hundreds of species of plants and animals, who can survive off the forests, the lands and the streams sustainably with no need to go to the market to buy food, are labeled as ‘unskilled’. Equally critical are the paths of resistance that many Adivasi areas are displaying: Koel Karo, Bodh Ghat, Inchampalli, Bhopalpatnam, Rathong Chu … big dams that were proposed by the enlightened planners and which were halted by the mass movements.
Such a situation has risen because of the discriminatory and predatory approach of the mainstream society on Adivasis and their territories. The moral legitimacy for the process of internal colonisation of Adivasi territories and the deliberate disregard and violations of constitutional protection of STs has its basis in the culturally ingrained hierarchical caste social order and consciousness that pervades the entire politico-administrative and judicial system. This pervasive mindset is also a historical construct that got reinforced during colonial and post-colonial India.
The term ‘Criminal Tribe’ was concocted by the British rulers and entered into the public vocabulary through the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 under which a list of some 150 communities including Adivasis, were mischievously declared as (naturally) ‘criminal’. Though this shameful act itself was repealed in 1952, the specter of the so-called ‘criminal tribes’ continue to haunt these ‘denotified tribes’ – the Sansi, Pardhi, Kanjar, Gujjar, Bawaria, Banjara and others. They are considered as the first natural suspects of all petty and sundry crimes except that they are now hauled up under the Habitual Offenders Act that replaced the British Act! Stereotyping of numerous communities has reinforced past discriminatory attitudes of the dominant mainstream in an institutionalised form.
There is a whole history of legislation, both during the pre-independence as well as post-independence period, which was supposed to protect the rights of the Adivasis. As early as 1879, the “Bombay Province Land Revenue Code” prohibited transfer of land from a tribal to a non-tribal without the permission of the authorities. The 1908 “Chotanagpur Tenancy Act” in Bihar, the 1949 “Santhal Pargana Tenancy (Supplementary) Act”, the 1969 “Bihar Scheduled Areas Regulations”, the 1955 “Rajasthan Tenancy Act” as amended in 1956, the 1959 “MPLP Code of Madhya Pradesh”, the 1959 “Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation” and amendment of 1970, the 1960 “Tripura Land Revenue Regulation Act”, the 1970 “Assam Land and Revenue Act”, the 1975 “Kerala Scheduled Tribes (Restriction of Transfer of Lands and Restoration of Alienated Lands) Act” etc. are state legislations to protect Adivasi land rights.
In Andhra for example, enquiries on land transfer violations were made in 57,150 cases involving 245,581 acres of land, but only about 28% of lands were restored despite persistent militant struggles. While in the case of Kerala, out of a total claim for 9909.4522 hectares made by 8754 applicants, only 5.5% of the claims have been restored. And this is happening in spite of favourable judicial orders – orders which the state governments are circumventing by attempting to dismantle the very protective legislation itself.
The callous and casual manner with which mainstream India approaches the fulfillment of the constitutional obligations with reference to the tribes, and the persistent attempts by the politico-administrative system to subvert the constitution by deliberate acts of omission and commission, and the enormous judicial tolerance towards this speak volumes on the discriminatory approach that permeates the society with regard to the legal rights of the Adivasis.
Race, religion and language
The absence of neat classifications of Adivasis as a homogenous social-cultural category and the intensely fluid nature of non-Adivasis are evident in the insuperable difficulty in arriving at a clear anthropological definition of a tribal in India, be it in terms of ethnicity, race, language, social forms or modes of livelihood.
The major waves of ingress into India divide the tribal communities into Veddids, similar to the Australian aborigines, and the Paleamongoloid Austro-Asiatic from the north-east. The third were the Greco-Indians who spread across Gujarat, Rajasthan and Pakistan from Central Asia. The fourth is the Negrito group of the Andaman Islands – the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Jarawa and the Sentinelese who flourished in these parts for some 20,000 years but who could well become extinct soon. The Great Andamanese have been wiped out as a viable community with about only 30 persons alive as are the Onges who are less than a 100.
In the mid-Indian region, the Gond who number over 5 million, are the descendants of the dark skinned Kolarian or Dravidian tribes and speak dialects of Austric language family as are the Santhal who number 4 million. The Negrito and Austroloid people belong to the Mundari family of Munda, Santhal, Ho, Ashur, Kharia, Paniya, Saora etc. The Dravidian groups include the Gond, Oraon, Khond, Malto, Bhil, Mina, Garasia, Pradhan etc. and speak Austric or Dravidian family of languages. The Gujjar and Bakarwal descend from the Greco Indians and are interrelated with the Gujjar of Gujarat and the tribes settled around Gujranwala in Pakistan.
There are some 200 indigenous peoples in the north-east. The Boro, Khasi, Jantia, Naga, Garo and Tripiri belong to the Mongoloid stock like the Naga, Mikir, Apatani, Boro, Khasi, Garo, Kuki, Karbi etc. and speak languages of the Tibeto-Burman language groups and the Mon Khmer. The Adi, Aka, Apatani, Dafla, Gallong, Khamti, Monpa, Nocte, Sherdukpen, Singpho, Tangsa, Wancho etc of Arunachal Pradesh and the Garo of Meghalaya are of Tibeto-Burman stock while the Khasi of Meghalaya belong to the Mon Khmer group. In the southern region, the Malayali, Irula, Paniya, Adiya, Sholaga, Kurumba etc belong to the proto-Australoid racial stock speaking dialects of the Dravidian family.
The Census of India 1991 records 63 different denominations as “other” of over 5.7 million people of which most are Adivasi religions. Though the Constitution recognises them as a distinct cultural group, yet when it comes to religion those who do not identify as Christians, Muslims or Buddhists are compelled to register themselves as Hindus. Hindus and Christians have interacted with Adivasis to civilize them, which has been defined as sanscritisation and westernisation. However, as reflected during the 1981 census it is significant that about 5% of the Adivasis registered their religion by the names of their respective tribes or the names adopted by them. In 1991 the corresponding figure rose to about 10% indicating the rising consciousness and assertion of identity!
Though Article 350A of the Constitution requires primary education to be imparted in mother tongue, in general this has not been imparted except in areas where the Adivasis have been assertive. NCERT, the state owned premier education research centre has not shown any interest. With the neglect of Adivasi languages, the State and the dominant social order aspire to culturally and socially emasculate the Adivasis subdued by the dominant cultures. The Anthropological Survey of India reported a loss of more than two-thirds of the spoken languages, most of them tribal.
Fragmentation Some of the ST peoples of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, W. Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram have their counterparts across the border in China (including Tibet), Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The political aspirations of these trans-border tribes who find themselves living in different countries as a result of artificial demarcation of boundaries by erstwhile colonial rulers continue to be ignored despite the spread and proliferation of militancy, especially in the north east, making it into a conflict zone.
The Adivasi territories have been divided amongst the states formed on the basis of primarily the languages of the mainstream caste society, ignoring the validity of applying the same principle of language for the Adivasis in the formation of states. Jharkhand has been divided amongst Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa though the Bihar part of Jharkhand has now become a separate state after decades of struggle. The Gond region has been divided amongst Orissa, Andhra, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Similarly the Bhil region has been divided amongst Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
In the north-east, for example, the Naga in addition are divided into Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Further administrative sub-divisions within the states into districts, talukas and panchayats have been organised in such a way that the tribal concentration is broken up which furthers their marginalisation both physically and politically.
The 1874 “Scheduled District Act”, the 1919 “Government of India Act” and later the “Government of India Act” of 1935 classified the hill areas as excluded and partially excluded areas where the provincial legislature had no jurisdiction. These formed the basis for the Article 244 under which two separate schedules viz. the V Schedule and the VI Schedule were incorporated for provision of a certain degree of self-governance in designated tribal majority areas. However, in effect this remained a non-starter. However, the recent legislation of the Panchayat Raj (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act of 1996 has raised hope of a radical redefinition of self-governance.
By not applying the same yard stick and norms for Adivasis as for the upper caste dominated mainstream, by not genuinely recognizing the Adivasis’ traditional self-governing systems and by not being serious about devolving autonomy, the Indian State and society indicates a racist and imperialist attitude.
The call for a socially homogenous country, particularly in the Hindi Hindu paradigm have suppressed tribal languages, defiled cultures and destroyed civilisations.
The creation of a unified albeit centralised polity and the extension of the formal system of governance have emasculated the self-governing institutions of the Adivasis and with it their internal cohesiveness.
The struggle for the future, the conceptual vocabulary used to understand the place of Adivasis in the modern world has been constructed on the feudal, colonial and imperialistic notions which combines traditional and historical constructs with the modern construct based on notions of linear scientific and technological progress.
Historically the Adivasis, as explained earlier, are at best perceived as sub-humans to be kept in isolation, or as ‘primitives’ living in remote and backward regions who should be “civilized”. None of them have a rational basis. Consequently, the official and popular perception of Adivasis is merely that of isolation in forest, tribal dialect, animism, primitive occupation, carnivorous diet, naked or semi-naked, nomadic habits, love, drink and dance. Contrast this with the self-perception of Adivasis as casteless, classless and egalitarian in nature, community-based economic systems, symbiotic with nature, democratic according to the demands of the times, accommodative history and people-oriented art and literature.
The significance of their sustainable subsistence economy in the midst of a profit oriented economy is not recognised in the political discourse, and the negative stereotyping of the sustainable subsistence economy of Adivasi societies is based on the wrong premise that the production of surplus is more progressive than the process of social reproduction in co-existence with nature.
The source of the conflicts arises from these unresolved contradictions. With globalisation, the hitherto expropriation of rights as an outcome of development has developed into expropriation of rights as a precondition for development. In response, the struggles for the rights of the Adivasis have moved towards the struggles for power and a redefinition of the contours of state, governance and progress.
Institute of Indology
Un espacio exclusivo para la difusión de la cultura milenaria de la India An exclusive space for the dissemination of the ancient culture of India
EL CHAMANISMO EN LA INDIA ABORIGEN THE INDIAN IN INDIA Shamanism
Susana Ávila Susana Avila
La imagen del chamán, tal y como lo define el Diccionario de la Real Academia Española —como un hechicero al que se le supone dotado de poderes sobrenaturales para sanar a los enfermos, adivinar el porvenir, invocar a los espíritus, etc.— no existe en el hinduismo porque muestra serias contradicciones con sus principios básicos. The image of the shaman, as defined by the Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy, as a sorcerer who is endowed with supernatural powers is to heal the sick, foretell the future, summon spirits, etc. there .- in Hinduism because it shows serious contradictions with basic principles. Sin embargo, entre las tribus aborígenes que habitaron en la India sí es posible encontrar rastros chamánicos y procedimientos o rituales que sí que presentan rasgos comunes con las prácticas de los chamanes. However, among the aboriginal tribes who lived in India it is possible to find traces shamanic rituals and procedures or other presenting features in common with the practices of shamans.
El hinduismo basa su filosofía en la evolución del hombre en consecución del fin último que es la liberación de la rueda de la vida, el estado de moksha , en el que se funde con el Absoluto. Hinduism bases its philosophy on the evolution of man in pursuit of the ultimate goal is the liberation of the Wheel of Life, the state of moksha, which merges with the Absolute. El camino que sigue es el del karma , las buenas acciones, que le van a permitir su evolución tras innumerables reencarnaciones. The path ahead is that of karma, good deeds, which will allow its evolution after numerous reincarnations. Su aplicación es general, para todos los hombres, si bien a algunos les cuesta más que a otros, pero no distingue a unos elegidos que posean unas capacidades especiales y unos poderes blindados al resto de sus semejantes a lo largo de sus sucesivas vidas. Its application is usually all men, although some are harder than others, but does not distinguish a select few who possess special capabilities and powers shielded the rest of their peers throughout successive lives. Que utilice en su ayuda la concentración ( dhârana ), la meditación ( dhyâna ), el conocimiento ( jñâna ), la devoción ( bhakti ) y un sistema tan utilizado por el chamanismo como es el éxtasis ( samâdhi ) no implica que sus métodos sean chamánicos pues difieren tanto en la forma de alcanzarlo como en su finalidad. To use their aid concentration (Dharana), meditation (dhyana), knowledge (jnana), devotion (bhakti) and a system as used in shamanism as ecstasy (samadhi) does not imply that their methods are shamanic they differ in the way of achieving it and in its purpose.
Sería imposible establecer un comportamiento homogéneo a lo largo de toda la India, pues fueron multitud de tribus, de etnias, las que poblaron el vasto territorio. It would be impossible to establish a uniform behavior throughout India, as were a multitude of tribes, ethnic groups which populated the vast territory. Durante los siglos XIX y XX muchos han sido los arqueólogos e investigadores que han hecho incursiones en el campo de la mitología tribal haciéndonos llegar datos con los que hacernos una idea de sus creencias y tradiciones. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there have been many archaeologists and researchers who have made inroads in the field of tribal mythology and sending us the data we get an idea of their beliefs and traditions.
Conviene aclarar que muchas de las tribus aborígenes han sobrevivido hasta hoy en el territorio del Indostán y, si bien han adoptado algunas creencias hinduistas y ellos mismos se consideran a sí mismos hindúes, esto no es obstáculo para que hayan seguido manteniendo vivas ciertas costumbres antiquísimas y prácticas que la tradición brahmánica docta de la India no se atrevería a tener en consideración. It should be clear that many of the Aboriginal tribes survive today in the territory of Hindustan and, although they have adopted some Hindu beliefs and they themselves consider themselves Hindus, this does not preclude that have continued to keep alive some ancient customs and Brahmanical tradition practices learned in India would not dare consider.
En estas tribus, muchas veces, la figura del sabio era bicéfala, por un lado estaba el sacerdote al que se le consultaban los asuntos de rutina, pero también había otra persona que, poseyendo la facultad de intermediar con los espíritus, era el encargado de tratar todo lo que quedaba fuera de lo común. In these tribes, many times, was two-headed figure of the wise, on the one hand was the priest who is consulted routine matters, but there was another person who, possessing the power to mediate with the spirits, was responsible for try all that was left out of the ordinary. Este medium es lo que podemos aproximar más a la figura de chamán y, dependiendo de la tribu, ponía en práctica diversos tipos de rituales. This medium is what we can bring more to the figure of a shaman and, depending on the tribe, put into practice various kinds of rituals. Es el caso de la tribu de los bondos, en las tierras altas de la región de Orissa, quienes utilizaban a un medium para problemas que se escapaban a su capacidad y durante la ceremonia él caía en trance y profetizaba; se emborrachaba y sus desvaríos se interpretaban como la voz del dios. This is the case of the tribe of goodness, in the highlands region of Orissa, who used a medium for problems that are beyond its capacity during the ceremony and he fell into a trance and prophesied, was drunk and his ravings are interpreted as the voice of God.
En Madhya Pradesh, la tribu de los kol, también bifurcaba la figura del maestro, del sabio, atribuyendo al sacerdote un valor más social y reservando al medium la tarea de dirigir el culto a los dioses locales quien, en trance, empezaba a temblar, luego gritaba, se golpeaba a sí mismo y se convertía, en apariencia, en una persona totalmente distinta. In Madhya Pradesh, the Kol tribe, also forked the figure of the teacher, sage, giving the priest a social value and reserving the medium the task of leading the worship of local gods who, in trance, began to tremble, then screaming, hitting himself and became apparently a completely different person.
Uno de los problemas que más afligían a los primitivos, como a todo el mundo, era la enfermedad, que atribuían sistemáticamente a un disgusto o mala predisposición del dios por lo que recurrían al medium para su solución. One of the problems that afflicted the primitive, like everyone, was the disease that routinely attributed to a dislike or ill disposition of God, so he turned to the medium for its solution. Y éste no dudaba en bajar a las regiones inferiores para resolver el problema. And he did not hesitate to descend to the lower regions to solve the problem. Así, entre los ao-nagas, que habitaban en el distrito de Mokokchung, muy cerca de la frontera birmana, el brujo, al recobrarse del trance, contaba que había visto el alma del paciente en los cielos y que había visitado a unos amigos entre los dobles-espíritus que allí habitaban. Thus, among the year-Nagas, inhabitants of Mokokchung district, near the Burmese border, the witch, to recover from the trance, had he had seen the patient’s soul in heaven and that he had visited some friends in double-spirits who lived there.
Otra tribu naga, como son los konyak-nagas, del distrito de Changlang en Arunachal, creían que su medium podía viajar a las regiones de los muertos para rescatar el alma del paciente que había sido raptado aprovechando su sueño. Another Naga tribe, such as Konyak-naga, Changlang district in Arunachal, believed that his medium could travel to the regions of the dead to rescue the soul of the patient who had been kidnapped by exploiting their dream.
Sus vecinos, los kachari de la región de Assam, incluían el sacrificio de una cabra durante el trance del medium para que de su observación determinar la causa y el remedio de la enfermedad que le afligía. Their neighbors, the Kachari of Assam, including the sacrifice of a goat during the trance medium for observation determine its cause and cure of the disease that afflicted him.
El mago de los oraons de Bengala —tribu que también se asentó en los estados de Bihar y Madhya Pradesh— buscaba el alma extraviada del paciente a través de las montañas y de los ríos, hasta el país de los muertos. The Wizard of Bengal Oraons-tribe also settled in the states of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, sought the lost soul of the patient through the mountains and rivers, to the land of the dead.
Llama la atención la libertad con que actuaba el medium en la aldea pahari del Himalaya, que continuamente introducía innovaciones religiosas ocasionadas por los estados disociativos de conciencia que se producían durante el trance, de modo, como observa Berreman, el investigador que más ha profundizado en su estudio, que «no hay que extrañarse de la diversidad y la constante y sorprendentemente rápida rotación de los dioses venerados en la aldea pahari». Struck by the freedom with which the medium acted in Pahari village in the Himalayas, which continually caused religious innovations introduced by the dissociative states of consciousness that occurred during the trance, so, as observed by Berreman, the research that has deepened their study that “there is nothing surprising diversity and surprisingly constant and rapid turnover of the gods revered in the Pahari village.”
La posesiones eran muy frecuentes en la India tribal. The possessions were very common in tribal India. En los estudios de Edwin sobre los baigas, tribu asentada en la India Central, encontramos la descripción de una ceremonia durante la cual «los medium caen en un frenesí y se arrojan al suelo, con movimientos espasmódicamente contraídos, y agitan la cabeza furiosamente de un lado para otro mientras el dios cabalga sobre ellos». In studies on Baigas Edwin, tribe settled in central India, we find the description of a ceremony during which “the medium fall into a frenzy and thrown to the ground, made jerky movements and head furiously waving a side to side while the god rides on them. “
Estas posesiones eran involuntarias y voluntarias de manera sucesiva y, lo que es más, de forma consecuente. These possessions were involuntary and voluntary in sequence and, what is more, consistent. Lo habitual era que el medium se resistiera a abandonarse a los poderes incontrolables de lo «salvaje», seguido de una sumisión a los patrones de conducta que le demandaba la situación. Typically, the medium was that people from leaving the uncontrollable powers of the “savage”, followed by a submission to the patterns of behavior that the situation demanded. Todo ello era facilitado gracias a la ausencia de rigidez en el ritual que seguía el medium , con el que, una vez en trance, todo podía pasar. This was facilitated by the lack of rigidity in the ritual that followed the medium, with which, once in a trance, everything can happen. Cosa que no ocurría entre los sacerdotes, que dirigían la actividad religiosa cuidadosamente prescrita, estereotipada y sumamente ritualizada. Was not the case among the priests, who ran religious activity carefully prescribed, stereotyped and highly ritualized.
Un caso que ilustra este tira y afloja entre el medium y el espíritu es el matrimonio entre el chamán y un ser del mundo subterráneo que se daba entre los hill saora, población aborigen del estado de Orissa, caso que parece ser un fenómeno único en la India aborigen. One case that illustrates this tug of war between the medium and the spirit is the marriage between the shaman and a creature of the underworld who was among the hill Saora, Aboriginal people of the state of Orissa, a case that appears to be a unique phenomenon in the native India. El ex-misionero y antropólogo Verrier Elwin, gran investigador de los mitos tribales, cuenta que Kintara, un brujo de Hatibadi, le confió que cuando él tenía doce años, una mujer-espíritu tutelar llamada Jangmai se le acercó en un sueño, le declaró su amor y quiso que la desposara. The former missionary and anthropologist Verrier Elwin, great scholar of tribal myths, that Kinter, Hatibadi a wizard, he confided that when he was twelve, a woman called Jangmai tutelary spirit approached him in a dream, he said his love and wanted the bride. Kintara se negó y durante un año ella acudió regularmente a hacerle la corte tratando que cediera. Kintar refused for a year she went regularly to the court trying him to yield. Como no lo conseguía le envió un tigre para morderle y eso le asustó tanto que finalmente el joven aceptó casarse con ella. As he did not get sent a tiger to bite and that frightened him so much that finally the young man agreed to marry her. Pero casi inmediatamente, otra mujer-espíritu-protectora fue también a pedirle que se casara con ella. But almost immediately, another woman-spirit-protector was also to ask her to marry her. Cuando se enteró la primera le dijo: «Yo fui la primera en amarte y te considero como mi marido. When he heard the first said, “I was the first love and I think as my husband. Y ahora tú quieres a otra y yo no lo permitiré». And now you want another and I will not allow it. ” Y en un arrebato de celos se lo llevó a la selva, le arrancó la memoria e hizo con él lo que quiso, no obstante prometió a sus padres portarse bien con el muchacho y ayudarle en todas sus dificultades. And in a fit of jealousy led him into the jungle, snatched the memory and made him what he wanted, despite her parents promised to behave well with the boy and help in all difficulties. Cinco años después Kintara se casó (en el mundo de los vivos) con Dasuni, una mujer de su aldea, y la protectora llegó a un acuerdo con ella. Kintar five years after he married (in the living world) with Dasuni, a woman from his village, and the protective agreed with her. De su esposa terrestre tuvo un hijo y tres hijas y de su protectora tuvo un hijo y dos hijas, que vivieron en las regiones inferiores. Land his wife had a son and three daughters and her protector had a son and two daughters, who lived in the lower regions. Un día su mujer-espíritu le llevó a su hijo para que lo conociera y él sacrificó una cabra en su honor. One day his wife brought him to mind his son to meet him and he sacrificed a goat in your honor.
Elwin también encontró este mismo esquema entre las mujeres brujas que eran elegidas por un protector sobrenatural. Elwin also found this same pattern among women witches who were chosen by a supernatural protector. La muchacha primero se resistía a semejante pretendiente, después entraba en un periodo de crisis aguda que finalmente se resolvía cuando ella aceptaba la propuesta. The first girl was resisting such a suitor, then entered a period of acute crisis was finally resolved when she accepted the proposal. «El sueño que obliga a una muchacha a aceptar su profesión y la marca del sello de la aprobación sobrenatural, toma la forma de visitas de un pretendiente del mundo subterráneo que le propone matrimonio con todas las consecuencias extáticas y numinosas». “The dream that a girl forced to accept his profession and the kind of stamp of approval supernatural takes the form of a suitor visits the underworld who proposes to her with all the consequences numinous ecstatic.”
Una joven recuerda la primera visita que le hizo un espíritu protector en sueños, vestido con ropas muy elegantes. A young woman remembers the first visit he made a protective spirit in dreams, dressed in elegant clothes. Ella lo rechazó y él la envolvió en un torbellino y la depositó sobre una alta rama que comenzó a balancearse. She refused and he wrapped her in a whirlwind and deposited on a high branch that began to sway. Ella se sintió aterrorizada pensando que iba a caer desde tanta altura y se apresuró a aceptar su oferta de casamiento. She was terrified thinking he was going to fall from such heights and was quick to accept his offer of marriage.
Otra mujer, ya casada y con un hijo cuando recibió la visita de su protector, se negó a satisfacerle y cayó enferma. Another woman, now married with a son when he was visited by his patron, refused to meet you and fell ill. Su marido mandó llamar a un brujo de la aldea vecina y el protector habló por su boca diciendo: «Voy a casarme con ella; si no acepta se volverá loca». Her husband summoned a witch doctor from the neighboring village and spoke through his mouth guard saying, ‘I’ll marry her, if not accepted will become crazy. ” Finalmente se vio obligada a aceptarlo y aprendió, en sueños, el arte de chamanizar. Finally she was forced to accept it and learn, in dreams, art chamanizar.
Otra cuestión era si el oficio de brujo, o la calidad de mago era hereditaria o había una predestinación para ello. Another question was whether the office of a witch, wizard or quality was inherited or had a predestination to it. Entre los mun, la posesión de un medium por parte de un dios concreto no estaba predestinada astralmente, sino que se inauguraba «con una enfermedad imprevisible». Among the world, the possession of a medium by a particular god was not predestined astral, but was opened “with an unpredictable disease.” En cambio, entre los lepchas de Sikkim, en el Himalaya, estudiados por Geoffrey Gorer, la categoría sacerdotal era hereditaria, aunque no por ello prescindía de instrucción. In contrast, among the Lepchas of Sikkim in the Himalayas, studied by Geoffrey Gorer, the priestly class was hereditary, but by no means dispensed with instruction.
Luego, con la llegada de los arios, empezamos a ver una marcada diferencia que se presenta entre las prácticas chamánicas y los rituales brahmánicos; mientras que en las primeras el factor espontáneo era una constante y toda la ceremonia se abría a la improvisación del chamán, el brahmán seguía un proceso muy reglado. Then with the arrival of the Aryans, began to see a marked difference occurs between the shamanistic practices and rituals Brahman, while in the first factor was a constant spontaneous and the whole ceremony is open to the improvisation of the shaman The Brahmin was a very regulated. Los largos comentarios de los Brâhmanas establecen la correcta realización de los ritos y es esta exactitud y la precisión lo que garantizaba su eficacia y no la voluntad o el capricho de los dioses. Long established hotel Brâhmanas proper conduct of rites and it is this accuracy and precision which ensured its effectiveness and not the will or whim of the gods.
Aunque haya procedimientos dentro de los cultos devocionales a Shiva y Shakti, o en las prácticas que siguen los munis , los yogis o cualquier otro tipo de estático con vestigios chamánicos, el contrate con el ascético sacrificio de uno mismo de la tradición brahmánica docta de la India, no podría ser más acusado. Although there are procedures within the devotional cults of Shiva and Shakti, or the practices followed by munis, yogis or any other type of shamanic remains static, the contrast with the ascetic self-sacrifice of the Brahmanical tradition of scholarly India could not be sharper. Pero sería cuestionable si, en cada caso, se puede hablar de un elemento chamánico propiamente dicho o de una tradición mágica que rebasa la esfera del chamanismo. But it is questionable whether, in each case, one can speak of a shamanic element itself or a magical tradition that goes beyond the realm of shamanism.
Entrada más reciente Entradas antiguas Página principal Latest entry Post Older Home
Archivo del blog Blog Archive
* ► 2010 (1) ► 2010 (1)
o ► abril (1) ► April (1)
+ Nos hemos trasladado a www.institutodeindologia…. We have moved to www.institutodeindologia ….
* ▼ 2009 (20) ▼ 2009 (20)
o ► diciembre (1) ► December (1)
+ ESTIVAL SUMMER
o ► octubre (1) ► October (1)
+ LAS MUCHAS RELIGIONES THE MANY RELIGIONS
o ► julio (2) ► July (2)
+ LA ESENCIA DEL YOGA THE ESSENCE OF YOGA
+ PENSAMIENTOS DE SHRI RAMANA MAHARSHI THOUGHTS OF SHRI RAMANA MAHARSHI
o ▼ junio (4) ▼ June (4)
+ SABIDURÍAS DE INDIA Y FILOSOFÍAS DE OCCIDENTE: LA … WISDOM OF INDIA AND WESTERN PHILOSOPHIES: THE …
+ LAS EXPLORACIONES AL EVEREST EN LOS TIEMPOS DEL RA… EVEREST EXPLORATION IN THE TIMES OF RA …
+ LAS METAS ESPIRITUALES DE LA FILOSOFÍA HINDÚ SPIRITUAL GOALS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
+ EL CHAMANISMO EN LA INDIA ABORIGEN THE INDIAN IN INDIA Shamanism
o ► mayo (5) ► May (5)
+ SALUDOS Y PROTOCOLO INDIOS GREETINGS AND PROTOCOL INDIANS
+ HUELLAS DE LA INDIA EN LA CULTURA ESPAÑOLA TRACES OF INDIA IN THE SPANISH CULTURE
+ LOS INSTRUMENTOS DEL DESTINO INSTRUMENTS OF DESTINY
+ EL HINDUISMO HINDUISM
+ LAS FUENTES DEL GANGES SOURCES OF THE GANGES
o ► abril (4) ► April (4)
+ LA MADEJA INDIA Hank INDIA
+ EL ABRAZO DE AMMA THE EMBRACE OF AMMA
+ PAREDES VIVAS LIVING WALLS
+ PARÁBOLA PARABLE
o ► marzo (3) ► March (3)
+ TANTRA: LA GNOSIS DEL SENDERO IZQUIERDO TANTRA: THE PATH OF LEFT GNOSIS
+ EL VEGETARIANISMO EN LA INDIA VEGETARIANISM IN INDIA
+ LA VACA: SÍMBOLO INDIO COW: INDIAN SYMBOL
INFORMACIÓN Y ACTIVIDADES DEL INSTITUTO DE INDOLOGÍA INFORMATION AND ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTE of Indology
El Instituto de Indología es una Asociación Cultural de Madrid que se fundó en 1995, a iniciativa de un grupo de amigos, de quien fue cabeza y motor D. The Institute of Indology is a cultural association was founded in Madrid in 1995 at the initiative of a group of friends, who was head and motor D. Rafael Iruzubieta, actualmente Presidente de Honor. Rafael Iruzubieta currently Honorary President. En el artículo 1º de los Estatutos del Instituto, registrados en el Ministerio del Interior, Registro Nacional de Asociaciones (núm. 160172), se especifica que carece de ánimo de lucro, y en el artículo 3º figuran como objetivos «el estudio y la difusión de la cultura de la India». In Article 1 of the Statutes of the Institute registered with the Ministry of Interior, National Register of Associations (No. 160172), specifies that no profit, and Article 3 º set objectives “the study and dissemination the culture of India. ” En el artículo 30º se aclara que «la Asociación carece de patrimonio inicial o fondo social». In article 30 clarifies that “The Partnership has no initial wealth or social background.”
El Instituto de Indología no está ligado a ninguna entidad ni pública ni privada, por lo que se trata de una asociación absolutamente independiente, al margen de que pueda organizar ciclos de conferencias y otras actividades con el patrocinio o colaboración de instituciones públicas o privadas. The Institute of Indology is not tied to any entity or public or private, so this is a completely independent association, regardless of whether they can organize lecture tours and other activities sponsored or collaborative public and private institutions. Precisamente, esta independencia va muy unida a la variedad de áreas de conocimiento que el Instituto aborda en sus actividades. Indeed, this independence is very close to the variety of areas of knowledge that addresses the Institute in its activities. A diferencia de otras asociaciones, por ejemplo centradas en lo religioso o en lo filosófico, tan frecuente cuando se habla de la India, el Instituto de Indología, sin olvidar ese aspecto de la cultura de la India, aborda otros muchos temas, que pertenecen a áreas muy diversas de conocimiento, sin perder de vista la propia realidad actual de la India y de su desarrollo económico y social. Unlike other associations, for example focusing on the religious or philosophical, as often when talking about India, the Institute of Indology, not to mention that aspect of the culture of India, addresses many other issues, which belong to very diverse areas of knowledge, without losing sight of the reality of India today and its economic and social development.
Al margen de lo expuesto, el Instituto de Indología mantiene muy buenas relaciones de colaboración con la Embajada de la India en España, con Casa Asia (Barcelona y Madrid) y con Casa de la India en Valladolid. Apart from the above, the Institute of Indology has a good working relationship with the Embassy of India in Spain, with Casa Asia (Barcelona and Madrid) and the India House in Valladolid.
La actual Junta Directiva del Instituto de Indología está compuesta por las siguientes personas: The current Board of the Institute of Indology is composed of the following:
Presidente: Dr. D. Chairman: Dr. D. Pedro Carrero Eras Pedro Carrero Eras
Vicepresidente: D. Vice President: D. Fernando Peláez López Fernando López Peláez
Secretaria: Dª. Secretary: Ms. Rosa M. Rosa M. Gutiérrez Sierra Sierra Gutiérrez
Tesorera: Dª. Treasurer: Ms. Paloma Callejo Fernández Paloma Fernández Callejo
Ostenta el cargo de Presidente de Honor el Dr. D. Holds the position of Honorary Chairman Dr. D. Rafael Iruzubieta Fernández. Iruzubieta Rafael Fernández.
Desde su fundación en 1995 el Instituto de Indología ha organizado un buen número de ciclos de conferencias y cursos de verano, tal y como se especifica a continuación. Since its founding in 1995, the Institute of Indology has organized a number of conferences and summer courses, as specified below.
1996: Curso de verano bajo el título de La India de ayer a hoy , celebrado en Aguadulce (Almería), dentro de los organizados por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 1996: Summer School under the title of India past and present, celebrated in Aguadulce (Almeria), within organized by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
1997: Intervención institucional en los Actos conmemorativos de la Independencia de la India, entre los que destaca la organización de un ciclo de conferencias celebrado en el Consejo General de las Cámaras de Comercio, Navegación e Industria de Madrid. 1997: Institutional Intervention in the celebrations of the Independence of India, most notably the organization of a lecture held at the General Council of Chambers of Commerce, Navigation and Industry of Madrid.
1999: Curso de verano bajo el título de Panorámica actual de la India, celebrado en Aguadulce (Almería), dentro de los organizados por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 1999: Summer course titled panorama of India, celebrated in Aguadulce (Almeria), within organized by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
2000: Ciclo de conferencias La India de ahora y de siempre , celebrado en la Cámara de Comercio e Industria de Madrid, en una primera fase entre abril y junio y en una segunda entre octubre y diciembre. 2000: Lecture The India of today and always, held in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Madrid, in a first phase from April to June and a second between October and December.
2001 (20-24 de agosto): Curso de verano La India mágica y la India real , celebrado en El Escorial, dentro de los organizados por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 2001 (20-24 August): Summer School and The Magic India real India, held in El Escorial, within organized by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
2003 (18-22 de agosto): Curso de verano La India mágica y la India real , celebrado en El Escorial, dentro de los organizados por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 2003 (18-22 August): Summer School and The Magic India real India, held in El Escorial, within organized by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
2005 (8 al 12 de agosto): Curso de verano La India: visión actual de una cultura milenaria , celebrado en El Escorial, dentro de los organizados por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 2005 (8 to 12 August): Summer School India: current view of an ancient culture, held in El Escorial, within organized by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
2005 (meses de octubre a diciembre): Primer Ciclo de Conferencias de Otoño que, con el título de La India de las mil caras , se celebra en la Embajada de la India en Madrid. 2005 (October to December): First Fall Lecture Series, with the title of India with a thousand faces, takes place at the Embassy of India in Madrid.
2006 (meses de octubre a diciembre): Segundo Ciclo de Conferencias de otoño que, con el título de La India: entre la tradición y el siglo XXI , se celebra en la Embajada de la India en Madrid. 2006 (October to December): Second Fall Lecture Series, with the title of India: between tradition and the XXI century, is held at the Embassy of India in Madrid.
2007 (30 de julio-3 de agosto de 2007): Curso de verano La India: entre la tradición y el futuro , celebrado en El Escorial, dentro de los organizados por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 2007 (July 30-August 3, 2007): Summer School India: between tradition and future, held in El Escorial, within organized by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
2009 (meses de febrero a marzo): Tercer Ciclo de Conferencias de otoño que, con el título de La India: vida y cultura , se celebra en la Embajada de la India en Madrid. 2009 (February and March): Third Lecture in autumn, with the title of India: Life and Culture, held at the Embassy of India in Madrid.
2009 (27 de julio-3 de agosto: Curso de verano La India: tradición y modernidad , celebrado en El Escorial, dentro de los organizados por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 2009 (July 27-August 3: Summer School India: tradition and modernity, held in El Escorial, within organized by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Junto a estas actividades mencionadas son numerosas otras que se han desarrollado a lo largo de estos años, como presentaciones de libros e iniciativas, actos y acontecimientos relacionados con la India en los que el Instituto ha estado presente a través de algunos de sus socios. Along with these activities mentioned are numerous others that have developed over the years, such as book launches and initiatives, actions and events related to India in which the Institute has been present through some of its partners. Hay que destacar, en este sentido, las organizadas últimamente por Casa Asia en Barcelona y Madrid, así como un Ciclo de conferencias sobre Arte y Literatura organizado por la Casa de la India en Valladolid. It should be noted in this regard, recently organized by Casa Asia in Barcelona and Madrid as well as a series of lectures on Literature and Art organized by the India House in Valladolid.
Kol Adivasi
The Kol, one of the Adivasi Groups of the Jharkhand state. They are found in North Chotanagpur and Santhal Pragana division. They mostly live in the districts of Dumka, Deoghar and Giridih of Jharkhand state. The Kol tribes are divided in 12 clans as Hansda, Soren, Kisku, Marandi, Tudu, Chaunde, Hembrom, Baske, Besera, Chunair, Murmu and Kisnov.
Culture
The Kol village are situated at plain areas. Houses are erect with bamboo, and sal saplins, tied with grass ropes and thatched with straw.
Family
Kol family is Patriarchal. Family structure is nuclear as well as joint.
Marriage
The ritual of marriage generally comes in the life of all boys and girls of the the Kol, Exogamous is the usual form of marriage. For marriage Girl’s family goes in search of boy.
Birth
Birth is regarded as very joyous occasion in the society of the Kol. After 3rd or 6th day of a birth of a child they organise feast which is known as “Chatthi”.
Death
The Kol are aware of death reality. They know well that wherever birth there is is death. But they do not know the age and time of death, although it is pre-decided. Some die just after birth, some die in infancy, some in young age. The death during old age is taken good because it brings occasion of transformation of body and soul of a person. The dead body is buried or cremated. Only male members participate in death rituals. From the day the dead body is buried they organise “Sharad” for 10 days.
Economy
Major economic activities of the Kol is Iron Smelting, agriculture and as labour. 2 – 3% are working in Government jobs.
Religion
The Kol are very religious tribe, they follow Sarna religion and Singhonga is worshipped as a great almighty of God. They also believe in naturalism and worship natural objects like sun, river, mountain, tree, animal, birds, plants and bushes.
Political Organization
The Kol tribe does not have political career. Traditional panchayat system is prevalent in their society. The head of the families are the member and the head is called as Manjhi.
This page has been developed and maintained by Jharkhand Volunteer*
© Jharkhand Org
Jharkhand.ORG (India) -> www.jharkhand.org.in
Jharkhand.ORG (United States) -> www.jharkhand.us
Jharkhand.ORG (United Kingdom) -> www.jharkhand.org.uk
Jharkhand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jharkhand
— state —
Seal
Ranchi
Location of Jharkhand in India
Coordinates 23.35°N 85.33°E / 23.35°N 85.33°E / 23.35; 85.33Coordinates: 23.35°N 85.33°E / 23.35°N 85.33°E / 23.35; 85.33
Country India
District(s) 24
Established 15 November 2000
Capital Ranchi
Largest city Jamshedpur
Governor M.O. Hasan Farook Maricar
Chief Minister Arjun Munda
Legislature (seats) Unicameral (81)
Population
• Density
26,909,428 (13th)
• 360 /km2 (932 /sq mi)
HDI (2005) increase
0.513 (medium) (24th)
Literacy 58.6% (27th)
Official languages Hindi
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
Area 74677 km2 (28833 sq mi)
ISO 3166-2 IN-JH
Website jharkhand.nic.in
Jharkhand (Hindi: झारखंड, pronounced [ˈdʒʱaːrkʰəɳɖ] ( listen)) is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east. It has an area of 28,833 sq mi (74,677 km²). The industrial city of Ranchi is its capital while Jamshedpur is the largest city of the state. Some of the other major cities and industrial centres are Dhanbad, Bokaro and Hazaribagh.
The name “Jharkhand” means “The Land of Forests”.
History
Main article: History of Jharkhand
According to some writers like Gautam Kumar Bera,[1] there was already a distinct geo-political, cultural entity called Jharkhand even before the period of Magadha Empire. Bera’s book (page 33) also refers to the Hindu Mythological book Bhavishya Purana (around 1200 AD), where the reference of Jharkhand is found. The tribal rulers, some of whom continue to thrive till today were known as the Munda Rajas,[2] who basically had ownership rights to large farmlands.[3] During the Mughal period, the Jharkhand area was known as Kukara.
British Rule
After the year 1765, it came under the control of the British Empire and became formally known under its present title, “Jharkhand” – the Land of “Jungles” (forests) and “Jharis” (bushes). Located on Chhota Nagpur Plateau and Santhal Parganas, the place has evergreen forests, rolling hills and rocky plateaus with many places of keen beauty like Lodh Falls.
The subjugation and colonization of Jharkhand region by the British East India Company resulted in spontaneous resistance from the local people. Almost one hundred years before Indian rebellion of 1857, adivasis of Jharkhand were already beginning what would become a series of repeated revolts against the British colonial rule:
The period of revolts of the Adivasis to protect their Jharkhand land took place from 1771 to 1900 AD. The first ever revolt against the landlords and the British government was led by Tilka Manjhi,[4] a valiant Santhal leader in Santal tribal belt in 1771. He wanted to liberate his people from the clutches of the unscrupulous landlords and restore the lands of their ancestors. The British government sent its troops and crushed the uprisings of Tilka Manjhi. Soon after in 1779, the Bhumij tribes rose in arms against the British rule in Manbhum, now in West Bengal. This was followed by the Chero tribes unrest in Palamau. They revolted against the British Rule in 1800 AD. Hardly seven years later in 1807, the Oraons in Barway murdered their big landlord of Srinagar west of Gumla. Soon the uprisings spread around Gumla. The tribal uprisings spread eastward to neighbouring Tamar areas of the Munda tribes. They too rose in revolt in 1811 and 1813. The Hos in Singhbhum were growing restless and came out in open revolt in 1820 and fought against the landlords and the British troops for two years. This is called the Larka Kol Risings 1820–1821. Then came the great Kol Risings of 1832. This was the first biggest tribal revolt that greatly upset the British administration in Jharkhand. It was caused by an attempt by the Zamindars to oust the tribal peasants from their hereditary possessions. The Santhal insurrection broke out in 1855 under the leadership of two brothers Sidhu and Kanhu. They fought bitterly against the British troops but finally they too were crashed down.
Then Birsa Munda revolt,[5] broke out in 1895 and lasted till 1900. The revolt though mainly concentrated in the Munda belt of Khunti, Tamar, Sarwada and Bandgaon, pulled its supporters from Oraon belt of Lohardaga, Sisai and even Barway. It was the longest and the greatest tribal revolt in Jharkhand. It was also the last tribal revolt in Jharkhand. All of these uprisings were quelled by the British through massive deployment of troops across the region.
British Government faced a lot of tribal revolt in Chhota Nagpur Division. Wherever resistance to British rule existed they tried to divide them. The policy of “Divide and rule” was made effective by Lord Curzon, when he was Governor General of India. He carried out Partition of Bengal in 1905, when the Princely states of Gangpur and Bonai of Chota Nagpur States were transferred from the control of Commissioner of Chhota Nagpur Division to Orissa division and Princely states of Jashpur, Surguja, Udaipur, Chang Bhakar and Koriya were transferred from Chhota Nagpur Division to Chhattisgarh Division of Central Provinces, leading to shrinkage of Chhota Nagpur Division. Due to popular resistance to Partition of Bengal, the two Bengals were united in 1912 by Governor General Harding and the province of Bihar – Orissa was created by taking out of Bengal the Bihar division, Chhota Nagpur Division and Orissa division. During this creation Midnapur, Purulia and Bankura remained with Bengal. Thus, whenever there was reorganization of Provinces, Chhota Nagpur Division lost some area. Thus during British rule, tribal areas, although geographically continuous, were put under different administrations. As a result of this, when India gained independence in 1947 and after the Princely states acceded to Government of India in 1948, the Princely states of Gangpur and Bonai were put under Orissa province, Princely states of Jashpur, Surguja, Udaipur, Chang Bhakar and Koriya were put under Madhya Pradesh and Midnapur, Purulia and Bankura were put under West Bengal. Princely states of Gangpur and Bonai were combined to form Sundergarh District. Princely states of Surguja and Udaipur were combined to form Surguja District and Chang bhakar and Koriya were combined to form Koriya district. All these are Jharkhandi areas and effort should be made to get back these areas. Jharkhand is incomplete without these areas.
The 20th century Jharkhand movement may also be seen as moderate movement as compared to the bloody revolts of the 19th century. Having the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908 to protect their lands, the tribal leaders now turned to socio-economic development of the people. In 1914 Jatra Oraon started what is called the Tana Movement. Later this movement joined the Satyagrah Movement of Mahatma Gandhi in 1920 and stopped giving land tax to the Government. In 1915 the Chhotanagpur Unnati Samaj was started for the socio-economic development of the tribals. This organisation had also political objectives in mind. When the Simon Commission came to Patna in 1928, the Chhotanagpur Unnati Samaj sent its delegation and placed its demand for a separate Jharkhand State for self-rule by the tribals. The Simon Commission however did not accede to the demand for a separate Jharkhand State. Thereafter Theble Oraon organised Kishan Sabha in 1931. In 1935 the Chhotanagpur Unnati Samaj and the Kishan Sabha were merged with a view to acquire political power.
Jharkhand Movement- post-Indian independence
For almost six decades the movement had been changing colour and strategy to gain a foothold. Gradually, the Jharkhand Party grew politically stronger but the various Commissions examining the demands for a separate Jharkhand State rejected it one after another. In August 1947 the Thakkar Commission rejected it saying that it would not be beneficial for the Adivasis. In 1948 Dar Commission also examined the demand for a separate Jharkhand state but rejected it on linguistic grounds. Despite these reports of these Commissions going negative in nature, Jharkhand Party never lost sight of its ultimate target – a separate state of Jharkhand. Jharkhand Party contested the 1952 elections with a declared aim of strengthening the demand of a tribal homeland and won 32 seats in the Bihar Assembly. In the second General Election in 1957 too Jharkhand Party won 32 seats and for two terms the party remained the leading opposition party. In 1955 the Report of the State Reorganisation Commission came out. Here too the demand for a separate Jharkhand state was rejected. In the third general election in 1962 the party could win only 23 seats in the Bihar Assembly. Personal interests of the Jharkhand leaders started playing upper hands. The following year Jharkhand Party aligned with Congress and Jaipal Singh became a minister in Vinodanand Jha’s government in Bihar. With this, the demand for the Tribal Homeland was put into cold storage for nearly a decade.
In the 4th General Election held in 1967 the party had a very poor show. It could win only 8 Assembly seats. The party was soon split into several splinter groups each claiming to be the genuine Jharkhand party. These were the All India Jharkhand Party led by Bagun Sumroi, the Jharkhand Party led by N.E. Horo, the Hul Jharkhand Party led by Justin Richard which got further fragmented and came to be called the Bihar Progressive Hul Jharkhand Party and it was led by Shibu Soren. The movement was infused with a new radicalism when Santhal leader Shibu Soren formed the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in league with the Marxist co-ordination Committee in 1972. In its early years, the JMM under Soren’s leadership, brought industrial and mining workers mainly non-tribals belonging to Dalit and Backward communities such as Surdis, Doms, Dusadh and Kurmi-Mahtos, into its fold. However Soren’s association with the late congress M.P. Gyanranjan brought him close to then prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, in New Delhi. He won the Dumka Lok Sabha seat in 1972. Irked by Soren’s association with the Congress, a few of the younger members of the JMM banded together in Jamshedpur and set up the All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU). This did nothing to stunt the growth of the JMM in the 1991 Lok Sabha election where the JMM won six seats.
That year saw the emergence of another foreign educated scholar, Ram Dayal Munda, who reignited the movement by unifying splinter groups among the tribals. Under his guidance the Jharkahnd Coordination Committee was constituted in June 1987, comprising 48 organizations and group including the JMM factions. Due to Munda, Soren, Mandal and AJSU leaders like Surya Singh Besra and Prabhakar Tirkey briefly shared a political platform. But the JMM pulled out of JCC as it felt that ‘the collective leadership was a farce’. The JMM/AJSU and JPP successfully orchestrated bandhs,economic blockades in 1988-89. In the interim, BJP came out with its demand for a separate “Vananchal” state comprising 18 districts of Bihar, arguing that demand for a greater Jharkhand is ‘not practical’.
In response, Buta Singh, the then Home minister, asked Ram Dayal Munda, the then Ranchi University vice chancellor , to prepare a report on Jharkhand. Munda handed his report in September 1988, advising the Home Ministry to grant ‘autonomy’ to ‘Greater Jharkhand’. In August 1989, the Union Home Ministry formed a committee on Jharkhand Matters (CoJM) to look into the issue. In September 1989 the COJM submitted its report proposing the alternatives to the formation of a greater Jharkhand, a Union Territory or a Jharkhand general council. In 1995 the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council(JAAC) was set up after a tripartite agreement was signed by the Union government represented by the then minister of State for Home Rajesh Pilot, the Bihar government represented by the then chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jharkhand leaders like Soren, Munda, Mandal, Besra and Tirkey. Horo did not sign this agreement. He dubbed the JAAC as the ‘fraud’ and stuck to his demand for Tribal Homeland. So did the AJSU and JPP.
In July 1997, Shibu Soren offered support to minority government of Laloo Prasad Yadav with a condition of a separate Jharkhand bill in the assembly. On 2 August 2000, the bill to create a separate state of Jharkhand to be carved out of Bihar was passed in Lok Sabha by voice vote with two key allies of ruling NDA strongly opposing the measure and the opposition Rashtriya Janta Dal and the CPI-M demanding it to be referred to a parliamentary committee. The long cherished demand of people of the region was fulfilled, the celebration was on through out the Jharkhand region. On 11 August,the Parliament approved the formation of Jharkhand, when the Rajya Sabha passed the Bihar reorganisation bill 2000 by voice – vote, to carve out the new state out of Bihar’s southern region. On 25 August,the then President Mr. K.R. Narayanan approved the Bihar reorganisation bill 2000.On 12 October 2000, the Center issued the gazette notification stating 15 November 2000 to be the appointed date for the formation of new Jharkhand Government.
The state of Jharkhand became a functioning reality on 15 November 2000 after almost half a century of people’s movements around Jharkhandi identity, which disadvantaged societal groups articulated in order to augment political resources and influence the policy process in their favour. The Jharkhandi identity and the demand for autonomy was not premised solely on the uniqueness of its tribal cultural heritage, but was essentially a fallout of the failure of development policy to intervene in socio-economic conditions of both the adivasis and non-adivasis in the region.
Jharkhand state was created on 15 November 2000 by carving out 18 districts of Bihar but the dream of Greater Jharkhand still remained unfulfilled. Tribal dominated districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Deogarh of Orissa state and Purulia,Bankura and Midnapore districts of West Bengal and the districts of Jashpur, Surguja, Koriya of Chhattisgarh state are still not part of Jharkhand.
Jharkhand – a separate state
The dynamics of resources and the politics of development still influence the socio-economic structures in Jharkhand, which was carved out of the relatively ‘super forward’ southern part Bihar. According to the 1991 census, the state has a population of over 20 million out of which 28% is tribal while 12% of the people belong to scheduled castes. Jharkhand has 24 districts, 211 blocks and 32, 620 villages out of which only 45% are electrified while only 8,484 are connected by roads. Jharkhand is the leading producer of mineral wealth in the country, endowed as it is with vast variety of minerals like iron ore, coal, copper ore, mica, bauxite, graphite, limestone, and uranium. Jharkhand is also known for its vast forest resources.
This paradoxical development profile of Jharkhand is combined with the fact that distortions in distribution and access to resources have made little difference to lives of ordinary people. However, the people of the region are politically mobilized and self-conscious and are actively seeking better bargains for the state. The people in Jharkhand have the advantage of being culturally vibrant, as reflected in the diversity of languages spoken, festivals celebrated, and variety of folk music, dances, and other traditions of performing arts.
Geography and climate
Most of the state lies on the Chota Nagpur Plateau, which is the source of the Koel, Damodar, Brahmani, Kharkai, and Subarnarekha rivers, whose upper watersheds lie within Jharkhand. Much of the state is still covered by forest. Forest preserves support populations of tigers and Asian Elephants.
Soil content of Jharkhand state mainly consist of soil formed from disintegration of rocks and stones, and soil composition is further divided into:
1. Red soil, found mostly in the Damodar valley, and Rajmahal area
2. Micacious soil (containing particles of mica), found in Koderma, Jhumeritilaiya, Barkagaon, and areas around the Mandar hill
3. Sandy soil, generally found in Hazaribagh and Dhanbad
4. Black soil, found in Rajmahal area
5. Laterite soil, found in western part of Ranchi, Palamu, and parts of Santhal Parganas and Singhbhum
Flora and fauna
Jharkhand has a rich variety of flora and fauna. The National Parks and the Zoological Gardens located in the state of Jharkhand present a panorama of this variety.
Betla National Park in the Palamu district, located 8 km away from Barwadih, covers an area of about 250 square kilometers (96.5 sq mi). The national park has a large variety of wildlife, including tigers, elephants, bisons (which are locally known as gaurs), sambhars, wild boar, and pythons (up to 20 feet (6.1 m) long), spotted deers (chitals), rabbits and foxes. The mammalian fauna to be seen at Betla National Park also include langurs, rhesus monkeys, blue bulls and wild boars. The lesser mammals are the porcupines, hares, wild cats, honey badgers, Malabar giant squirrels, mongooses, wolves, antelopes etc. In 1974, the park was declared a Project Tiger Reserve.
Part of the reason for the variety and diversity of flora and fauna found in Jharkhand state may be accredited to the Palamau Tiger Reserves under the Project Tiger. This reserve is abode to hundreds of species of flora and fauna,[6] as indicated within brackets: mammals (39), snakes (8), lizards (4), fish (6), insects (21), birds (170), seed bearing plants and trees (97), shrubs and herbs (46), climbers, parasites and semi-parasites (25), and grasses and bamboos (17).
The Hazaribag Wildlife Sanctuary, with scenic beauties, 135 km (84 mi) away from Ranchi, is set in an ecosystem very similar to Betla National Park of Palamu.
Jawaharlal Nehru Zoological Garden in Bokaro Steel City is the biggest Zoological Garden in Jharkhand. It has many animal and bird species, spread over 200 acres (0.81 km2), including an artificial waterpark with boating facilities. Another zoo is also located about 16 km from Ranchi, and a number of mammalian fauna have been collected there for visitors.
Demographics
Main article: Tribes of Jharkhand
Population Growth
Census Pop. %±
1951 9,697,000 —
1961 11,606,000 19.7%
1971 14,227,000 22.6%
1981 17,612,000 23.8%
1991 21,844,000 24.0%
2001 26,946,000 23.4%
Source:Census of India[7]
Jharkhand has a population of 26.93 million, consisting of 13.88 million males and 13.08 million females. The sex ratio is 941 females to 1000 males. The population consists of 28% tribals, 12% Scheduled Castes and 60% others. The population density of the state is 274 persons per square kilometre of land, However, it varies from as low as 148 per square kilometre in Gumla district to as high as 1167 per square kilometre in Dhanbad district. Around 10% of the population is Bengali speaking and 70% speak various dialects of Hindi.[8]
Hinduism is the majority religion in the state, with 68.5% of the population practising the faith. Islam is followed by 13.8% of the population and the Animisitic Sarna religion is practised by 13% of the population. Christianity with 4.1% of the population is the fourth largest religious community in Jharkhand. Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism are all practiced making few less than 1%.[9]
Jharkhand has 32 tribal groups. These are the Asur, Baiga, Banjara, Bathudi, Bedia, Binjhia, Birhor, Birjia, Chero, Chick-Baraik, Gond, Gorait, Ho, Karmali, Kharia, Kharwar, Khond, Kisan, Kora, Korwa, Lohra, Mahli, Mal-Paharia, Munda, Oraon, Parhaiya, Santal, Sauria-Paharia, Savar, Bhumij, Kol and Kanwar. In some of the districts of Jharkhand, the tribal population is predominate.
Language, literature and culture
Hindi is the State Language. The people of Jharkhand speak a number of languages belonging to three major language families: the Munda languages which include Santhali, Mundari, Ho, Kharia, Bhumij and Kurmali; the Dravidian languages which include Oraon (Kurukh), Korwa, and Paharia (Malto) and the Indo-Aryan languages which include Magahi, Nagpuri, Sadri, Khortha, Angika, Oriya Hindi and Bengali.
Cuisine
Since the state is populated by people from all over India, food that is found in the state is varied. Native inhabitants have a cuisine in which spices are rarely used and rice is the staple. Natives prepare different dishes of rice like different types of Rotis, Pittha, Dhuska, Dudhauri, etc.
Dhuska is a famous dish of Jharkhand cooked with mashed rice and pulses and served with either aaloo dum or mutton curry.
Tribals and Sadan use different types of flowers as vegetables, such as the flower of drum-stick, august and Jhirool. Use of Sag, i.e. leaves of different shrubs and other small plants, is perhaps another peculiarity of Jharkhandi food. Commonly used sags are Palak,Beng, Kataei,Gendhari, Konar, methi, bhatua and chana.
Local alcoholic drinks include rice beer, originally known as Handiya, named after the vessel (earthen pot) used to make it. indeed handiya or rice beer is cultutally associated with native i.e. Tribals as well as Sadan as this drink consumed by both men and women, on social occasions like marriage and other festivals. Another common liquor is called Mahu, made from a fruit called “Mahua”.
There are many foods that are a part of the traditional cuisine that are also known for their medicinal values, like Kurthi, which is used like a kind of pulses and is considered a cure for kidney stones. Fruits such as Jackfruit, Blackberry, Mango, and Litchi are found in abundance. Sattu is also major part of cuisine.
Administrative districts
The state was formed with 18 districts, which were formerly part of south Bihar. Some of these districts were reorganized to form 6 new districts, namely, Latehar, Saraikela Kharsawan, Jamtara, Sahebganj, Khunti and Ramgarh. Presently, the state has 24 districts: Ranchi, Lohardaga, Gumla, Simdega, Palamu, Latehar, Garhwa, West Singhbhum, Seraikela Kharsawan, East Singhbhum, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahebganj, Pakur, Godda, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Koderma, Giridih, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Deoghar, Khunti and Ramgarh.
Largest cities in Jharkhand
(2001 Census of India estimate)[10]
Rank City District Population Rank City District Population
Jamshedpur
Ranchi
Bokaro
01 Jamshedpur East Singbhum 1,104,713 06 Hazaribag Hazaribag 135,473
02 Dhanbad Dhanbad 1,065,327 07 Deoghar Deoghar 112,525
03 Ranchi Ranchi 863,497 08 Ramgarh Ramgarh 110,496
04 Bokaro Steel City Bokaro 648,978 09 Chirkunda Dhanbad 106,227
05 Phusro Bokaro 174,402 10 Giridih Giridih 105,634
Government and politics
The state is headed by a Governor, who is appointed by the President of India. However, the real executive power rests with the Chief Minister, Shri. Arjun Munda and the cabinet. The political party or the coalition of political parties having majority in the Legislative Assembly forms the Government.
The administrative head of the State is called Chief Secretary, under whose jurisdiction a hierarchy of officials drawn from the Indian Administrative Service / State Civil Services function.
The judiciary is headed by a Chief Justice and Jharkhand has a separate High Court, located in Ranchi.
Jharkand is one of the thirteen states in which the Naxalite rebels have considerable influence.
On 5 March 2007, Sunil Mahato, a member of the national parliament was shot dead by Naxalite rebels while watching a football match on the Hindu festival of Holi near Kishanpur, some 160 km (100 miles) east of state capital, Ranchi.[11] Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Mrs Suman Mahato, wife of slain JMM MP Sunil Mahato, won the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha by-poll in Sep 2007. Mrs Mahato defeated her nearest rival Dr Dinesh Sarangi of the BJP by a margin of 58,816 votes.
On Wednesday, 23 December 2009, Jharkhand headed towards a hung assembly, with indications that no political group or combine was likely to get a majority in the 81-member house. But now on 11th-Sep-2010 BJP Person Sri Arjun Munda becomes the Chief Minister for the state. the people of jharkhand is facing unstable government.and this is one of the biggest hurdles in the inclusive development of state.
Chief Ministers of Jharkhand
Name Party From To
Babulal Marandi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 20 November 2000 18 March 2003
Arjun Munda BJP 18 March 2003 2 March 2005
Sibu Soren Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) 2 March 2005 12 March 2005
Arjun Munda BJP 12 March 2005 18 September 2006
Madhu Koda Independent – with INC support 18 September 2006 26 August 2008
Shibu Soren JMM 27 August 2008 13 January 2009
Shibu Soren JMM 30 December 2009 30 May 2010
President’s rule - 1 June 2010 10 September 2010
Arjun Munda BJP 11 September 2010 -
Ministry The Centre imposed President’s rule in Jharkhand on 19 January 2009 to 11 September 2010, when JMM chief Shibu Soren resigned as CM after he lost the Tamar Assembly by-election to Jharkhand Party candidate Gopal Krishna Patar (alias Raja Peter) by more than 9,200 votes. The president’s rule followed the Union cabinet’s recommendation based on Jharkhand governor Syed Sibtey Razi‘s report to the Centre. Razi wrote that following the resignation of Soren as CM on 12 January, no political alliance was in a position to form an alternative government.
Naxal insurgency
Jharkand has been at the centre of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. Since the uprising of the Naxalites in 1967, 6,000 people have been killed in fighting between the Naxalites and counter-insurgency operations by the Police, and its paramilitary groups such as the Salwa Judum.[12]
Despite having a presence in almost 7.80% of India’s geographical area[13] (home to 5.50% of India’s population), the state of Jharkand is part of the “Naxal Belt” comprising 92,000 square kilometres,[13] where the highest concentrations of the groups estimated 20,000 combatants[14] fight. Part of this is due to the fact that the state harbors a rich abundance of natural resources, while its people live in abject poverty and destitution.[15] The impoverished state provides ample recruits for the communist insurgents, who argue that they are fighting on behalf of the landless poor that see few benefits from the resource extractions.[15] As the federal government holds a monopoly on sub-surface resources in the state, the tribal population is prevented from staking any claim on the resources extracted from their land.[15] In response, the insurgents have recently begun a campaign of targeting infrastructure related to the extraction of resources vital for Indian energy needs, such as coal.[13]
In response to the growing influence of the insurgents, the Indian government has recently enacted a scheme by which free mobile phones would be handed out in exchange for villagers’ cooperation with security forces – although intelligence officials express concern at the possibility of misinformation, and the difficulty in determining villagers from rebels [12]
Economy
Jharkhand’s gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $14 billion at current prices. Born out of partition from old Bihar state in 2000, Jharkhand produces about 70% of the output of the old Bihar state. Since it is rich in minerals, the state per capita income is likely to increase in the coming years.
Jharkhand has a concentration of some of the country’s highly industrialized cities such as Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Bokaro Steel City and Dhanbad. It also has several firsts in India, including:
* Largest fertilizer factory of its time in India (since shut down) at Sindri, Dhanbad
* First Iron & steel factory at Jamshedpur
* Largest Steel plant in Asia, Bokaro steel plant, Bokaro.
* Biggest explosives factory at Gomia, Bokaro.
* First methane gas well at Parbatpur, Bokaro.
Major industrial units
Bokaro Steel Plant
* Bokaro Steel Plant, Bokaro.
* Tata Steel Plant, Jamshedpur.
* Tata Motors, Jamshedpur
* Heavy Engineering Corporation, Ranchi.
* Patratu Thermal Power Station, Ramgarh.
* Chandrapura Thermal Power Station, Bokaro.
* Bokaro Thermal Power Station.
* Tenughat Thermal/Hydro Power Station, Bokaro.
* Jindal Steel Plant, Patratu.
* Electrosteel Plant, Bokaro.
* Usha Martin, Ranchi.
* Central Coalfields Limited.
* Bharat Coaking Coal Limited.
* Eastern Coalfields Limited.
Upcoming mega projects
Jharkhand has several towns and innumerable villages with civic amenities. Urbanization ratio is 22.25% and the per capita annual income is US$ 1,490. Jharkhand also has immense mineral resources: minerals ranging from (ranking in the country within bracket) from iron ore (1st), coal (3rd), copper ore (1st), mica (1st), bauxite (3rd), Manganese, limestone, china clay, fire clay, graphite (8th), kainite (1st), chromite (2nd), asbestos (1st), thorium (3rd), sillimanite, uranium (Jaduguda mines, Narwa Pahar) (1st) and even gold (Rakha Mines) (6th) and silver and several other minerals. Large deposits of coal and iron ore support concentration of industry, in centers like Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Ranchi. Tata Steel, a S&P CNX 500 conglomerate has its corporate office in Jharkhand. It reported a gross income of Indian Rupee ₹. 204,910 million for 2005. NTPC will start coal production from its captive mine in state in 2011-12, for which the company will be investing about Rs 1,800 crore. [16]
Education
The literacy rate in Jharkhand is 59.6% (2007). As per the 2001 census conducted by Government of India the official literacy rate for the state was 54.13% (Male: 69.74%; Female: 39.38%) with 5 districts above the average literacy rate:[17][18]
1. Purvi Singhbhum: 69.42% (Male: 80.08%; Female: 57.95%)
2. Dhanbad: 67.49% (Male: 80.03%; Female: 52.93%)
3. Ranchi: 65.69% (Male: 77.76%; Female: 52.77%)
4. Bokaro: 62.98% (Male: 76.99%; Female: 47.17%)
5. Hazaribagh: 58.05% (Male: 72.06%; Female: 43.15%)
Jharkhand has a network of government and privately run schools, although standards of teaching vary considerably from place to place, as also from school to school.
After formation of new state, Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) has been implementing four projects for spread of elementary education namely DPEP, SSA, NPEGEL, KGBV. Hence works have been accomplished in the state towards achieving the goal of UEE but due to slow pace, the target of hundred percent enrolment and retention of children in schools is not yet attained.[19]
Jharkhand has made primary education so accessible that 95% of children of ages 6–11 are enrolled in school, as opposed to 56% in 1993–94, so this will likely to improve literacy a great deal. Some of the better known schools which operate chain of school nationally and regionally are Oxford Public School, Delhi Public School, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Chinmaya Public School,Loyola school,Sacred Heart School, St.Xavier’s, Shishu Mandir,Surendranath centenary School, etc. Students from Jharkhand have proved themselves on national as well as international level. Students from the state have always ranked well in almost all the national level competitive exams.[20]
Schools
The medium of instruction in schools is Hindi/English with English/Hindi/Sanskrit/Urdu/Bangla/Oriya as second language. After 10 years of schooling, students can join 2 years of Intermediate course (or +2 courses) in Arts, Science and Commerce. This is followed by 3 years of degree courses (graduation)or 4 years of Engineering/Agriculture/Medicine degree. On May 2008, Jharkhand became the first in India to introduce free haircuts for poor students. 40,000 barbers will be employed with a monthly salary of 1000 rupees (25 US dollars) which will cost the state government 40 million rupees (1 million US dollars).[21]
Universities
Institute Main Building, BIT Mesra
A number of non-technical colleges are located in bigger cities and in small towns. Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) offer popular three-year diploma courses.
Jamshedpur is home to one of the best business school in India,[citation needed] the Xavier Labour Relations Institute,(XLRI).A recent development, the Government of India has set up an Indian Institute of Management IIM at Ranchi under the mentorship of IIM Calcutta. The State Government has allocated land for the same near Birsa Agricultural University,Kanke and the session for its first batch with highest CAT CUT-OFF 99.65 Percentile,for any other IIMs including Ahmedabad and Calcutta has started from the 7th of July,2010 itself. Due to strategically favourable location (proximity to many industries) and a pool of competitive students IIM Ranchi is soon expected to break into the league of top notch IIMs.
Jharkhand has five universities: Ranchi University and Birsa Agricultural University at Ranchi, Sidhhu Kanhu University at Dumka, Kolhan University at Chaibasa and Vinoba Bhave University in Hazaribagh. Each of these has constituent and affiliated colleges located in other cities and towns, the best of which offer post-graduate and PhD programs.and one more university is Nilambar Pitambar university at medininagar,palamau.
Jharkhand has a number of engineering colleges: National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, Birsa Institute of Technology Sindri, Dhanbad, Indian School of Mines University, Dhanbad, and the National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology (NIFFT). Among which BIT mesra, NIT Jamshedpur and ISM Dhanbad are among top 15 technical colleges in the country.
There are three medical colleges in Jharkhand namely M.G.M Medical College at Jamshedpur, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Ranchi and Patliputra Medical College And Hospital (PMCH) at Dhanbad.
Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) at Ranchi is also one of oldest B school well known for its Personnel management and Rural Development courses.[3]XISS ranked 6th in East and 31st in all India – Outlook MDRA B-Schools Ranking 2010 and Business Today in 2010 ranked XISS on 36th position in all India.
Health
On account of salubrious climate, Jharkhand, particularly its capital Ranchi, has been like a health resort. As far back as 1918, facilities were set up for treatment of mentally challenged – Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi.
In certain areas of Jharkhand, poverty and consequent malnutrition have given rise to diseases like tuberculosis (TB). In fact, TB has assumed epidemic proportions in certain areas of the state. For management and treatment of such diseases, organizations like Ramakrishna Mission through Ramakrishna Mission Tuberculosis Sanatorium [22] (set up in 1948), Ranchi, has been doing exemplary work, and supplementing the efforts of the Government and other agencies. Likewise, in the field of treatment of cancer, Tata Main Hospital, Jamshedpur,[23] is rendering pioneering work. In the same way Bokaro General Hospital equipped with modern facilities for the treatment Cancer and heart related problems with capacity of 1100 beds one of the largest in eastern India.
Although several public and private health facilities are available in the state, overall infrastructure for dispensing health related services require improvements. An exception is the famous Tata Motors Hospital which is an example of a ISO 14001 and 18001 certified hospital with DNB teaching facilities.
Fluoride in groundwater presents a public health problem in Jharkhand. A recent survey led by the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi in collaboration with UNICEF in the northwest districts of Palamau and Garhwa found fluoride levels above the drinking WHO drinking water guidelines.[24] Fluoride in drinking water leads to dental fluorosis, prevalent bone fractures, and skeletal fluorosis, an irreversible disabling condition.[25][26] Some work has focused on combating fluorosis through increased calcium intake by consuming local plants.[27] Researchers at Princeton University and the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi are currently investigating defluoridation options, while performing an epidemiological survey to assess the extent of fluoride linked health problems and the impact of future interventions.[28][29]
Almost 80% of Jharkhand’s people are farmers, although it contains 40% of India’s mineral reserves it has some of India’s poorest people, in Summer 2009 the state was threatened by drought, with people criticising the government for not providing food aid or assistance.[30]
Veterinary
Jharkhand has a diverse domestic animal population, including local and crossbred cattle, black bengal goat, chhotanagpuri sheep, murrah and local buffalo, broilers and ducks of many varieties. The state Veterinary department runs Veterinary Dispensaries located throughout Jharkhand and posts Touring Veterinary officers, Block Animal Husbandary Officers, Touring Veterinary officers (mobile), Assistant Poultry Officers and Veterinary Surgeons to support the agricultural industry.
The state has a Veterinary College located at Kanke, Ranchi.
Sports
Hockey, football and cricket are popular games with the people of Jharkhand. Jharkhand has given some brilliant players like Jaipal Singh, a former Indian hockey captain and Olympian and Manohar Topno, Vimal Lakra, currently playing for the Indian Hockey team but the most famous is Mahendra Singh Dhoni who is the captain of Indian cricket team and the best wicket keeper batsman for India till date[citation needed]. Jaipal Singh was the captain of the hockey team that won the first gold medal for India in Olympic games 1928 at Amsterdam.
Media
Electronic media ETV Bihar/Jharkhand broadcasts Jharkhand-related news on a popular program called Johar Jharkhand at 7:30 am and 7:30 pm.
Print media include the Hindi newspapers “Jharkhand Newsline“,Prabhat Khabar, Hindustan and Dainik Jagran,Dainik Bhaskar published from the state capital, Ranchi and available in almost all parts of the state. English newspapers like Times of India &Hindustan Times are published from Ranchi and are available across Jharkhand. Other important Indian newspapers in Hindi, English and local languages are also available in bigger cities by the afternoon and after a day’s delay in smaller towns. Most of the national magazines in Hindi and English are regularly available in bigger cities and at other places where supply may be arranged through newspaper vendors. The internet media like [www.jharkhandmirror.org jharkhandmirror] and [www.newswings.com newswings] are also available. National magazine [THE PUBLIC AGENDA][31] is also available all over the state as its head office is situated at harmu, Ranchi.
“Johar Disum Khabar” is only fortnightly newspaper published in local tribal & regional language from Ranchi. A monthly magazine “Johar Sahiya” is also published in the state’s popular regional language Nagpuri-Sadri.
Ranchi and Jamshedpur have around five radio stations and All India Radio is available throughout the state. In 2007, private FM Channels have also started operation in the state. Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster, is also available in almost all parts of the state. Bigger cities in Jharkhand are served by all television channels available in India and channels are received through cable. In some interior regions, channels are received via satellite dishes.
Landline telephone connectivity is provided by BSNL, Tata Indicom and Reliance Communications and covers almost all parts of the state. Cellular service, covering all major centres of the state, is provided by Vodafone, Airtel (GSM Service), Aircel, BSNL, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications and also by Tata Indicom and Reliance Infocomm (CDMA Service). Internet connectivity is available in all the districts.
References
1. ^ Gautam Kumar Bera (2008). The unrest axle: ethno-social movements in Eastern India. Mittal Publications. pp. 32–35. ISBN 9788183241458. http://books.google.com/?id=9qrmTdshzKQC&pg=PA31&dq=distinct+geo-political+Jharkhand&q=distinct%20geo-political%20Jharkhand.
2. ^ P K Mohanty (2006). “4: Tribes of Jharkhand”. Encyclopaedia Scheduled Tribes In India. Gyan Publishing House. p. 105. ISBN 9788182050525. http://books.google.com/?id=u-yM6OYrIEcC&pg=PA105&dq=kukara,+jharkhand&q=kukara%2C%20jharkhand.
3. ^ J.B. Hoffmann (1984). A missionary social worker in India. Editrice Pontificia Università Gregoriana. p. 54. ISBN 9788876525391. http://books.google.com/?id=bL3ISWm-tOYC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=munda+raja&q=munda%20raja.
4. ^ “Freedom Struggle”. Wesanthals.tripod.com. 2000-11-14. http://wesanthals.tripod.com/id50.html. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
5. ^ Birsa Munda and His Movement 1874-1901: A Study of a Millenarian Movement in Chotanagpur, by Kumar Suresh Singh. Oxford University Press, 1983
6. ^ “Birds and animals found in the forest of the Palamau district”. Official website of the Palamau district. http://palamu.nic.in/forestchap4.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
7. ^ “Census Population” (PDF). Census of India. Ministry of Finance India. http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2006-07/chapt2007/tab97.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
8. ^ National Network of Education (2007-10-24). “Jharkhand demand second language status for Santhali, Bengali, Jharkhand News”. Indiaedunews.net. http://www.indiaedunews.net/Jharkhand/Jharkhand_demand_second_language_status_for_Santhali,_Bengali_2305/. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
9. ^ [1]
10. ^ “Jharkhand”. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner. 2007-03-18. http://www.citypopulation.de/India-Jharkhand.html. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
11. ^ “South Asia | ‘Maoist rebels’ shoot Indian MP”. BBC News. 2007-03-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6418271.stm. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
12. ^ a b Bhaumik, Subir (5 February 2009). “Cell phones to fight India rebels”. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7871976.stm. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
13. ^ a b c “Rising Maoists Insurgency in India”. Global Politician. 2007-01-15. http://globalpolitician.com/22790-india. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
14. ^ Maoists who menace India, New York Times, April 17, 2006]
15. ^ a b c Aug 9, 2006 (2006-08-09). “Asia Times Online :: South Asia news – Hidden civil war drains India’s energy”. Atimes.com. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HH09Df01.html. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
16. ^ “NTPC eyes 20K crore thermal plant in MP”. business.rediff.com. http://business.rediff.com/report/2010/oct/26/ntpc-eyes-thermal-plant-in-mp.htm. Retrieved 27 Oct 2010.
17. ^ District-specific Literates and Literacy Rates, 2001
18. ^ “National Family Health Survey, 1998–99: Fact Sheet, Jharkhand, Section: Basic Socio-Demographic Features of Jharkhand”. p. 3. http://www.nfhsindia.org/data/jh/jhfctsum.pdf.
19. ^ Sanjay Pandey (2007-10-16). “The poor state of girl child education in Jharkhand State”. MyNews.in. http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=89.
20. ^ Sanjiv Shekhar (26 May 2009). “Many clear IIT-JEE in Jharkhand”. TNN. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Ranchi/Many-clear-IIT-JEE-in-Jharkhand/articleshow/4577536.cms.
21. ^ Free haircut
22. ^ “de beste bron van informatie over rkm tbs. Deze website is te koop!”. rkmtbs.org. http://www.rkmtbs.org/main.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
23. ^ “Welcome to Tata Memorial Centre”. Tatamemorialcentre.com. 2004-01-01. http://www.tatamemorialcentre.com/index.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
24. ^ “Fluoride alert for groundwater” The Telegraph, Calcutta, Friday 11 January 2008
25. ^ Alarcon-Herrera, M.T., et al. (2001). “Well water fluoride, dental fluorosis, and bone fractures in the Guadiana Valley of Mexico”. Fluoride 34 (2): 139–149. http://www.fluoride-journal.com/01-34-2/342-139.pdf.
26. ^ Khandare, AL; Harikumar, R; Sivakumar, B (2005). “Severe bone deformities in young children from vitamin D deficiency and fluorosis in Bihar-India.”. Calcified tissue international 76 (6): 412–8. doi:10.1007/s00223-005-0233-2. PMID 15895280.
27. ^ “Fluoride Toxicity in Jharkhand State of India,” Disability News India
28. ^ “Fluoride alert for groundwater,” The Telegraph, Calcutta, Friday 11 January 2008. [2]
29. ^ MacDonald, L. “Water and Health: An effective, sustainable treatment strategy to halt the fluorosis endemic in rural villages of Jharkhand State, India”
30. ^ Jharkhand farmers despair at drought
31. ^ http://www.thepublicagenda.in/
* “Official State Website”. http://www.jharkhand.nic.in/. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
* The World Bank publication on Jharkhand
External links
Portal-puzzle.svg Jharkhand portal
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jharkhand
* Jharkhand travel guide from Wikitravel
* Jharkhand State Government Official website
* Tourism guide of jharkhand state
* Jharkhand-Chamber (Business Unlimited)
Uttar Pradesh Bihar
West Bengal
Jharkhand
Chhattisgarh Orissa
v · d · eStates and territories of India
States
Andhra Pradesh · Arunachal Pradesh · Assam · Bihar · Chhattisgarh · Goa · Gujarat · Haryana · Himachal Pradesh · Jammu and Kashmir · Jharkhand · Karnataka · Kerala · Madhya Pradesh · Maharashtra · Manipur · Meghalaya · Mizoram · Nagaland · Orissa · Punjab · Rajasthan · Sikkim · Tamil Nadu · Tripura · Uttar Pradesh · Uttarakhand · West Bengal
India
Union Territories
Andaman and Nicobar Islands · Chandigarh · Dadra and Nagar Haveli · National Capital Territory of Delhi · Daman and Diu · Lakshadweep · Puducherry
v · d · eDivisions and Districts of Jharkhand, India
South Chotanagpur division
Gumla • Khunti • Lohardaga • Ranchi • Simdega
North Chotanagpur division
Bokaro • Chatra • Dhanbad • Giridih • Hazaribagh • Koderma • Ramgarh
Palamu division
Garhwa • Latehar • Palamu
Santhal Pargana division
Deoghar • Dumka • Godda • Jamtara • Pakur • Sahebganj
Kolhan division
East Singhbhum • Seraikela Kharsawan • West Singhbhum
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jharkhand“
Categories: Jharkhand | States and territories of India | States and territories established in 2000
Birsa Munda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Question book-new.svg
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)
Birsa Munda
Birsa Munda, photograph in Roy
Born 15 November 1875(1875-11-15)
Ulihatu, Ranchi, India
Died 9 June 1900(1900-06-09)
Ranchi Jail, Ranchi, India
Birsa Munda (1875–1900) was a tribal leader and a folk hero, belonging to the Munda tribe who was behind the Millenarian movement that rose in the tribal belt of modern day Bihar, and Jharkhand during the British Raj, in the late 19th century making him an important figure in the history of the Indian independence movement.
Birsa Munda is named with great respect as one of the freedom fighters in the Indian struggle for independence against British colonialism. His achievements in the freedom struggle became even greater considering he accomplished this before his 25th year.
Birsa’s devotion to his people was such that he was almost revered as God by his followers. By the time he was in his 20s, his activities in the tribal areas of Jharkhand state (earlier Bihar) had already begun to worry the British establishment to a considerable extent. He was finally caught by the British on 3 February 1900 when he was only 25 years old. He died soon afterwards in mysterious circumstances on 9 June 1900 in Ranchi Jail.
Early childhood
Birsa Munda was born in the year 1875 on a Thursday, and he was named after the day of his birth according to the then prevalent Munda custom. The folk songs reflect popular confusion and refer to both Ulihatu and Chalkad as his birth-place. Ulihatu was the birth-place of Sugana Munda, father of Birsa. The claim of Ulihatu rests on Birsa’s elder brother Komta Munda living in the village and on his house which still exists albeit in a dilapidated condition.
Birsa’s father, mother Karmi Hatu [1] , and younger brother, Pasna Munda, left Ulihatu and proceeded to Kurumbda near Birbanki in search of employment as labourers or crop-sharers (sajhadar) or ryots. At Kurmbda Birsa’s elder brother, Komta, and his sister, Daskir, were born . From there the family moved to Bamba where Birsa’s elder sister Champa was born followed by himself.
Soon after Birsa’s birth, his family left Bamba. A quarrel between the Mundas and their ryots in which his father was involved as a witness was the immediate reason for proceeding to Chalkad, Sugana’s mother’s village, where they were granted refuge by Bir Singh , the Munda of the village. Birsa’s birth ceremony was performed at Chalkad.
After childhood
Birsa Munda had a very nice and enjoyful childhood. He was a boy living with Britishers. Birsa’s early years were spent with his parents at Chalkad. His early life could not have been very different from that of an average Munda child. Folklore refers to his rolling and playing in sand and dust with his friends, and his growing up strong and handsome in looks; he grazed sheep in the forest of Bohonda. When he grew up, he shared an interest in playing the flute, in which he became adept, and so movingly did he play that all living beings came out to listen to him. He went round with the tuila, the one-stringed instrument made from the pumpkin, in the hand and the flute strung to his waist. Exciting moments of his childhood were spent on the akhara (the village dancing ground). One of his ideal contemporaries and who went out with him, however, heard him speak of strange things.
Driven by poverty Birsa was taken to Ayubhatu, his maternal uncle’s village. Komta Munda, his eldest brother, who was ten years of age, went to Kundi Bartoli, entered the service of a Munda, married and lived there for eight years, and then joined his father and younger brother at Chalkad. At Ayubhatu Birsa lived for two years. He went to school at Salga, run by one Jaipal Nag. He accompanied his mother’s younger sister, Joni, who was fond of him, when she was married, to Khatanga, her new home. He came in contact with a pracharak who visited a few families in the village which had been converted to Christianity and attacked the old Munda order.
He remained so preoccupied with himself or his studies that he left the sheep and goat in his charge to graze in the fields covered with crops to the dismay of their owners. He was found no good for the job and was beaten by the owner of field. He left the village and went to his brother at Kundi Bartoli, and stayed with him for some time. From there he probably went to the German mission at Burju where he passed the lower primary examination.He also studied at Chaibasa at Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Mission school run by German missionaries. It was here where he was transformed into a fighter for tribals. A Father at the school was narrating the children about the Kingdom of Heaven. The young Daud Purty(baptised name of Birsa) questioned the Father where was this Kingdom of Heaven when there was so much exploitation of tribals by zamindars and landlords in their own homeland.
The Formative Period (1886-1894)
Birsa’s long stay at Chaibasa from 1886 to 1890 constituted a formative period of his life. The influence of Christianity shaped his own religion.citation required This period was marked by the German and Roman Catholic Christian agitation. Chiabasa was not far for the centre of the Sardars’ activities influenced Sugana Munda in withdrawing his son from the school. The sardars agitation in which Birsa was thus caught up put the stamp of its anti-missionary and anti-Government character on his mind..citation required Soon after leaving Chaibasa in 1890 Birsa and his family gave up their membership of the German mission in line with the Sardar’s movement against it.
He left Corbera in the wake of the mounting Sardar agitation. He participated in the agitation stemming form popular disaffection at the restrictions imposed upon the traditional rights of the Mundas in the protected forest, under the leadership of Gidiun of Piring in the Porhat area. During 1893-4 all waste lands in villages, the ownership of which was vested in the Government, were constituted into protected forests under the Indian Forest Act VII of 1882. In Singhbhum as in Palamau and Manbhum the forest settlement operations were launched and measures were taken to determine the rights of the forest-dwelling communities. Villages in forests were marked off in blocks of convenient size consisting not only of village sites but also cultivable and waste lands sufficient of the needs of villages.
In 1894, Birsa had grown up into a strong and handsome young man, shrewd and intelligent. He was tall for a Munda, 5 feet 4 inches, and could perform the feat of repairing the Dombari tank at Gorbera damaged by rains. His real appearance was extraordinary pleasant : his features were regular, his eyes bright and full of intelligence and his complexion much lighter than most of his people.
During the period he had a spell of experience typical of a young man of his age and looks. While on a sojourn in the neighbourhood of village Sankara in Singhbhum, he found suitable companion, presented her parents with jewels and explained to her his idea of marriage. Later, on his return form jail he did not find her faithful to him and left her. Another woman who served him at Chalkad was the sister of Mathias Munda. On his release form prison, the daughter of Mathura Muda of Koensar who was kept by Kali Munda, and the wife of Jaga Munda of Jiuri insisted on becoming wives of Birsa. He rebuked them and referred the wife of Jaga Munda to her husband. Another rather well-known woman who stayed with Birsa was Sali of Burudih.
Birsa stressed monogamy at a later stage in his life. Birsa rose form the lowest ranks of the peasants, the ryots, who unlike their namesakes elsewhere enjoyed far fewer rights in the Mundari khuntkatti system, while all privileges were monopolized by the members of the founding lineage the ryots were no better than crop-sharers. Birsa’s own experience as a young boy, driven form place to place in search of employment, given him an insight into the agrarian question and forest matters; he was no passive spectator but an active participant in the movement going on in the neighbourhood.
The Making of a Prophet
Birsa’s claim to be a messenger of God and the founder of a new religion sounded preposterous to the mission. There were also within his sect converts form Christianity, mostly Sardars. His simple system of offering was directed against the church which levied a tax. And the concept of on God appealed to his people who found his religion and economical religion saving them the expense of sacrifices. A strict code of conduct was laid down : theft, lying and murder were anathema ; begging was prohibited.
The stories of Birsa as a healer, a miracle-worker, and a preacher spread, out of all proportion to the facts. The Mundas, Oraons, and Kharias flocked to Chalkad to see the new prophet and to be cured of their ills. Both the Oraon and Munda population up to Barwari and Chechari in Palamau became convinced Birsaities. Contemporary and later folk songs commemorate the tremendous impact of Birsa on his people, their joy and expectations at his advent. The name of Dharti Aba was on everybody’s lips. A folk songs in Sadani showed that the first impact cut across the lines of caste Hindus and Muslims also flocked to the new Sun of religion. All roads led to Chalked.
Birsa Munda and his movement
The British colonial system intensified the transformation of the tribal agrarian system into feudal state. As the tribals with their primitive technology could not generate a surplus, non-tribal peasantry were invited by the chiefs in Chhotanagpur to settle on and cultivate the land. This led to the alienation of the lands held by the tribals. The new class of Thikadars were of a more rapacious kind and eager to make most of their possessions.
In 1856 the number of the Jagirdars stood at about 600, and they held from a village to 150 villages. By 1874, the authority of the old Munda or Oraon chiefs had been almost entirely effaced by that of the farmers, introduced by the superior landlord. In some villages the aborigines had completely lost their proprietary rights, and had been reduced to the position of farm labourers.
To the twin challenges of agrarian breakdown and culture change, Birsa along with the Munda responded through a series of revolts and uprisings under his leadership. The movement sought to assert rights of the Mundas as the real proprietors of the soil, and the expulsion of middlemen and the British. He was treacherously caught on 3 February 1900 and died in mysterious conditions on 9 June 1900 in Ranchi Jail.Though he lived for a very short span of 25 years,he aroused the mind-set of the tribals and mobilised them in a small town of Chhotanagpur and was a terror to the British rulers.
Birsa Munda in popular culture
His birth anniversary which falls on 15 November, is still celebrated by tribal people in as far as Mysore and Kodagu districts in Karnataka [2], and official function takes place at his Samadhi Sthal, at Kokar Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand [3].
Today, there are a number of organizations, bodies and structures named after him, notably Birsa Munda Airport Ranchi, Birsa Institute of Technology Sindri, Birsa Munda Vanvasi Chattravas, Kanpur and Birsa Agricultural University. The war cry of Bihar Regiment is Birsa Munda Ki Jai (Victory to Birsa Munda) [4]. In 2008, Hindi film based on the life of Birsa, Gandhi Se Pehle Gandhi was directed by Iqbal Durran based on his own novel by the same name.[5]. Another Hindi film, “Ulgulan-Ek Kranti (The Revolution)” was made in 2004 by Ashok Saran, in which 500 Birsaits or followers of Birsa acted [6]
Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, writer-activist Mahasweta Devi’s historical fiction, “Aranyer Adhikar” (Right to the Forest, 1977), a novel for which she won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Bengali in 1979, is based on his life and the Munda Rebellion against the British Raj in the late 19th century; she later wrote an abridged version Birsa Munda, specifically for young readers [7].
See also
* History of birsapur*
References
1. ^ Birsa Mumda commemorative postage stamp and Biography India Post, 15 November 1988.
2. ^ Tribals celebrate Birsa Munda birth anniversary Times of India, 18 November 2001.
3. ^ Homage to Bhawan Birsa Munda on his Birth Anniversary at Ranchi Raj Bhavan (Jharkhand) Official website. 15 November 2008.
4. ^ Bihar Regiment bharat-rakshak.com.
5. ^ Film “Gandhi Se Pehle Gandhi “is on Birsa Munda bollywood-buzz.com.
6. ^ Ulgulan-Ek Kranti (The Revolution)
7. ^ Biography for Mahasweta Devi ” Ramon Magsaysay Award Official website. “
* The Dust-storm and the Hanging Mist: A Study of Birsa Munda and His Movement in Chhotanagpur, 1874-1901, by Suresh Singh. Published by Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1966.
* Birsa Munda and His Movement 1874-1901: A Study of a Millenarian Movement in Chotanagpur, by Kumar Suresh Singh. Published by Oxford University Press, 1983.
* Birsa Munda, by A. H. Khan. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India.[1]
* Capturing Birsa Munda: The Virtuality of a Colonial-era Photograph. Daniel J. Rycroft
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Birsa Munda
* Birsa Munda – The Great Hero of the Tribals at Govt. of Orissa website.
References
1. ^ Birsa Munda, Biography Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India.
v · d · eIndian independence movement
History
Colonisation · East India Company · British India · French India · Portuguese India · Plassey · Buxar · Anglo-Mysore Wars · Anglo-Maratha Wars (First · Second · Third) · Polygar War · Vellore Mutiny · First Anglo-Sikh War · Second Anglo-Sikh War · Rebellion of 1857 · British Raj · more
Gandhi during the Salt March, 1930
Gandhi during the Salt March, 1930
Congress flag of India (1931)
Flag of Azad Hind
Philosophies
and ideologies
Indian nationalism · Swaraj · Hindu nationalism · Gandhism · Satyagraha · Indian Muslim nationalism · Swadeshi · Socialism · Khilafat Movement
Events and
movements
Partition of Bengal · Revolutionaries · Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy · The Indian Sociologist · The Sedetious conspiracy · Champaran and Kheda · Rowlatt Committee · Rowlatt Bills · Jallianwala Bagh Massacre · Non-Cooperation · Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre · Flag Satyagraha · Bardoli · 1928 Protests · Nehru Report · Purna Swaraj · Salt Satyagraha · Round table conferences · Act of 1935 · Legion Freies Indien · Cripps’ mission · Quit India · Indian National Army · Tiger Legion · Bombay Mutiny · Coup d’État de Yanaon · Provisional Government of India
Organisations
Indian National Congress · All-India Muslim League · Anushilan Samiti · Jugantar · Arya Samaj · Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh · India House · Berlin Committee · Ghadar · Home Rule · Khaksar Tehrik · Khudai Khidmatgar · Hindustan Republican Association · Swaraj Party · Indian Independence League · All India Kisan Sabha · Azad Hind · more
Social
reformers
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi · Rahul Sankrityayan · Mahatma Jyotirao Phule · Gopal Ganesh Agarkar · Shahu Maharaj · Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar · Dhondo Keshav Karve · Vitthal Ramji Shinde · Mahadev Govind Ranade · Swami Dayananda Saraswati · Ramakrishna · Swami Vivekananda · Swami Sahajanand Saraswati · Vakkom Moulavi · Vinoba Bhave · Baba Amte · Ram Mohan Roy · Gopal Hari Deshmukh
Indian
independence
activists
Puli Thevar · Yashwantrao Holkar · Rahul Sankrityayan · Swami Sahajanand Saraswati · Tipu Sultan · Veerapandiya Kattabomman · Sangolli Rayanna · Baba Ram Singh · Mangal Pandey · Veer Kunwar Singh · Rae Ahmed Nawaz Khan Kharal · Rani of Jhansi · Bahadur Shah Zafar · Swami Dayanand Saraswati · Bal Gangadhar Tilak · Gopal Krishna Gokhale · Dadabhai Naoroji · Bhikaiji Cama · Shyamji Krishna Varma · Annie Besant · Har Dayal · Subramanya Bharathi · Lala Lajpat Rai · Bipin Chandra Pal · Rash Behari Bose · Chittaranjan Das · Bidhan Chandra Roy · Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan · Maulana Azad · Ashfaqullah Khan · Ram Prasad Bismil · Chandrasekhar Azad · Rajaji · Bhagat Singh · Sarojini Naidu · Purushottam Das Tandon · Alluri Sitaramaraju · M. Ali Jinnah · Sardar Patel · Vakkom Majeed · Subhash Chandra Bose · Jawaharlal Nehru · Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi · Allama Mashriqi · Akkamma Cherian · Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai · Kotwal Dhan Singh Gurjar · more
British leaders
Robert Clive · James Outram · Dalhousie · Irwin · Linlithgow · Wavell · Stafford Cripps · Mountbatten · more
Independence
Simla Conference · Cabinet Mission · Indian Independence Act · Partition of India · Political integration · Constitution · Republic of India
Persondata
Name Munda, Birsa
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth 1875-11-15
Place of birth Ulihatu, Ranchi, India
Date of death 1900-06-09
Place of death Ranchi Jail, Ranchi, India
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birsa_Munda“
Categories: People from Jharkhand | Indian independence activists | Culture heroes | History of Bihar | History of Jharkhand | 1875 births | 1900 deaths
Santals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Santhal)
Santals Total population
6,050,000
Regions with significant populations
India
Jharkhand 2,410,509 [1]
West Bengal 2,280,540 [2]
Bihar 367,612 [3]
Orissa 629,782
Languages
Santali
Religion
Sarna • Sari Dhorom
Related ethnic groups
Mundas • Hos • Kols
The Santal (Hindi: संताल,Bengali: সাওতাল, also spelled as Santhal (formerly also spelt as Sonthal), are the largest tribal community in India, who live mainly in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and Assam. There is also a significant Santal minority in neighboring Bangladesh, and a small population in Nepal.
Santali language and anthropology
The Santali language is part of the Austro-Asiatic family, distantly related to Vietnamese and Khmer. A few of the Indian anthropologists also believe that humans first came to India about 65000-55000 years ago[citation needed]. Historians believe that they were the ancestors of the tribal community residing in the eastern part of India (excluding hilly portions). So the Santals, Kols and Mundas may be the descendants of them.
The Santali script, or Ol Chiki, is alphabetic, and does not share any of the syllabic properties of the other Indic scripts such as Devanagari. It uses 30 letters and five basic diacritics. It has 6 basic vowels and three additional vowels, generated using the Gahla Tudag.[4]
The Santal script is a relatively recent innovation. Santali did not have a written language until the twentieth century and used Latin/Roman, Devnagri and Bangla writing systems. A need for a distinct script to accommodate the Santali language, combining features of both the Indic and Roman scripts was felt, which resulted in the invention of new script called Ol Chiki by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in 1925. For his noble deeds and contribution of the script Ol Chiki for the Santal society, he is revered among Santals. He wrote over 150 books covering a wide spectrum of subjects such as grammar, novels, drama, poetry, and short stories in Santali using Ol Chiki as part of his extensive programme for uplifting the Santal community. Darege Dhan, Sidhu-Kanhu, Bidu Chandan and Kherwal Bir are among the most acclaimed of his works. Pandit Raghunath Murmu is popularly known as Guru Gomke among the Santals, a title conferred on him by the Mayurbhanj Adibasi Mahasabha.
Beside Pandit Raghunath Murmu, very few Indian linguists worked seriously on the linguistic aspects of the language. One of them was Dr. Byomkes Chakrabarti (1923-1981). He was a Bengali research worker on ethnic languages. He was a renowned educationist and a poet too. His major contribution was in finding out some basic relationship between Santali language and Bengali language. He showed (in ‘A Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali’) how the Bengali language, under the influence of the Santali language, has some unique characteristics absent from other Indian languages.
His contribution on the origin and development of the Bengali and Santali language was fundamental in nature, and provided the scope for research in newer fields of liguistics.
Santali culture
The Santali culture has attracted many scholars and anthropologists for decades. Some studies of the Santali culture were done by the Christian missionaries. The most famous of them was the Norwegian-born Reverend Paul Olaf Bodding. Unlike many other tribal groups of the Indian subcontinent, the Santals have preserved their native language despite waves of migrations and invasions such as Aryan, Hun, Mughals, Europeans, and others.
Santali culture is depicted in the paintings and artworks in the walls of their houses. Local mythology includes the stories of the Santal ancestors Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Bhudi.
The Santal people love music and dance. Like other Indian ethnic groups, their culture has been influenced by mainstream Indian culture and by Western culture, but traditional music and dance still remain. Santal music differs from Hindustani classical music in significant ways. Onkar Prasad has done the most recent work on the music of the Santal but others preceded his work. The Santal traditionally accompany many of their dances with two drums: the Tamak’ and the Tumdah’. The flute (tiriao) was considered the most important Santal traditional instrument and is still considered important by most. Santal dance and music traditionally revolved around Santal religious celebrations. This is still true to a degree, although traditional religious beliefs have been significantly altered as a result of influence of Hinduism and Christian missionaries. However, Santal music and dance both retain connections to traditional celebrations. The names of many Santal tunes are derived from the traditional ritual with which they were once associated. Sohrai tunes, for example, were those sung at the Sohrai festival.
The Santal community is devoid of any caste system and there is no discrimination on the basis of birth.
Religion
Santals believe in supernatural beings and ancestral spirits. Santali rituals consist mainly of sacrificial offerings and invocations to the spirits, or bongas. It is believed by some scholars that Bonga means the same as Bhaga (or Bhagavan).[5] The Santal system of governance, known as Majhi–Paragana, may be compared to what is often called Local Self Governance. This body is responsible for making decisions about a village’s socioeconomic condition.
The Santal rebellion
Main article: Santhal rebellion
Background
The insurrection of the Santals was mainly against the corrupt moneylenders, zamindars and their operatives. Before the advent of the British in India the Santhals resided peacefully in the hilly districts of Mayurbhanj Chhotanagpur, Palamau, Hazaribagh, Midnapur, Bankura and Birbhum. Their agrarian way of life was based on clearing the forest; they also engaged themselves in hunting for subsistence. But, as the agents of the new colonial rule claimed their rights on the lands of the Santals, they peacefully went to reside in the hills of Rajmahal. After a brief period of peace the British operatives with their native counterparts jointly started claiming their rights in this new land as well. The simple and honest Santals were cheated and turned into slaves by the zamindars and the money lenders who first appeared to them as business men and lured them into debt, first by goods lent to them on loans. However hard the Santals tried to repay these loans, they never ended. Through corrupt measures of the money lenders, the debts multiplied to an amount for which a generation of the santal family had to work as slaves. Furthermore, the Santali women who worked under labour contractors were disgraced and abused. This loss of the freedom that they once enjoyed turned them into rebels.
Rebellion
On 30 June 1855, two great Santal rebel leaders, Sido Murmu and his brother Kanhu, mobilized ten thousand Santals and declared a rebellion against British colonists. The Santals initially gained some success but soon the British found out a new way to tackle these rebels. Instead, they forced them to come out of the forest. In a conclusive battle which followed, the British, equipped with modern firearms and war elephants, stationed themselves at the foot of the hill. When the battle began the British officer ordered his troops to fire without loading bullets. The Santals, who did not suspect this trap set by the British war strategy, charged with full potential. This step proved to be disastrous for them: as soon as they neared the foot of the hill, the British army attacked with full power and this time they were using bullets. Thereafter, attacking every village of the Santals, they made sure that the last drop of revolutionary spirit was annihilated. Although the revolution was brutally suppressed, it marked a great change in the colonial rule and policy. The day is still celebrated among the Santal community with great respect and spirit for the thousands of the Santal martyrs who sacrificed their lives along with their two celebrated leaders to win freedom from the rule of the Jamindars and the British operatives.
Santal Population
Sl.Name of State/District Total Population Santal population Per cent
I BIHAR
DEOGARH 9,33,113 NA
DHANBAD 26,74,651 2,40,718 9
DUMKA 14,95,709 5,68,370 38
GIRIDIH 22,25,480 3,56,077 16
GODDA 8,61,182 1,20,565 14
HAZARIBAGH 16,01,576 64,063 4
KATIHAR 18,25,380 1,09,522 6
KODARMA 6,29,264 37,755 6
PASCHIM SINGHBHUM 17,87,955 1,78,795 10
PURBI SINGHBHUM 16,13,088 NA
PURNIA 18,78,885 93,944 5
SAHIBGANJ 7,36,835 3,09,471 42
II ORISSA
BALASORE 16,96,583 1,69,658 10
BHADRAK 11,05,834 33,175 3
CUTTACK NA
DHENKANAL NA
KEONJHAR 13,37,026 NA
KHURDA NA
MAYURBHANJ 18,84,580 5,67,282 28
SUNDARGARH NA
III TRIPURA*
TRIPURA 2,200
IV WEST BENGAL
BANKURA 28,05,065 3,36,607 12
BARDHAMAN 60,50,605 3,63,036 6
BIRBHUM 25,55,664 1,53,340 6
WEST (N&S) DINAJPUR 12,00,924 1,80,138 15
JALPAIGURI 28,00,543 NA
MALDAH 26,37,032 1,84,592 7
MEDINIPUR 83,31,919 13,33,107 16
PURULIA 22,24,577 3,33,686 15
V ASSAM
ASSAM NA 2,00,000
References
Text document with red question mark.svg
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (May 2009)
1. ^ “Jharkhand: Data Highlights the Scheduled Tribes” (PDF). Census of India 2001. Census Commission of India. http://censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/SCST/dh_st_jharkhand.pdf. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
2. ^ “West Bengal: Data Highlights the Scheduled Tribes” (PDF). Census of India 2001. Census Commission of India. http://censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/SCST/dh_st_westbengal.pdf. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
3. ^ “Bihar: Data Highlights the Scheduled Tribes” (PDF). Census of India 2001. Census Commission of India. http://censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/SCST/dh_st_bihar.pdf. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
4. ^ http://wesanthals.tripod.com/id45.html
5. ^ P. 292 The Cult of Brahmā By Tārāpada Bhaṭṭācāryyeṇa, Tarapada Bhattacharyya
Bibliography
* Archer, W. G. The Hill of Flutes: Life, Love, and Poetry in Tribal India: A Portrait of the Santals. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1974.
* Bodding, P. O. Santal Folk Tales. Cambridge, Mass.: H. Aschehoug; Harvard University Press, 1925.
* Bodding, P. O. Santal Riddles and Witchcraft among the Santals. Oslo: A. W. Brøggers, 1940.
* Bodding, P. O. A Santal Dictionary (5 volumes), 1933-36 Oslo: J. Dybwad, 1929.
* Bodding, P. O. Materials for a Santali Grammar I, Dumka 1922
* Bodding, P. O. Studies in Santal Medicine and Connected Folklore (3 volumes), 1925-40
* Bompas, Cecil Henry, and Bodding, P. O. Folklore of the Santal Parganas. London: D. Nutt, 1909. Full text at Project Gutenberg.
* Chakrabarti, Dr. Byomkes, A Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali, KP Bagchi, Calcutta, 1994
* Chaudhuri, A. B. State Formation among Tribals: A Quest for Santal Identity. New Delhi: Gyan Pub. House, 1993.
* Culshaw, W. J. Tribal Heritage; a Study of the Santals. London: Lutterworth Press, 1949.
* Edward Duyker Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Movement, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1987, pp. 201, SBN 19 561938 2.
* Hembrom, T. The Santals: Anthropological-Theological Reflections on Santali & Biblical Creation Traditions. 1st ed. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1996.
* Orans, Martin. “The Santal; a Tribe in Search of a Great Tradition.” Based on thesis, University of Chicago., Wayne State University Press, 1965.
* Prasad, Onkar. Santal Music: A Study in Pattern and Process of Cultural Persistence, Tribal Studies of India Series; T 115. New Delhi: Inter-India Publications, 1985.
* Roy Chaudhury, Indu. Folk Tales of the Santals. 1st ed. Folk Tales of India Series, 13. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1973.
* Troisi, J. The Santals: A Classified and Annotated Bibliography. New Delhi: Manohar Book Service, 1976.
* ———. Tribal Religion: Religious Beliefs and Practices among the Santals. New Delhi: Manohar, 2000.
External links
* Santals-Intro to our Music, Picture, Folktales, Videos…
* All India Santal Welfare and Cultural Society
* Santal Arts
* A Portal for Santals
* Santal Dance
* Edward Duyker Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Movement
See also
* Santhal rebellion
v • d • e
List of Indigenous groups of Bangladesh
Bawm · Chak · Chakma · Garo · Khasiya · Khumi · Khyang · Kuki · Lushai · Mahle · Marma · Mro or Murang or Mru · Munda · Oraon · Pankho · Rakhaine · Santals · Tanchangya · Tripuri
v • d • e
Scheduled tribes of India
Asur · Baiga · Bharia · Bhil · Bhumij · Bhutia · Birhor · Bodo · Bodo-Kachari · Boksa · Bonda · Chakma · Chenchu · Dimasa · Garo · Gondi · Hmar · Ho · Karbi · Khasi · Khonds · Kol · Korwa · Kuki · Lepcha · Lodha · Mahli · Mara · Mech · Mishing · Mizo · Mog · Munda · Mudugar · Naga · Oraon · Rabari · Rabha · Reang · Santals · Sora · Tripuri
v • d • e
Tribes of Jharkhand
Asur • Baiga • Bhumij • Birhor • Chero • Gond • Ho • Kodaku • Kol• Kora • Korwa • Mahli • Mal Paharia • Munda • Oraon • Santal • Sauria Paharia
v • d • e
Scheduled Tribes in Orissa
Bhottada • Binjhal • Bhumij • Bhuiya • Bhumia • Gond • Khond • Kisan • Kolha • Koya • Munda • Oraon • Paroja • Santal • Saora • Shabar
v • d • e
Scheduled Tribes in West Bengal
Asur · Adhikari · Badia (Bediya) · Bhumij · Bhutia · Toto · Dukpa · Kagatay · Birhor · Birjia · Chik Baraik · Gorait · Hajang · Ho · Karmali · Kharwar · Kora · Korwa · Lepcha · Lodha · Mahali · Mahli · Mal Pahariya · Mech · Mru · Munda · Nagesia · Oraon · Parhaiya · Rabha · Santal · Sauria Paharia · Sabar · Tamang · Subba
v • d • e
Cultures in the standard cross-cultural sample
Africa African sccs cultures.jpg
Nama (Hottentot) • Kung (San) • Thonga • Lozi • Mbundu • Suku • Bemba • Nyakyusa (Ngonde) • Hadza • Luguru • Kikuyu • Ganda • Mbuti (Pygmies) • Nkundo (Mongo) • Banen • Tiv • Igbo • Fon • Ashanti (Twi) • Mende • Bambara • Tallensi • Massa • Azande • Otoro Nuba • Shilluk • Mao • Maasai
Circum-Mediterranean Circum-mediterannean sccs cultures.jpg
Wolof • Songhai • Wodaabe Fulani • Hausa • Fur • Kaffa • Konso • Somali • Amhara • Bogo • Kenuzi Nubian • Teda • Tuareg • Riffians • Egyptians (Fellah) • Hebrews • Babylonians • Rwala Bedouin • Turks • Gheg (Albanians) • Romans • Basques • Irish • Sami (Lapps) • Russians • Abkhaz • Armenians • Kurd
East Eurasia East eurasian sccs cultures.jpg
Yurak (Samoyed) • Basseri • West Punjabi • Gond • Toda • Santal • Uttar Pradesh • Burusho • Kazak • Khalka Mongols • Lolo • Lepcha • Garo • Lakher • Burmese • Lamet • Vietnamese • Rhade • Khmer • Siamese • Semang • Nicobarese • Andamanese • Vedda • Tanala • Negeri Sembilan • Atayal • Chinese • Manchu • Koreans • Japanese • Ainu • Gilyak • Yukaghir
Insular Pacific Insular pacific.jpg
Javanese (Miao) • Balinese • Iban • Badjau • Toraja • Tobelorese • Alorese • Tiwi • Aranda • Orokaiva • Kimam • Kapauku • Kwoma • Manus • New Ireland • Trobrianders • Siuai • Tikopia • Pentecost • Mbau Fijians • Ajie • Māori • Marquesans • Western Samoans • Gilbertese • Marshallese • Trukese • Yapese • Palauans • Ifugao • Chukchi
North America North american sccs cultures.jpg
Deg Hit’an • Aleut • Copper Eskimo • Montagnais • Mi’kmaq • Saulteaux (Ojibwa) • Slave • Kaska (Nahane) • Eyak • Haida • Bellacoola • Twana • Yurok • Pomo • Yokuts • Paiute (Northern) • Klamath • Kutenai • Gros Ventres • Hidatsa • Pawnee • Omaha (Dhegiha) • Huron • Creek • Natchez • Comanche • Chiricahua • Zuni • Havasupai • Papago • Huichol • Aztec • Popoluca
South America South america SCCS cultures.jpg
Quiché • Miskito (Mosquito) • Bribri (Talamanca) • Cuna • Goajiro • Haitians • Calinago • Warrau (Warao) • Ya̧nomamö • Carib • Saramacca • Munduruku • Cubeo (Tucano) • Cayapa • Jivaro • Amahuaca • Inca • Aymara • Siriono • Nambicuara • Trumai • Timbira • Tupinamba • Botocudo • Shavante • Aweikoma • Cayua (Guarani) • Lengua • Abipon • Mapuche • Tehuelche • Yaghan
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santals“
Categories: Social groups in Orissa | Social groups of Bihar | Social groups of West Bengal | Ethnic groups in Bangladesh | Indigenous peoples of South Asia | Social groups of Jharkhand | Santhal
* This page was last modified on 8 December 2010 at 16:43.
* Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
…and I am Sid Harth
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
* India’s Superpower Euphoria XV
* A Ray of Hope….
* Maoist military success sets back mining investment strategy
Category: News, Views and Reviews
India’s Superpower Euphoria CXC
0 comments:
Post a Comment