Adhikar/July 2011

Time Not for Impartiality, but Decisions

Book criminal suits against several politicians including the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Sri. Y.S. Yediyurappa. This is not a demand of the Opposition parties in the state, but therecommendation given by Justice Santosh Hegde, the Lokayukta of Karnataka in his report. The report came in the wake of allegations of illegal mining going on in Bellary district of Karnataka.

This report has 25,238 pages. The report names not only BJP and Congress politicians, but also 787 government officers in this matter of illegal mining. This is not just the storyof one state, or just Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chattisgarh, but it is the reality of mining areas in every region of the world.

The condensation of such an elaborate report is not an easy job. But we will say this for the benefit of the reading public that the mining industry is the mother of corruption and cruelty and it also gets enriched by these. Second, the mining industry is being run by an unholy and shameless nexus between mining mafias and the administrative and political systems in the country. Third, this industry takes pride of place among human rights violators.

Looking at this character of the mining industry, it is difficult to even think that it is mining which introduced humans to the Iron Age and Copper Age Civilisations and cultures and helped human society to lay the foundation for many good values and moresin that period. The purpose of mining, then, was to strengthen the society. If so, which are the elements, which took away those values from mining? Let us discuss this. The kind of mining that is going on in the world today, its systems and techniques were all developed by the colonizer countries in the era of colonization. This has been very well explained in the book, “British Rule in India” by Sunder Lal. He writes, “Through the loot of India and especially Bengal, (Jharkhand was also a part of Bengal at that time) by the end of the 19th century, the industries of England which were very much backward till then started developing and factories started opening in places like Lancashire. This observation of Sundar Lal is supported by a remark made by Lord Dalhousie on the Railway system in 1853. Lord Dalhousie had said that it was necessary to develop the railways to develop India as a market for British goods as well as a source for raw materials. For this process, the British Empire coined a new word, ‘Development of the Resources of India.’

The character of mining industry in India did not change even after Independence. The geographical, social and cultural systems were irrelevant to those controlling the mining industry, since they had no interest in them. On the other hand, the mine owners looked at all these as obstacles in the way of amassing profits. Hence they wanted to be freed of these and till now they have been free.

The mineral resources, which have been freed of all these has been a source of enormous profit to those associated with mining. This profit attracted a small section of human society. This small section changed our centuries-old perceptions and values for the safeguard of their profit. When the perceptions were changed, all of us started running after the glitter and dazzle of the new world they had set up.

There are many in this world, who run after this glitter and dazzle and that majority is the strength of the minority who amass profits. In reality, those who run after the glitter don’t even get the leftovers of the profit from the mining industry. They get displacement, starvation, poverty, migration, grave illnesses, bullets and lathis from police and mafia. But they still hope sometime or the other, a few drops of this elixir in the form of profit from this industry might reach their throats too.

This is that society which plays an important role in forming governments and it is the representatives of this society who are in important positions in government- Prime minister, Chief minister, ministers and members of Parliament and Assemblies. Therefore, the question of ministers and members of government being involved in illegal mining and corruption is not just a question limited to them, but a question of that section of society which they represent.

We will have to think what meaning does corruption have for these fleeing people. What is their relationship with people around them? When we think about this, we realize that these people who live in their own world of make-believe are in the embrace of dying individualism. These individualistic people have no meaning for corruption. They want their interests to be taken care of using any means. Even if they have to hold laws at bay, to this end, it does not matter for them. In these circumstances, the graph of corruption will show an upward inclination, doubtless. Along with this, if there is murderous competition, there will be cruelty, exploitation and repression.

Therefore the problem of corruption and brutality in mining industry calls for an in-depth reflection, without which we can neither get rid of this problem nor can we make anychanges. Hegde’s report is not directed at this senseless society, but appeals to those who have kept their senses and consciousness in tact, how long would this empire of corruption and cruelty continue. Come, let us think if we are people who have lost our senses or we are still in our senses and want to put an end to the corruption and brutality. In this we cannot be impartial and standing on the sides watching, because impartiality means to keep the status quo in tact.

Adhikar/May-june 2011

Forced Or Spontaneous Development?

Land grabbing for industries and developmental projects. This land grabbing has become a cause of concern to the government, industrial houses as well as the public. Till yesterday, the people of Jharkhand as well as other mineral rich regions were crying themselves hoarse against this loot of land. But the so-called developed society along with government and companies honoured them with such names as rustic, antidevelopmental, anti-national and what-not. Today, the need for land grabbing has increased to such an extent that they not only need the lands of Nuagaon and Gobindpur in Odisha, they also need the lands of rich farmers in developed areas like Greater Noida. The farmers of both these regions are causing headache to the rulers of democratic India. These farmers are taking bullets and lathis from the police as well as the henchmen of companies, but they are determined and firm. In other words, both sides have locked horns and are ready for battle.

There are two perspectives on this. One group understands land grabbing as beneficial to the people, while the other group considers it as threatening to their interests. On first glance, these two perspectives may look contradictory, but both are products of the same historical context, which gave rise to laws like the Land Acquisition Act. The starting point for both these lines of thinking is colonialism. Unless we are able to understand and emerge out of this, we will not be able to find a solution to this problem. This conclusion is not just for India, but also for all those countries and regions, which have carried the burden of colonialist rule.

The countries or regions, which have suffered from colonial rule, their folk memories, and folk legends, have been so much under pressure from European modernism that they made it the purpose of their independence to usher in this modernity. Several leaders of our independence struggle, including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru have been adherents of this ideology. As a result the draft for building up of the nascent Indian state was based on the principles of European modernism. The pressure of modernism was so great on us that period in our history, which was a period of transition with numerous upheavals, has been qualified as the most stagnant period in our country’s history. It was during this period that social movements such as the Bhakti movement were strong. The first condition for establishing British colonialism in India, was the destruction of our people’s history. This is the reason why even today, Dr. Manmohan Singh, our present Prime Minister does not get tired of singing praises to the British Empire for their role in making our country educationally and intellectually developed, whenever he is invited to deliver a speech at Cambridge University.

If we need to cope with today’s dilemmas whose roots are hidden deep within European modernism, we need to go beyond this and look into the folk-lores and folk-history of those societies who have kept themselves safely outside the reach of this modernism. This is the consciousness required by the present time, without which our dilemmas will continue to persist and haunt us. We can wipe off a disease only through the annihilation of the germs causing the disease, not through breeding them.

Not only our country, the whole world is distressed with the capitalist system. And is searching for ways to escape. That is why our middle-class intellectual society is searching for an end to corruption, sometimes with the help of Anna Hazare, sometimes through Baba Ramdev. After sixty years of experience, they still do not understand that it is impossible for this system to survive without corruption. This is a game that the ruling class wants to show us and we are happy watching it. We think, come on, now corruption is going to come to an end. When modern capitalism, encountered its second financial crisis, which is known in history as South Sea Bubble in 1711, corruption was the root cause. Even today, not only in India, but wherever capitalism is present, corruption is at its peak, this can be understood just by looking at the recent instances of granting mining leases either to Reddy brothers or Vedanta plant.

If we want to get out of this situation, we need to move forward in the direction of an alternate system, which was envisioned by some of our leaders who were part of the Independence struggle, but did not receive the recognition that Gandhiji and Nehru did. We will have to sift through their dreams and retrieve those principles, which oppose modernism that furthers imperialism. We will have to search in the pages of the past. The histories of Jharkhand and similar other regions have not been properly recorded or understood till now. We need to decide the course of our development, searching through these histories and adopting principles from them. But it is the misfortune of these regions that the ruling classes have been promoting those very models of development, against which their people have been constantly agitating. We have just recently celebrated the martyrdom day of Birsa Munda, who had forced the mighty British Empire to bend down and legislate the first land protection law for Adivasi people, which is known as C.N.T. Act.

But despite this Act, Adivasi land was being looted in this state even after independence and the formation of Jharkhand. The same as in the case of dowry, though there is a strong anti-dowry act in this country, dowry is openly taken and given every day. I have this to ask of those who argue for making strict laws, what happens after? We will have to awaken social and political consciousness against this loot, otherwise, the stricter the laws, the more number of loopholes there will be to escape.

Therefore, let the law be strict. But there should also be people to implement the law, only then can Adivasi land be protected. There will be more businesses opened with the demand of making the laws stricter, but we cannot trust them to save our lands. Ultimately, it is the people here who have to save their lands. They will have to be prepared for that. The people will be prepared only when they locate the road to their development in their folk-lores and folk-history. And that too, such a development, which should be seen challenging the existing models of development. Which is possible.

Adhikar/Aug 2011

A Political Abortion

The Anti-Corruption Campaign led by Anna Hazare and his team has succeeded in getting a particular class of people align with his movement, who were till now unprepared to think of anything beyond own profit, which is a positive contribution of the Campaign. But at the same time, this Campaign also pushed many of the important issues to the side burner.

The question now arises, can corruption be solved through the Jan Lokpal Bill? The answer to this can only be negative, which Anna Hazare and his team also know. Then why make so much noise for Jan Lokpal bill? We will be able to understand this only when we put together the incidents behind this and try to understand the movement. Before this Movement started, other issues were in popular discourse, which affected common people like land acquisition, climate change, increasing gap between poverty and riches caused by the industry-centred development and price rise. A wide discussion was taking place in the country on these issues, staring from the local level to the national level. This discussion had begun to make those sitting in government uncomfortable. Because their faces had started falling not only among the people, but also among Corporate houses. Because the government was unable to fulfill the promises it made to investors.

This was because the people had understood that these promises of the government were against their interests. Therefore the people of majority of the states like Jharkhand, Orissa and Chattisgarh were seen out on the streets, in a bid to protect their interests. They held on, despite all kinds of physical, mental and economic exploitation on them. Hundreds of these agitators became victims to police bullets. In Chattisgarh, Salwa Judum, had unleashed a bloody trail of murders and rapes. In other words, this cycle of exploitation and repression along with the nationwide protest of the people had put forward a desire for a broad-based debate.

At the base of this debate was the anti-people character and history of the ruling class. There was a hope from this debate, which had just got sparked off that it would bring in some changes. Footfalls were being heard of the impending changes. The same supreme court of India, which had earlier freed the perpetrators of the heinous rape on Bhanwari Devi, a Dalit woman, on the ground that they belonged to a higher caste, now started giving out verdicts against the illegal means adopted by companies like Jindal, Mittal, Posco and Vedanta groups A process of Review of laws had also started at the assembly and Parliament levels. This was not just a change of heart of the supreme court and Pariamen. But a change was going to happen. It is another matter how much of space would there have been for the voices of the common man in this process, but this could have been corrected under pressure from people’s movements and struggles.

At this critical time, when change was imminent, Anna Hazare’s Anti- Corruption Campaign caused this change to be aborted politically. And this is the reason why those people who are desirous of keeping status quo in tact and who stand to gain by it were coming out in support of the movement in large numbers like flies and insects. Anna’s devotees had started coming out not only in Delhi, but in all cities, big and small towns and even in the small lanes and bylanes of villages. In 13 days, these devotees and disciples had caused such an uproar that that government had to bend before them. I am not saying that corruption is not an issue issue. I am saying that corruption is a product of the political and economic systems, which the present system is nurturing. We cannot finish it off unless we attack the system. But this movement had mobilized the same people who are promoting corruption day in and day out. We have seen that a lot of

noise had been made about corruption even during the JP movement Without going into the fall-outs of that movement, I just want to say that in the name of bringing an end to the ‘licence-permit raj’ in the country, genuine people’s issues have been pushed back. Even if there was a discussion o nthese issues, it was only after weighing advantages and disadvantages carefully. A new system has been ushered in, one which accepts the dominance of market. And we are seeing how this new system promotes corruption.

How much of this corruption will be erased by the Jan Lokpal Bill, only time can tell. But this group of people who have fed corruption have now become aware that they can make the government bend before their supremacy as and when they want. Particularly, when they can take the media in hand. In today’s world, whether it is political change or social change, the role of media is undeniable. Anna Team understood this well and used it in their movement very well.

Finally, I just want to add this, on august 9th, the day Anna started his fast, the same day, three farmers were shot dead by the police in his home state, Maharashtra. These farmers were among the farmers protesting against a water pipeline in Pune district, which would devastate their fields. I was clear that Anna Hazare will not express grief over the deaths of these farmers, not only during the fast period, even after that.

I am forced to say this because, in the whole country when farmers were committing suicide, anna Hazare had kept quiet about it. Likewise, about the atrocitires on Dalits and Adivasis in Posco area or Niyamgiri or Jharkhand, anna would have hardly made any comments, ever. Anna Hazare, does not get tired talking about Gandhi, the same Gandhi who was fighting the rioters at Naokhali, single-handedly at the time when the whole country was celebrating the new dawn of national Independence.

Mainstream, Vol XLVIII, No 20, May 8, 2010

Am I a Maoist?

Gladson Dungdung

I appeared in public life through my human rights work, writings and speeches. However, I reached to a larger audience when I got a chance to appear in CNN-IBN and NDTV-24×7 debates on the issue of Naxalism last year. After these debates, I got immense positive and negative responses from across the country. I was upset for sometime precisely because of the most negative responses I got from the youth who are running behind the market forces unknowingly. They ruthlessly questioned me about whether I get money from Pakistan, Nepal or China for speaking against the Indian state. I responded to a few of them with detailed explanations, but many believe in P. Chidambaram’s theory of this side or that side; therefore they are not ready to accept my rational arguments.

Meanwhile, I continued my work of raising the genuine issues of the (more…)

published by WISE News Communique on March 28, 1993

For Whom the Bells Do Not Toll….

The following is one of a series of interviews with tribal people of Jadugora, Batin and Nawapahar area Singhbhum Jharkhand (Bihar), India whose lands are being mined for uranium. The interviews were taped and translated into English for presentation at the World Uranium Hearing in September 1992 with support from the AJSU-All Jharkhand Students Union and JOHAR-Jharkhandis’ Organisation for Human Rights.

(more…)

World Uranium Hearing

Xavier S. Dias

Xavier S. Dias, Village Duccasi, Bihar, India. Co-founder of Jharkhandis Organization for Human Rights.

Present Address : B6, Abhilasha Apartment 11a, Purulia Road Ranchi-Jharkhand

Email : reachxdias@gmail.com

Respected Elders, Brothers, Sisters! I bring you greetings from the people of Jharkhand, the central tribal areas of India.

Technology has made many things possible today, and it has also made it possible that the victims of technology cannot testify or prove technology accountable for its destruction. I have a series of slides that (more…)

REPORT

What is RTZ doing in Orissa?

Xavier Dias

The points given below were collected from information I gathered after visiting the site of the proposed ‘Rio Tinto Orissa Mining Limited’ RTOML, in the District of Koenjhar, Orissa State, India. By interacting with the village elders, (more…)

Uranium Mining – Where the debate begins.

The Case of Jadugoda.

In his village they call him ‘Tublu’, a football-loving boy. Last September he completed his home surgery with great aspiration. He is the first doctor from his (more…)

Sustainable Development, Policy Issues & Global Governance

INEC/ODAF/CSE

Vishakapatnam A.P. India

March 21-22 2002

Xavier Dias

Regional Coordinator

mines minerals & People.

(more…)