Welcome
Note... 
We are, we were,
and we will be here....
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Background B.I.R.S.A.
is
a registered under the Society Registration Act. It’s Head Office is based
in the District Town of Chaibasa with Mines Monitoring Centre in Ranchi
and Campaign for Forest Rights also in Ranchi the Capital of the State
of Jharkhand. It has a Board of ten persons most of them comprising
the team of that runs the Organisation. A majority of them being
Adivasi and Dalit with a comparatively fair Gender balance.
Any institution working for the emancipation
of its people should be run and managed by themselves and should create
opportunities for growing leaders and resource persons within for its
effective functioning. With this objective in mind B.I.R.S.A. set its
goal to nurture its own leadership from amongst the Jharkhandi activists
and in the ten years of its history is has achieved this to a good extent. The B.I.R.S.A. team has evolved as a team of individuals capable not only of a conscious, mature and analytical mind, but also capable of administrative tasks and responsible financial management demanded of civil society organizations. The
Institute has been striving to provide the material, resources and structures
to promote the development of a cadre of Indigenous intellectuals and
build up leadership from among them. Leadership
is collective by a core team of the staff and some of the Board Members.
The Directorship is in rotation. The Governing Board comprises of
senior Indigenous Peoples’ and non-Indigenous Peoples, Concerned Citizens
and members of the Staff team running the day-to-day programmes of the
organisation.
The present Executive Director is Birsingh Sinku
from the Ho Tribe. Birsing Sinku was previously with the Human Rights
activities. In the late ‘70’s he studied law in Delhi where he worked
for Lokayan, another NGO based in Delhi and served on its Board
before returning to Jharkhand in 1993 to take up the Human Rights work
with B.I.R.S.A.
He also serves as the Editor of ‘Johar Sakkam’ a Human Rights
Monthly Bulletin brought out by the Human Rights Centre.
He has taken over the Directorship from Devendranath
Hasdah who worked as a journalist, then Editor of a local Hindi newspaper
and has guided B.I.R.S.A
through its early period. Devendranath Hasdah is on a sabbatical
to and doing field work on the issue of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in
Food Growing, which B.I.R.S.A.
hopes to take up after one year.
 Working Partners The B.I.R.S.A. works with various organisations that are committed to ensuring the identity and survival of the Indigenous Peoples communities. Our various partners in this effort are spread across the grass-root/community, national and international levels.
B.I.R.S.A
over the years has built up the infrastructural base and a tested delivery
mechanism for a variety of activities.
ü
This
infrastructural base includes human resources, good will with Professionals
support. Credibility with people living within the forest and the mining
communities.
ü
In
all the Blocks Panchayats and within the Singhbhum and Ranchi Districts,
B.I.R.S.A has been operating or has an outreach.
ü
Extensive mass awareness work through its Human Rights Centre on issues
of lands rights and natural resources i.e. water and the forest.
ü
Through Judicial and public action got back land to the Villagers taken
illegally.
ü
On
forest issues, B.I.R.S.A took up the issue of illegal timber trade and
brought the State Government to stop the scruples felling of fruit bearing
trees for timber through a lacuna in the Forest laws.
ü
Through the Gram Sabha (local self-government), B.I.R.S.A has established
Gram Sabha in over 700 villages in one District alone that now serves
as a infrastructure for other empowernment programmes.
ü
On
the mining issue B.I.R.S.A first addressed the issue of labour rights,
especially implementation of minimum wages, maternity benefits and exploitation
of women at mine sites and pits, and from here grew to take up the social
and environmental cost of mining operations.
ü
Some
of the individuals within B.I.R.S.A had their roots in organising the
unorganised contract mineworkers since 1977 through a Trade Union and
through Publications of workers rights education literature. The
TU work also took up the issue of land rights of those Indigenous Peoples
who were cheated of their lands by mining companies.
ü
It
later broadened the issue from a Worker v/s Management one to a Community
v/s Industry, by taking up the issue of the affects of bad mining practices
by Private and Public Mining Companies that affected the surrounding forest
Villages & Rivers sourrounding mining townships.
ü
B.I.R.S.A
has done pioneering data collection and research work on the question
of Women's reproductive health (1995-97) in the uranium mining areas.
This had been done in collaboration with the School of Social Health
and Community Medicine – Jawaharlal Nehru University Delhi.
The very process of data collection trained five women on community health
issues and created a mass consciousness that the issue was not of the
evil-spirits punishing them for spontaneous abortions and deformed births
and cancers but it was the low doze and radiation from the waste disposals
of the mines.
ü
This effort also
resulted in B.I.R.S.A. co-producing the award winning Documentary “Buddha
Weeps in Jadugoda” on the plight of victims of radiation in uranium mining.
ü
Even
though among the B.I.R.S.A team there are no professionals, it also proved
that the team is able to work and learn together with professionals closing
the gap between academia and people.
ü
B.I.R.S.A.
has made a significant contribution to bringing the issue of Women’s exploitation
in Mining to the centre stage. B.I.R.S.A. contributed to the First
International Woman & Mining Conference in Bagio Philippines in 1996,
and then in 2000 in Bolivia. B.I.R.S.A.’s contribution to bringing
the issue within mm&P the National Alliance of Mining Affected
People is also significant.
ü
B.I.R.S.A.
works together with the Munda – Manki Association, and the Majhi-Parganha
Mahal (Association of Tribal Chiefs) and has played a role in reviving
it.
ü
B.I.R.S.A.
also works with the Ho Samaj Mahasabha an assembly of the Ho Tribe. In
all these above activities and those that are not mentioned here, right
from 1989, B.I.R.S.A brought the issue of gender subordination to the
centre stage. B.I.R.S.A is today working to increase the number
of women in the traditional council of Tribal Chiefs, and the number of
women traditional health healers, hitherto male dominated traditional
institutions. These field achievements were done with the minimum needed financial support. Administrative management, transparency, strict financial governing norms as also financial accountability to the community that today makes it possible to move into broader fields.
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Background |
Copyright©2003
B.I.R.S.A.
All rights
reserved.
Webmaster-
Gustav
Imam
webmaster@birsa.org
