Chhattisgarh.ozg.in

Naxal killed 26 CRPF in Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh

2010-06-30T02:25:00.001-07:00

Less than three months after their biggest attack on security forces in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on April 6, Maoists killed at least 26 Central Reserve Police Force men in an encounter following two ambushes in the state's Narayanpur district.

The district, less than 200 km from Dantewada, is also in the impoverished Maoist-dominated Bastar region where the April 6 massacre killed 75 CRPF men and a state policeman.

On Tuesday, around 60 securitymen, mostly CRPF personnel and some district policemen, were returning to their base camp on foot when the Maoists opened fire on them.

In New Delhi, Home Secretary G.K. Pillai confirmed the deaths. "Reinforcements were sent from a nearby camp. The rest have returned to the camp," he said.

Though none of the state's top police officers were available to comment on the Maoist attack, official sources said security forces in Narayanpur were on a combing operation ahead of the two-day shutdown called by the Maoists on Wednesday and Thursday.

The sources added the death toll was likely to rise as several injured personnel rushed to hospital were in critical condition.

An Indian Air Force helicopter was pressed into the rescue operation to airlift the injured men from the ambush site to Jagdalpur.

"There were two ambushes within an interval of half-an-hour, followed by an encounter which continued for more than two hours," the sources added.

There was however no report of any casualties inflicted on the extremists.

"The attack apparently once again exposed the failure of intelligence. The forces were ill-informed about the presence of Maoists in huge numbers in the nearby jungles," a guerrilla warfare expert said on condition of anonymity.

This is the third major attack by the Maoists after the Dantewada massacre of April 6. On May 17, 36 people, including 12 special police officers were killed by Maoists who attacked a bus in Dantewada.

That attack was preceded by one in which eight CRPF men were killed in Bijapur district on May 8.

Hindustan Times

Bastar/Raipur, June 29, 2010

http://naxal.ozg.in

Emergency - Part XVIII of the Constitution of India

2010-06-25T09:05:00.001-07:00

Under the advice of the cabinet of ministers and using the powers vested in him largely by Part XVIII of the Constitution of India, the President can overrule many provisions of the constitution, which guarantee fundamental rights to the citizens of India and acts governing devolution of powers to the states which form the federation. A state of emergency in India refers to a period of governance under an altered constitutional setup that can be proclaimed by the President of India, when he perceives grave threats to the nation from internal and external sources or from the financial situations of crisis.

In independent India, so far state of emergency has been declared thrice. Firstly between 26 October 1962 to 10 January 1968 during the India-China war — "the security of India" having been declared "threatened by external aggression". Then again on 3 December 1971 during the Indo-Pakistan war.

And, the third time it was between 26 June 1975 to 21 March 1977 under the most controversial circumstances of political instability with Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister of the country. The emergency was declared in the name of "the security of India" having been declared "threatened by internal disturbances" but it had an open agenda to rule the country in a dictatorial manner by crushing the voices of the people and also of all those political parties who opposed her government by the then Prime Minister late Smt. Indira Gandhi.

In such an emergency, Fundamental Rights of Indian citizens can be suspended. The six freedoms under Right to Freedom are automatically suspended. However, the Right to Life and Personal Liberty cannot be suspended according to the original Constitution. But, we all know that during the controversial emergency declared by Indira Gandhi, the government suspended even the Right to Life and Personal Liberty by dispensing with Habeas corpus. April 28th, 1976 is a dark day for all of us who love the pledges of Justice and Liberty which we gave to ourselves in the Preamble of our Constitution. On this day during the Emergency the Supreme Court sank to its lowest when it decided the infamous Habeas Corpus Case with the following conclusion:

"In view of the Presidential Order dated 27th June 1975 no person has any locus to move any writ petition under Art. 226 before a High Court for habeas corpus or any other writ or order or direction to challenge the legality of an order of detention on the ground that the order is not under or in compliance with the Act or is illegal or is vitiated by mala fides factual or legal or is based on extraneous considerations." Chief Justice Hans Raj Khanna defended the Right to Life and asked: "Life is also mentioned in Article 21 and would Government argument extend to it also?". The Attorney General observed: "Even if life was taken away illegally, courts are helpless"

We are completing Thirty Five Years on this day, the 26th of June, 2010, when the emergency was declared that crushed the democratic rights of the people in the world's largest democracy, so much so that no one could even seek the assistance of any court in India to try and save his liberty, life or limb threatened to be taken away by the State. Now we are facing a situation that can be described as an "Undeclared Emergency" where we find that in order to satisfy the greed of few corporate houses, irrespective of which party is in power, all are behind the blood of innocent people who dare to use their democratic rights to protect their fundamental rights. Land of the farmers, mostly tribals are inked in to the MoUs but the farmers comes to know only when the survey team reaches the village to being the forcible land acquisition that can be best described as the Land Grab. Century old land acquisition act that smells of colonial power is grossly misused for the private purpose of the industrial and mining corporate houses but it is labeled as "Public Purpose" and glorified as the development of the state and its people. Those Human Rights Defenders, Social Activists and organizations that work to protect the rights of the land losers are labeled as Naxal Sympathizers . False cases are booked against most of those who take leadership initiative.

Despite Panchayat Extension of Schedule Areas Act, 1996 (PESA) is mandatory to be complied at all the fifth schedule areas of our country, large areas of lands of tribals in the fifth schedule areas have fallen in to the hands of the non tribals by the connivance of the very authorities on are duty bound by the virtue of the constitution of India to ensure that the interests of the tribals are not compromised. What has happened at Lohandiguda is a blot on our democracy where district administration has played in the hands of the largest investors of the county. Even the tribals who were on way to meet the Governor of Chhattisgarh were detained at Jagdalpur police station. SDM did not hear any cases for simple bail for months together until and unless the land owner accepts the compensation amount in lieu of the land. Even one advocate at Jagdalpur was arrested for the simple reason that he moved the bail application of few of those land owners whom the police had arrested. Even Human Rights Activists have been physically assaulted and threatened not to oppose the setting up of the steel plant at Lohandiguda in Bastar district.

Take any mineral rich tribal area of the country where corporate (s) have laid their eagle eyes. We find that though 216 districts of the country are in the grip of Naxal problem, operation green hunt is practiced only where the corporate have interest. At Dantewada in Bastar, innocent tribals are killed in the name of cleansing Naxalites almost every day, village after village has been destroyed, uprooting lakhs of tribals from their habitats. Many are jailed with false cases imposed on them. About 100 tribals from Bastar are jailed at central Jail in Durg, which is at a distance of about 450 KM from their villages are facing worst days of their lives. Even their bail applications are not heard nor are their cases taken up in the court on the given dates on technical reasons.

Economic liberalization and globalization of trade that opened the doors for both for foreign multinational companies as well as our own investors who in the name of making investment are given virtual free hand to loot the natural resources of the country which is a National Wealth which is the root cause of all the trouble. During Indira Gandhi's emergency, all other political parties were at the receiving end but in the current undeclared emergency, all of them are sailing on the same boat to protect the interest of the corporate houses and crush voices of the poor people. Leftists pampered Salims of Indonesia at Nandigram, for Tatas at Singur or at Lalgarh for Jindal, Naveen Patnaik's BJD works overtime to take care of the interest of the POSCO, Tata Steel, Vedanta and others, Raman's BJP wastes no time to see that constitutional rights of tribals is crushed even at the cost of making mockery of PESA in Bastar, Congress in Maharastra for Mukesh Ambani's SEZ project or Arjun Munda of BJP or Madhu Koda and later Shibu Soren government with Congress or BJP as partners glorify investments by Bhushan, Jindal, Mittal or Mulayam's Samajwadi party wastes no time to crack down on farmers for Anil Ambani's power plant. Though all the parties are politically opposed to each other, have one thing in common and that is to crack down on the poor people to misuse the land acquisition act, make private purpose as public purpose to ultimately grab the land and also allow virtual loot of our natural wealth. They do not hesitate to clamp false criminal cases on all those who oppose them or help the villagers to protect their rights by forwarding them to jail.

The last hope which is the judiciary has also failed to rise to the occasion. Despite serious violations of the fundamental rights of the people, cases are not heard where date after dates are given without any relief, even habeas corpus petitions have failed to rescue the victims. I strongly believe we are facing an UNDECLARED EMERGENCY, where governments are bluntly misusing their rights on its own citizens.

Adivasi girls raped by SPOs in Chhattisgarh village

2010-06-08T12:22:00.001-07:00

Adivasis.com

Adivasi girls raped by SPOs in Chhattisgarh village

Two sisters live in a clearing in the forest about 10 km beyond the abandoned houses and empty yards of Mukram village in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. A third young girl cowers in the courtyard of her aunt's house in neighbouring Tokanpalli. Between 14 and 18 years of age, Kose, Rame and Hidme (names changed) say they fled their homes in Mukram after they were sexually assaulted by Special Police Officers of the Chhattisgarh Police on May 22 this year.

"We can't return to Mukram," said Rame, "If they [the SPOs] find us again, they said they would cut my body into pieces and bury it in cement and no one would ever find it."

Situated in the heart of territory dominated by the Communist Party of India (Maoist), Mukram lies along the only road that links the isolated police camps of Jagargunda, Chintalnar, Chintagupha and Polampalli to National Highway 221. While the road is open to civilian traffic, supplies for the police camps are sent every few months in heavily guarded convoys.

Seventy six members of the security forces were killed at a spot about 4 km from here on April 6 when they were ambushed by Maoists.

On May 29, The Hindu reported that five men from Mukram, including the sarpanch, Aimla Nanda, had been picked up by soldiers participating in a road-opening operation and that three women had been dragged to the CRPF camp and assaulted.

Though Superintendent of Police Dantewada, Amresh Mishra, denied the villagers' claims last month, the women, whom The Hindu recently interviewed at length in private, provided graphic and disturbing accounts of the sexual assault they were subjected to by the SPOs.

"I was attacked at about 4 p.m. on the same day that the force took away Aimla Nanda. Two SPOs grabbed me from my house and took me to the CRPF camp in Chintalnar," said Hidme, "We were surrounded by SPOs and walked through the jungle."

At some point en route, the girls allege, the SPOs threw them to the ground and beat them brutally till they soiled themselves. "I was kicked and hit in my genitals until I bled profusely," said Rame, "The bleeding continued for several days after the attack."

"After beating us in the jungle, the SPOs stripped us naked, threw us in a small pond and told us to wash ourselves," said Hidme, "They then took us to the Chintalnar camp where they called us Maoists and beat us again."

"We were saved only when a senior policeman saw us in the camp and ordered the SPOs to let us go," said Hidme, "He kept saying 'Why have you brought them here? What are you doing to them?'"

"In such a conflict, reports of rape are often used to discredit security forces," said O.P. Pal, Acting Superintendent of Police Dantewada, "We have not received any information regarding this incident." But Mr. Pal said he would inquire into the matter, adding that the Chhattisgarh Police was a "disciplined force".

Keywords: Salwa Judum, SPO, sexual assault, Adivasi inmates, Chhattisgarh, Naxal, Maoists

Source: The Hindu / June 8, 2010

Naxal blow up public bus in Dantewada, 44 killed

2010-05-17T17:32:00.001-07:00

Just over a month after the Maoists gunned down 76 CRPF personnel in Chintalnar, the red extremists struck again, blowing up a bus carrying around 50 people, including 18 special police officers (SPO), around 4:15pm on Monday near Sukma in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. Only six people -- all seriously injured -- are learnt to be alive, with the rest, including women and children, killed. Among those admitted to hospital are four civilians and two SPOs, said a senior police officer.

The Maoists triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) on a black-top road at Chingavaram between Dantewada and Sukma as the bus winded through a 40-km stretch of dense forest. The massive explosion, which left a 10-feet deep crater, took place within two days of Maoist spokesman Azad issuing a statement -- first reported in TOI -- congratulating the Maoist `army' for "wiping out 80 CRPF mercenaries" and promising more such attacks.

Dantewada SP Amaresh Mishra and a few other police officers had a providential escape as they crossed the stretch about 10 minutes before the incident. Rescue operations were on till late in the evening with teams from Kirandul reaching the spot with gas-cutters and searchlights. "Bodies are lying trapped, these have to be extricated," said a source in Dantewada.

Chhattisgarh home minister Ram Vichar Netam said, "Our jawans were in the bus. It seems the bus was targeted because of the jawans, although the number of civilians inside it was higher." It's learnt there were around 32 civilians and 18 SPOs in the bus. The SPOs are tribals -- belonging to Salwa Judum -- who assist the police in fighting the Maoists.

TOI learns that CRPF personnel from the Gadhiras base camp, about four km from the blast spot, rushed to Sukma on hearing about the attack. One source said there was a brief exchange of fire between the jawans and the Maoists who were trying to take away the weapons and ammunitions of the slain SPOs.

Apparently, the SPOs were travelling along with civilians in the hope that the bus would not be targeted by the rebels. "We have been doing this often," said a senior Chhattisgarh cop. "But who would've known that they would target civilians as well?"

Analysts say it was yet another violation of standard operating procedure (SOP) on the part of Chhattisgarh police, which prohibits cops and SPOs from travelling in civilian vehicles. "Obviously, the Maoists were well informed about the movements of the cops and they seized the opportunity," a source said.

"The Maoists have turned the entire area into a minefield. The red rebels are recruiting and training more cadre. There is huge infiltration from Maharashtra, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh," said a senior officer of the Chhattisgarh police on condition of anonymity. The SPOs were returning to their base camps after participating in an operation near Kirandul.

Chhattisgarh police department spokesman R K Vij said, "The explosion occurred 9km before Sukhma. The injured, including four civilians and two SPOs, were taken to the Sukma hospital."

Speaking to TOI, Brigadier (Retd) B K Ponwar, who served in the Indian Army and is now director, Counter-Terror & Jungle Warfare College in Kanker, said, "The Maoists must have an IED (improvised explosives devices) map like the Army has mine-mapping along LoC. These IEDs are not laid overnight. They were probably laid long back when the roads were under construction. This is why they are not perceptible; they are all under black tarmac."

The IED was detonated by using a remote control device. The rebels also used a large quantity of gelatine sticks. "The blast blew the bits of the bus up to a radius of 150 meters. The rebels might have planted the IED some time ago knowing fully well that the cops and the SPOs would be travelling in that route," sources said.

Cops in the Dantewada said that the private transporter Ashwini Raj Kumar's bus had left from Kirandul in Bailadeela at 2:45pm. The SPOs boarded the bus only at Bhusaras Ghati. "The Maoists must have seen them boarding the bus as the blast took place 3km from here," said a source.

The attack came a day before the Maoists call for a 48-hour bandh in five states, including Chhattisgarh, from Tuesday in protest against `Operation Green Hunt'.

TNN, May 18, 2010

Green Hunt Corp, Adivasi & Maoist

2010-04-18T07:43:00.001-07:00

The Green Hunt can be criticised from more than one points of view. The Green Hunt should not be evaluated only on the basis of the last few months i.e. since the name was coined. The idea of the green hunt actually started some years back with ideas like the Salwa Judum. What has been the achievement of that Green Hunt? It has led to the death of more security personnel than maoist rebels. But many times greater has been the deaths and suffering faced by innocent tribal people. Tribal women have been raped, young tribal men and women butchered, hundreds of villages have been gutted to force tribal people to move in to camps that bring the horrors of Hitler's Camps to one's mind. Tribal youth who have been forced to join as SPOs are given the worst kind of treatment by their superiors. They have the worst kind of weapons - 303 rifles that are no match to the AK 47s and AK 56s of the maoist rebels. They get a salary of less than 3000 rupees, something that is less than even the minimum wages for NREGA work. And when the combing operations are held, it is these young boys, many of them hardly out of their teens, who are set in the front. To get killed by the first gun shot, the first ambush, the first landmine that comes in the way. Not only is there truth in the allegation that the elites of the country have sent a force of the children of poor people to fight the maoists, even among them, the tribal youth suffer further discrimination.

In the parent country of Maoism, the poor are in worse state than they are in India. The maoists in India may try to come out in support of the people facing displacement. But in China millions of people get displaced every year without even the slightest opportunity for protest and perhaps without the little compensation that the Indian government throws at the displaced people. If we compare the respective official estimates, the number of people displaced by the Three Gorges project is more than 12 times that of the Hirakud Dam. Of course the official figures lie and the number of people actually displaced by the Hirakud Dam is at least double the official figure. But it can also be assumed that the Chinese government figure would be equally, if not more, likely to be an understatement. Of course the maoists can make the claim that China does not follow Maoism anymore (even if they are not able to make that claim because of ideological reasons, the truth is that China is more Deng than Mao).How are the maoists planning to ensure that India does not become like China (or like Stalinist Russia)? If the dream of the maoists is actually to make India like today's China, they need not bother much. They can actually come out of the forests and join the Congress or the BJP and create more SEZs. Both parties are leaving no stones unturned to follow in the footsteps of today's China. But if the maoists actually want to set up in India what Mao sought to set up in China, then they are in the same state as Tom Hanks in the 'Terminal'. The country of their ideological passport no more exists. But it has to be admitted as well that ideologies do not need a country to exist.

While travelling in Dantewara I saw totally demolished school buildings and ICDS centres. The maoists had destroyed them as they felt these could be used to house the security forces. I saw blown up culverts that maoists felt could aid the movement of the security forces. Not very far from such places I found a booster station of Essar's hundreds of kilometres long iron ore pipeline - without any security, along a rather deserted road. We met the caretaker of the place, a rather frail looking man in his late forties or early fifties, unarmed (and unharmed). Was he afraid of the maoists attacking and destroying the boosting station? He seemed surprisingly secure in his belief that the maoists will not attack this installation. Later I came to know that maoist cadres had convinced in favour of the pipeline, when villagers in certain places did not want to allow Essar to dig their lands to install the pipelines. "Its not going to take away your land, the pipeline will only go under it without affecting your agriculture" the maoists had reasoned with the reluctant villagers - of course tribals in the maoist heartland know that you are not supposed to say no to the maoists. So why do the maoists blow up schools, Anganwadis, railway stations, and seem to be having no such problems with the plants and pipelines of the private companies - I say private companies as they did attack NALCO recently? Your guess is as good as mine!

Will Maoism solve the problems of the Tribals? I am not so sure. For a variety of reasons. The first, and let me be upfront on that, is that being a pacifist and an admirer (though miserable follower) of Gandhi and non-violence I am not really able to appreciate how violence is going to end violence. But the maoists can have a cheeky response to this one, "Whoever said we want to end the violence. We want dictatorship of the proletariat with violence in hands of the state machinery and the state machinery in the hands of the Proletariat". Now they may not actually say that, but I have generally felt that they do not want an end to violence. They only seem to be wanting that the oppressed should be the one holding the power of violence. But that'd be a contradiction as well. Well I admit there is Castro who has proven to be wrong those who say that an armed revolution can never lead to true peace. But do the maoists have the people like Castro or Guevara among them or a Bhagat Singh whose faith in non-violence, in retrospect, can not be termed to be any lower than that of Gandhi himself? From what one see around us, it does not seem like that.

Are the maoists near the Tribals because they are committed to the tribals or anything? The maoists already have plans for urban warfare. Some of the preparatory work already seems to have begun. Maoists are not fighting for the tribals. They are near the Tribals because the tribals are either inside the forests or near them. Reasons similar to why the TATAs or Vedanta want to go near the Tribals, because they are sitting on or near the minerals. Of course there is an important difference – the corporates want the tribals to be thrown out of their land while the maoists do not seem to be having any such design. Nevertheless, the maoists have led to the Tribals being hunted out of many villages. Possibly the tribals are being hunted out merely for the minerals and the water. But the maoist angle is giving the government a nice alibi. Something that goes down better with the general public than the Kalinga Nagar or Nandigram firing (Interestingly the media has never been as harsh on Neveen Patnaik for Kalinga Nagar as it has been on Buddhadeb for Nandigram - an imperfect communist is less acceptable than an imperfect communalist, look at the way Jyoti Basu was not even spared after his death while Indira Gandhi became mother Goddess).

The Tribal is actually caught in the middle between two warring factions who are fighting in the same territory, often I feel ultimately for not too different purposes. But whatever the maoists may be, they can not be blamed of one thing, i.e. lack of battle tactics. Look at our security forces, when they go to a tribal village, do the tribals feel protected or do they feel threatened? Tribals do not seem to be feeling equally threatened by the maoists though. Of course not being a Tribal myself, I stand open to correction regarding this view by comments from a genuine tribal or someone genuinely working among them. How many people have tried in vain to knock the doors of the courts against atrocities committed by the security forces from arson to rape to murder! Do we see a similar kind of anger against the maoists? In a Guerrilla insurgency, the guerrilla must not antagonise the community. The maoists seem to be doing quite well on that front. In the fight against an insurgency, the government must gain the confidence of the community. Does the government seem to be doing well on that front? The maoists seem to be having an ideology, or at least pretending to have one. Much of that ideology, I do not believe in at all. But what ideology does the government have? Anything that it can say openly and with courage or anything that it can convincingly pretend? The government knows that the average perception of the police, and the bureaucracy is one of corruption and oppression. What has it done to convince the tribals that it is serious about redressing the way tribals have suffered at the hands of the police and the bureaucracy. The government knows that the corporates use all sorts of unfair means to get rid of the tribals so that they can take the land for mining, dams, and what not. What has it done to convince the tribals that it is serious about preventing this in the future and redressing the wrongs of the past? Rather the tribal knows very well that the government is acting more as an agent of such corporates. Is it any wonder that the tribal does not want to be part of the government's fight against the maoists! For this the tribal does not need to love the maoist.

The hatred of the government is enough. But the maoists have also been intelligently building their hegemony among the tribals. During the independence struggle, Gandhi and the Congress (no relation of the current Power Gandhis or the current Congress) built their hegemony in the minds of the people by standing up for the good. Gandhi and the Congress stood for prohibition while the colonial government stood for liquor. Today it is the maoists who are standing up in many places against the opening of alcohol shops while the government is bent upon opening an alcohol shop in very tribal village. Gandhi and the Congress stood for communal harmony while the British stood for divide and rule. Today it is the maoists who seem to be standing for communal harmony while governments stand for divide and rule. Gandhi and the Congress stood against foreign capital while the colonial government supported it. Today it is the maoist who seems to be more active against foreign capital (some of it seems like a pretension really but at least not to the general public) while the government seems bent upon selling the country's resources to foreign interests as well as local big business. Its a strange flow indeed foreign exchange comes in as investment and goes out as deposits in Swiss Banks and what not. Gandhi and the Congress called for villages to settle their disputes on their own and become self reliant, the British wanted to make the villages eternally dependent as sellers of raw materials and purchasers of finished products. Today the maoist seems to have taken the first role as the government seems to have taken the second role. The government kills tribals almost indiscriminately. The maoists kill selectively and after trying o prove in the community that the particular person was a police informer. Even when attempting large scale attacks on security forces, the maoists seem to have been less hell-bent on butchering the tribal SPOs or the local police than the elite CRPF that has no connection to the local community, no place at all in their hearts, rendered even more unpopular through what they have done to the tribals. Forget about bigger things, the government has not been able to even give the forcibly displaced tribals of Dantewara work under NREGA. It prevented people like Jean Dreze from even making a visit. There are endless examples of such dichotomy. How can the government defeat the maoists in this kind of a situation. The battle for popularity seems to have been won clearly by the tribals. If tribals were in control of news channels you and me would be reminded of this every day rather than the other versions.

The government has two options. Either to act in a manner that the tribals develop trust in the government, or to get rid of the tribals. Else the maoists will continue to enjoy local support that will make it very difficult for the government to defeat them. What choice is the government making? Dantewara is the example of what option the government is taking. Its killing the tribals bit by bit, many physically but most through destroying their way of life. Does a tribal call living in a concentration camp in Dantewara, living like a tribal? Less dramatically, does a tribal call living in a company colony, with no access to any livelihood other than selling their labour, living like a tribal. The government of India is not ready to listen to those who want to help it gain the confidence of the tribals. Himanshuji made a small beginning in Dantewara. He was hounded out. Those who speak out against displacement are branded as maoists. Those who speak out against sale out of mines and minerals are branded as maoists. Those who speak out against atrocities by the police are branded as maoists. It reminds one of the story of the King who passed an order to kill all the old people in his kingdom and ended up killing most of the wise people. It seems the government has decided to brand as maoists all those who are raising the voice of sanity, the voices that want India to continue as a sovereign country free from imperial incursions, the voices that get lost in the clamour of 24 hour news channels demanding yet more fighting, demanding to call out the Army, the Air Force.

The government has chosen. It is highly unlikely that it will change its tactics. What else can one expect from a government that supports the US in Afghanistan and Iraq. Is it a mere coincidence that the government's approach is so eerily similar to the US approach in the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Every now and then one hears talks about the Air Force and the Drones. But the US is killing citizens of some other country. That is bad enough. We are killing our own people. But is is the average elite Indian really thinking that the tribals are their own people, or do they think them to be mere hindrances, sitting on the land that must be cleared to make way for the highway of double digit growth. And it puts a knife through one's heart when one sees young people whose heart should not have given up on ideals (no I am not saying ideologies) clamouring for getting the Air Force and the Drones in to the Act. The pain is doubly greater when one hears such voices from the JNU. May be JNU is doomed to inherit the other legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru. Perhaps it can not learn Nehru's secularism or anti-imperialism without getting a bit rubbed off from the despicable acts against the tribals he ended up praising and presiding over.

Manas

Naxal butchers 73 CRPF in Dantewada

2010-04-06T03:46:00.001-07:00

At least 73 personnel of the 62nd battalion of Centre Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the district force have been butchered in a deadly Maoist attack in the Dantewada district of south Chhattisgarh on Tuesday (April 6). While 72 of those killed were CRPF personnel including a deputy and an assitant commandant, one was a head constable of the district police force.

Hundreds of Maoists ambushed a CRPF contingent from a hilltop bunker at dawn between 6 and 7 am. The CRPF were camping in an area of the dense Naxal-infested Mukrana forest, when the attack was launched. There were about 120 personnel in the contingent, which had finished a 3-day scouting operation and were making their way on foot towards their base camp.

Security forces were caught unawares as a large party of Maoists numbering nearly a thousand launched a stealth attack, first triggering a powerful IED blast under a convoy of CRPF jawans and following it up with indiscriminate fire. The encounter has now ended with security officials hitting out.

This is the third major Maoist strike in the last 4 days. The number of dead could increase manifold, with unconfirmed reports saying up to 70 personnel may have lost their lives.

One bullet proof vehicle and a mobile bunker have also been destroyed. After the attack was reported the CRPF rushed additional police reinforcements to Bastar district headquarters, even as helicopters with paramedics and doctors were engaged in a rescue mission to recover and evacuate the casualties from the dense Mukrana forest region.

Police sources say they have confirmed the presence of hundreds of Naxalites still in the area, and fearing another ambush and landmine explosions the reinforcements and rescuers are approaching the site slowly and cautiously. The area is 538 kms south of the Chhattisgarh capital Raipur.

The Home Minister has expressed shock and anguish at the loss of life and expressed sympathies with the families of the jawans killed.

"We had planned an operation together with the Government of Chhattisgarh, we had mobilised both state forces and CRPF - but something has gone very wrong. It seems the CRPF have walked into a camp or a trap set by the Naxalites. The casualties are quite high and I am deeply shocked. I am sorry for those who have lost their lives. But this just shows the savage nature of the CPI(Maoist), the savagery and brutality that they are capable of. Senior officers have gone to the area and we await a report from them," said the Home Minister P Chidambaram.

The CRPF personnel were part of 'Operation Green Hunt' launched about a month ago by the Union Home Ministry to flush out Naxals from the Red belt, which includes parts of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The massive attack comes on the back of the Home Minister's visit to West Bengal and appears to be a Maoist statement of intent, after Chidambaram's announcement of a 'zero tolerance' policy towards Naxals.

The attack began with a landmine blast, and in the chaos that followed the surprised security contingent broke their formations, turning into easy pickings for Maoists hiding in bunkers on the surrounding hill tops. The Naxals seem to have prior intelligence about the CRPF's position and location.

What is worrying is that an anti-tank mine was used to blow up the CRPF party, and the fact that the contingent was caught completely unawares by this audacious attack by hundreds of armed men and women indicates a serious intelligence failure. Mobilising such a large Maoist army would have taken time and meticulous planning on the part of the Naxals.

6 Apr 2010, 1159 hrs IST / Times Now

The Displaced Adivasi of Chhattisgarh

2010-03-24T06:45:00.001-07:00

In February this year, hundreds of villagers walked silently with bags of rice and utensils slung over their shoulders. They left behind deserted villages with a few stray cattle, old women and lactating mothers. Men, women and children in small groups trudged swiftly southwards on the deserted bus route, all headed in one direction - away from Dantewada district in southern Chhattisgarh, perhaps never to return to their ancestral village.

The exodus of Gothi Koyas, an indigenous tribe, from southern Chhattisgarh is not new. Ever since the region exploded as an epicentre of the undeclared war between armed Naxalites and security forces, thousands of them have been forcibly displaced, numerous others tortured and killed. There are estimates that in the last five years, close to one lakh of the hill people have fled from 644 villages in Chhattisgarh, many surviving on ants and leaves in the jungles. Several reports point to 30,000-50, 000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) moving away from Dantewada and Bijapur, the two conflict-ridden districts of southern Chhattisgarh, to Khammam and Warangal in northern Andhra Pradesh (AP), with which the troubled state has a long border. Another 30,000 or so have escaped to the adjoining states of Maharashtra and Orissa.

What is of great concern, though, is that largescale exodus from Chhattisgarh continues even today. On one single day, February 13, Murali, an activist with the Hyderabad-based Human Rights Forum, counted 500 adivasis crossing the border from Dantewada to Cherla village in Khammam. He visited the remote villages of Pujarikanker and Gunjapali in Dantewada, evading security forces by travelling on a motor bike through dirt tracks and jungles. "The villages are completely empty of young and able-bodied men and women," he says.

A month ago, this reporter visited Bhadrachlam , on the banks of the Godavari in Khammam district where 16,000 IDPs have settled in the surrounding jungles and remote habitations. Based on interviews with Gothi Koyas (through a local translator) and a wide section of people, what unravelled was an enormous human tragedy.

Traditionally, during the lean agricultural season between October and May, villagers from Chhattisgarh have always migrated to neighbouring states where they worked in fields of chilli, tobacco and cotton. But the armed conflict in their native villages has transformed drastically the nature of migration.

Among the major players in this human saga is the Salwa Judum, the precursor to Operation Green Hunt - the massive offensive by security forces to smoke out Naxalites from their base camps in the forests. Since June 2005 - when it was formed with recruits from among the local villagers with the sole purpose of eliminating the Naxalites and their tribal supporters - the Salwa Judum, a state-supported vigilante force, has wreaked havoc on the lives of the Gothi Koyas. Thousands of the adivasis were hunted out of their homes, their villages burnt down; hundreds more were captured, tortured or killed. Not that men in the Salwa Judum and their families haven't faced repercussions, which have been quick and equally barbaric. Dozens have been murdered in fierce reprisals, some of whom were just innocents caught in the crossfire.

But for the Gothi Koyas there is no peace. The more they try to escape the conflict and evade involvement, the more they find themselves sucked into it. It doesn't help that AP security forces view them with total distrust and fear, suspecting them to be Naxalite supporters since they form the social base of rebels in Chhattisgarh. And even as the Khammam district administration pleads that the displaced tribals are a drain on its resources, a burden that has been passed on by Chhattisgarh, the AP administration is bent upon making life miserable for the suffering lot. The police have slapped criminal cases against them, placed them under strict surveillance and have ordered them to report regularly to the local thana. "We have a strong suspicion that Maoists will slip out with groups of Gothi Koyas migrating from Chattisgarh," says SP, Khammam, Anil Misra. "We keep a close check on them so that they do not provide shelter and support to the Maoists."

Tragic as it may be, it is clear that even in the land the Gothi Koyas have adopted for now, they are an unwanted, persecuted group. "It's a ticklish issue," admits the district collector of Khammam , Usha Rani. "The burden of the responsibility of Gothi Koyas cannot be shifted to us in AP. The Chhattisgarh government should take greater interest in them so that they are not forced to migrate. Otherwise, they will refuse to return and there will be tension with the locals in AP over land and employment."

Says Ramesh Kalaghatgi, additional principal chief conservator of forests, Khammam: "The migration of Gothi Koyas is unique because it is a result of social unrest. But they are viewed here as suspects and as a potential law and order problem."

The tribals, unlike in Chhattisgarh, are not recognised as a scheduled tribe (ST) in AP. This effectively denies them the protection over land and natural resources enjoyed by STs of nine states under the Fifth Schedule. The predicament of the displaced Gothi Koyas becomes even more apparent in their remote habitations in the jungles where they are making fervent efforts to make a new home and rebuild their lives. Terapadu, like other settlements in the jungle, consists of 11 huts in the Bison Hills, 2-3 km from the main road. The semblance of normal village life is visible with the cremation mound erected in the outskirts of the settlement and a small vegetable patch closer to the huts. As one inches closer, one can see a flurry of activity with adivasis in colourful clothes carrying food in utensils or lugging a live chicken.

But under this veneer of merriment there is tangible nervousness. Understandably, the Gothi Koyas are reticent about their life in Chhattisgarh, or even in AP, and it is with difficulty that their experience can be stitched together. Almost every family here has lost a relative, a brother or father, mother or niece in the conflict back home. Reed-like Marvir Maliya, the patel (village head) of Kollai in Chhattisgarh, who claims he once owned 120 acres of land and cattle, gets vocal and agitated as he recounts his past. He lost two sons and an uncle to alleged Maoist attacks, but in Terapadu the police still have branded him a Naxalite and beat him up earlier on the suspicion that he was sheltering the rebels. Ironically, when he appealed to the police to take action against Maoists for allegedly burning down huts in their settlement, the police remained mute spectators. "Who are we, really? I wonder," says Maliya. "We are accused and tortured by the police for helping Maoists. But when we appeal to the police to take action against them, they remain silent."

While there is close coordination and monitoring between the security forces of AP and Chhattisgarh to contain insurgency, there is no interaction or even contact between the civil administrations of the two states to alleviate sufferings of the IDPs. The habitations at Terapadu, Kuthur or Chalampadum in Khammam are devoid of any basic amenities - no drinking water, no schools, no medical service. The tribals buy poor quality, broken rice whenever they can afford it. Women look frail, malnourished and anaemic. Diarrhoea and scabies are widespread among children.

Following adverse reports by the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the administration has started providing some of these habitations mid-day meals and nutrition for pregnant mothers. Doctors, supported by local NGOs, visit them and organise medical camps on a rotational basis, but the reach is limited compared to the need. And, as usual, the NGOs which have provided humanitarian aid to the IDPs and helped a few hundred return to their ancestral village - a measure that should have been taken up by the local administration - are accused by the police of being Naxalite sympathisers.

There are often forest fires here that devour a little more of the tiny spaces the Gothi Koyas have managed for themselves. And sometime the rising smoke shows no signs of the flames abating.

Rajashri Dasgupta, TOI Crest, Mar 20, 2010

Church people seek bail in conversion case

2010-03-17T06:39:00.001-07:00

Church people, including a bishop, yesterday sought anticipatory bail after police booked them for violating a central Indian state's law on religious conversion.

Bishop Mathew Vaniakizhakkel of Satna, a diocese in Madhya Pradesh state, has dismissed the case against him, two priests, a nun and two laypeople as "totally fabricated."

The bishop told UCA News today that the case is "part of a motivated campaign against the Church for its role in helping the weaker sections of society."

Police registered the case under non-bailable sections of the state's stringent anti-conversion law after one Christopher Pavy, a Christian, complained that a woman converted to Catholicism before her marriage in May 2009.

Pavy also sought action against the bishop and others under the state law that forbids conversion through force or allurement.

However, the woman's brother, Nand Kishore, says the charge is false as "ours is a strong Catholic family." Kishore, who is a lawyer, told UCA News his family attends Church services regularly. "My sister's marriage was done according to our Christian tradition," he added.

The bishop said the Church baptizes only the children of Catholics, "hence, the question of conversion does not arise at all."

Father Jolly Konnukodan, assistant parish priest of Satna's St. Vincent Cathedral, told UCA News that the Church applied for anticipatory bail since it took the case seriously.

The priest said the police had already investigated the case after they received a similar complaint soon after the woman's marriage.

This was corroborated by police officer Shashank Garg, who probed the case earlier. "There was no merit in the case," he told UCA News.

Father Konnudkodan regretted that "vested interests use the case to harass us regularly."

On March 11, two days after Pavy filed the case, some Hindu radicals tried to vandalize the cathedral but police foiled that attempt.

Sacred Heart Sister Pauly, who is among the accused, expressed shock over the case. "I am engaged in educating children and not in any conversion activities as alleged," the principal of Christ Jyoti Senior Secondary School told UCA News.

Source: UCAN

Key witness in Adivasi killings become news materials

2010-01-26T17:32:00.001-08:00

Room No. 2016 at the New Private Ward of All-India Institute of Medical Sciences here is playing host to a very special patient.

Sodi Sambho, who was brought to the Institute from Gompad village in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh five days ago, is set to undergo surgery for a bullet wound in her leg this Saturday. But what makes her special is that she is a key witness in a petition filed in the Supreme Court which alleges that security forces fired upon and killed nine Adivasis in a "sanitisation operation" in her village this past October 1. After she was detained on her way to Delhi, the Supreme Court directed the Chhattisgarh police not to prevent her from coming to the Capital for treatment.

Human rights activists and her lawyer, Colin Gonsalves, have expressed concern over the matter and alleged that strict police surveillance is being maintained over her movement and that she is being pressurised to change her statement. They allege she is under de facto police custody or surveillance and is not free to meet activists or journalists.

An attempt by this reporter to interact with her in her ward on Friday was thwarted by three men who refused to identify themselves and claimed to be her "well-wishers". One of them said he was a fellow-Adivasi from her village and had accompanied her to Delhi for her treatment. The second man, a non-Adivasi, claimed to be a "doctor" from outside Delhi but subsequently contradicted himself saying he was not a medical practitioner.

He said he already knew the Adivasi accompanying Ms. Sambho and decided to offer whatever help he could. The third non-Adivasi man, however, did not reveal anything about himself. Tall and well-built, he had a mop of close-cropped hair.

Though the two non-Adivasi men lacked any legal or professional authority to interfere in the work of a journalist, they denied The Hindu permission to directly speak with Ms. Sambho on the ground that she only understood Gondi. And one of them pounced on the photographer who was accompanying this reporter when he began clicking photographs.

One of the "well-wishers" threatened to "inform the police" and file a legal complaint if Ms. Sambho's picture, or a story about her, was published. He then forced the photographer to hand over the camera while demanding to see the photo identity cards. In the meantime, the third unidentified man who had just entered the room turned aggressive, took away the camera and deleted the pictures with practised ease. (As it turned out later, the photographer was able to retrieve and resurrect the pictures with the help of a special software embedded in the camera).

After several attempts, the head "well-wisher" agreed to let this reporter question the other Adivasi, who he said was the only person who could speak Hindi and Gondi. However, instead of conveying the queries to Ms. Sambho, he and the other unidentified man insisted on answering them directly without asking her.

The Adivasi man stated that they had the full support of the police and the hospital administration in Ms. Sambho's treatment. He denied any police personnel had accompanied her to Delhi or were monitoring her movement to pressurise her. "The Maoists were behind the attack in which Sambho was injured," he claimed.

As the "interview" proceeded, one of the "well-wishers" lost his temper, blaming this reporter for "disturbing the patient before her surgery".

For the record, however, the AIIMS doctors themselves never objected to The Hindu's attempt to meet Ms. Sambho.

January 16, 2010 / The Hindu

Vedanta’s Killer Chimney at Korba, Chhattisgarh

2010-01-22T08:50:00.001-08:00

CBALCO, a part of Vedanta Resources — a London-listed metals and mining major with operations in UK, India and Australia — is a leading global player in metals particularly making aluminium. Vedanta Resources has principal operations in India, Zambia and Australia. It is registered at London Stock Exchange (LSE) and also India's largest non-ferrous metals and mining company. It has its Head Office located at 6 Berkeley Street, London, W1J 8DZ, United Kingdom.

Indian born Anil Agarwal is the non Executive Chairman of Bharat Aluminum Company Limited (Balco) is set to become the largest aluminium producer in the world from a single location as it signed a pact with the Chhattisgarh government to set up a new smelter plant with an investment of Rs 80 billion ($ 2 billion). The proposed plant with a capacity of 6,50,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) is under construction at its existing complex in Korba district, that will take the company's total aluminum output from 1,35,000 tpa to 1 million tpa - making it the largest aluminium producer in the world from a single location.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Additional Chief Secretary (Industries) P. Joy Oommen on behalf of the Chhattisgarh government and Balco's chief executive officer Pramod Suri, in presence of Chief Minister Raman Singh and Vedanta chairman Anil Agrawal and few others at a function at Raipur on October 7, 2006 for a coal based 1,200 MW power plant —having four units of 300 MW each, at an investment of Rs 5,000 Crores.

It was stated by the company official that they estimate the complete construction of power plant within 40 months, once all the regulatory and statutory approvals are received. It was also stated that the aim is to commission the power plant by the time its smelter plants are ready for production, in order to support the expansion process of setting up a 3.5 lakh MT per annum aluminum smelter plant at its site in Korba to take the total production capacity to 9 lakh MT per annum by 2011.

BALCO awarded the contract for the construction of the 3 x 400 = 1,200 MW power plant to a Chinese firm which is known as Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO),— which, in turn, sub-contracted the work of construction of 275 meter high two chimneys to New Delhi based Indian company known as Gannon Dunkerley & Company Limited (GDCL).

Contrary to the company statement after signing the MoU with the state government of Chhattisgarh, even without possessing the land or obtaining the required permission from the local municipal corporation, the company started construction of the power plant on the encroached land, which is owned by the state forest department. While Chinese engineers and other staff were engaged in construction of power plant's boiler and other constructions, they also supervised the construction of the Chimney that was being done by GDCL.

In May-June 2005, the Minister of Revenue, Nanki Ram Kanwar a resident of Korba and a local MLA ordered an enquiry based on reports of encroachment of around 1,000 acres of land by BALCO. On February 17, 2005, an eleven-member committee headed by the Naib Tehsildar and supervised by the Superintendent of Land Records, submits its report. The report gives clear finds on BALCO having encroached 1,000 acres of land in complete violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The report also highlighted that about 50,000 trees have been cut by the BALCO management. This is where the expansion of the present plant of BALCO has taken place. Matter went to the High Court but much to the relief of Balco, files pertaining to the alleged encroached land is reportedly missing.

In the second week of February, 2009 Minister for Revenue, Government of Chhattisgarh, Amar Agrawal in his written reply to a question by Leader of Opposition Ravindra Choubey, stated in the Chhattisgarh State Assembly, that Bharat Aluminum Company Ltd had encroached 1,036.52 acres of government land in Korba. He also told the house "The state government had registered 10 cases against the company in Korba between June 17, 2005 and June 28, 2005 under various sections of the land revenue code," He also stated that BALCO had even started building chimneys and other structures for its proposed 1,200 MW thermal power plant at Korba on the encroached land.

"The company did not take permission from the Korba Municipal Corporation (KMC) for the second chimney and we had served notices for violating the norms," stated Lakhanlal Devangan, Mayor, Korba municipal Corporation (KMC). However, B.K.Srivastava, Chief of Corporate Communications do not agree to the same and stated to the press that "The construction was going on as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the state government and the company had all the necessary clearances,"

It is also important to note that just one week before the chimney collapsed, a notice was reportedly served by KMC to stop the work which BALCO ignored. Even a team of the KMC officials had reached the site and stopped the construction work before about a week of the collapse but BALCO allegedly started the work once again.

This exposes the fact that though BALCO is not even the owner of the land, has not even obtained the required mandatory permissions to construct the second 275 meter high chimney from the local municipal corporation, have ignored the notices. Even the stopped work of the construction of Chimney by KMC authorities, BALCO went ahead with its construction plan immediately and the staff of the KMC went back.

This illustrates beyond doubt that the motive of the BALCO is mischievous. Even when it was pointed out to them that the construction of Chimney is of substandard and without any permission, it also ignored the safety standards by going ahead with constructing a giant Chimney of 275 meter high with diameter of 60 meter i.e. a vertical hollow structure of masonry, steel, or reinforced concrete, built to convey gaseous products of combustion from a building or process facility which caved in and collapsed after reaching a height of 253 meters, trapping many innocent workers within its cement concrete rubble on the afternoon of Wednesday, the September 23, 2009. The worst disaster of its type in the history of India had taken place at the encroached site.

What happened on the afternoon of September 23, 2009:

Wednesday, 23rd of September of 2009 was like any other day for the day shift workers engaged in the construction of the chimney. Most of those poor workers who worked hard day and night in shifts of 12 hours each for over 2 ½ (Two and half) months right from constructing from the Thirty five meters below the ground to a height of about 253 meters above the ground. They had no idea what so ever that what they are constructing their own grave in which they will be ultimately buried alive. Those poor workers that included many tribals, were hired from the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh by one P.N. Singh, who is the sub-contractor to GDCL. Those poor labourers had come to Korba with dreams that they will earn enough money that could help them to support their families back home.

It was raining heavily since afternoon; As such few others who were engaged in other works around the chimney had also taken shelter at the canteen and at three stores located closely to the base where the diameter of the chimney is 60 Meters. One hydra, a miller and three wrenches were also in operations. There were about 52 workers who were working at the top of 253 meters, few of whom had left just before five minutes. At that time about 180 persons were there in and near the base of the Chimney. All of a sudden, at about 3.40 PM, base of the chimney gave away. As per the eye witnesses, Chimney sunk in to the ground,soon within in few seconds chimney collapsed with huge sound split from one side burying many innocent workers within its rubble. Later, Korba police have registered a case on the charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and common intention — under Section 304, 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), against BALCO

Irresponsible Corporate Behaviors of BALCO and its contractor companies

In such a massive tragedy, BALCO, its contractor Chinese company SEPCO and Indian company GDCL are expected to behave as responsible corporate citizens but instead, demonstrated how inhuman and irresponsible they can be. No one was available to tell or produce from official records to how many workers are trapped and their names etc. Tempers of the workers present at the accident site were already high. Fuel to the fire was added when they saw the record room of GDCL near the collapsed chimney was destroyed.

Pravin Patel

http://chhattisgarh.ozg.in

Chhattisgarh lost the battle

2010-01-20T08:22:00.001-08:00

The people of Chhattisgarh appear to have lost the battle against industrialisation without rules. Even those who held out longest against the acquisition of their lands, forests and rivers are giving up the fight.

"Things are not what they used to be," laments an old man in one of Raigarh district's 290 villages in North Chhattisgarh. Here, land issues have been central to the lives of the people who live off the land -- mainly farmers and indigenous people. The state of Chhattisgarh was carved out of the state of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.

Seventy-nine per cent of Chhattisgarh's population lives in rural areas and 45% are below the poverty line. With 35% of its geographical area under cultivation, agriculture is the mainstay of its economy. Almost 80% of the working population is dependent on agro-based livelihood, but the irrigated area in the state is only 16% of the total area, according to government figures.

Forests, rivers, and fertile farmland have been taken over by flourishing industries backed by an unjust state. For several years, thousands have been displaced despite violent activism by the oppressed. Rivers have been bought and diverted leaving hundreds of villages thirsty and acres of farmland parched. Tribal people, who have roamed these mineral-rich forests for centuries, have been forced to seek employment and adapt to a different way of life as industries continue to encroach upon their lifestyle. Protected forest land has been sold to greedy miners who exploit its riches without considering the disastrous effect of industrialisation on the flora and fauna.

The state has been the first in the country to go to the extent of selling rivers such as the Sheonath and Kelo to a private owner who will use it to supply water to industries. This is just the beginning. Industrialists are lining up to pour money into Chhattisgarh in return for extracting a great deal more from it and, in the absence of just legislation and regulation, destroying both its people and the environment.

With the state government itching to meet an investment target of US $ 3 trillion by 2010, indiscriminate industrialisation is inevitable. Crucially, access to, use of, and control over, water resources, is becoming an issue in Chhattisgarh and has led to the emergence of people's movements against government policies on water issues.

The movement started in 1998 in Boda Tikra village in Raigarh district. A tribal woman lost her life after fasting to death. A decade later, the Kelo river she fought to save has been lost too.

Elsewhere, villagers of Rabo and Danot have sold their land, some after holding out for a considerably long time. Many have run through whatever money they received in compensation and regret their decision to sell.

Another centre of resistance is Gare village where villagers are resisting the sale of their land by enduring bullets, baton-wielding policemen and intimidation by industrialists.

Boda Tikra: A forgotten sacrifice

Over a decade ago, Satyabhama's simple protest fast to oppose the privatisation of the Kelo river, on which 10 other villages depended, ended in her death from starvation. A decade later, her son, Ram bhoi (30), a labourer, remembers his mother, "Many people want to know what happened that day but nobody does anything for us. My parents were simple labourers, and my mother went to fight for water for the villagers alone."

Ram bhoi, who has five siblings, alleges foul play: "She was taken to a hospital after 10 days of fasting. My father was with her. She wasn't in a serious condition when admitted. She was 40 at the time of her death in 1998."

Satyabhama was fighting on behalf of 10 villages which would be affected by a plant belonging to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. In 1996, JSPL was denied permission to draw water from the Kelo river for industrial purposes as the District Water Utilisation Council felt that the river's waters would be inadequate to meet both industrial and drinking water needs of Raigarh town.

However, in 1997, the company managed to secure permission from a state-level committee to construct a check-dam across the river and sink wells to draw more than 35,000 cubic metres of water daily. Nearly 250 families dependent on river fishing saw their catches plummet after the construction of JSPL's check-dam.

Satyabhama's sacrifice has been forgotten, though what she feared has come to pass. These days the residents of Boda Tikra cannot manage with the borewells – their major source of water supply now that the river has been depleted -- as they dry up in summer. Every January 26, the day of her death, her family prays at her memorial which they erected in the village. "The villagers don't join us even though she died for them. The protest stopped the day after she died. People were bribed in the village. Nobody raised a voice," says Kritya, Satyabhama's eldest daughter.

Rabo and Danot submerged

The fields in the villages of Rabo and Danot, also in Raigarh district, have been submerged by a dam built four years ago for the 1,000 megawatt (MW) Tamnar hydel power project of the Jindals. Farmers sold their land to the government, which leased it out to the Jindals for the power project. The farmers were promised jobs but have found only temporary employment.

"Today we didn't go to work because they said there was no work. Some families have left because of this. We sold our lands because we had no choice – the fields would be submerged anyway. There have been no benefits from the dam for us. Only the Tamnar power plant stood to gain. We used to get wood from the area, grow rice and vegetables, but not now," says a woman who did not want to be named.

"They bring men from other states to work here, so if there's an accident, the locals won't revolt as the affected party is an outsider. This way they can't make a union to fight with the company," said a labourer in Rabo village.

Ram Pradhan (name changed), whose wife is a member of the panchayat of Rabo village, recalls how the protest fell apart.

"A year after the protests began, farmers lost interest. Some went behind our backs and took cheques from the government. Gradually, their numbers increased."

In 2002-2003, state government representatives had surveyed the area for the hydel power project and subsequently presented a proposal to the panchayat. The villagers did not sign anything, yet in 2004, the work on the project began without their consent. They realised later that the state had sold off their land by bribing some panchayat members.

"We even visited the chief minister. When they started encroaching on our land, we stopped them from taking the machinery through the village. On October 13, 2004, we started protesting in nine villages. Now seven villages are already submerged," said Ram Pradhan.

Champibai of Rupunga village was a rebel icon, who protested alongside noted activist Medha Patkar. She sold her land after years of protesting as support for the cause declined. "What could I do if one by one the people who stood by me began to leave?" she asks. She now works as a gardener for the employers she protested against.

A villager from Danot alleges that the sarpanchs, or village heads, and the police connive with industrialists and approve the handover of the land rights to them in return for money. That's how the Kelo river was sold, they claim.

A resettlement plan was approved by the state government in Danot village but the residents are unhappy with it. "The amount of money that we were given for our land was paltry. Even the chief minister said that we would be compensated handsomely and we had it on paper, but the collector wouldn't abide by it. The houses they have given us in exchange are very small compared to the ones we had and are in the middle of nowhere," says a villager. Almost 110 farmers from 70 villages have filed a case against the government for not giving them just compensation for their land.

They allege that the jan sunwai or public hearing that is mandatory before such projects are approved, was held in inaccessible areas so hardly anyone attended.

According to social activist Ramesh Agarwal of the NGO Lok Shakti, 22 companies operate in Raigarh district in the midst of reserved forests with a population of 3,64,287. Activists have moved the courts since 2004 against the Jindals and others. "We even approached the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court against Jindal Steel and Power Limited. There's no alternative to the judiciary."

Over 1.5 lakh people depend on the Kelo river which has been polluted by the industries. Some 70 villages depend on water supplied by tankers that is sold by Jindal. Hand-pumps have dried up. "These people are just beginning to understand the implications of industrialisation without rules. Members of committees appointed by the government to resolve these problems are also on the boards of most of these companies, so there is a conflict of interest," says Agarwal.

Gare: A battle still to be won

Gare lies almost 40 km from Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh. A coal-based power plant is to be constructed in Gare, but the locals are fighting the project with all their might. Gare is the only village in the district that has successfully resisted industrialisation. In the public hearing or jan sunwai held on January 5, 2008, the villagers were threatened that they would be arrested and jailed if they protested on the streets and blocked traffic.

That did not stop the protests and more than 50 men and women were jailed. But because of the presence of the media, they were released, says Savita Rath, a young activist. The resistance continues to date and though a few have sold their land, most have held out. Savita says this is because the protestors are under a good leader who cannot be corrupted or intimidated. Dr H P Patel has been able to organise the movement, collect money and help people travel from far-off villages to join the resistance movement.

There are at least five coal mines and one sponge iron plant in the area, and one coal mine that is seeking to expand. The industrialists, including Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and Jayaswal Neco Ltd, have tried various means to break the movement. Six youngsters who were part of the resistance movement were charged with rape and could not secure bail. Their parents approached the only entity that could exert pressure on the police -- a powerful industrialist who was struggling to establish a base there. The boys were released and their families became the first ones to sell out in 2009.

Dr Patel complains that "men have been bribed. People who have sold the land haven't been paid. Sixty per cent of the participants in this agitation are women. People from neighbouring villages have sold their land for as little as Rs 80,000, but those who held their ground managed to get the company to raise the amount to Rs 8 lakh."

Patel has cleverly crafted the resistance strategy. He has managed to set up a fund to run the movement. Every Saturday, each family gives Re 1 during their weekly meetings. This amounts to Rs 170 per week, which is used to make food for the protestors who have set up road blocks.

For people like 85-year-old Munudai, who has spent almost all her life in Gare, it is vital that the resistance continues. "I was seven years old when I moved here. My parents and grandparents used to farm. Where will we go if they displace us after the village is submerged? I will not move come what may," she says.

Dr Anupama Saxena, associate professor in the department of political science at Bilaspur University, and director of the Women's Studies and Development Centre, Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur, is studying the perils of displacement and gender. The women suffer the most during displacement, she says. "No one takes their opinions into account, despite the fact that they are central to the family structure, and most times, contribute equally to the household economy."

Unkept promises, underhand means

Where rapid and unregulated industrialisation has occurred, it has been achieved by misleading and cheating the villagers whose land is crucial for any project. Rajesh Tripathi, a local activist, explains: "Villagers are offered only temporary labour jobs. First, the industrialists target the small farmers whose land is not fertile and who readily sell the land. Then they home in on the rest. This has happened in Janjgir village.

"They bribe farmers not to oppose them in the jan sunwai. In each village 30% of labourers don't own land but used to work for the farmers. Now they work as labourers in the factories. So now there's a labour problem too."

Another activist from Raigarh, Shiv Rajput of Lok Shakti, says that the "scheming" industralists work by splitting the resistance. "There is no unity to fight this, so this makes our movement weak. The industrialists have appointed people/officials in the village to split the movement. Industrialists target the one who has more responsibility or is vociferous in the resistance movement like the sarpanch, and they bribe him. As a result, the rest lose faith in the movement and it breaks."

Farmer-turned-activist Chandrashekhar learnt his lesson the hard way. He was one of the few who did sell his land in Gare, and lives to regret it.

"I got Rs 1 lakh for the land I sold, so I bought clothes for the family, some gold for my wife, a bike and a television. Now I have finished my money. This has happened to almost 55% of villagers. Only 25% of people have bought land with that money. We still haven't been able to bring up the environmental concerns as we are still grappling with monetary problems."

Chandrashekhar now travels extensively all across the state advising illiterate farmers about the serious implications of selling their land. On his visit to a neighbouring village, he lectures, "Your land is a buried treasure that all your generations will profit from. The money they will give you will only benefit one or two generations. Eventually, the money will run out. If you don't farm then the food will be less. More people are illiterate here so they can't gauge long-term implications. Industrialists adopt villages and build schools, clinics, hospitals etc and people see that as progress. They fail to notice the negative implications and soon become dependent on the facilities, which can be withdrawn at any time. The wages of the villagers depend on the amount of land sold. A cut also goes to the contractors."

There is progress of a sort in the region, however. Workers from outside the state have been brought in to work in the industries, so villagers rent their homes to them, and some have opened shops to cater to them.

The farce of the Jan Sunwai

The jan sunwai or public hearing is a mandatory exercise and part of the process to clear projects as required by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Officials analyse issues to be studied and then consult the public. The state pollution control board advertises the day and venue of the hearing so that the public can be present to voice its concerns.

In practice, though, the jan sunwai is easily subverted. In the case of the Tamnar hydel project, for instance, the jan sunwai was held in inaccessible areas so hardly anyone attended.

Ramesh Agarwal of the NGO Lok Shakti explains that the literacy rate here is just 15-20%, so people are unable to understand everything, and particularly not the highly technical reports.. But since it is all on the record, the people cannot claim that they were not told. "It is just a drama so that people can't go to court in future saying that they were unaware of the environmental and health hazards," Agarwal says.

"People don't play a role in decision-making, then how can you call it a public hearing?" asks Agarwal. "We visit the spot after reading the report and it is very hard for us also to cross-check as we don't have any special expertise. We have to go door-to-door asking people to participate in protesting this degradation of the environment."

A jan sunwai is being held in Janjgir village for the expansion of a coal mining project of the ubiquitous Jindal group. Lots of policemen wait at the entrance of a crowded park in case the crowd turns violent. "My friends and I have come to participate in the show," said a woman who has come from Janjgir village. Some youngsters were drunk. "First we used to drink mahua (the local brew) now we drink Aristocrat like you," boasted Rakesh who had just sold his land for the expanded coal mine.

On stage, officials of the Ministry of Environment and Forests introduce themselves and welcome the crowd to discuss the expansion of the open cast mine that currently produces 6 million tonnes of coal. A 60-year-old man from Amgaon village in Janjgir says: "I've observed the changing lifestyle all my life and asked God for betterment of society. God answered my prayers and sent Jindal. So much of development has occurred because of them. Those days we didn't even have bicycles, now we have bikes and mobiles and cars. Connectivity has increased. I support Jindal wholeheartedly."

There's commotion as those in the opposition object. The gathering is obviously teeming with many pro-Jindal supporters.

Gopinath Patel, a villager, speaks up against the projected expansion: "People are being bribed and coerced. Promises are being broken. People are promised jobs and then they are denied after the land is bought. Officials take advantage of their illiteracy. Water levels in the wells are constantly deteriorating. I object to Jindal's intervention in this region, I beg you not to give him the permission to expand his project."

A young businessman comments caustically, "They will build schools, but they will also declare a holiday in the same school if they need the premises for a meeting. Three blasts take place in a day while mining and the school building even cracked during the blasting process."

In a hut around 100 metres away from the commotion of the jan sunwai, Nandu, proud owner of 50 acres of land, smokes a bidi and says, "My great grandmother worked on this land. We won't sell out. They offered Rs 1 to 1.5 lakh for the whole area. They want to displace the whole village for coal mining. Where will we go? Will he give land to all of us? I don't think so. Washing and ingestion of water is already causing problems. We never needed bore wells but now we do. Trees become black because of the pollution when it doesn't rain."

Unless the situation in the remote villages changes due to public or judicial intervention, or through awareness created by civil society, the environmental impact and the devastating problems that will arise through massive internal displacement will plague the people of Chhattisgarh for several decades to come.

Dilnaz Boga

Dantewada Satayagrah and Jan Sunwai to stop Adivasi genocide

2009-12-07T03:10:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,

You are aware that the Tribals of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh State are continuously facing large-scale displacement from their homes, fields and forests. Activists, journalists and scholars working in this area have also provided evidence of tribal genocide in the last five years by State and its various agencies, including the police.

The recent past of gross human rights violations has consisted of the aggressive onslaught by the State sponsored vigilante group called the Salwa Judum. Simultaneously, an anti-democratic draconian law called the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 was brought in to silence all dissent. In the last four years it has been systematically used against human rights defenders, journalists, film-makers, lawyers, intellectuals and ordinary citizens whenever they have the State has felt the need to silence people. The latest move regarding elimination of the tribal people has been an escalation of the offensive by the State, in the name of Operation Green Hunt in the heartland of Dantewada. Paramilitary troops along with the state armed police deployed in very large numbers by the Central and the state governments have been carrying out military operations against the tribals in the name of curbing Maoists and retrieve territories from them.

In order to build public opinion and to support the tribal people in their demand to stop this displacement and genocide and to reclaim their right to life with justice and peace, several community based and people's organisations, trade unions and human rights groups from Chhattisgarh and outside are planning a series of activities in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh.

This letter is being sent to you so as to ensure your presence and participation between 14 December 2009 and 7 January 2010 at Dantewada and express your solidarity and raise your voice in support of the tribals. The list of events and dates are as follows:

1. Padyatra: 14 December to 26 December 2009

The first phase of this three week campaign consists of a padyatra from Nendra village to Dantewada town via Lingagiri. This padyatra will be led by Himanshu Kumar of the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram and other tribal leaders of this region and will pass through more than 17 villages.. A group of approximately 40 students, journalists, academics and activists from different parts of the country will also join the padyatra. The main objective of the padyatra is to restore a sense of confidence amongst the tribals who are living in acute fear due to the continuous onslaught of the security forces. The padyatris will also document the atrocities that the tribals have been subjected to including the situation of hunger, food insecurity, lack of health and educational facilities and other forms of deprivation faced due to the ongoing displacement and war in the region.

2. Dantewada Satyagrah: 25 December 2009 to 5 January 2010

Tribal people from all over Dantewada and other regions of Chhattisgarh will launch a Satyagrah on 25 December 2009 which will have the support of tribals from Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh among other states. We are hoping that large groups of people from these states and from all networks, unions and organisations working on diverse people's issues will respond to this call and join in the Satyagrah for atleast a few days. The objective of the satyagrah is to bring together concerned people from all over the country to demand in one voice an end to displacement of people and to the war that is underway in this region, apart from demanding the implementation of the SC orders on rehabilitation in the context of displacement due to the violence of salwa judum.

A Raipur Support Group coordinated by Chhattisgarh Unit of PUCL has been set up for the Satyagrah. This group will provide assistance to the people coming from the Northern, Eastern and Western regions India as well as from other parts of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is situated on the Mumbai-Kolkata route and is well connected by train from most parts of the country. Dantewada is situated 400 kms from Raipur and direct buses are available between the two towns through the day and night that take about 12 hours each way

People coming from the South can take trains or buses from Vishakhapatnam or bus it down from Hyderabad. The distance between Hyderabad to Dantewada via Bhadrachalam is 500 kms and takes about 16 hours.

3. Jan Sunwai: 6-7 January 2010 (the date may be advanced or postponed by a day)

The Satyagrah will culminate with a Jan Sunwai where tribal residents of this region will share their experiences of the Salwa Judum, Operation Green Hunt and their struggle for justice. This Jan Sunwai will be witnessed by a panel of ex-justices, senior activists from various people's movements, ex-bureaucrats and policemen, journalists and intellectuals including those from among the tribals.

This letter is a request to you and your group/organisation to begin preparing for your participation in the series of events given above. A more detailed invitation shall be sent to you soon. For more details please contact at the phone numbers provided below.

We are:

Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, People's Union for Civil Liberties (Chhattisgarh), Chhattisgarh Visthapan Virodhi Manch, Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha – Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti, Nadi Ghati Morcha, Human Rights Law Network (Chhattisgarh), National Alliance of People's Movements, Chhattisgarh Mahila Jagriti Sangathan, Chhattisgarh Bal Shramik Sangathan, Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF)-Chhattisgarh, Gram Sabha Parishad, Tribal Welfare Society, People's Union for Democratic Rights, Committee for the Release of Binayk Sen-Mumbai and others (endorsments by other organisations are awaited)

Security forces raid in the Naxal village

2009-12-04T14:26:00.001-08:00

On the 9th of November, 2009, security forces had raided the village of Tatemargu of Konta Block, Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.

Once news of the approaching forces reached the village, all the villagers ran into the jungle with what they could carry. They scattered in all directions and only returned once they got news that the security forces had left their village. They returned to find burning homes and distraught villagers who were taken into custody by the security forces, and then released in the village itself. They told the rest of the villagers their stories and identified those who was taken away. Many took their time to return from the jungle. And only once all the villagers were back and reunited, did they begin to piece together what had happened – and who was missing.

Eventually, the villagers received news from villages closer to Kistaram, some fourteen kilometers away, that seven people were killed near the police station.

One of them was Madkam Idma from Tatemargu who ran with most of the villagers when news of the approaching forces reached them. However, he turned back to his home to collect some food to survive in the jungle. He was inevitably captured with some 14 other villagers, and was one of four of his village, who were taken towards Kistaram police station, where they were reportedly shot dead on the 10th of November.

Two villagers from Doghpar, who were working in the fields, were apprehended prior to the raid on Tatemargu, and were also shot dead.

Security forces had also raided the village of Pallodi, some 12 kilometres from Tatemargu, where they reportedly burnt some 30 homes and apprehended Madvi Joga, who was also shot dead as a Naxalite, taking the total dead to seven.

'With so much difficulty I bring my children up, and this is what happens.' Says Madkam Jogi, mother of the young Madkam Idma, who was described as a shy reclusive young man of twenty. She also had to clear the rubble from her home with her remaining son, who is around fourteen years old. She has around 10 acres of land and lost around 20 quintal or rice in the fire that consumed her home.

Eventually, a few of the villagers decided to go to Kistaram police station to recover the bodies. At the police station, they were told that the bodies were taken away. They returned, dejected and confused, and would eventually begin to assess all the damage to their homes and their produce.

Some villagers would also begin to rebuild their homes with whatever they could find. However, most of them are still afraid to return to their homes out of fear that the security forces would return. They now live in the fields or in the jungle.

At Tatemargu, there were around sixty burnt homes disproportionately damaged. Some were raised to the ground, and others were partially saved from the fire by the villagers. Some were made of brick and cement and others were smaller homes made of mud and hay. Some homes survived in their entirety with all their produce while others were burnt to the ground with everything in them – along with bicycles, clothes, money, radios and even the bell-gaadis.

One villager, Kalmu Soma, who has around 30 acres of land, lost around 60 quintals of rice, around 20 quintals of Mahua, a solar plate and its battery, a motorcycle and his home. Another, Vanjam Mungdroo, who has around 3 acres of land, lost around 3 quintals of rice, 1 quintal of Mahua, 2 goats, a chicken and his home.

Vanjam Idma lost 10 quintals of rice, 2 quintals of Mahua, 30 kilograms of imli and both of his homes.

Sodi Sukda, lost around 40 quintals of rice, 7 quintals of Mahua and a house of cement and brick that took him five years to build.

Hoongi Madkam, age forty, managed to save her house and her produce but lost her husband, Oonga Madkam.

Sukda Raja, age 50, lost his brother, Dodhi Raja.

'These kinds of things happen in war' – is what the visiting Naxalites would tell the villagers.

The Combing Operation

On the day of the raid, which started around 11 in the morning, a few villagers, were apprehended by the security forces and then eventually released. They were kept in separate groups under different guard. Five were kept in one group, and ten in another. The two villagers from Doghpar were kept in the group of five.

According to the ones who were released, the security forces numbered to more than five hundred and they would begin to capture the goats, the chickens and the ducks of the village of Tatemargu and start cooking them in separate areas. There is no exact estimate on the number of animals eaten by the security forces but each home out of the 27 interviewed, claims to have lost an average of around two-three chickens. One villager claimed that six of his pigeons were missing. There is a rough estimate that around ten-fifteen goats and five-ten ducks were eaten.

The police had also taken the group of 10 villagers to a monolith painted in red that had been built to commemorate a fallen Dalam member Chutey Khoja, who was shot dead in Bijapur last year. He had apparently joined the Dalam as a ten-year old, claiming to be an orphan. In fact, he had joined the Dalam after an argument with his mother, who now lives alone at Tatemargu.

Eventually the police started to question the villagers about the Monolith. Who built it? Who is this person? Why is Comrade Chutey Amar Rahe written on it? When the villagers feigned ignorance out of fear, they were beaten. They eventually confessed that the Naxalites had asked them to build it and the police would begin to chip away at its base, hoping to destroy it. However, the structure remained – the security forces would only rip off the sickle and hammer that stood on the crest of the monument.

Around the same time, a few of the Special Police Officers (SPOs) would begin to misbehave with the six women that were in their custody. They would deliberately start cutting the hair of eighteen-year-old Jogi Madvi with a knife. According to the witnesses, who were eventually set free, a senior 'adhikari' in uniform, who spoke Hindi came to her rescue.

'How can you do this to your own people?' said the officer who apparently snatched the knife from the perpetrator and threw it away. The women weren't mistreated after that.

The same officer also refused the food that was made from the livestock of Tatemargu..

The security forces left the village of Tatemargu around five in the evening and camped across the mountain in the jungle with the four villagers from Tatemargu and two from Doghpar. The next day, they entered Pallodi, where they allegedly burnt down 30 homes, and captured one villager.

Somewhere, on the way, all seven of them were shot dead.

Tatemargu, a Naxalite Village?

Most of the Muria villagers from Sukma first settled at Tatemargu around fifty years ago. They brought their techniques of cultivation from Jagdalpur and the abundance of resources made Tatemargu an ideal location for cultivation. They had an ample supply of water, and they have never used pesticides on their crops. Reportedly, agriculture has never failed in their village, even though cultivation has all but ceased in the majority of Dantewada and Bijapur districts of Chhattisgarh – ever since the inception of the Salwa Judum.

At Tatemargu, long before the Naxalites came, a villager was beaten or chastised by a forest official for cutting too many trees for cultivating land, or for some other discretion. 'To live here, you must bear a few beatings.' – was what the old women of Tatemargu would tell their children.

Eventually, the village would begin to thrive. The villagers started to build large homes with bricks and cement. Some of them would spend around five years building their homes. Many families had produced an average of around 30 quintals of rice per season. Two villagers, one Deva Kovasi, claims that a Special Police Officer (SPO) stole some Rs.30,000 from him when he was trying to escape the raid; the other, Oonga Kanmu, claims that he lost Rs.15,000, along with some jewels from his home.

Some families had around 30 acres of land, some around 100 cattle. There are currently around 800 people and a majority of the families have over 10 acres of land, yet there are still many poorer Muria who have only five to three acres. Most of the homes have goats, cattle, chickens and even some ducks. The village of Tatemargu, is unofficially described as the number one village at Konta block.

The Naxalites had imposed prohibition – restricting the intake of liquor rather than completely banning it. They also ensured that everyone worked on everyone's land. Those who drank too much and did little work, weren't allowed more than three acres.

The government opened an angaanbadi centre. There were 10 cases of polio in the village before the angaanbadi services started, but as anti-polio vaccines were made available through the angaanbadi service, there have been no cases of polio. However, angaanbadi services have been discontinued since the Salwa Judum started. Healthcare is now minimal. Only the leftover medicines for sore throats, fevers and headaches remain. Most have expired. If people are capable of traveling to a city for healthcare, they often choose to. If they are incapable of traveling and afflicted with a severe illness, they often just die.

In fact, Tatemargu in Konta Block has been left completely untouched by government influence ever since the Salwa Judum. One handpump was installed during Ajit Jogi's last tenure and it has stopped working over a year ago. There is no one to repair it.

There has never been any electricity at Tatemargu. Two villagers had two solar panels which were wrecked by the security forces. They even vandalized whatever remained of the angaanbadi centre and the school.

In 2005, the only remaining teacher was given a choice to teach in one of the Salwa Judum camps near Konta, or to discontinue his service. He has around twenty acres of land and more than a hundred cattle at Tatemargu, his home – he claims that he can produce around 30 quintal of rice, and 20 kilograms of ghee a year – why should he be a teacher in some Salwa Judum camp where he and his family would have nothing? As it is, his family grew up in Tatemargu and refused to budge, and he wasn't ready to abandon them. Is this what makes me a Naxalite? Is this why I deserve to die?

Yet families were still split apart. Many families of Tatemargu have relations at Konta or Sukma, living in Salwa Judum camps. Quite a few of the villagers of Tatemargu keep that fact a secret for fear of retribution, or incurring the wrath of the Maoists. They seldom meet one another and only manage to do so clandestinely. When the villagers of Tatemargu travel, which they seldom do, they always claim to be from some other village.

Their markets have also shifted – they have to sell their produce to middlemen from Andhra Pradesh, for a price of Rs.600-Rs.700 per quintal for rice, or to Kistaram market, for Rs.990 per quintal. They barely sell their wares at Kistaram for fear of being apprehended, or branded off as 'Naxals'. This market situation also led to the hoarding of rice. Additionally, the hoarding is also an indication of a man's wealth – the more rice you have, the richer you are.

This has been their situation since the Salwa Judum started.

'When Muria kill Muria, who benefits?' Asks Poodiyan Lakhma of Tatemargu, regarding the Salwa Judum. He was in Andhra Pradesh when he got news of the attack on his village by security forces. The news was bittersweet – while his three children and his young wife managed to escape unhurt, his home was burnt to the ground. He lost two quintals of rice, one quintal of Mahua, forty kilograms of corn and 20 kilograms of salt. He has only three acres of land and is one of the poorer inhabitants of Tatemargu.

by Javed Iqbal / For The New Indian Express

Ford Foundation Fellowships 2010

2009-12-01T22:41:00.001-08:00

Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program

Adivasi belt of Bastar witnessed a naked violation of the constitutional provisions

2009-11-13T19:10:00.001-08:00

In Chattisgarh the tribal district Batar, District administration has played in the hands of house of Tatas by way of stage managed public hearing bluntly violating the norms and set procedures as laid down in the Notification to grant Environmental Clearances.

By making mockey of the conditions of the Notification where Public Hearing is a mandatory requirement where consultation with the likely affected villagers are held. But to fulfill this mandatory requirements, public hearing was held at the campus of the district collector, which is at a distance of about 30 Kms from the project area. This was done with mischivious motives as it is known to all that the villagers are strongly opposing the setting up of any steel plant in their area.

The entire drama was enacted to show off that the mandatory public hearing is held. This has proved to be nothing less than a puppet show of the district administration where except the most of the tribals who are residents of the villages to be affected, all others were present whom the project proponent hired or managed with the help of District Administration to dance to the tunes of the project proponent house of Tatas.

Now, when the naked violation of the constitutional provisions are critisised, there are few faces who try to justify that the action of the Bastar District Administration was legal and as per the rules and requirements. They should better read the notification with annexures before spitting lie in public.

Important ingriedent of the same is to hold the public hearing as close as possible to the villages that too with in the Block area where project is proposed. Fact is that out of 9 villages to be affected are all in Lohandiguda Block and one is another block but none of these villages fall in the area where the so called puppet show in the name of public hearing was stage managed so as to complete the mandatory requirement of holding public hearing.

Well, There are enough proofs that are left behind to prove that the puppet show was held in the name of Public Hearing in violation to set rules and norms. It is mandatory to videograph entire proceedings without without any editing and to be submitted with the recommendations. How this video will show the faces of those thousands of tribals who are residents of the villagers who were deprived to take part in the stage managed show? There are other lacunas also that can be the part of the objections that can be filed.

The recent drama of the Public Hearing for EIA is the part II of the earlier drama played with the tribals where mockery of the PESA Act has been made in full public view under fortified conditions so as to crush the democratic voice of the tribals. There is much water to flow down the Indravati River for Tatas who are in day dreams that they play with the sentiments of tribals, crush their voice, play with the constitutional provisions that safegurards the interests of tribals. Unholy nexus of the Tatas with that of the district administration needs to be exposed before the world.

I appeal to all demorcratic forces and civil society organisations to come forward to help the victims who have fallen pray to the illegalites at the hands of the district administration.

Pravin Patel

Human Rights Activist and

Director, Tribal Welfare Society

Operation Green Hunt Vs Adivasi hunt

2009-11-10T15:03:00.000-08:00

Even though Maoists in Bengal have indicated that they are ready for talks, preparations are on a war footing for Operation Green Hunt in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. CoBRA commandos are to be sent to Gadchiroli, a few companies of the CRPF are already in place. Add to this the other paramilitary forces stationed in the district. And, finally, the local police.

The numbers stacked up against the rebels are huge. Now, the question that's being asked is where are the Naxals? The government's efforts to flush out Naxals from the thick jungles of Gadchiroli are going to be anything but a cakewalk especially as Naxals don't go around with identity cards around their necks.

In a tactical move, often the Naxals have also discarded their traditional olive green dungarees and are mingling with the locals in traditional outfits making their identification all the more difficult. It seems the only way the cops will come face to face with the Naxals is in an encounter. Here too the rebels are known to make surprise attacks - either guerrilla tactics or the newly adopted mobile warfare. Records show that the police have always been lured into a trap and massacred.

The police have very few records of Naxals. So far, intelligence have data of only about 300-odd names. The number of photographs, largely of those arrested and some from other sources, available is barely 30% of the data. In such a scenario, the security forces have little means to identify a Naxal.

"The Naxals have several aliases. They identify themselves differently in different locations," said a Gadchiroli cop.

Another experienced cop, who has been working in Gadchiroli for two weeks now, has this to say: "Police have some time-tested ways to differentiate an innocent villager from a Naxal who would try to slip away or try to hide. A big group would however have no choice but to get into a gun-fight."

As the hype around the operation builds up, the cops also expect the front organizations and supporters to get active. "Naxals have strong and active political, media and legal cells at urban centres to highlight their cause," said a social observer. "They will be quick to capitalize on any loss of innocent blood."

Some cops feel that the central government should take a leaf out of the Sri Lankan government's book. In its fight against the LTTE, the media was kept at a safe distance to avoid any sympathy wave that might be generated.

Gadchiroli has witnessed more than 50 brutal deaths of cops this year. The confidence and morale is at an all-time low. To make matters worse, their relationship with villagers, who are being continuously threatened by Naxals, is not good too. A senior official from the district administration claimed that police need to improve their relationship with the media.

"Until villagers help the cops with information, success against Naxals is difficult in Gadchiroli," said a local resident pointing at how Operation Parakram-I and II (between February and October) failed in the district despite it being planned at a high level.

Former state Anti-Naxal Operation chief Pankaj Gupta said the government should now 'counter-attack' by highlighting its schemes that have been specially designed for the tribal district. "Wresting the initiative through the media is one of the better strategies to push the Maoist back," said Gupta.

Stationing at least one helicopter in Gadchiroli will also go a long way in boosting the morale of the cops. There's discontent among the police force as in absence of a chopper reinforcements can't be rushed in during an ambush. On October 8 at Laheri, the cornered cops waited for more than three hours for help that never came.

A senior district official pointed out that central government had recently sanctioned six helicopters for Naxal-affected areas. But not a single one has landed. "A rescue helicopter is urgently needed," said the official.

The Naxals, meanwhile, have upped their campaign in the villages trying to garner support. "Despite efforts, government initiatives are being hijacked by Naxals. For the Operation Green Hunt to succeed, it's important that propaganda too goes hand-in-hand with it," said the official.

WHEN NAXALS GOT THE BETTER OF COPS

01/02 Markegaon: 15 cops die after being ambushed in a forest close to Chhattisgarh border. The Naxals were apparently more than 300 and the cops were completely taken by surprise

6/04 Mungner: 3 cops killed as they manage to put up a fight

21/05 Hattigota: 16 cops, including 5 women, killed. On being informed that a number of Naxals including women have assembled here, cops rush to Hattigota but are again outnumbered

8/10 Laheri: Five days before the elections, cops lose 17 men, the highest so far. Naxals also take away ammunition and wireless sets

WHEN COPS GOT THE BETTER OF NAXALS

Apart from Mungner, where the Chattisgarh cops claimed that 7 Naxals were shot, there are no records with Maharashtra police to show that the rebels have lost personnel.

TNN 7 November 2009

Operation Green Hunt

2009-11-10T09:32:00.001-08:00

We are alarmed at the Government's adoption of a military solution to the conflict in the tribal belts of central India. Operation Green Hunt will exact a toll in terms of innocent human lives and a long-lasting hatred in the hearts and minds of those who survive. We strongly believe that what is being called the war against Maoists will result in a war against adivasis, even if that is not the intention, because military operations will directly impact all the adivasis in the geographical area.

We stand against violence of all forms, structural and physical, from all sides, whether it is from Maoists, the State, corporate powers or independent citizens and groups, or dispossession, loss of livelihoods and endemic malnutrition. Instead of a paradigm of meaningful and participatory development, India's recent decades of growth have exacerbated disparities in society. Surely, your government realizes that such uneven development will only intensify the cycle of violence without any promise of real or lasting benefits for the poorest. There is ample evidence around the world, and in history to suggest that uneven development and State-sponsored violence leads to a breakdown of democracy - to failed States and "puppet governments." In Chhattisgarh too, the State- backed Salwa Judum has only added fuel to the ongoing conflict.

We strongly urge you to hold talks with civil society groups that work very closely with the people to understand ground realities better. These groups can provide valuable advice for long lasting peace and justice in the region and should not be dismissed or penalized as "Maoist sympathizers".

Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA), a Gandhian organization has been working in southern Chhattisgarh for the last two decades on issues of health, education and empowerment of the adivasis. Led by Mr. Himanshu Kumar, VCA has courageously worked for the rehabilitation of villagers made refugees on their own lands by the atrocities of Salwa Judum and by the cyclical violence resulting from it. We urge you to hold talks with Mr. Himanshu Kumar to understand and adopt this alternate paradigm of development.

In the interest of innocent tribal families living in the forests who will surely come in harm's way through the planned Operation Green Hunt, we demand that:

1. The government retract military operations in Central India with immediate effect.

2. Hold meaningful conversations with Adivasi representatives and development workers such as Mr. Himanshu Kumar.

3. Disband Salwa Judum with immediate effect and end covert militarization through arming of civilians as Special Police Officers.

4. Support rehabilitation of refugees and ensure responsible governance so people can return to their homes, pursue their livelihoods and democratically participate in the development process.

5. Initiate action against government functionaries who have perpetrated or promoted extrajudicial violence.

For reference: Citizen's Initiative for Peace Letter to Chidambaram Mind the Drill, Outlook, Nov 16, 2009 India: Protect Civilians in Anti-Maoist Drive, Human Rights Watch, Nov 5, 2009

Sent to: Mr. Chidambaram, Hon'ble Home Minister of India

cc. Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India

cc. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi

Sincerely,

Phani Mylavarapu

Post Doctoral Research Associate

Mechanical Engineering Department

Louisiana State University/Southern University

Baton Rouge, LA-70803

Ph.No: 225-223-9497

Naxal ambush kills 17 cops in Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border

2009-10-08T14:30:00.001-07:00

A day after Union home minister P Chidambaram asked Naxalites to abjure violence and discuss their demands, the Red guerrillas retorted with message inked in blood. Maoist gunmen ambushed a group of 40-odd police personnel, killing 17 and injuring two, at Laheri village under Bhamragad division of Gadchiroli district on Thursday afternoon. The merciless shoot-out took place just 18 km from the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border.

Those killed include 10 commandos of the C-60 force drawn from Maharashtra police for anti-Naxal operations, six constables and sub-inspector Chandrashekhar Deshmukh from Laheri police station. For Deshmukh, a 2006 pass out from Nashik police academy, it was his first posting. Police officers said given the serious nature of injuries, the toll could rise.

The attack, which comes just four days ahead of Assembly elections and at a time when the state and central government have been drawing up plans to counter the Red brigade, is the bloodiest in Maharashtra's Naxal history. Earlier this year, state cops lost 15 men in Markegaon and 16, including 5 women, at Hattigota, both in Gadchiroli district.

Thursday's attack occurred in the forested and hilly terrain under the blazing afternoon Sun and lasted for nearly four hours. According to sources, the Maoists numbered more than 300 and comprised mobile military dalams that have recently moved from Chhattisgarh as reported by TOI on September 21. Police said there were many from Nepal among the attackers who were equipped with sophisticated weapons and ammunitions.

The Centre rushed nearly 3,000 BSF troops, who were already in Maharashtra, to the Maoist-infested Gadchiroli district following the killing.

The Naxals also managed to flee with the weapons of the dead policemen. This included several AK-47s, a couple of revolvers, magazines and at least one wireless set.

The Maoists seemed to be setting the tone for coming days when, apart from Laheri, they also struck at two other places in Gadchiroli on Wednesday. A gram panchayat building in Irupdhodri village was set on fire and one person killed whom the Naxals suspected to be an informer. In the third incident, a farmer Suresh Halami (30), who unconfirmed reports say is a surrendered Naxal, was killed. A group of around 20 Naxalites dragged Halami out of his house, slit his throat with sharp weapon and disappeared into the jungles.

These three attacks have shattered the morale of the district police which was gearing up for the Assembly elections scheduled for October 13. ``We are trying to regroup and continue the search operations and are domination exercises,'' said IG of Nagpur range, Surinder Kumar. ``Helicopters will be brought in on Friday to reinforce operations.''

Police had got information about heavy Naxal presence in the thick forests beyond Laheri village and on way to Beenagonda, which is a known stronghold of the rebels. The group of 40, that included 20 C60 commandos under Rama Kuriyani, and another 20, being led by the 29-year-old Deshmukh, were on way to a search operation. They started on foot from Laheri at 11am.

They were ambushed by the Naxals after progressing for just more than a kilometre. Taking advantage of the hilly and thickly forested region, the Naxals started indiscriminate firing. The cops were caught unawares and had no place to hide, especially as they were surrounded from all sides. The Naxals had also taken up positions on the tree tops and behind some gravestones. The rebels had also constructed 'morchas' (barricades) at vantage points. The cops retaliated but were exposed on the lower ground.

There was no help coming for the beleaguered group as another group of Naxals had simultaneously attacked the Laheri sub-police station and kept the personnel under siege. However, they had managed to radio message of the attack on the wireless.

A C60 party from Dhondraj village and BSF parties from Bhamragad, about 18-28 kms away, started out to help. They too could not make much headway as yet another Naxal group ambushed them and kept them busy. The rebels also tried to block the road with felled trees. Fortunately there was no loss of life. By the time the security party from Dhondraj and Bhamragad managed to beat back the Naxals and reach Laheri, the bigger group of Naxals had melted away.

TNN 9 October 2009

Adivasi Communities in India: Development and Change

2009-08-30T09:31:00.001-07:00

Text of the Vice President's inaugural address to Seminar on Adivasi Communities in India

The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that the reality is unpalatable and the data speaks for itself. Compared to other sections of our society, the tribal population has the lowest Human Development Index. Delivering inaugural address at the International Seminar on "Adivasi/ST Communities in India: Development and Change" organized by the Institute for Human Development here today, he said that the literacy rate of the Schedule Tribes (STs) at 47.1 in the 2001 Census is far below the national literacy rate of 64.84. Tribal children suffer from high drop out rates and low female literacy. They also have high infant mortality rates and malnutrition as compared to other population groups.

He expressed his concern that STs suffer from geographical and social exclusion, high poverty rates and lack of access to appropriate administrative and judicial mechanisms. Low level of infra-structural endowments and growing gap in infrastructure creation in tribal areas, as compared to the rest of India, has further diminished prospects for progress. For the 85 million Scheduled Tribes in India, the struggle to retain their identities and seek empowerment through our Constitutional framework has not yielded commensurate outcomes.

The Vice President opined that the Forest Rights Act of 2006 represents an important step in attempting to reverse the marginalisation of our tribal people. It gives legislative teeth to the Constitutional provisions for protection and development of Scheduled Tribes, provides them a level playing field and casts tribal rights in a new matrix based on community control and customary access. It acknowledges the immense hardship caused to the Scheduled Tribes due to insecurity of tenurial and access rights and forced relocation due to State development interventions. Quick implementation of the provisions of this Act by various State Governments would go a long way in realising the vision of our Founding Fathers and ensuring that economic development and social progress is inclusive.

Following is the text of the Vice President's inaugural address:

"It gives me great pleasure to inaugurate this international seminar organised by the Institute for Human Development. The choice of the theme is appropriate. It covers a range of issues of local, national and global importance relating to the well-being of Adivasi communities in India.

A look at recent history provides a perspective. The political, social and cultural heterogeneity of India was amply reflected in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly. The Objectives Resolution was tabled by Jawaharlal Nehru in December 1946. It sought to secure social, economic and political justice, equality of status, of opportunity, and before the law to all the people and promised adequate safeguards for minorities, backward and tribal areas, and depressed and other backward classes. The contours of the debate were quantified by Jaipal Singh of Chotanagpur who, speaking on behalf of, as he put it, "millions of unknown hordes… unrecognised warriors of freedom, the original people of India who have variously been known as backward tribes, primitive tribes, criminal tribes and everything else", supported the Resolution.

Jaipal Singh also gave vent to long standing grievances and articulated the problem candidly:

"If there is any group of Indian people that has been shabbily treated it is my people. They have been disgracefully treated, neglected for the last 6,000 years. This Resolution is not going to teach Adibasis democracy. You cannot teach democracy to the tribal people; you have to learn democratic ways from them. They are the most democratic people on earth. What my people require is not adequate safeguards… We do not ask for any special protection. We want to be treated like every other Indian….The whole history of my people is one of continuous exploitation and dispossession by the non-aboriginals of India punctuated by rebellions and disorder, and yet I take Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru at his word. I take you all at your word that now we are going to start a new chapter, a new chapter of Independent India where there is equality of opportunity, where no one would be neglected."

Six decades later, a few questions need to be answered:

1. Has the experience of six decades been different from that of the earlier millennia and have Adivasis been treated with greater attention and justice?

2. Have Adivasis been afforded the equality of opportunity?

The reality is unpalatable and the data speaks for itself. Compared to other sections of our society, the tribal population has the lowest Human Development Index. The literacy rate of the STs at 47.1 in the 2001 Census is far below the national literacy rate of 64.84. Tribal children suffer from high drop out rates and low female literacy. They also have high infant mortality rates and malnutrition as compared to other population groups. They suffer from geographical and social exclusion, high poverty rates and lack of access to appropriate administrative and judicial mechanisms. Low level of infrastructural endowments and growing gap in infrastructure creation in tribal areas, as compared to the rest of India, has further diminished prospects for progress.

For the 85 million Scheduled Tribes in India, the struggle to retain their identities and seek empowerment through our Constitutional framework has not yielded commensurate outcomes. I therefore wish to highlight a few points for the consideration of this audience:

First, over 80 per cent of the Scheduled Tribes population works in the primary sector, with 45 per cent of them being cultivators and 37 per cent being agricultural labourers. Land thus represents the most important source of livelihood, emotional attachment and social stability in tribal communities. It is critical for cultivation horticulture, forestry and animal husbandry. The Draft National Tribal Policy testifies to it and notes that "alienation of tribal land is the single most important cause of pauperisation of tribals, rendering their vulnerable economic situation more precarious."

The Forest Rights Act of 2006 represents an important step in attempting to reverse the marginalisation of our tribal people. It gives legislative teeth to the Constitutional provisions for protection and development of Scheduled Tribes, provides them a level playing field and casts tribal rights in a new matrix based on community control and customary access. It acknowledges the immense hardship caused to the Scheduled Tribes due to insecurity of tenurial and access rights and forced relocation due to State development interventions. Quick implementation of the provisions of this Act by various State Governments would go a long way in realising the vision of our Founding Fathers and ensuring that economic development and social progress is inclusive.

Second, the Constitution of India provides specific social, economic and political guarantees to the Scheduled Tribes. In the social dimension, these are covered under Articles 14, 15(4), 16(4), 16(4 A), 338 (A) and 339 (1). The economic provisions are covered under Article 46, 275(1) and 335. The political provisions are very elaborate and are spelt out in Article 244 and 5th and 6th Schedules of the Constitution, as also in Articles 330, 332, and 243 (D).

The extent to which the Constitutional provisions have been implemented and the normative guarantees translated into policy are a matter of ongoing debate. Civil society groups and activists have pointed out the manner in which the application of the Indian Forest Act 1927 and The Land Acquisition Act 1894 has caused marginalisation and hardship to the Adivasis. They also note that 5th Schedule provisions to prevent application of such laws to Scheduled Areas had not been invoked.

Third, in comparison to other disadvantaged communities and groups, the Adivasis have been less effective in constituting themselves as a Pan-Indian interest group and in articulating their grievances through the formal political system. This could partly be attributed to lack of national homogeneity in the context and mechanisms that have led to the exclusion and oppression of the Adivasis. Geographical dispersion of the Adivasis and lack of iconic leadership with a national appeal also prevents effective political mobilisation. To a lesser extent, our education system and our media are also to blame for the lower profile accorded to the predicament of Indian tribes.

Fourth, the development paradigm of independent India has led to, in the words of the Draft National Tribal Policy, tribal communities witnessing "their habitats and homelands fragmented, their cultures disrupted, their communities shattered, the monetary compensation which tribal communities are not equipped to handle slipping out of their hands, turning them from owners of the resources and well-knit contented communities to individual wage earners in the urban conglomerates with uncertain futures and threatened existence".

Across the nation gigantic industrial, power, irrigation and mining projects representing the current development paradigm of independent Adivasi protests against land acquisition and displacement. Aligning our development needs with Adivasi rights and enhancing their Human Development Index is the need of the hour. This is also essential to prevent violent manifestations of discontent and unrest in our tribal areas emanating from exclusion and alienation.

Fifth, it is lost sight of that many Adivasis straddle multiple dimensions of deprivation and vulnerability. Besides being Scheduled Tribes, many of the Adivasis are also religious and linguistic minorities. It is very important that the protections afforded by the Constitution to the religious and linguistic minorities be fully made available to tribal communities that qualify.

I hope this seminar would act as a powerful tool for public advocacy on the extent of deprivation of Adivasis in the country and means to address them. I am confident that your deliberations would be immensely helpful for formulating policies conducive to Adivasi development.

pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=52156

Adivasi Alert | Tribal India | website - Adivasi.jharkhand.org.uk

8 of family burnt in Chhattisgarh, Naxals suspected

2009-08-13T20:33:00.001-07:00

Eight members of a family, including a two-year-old girl, were reportedly burnt alive when suspected Maoists attacked them at Keskodi village, about 12 km from Koilibeda, in the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh.

Though the massacre of Ramayan Vishakarma's family took place on Tuesday, Koilibeda police got the information only on Wednesday afternoon. Subsequently a team of security personnel are being rushed to the village, a police spokesman said.

Initial reports suggested that Maoists took revenge against the family as they suspected one of them was a police informer. But the police are also exploring a property dispute angle. It is suspected that one of the families sought Naxal help to bring to end a feud with the other family, which however refused to obey the diktat of the Maoist rebels, who later burnt them alive. However, another theory is that one of the families took help of a Samgam—village level supporters of Naxals—who intervened and no active Maoists were involved in the massacre.

"Eight deaths have been reported. We are investigating the matter," state police spokesman and IG R K Vij told The Indian Express. "We will go to the village with adequate security reinforcement, including from the CRPF, as it has been a Maoist tactic to commit such crimes at remote locations and wait on the way to ambush the approaching security personnel," local police sources said.

"The actual number of deaths and other details could be known only after recovery of bodies," they added.

Aug 13, 2009 / Express News Service

Bastar - Fake payments against land acquisition

2009-08-04T07:49:00.001-07:00

The Chhattisgarh government has admitted that as many as 173 people have received fake compensation against land acquired in Bastar district where Tata Steel plans to set up a plant.

"As against the affected people, 173 fake people, whose land were not acquired by the district administration, had received the compensation," state Revenue Minister Amar Agrawal said in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly. The district administration is taking strict action against such people, he added.

The members in the state Assembly have alleged that the middlemen played a big role in these irregularities. Even a section of state government officials and employees had registered the government land on the name of their relatives and received huge compensation, the members said.

Agrawal, however, denied that any government official or employee was involved in the irregularities while distributing compensation to the villagers. The police have registered three separate offences of cheating and are investigating the matter, he added.

The minister informed the House that Tata Steel did not have any land in possession and had not purchased any land from the villagers.

"The district administration had acquired 1,764.61 hectares of land in ten villages (where the plant will come up) while 173.03 hectares of government land had been transferred to the industry department," Agrawal said.

Tata steel is setting up a 5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) Greenfield integrated steel in Lohandiguda area of Bastar district.

BS Reporter / July 30, 2009

Why villager now prefers to live below the poverty line?

2009-08-04T07:46:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the subsidised rice scheme launched by the Chhattisgarh government, almost every villager under Mahasamund gram panchayat now prefers to live below the poverty line (BPL).

The Ratapali gram panchayat, some 110km from Raipur, in Baghbehra block headquarters comprise two villages — Barhabhata and Jhalmala —housing 279 families. Of them, 269 are enrolled as living below the poverty line, including the families of the gram sarpanch, deputy sarpanch and many medium and big-time farmers owning land.

According to villagers, almost all have enrolled themselves in the list of BPL families to avail the subsidised rice scheme that the government launched in January 2008. Under the scheme, each BPL family is eligible to receive 35 kilograms of rice every month at a price of Rs 3. Recently, the government curtailed the price from Rs 3 to Rs 2, while deciding to grant 30kg of rice and five kilograms of wheat under the scheme.

Revenue records of Ratapali gram panchayat underline that both villages have a number of medium farmers having one to two hectare of land. While 25 per cent of the farmers hold around five hectares. But, they are all included in the BPL list.

As an explanation Barhabhata head Uttam Dhruv said: "When my name was included in the list, I did not hold the post of the village head." Since the name was already on the list when he got selected, it continued there after even after his election.

Dhruv, however, blamed the system for lapses. "When there is a proposal to delete a name from the BPL list, villagers jointly oppose the move in the gram sabha," he said, adding that as the villagers are receiving subsidised rice, no one wished their names to be erased. Interestingly, both villages do not have a single family who has been listed as living Above Poverty Line (APL).

August 3, 2009 / Telegraph

Border Security Force (BSF) will be deployed in Naxal-affected areas of Chhattisgarh

2009-07-24T20:00:00.001-07:00

Border Security Force (BSF) will be deployed in Naxal-affected areas of Chhattisgarh. In the first phase, 5,500 personnel of BSF, guarding the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan and some north-eastern areas along the international border will be sent to curb the Naxal menace there.

Sources said an order regarding this was issued by the Union home ministry recently. "Following the order, all the arrangements regarding the deputation of 5,500 personnel from border areas falling under Rajasthan and north-eastern states have been made," said a senior BSF officer.

He added that the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had been deployed to control Naxal activities. "They were not able to control it very well, so the Union home ministry has decided to depute BSF personnel in Chhattisgarh," said the officer.

Confirming this, DG (BSF), M L Kumawat, said it is not for the first time that the BSF personnel are being deputed in Naxal-affected areas. "In Andhra Pradesh, the BSF successfully worked to tackle the problem. Similarly, BSF played a vital role in coping with the problem in West Bengal," said Kumawat.

Sources said that the battalions which are being deputed in Chhattisgarh include Battalion-62 of Bikaner Sector, Battalion-163 from Barmer Frontier, Battalion 200 from South Bengal Frontier in north-east sector, Battalion-31 and 41 from Tripura Frontier.

There are a total of five battalions which are to be deputed in Chhattisgarh. Sources added that the deputation process for these battalions will begin soon. Sources added, in the first phase, personnel of the five battalions who will be sent to Chattisgarh will be relieved from their duty. More BSF personnel might be sent there in the next phase.

"The vacancies at the international border will be filled by BSF personnel from training companies," sources said.

TNN 22 July 2009

chhattisgarh

2009-07-22T10:39:00.001-07:00

Chhattisgarh Film Song

2008-08-04T19:56:00.000-07:00