SACW | 2 Sep 2004

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire   |  2 September,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

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=======

[1]  Pakistan - India: For detente from below (Praful Bidwai)
[2]  Bangladesh: Women's organisations urge 
progressive, pro-liberation forces - Unite to 
fight fanatics
[3]  Pakistan: Taliban-like policies in NWFP loom large
[4]  India: BJP Back On Aggressive Hindutva Track (Asghar Ali Engineer)
[5]  India - Uttar-Pradesh: Living on the Edge  (V.B.Rawat)


--------------

[1]

The News International - September 02, 2004

FOR DETENTE FROM BELOW
Praful Bidwai

Exactly ten years ago, on this very day 
(September 2), about 20 Pakistanis and Indians 
got together and did something unusual. They met 
in Lahore and launched a Pakistan-India 
People-to-People Dialogue on Peace and Democracy. 
They were a motley group of academics, social 
activists, peace campaigners and human rights 
defenders, many of whom barely knew one another.

What united them was their total and complete 
exhaustion, even disgust, with the relentless 
hostility between their two states and the hope 
that it is necessary and possible to counter 
"threats to peace and democracy in the 
subcontinent [from] growing militarisation, 
nuclearisation, religious fanaticism, communal 
violence and policies of intolerance" practised 
by governments and major political parties in the 
two countries.

Five months later, this effort at a citizen-level 
dialogue on "critical issues of peace and 
democracy" culminated in a joint convention in 
Delhi of what has come to be known as the 
Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and 
Democracy (PIPFPD). The convention, attended by 
about a hundred delegates from each country, met 
either with hostility or with amused derision 
from much of the Pakistani and Indian media.

The Urdu press in Pakistan charged that some 
delegates had come to Delhi with the nefarious 
motive of selling their country's interests in 
Kashmir down the river. (How they could do so 
through meeting Indian citizens, as distinct from 
high officials, remains a mystery.) Some Indian 
commentators poured scorn on the "do-gooders" and 
expressed pity for the "jholawallahs"-as all 
social activists are contemptuously branded by 
the chattering classes-for their ignorance of 
"harsh realities".

Suspicions and apprehensions raised by this bad 
press cast a shadow over the convention in Delhi. 
Discussion papers written by individual delegates 
on various subjects, including Kashmir, were 
quietly stashed away out of fear that these would 
fall into the hands of intelligence agencies and 
lead to harassment of key participants.

Yet, the damned thing worked! There was a robust 
debate and a good deal of agreement. The PIPFPD 
has since held five more joint conventions-in 
Lahore, Calcutta, Peshawar, Bangalore and 
Karachi. It continues to be in business. Another 
initiative, also launched ten years ago, has 
survived and flourished. This is the Hind-Pak 
Dosti Manch, comprised largely of Indians living 
close to the Wagah border, who light candles 
every year at the midnight of August 14/15 
celebrating India-Pakistan people's solidarity. 
Citizens' groups from Lahore join them across the 
fence.

Even more important, efforts at a people's 
dÈtente and citizen-to-citizen interactions have 
been continually replicated at other levels and 
by other groups, whether parliamentarians or 
soldiers, scholars or schoolchildren, and 
activists or diplomats (including former foreign 
secretaries). Nobody but dyed-in-the-wool cynics, 
for whom peaceful coexistence between Pakistan 
and India is a total impossibility, laughs at 
such exchanges any longer.

The more organised among the joint initiatives 
include the Pakistan-India Parliamentarians' 
Forum, Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia 
(WIPSA), Association of the Peoples of South 
Asia, South Asians for Human Rights, South Asia 
Free Media Association, and Soldiers for Peace. 
The fact that such initiatives were set up, and 
that they survived and grew during the darkest 
phase of Pakistan-India hostility, including its 
heightening thanks to nuclearisation, is itself a 
tribute to their worth and relevance.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Peace 
and Understanding recently granted to Admiral 
L.Ramdas and I.A.Rehman-who have both been joint 
chairpersons of the PIPFPD-is recognition of the 
relevance of such citizens' campaigns.

Although neither the Indian nor the Pakistan 
government acknowledges this, it is indisputable 
that the activities of citizens' groups and the 
strength of their ideas have contributed to the 
thaw in official-level bilateral relations. The 
PIPFPD, for instance, has consistently-if 
somewhat repetitively-addressed major issues such 
as Kashmir, nuclear weapons, demilitarisation, 
containment of the forces of bigotry, communalism 
and religious fundamentalism, human rights, and 
promoting responsible, democratic governance, 
besides economic and cultural cooperation.

WIPSA has stressed commonalities in women's 
situation and sexual oppression in both our 
patriarchal and horrendously male chauvinist 
societies. The joint efforts of the Pakistan 
Peace Coalition-formed in February 1999 in 
Karachi-, and the Coalition for Nuclear 
Disarmament and Peace-established in New Delhi in 
November 2000-have put flesh on proposals for 
nuclear restraint, risk-reduction and disarmament 
in South Asia. (Interestingly, delegates attended 
the founding conferences of both Coalitions from 
the two countries).

It is the cumulative development and circulation, 
and growing currency and acceptability of the 
idea of peace and the desirability of 
India-Pakistan reconciliation, along with 
specific proposals on discrete subjects, that 
finally led to the breaking down of psychological 
barriers that we have been witnessing over the 
past year or so. There have been some 140 
exchange visits across the India-Pakistan border 
by people belonging to an incredibly wide range 
of social constituencies, and from different 
walks of life and of varying persuasion.

Indeed, the idea that peace is possible and 
necessary has now slowly entered the mainstream 
public discourse in both India and Pakistan. 
Nothing proves this more convincingly than 
changes in Bollywood film formulas-from the 
viscerally anti-Pakistan, anti-terrorism, 
anti-Muslim stereotype, to themes like 
cross-border romances and reunification of 
divided soul mates.

One of the greatest gains of this "detente from 
below" lies in personal visits by citizens to 
each other's countries, where they interact with 
flesh-and-blood human beings. These visits have 
helped ordinary people realise just how 
misleading are the stereotypes of hostility, of 
the "inimical" Indian/Pakistani "personality", 
etc. Some friendly sentiments have percolated 
upwards too to the policy-maker's level-although 
here, change is excruciatingly slow, so viscous 
is the fluid of suspicion and state-driven 
thinking based upon cynical realpolik, through 
which ideas must pass.

Celebratory as this discussion is of "detente 
from below", it does not argue that 
citizen-to-citizen interaction is a substitute 
for state-level reconciliation and peace. Nor 
that the present thaw between Islamabad and New 
Delhi is irreversible. Nor even that this 
state-level dialogue can carry on indefinitely 
without producing tangible results on important 
issues like Kashmir and terrorism.

However, that circumstance only heightens, it 
does not diminish, the importance of a 
citizen-level detente and civil society dialogue 
for peace. This process must be deepened and 
broadened so that it becomes a major source of 
moral and political pressure on policy-makers 
through effective advocacy and lobbying. Many 
issues cry out for civil society attention, 
including nuclear risk-reduction, Kashmir, 
pruning of arms spending, cooperative monitoring 
and patrolling of borders, economic cooperation 
and trade, and joint undertakings in scientific 
research and technology development, etc.

To address these issues effectively, civil 
society groups must make specific short-term 
proposals, which appear doable. For example, they 
should advocate the suspension for, say, two to 
three years, of all missile test-flights. They 
should propose a limited, extendable, moratorium 
on nuclear weapons deployment. Equally worthy 
would be proposals for cooperation in fields such 
as energy, trade and transit (including transit 
to other countries), and in agriculture and 
services.

The time for taking forward the 
dialogue-for-process through such ideas is NOW, 
while cross-border visits are still easy to 
organise and the general climate is friendlier 
than at any time in the past 40 years.
______



[2]

[Bangladesh]

UNITE AGAINST GOVT TO FIGHT FANATICS
WOMEN'S ORGANISATIONS URGE PROGRESSIVE, PRO-LIBERATION FORCES
http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/09/02/d40902060169.htm

______



[3]

Daily Times - August 30, 2004

Taliban-like policies in NWFP loom large

PESHAWAR: Cinemas are barred from hoisting movie 
billboards and shopkeepers are afraid to display 
posters featuring women in Peshawar.
The city's only state-run theatre long ago closed 
its doors to singers, dancers and musicians, who 
are banned from holding public concerts because 
the ruling religious alliance in the North West 
Frontier Province (NWFP) considers it against 
Islam.
Undeterred by allegations it is following in the 
footsteps of the ousted Afghan Taliban militia, 
the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) coalition 
government is bolstering efforts to enforce Islam 
in every sphere of public life.
Government employees are being "encouraged" to go 
to mosques to pray, and shopkeepers have been 
persuaded to keep businesses closed during prayer 
time, the latest edicts say. "It's our goal to 
mould the society according to Islam," said Asif 
Iqbal Daudzai, the provincial information 
minister. "But we do not use force. We only 
persuade and motivate the people."
The province has also made it mandatory for new 
public and private buildings to allocate space 
for a mosque. But human rights activists and 
political opponents complain that the religious 
alliance is trying to "Talibanise" the province.
"This is the Pakistani edition of 
Talibanisation," said Afrasiab Khattak, a 
prominent human rights activist. Malik Zafar 
Azam, a senior MMA minister, said promoting 
virtue and curbing vice was the government's 
responsibility. The MMA's agenda includes the 
segregation of women and curbing what it calls 
vices of dance and music, as well as obscenity 
and vulgarity. Gulzar Alam, a Pashto-language 
singer, said he was beaten and thrown in prison 
for singing in a public programme. "I can't hold 
concerts now. Music and poetry is part of our 
culture, but they are too narrow-minded to 
appreciate it. Hundreds of artists and their 
families have been hit," he added. reuters

______


[4]

Secular Perspective,  September 1-15, 2004

BJP BACK ON AGGRESSIVE HINDUTVA TRACK

by Asghar Ali Engineer

The BJP was so sure of its victory in the last 
Lok Sabha election that it feigned to have given 
up its Hindutva card and even tried to appeal 
'appease') to minorities for votes. In Bihar the 
then Prime Minister Shri. Atal Bihari Vajpayee 
even promised in his speech at Kishenganj that he 
will appoint 200,000 Urdu teachers, if elected to 
power. However, the Indian electorate inflicted 
crushing defeat on the BJP-led NDA and elected 
the UPA Government instead.

However, the Sangh Parivar overconfident of BJP's 
victory could not accept the defeat in true 
democratic spirit and is feeling highly 
frustrated. The NDA members, particularly those 
of BJP are even refusing to behave as a 
responsible opposition in the Parliament. They 
have been obstructing the procedure and refusing 
to allow the parliament to function on one 
pretext or the other. They raised the issue of 
'tainted ministers' and stalled parliament for 
days. They did not even allow debate on budget 
and it has to be passed without any discussion. 
They thus made history of sorts. Thus the NDA 
leaders are responsible for waste of public money 
and answerable to the electorate. If they do not 
follow the norms of democratic behaviour they do 
not deserve to be elected.

What is worse is that they are now adopting quite 
aggressively their old Hindutva course which, 
they had assured Indian people, they had 
abandoned. In 1980 also they had assured people 
of India that they have adopted ‘secularism and 
Gandhian socialism' but abandoned it in favour of 
aggressive communalism the moment they faced 
crushing defeat in Parliamentary elections of 
1984 when they got only two seats.

Again facing defeat in Lok Sabha elections of 
2004 they have gone back to Hindutva politics 
with vengeance. Thus communal forces can hardly 
be relied. While in power and sure of their 
continued hold on it they feign to be secular and 
adopt aggressive communalism the moment they 
loose power. They have played the same game this 
time around. Now they are going back to 
aggressive Hindutva in view of state elections in 
Maharashtra and in Bihar after a few months.

One such issue is of Veer Savarkar. Mani Shankar 
Aiyer ordered removal of poems of Veer Savarkar 
from the cellular jail of Andaman. The BJP is 
raising hue and cry over the issue. In 
Maharashtra of course they have left it to Shiv 
Sena as Savarkar's issue is highly emotive in 
Maharashtra. Thus the BJP who is part of alliance 
with Shiv Sena wants the Sena to provoke 
electorate on this issue while it would take up 
another issues. This itself shows that the BJP is 
not genuinely concerned with Savarkar issue but 
wants to exploit it for election purposes through 
Shiv Sena.

Veer Savarkar's grand niece Uttara Sahasrabuddhe 
who teaches political science in the Bombay 
University, has alleged that both the Congress 
and BJP-Shiv Sena
are trying to turn Veer Savarkar into an election 
issue. According to her this was hardly a good 
reason for the Sena and the BJP to boycott 
Parliament when the budget was being passed, she 
maintained.

She also said that if the Sangh Parivar was 
sincere in its protest against what the Congress 
had done, it should ask the lieutenant governor 
of the Andamans to put the plaque back. The 
lieutenant governor Mr. Ram Kapse, was a BJP 
appointee and belongs to that party. She also 
said in her statement to The Asian Age that 
Savarkar was a rationalist. He never thought cow 
was so sacred and not be killed. He specifically 
wrote in one of the articles, she noted that "the 
cow was a useful animal once upon a time when we 
were dependent on agriculture. But don't make it 
a sacred animal. If you believe that God resides 
in a cow it's foolish."

Savarkar also maintained, according to her that 
if you want to differentiate between Western 
civilisation and Indian civilisation, then you 
must know that after the Renaissance movement the 
West took to rationalism as its basis and made 
tremendous progress. We still stick to what is 
written in Vedas and Puranas, and because of this 
tendency we are stuck in the past.

Of course she rightly points out that "The Sangh 
Parivar cannot eschew or digest these essays. The 
Sangh Parivar considers cow as sacred and VHP and 
Bajrang Dal harass even those who take old oxen 
or buffaloes for slaughter. One of the main 
agendas of the BJP is to ban cow slaughter 
throughout India. The BJP even justified killing 
of Dalits in Haryana who were skinning dead cows 
a few years ago?

Thus it is clear that the BJP wants to exploit 
Veer Savarkar's issue for its own political 
purposes while totally rejecting Savarkar's 
rational thoughts. It would hardly convince 
anyone of its sincerity.

Another issue BJP is preoccupied with is that of 
arrest of Uma Bharati, former Chief Minister of 
M.P. In fact there are indications that the BJP 
wanted to get rid of Uma Bharati as Chief 
Minister of M.P. and her arrest warrant came as a 
relief to the BJP central leadership. She may be 
an aggressive agitator but she was a failure as a 
chief minister and had created complex problems 
for the Party.

However, now the BJP is making her arrest as a 
national issue and flying tricolour is being 
projected as a national mission. Of course 
tricolour is our national flag and we are all 
proud of that but one cannot take pride by making 
it as a anti-Muslim measure. Uma Bharati went to 
hoist tricolour on an Idgah, which is a disputed 
site. The Sangh Parivar had planned to convert 
the Hubli Idgah issue as a Babri Masjid of the 
South at that time though the matter was resolved 
amicably by persuading the Hubli Muslims to hoist 
the national flag on the Idgah.

Now the Sangh Parivar is thinking of taking out 
her Yatra flying tricolour. It is an old trick, 
which the Parivar plays repeatedly. In fact the 
RSS refuses to fly tricolour in its own Shakhas 
and flies Bhagwa flag. Let Uma Bharati fly 
tricolour on the RSS offices if she is so 
enthusiastic about flying tricolour. Let her fly 
it on temples as well. She is trying to earn 
electoral advantage in coming elections by 
raising these controversies. But now there is 
news that the Government of Karnataka may 
petition the Court to withdraw all cases against 
her thus depriving her the opportunity to be a 
martyr. The Congress is trying to defeat her 
game. The BJP has never been comfortable with 
secular issues or issues of development. It 
adopted Sadak-Bijli-Pani issue in M.P. election 
as it was agitating the minds of electorate in 
the state then. But as it was not sure whether 
this will click Uma Bharati was repeatedly 
raising the issue of Saraswati temple and Kamal 
Maula Masjid in Dhar, M.P. The other members of 
Sangh Parivar were playing up this issue to 
entice the voters for Sangh Parivar.

And now since the BJP is not in power at the 
Centre it has no compulsions or restraints of 
being in power and can try to go whole hog with 
Hindutva politics. BJP can never be secularised 
as long as it is tied firmly to the communal 
apron of the RSS. The RSS keeps on pressurising 
it to adopt aggressive Hindutva. And the BJP has 
to repeatedly assure the RSS that it will never 
offload the ideology of Hindutva without which it 
cannot get help of dedicated RSS cadre in the 
elections.

When the Jan Sangh had merged with the Janata 
Party and had taken pledge for secularism at the 
Gandhi Samadhi under the leadership of Jai 
Prakash Narain in 1977, it had refused to resign 
from the RSS membership though the dual 
membership controversy (both membership of the 
Janta Party and the RSS) had brought down the 
Morarji Desai Government in 1979. Thus it will be 
seen that it is firmly tied to the apron strings 
of RSS and its strident anti-minorities stance 
will never be diluted. Those so called NDA 
secular partners are deceiving  themselves or 
fooling the people, if they pretend that the BJP 
will ever give up its Hindutva plank.

Also, in view of the upcoming elections in 
Maharashtra in October the Shiv Sena-BJP are 
trying to stir communal passions. The bombs 
thrown by unknown motor cycle riders at the 
mosques during Friday prayers in Prabhani and 
Jalna is an obvious attempt in that direction. 
The winning of election in Maharashtra by the 
Sangh Parivar is of great significance. It thinks 
it is an opportunity to shake the UPA Government 
at the Centre. Defeat of the Congress NCP 
alliance in Maharashtra can have long term 
consequences.  If the BJP-Shiv Sena combination 
can win in Maharashtra they can try to win over 
Sharad Pawar and persuade him to join NDA. Sharad 
Pawar is known to have soft corner for the 
BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. Also, the Mumbai 
Municipal Corporation under Shiv Sena has passed 
a resolution making singing Vande Mataram 
compulsory in municipal schools. They remember 
Vande Mataram at the time of elections only.

The Sena is also very eager to come back to power 
and will go to any extent in playing up Hindutva 
card. It is very unfortunate that the Election 
Commission is satisfied with these parties 
signing pledge of secularism although their 
propaganda machinery aggressively works to 
propagate communal issues during the elections. 
What a contradiction. How can a party taking 
pledge for secularism as required by the election 
commission openly and aggressively propagate 
Hindutva? Can they not be disqualified on grounds 
of breaking their secular pledge? Is it not 
against the Constitution to propagate Hindutva 
during the election campaign? It is for the 
authorities to decide.

It seems secularism is becoming a distant dream 
in view of increasing communalisation of our 
politics. Forget about Nehruvian secularism even 
Gandhian concept of religious harmony is becoming 
a dream rather than reality. Every religious 
group, every religious community, wants to bring 
in sectarian issues in political arena. Those who 
strive for inter-religious harmony will have to 
face increasing challenges in coming days. And 
yet inter-religious harmony is so vital for our 
multi-religious society.

( Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
Mumbai. Website:- <http://www.csss-isla.com>www.csss-isla.com)

______


[5]

www.sacw.net 
http://www.sacw.net/hrights/vbr01092004.html

INDIA - UTTAR-PRADESH: LIVING ON THE EDGE
By V.B.Rawat

[September 1,  204]

Sonebhadra is famous for five power plants in 
eastern Uttar-Pradesh. River Sone provides 
lifeline to the area though people in the town 
neither get electricity nor water regularly. None 
of the outsiders can realize the pain of 
Sonebhadra if (s)he travels by car from Varanasi. 
The beautiful wide roads that link to Sonebhadra 
and later equally marvelous Sone Valley creates 
an illusion about Sonebhadra and its people. It 
is one of the poorest areas of the country and 
yet its natural resources are being plundered by 
not only state owned and private corporations but 
also by the so-called Naxalites.

Interestingly, Sonebhadra has also become a 
hunting ground for the 'NGOs' working for the 
'rights' of the marginalized. And as one enters 
the town, the virtual NGOisation is visible with 
big hoardings and banners greetings 'great' 
people from Delhi to visit the town and raise 
their issues. And therefore after 'press' and 
'political connections' the third important 
connections have become 'manavadhikar' or human 
rights. So if you say that you are from the human 
rights, the implications and meanings are that 
you belong to 'National Human Rights Commission', 
and that is why so many organizations have 
cropped up with name 'Rastriya' and 
'Manavadhikar' with them. But despite all these 
Sonebhadra remains volatile and tense, its 
Adivasis remains powerless as usual. Their 
problems have become 'fashionable' to discuss. 
People raise issue, print their photographs, get 
funds or awards but the situation remains the 
same. This apathy of the social action groups 
comes handy to the Naxalite groups who have 
virtually won over the Adivasis and Dalits of the 
area. Local police, CRPF and BSF have been active 
in the area and it is alleged that the special 
anti naxal drive has over Rupees 200 crore budget 
is futile as police dare not to go in the deep 
forests because they fear the naxals have better 
equipments with them. However, in the name of 
anti naxal drive, Sonebhadra witnessed 
highhandedness against the common man. The 
atrocious Prevention of Anti Terrorism Act ( 
POTA) had the highest number of casualties from 
this place. About 27 of them were arrested 
against whom the charges could never been 
finalized alleged M.A.Khan, who heads 'Chaupal' a 
mass organization of the local people for the 
right to information.

Waiting for Death: Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav is 
concentrating on the development of Uttar-Pradesh 
and his officials are much ahead of him. At the 
district headquarter of Sonebhadra in 
Robertsganj, about 40 tribals have come to 
narrate their plight. Travelling for over 40 
kilometer in which more than _ of the journey was 
done on foot and took about five hours, these 
Adivasis came to meet the district magistrate and 
show him his condition.  They wanted to handover 
a report done by 'Chaupal' regarding the 
corruption on the Survey being done by the UP 
government under the instruction of a ten year 
old judgment given by justice P.N.Bhagwati and 
justice Rangnath Mishra. Both the judges are 
living their retired life. One is internationally 
known for his human rights activism while the 
other became chairman of the National Human 
Rights Commission and later Member of Parliament. 
But the survey completed by the UP government's 
Kaimur Survey Agency has done more harm to the 
Adivasis then relocating them as would have been 
the intention of the Supreme Court judgment. The 
Survey done by 'Chaupal' was a survey on the 
government survey and it revealed startling facts 
about the corruption in the revenue department. A 
prominent novelist Shivendra, who heads the 
Chaupal intellectual Forum says that about 4 
judges were suspended on the charges of 
corruption in this survey but still we don't have 
the information as why were they suspended and 
what were the charges. M.A.Khan, who himself is a 
'mobile information center' said that the 
officials asked for heavy ransom from the poor 
tribals failing which their names were withdrawn 
from the list. Hence nearly 40 tribal men and 
women travel for over 5 hours on foot to the 
district headquarter. It has been raining for the 
past three days and made it impossible for other 
villagers to move out of their huts. 
Nevertheless, they reach the district headquarter 
around 1 pm. Outside the collectorate, the men 
and women sit in a circle and display the forest 
leaves and herbs that they have been eating in 
the absence of daily diet.  Kalawati, who is 
about 30 years of age, looks older then her age 
says : "I have a son and  we live in a hut. For 
the last two months we have nothing to eat. We 
are eating the forest produce. What can we eat?" 
Phoolwati and her husband work as farm labours 
but due to drought they could do nothing. They 
have six children. They were given one bigha land 
entitlement but could not get the possession. 
Sukhdev has 11 children. He works as a carpenter 
in the village. They have one bigha of concrete 
land. Instead of getting cash he gets 2-1/2 kg of 
rice from the farmers whose work he does. Satya 
Narayan says that they eat 'Namak roti', if they 
get the flour otherwise have to survive on the 
green leaves, roots in the forests.

It is difficult to give the biological names of 
the products they have been eating but the local 
names of the products these Adivasis mostly 
Ghasias have been eating are : Suren ( root), 
Mahua ( fruit), Nakwa( Kanna), Dhuru Kanna, Tenu, 
Kena, Surwari, Chaurawi, Koilar, khukhari, 
Laltamica, Arwath, Kheksa ( all last seven are 
green vegetables). The total number of these 
kinds of products are 32 on which the tribal 
survive.

It is a fact that officially nothing can be 
declared as a hunger death unless a person is 
hungry for 42 days and it is easier to project 
that the death was not due to hunger. It is 
unfortunate thing that all these cases are of 
malnutrition. This is a slow poison and the 
person does not die all of a sudden. This will 
ultimately ruin their immune system and finally 
they will succumb to the pressure. It is a case 
worst than hunger, for civil society just make 
case of hunger deaths to get big headlines but 
does nothing to stop it. Can it not do such case 
works and enlighten the authorities that people 
are facing malnutrition and must act on it.

Reports of Hunger and Malnutrition are obstacles 
in UP Shining: Hence the hungry people were 
waiting in rain that some body from the district 
headquarter will come and listen to them. The 
district magistrate was not available hence the 
activist could get the Sub District Magistrate 
who happened to be a Dalit. With his two gunmen 
the SDM arrived at the ground outside the 
Collectorate and started speaking to the 
Adivasis. " Why have you come here? ' Sir we 
don't have anything to eat. We don't have any 
work. We are eating these roots.' "Okey, we will 
take care of you. We will not allow you to die, 
said the officer." As Khan was narrating him the 
incident, the officer got angry. You NGOwallahs 
are inciting the Adivasis. You get loads of funds 
and do nothing. Suddenly we saw Khan was almost 
surrounded by many 'Sarkari' people and abuses 
being hurled on him for allegedly inciting the 
Adivasis of 'Darma ' village which has become 
focus of some of the 'international' 
organizations for the dispute between the forest 
department and Adivasi land. As Khan intervened 
and asked me to see the officer. He said that: 
Rawat is an activist and a film maker', the 
officer got furious. You make films for foreign 
people, sale India's poverty, eat money meant for 
the poor. I intervened: Sir, if you the Sarkari 
officers, were kind enough to the people and were 
doing your duties well, things could not have 
reached to this stage. If I am writing on this 
issue, it is not meant to harm the interest of UP 
state but to help the poor people. Are we waiting 
for people to die and then shed the crocodile's 
tears? Why are the officials unhappy with 
people's peaceful protest at the secretariat? 
Should we snatch their right of meeting with the 
official? And fortunately, this meeting was not a 
meeting of that sort where people protest to get 
photographs at the media, more for a mark of show 
and less for the real work to be done. The way 
official treated the Adivasis and asked them to 
leave the place immediately show the pathetic 
state of Indian civil services. ' We all have to 
work hard, he preached and added that not all can 
have the same amount of work and money. " I get 
around Rs 20,000 and you get around Rs 20 a day 
but all have to work. You cannot depend on me for 
your problems. Still we will try to help you out. 
I am sure when this officer will retire, he will 
become a champion ' Ambekarite'.

As far as the people are concern, there is no 
school for them to study. They have so-called 
ration card but ration is not available to them 
regularly. There is no hospital in and around the 
village and they will have to come to Robertsganj 
in case of any eventuality. By the time they 
reach the hospital everything is gone.

Raup's Adivasis are still waiting for action: 
Last year a petition was filed with the National 
Human Rights Commission by a Varanasi based 
organization PVCHR alleging the deaths of 19 
children due to hunger in village Raup. The NHRC 
had issued notices to the state government and 
for the next few days the officials started 
coming up and taking notice of the area. They 
were given 5 kilogram of wheat, 2 liter kerosene, 
2.5kg rice and 2.5 kg potato for survival. These 
Ghasia tribes have relocated themselves from a 
far away village Cheruhi. Now two points are 
important from these things. One, what happened 
after highlighting the event last year? Some 
people allege that NGOs raise their issue and 
disappear. Secondly, how are we going to address 
the situation? Can we resolve the starvation 
deaths due to this uncharitably charitable 
approach? Secondly, not all 18 children died in a 
day period. They died over a period of a month 
and definitely these were malnutrition deaths. 
Now after delivering their charitable items the 
government felt it has done its duty.

As I visit the village, a large number of people 
come. We see the condition of the village and a 
repetition can happen. The fact of the matter is 
that there are many 'Raups' in not only 
Sonebhadra but other eastern district of 
Uttar-Pradesh but then we wait for people to die 
and then cry, a cry that does not help the people 
but the organizations that raises the issue. 
Surely, we could have done more to help the 
people rather than just crying in pain and 
expecting a 'heartless' bureaucracy to help them.

So what is the problem of Raup and its Ghasia 
tribes? Surely, people here are happy that their 
issue has been raised internationally and at the 
National Human Rights Commission. They thank Dr 
Lenin for giving them an opportunity to 
participate in the World Social Forum, in Mumbai 
and explain it to the fellow activists about 
their plight. They are equally hopeful that 
something will happen. But how is that going to 
happen if we are unable to raise the issue of 
right over productive resources.

There are around 54 families in this village who 
migrated from a village called Markudi which is 
about 10 kilometer away. Most of them had land 
there but it was a concrete land. Villagers 
complain that it was not possible for them to 
survive in those difficult circumstances. As far 
as work is concern, some of these people work as 
farm labour, others work as cleaner as well as 
drivers. Interestingly, the entire ration cards 
issued to them is from village Markudi and they 
are legally not recognized as part of Raup 
Village. Gram Panchayat of Raup is not willing to 
accept them. Hence after some time, when this 
issue receded into the background, they will have 
to vacate the place. The area where these 
Adivasis are living at the moment is expensive 
area and many big companies and corporations are 
in the look out for such an area. So it would be 
easier for them with the help of an unwilling 
Village Panchayat to displace them. None of the 
Adivasis have any house. No Indira Awas for them. 
Gajadhar, an Adivasis of the area said that first 
the government officials rebuked them for having 
informed about the events to the 'outsiders'. 
Naturally, pressure from Delhi and Lucknow does 
not make the officials happy and they use this 
'anger' at a later stage when the Adivasis goes 
for smaller mercies from them. It is not that the 
Adivasis have got everything in Raup. They have 
to walk around 1 kilometer for water. School is 
similarly placed in about _ kilometer from their 
place. No mid day meal. For the last three months 
no ration has been distributed by the schools. 
There are about six to seven widows but none of 
them get a widow pension.

Hansu's two children died of malnutrition. One 
was one year old and the other around 4 years 
old. They suffered from fever. There was no help. 
Before reaching the hospital they died.

A look on the face of the children at Raup 
village would confirm the level of Malnutrition 
there. The resisting power is finished. With no 
help and a civil society that wait for deaths, I 
wonder, how many times are we killing these 
children of forest before they actually die? This 
is a question to civil society that how can you 
think of teaching about fundamental right to a 
community that does not have basic things to 
survive. After all rights are the talk of those 
who are powerful and atleast ability to fetch 
themselves. In Sonebhadra, the resisting power of 
the Adivasis is over. If the government betrays 
them and NGOs use them for their own purposes, 
then what should they do? And interestingly, the 
Naxalites jump as a robbin hood for them.

Hit and Run Case: As we were watching interesting 
altercation at the Collectorate between the 
tribal and the officials, some forest officials 
also cropped in along with their 'public' support 
and a few gun men. The 'Public' cried against the 
NGOs and human rights activists that they are 
misguiding the poor people of Darma, a village 
which has gained international fame as activists 
after activists are descending from Delhi to 
'liberate' the people of this village which the 
forest officials claim falls under the Sections V 
of the forest department. ' You people are 
collecting Rs 50/- from the poor tribal and have 
so far amassed over one and a half lakh rupees, 
said one of the official. Why are you cheating 
the Adivasis in the name of land, which is not 
theirs? They have no objections and yet you 
people come in and become leader of the 
Adivasis'. As the officials were clubbing all the 
NGOs and civil society together, the lawyers got 
angry with them and threatened unrest if they 
don't stop. Some revolutionaries also intervened 
and the matter was calmed down. As every official 
is not corrupt so is the case with NGOs and by 
the way why should we just blame NGOs when the 
entire society face degradation. Why don't we 
talk about the media, judiciary and academics? So 
there are good people and bad people everywhere 
and the matter ended.

The story of Darma village is an interesting one 
which also tells us that we should desist from 
'hit and run' theory. If we are raising an issue, 
we must stand before the people all the time. We 
must ensure that they get support. But what is 
happening here is that every event is organized 
for a different audience sitting outside India 
and that makes people vary of the good 
organizations also because despite so much of 
reports, ultimately, things have not changed. As 
I said, the NGOs or the right based groups or the 
government or the media still look for the 
'hunger deaths' that makes 'masala' headlines. We 
flash stories and do not even make any effort to 
do a little bit. Let me share this detail which 
has become the bone of contention. While the 
local court has rejected the claim of the 
Adivasis over land and handed it to the forest 
department, Adivasis who participated in the 
movement on 22nd July 2004 to capture land or 
desist the forest department officials are facing 
charges. It is a difficult situation and must be 
fought with a more caring way. What happens in 
this entire exercise is that those who intrude 
from outside are saved and people who face 
tyranny of the forest department have to pay the 
price of their revolt.

Darma and the new Zamindars : Forest department :

Darma village comes under Vikas khand Chotara and 
the Gram Panchayat is Karondia. It is a entirely 
Adivasi village with Gond and Dhangar communities 
living there. Even the Pradhan at the moment 
belong to the Gond tribe. Before 1959, the people 
used to plough this land but how it went to 
Section V of the forest is still unknown. May be 
the Panchayats were not powerful that time or 
still the revenue department has no strategy to 
repudiate the 'forest department' which has 
become the biggest Zamindar today. In 1960, 
according to M.A.Khan, of Chaupal, about 42 
families filed a petition to FSO Ramnagar. This 
case went till 1972 and nobody touched the 
Adivasis. They were allowed to work on their 
respective fields. In 1985 when the Chakbandi was 
done by the state government, strangely, this 
land went to the forest department. Again people 
wrote to the authorities and in 1990, it is 
alleged that the district magistrate asked for 
the files that had gone to Chakia, about 40 
kilometer from Robertsganj. Nothing happened. 
Nobody knew where the files have disappeared. It 
was actually a land of to Sections V of the 
forest act, which means it is a private forest. 
Not many people knew about it. Finally on 2nd May 
2001, it was converted to Sections IV of the 
forest act, which means that it is a forest land.

Darma comes under thana Pannu ganj and hence when 
the forest officials forced their visit to  this 
village on July 22nd 2004, obviously, the 
adivasis were well prepared for the same. The 
situation became tensed and police had to fire. 
Now the forest officials blames certain NGOs for 
inciting the people. According to them, this 
movement was initially launched by the local 
people but the NGOs, in their effort to look more 
radical hijacked this. This is unfortunately the 
story that many other activists whom we were able 
to meet in Sonebhadra. 

It is not fare to raise finger against any 
particular person as the forest department is 
saying because such atrocious behavior on forest 
department is visible everywhere. The 
'sarkari'people always pretend to be in the 
'right' side of the law and wrong every one. Nor 
it is ethical for them to say that the NGOs have 
no business to come and 'incite' the people. The 
matter of the fact is that there is growing 
awareness among the people and one must give a 
little of its contribution to civil society which 
not every one is ready to accept doing the 
fantastic work.  Unfortunately, such a situation 
is not just in Sonebhadra but all over India 
where the tribals face a threat to extinction. We 
have information, facts and stories how the big 
industrial houses have been given permission to 
'rape' the forest under political protection in 
most of the states while the Adivasis are being 
asked to vacate without providing space for them. 
An enormous human catostrophe is therefore 
waiting to happen not only in Sonebhadra but 
different parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, 
Chhatisgarh and Orissa.

Enter the dragons:  While the civil society boast 
of its 'success' in Sonebhadra, the fact of the 
matter is that the Naxal groups have made their 
presence felt in this region. At the Pannuganj 
police station, we can watch the vehicles of the 
PAC, CRPF and BSF to counter the Naxalites, 
however, it is another question whether the 
'real' naxalites are caught or the villagers and 
poor adivasis are facing the hardship. The 
horrific event of 19 people killed in an 
'encounter', three years back is not forgotten. 
In the name of anti naxal operation, the police 
raided the house of a person where people were 
watching video after the marriage celeberations, 
and killed as many as 19 people. One does not 
presume that every body was innocent but will the 
police and the authorities allow a legal course 
of action or just kill every one and claim that 
they have got rid of this menace. Therefore, it 
is important to understand the influence of the 
Naxalites in the region and a wide support that 
people have given to them. And it is not a 
coincident that all the Naxalite prone areas in 
India have rich natural resources where 
oppression level has been high and justice to the 
poor almost naught. Interestingly, these areas 
have now become heaven for the bigger 
corporations. The connecting road to Sonebhadra 
from Varanasi is so beautiful that one may not 
even think that this town has a history of feudal 
relations. That this area still have bonded 
labours, child labours and huge money lending by 
the moneylenders. That for even Rs200/-, many 
adivasis have given their land to these 
bloodsuckers. That the Adivasis are the true 
children of soil and if nothing is done to rescue 
them then the things are going to be difficult 
even for the so-called civil society in these 
areas.

Conclusion:

Sonebhadra is sitting on the time bomb of 
history. The lesson is clear that if the civil 
society, political leadership as well as the 
feudal structure remain the same, the poor 
Adivasis will go to that side which looks more 
attractive. And what could be more attractive 
then working for your honour and self-respect. 
Ironically, they feel they get these tools from 
the Naxalites and hence despite heavy policing in 
the area, things have gone from bad to worst. It 
is a wake up call for all those who harp on 
development as the only answer to every kind of 
oppression and injustice. They say that 
development brings awareness but then what kind 
of development we want. Is it nature friendly and 
pro people or it is meant to create another 
hunting ground for the rich and wealthy in Delhi 
and Lucknow to visit and appreciate its 'beauty'. 
It is equally necessary for the forest department 
to introspect about itself. The department cannot 
gain credibility by keeping its eyes closed on 
the massive corruption that they are involved in. 
It is not the tribals who sale the trucks loads 
of wood and forest produce? You cannot term the 
Adivasis as anti forest. In fact their services 
need to be taken in the Joint Forest Management 
to save not only environment but also the nature. 
Forest feel threatened not from the Adivasis but 
from the forest Mafias, its officials and 
political class which has betrayed the cause of 
the Adivasis. If there is a dispute between the 
forest department and revenue department anywhere 
in India, why has it not been resolved but we 
have seen cases where the department are using 
'righteous' language like using the term 
'encroachers' for the tribals. There is a dire 
need to approach the political leadership on the 
issue because every good 'environmentalist' is 
seeking refuse in the active judiciary without 
understanding the human miseries these things are 
bringing in the regions. There is a need for 
clear cut policy from the government side which 
unfortunately it is not doing. There is a need to 
include more areas under the special tribal areas 
act of Schedule IV of the constitution. 
Tragically, the Aryan raiders have become the 
'law abiding' citizens of the country while those 
who were the rulers of the forest have become 
virtually beggars with 'intellectuals' and 
'activists' jumping in to provide 'healing' touch 
which has not reached them. Let us not make these 
peaceful region fertile ground for arms struggle 
and police butcheries which has never helped the 
poor Adivasis but which will explode like a time 
bomb if things are not handled properly.



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Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
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