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** <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/contact.htm> <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/forum> Tribal development in Orissa a farce "MARIBU PACHHE talibu nahin, Inche jami chaadibu nahin, Bandhuka munare saasan aau cahliba nahin, Bina juddhe debu nahin suchi agre medin, Pana pain pane debu, (Rather die than stoop, not an inch of land shall be spared, rule by gun is no longer going to prevail, and without war we shall not give you a grain of our soil, we will give a bitter dose for the battle). Everybody can witness the oneness among the tribals – from infant to – old that they are rightly swayed by the clarion call of the above revolutionary song. A gathering about more than 35,000 tribal and displacement activists severely criticised to Naveen Patnaik. Patnaik began his rule in May 2005 with a number of development projects for the welfare of the indigenous people. He often took pride in Orissa having the largest number of tribal groups in the country. The tribals constitute about a third of the state's population. Patnaik's first brush with tribals took place on December 16, 2000, when he pushed for a project of Utkal Alumina International Limited. On that day three tribals where killed in Maikanch village. As he drew flak from across the country and Patnaik ordered a judicial probe. Even before the storm over the Maikanch incident could blow over, Patnaik found himself caught in yet another tribal – related controversy. The death of 19 tribals due to starvation in Kasipur block between July and August 2001 shook up the entire country. In October- November 2001, riots broke out between the tribals and Bangladeshi settlers at Raighar. The tribals turned their anger to Patnaik after five fellow men died in police firing during violence. Lately, all this has led to arise in Maoist activities in the state's tribal belt. Similarly, from Kalinga Nagar to Gandhamardan, Lanjigod, Sunabeda, Malkangiri, Koraput, Keonjhar everywhere the tribals are facing torture and Gundaraj of the police. Besides, the chief minister's (CM) proposed steel industry houses require more than 30,000 hectares of land for such projects. That land is densely populated by the tribals. Conservative estimates reveal that at least 15,000 families will be evicted losing their homes. 60, 000 more will lose their land and livelihood. Also, a large number of families will be occupationally displaced. The tribals and displaced people conform that again their land, life, and livelihood have been betrayed and affected. For this reasons they have become more vicious. A tribal lifestyle research scholar named Prtyush Piyush told, "If this type of industrialisation continue in the state, we will not see our rich culture, heritage and tradition, even if it will not available in the museums." A research scholar on biodiversity Arbind Pathak said, "Underlining Orissa's advantages in the mineral sector, at a session titled 'Towards a seamless internal market' at the national conference and annual session of the confederation of Indian industry (CII) in New Delhi, the CM made an upbeat presentation, pointing out that Orissa was giving emphasis to industrialisation while protecting the environment and that it had signed agreements with the leading industrial houses of India. Orissa's GDP was targeted to grow at over seven per cent in the next 10 to 12 years." They said, "However, things are not so easy. Orissa has a predominantly agrarian population. The several memorandums of understanding that have been signed have already caused much dissent and dissatisfaction in different parts of the state. The state government in an effort to throw some sops, has promised to settle household land for more than two lakh landless people in the next three years, and tree planting schemes are to be taken up extensively in the in the tribal areas. Would such sops be enough? The processes of governance and administration in this country and especially in Orissa over the last several decades, have reduced tribal communities to the margins of survival. The CM might talk of settling land and protecting the environment, but almost all change in the tribal areas, over the last two decades has been for the worse, with indicators such as distress migration, malnutrition, drought and crop failure only increasing. In such a scenario, when the long-suffering tribal communities turn round and assert their rights, it is with their backs against a precipice, clinging on to their only remaining means of survival, their land and forests. History knows that it does not take much to push such a tribal community over the edge." Further, social activists Prinka Diwibedi added in neighbouring Kalahandi district, Sterlite made its entry much later, but the project has progressed much faster. People have already been thrown out of four villages and 'resettled' in colonies to make way for the mining of the beautiful Niyamgiri hills in Lanjigarh for bauxite. Here too, there was local resistance, and mock gram sabhas, surrounded by armed police, silencing the people's voices. It was this that probably provided the modus operandi for the Rayagada administration in its efforts to help the cause of Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL)." Narendra Maharana secretary of Sanskar says, "The work is proceeding with blatant disregard for human life. From Kasipur to Lanjigad and Kalinganagar everywhere state police crack upon villagers , using lathis, threats and even sexual abuse. Innocent villagers now have serious legal charges against them. Many have been served non-bailable warrants. For the development of the tribal people, a large-capacity jail has been promised near industrial purposed town!" Kailas Dandpath says, "The government of Orissa claims that the Samatha judgment is not applicable to Orissa meaning that any amount of land in scheduled areas can be acquired for mining and industries. Perhaps, the intention is that the tribals can be dispensed within this so-called process of 'development'. In the tribal regions, where humans live in close proximity to nature, the forests and wildlife can perhaps help human communities much more than an elected government, as our wildlife and environmental laws are much stronger than human rights laws. With the intervention of the centre for education and communication (CEC), the struggle of the tribal communities in Lanjigarh has gained strength from the environmental activists. In Kashipur too, the environmental question needs to be properly raised. Bauxite mining is one of the most environmentally-destructive processes known. The slag to ore ratio is 3:1, which means that for every tonne of alumina produced, there will be three tonnes of highly caustic slag! This will be dumped as red mud in downstream areas, destroying agricultural land, surface and sub-soil water, and causing unnamed diseases and ailments." Humans and animals share a common environment, a common planet. If there is sensitivity about the environment, there will be sensitivity about human beings too and vice versa. Governments cannot just run ahead with plans for industrial development and ignore the voices of indigenous human communities. They might do so using legal and supra-legal loopholes, but, in the long run, this is a recipe for environmental disaster. And the long-run is fast becoming the short run, as the planet heats up, the ice caps in the Arctic and Antarctic melt and sea water levels rise across the blue planet. Environmental activist Biswajit Mohanty says, "The state government has adopted a myopic and self-destructive policy of exhausting the entire stock of 3,120 million tonnes of iron ore and 1,626 million tonnes of bauxite within 20 to 25 years. This will result in massive environmental degradation as the region's 'carrying capacity' to absorb and assimilate effluents and wastes produced due to such gigantic production facilities, which will soon be exhausted several times over, within a very short time period." With the quantum of steel and aluminium extraction that is planned for Orissa, the state will be turned into a barren, toxic wasteland. The processing of all metals, steel and aluminium particularly, requires huge quantities of water and leaves behind a toxic waste stream . What rivers remain after the catchments have been cleared will run full of toxins, unfit for human or animal use. This is not some doomsday, far-in-the-future scenario, it as has already happened in the case of the Damodar River in Jharkhand (coal mining) and the Bhadra River in Kudremukh, Karnataka (iron ore). Almost all major concentrations of coal, bauxite and iron ore are The editor of the local daily Dharitree and the Member of Parliament Lok Sabha of the rulling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) party told "The word used for mining operation is 'exploitations' in principle; I opposed exploitation as a mindset. As a citizen. Therefore, in Orissa the rush that we see today for industrialiation is a mere bubble. So, keeping the environment, interests of future generations, existing infrastructure and availability of natural resources in concern we have to plan the industrial development. Otherwise, there may be catastrophe." http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=137391&catID=2&category=India * <http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080710/jsp/jharkhand/story_9529455.jsp>* ** <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7490218.stm> [image: Join Jharkhand Network]<http://www.jharkhand.org.in/jharkhand_flier.pdf> Click on pic to download this Jharkhand Flier . * News TV <http://www.indian-tv.blogspot.com/> Blog <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/blog> Photo <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/photo> Music <http://www.jharkhandi.org/music.htm> Video <http://www.jharkhandi.org/video.htm> Live Chat <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/live> Directory <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/directory> Testimonials <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/directory> Forum <http://yahoogroups.com/group/jharkhand> . * -- Jharkhand News [EMAIL PROTECTED] Jharkhand Online Network www.jharkhand.org.in/news
