Summary from everybody Loves a Good Drought

Hrishiraj Sarma|13MUP03|2014|BCHS 1

And the Meek Shall Inherit the EarthChapter: 3

P. Sainath

Everybody loves a good draught


3.1 Until a project comes along

Who constitutes a nation? Only the elite? Or do the hundreds of millions of poor in India also make up the nation? Are their interests never identified with national interest?

• A project for National Interest and its policy.• Impact on tribes, dalits and other poor community people.• Land acquisition and displacement of tribes .• Problems regarding rehabilitation of tribes .• Unjustified compensation and legal action. • A question of Human rights.


3.2 In the army’s line of fire-1

When the Asurs go back to Sekuapani after the fireworks, they count the costs in “damaged crops and stolen chickens.”• The story is unfolded. It is all about the tears of the tribal people of Sekuapani Village in Bihar.•Author explains how Sekuapani tribes were harassed by Indian army in the name of practice firing.• Army decided to convert the temporary practice firing zone into permanent practice zone around 1,62,000 acres in Palamau and Gumla area in Bihar.• It became an ecological threat for the jungles. • Tribes spoke out but nobody was ready to listened to them.


3.3 In the army’s line of fire-2

Ironically, if the project is scrapped it will be due to environmental consideration

• Finally Sekuapani issue got political interest.• Conflict between Central Govt and state govt arises regarding the issue of land and army activity.• The Betla National Park and the project tiger along with 85,000 wild animals, 57 tigers, 60 leopards, 115 elephants were likely to be homeless if the army activity continues to acquire more and more land and to experiment with test firing.• Public Protest got support from environmental impact and hence Indian army has to push back themselves.


3.4 and 3.5: Chikapar: Chased by development-1 & 2

When the refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan came into odhisa in the ‘60s and again in 1971, nearly a lakh of rupees was spent on each of them. Less than Rs 15,000 was given to whole joint family who belong to here and were losing land, not gaining it like refugees. Better to be a refugee.

•Only village in the world experienced 3 times displacement in the name of development projects like NALCO, Jet MiG etc.• Nearly 5,000 families or 40,000 people have been displaced to their own land outside the region.• Compensation given only Rs 150 per Acre (in 1985) to those who has land documents and most of the people don’t. • Govt claimed that adivasi are doing illegal acquisition of forest land and ordered to vacate withing 60 days.• Hum jaan denge lekin zameen nahi denge was the protest by adivasi, horizon and other tribes of Odhisa.


3.6 Banning the bees from honey

From the companies, the government gets tax. From the Koya, what do they get?

• Koya tribe in Odhissa are very much creative people on bamboo crafts. They cut the bamboo in such a way that it grows again and hence the bamboo forests never destroyed.• Odhisa Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) cut off Koya people from using bamboo in their region and allowed the paper industries to use the bamboo forests.• Since bamboo was the only means of life and the Koya tribe lived by bamboo crafting, they did not have any other option to live life by other skill of work. Neithewr the paper companies appointed the Koya people as workers.• in 1996, CM Biju Patnaik announced compasation to Koya people but it was horribly insufficient.


3.7 The house that Luaria built-1

“This is my house”, says Luaria, “and I don’t want any other.”• Story about mass displacement of Bhil, Bhilala and other tribes from Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat on acount of Narmada project.• They argued that the forest was their mother, they got food, firewood, herbs and medicine everything from the forest. Their economy concentrated at Mahuwa flower and the local wine preparation which was also a part of tradinional tribe culture.• They never want new land or rehabilitation centre nor they want money. They just wanted to live as they like in the lap of the forest.• The affect of Narmadao Bachao Movement and Jalsindhi gave support to the tribes finally.


3.8 The house that Luaria built-2

“Look at this house we are building”, says Luaria. The others in our falia come here to help us built it.”

• The tribal people of Jhabua found it a costly affair and inaccessible to move to Gujarat and resettle over there; however many of them moved.• Tribes refused to leave giving up their tradition, culture and offcourse land. They decided to stay there and was ready to face the circumstances.• Government announced that Narmada Dam would be 455 metres in height from the lower end and 25,000 families were expected to be submerged. • As per the Govt scheme, some of the tribes left the place while some decided to grab their own place facing the fortune and built their own home.

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3.9 Big dam, little water

Hrishiraj Sarma|13MUP03|2014|BCHS

Here the dam might be stopped but not the business of contractors.• Kutku dam project spent Rs 58 crores which was estimated in 1972 and was still under construction for 20 long years.• The dam would irrigate only 6,800 hectares land as the whole district was in draught since last two decades.• Government estimation was to rehabilitate 14 villages while Chhotnagpur Samaj Vikas Sansthan NGO demanded that at least 30 villages would be affected and they fought for justice.• The land acquisition benefit was allotted Rs 6,000 per acre but in actual the market price was Rs 30,000 per acre at that time.• As the dam would be of no use for that particular region, people demanded to stop it and reconsider the irrigation project for which Bihar state govt was allotted Rs 120 crores and the benefit of those money was nil and nobody knew where these money went.


3.10 : Neema: Portrait of a village doomedWe were told some years ago of the great achievements ahead, that it was all for us, that we were making progress. Today many of us have no jobs and all of us have lost our lands. We have only the dust. Look at our houses. Will we be given something like these when Neema is rubble?

• The beautiful vernacular Architecture of Neema submerged under dust after the Asia’s largest coal mining project “Rajmahal” was executed.• The coal project affected 18 villages in Bihar, among all Neema was the largest one. • Those who gave up land for the project got a job, but as time passes it became a history and villagers became jobless and homeless.• The compensation was Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 for every hut. By that amount nobody was able to built a new hut in a new place. • There was no hospital upto 10km radius and people were suffering from severe health problems due to coal dust and the village was doomed.


3.11 : And silent trees speakThe passengers’ minds seem to speak: here people lived. Here, once, children played. For someone on the ferry, that was a personal experience before their villages made way for progress they never shared.• 152 villages were isolated by Balimela and accompanying projects. A land so remote that official named it is “The Cut-off Area.” Official report said that 1,200 adivasi families evicted by the project.• Rs 57 crores spent on Balimela power project and it produces 720MW electricity per annum which had been shared by Odhisa and Andhra Pradesh. But the villages are away of a single electricity bulb, even the Panchayat office.•The tribes and refugees from Bangladesh are the resident of that cut-off area. They had to walk 20km for finding of food. • Since they don’t have any other means of earnings, they work as vendors in the ferry and for that purpose they had to pay bribe.


Conclusion1. For whom a project for National Interest being executed? Who will be

benefited? 2. Rethinking and Assessment of National Policies by Government for such

projects.3. People never did any protest for anything big, they simply want their rights

and fair deal with justice. Is it so difficult for Government?4. Recent examples: Singur Tata nano project (West Bengal), NHPC

Subandsiri mega dam project in North Lakhimpur (Assam) on Brahmaputra where the project stopped before execution due to protest over citizens’ right.

I would say that if the village perishes India will perish too. India will be no more India. Her own mission in the world will get lost. The revival of the village is possible only when it is no more exploited. Industrialization on a mass scale will necessarily lead to passive or active exploitation of the villagers as the problems of competition and marketing come in. Therefore we have to concentrate on the village being self-contained, manufacturing mainly for use. Provided this character of the village industry is maintained, there would be no objection to villagers using even the modern machines and tools that they can make and can afford to use. Only they should not be used as a means of exploitation of others.- Mahatma Gandhi

Summary from everybody Loves a Good Drought

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