The Hindu Business Line : The glimmer of hope

With their indigenous knowledge, the tribals can really do well, if given a little support. Their entire agricultural produce is organic and can fetch good prices in urban markets, but who will give them marketing support?

TRIBAL WOMEN of Kashipur villages... Insecure lives

In the villages of Kashipur block, in Orissa's Rayagada district, you hear complaints of the continuous displacement of tribals from their land and support systems, police repression when they protest, and arrests under "trumped-up charges of dacoity", depriving them of livelihood resources and employment opportunities.

Women have an added problem; rapidly changing lifestyles and entry of mining operations have left them more vulnerable to exploitation. "At one time they would roam freely in the forest area, even late at night. But with the entry of single men in the mining companies, the women are at the risk of rape and are susceptible to entering into illicit relationships. They get lured by the promise of marriage, which never materialises," says a local activist.

Five years ago, one had heard stories of young girls in the starvation-prone belt of Kashipur villages being sold to pimps for a couple of thousand rupees and ending up in the flesh trade in Visakhapatnam. Or of their going to Rayagada, about 72 km away, for daily wage work in the construction industry and sometimes ending up in prostitution. When one asks Badal Kumar Tah, an advisor to the Orissa Tribal Manch, if this still happens, he says: "The sale of girls is not rampant now, but there are cases of young tribal girls being married to older men, or just being `kept' by them; when they are discarded by the men, they do end up in prostitution in the urban areas."

Ms K. Bhanumathi, Director of Samata, an NGO that works with tribals, says: "Tribal women end up in prostitution, because they have nothing else to fall back upon, and often contract HIV/AIDS. The Government doesn't want to educate them — men or women — and they are not strong enough a vote-bank to get adequate budgetary allocation. Arguing that these are interior or politically disturbed areas, the government deprives the tribal areas of even basic development. Without basic support, how do you expect these people to negotiate with big companies and get jobs?"

She says it is a "myth" that mining companies bring jobs to tribal people: "This is not true. They might have brought jobs for the educated middle-classes from non-tribal areas; without the necessary skills or support, all that the tribals get is the odd watchman or sweeper's job, and the women end up washing vessels."

Caught between forces

So, does she find frustrated tribals in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa turning to the Naxalite movement? "Those pressures will always be there; they need to fight and they're looking for different support systems to protect their life and rights. And the way the State is trying to wean them away is equally violent. So they are caught between two violent forces." All this leaves her "terribly depressed. People living in areas rich in natural resources, such as metals and minerals, should not be poor and backward. But the irony is that their resources are being grabbed by outsiders in the name of tribal development."

The Executive Director of Samata, Mr Ravi Rebbapragada, adds that mining areas all over the world are conflict zones with high crime rates. "The conflict is certainly rising in the tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. The Maoists have seen this as an opportunity; they go to every mine, and the mine-owner gives them money, gelatine sticks, transport and protection." Seeing my expression of horror, he says: "This will happen; donon ka dhandha chalna hai (both sides have to carry on their business. Ask any contractor in the mafia-ridden area of Rayalseema... unless the local faction is with you and you've satisfied them, no work can take place in irrigation projects, or in construction of roads and school buildings."

The NGOs tell you that with their indigenous knowledge, the tribals can really do well, if given a little support. Their entire agricultural produce is organic and can fetch fancy prices in urban markets, but who will give them marketing support?

The picturesque region has tourism potential too, with its waterfalls, quaint village shandies, and so on. And tourists — from Japan, the US and Europe — are coming here from Delhi, via Bhubaneswar, but the beneficiaries are the hotel in Rayagada, the travel agency and transport operators in Delhi, not the tribal villagers.

But the picture is not all bleak; Ms Bhanumathi sees a glimmer of hope in the awareness levels of tribal people going up. "People here are very clear about what they want. No longer are they getting conned by the government's false promises. There has been a history of exploitation but today the government cannot deceive people saying we are here for economic development or these projects are for your good. They are putting up a resistance, though the tragedy is that the State is also becoming much more oppressive... and is now in alliance with corporate lobbies."

(Concluded)

(Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in)

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