People's Democracy(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVI No. 49 December 15,2002 |
DYFI
To
Hold
Tribal
Youth
Convention
Tapas
Sinha
THE
Democratic
Youth
Federation
of
India
(DYFI)
is
going
to
hold
a
tribal
youth
convention
in
Rourkella
on
December
14-15,
with
300
delegates
from
all
over
the
country.
The
event
is
being
organised
at
a
time
the
BJP-led
government
and
Sangh
Parivar
are
trying
to
dislodge
the
tribal
people
from
their
land
and
making
all-out
attacks
to
distort
their
identity.
DYFI,
the
biggest
organisation
of
youth
in
India,
is
one
of
the
important
constituents
of
the
democratic
struggle.
It
is
with
a
commitment
to
forge
the
broadest
possible
unity
of
toiling
masses
in
general
and
of
youth
in
particular
that
the
DYFI
decided
to
organise
this
convention.
It
has
always
been
raising
and
fighting
for
the
demands
of
the
tribal
youth,
and
has
accorded
due
importance
to
their
distinct
identity.
The
Tribal
Youth
Federation
in
Tripura
is
one
such
DYFI-affiliated
but
distinct
organisation.
To
the
DYFI,
the
tribal
youth’s
problems
and
struggles
are
an
integral
part
of
the
broader
youth
movement.
Yet
the
latter
has
to
pay
due
attention
to
the
specific
issues
and
demands
of
tribals
and
tribal
youth.
Hence
the
relevance
of
the
coming
tribal
youth
convention.
The
total
tribal
population
in
India
is
more
than
8
crore.
In
the
1991
census,
the
scheduled
tribes
constituted
8.01
per
cent
of
the
total
population.
Today,
tribals
are
the
most
economically
deprived
and
socially
oppressed
section
of
our
people.
They
constitute
a
sizeable
part
of
landless
rural
poor
and
contract
labour
working
in
mines,
plantations,
brick
kilns,
etc.
In
pre-independence
India,
the
questions
of
land,
forest
produce,
forced
eviction;
forced
migration
and
tribal
identity
were
at
the
centre
of
the
tribal
revolts,
directed
against
the
zamindars,
moneylenders
and
British
rule,
in
several
parts
of
the
country.
But
the
process
of
ousting
the
tribals
from
their
lands
continued
in
the
post-independence
period
too.
The
successive
governments’
developmental
and
industrial
activities,
without
removing
the
feudal
and
semi-feudal
land
relations,
only
added
to
the
tribals’
problems
and
miseries.
Under
the
liberalisation
regime,
tribals
have
been
hit
hard
due
to
curtailment
of
the
public
distribution
system
and
cuts
in
social
sector
spending.
Reports
of
starvation
deaths
and
malnutrition
have
come
from
Orissa.
Maharashtra,
Chhatisgarh,
Jharkhand
and
Rajasthan.
Both
foreign
and
Indian
monopolies
are
penetrating
the
mineral-rich
tribal
areas
following
the
dismantling
of
public
sector,
leading
to
large-scale
displacement
of
the
tribals.
Efforts
to
rehabilitate
them,
if
any,
are
more
of
symbolic
than
of
real
value.
Today
in
our
country,
the
most
serious
crisis
facing
the
youth
is
that
of
unemployment,
and
the
tribal
people
and
particularly
youth
are
the
worst
sufferers.
For
their
livelihood,
a
majority
of
them
work
as
agricultural
labourers,
in
forestry-allied
activities,
mining
and
quarrying,
etc.
Large-scale
dismantling
of
public
sector
has
further
aggravated
the
situation.
LAND
AND
FOREST
The
question
of
land
and
forest
has
always
been
central
to
the
tribals’
existence
and
identity.
The
ruling
classes
have
attacked
the
very
basic
rights
of
tribal
people
as
natural
owners
of
the
forest
and
forest
land.
On
May
3
this
year,
the
union
ministry
of
environment
and
forest
issued
a
circular
ordering
eviction
of
all
‘illegal’
encroachments
on
the
forest
land,
estimated
to
be
around
12.55
lakh
hectares.
This,
in
effect,
means
throwing
our
ten
million
tribals
from
their
natural
habitat
and
depriving
them
of
their
inalienable
right
to
the
forest
and
forest
produce.
On
the
other
hand,
through
fraudulent
means
and
taking
advantage
of
the
loopholes
in
the
laws,
large-scale
illegal
occupation
of
tribal
lands
is
still
taking
place
in
various
parts
of
the
country,
despite
the
constitutional
provisions
and
several
land
acts.
Mortgages,
lease
agreements,
benami
transfers,
false
title
deeds
in
collusion
with
revenue
officials,
marriage
with
tribal
women,
possession
of
land
in
the
name
of
(bonded)
tribal
labourers
are
some
commonly
used
methods
for
illegal
occupation
of
tribal
lands.
In
this
situation,
effective
implementation
of
land
reforms
and
distribution
of
surplus
land
among
the
landless
tribal
families
is
the
central
question.
In
West
Bengal
and
Tripura,
under
the
Left
Front
governments,
lakhs
of
tribal
families
and
youth
have
benefited
from
effective
land
reform
measures.
In
a
majority
of
other
states,
however,
this
very
thing
is
lacking.
At
the
same
time,
denial
of
access
to
the
forests
and
their
produce
under
the
tyrannical
rule
of
forest
guards
and
bureaucrats
has
deprived
the
tribals
of
their
food,
habitat
and
traditional
way
of
life,
with
serious
consequences.
For,
tribal
people
have
an
organic
link
with
the
forests.
The
latest
Forest
Conservation
(Amendment)
Act
1988
treats
them
as
encroachers
and
interlopers
in
the
forest,
instead
of
being
an
integral
part
of
it.
But
the
fact
is
that
the
disappearance
of
the
forests
and
degeneration
of
green
cover
are
not
due
to
tribals,
but
due
to
the
corrupt
nexus
of
the
contractors,
mafias
and
ruling
class
politicians
---
an
inexorable
feature
of
capitalist
development.
Old
collective
forms
of
tribal
life
with
egalitarian
features
have
broken
down
in
the
face
of
feudal
and
capitalist
onslaughts.
Tribals
are
facing
the
most
ruthless
oppression
by
landlords,
mafias,
moneylenders,
contractors,
corrupt
police
and
officials,
and
ruling
class
politicians.
Large
numbers
of
tribals
migrate,
with
entire
families,
to
other
areas
to
eke
out
a
meagre
livelihood.
They
remain
unorganised,
deprived
of
minimum
wages
and
unprotected
by
labour
laws
and
other
measures.
At
places
they
are
held
as
bonded
labourers.
The
tribals’
identity,
languages
and
culture
are
facing
the
threat
of
extinction.
Successive
governments
have
ignored
their
languages.
Stage-managed
tribal
cultures
are
presented
as
folk
cultures.
The
need
is
that
tribal
languages
must
be
given
recognition
and
developed
as
mediums
of
education.
Positive
aspects
of
tribal
culture,
particularly
their
collective
and
egalitarian
ethos,
must
be
encouraged.
This,
however,
does
not
minimise
the
need
of
fighting
their
retrograde
practices
like
witch
hunting,
depriving
women
of
land
and
cultivation,
polygamy,
etc.
By
and
large,
the
status
of
tribal
women
is
better
than
in
caste
Hindu
society.
In
many
tribal
communities,
women
have
an
equal
status
and
right
to
property.
But
in
many
others,
women
do
not
have
the
right
to
land
and
its
cultivation.
Women
work
hard
and
contribute
to
earning,
family
needs
and
cultural
activities.
But
the
dominant
society’s
bourgeois
or
semi-feudal
values
are
degrading
these
women.
They
are
subjected
to
sexual
harassment
at
workplaces
by
landlords,
mafias,
contractors
and
forest
guards.
However,
several
movements
have
brought
a
modicum
of
awakening
among
tribals
for
economic,
social
and
political
equality.
Tribals
are
in
a
majority
in
the
north-eastern
states
except
Tripura
and
Manipur.
Here
we
have
a
large
numbers
of
tribal
communities
with
distinct
ethnic
and
social
features.
Their
problems
are
different.
In
some
areas,
there
are
inter-tribal
conflicts.
The
bourgeois-landlord
regime’s
policy
has
neglected
them,
and
failed
to
develop
the
region.
Only
a
narrow
and
highly
opportunistic
elite
section
has
profited
from
the
central
assistance,
by
diverting
the
development
funds.
The
growing
discontent
and
thwarted
aspirations
gave
rise
to
separatist
feelings
among
the
tribals.
But
the
efforts
to
fight
separatism
and
insurgency
have
been
devoid
of
a
democratic
perspective
based
on
all-round
development
of
the
region
and
due
recognition
to
the
tribals’
needs
and
identities.
This
has
led
to
a
stalemate
situation.
Imperialists
are
taking
advantage
of
the
situation
to
foment
separatism
and
ethnic
conflicts.
At
the
same
time,
the
RSS
and
its
outfits
have
stepped
up
their
divisive
activities
in
tribal
areas.
While
targeting
the
minority
Christians,
they
are
trying
to
divide
the
tribals
between
Christians
and
non-Christians.
They
are
trying
to
impose
the
Brahminical
caste
order
on
the
tribals.
They
do
not
recognise
the
tribals
as
Adivasis.
For
them,
the
tribals
are
‘Vanvasis.’
The
term
confines
the
tribals
to
the
forest
and
negates
their
rights
and
aspirations.
Only
a
strengthening
of
the
federal
decentralised
set-up
with
genuine
autonomy
for
minority
groups
can
fulfil
the
tribals’
aspirations
regarding
their
identity,
languages
and
cultures.
Hence
the
need
that
the
contiguous
areas,
where
tribals
are
in
a
majority
or
form
a
substantial
section
of
the
population,
must
be
provided
regional
autonomy.
It
is
in
the
background
of
this
situation
that
the
DYFI’s
tribal
youth
convention
is
going
to
take
place.
The
convention
is
expected
to
play
an
important
role
in
mobilising
the
tribal
youth
all
over
the
country
and
initiate
a
war
against
the
tribal
people’s
oppression.