People's Democracy

JHARKHAND

Advaisis Under Severe Attack

D D Ramanandan

THE BJP-led Jharkhand government has launched a systematic attack on the tribal lands in particular and on their rights in general, said CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat while addressing a meeting of villagers at Raja Ulhatu in Ranchi district on August 6. The state government notified the villagers acquiring 52.10 acres of cultivable land in Raja-Ulhatu panchayat for establishing a NTPC sub-station of electricity grid. This was done without prior knowledge of the villagers even when the required government land was available in plenty at a nearby place. A memorandum signed by 410 villagers, all tribal men and women, was submitted to Brinda Karat at the meeting venue. Karat assured them that the matter would also be taken up with the union power minister. The Party state committee decided to organise the displaced people and take up the matter with the state government.

Displacement of tribals and other poor sections in the name of development is taking place rapidly under the Arjun Munda dispensation. Since Independence, over 15 lakh people are estimated to have been displaced in Jharkhand, majority of whom are adivasis. Lakhs of adivasis, including men and women, migrate every year from the state in search of job and food. In the name of encroachment in the forests, the adivasis and dalits are being driven out from the jungle areas which is their natural habitant.

Recently chief minister Arjun Munda with his cabinet colleagues has gone to London to meet L N Mittal to finalise an MoU for establishment of a steel plant in Jharkhand.

Mittal is demanding that he must be allowed to export iron ore. He is showing the example of the South Korean multinational, Posco Steel’s deal with Orissa government. As is known the CPI(M) is opposed to export of our exhaustible natural resources by MNC’s and it is leading a struggle in Orissa against POSCO deal. Extraction of iron ore will also lead to large-scale displacement of adivasis and other poor in West Singhbhum district. Arjun Munda government has no plan for their rehabilitation. Like Naveen Patnaik, Arjun Munda is out to present this MoU as a showcase for Jharkhand’s development. In human development indices, Jharkhand is ranked the lowest amongst all states in India. And the situation is worsening due to globalisation attack.

For the last three years, the CPI(M) has been agitating for holding panchayat elections in the state. The last time panchayat elections took place were during the time of united Bihar in 1978. On behalf of CPI(M), its secretariat member Rajendra Singh Munda filed a PIL in Ranchi High Court for holding panchayat election. The court directed the state government and the state election commission to hold panchayat election “in any event” within March 31, 2004. When Arjun Munda government failed, a defamation suit was filed in August 2004. On hearing this petition, in the latest order, on the basis of cabinet proposal and Election Commission proposal, the High Court directed to complete panchayat elections, including publication of results by October 31, 2005. Now, the dates for panchayat elections are announced and they will be held from September 26 to October 21 in five phases.

Yet, the BJP is whipping caste emotions against the adivasis, demanding amendment of Panchayat, Extension to Scheduled Areas, Act 1996 (PESA), which is a central Act applicable in Scheduled Areas under 5th Schedule of the Constitution so as to dereserve the posts of the chairpersons in three tire panchayat system, which are reserved for adivasis under PESA Act. Several casteist organisations are threatening bloodbath if panchayat elections were held without theis amendment. The BJP government has already sent a resolution for dereservation of the posts in the PESA where adivasi population is less then 40 per cent. It may be recalled that PESA is applicable in nine states including Jharkhand. Except Jharkhand all other states implemented the same, including the four BJP-ruled states namely Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The double standard of BJP is thus exposed. This is a serious attack on the tribal rights.

The other attack is the proposal of Arjun Munda cabinet to amend the Chhotanagpur and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Acts which make the tribal lands non-transferable. Though the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act is existing since 1908 and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act since 1949, large number of tribal lands were grabbed by the zamindars and money-lenders through the loopholes in the Act. About 98 thousand cases are pending in various courts. Many cases have not been filed. Despite Fifth Schedule of the Constitution and the Tenancy Acts, adivasis are loosing lands and the land usurpers are grabbing those lands. Jharkhand was formed in the name of adivasis. But the BJP-led government determined to drive them away from their state.