BEGINNING June 10, responding to AISA’s gaon chalo abhiyan (Go-to-Village Campaign) a team of students from Allahabad and Lucknow universities conducted a padyatra (traveling on foot) of several villages, falling under Ghorawal tehsil of Sonbhadra district in eastern Uttar Pradesh, to learn and know about the life of poor tribals and labourers. Sonbhadra district is considered one of the most backward districts of UP, despite the fact that a lot of money is allocated by the state govt. for this district, and, at the same time, a large chunk of capital flowing out of eastern UP is produced in this district owing to its industries like Obra, Anpara and Hindalco. Notwithstanding all this, the tribal-dalit labourers of the district are facing acute starvation and malnutrition apart from being subjected to extreme forms of feudal oppression. There is widespread joblessness and mounting incidences of starvation related deaths. This district is in the limelight for one more reason – Naxalism. Crores of rupees are being pumped into the district for tackling and containing Naxalism.
Let us lay bare the facts:
The drought since last year has completely pauperised not only the landless labourers, but even the small peasants. Due to the drought, agro-based jobs are impossible to find. In such a situation the pauperised labourers cannot exist, hence their desperate need for any sort of employment. Under the much-publicised food-for-work scheme, pond digging and road construction work is underway in all villages. But an interaction with tribal labourers revealed the fact that despite the back-breaking labour, their families rarely get two square meals a day. There is not a grain to eat in their thatched hutments. Their children are perishing out of hunger. This scheme is gradually turning into hunger-for-work scheme. People of many villages told us that they haven’t received a grain or a paisa even after slogging for months. Even where wages in grain was distributed it was only partial. The labourers in Rampur Dogolia village told us that a Patel contractor queued up labourers and got himself photographed with them to produce it before the BDO and claimed that he distributed Rs.70,000 as wages, whereas the labourers had been given only Rs.10,000. In this way the labourers are being cheated and looted of their sweat and blood, when the contractors siphon off the major part of their wages. On an average, the contractors owe Rs.2000-3000 per labourer. All this has enabled gram pradhans and contractors to reap bumper harvests, and the food-for-work scheme has come as a boon for them. What the contractors do to cheat the labourers is to initiate work at several places simultaneously. The labourers, desperately waiting for employment start running helter skelter. Taking advantage of this kind of situation the contractors manage to pocket half the wages. The labourers, looted in this way by one contractor went to the BDO to complain. They were shocked to know that the work the contractor made them do was not legally sanctioned. When the SDM was approached with the grievance he suggested a simple solution – that the labour be considered voluntary work (shramadan). Not only are feudals and contractors involved in this dirty game of snatching the bread of even the starved population, but also those who claim themselves to be champions of the poor and tribals. Now the labourers are waiting in the wilderness with the hope that some day they will be paid the worth of their toil. Under the food-for-work scheme the official wage has been fixed at Rs. 86 for dispensing the dug earth. But they are being given only Rs. 58 (five kg of paddy plus Rs. 23).
The majority of labourers here are tribals belonging to the Kol community, 50% of whom are landless. They have no other option than to work as labourers. And at the same time, in every village there are people who own 200-500 bighas (1 bigha = 0.6 acres approx.) of land and the Land Ceiling Act has never troubled them. Many feudal lords like Raja Barhar of Rajpur estate and the Seth Balmukund Lohia of Bhagardaha own more than 1000 bighas of land, on which hundreds of tribal labourers perform begar (unpaid labour). Till a few years back Balmukund Lohia paid Rs.10 in wages for 12 hours of labour. After the CPI(ML) movement in the region this wage was increased to Rs.30. Raja Barhar continues to live like a king even today. One of our comrades gave us a rather amazing and ironic information. The 1000s of bighas of land of Raja Barhar is in the name of different members of his family (to evade the Ceiling Act), of this 400 bighas of land are in the name of Gajraj Singh, whereas no such member of this name exists in his clan. Actually this Gajraj Singh is the name of his elephant (quite a prosperous elephant)! On the other hand, poor and helpless tribals are being chased away from their forestland. After years of hard work they render forestland arable, and nurture a fond dream that in this way they may escape from feudal bondage; but the feudal lords are evicting them from this hard worked land with the help of the Forest Department officials. We heard of an incident in village Newari, where in 1969 about 600 bighas of land were distributed to the tribal people by the then Indira govt. The tribals worked hard for 20 years on this land to make it fit for cultivation, but in 1996, by an order of the Governor under Article 20, the land was declared reserved forest which is now being gradually encroached upon by the feudals and the forest department never bothers to prevent them. However, if the tribals assert their land ownership rights, they are met with unprecedented police repression and even after if this they stick to their demand the police uses its ultimate weapon – branding them naxals and shooting them down. The tribals are demanding that either the govt. plant trees on that land and give them their just right or the land be redistributed among the tribals. In this light, the CPI(ML) has demanded the constitution of a Lands Commission.
When we went to the villages and asked villagers about their problems, everywhere we felt that a kind of fear immediately gripped the youth, women and men. They would evade talking and many villagers would soon leave. It can be understood that this fear is due to the perceived threat from the police. They are afraid that if they ask for their just wages, talk about land rights or dignity they will be declared naxalites. We got to see an example of police repression nearby where the thatched roofs of labourers had been destroyed, their poultry, goats and even their utensils had been forcibly taken away by the police; and this is a common phenomenon. If any youth talks unhesitatingly about repression, very next day the police will take away the youth on information from the feudals and then the youth is hung upside down from a tree and beaten mercilessly. He is set free only after a warning that if he repeats the ‘mistake’ he will be shot dead.
How strange it is that you cannot talk about your miseries, you cannot ask for your just wages, cannot secure your land and your dignity and if you do this you are branded a naxalite. Sixty-year-old Rajkumari of village Aruaon says, “if demanding your wages and rights over your own land is naxalism then we are naxalites”.
When we went to tribal bastis in village Newari and told people that we would have our meals with them their eyes became blank and they were speechless. The silence was broken when young Buddhu revealed - “Comrade, there are no grains in our houses since many days.” They showed us their sick children and turned their faces to stare in the wilderness. We held a meeting that evening. The same youth stood up and said that struggle was the only way to fight hunger. The fiery young man took resolve that he would see to it that the Party organisation is sufficiently strengthened. The youth of village Barank were hesitant to interact with us, but later when a meeting was held they were so encouraged that they arranged a dholak and harmonium and began singing songs of resistance and liberation. One of the youths sang –
“whatever terror you create in the name of naxalism,
your machinations will not work
the red flag will continue marching ahead
and your machinations will not work”
The team of student leaders also sat on a dharna at Ghorawal in front of the govt hospital. During the three-day dharna questions were raised about the irregularities and corruption in the hospital. The dharna compelled the authorities to dispense MDT and TB medicines for 6 months to each deserving patient.
– Ramayan Ram