The Adivashis with a sense of gratitude

A talk by Arjun Purohit

Orissa is not poor; its dysfunctional policy makers have made the population poor. It is the same class of people in their perverted thinking blame the Adivashis for the sorry state of the state. Same kind of thinking has converted Adivashis into criminals, and has thrown them into the arms of Naxalites.. Therefore it is no wonder that a reasonable solution could not be reached but blood was spilled unnecessarily, and poor Orissa thus earned a reputation worldwide as Adivashi killer, in addition to other unflattering epithets. A worker with a major donor country recently asked me in a meeting," What is wrong with Orissans ? How come when we provide money for development to other provinces( such as nearby Andhra Pradesh), we get measurable results, but not in Orissa ? We have been pouring money for KBK for years, but situation does not change. Why zillions of money sent to Orissa as developmental aid by the centre either disappears into thin air or returned back to the centre unused ? Why there are stark differences between the reason with no political upheaval ? Why newspapers originate only from BBSR and Cuttack with no voice from other parts of Orissa ? Why there is 20% literacy rate and *80% people under poverty line in Nabarangpur where as there is mirror image in Puri, with 80% literacy rate and only twenty per cent under poverty line? etc." I have been raising these issues, but it was still a shock to hear from a stranger.So it seems Orissa is an enigma in New Delhi. People in the centre apparently are fed up with Orissa politicians because these people have brought a naturally well endowed place into such a sorry state. No wonder, Man Mohan Singh has no sympathy for Orissa because thinking in New Delhi is:" Why pour our resources there because nothing is going to work there anyway ".

It is but natural that Orissans are justifiably offended by such attitude of the centre. But we should also reflect on this. Unfortunately, I do not see any serious thoughts on this malady, and the intelligentsia is still busy doing the same blame game, which has already been proven to be ineffective.

I started this series because of the plight of Adivashis and it was painful to me to see these people massacred. It is even more painful that they are being blamed for poverty in Orissa. I will end the series with some suggestions.

We can not afford to ignore and marginalize Adivashis, if for no other reason than that they constitute 22% of the population in Orissa. If they remain poor and illiterate, Orissa will be largely poor and illiterate.Whether they are sitting over mineral deposits or not, we have no choice but to bring them into the main stream of life in Orissa. That means aggressive educational and training programs in suitable trades for them. It is no brainer that Orissa has to diversify her economy from primarily agro to non-agro one. That means industrialisation in different shapes and sizes. Small and medium size industries have been proven to be more successful in the past. Wherever possible, non-mineral enterprises should be given preference because mineral based enterprises are by their very nature will be short-lived. It will be imprudent to stake our whole future on large scale mineral based industries,as some pundits are arguing, because sooner or later minerals will be gone. And we will be back to the same rot with miles of defaced land and paved over ghost towns. It is also not prudent to avoid mineral based industries completely but what is prudent is to deplete the mineral resources as slowly as possible so that we can lengthen the lives of these industries as long as possible.Whenever possible, we should endeavour to establish valued added mineral products, such as tools and machinery.Industries should be planned not only for the few highly educated citizens but also for maximum number of citizens who do not similar privilege.

And what do we do when we have to ask the Adivashis for the supreme sacrifice of vacating their habitat ? We should approach them with gratitude while the bean counters and bureaucrats calculate the proper money settlement and rehabilitation programs. In the past, we have cheated them, gave false promises, broken our pledges, erected legal hurdles for just compensation, and as evident from Kalinganagar incident, had no hesitation to kill them for no other reason than that they happen to live on land which we think will benefit us years to come. Considering that government of Orissa will reap the benefit for years to come in the form of royalties and taxes,and the industrialists are to have profitable future, and the intelligentsia are going to have well paid jobs, I do not understand why the authorities are so stingy in dealing with them. Tulsi Munda, the tribal leader, is suggesting some good measures including preferential employment for the displaced Adivashis. Accelarated education and training programs must be initiated so that these folks will eventually take over the managerial/ supervisory jobs as well. The companies also should think of giving these families preferred shares so that they can feel some ownership of the industries. Recently a very innovative settlement program has been instituted in Canada. In Nunuvut, where Innuits(Eskimoes) live, Canadian government will give to these people a share of royalties from the mineral activities and pipelines going through their land. This option should be studied by our authorities to see whether this is applicable in some form to Kalinganagar situation. I urge the government to not just throw money at these people, like one throws money at the beggars. These people deserve to be respected as citizens who are losing a lot for the province. We have to make them feel important contributors to the society, and we should see that they are not disadvantaged because of their sacrifice. That way they can be a part of the solution.

Will the intelligentsia will rise up to such a challange ? Judging from the past, it seems unrealistic. More than two hundred villages became watery grave and more than twenty five thousand people were displaced because of Hirakud Dam so that villages and people downstream in the coastal reason will be saved from yearly flood. One would expect that people who befitted from the trauma caused to the oustees would have a sense of gratitude to the disadvantaged. Not so. No serious hue and cry has been was raised for the lack of settlement for the fifty years to nearly seven thousand displaced families, at least not in the same scale as was done recently against the central government because BBSR did not get IISER. So, back to the statement I started this piece with: Orissa is not poor. The people are poor because we are dysfunctional. Intelligentsia in the province likes to find fault elsewhere, but it is not intelligent enough to look at its own fault. People who are privileged want to be more privileged by excluding the less disadvantaged from opportunities. So should I hope for the people of Orissa to reach out to the Adivashis with a sense of gratitude, not arrogance ? I do; I believe in miracles.

Arjun Purohit

Comments

[Anirudh]

Surely an appreciable talk by Mr. Purohit, it did give some insights in the matter of adivasis and the fact of dysfunctional policymakers. But the solutions carved out by Mr. Purohit again lays emphasis on formulating poilices which as a matter of fact will lay on the hands of the corrupted politicians of our State.
So dont we try to link up with some sort of an initiate???
May be a NGO which earnestly work towards a set objectives, i.e educating adhivasis???
Or may be the Youth of Orissa rise up by taking things in their hand, by joining politics with a determined goal for the betterment of the State.