Must Tribals be Pauperised For Development ?

 

 

Suresh Kr Pramar

 

Tribal leaders at a protest rally

Tribal communities are paying a very heavy price for the economic development of the country. Over the years since independence, tribals, across states have been forcibly evicted from their land, to make way for development projects, pushing them deeper into poverty and deprivation.

 The latest in the trend is the government’s decision to auction of 41 coal blocks for commercial exploitation to private players in three states, Odisha, Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand. These blocks are located in areas occupied by tribal communities for several decades.

 Officials estimate that about 20,000 families would be displaced and thousands of trees will have to be cut, which could adversely impact the local environment. It would not just devastate the lives of thousands of families, it would alter the landscape for all time to come putting in peril the lives of wildlife in the region.

 According to reports most of those who would be displaced are members of various tribal communities in these states. Public opinion leaders say that the move is likely to push these families deeper in poverty while it would provide increased profits to the successful bidders. An agitation is brewing against the unilateral decision of the Centre to provide the coal blocks to a select group of companies at throwaway prices.

 Tribal leaders lament the fact that they have constantly made to bear the brunt of the government’s economic development programmes. Over the years thousand of tribal families have been forcibly push out of their land to make way for economic development. Every such ouster has left the affected families poorer pushing them deeper into poverty.

 Are we tribal expendable? Are we not equal citizens of this country? Are we not entitled to a life of dignity and respect with adequate economic resources?. Tribal leaders across these states want answers from the government.

While tribal communities have been forced to give up their lands they have not received adequate compensation which would help them create an income generating future. The compensations they receive are insufficient to see them through a year given the size of their families and their lack of financial knowledge.

The Jharkhand government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Centre’s decision saying it will have adverse environmental impact on the lives of the affected families and the environment. The petition says there is a need for fair assessment of the social and environmental impact of commercial mining "on the huge ‘tribal population’ and vast tracts of ‘Forest lands’ of the State and its residents which are likely to be adversely affected."  Several tribal organizations in the state are mobilizing the people to fight against the decision which they claim benefits to cronies of the government.

Established companies in these states are enjoying the benefits of subsidy and the use of natural resources but refuse to share the wealth created with the local community. Most companies are manipulating their Corporate Social Responsibility duties to deny the community their rights of community welfare projects. Across these states the deprived are unhappy because they feel that they are being denied a slice in the development cake.

Governments in states with large tribal populations have been increasingly demanding that companies in their states provide more economic activities to the local population in particular for the displayed tribal families. At a workshop on Skills Development a few years ago, at Ranchi, the then Chief Minister Arjun Munda made a strong appeal to business houses to use their CSR budgets to provide relief for the tribal communities in the state. He stressed on the need for business to use their resources and skills to help eliminate poverty and want and to provide sustainable livelihoods for the people.

The Chief Minister pointed out that those deprived of their land expect more than just cash compensation for their sacrifice. Displaced persons expect companies to provide them alternative avenues of employment and a means to live a dignified life. It is not enough that the people are employed as peons and guards. He said even these position were handed out to people brought in from outside the state.

He asked companies to adopt a manpower policy which will train the locals in skills required by the company. According to Munda the lack of opportunities was feeding resentment among the people against business and the established law and order authority. This resentment and frustration was providing cannon fodder for extremist groups who were fanning the resentment to swell their ranks and strengthen their policies and programmes.

The Chief Minister said it was in the long term interest of business to ensure that the people in their operational area are happy and contented. A well disposed community would ensure that the unit is able to function without undue hindrance.

The anger of the extremists was directed against the exploitation of natural resources of the state by business with almost nil benefit for the people of the state.  The Chief Minister wanted industrial units to tailor their CSR Agenda to create opportunities urgently required by the population. 

Arjun Munda had raised an issue that is even today being faced by all the new states   promoting industrial development in the tribal belts. Similar conditions are visible in the tribal belts of Orissa, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and others. Tribal people constitute 8.6 percent of the nation's total population, over 104 million people according to the 2011 census., 80 percent live in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Northern Maharashtra and Southern Gujarat. 

Coal Mining in Jharkhand (Pic Courtesy National Herald)

Large tribal groups have been displaced to set up of industries, mining activities, and the construction of dams and other large projects, which provide them with very few benefits. Since independence, tribal communities are the only people who are still expected to bear the costs of development projects. They pay the highest price for national development because their regions are resource-rich. Ninety per cent of all coal and around 50 per cent of the remaining minerals are found in their regions

Resource-rich tribal areas are treated as suppliers of raw materials whose benefits are denied to them. The situation has been the same since independence. During British Rule the country was turned into a supplier capital and raw materials for industries in Britain and a captive market for its finished products. 

The present economic development trend continues to impoverish the tribals and other rural poor to the benefit the influential and richer class. The benefits of large scale expansion of industries and infrastructure does not reach these tribals. Employment opportunities are denied to them. The overall development of tribal areas has had a deleterious effect on tribals. They are increasingly subjected to oppression and exploitation. This has contributed to the rise of extremism.

Most surveys have indicated that industrialization has worsened the condition of the tribal population. Austrian anthropologist Haimendorf who did a study of the tribals has pointed out that they have suffered because of increased economic development. “How do you explain the fact that their communities that were self-reliant thirty years ago today need State subsidies? Their women had a high status three decades ago. How have they lost it today?”.

Courtesy: Zyamaha.com

The past decades have been a story of eviction and marginalization of the tribal population. They have bore the brunt of predatory industrialization and mining, resulting in the widespread eviction since the decades when the first Tata Steel Company was established in the 1930s. Some have claimed that the Steel Plant was built on Tribal land after a friendly British administration brutally evicted large sections of the population from the area.

This process has continued with Damodar Valley Corporation, Heavy Engineering Corporation in Ranchi, numerous power projects and mines coming up in the state over the past six decades. In the globalization period, the state has signed 74 MoUs with different companies, which include mining and steel plants by ArcelorMittal, Bhushan Power & Steel, Jindal Steel, and thermal power plant and dam by ECSC.

 The execution of these projects have resulted in the displacement of thousands of persons – predominantly tribals, damaged  natural resources, flora and fauna, and diversion of rich agricultural land and forestland for non-agricultural purposes. Large-scale industrialization does not necessarily result in sustainable, inclusive development. There is little to show links between industrial expansion and people welfare. The poor, particularly the tribals, have remained excluded from the benefits of industrialization.

Industrial units which take advantage of its rich mineral resources and the liberal tax concessions  have a responsibility towards the people, particularly the tribal population. The needs of the people are large, given the heavy backlog of neglect and deprivation. This requires business to increase their inputs of funds and skills to create educational and health facilities and to take more effective steps to increase livelihood and income generation.

Increased CSR spending is a long term investment for industrial units which aspire to continue operations for a long time into the future. The states are already facing severe problems because of the increasing extremist activities. The state government’s industrial policy and the influx of out of the state investment into the mineral rich tribal areas is causing father resentment among the people. There is a fear that the frustrated tribal youth would drift away from society and join the ranks of the extremists.

Business needs to heed to the call to the people for their own good. There is a strong Business case for business to increase their community involvement in the state.