No respite for Jharkhand's beleaguered tribals
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COMMENTS 
Just last year the tribals of Khunti and Gumla blocks in Jharkhand ousted steel giant Arcelor Mittal from the region. Now there’s another flashpoint around the Rs 65 crore Kantijalashay dam planned by the state government on the Chata River. The rivers, streams and fountains are all ours, they say. Why should we accept water from a dam?
When steel giant Arcelor Mittal pulled out of a proposed project in Khunti and Gumla districts of Jharkhand last year, five years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government, it marked a historic victory for the region’s adivasis. Arcelor Mittal planned to set up the world’s largest steel plant (12 MTPA) and, according to villagers, was eying rich arable land that had been a source of livelihood for generations. Under the banner Adivasi Moolvaasi Asthtva Raksha Manch (Forum for Protection of Existence of Indigenous People), villagers voiced their opposition to the move as it would not only ruin their traditionally sustainable source of livelihood and displace them from the land of their forefathers but also damage the environment. They refused to part with an inch of their land.
But barely had the battle been won when the villagers are once again up in arms. This time it is the Rs 65 crore Kantijalashay dam that is being proposed by the State Water Resources Department on the river Chata, lifeline of the region. Originating in the Chhotanagpur hills and flowing through Karra block in Khunti and adjoining districts of the state, the river has enough water to sustain local residents even through the dry summer months.
This time, local people have organised under the banner of the Kantijalashay Visthapit Samiti. Leading the struggle is tribal activist Dayamani Barla who successfully steered the five-year agitation against Arcelor Mittal and set an example of emerging tribal strength against capitalist forces. What added to the people’s anger was the abduction and subsequent murder of fellow villager Vijay Dhaan in the course of the protest.
“Sarna sake abua, dam da kabua.
Ote hasa abua, dam da kabua.
Gada doda abua, dam da kabua.”
(“Forest, land, religious places are all ours; we do not want water from the dam.
Rivers, streams and fountains are all ours; we do not want water from the dam.”)
Cries like these reverberated outside the Karra block office as the villagers displayed their strength and unity against moves to displace them.
Barla says: “A dam is proposed to come up on our village land across the river and we do not know anything about it… they simply sneak into our ancestral land without even thinking that it is necessary to inform us, let alone discuss the issue with us.” What’s worse, she adds, the villagers have no information about the detailed project report (DPR) on the quantum of land required, capacity of the dam, or anything related to it.
Peter Horo and Prem Prakash Horo from Ghorpenda village, in Khunti, explain that according to information received the dam is to be constructed by M/S Triveni Engicons Private Limited, Jamshedpur, under the aegis of the State Water Resources Department. “We were completely caught unawares when a group of outsiders were seen entering Jabra village and performing a bhumi pujan near the river on December 10. The following day they came with some machines; they began work on December 12,” say Sunil Munda and Lugunu Munda from Jhone village.
People’s protests led to the abduction of Vijay Dhaan on December 13. He was later found murdered. The police arrested two villagers and detained them for five days on the pretext of interrogating them.
Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kumar and SDO Parmeshwar Bhagat claimed ignorance about the project. “We are in the dark. Nobody has ever told us anything about it,” they say. Later, when villagers gheraoed the circle and block office, BDO Meghna Ruby Kachchap and CO Kamlakant Gupta expressed similar views. Gupta pointed out that in 2008 officers from the State Water Resources Department had visited the site, taken land measurements and apparently discussed a few things with local villagers in Jabra. “I am not aware of what happened after that,” said Kachchap, adding that she was astonished at how such a situation could have arisen.
Barla asserts that there is a formal and official procedure for land acquisition. “The plot numbers and other relevant details are first submitted to the circle officer, prior to the acquisition process. The circle officer is informed before even an inch of land is acquired. But here nobody in the district administration seems to have a clue about anything. How can it be that somebody just walks in and snatches away our land?”
The Fifth Schedule of Article 244 of the Indian Constitution provides protection to adivasis (tribals) in areas where they dominate. These are known as ‘scheduled areas’ in the Constitution. Spanning nine states of India, the Fifth Schedule acts as a safeguard against alienation from tribal lands and natural resources. Both Gumla and Khunti districts in Jharkhand are dominated by Munda tribals.
With the enactment of the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act in 1996, traditional community rights of tribals over local natural resources are recognised and the validity of customary law, social and religious practices and traditional management practices of community resources accepted. Wide-ranging powers are provided to village committees (gaon sabhas) in this regard.
In addition, certain areas of Jharkhand inhabited by Munda tribals are also protected by the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 (CNTA) enacted by the British. The Act acknowledges traditional rights over land, forest and waterbodies in tribal villages. It renders them special status and tenancy rights. Section 46 of the CNTA clearly states that lands hosting natural resources and common village land are owned by the community and cannot be touched without the consent of the gaon sabha. According to the Act, no non-tribal or outsider can purchase land belonging to tribals in these regions. Deals can only be made between two tribals; that too, they must reside in the same block.
“For any tribal community, land is not an asset to be sold. It is their heritage. They are neither masters nor its owners… but its protectors for the next generations,” say Ranjan Sanga and Barnabas Horo from Ludru village. The government and corporate houses are totally ignorant about the concept of subsistence economy in a tribal society that is rooted in agriculture and forest produce.
“Natural resources to us are not merely a means of livelihood. It has been a symbol of our identity, dignity, autonomy and culture for generations. For instance, the place of our worship, or sarna sthal, consists of groves of trees that we consider sacred. Or sasandari, the site in our village that bears stones erected in memory of the ancestors of our clan. Is it possible to rehabilitate or compensate such land,” ask Yakub Horo and Manuel Pradhan of Suari village.
These communities will not survive if they are alienated from their native land and natural resources. Apart from the massive displacement, the project will destroy the village forests along with water sources and ecosystems, putting the whole environment and source of sustenance for local tribes at risk, they add.
Throwing light on the current R&R (resettlement and rehabilitation) policy, Dayamani Barla explains that it contradicts the Chhotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Act which state that agricultural land cannot be transferred for industrial purposes. Areas in the Fifth and Sixth Schedule were given special powers. What happened to these laws? They were never implemented. Public sector undertakings and projects like the Bokaro steel plant, built in 1956, HEC in 1966-67, Chandil dam in 1986, and UCL in Jamshedpur were touted as symbols of a welfare state. When land was acquired for these plants, each project had an R&R policy that promised jobs, ideal rehabilitation, education and training to displaced families. What happened? Officials, the local mafia and contractors were the only ones who benefited; the displaced became paupers and beggars.
Meanwhile, the villagers have submitted a memorandum to the district administration against the state government’s recent moves. Protesting against the government’s “arbitrary highhandedness,” they express concern saying that instances like these are not limited to Karra block but are prevalent across the state. If such injustices are allowed against the state’s tribals and farmers, “then we will lose our rights and our very existence will be annihilated from tribal soil,” they say. The villagers state firmly in the memorandum that they will not part with any land for the proposed dam. “We will not allow our land to get drowned under any circumstances,” the memorandum says. They have also demanded ex-gratia payment of Rs 15 lakh from Triveni Engicons, a government job for Vijay Dhaan’s widow and free education up to the matriculate level for his two children.
(Kalpita Dutta is an independent journalist based in Delhi)
Infochange News & Features, February 2011