An epilogue: Adivasis' Tryst with the Naxalites

(Excerpts from ACHR's report, The Adivasis of Chhattisgarh:
Victims of the Naxalite Movement and Salwa Judum Campaign,
17 March 2006)

The analysis of the crisis in Dantewada from the perspectives of the Naxalites' movement for a communist republic and Salwa Judum campaign is a simplistic one that does not address the root causes. The Adivasis do not necessarily share the Naxalites' dream of surrounding “Delhi one day with Red Army” [1] but their tryst with the Naxalites must be analysed in proper perspectives.

In the 1960s the Naxalites movement garnered support among the urban middle classes in general and the intelligentsia. However, since its uprising in 1980s in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere, the Naxalite movement acquired a predominantly rural or Adivasi character where lower castes and Adivasis form the core of its support base. [2]

The history of displacement of “nearly 85.39 lakh tribals from 1950 to 1990 on account of some mega project or the other, reservation of forests as National Parks etc” explains the Adivasis' tryst with the Naxalites. The Adivasis have been disproportionate victims of development in India. The Scheduled Tribes who constitute 8.1 per cent of the total population of India according to the 2001 census constitute at least 55.16 percent of the total displaced people in the country, according to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs of the government of India. [3]

The rehabilitation of those displaced Adivasis has been dismal and shocking. The Tenth Plan of the government of India stated that “a population of 21.3 million have been displaced between 1951 and 1990 in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa. Of whom, 8.54 million (40 per cent) are tribals and of those only 2.12 million (24.8 per cent) tribals could be resettled, so far.”

The apathy and atrocities by the forest department officials, police personnel and civil administration officials in cohorts with the timber mafia, money lenders, contractors and well-known industrial houses of the country to circumvent and violate the constitutional guarantees to evict the Adivasis pushed them towards the Naxalites.

a. The role of the forest officials for strengthening the Naxalites

From time immemorial, Adivasis lived in forests and their relationship with forest is what water is for life. But little has been done to recognize their symbiotic relationship with nature.

When the Forest Act of 1927 was enforced, the Adivasis were considered as trespassers - guilty of encroachment in their own habitats. Their presence in the forest has been challenged, their relationship with the forest has been questioned and their existence made synonymous to criminality by declaring them encroachers of the forests where they have lived in and cared for ages before the British came.  The Forest Act remained in force until 1980 and Adivasis continued to suffer under the colonial instrument.

In 1980, the government of India introduced the Forest Conservation Act and set 25 October 1980 as the cut off date for recognising the rights of the Adivasis and other forest dwellers. It failed to address historical injustices perpetrated by the British under the 1927 Forest Act. Rather, millions of Adivasis suddenly found themselves as encroachers and therefore liable for eviction on the mid-night of 24 October 1980. The National Commission on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe noted that in Madhya Pradesh alone, 1.48 lakh persons, mainly tribals, occupying 1.81 lakh hectares of lands in forest areas suddenly became encroachers from 25 October 1980. [4]

The differentiation between the pre-1980 and post-1980 encroachments was quite immaterial at the ground level. The Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in his foreword note to “Resolution of conflicts Concerning Forests Lands - Adoption of a Frame by the Government of India” at para 39 on page 9 lucidly explained: “If the claims of the tribal people are to be determined on the basis of the record of the forest department or at best, record of other government departments, his claim is as good as lost. It is the fact of possession, of law, its cultivation and actual reclamation, in some cases by his ancestors which is the common knowledge of the village which is the basis of his claim. These facts may or may not have been brought on record. The reasons for this dissonance are many. For example, the official may not have visited the area or may have preferred not to take note of the cultivation, or may not have bothered to bring it on record and such like. They are of no concern to the tribal people. They cannot be expected to know what is there in government records. In these circumstances if the records are to be insisted upon, the disputes about land can never be expected to be resolved”. [5]

Yet, even the revenue villages that qualified for regularisation under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 were not regularized. The State governments and Central government sat over the regularisation processes. The regularization became a vote bank issue.

On 23 November 2002, the Supreme Court delivered its judgement in the case of Godavarman Thirumalpad vs Union of India in Interlocutory Application No.703 in Writ Petition No. 202/95. The Supreme Court order banned all applications for regularisation of revenue villages including those which qualified under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980.

In order to circumvent the Supreme Court judgement, the present United Progressive Alliance government introduced the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2005. The Bill once again recognizes the forest rights based on the cut off date of 25 October 1980 as provided in the Forest Conservation Act. Since the rights of those Adivasis have already been recognized, they are effectively being forced to fight twice for the same right given under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980.

The Adivasis have always been harassed by the forest department officials. On 11 October 2004, the State government of Orissa reportedly directed the Forest Department to withdraw all 11,424 minor cases involving forest produce of less than Rs 100. [6] In a country infamous for judicial delay and Forester Raj, the implications of thousands of cases filed under the Forest Conservation Act are imaginable. Tribals are often harassed in petty forest offences while the timber mafia continues its business with virtual impunity.

If Forest Department prepares a report similar to the one prepared by National Crime Record Bureau and desegregates the data, the intensity and patterns of violations of the rights of tribals will come up.

The forest department officials in collusion with timber mafia play a central role to drive the Adivasis towards the Naxalites.

b. Police atrocities: The Nagarnar experience of Bastar

The atrocities by the law enforcement personnel have also been responsible for driving the Adivasis towards the Naxalites. The tales of atrocities by the police and other law enforcement personnel on the hapless Adivasis can be found in majority tribal villages across the country.

In May 2001, government of India's National Mineral Development Cooperation (NMDC) decided to establish a steel plant at Nagarnar under Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. The lands of the Adivasis were appropriated even without following widely condemned Land Acquisition Act of 1871. Finding no justice, the Adivasis approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. [7]

The National Commission for the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes on the basis of an inquiry conducted reportedly concluded that the acquisition process violated the provisions of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Therefore, it was declared ab initio null and void. The National Commission also held that senior officials, including the Collector and Chief Executive officer, were involved in a conspiracy and indulged in certain criminal offences, such as destruction of Public records and fabrication of false records. Further, the National guidelines for establishment of industries in Scheduled areas (1974) had not been followed. The National Commission for SCs and STs advised the State Government and NMDC to restart the process, honouring the spirit of the constitution and legal provision and advised them to take action against the concerned officials. [8]  

The four concerned Gram Sabhas (village councils) affected by the project held a joint assembly from 2-3 March 2002 to which the relevant state officials of NMDC were also invited. The joint assembly of Gram Sabhas in their resolution stated that they were not opposed to the establishment of the steel plant. However, the guidlines must be followed and complete rehabilitation packages, including “land for land” as provided under the Fifth Schedule should be prepared for all those directly and indirectly affected in the likely zone of influence. It was also resolved that the agreement must provide safeguards against privatisation (as in the Balco case) in the form of shareholding for the community. The local officers conveyed to the people that all but two of their demands were acceptable. [9]  

The administration seized the lands of the Adivasis forcibly. On 8 March 2002, those Adivasis who had not accepted compensation cheques were ordered to take them immediately. On 10 March 2002, hundreds of policemen descended on Nagarnar while the senior officials lodged themselves in the police station. The police started beating the villagers who were sitting at Nagarnar indiscriminately. As the news spread, the womenfolk came to protest. The police lathi-charged them, arrested many and sent them to Jagdalpur prison. [10]  

The police conducted similar operations at Amaguda and Kasturi where doors were broken open, women and children were beaten up and 169 Adivasis were arrested and taken to jail. [11]  

About 300 villagers, mostly women, were arrested among others under Section No. 307 and Section 506 of the Indian Penal Code and put in Jagdalpur jail. Some women were reportedly in advanced stage of pregnancy. [12]  

The lands of the Adivasis were finally taken over by the NMDC and the foundation stone for the project was laid. The Adivasis have been dispossessed and in the last four years, there has been no development. Contrary to the NMDC's promise, neither schools nor hospitals have come up in the area. [13]  

“The government had made a commitment to give Rs 5 lakh a year to the nagar panchayat of Nagarnar, but not a single paisa reached us so far,” stated Laikan Vaghel, an affected Adivasi villager. [14]

Atrocities by the local police have also forced the tribals to approach the Naxalites. [15]  

c. Industrial houses and the Naxalites 

Often atrocities by the forest officials or the police personnel have been  perpetrated at the behest of either timber mafia and money lenders or at the behest of State or industrial houses of the country to displace the Adivasis for industrial activities. The Adivasis were never properly rehabilitated and they have always been cheated. 

The Kalinga Nagar killings in Orissa on 2 January 2006 bought into focus the lack of rehabilitation which has characterised the industrialization of the country. Four of the 12 industries to be set up at Kalinga Nagar - Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited, Visa Steel, Mesco Steel and Jindal Steel - have started operation. From 87 families evicted for setting up Mesco steel plant, only five persons got jobs. In Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited, only 53 persons out of 634 displaced families found employment. Out of the 430 families displaced to make way for Visa Steel, only 42 persons got jobs. [16]  

Most of the private lands for these industries in Kalinganagar were acquired in 1993. Out of the total 13,000 acres acquired, 6,895 acres were private and the rest was from the government. The Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, a nodal government agency entrusted with the task of land acquisition, paid Rs 35,000 per acre to Adivasis through the collector, Jajpur. The state government sold the land to the companies at Rs 3.35 lakh per acre. After revising the compensation packages in November 2005, the state government decided to pay additional Rs 15,000 per acre to the displaced Adivasis. But, in many instances, the money did not reach the right persons. [17]  

The Chhattisgarh government has reportedly signed Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) for an investment of Rs 17,000 crores (US$ 3.8 billion) in Bastar region for the proposed Tata and Essar Steel plants.134 The Tatas plan to establish a Rs 10,000- crore steel plant at Lohariguda. It has proposed to acquire land in 10 villages which would uproot at least 250 families. The effected Adivasis have been assured of a house site of 3,000 sqft for each family, water and road connectivity and compensation between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh per acre. [18] However past experiences evoke little confidence.

The industrial houses have been responsible for pushing the Adivasis towards the Naxalites. Cynics allege that a Naxalite movement serves the purpose of the industrial houses as it silences any dissent in the name of countering terror. 

Cynics are also sometimes correct. The Chhattisgarh Special Public Safety Bill of 2005, which has been sent for signature by the President, is an introduction to an authoritarian state in the largest democratic country in the world.