Salwa Judum & tale of 644 deserted villages

Tribals in 644 deserted villages in Chhattisgarh don't exist, at least on paper. These villages don't have citizens and hence there is no National RuralEmployment Guarantee scheme for them or any health services or cheap rations.

These villages, located in the state's Dantewada district, have been allegedlyevacuated by the government-backed private army Salwa Judum. All villagers are supposed to be "well settled" now in 20 relief camps.But testimonials by tribals from the district and also footage from a filmmade for Channel 4 of the BBC prove otherwise. People still live in thesedeserted villages, where almost all houses have been burnt by the invading SalwaJudum mob armies. They hide in the jungles most of the day and come back now andthen.

Tribals question the government figure of 50,000 people lodged in 20 reliefcamps. Are they the whole population of 644 villages, asks Lingoo Markam, a wardpanchayat member from Balood panchayat of Dantewada block."If the entire population of the 1,354 villages in the district is seven lakh,how can 644 villages have only 50,000 residents," he asks, adding that nearlytwo lakh people are on the run.

Many are hiding in the forests, while many have fled to neighbouring AndhraPradesh.Manish Kunjam, a former Communist Party of India legislator from Dantewada,agrees that half the tribals in the villages attacked by Salwa Judum have fledto Andhra Pradesh. He says that he organised a rally in Cherla in Andhra Pradeshin which tribals who had fled from Dantewada were present in thousands. Theywere demanding an end to Salwa Judum terror.

The BBC film Unreported World shows a few families taking shelter in the onlysurviving house in a village. One of the tribal had his back mawed by a bear. Hewas in pain. The villagers come and look after him in that house saying that allthe other houses have been burnt. They could not go to a doctor, as they wouldbe caught by the Salwa Judum and killed on the way.Shubrangshu Kumar, who assisted in the making of the film, says that the crewhad no means to reach the deserted villages as they could be caught by the SalwaJudum. So they walked three days taking the jungle route, assisted by two tribal boys from the village they met in a Raipur hostel.What do people in these deserted villages eat? Do they cultivate their lands?Chomuru had left Salwa Judum a few days after he was forced to join it. He says about his own village of Bechapal, which was raided and officially evacuated:"We survive on the burnt rice left in the village. We spend our time in theforests and eat whatever is available there."Himanshu Kumar, activist of the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram in Dantewada, says thatthe tribal areas are now split into three.

There are 644 villages, which havebeen evacuated while the remaining 600-odd villages are being targeted forevacuation. This is the enemy zone as far as Salwa Judum is concerned. Theirgoal is to capture these and burn the houses.The third zone is the Naxal-dominated areas where, of course, no one enters.So, in all the three zones, health, education and employment generation is nil.Worse still, people can't move in and out for fear of being killed.

Chattisgarh Home Minister Ramvichar Netam agrees: "The representatives of thegovernment cannot go to the villages following Naxal threats. The rebels havedestroyed the schools, government buildings and are terrorising the teachers anddoctors. How can the government provide relief when Naxals are not allowing us to enter?"He added that even the roads had been damaged to cut off the villages.

Netam acknowledged the fact that all the 644 villages are not deserted. Thereare many villages which house 20 to 30 families.According to Dantewada collector K R Pisda, not a single village is completelydeserted.Only those who fear Naxals have taken shelter in the camps, while the othersare still staying in the villages.

The 644 villages are not the ones that are abandoned. These are the villages where the Salwa Judum campaign has reached,Pisda clarifies."Most of the villagers, who had earlier fled, have returned to the villages andthose who have gone to the neighbouring states are part of the tradition as theygo there every year for work," Pisda explained.

Himanshu Kumar, however, contested this: "If the villages are not abandoned,then why the government has shifted schools to the camps and pulled out otherfacilities?

"Dharmo Rakshati RakshataIf you protect Dharma, Dharma will in turn protect you

Source:cgnet.in