SALWA JUDUM: INDIA"S BIGGEST FARCE

SALWA JUDUM: UNREPORTED INDIA’S HIDDEN WAR

By Mr. Madhu ChandraHuman Rights Activist

Have you heard about Salwa Judum - India’s hidden war in tribal dominatedarea of central Indian state Chhattisgarh? I am sorry! I haven’t until Iattended at a People’s Convention at Hindi Bhavan, New Delhi organized by Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chhattisgarh (CPJC)!

Sociologists, activists and scholars have condemned Salwa Judum as Statemachinery’s license to its people to kill its own people in the name ofcounterfeit encountering Red Corridors.Can you believe it happens in central part of this vast country, known andproud of being world’s largest democratic nation!

Indian Medias of both printand electronic are known of their capability to unearth but it seems they arenaïve on India’s hidden war against tribal communities of Chhattisgarh thatmakes India’s hidden war still hidden from nation’s eyes and ears.

CNN IBN in 2006 March warned the nation provoking the Home Ministry byexposing the Red Corridor of Naxals (Maoists) in tribal dominated areas ofBihar, West Bengal, Jharkhan, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

A documentary film “India’s Hidden War” produced by reporter Sandra Jordan and Director James Brabazon was screened and left its images of deep wound and violation against the innocent tribal communities of Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh who used to live peacefully in their own world.Sandra and James traveled deep into the Indian jungle to expose how India’saspirations for a superpower economy are resulting in an increasingly bloody civil war. Government funded militias are battling red guerrillas of Naxal forcontrol of India’s mineral resources. Hundreds of thousands of tribal villagersare caught in the crossfire between Red Corridors and Salwa Judum.

(Picture:Salwa Judum Camp)Salwa Judum in Gondi term means a peace campaign merged by capitalists,traders, land owners and elites to fight against Naxalites from mid 2005, oftensupported by state machineries, state police forces and politicians. Ever sinceSalwa Judum merged, the lives of people, particularly Dantewada district ofChhattisgarh, where 90% of its habitants are tribal communities, becameturmoil.

According to CPJC, the leaders of Salwa Judum have empowered sections oftribal communities with bows and arrows, swords, axes and arms, marched fromvillage to villages to ethnic cleanse from Naxalites. Villagers who refuse tojoin Salwa Judum have been treated as members or pro-Naxalites.

Tribalvillagers are forced to relief camps run by Salwa Judum and those who refusedwere severely beaten even murdered by Salwa Judum activist with support statepolice forces and Naga Regiments.

[1]Salwa Judum leadership composes from top political leaders of BharatiyaJanata Party and Congress. They appoint the Camp leaders, mostly fromnon-tribal communities. Under political leaders and non-tribal camp leaders,recruits the hot blood youngsters with indoctrinations of hate campaign intoState Police Officers, who are trained and paid by Government machineries tojoin hands with ordinary innocent tribal villagers to loot, burn and rape inthe name of retaliating Naxalites.

Salwa Judum, Naxalites and Security Forces have killed over 500 lives eversince the merge of Salwa Judum in Dantewada district alone. Violation againstwomen includes the gang rap, custodial rape, mutilation of private parts,murder, continuous sexual abuse in villages, police stations and even so calledrelief camp of Salwa Judum.

The lowest 70,000 to maximum 100,000 Villagers are forced to internal displacement and migration to neighboring states of Orissa, Jharkhan and AndhraPradesh, who there suffer pathetic life situations.Government of Chhattisgarh has setup 20 Salwa Judum camps in Dantewada district where it is reported to have 47,500 villagers taken shelter.

The fact-finding team of CPJC reports that most of the relief camps face acute shortage of food, water and amenities. People are forced to live in extremely unsanitary conditions and did not allow tribal villagers to return back homes.In some of the relief camps, Government is trying to convert into permanentvillages of which many villagers are worried that their villages and cultivation lands with rich mineral resources would be one day turn into the clutches of capitalists, traders and elites to convert into mineral factories.

Challenging the constitution validity of Salwa Judum, the Supreme Court ofIndia issued notice to Chhattisgarh government in May 2007 to stop Salwa Judumcommitting atrocities in the pretext of countering the Naxalite movement andurged to order impartial enquiry into atrocities committed by this group.

[2]The state machinery’s crime against its own people has been desperately kepthidden to the nation and world. The victims testified in People’s Conventionthat state machineries intentionally didn’t allow Medias to come and report onIndia’s hidden war of Salwa Judum.Deep in India’s central jungle, weaker section of India’s tribal societieswho already suffered socio-economic and educational backwardness, remainsunheard of their man made and state sponsored crime on humanity.

The People’s Convention demands from Chhattisgarh Government

1. Disband and disarm Salwa Judum immediately.

2. Stop appointing Special Police Officers

.3. Stop Recruiting children and adolescents below 18 years of age.

4. Allow tribal communities to return to their villages.

5. Government to rebuild burnt and broken homes.

6. Stop harassment and allow free access to journalists, civil societyorganization, and medical camp and education workers.

7. Repeal the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005

8. Create a conductive atmosphere for dialogue to find politicalresolution to political issues.

9. Stop arrest, detention and false implication of Human RightsActivists, Social Workers etc. and release all such persons.

The People’s Convention demands from Government of India1. Stop aiding and abetting Salwa Judum in the name of promoting “localresistance groups.”

2. Institute a high level independent enquiry into all acts ofviolence-rape, arson, loot, murder and disappearances by Salwa Judum andparamilitary forces and initiate criminal proceedings.

3. Recognize the right to live and dignities of internally displacepeople living outside Chhattisgarh and ensure their safety.

4. Create a conductive atmosphere for dialogue to find politicalresolution to political issues.

People’s Convention demands from Naxalite

1. Stop all forms of violence

2. Create a conductive atmosphere for dialogue to find politicalresolution to political issues.

3. Stop recruiting children and adolescents below 18 years of age

4. Allow safe return of villagers to their home including Salwa Judumsupporters.

images courtesy: http://cpjc.wordpress.com/tag/photographs/
source:cgnet.in

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE POLICE CHIEF

विश्वरंजन जी को खुला पत्र
आदरणीय विश्वरंजन जी,

पिछले हफ्तों इस अखबार में कई किश्तों में छपा आपका लम्बा साक्षात्कार पढा । यह पढकर अच्छा लगा कि आप स्वयं उदाहरण प्रस्तुत कर पुलिस बल में सुधार लाना चाहते हैं । आपकी नक्सलवाद के बारे में समझ के बारे में पढकर और भी अच्छा लगा ।
इन्हीं सब कारणों से आज मैं यह पत्र लिखने का साहस कर पा रहा हूं जिसमें मैं छत्तीसगढ पुलिस से अपने कुछ अनुभवों के बारे में लिखना चाहूंगा ।
सबसे पहले जब मैं दंतेवाडा गया तो बीबीसी की हमारी टीम छत्तीसगढ आर्म्ड फोर्सेज़ के साथ कुछ समय बिताना चाहती थी । जॉन लोंगकुमेर जी उस समय बस्तर में पुलिस के प्रमुख थे । उन्होंने भांसी थाने में हमारे लिए एक विशेष दस्ता भेजा जिसका नेतृत्व एक डीएसपी कर रहे थे । उनमें से अधिकतर जवान मिज़ोरम के वारेंगटे के जंगल वारफेयर कॉलेज से प्रशिक्षित थे ।

उस दल में दिलीप नाम का एक लडका था, वह आदिवासी था । उसने मुझसे कहा “ये जो सामने पहाड देख रहे हो, ये सब नक्सलियों से भरे हैं । मुझे 7 साल का अनुभव है जब भी हम वहां जाते हैं पक्का उनसे मुकाबला होता है”।

मैंने पूछा “तुम्हारी उम्र कितनी है” । उसने बताया 21 । और तुम पुलिस में कब से काम कर रहे हो ? “पिछले 7 साल से” ।

ये कैसे हो सकता है? मुझे ताज्जुब हुआ । मैंने साथ चल रहे डीएसपी से पूछा तो उन्होंने कहा “दिलीप सही कह रहा है । छत्तीसगढ पुलिस में बाल पुलिस भर्ती करने का विशेष प्रावधान है” ।

मैंने कहा जो पुलिस कर्मचारी मारे जाते हैं उनके नाबालिग बेटे- बेटियों को पुलिस में भर्ती किया जाता है । इस कानून के बारे में तो मुझे पता है पर दिलीप के पिता तो पुलिस में नहीं थे ।

अपनी शूटिंग खत्म करने के बाद जब मैंने दिलीप से बात करना शुरु किया तो उसकी कहानी और भी रोचक थी ।

उसने बताया जब वह कक्षा पांचवीं में पढता था तब नक्सली उसे अपने साथ ले गये थे।
“मैं उनके साथ ही रहने लगा । मैं उन्हीं के साथ घूमता था, उनकी नाट्य मंडली में नाचता था । पर उनके साथ कुछ साल रहते समय मैंने देखा कि ये लोग पैसे को लेकर आपस में एक दूसरे को मारते हैं, आदिवासी लडकियों का बलात्कार करते हैं, मुझे उन से घिन हो गई । फिर एक दिन मैंने पुलिस में सरेण्डर कर दिया । पहले मुझे थोडे दिन बाल कारागृह में रखा गया उसके बाद से पिछले 7 साल से मैं पुलिस के विशेष नक्सल विरोधी दस्ते में काम करता हूं”!
वापस लौटकर मुझे कोई कानून नहीं मिला जिसकी डीएसपी साहब बात कर रहे थे ।

उसके बाद सरगुजा के सामरी थाने में मेरी धीरज जायसवाल से मुलाकात हुई । उसने बताया “मेरा पुलिस से कोई संबंध नहीं है पर मैं सामरी पुलिस थाने का प्रमुख हूं । मुझे पुलिस से कोई तनख्वाह नहीं मिलती, एसपी साहब जो उचित समझते हैं दे देते हैं और
यद्यपि मैं सबको अपनी उम्र 22 साल बताता हूं पर मेरी उम्र 18 है और मैं पिछले एक साल से इस थाने का प्रमुख हूं” ।

दिलीप की तरह वह भी पहले नक्सलियों के साथ था और अब उनसे घृणा करता है । “जब मैंने सरेण्डर किया तब मुझे पहले बाल बन्दी गृह में रखा गया पर थोडे दिन बाद से मैं नक्सलियों के खिलाफ होने वाले स्पेशल ऑपरेशन में शामिल होने लगा” ।
इन बच्चों की तरह आजकल छत्तीसगढ पुलिस ने बस्तर की आम जनता को नक्सलियों के खिलाफ युद्ध में झोंका हुआ है ।

मुझे यह पढकर आश्चर्य हुआ जो आप साक्षात्कार में कई बार कहते हैं “आप सलवा जुडुम की तरह का कोई भी उदाहरण दुनिया में मुझे दिखा दीजिये” ।

आप टीवी खोलिये बीबीसी पर रोज़ आपको सूडान की सिविल मिलिशिया जंजावीद की कोई ने कोई खबर मिल जाएगी जिसने दार्फूर में कहर बरपाया हुआ है । सूडान की सरकार भी इस बात से इंकार करती है कि जंजावीद के पीछे उनका कोई योगदान है।

पिच्हले एक महीने का अखबार उठाकर देखें तो संयुक्त राष्ट्र की विशेष अदालत ने सिएरा लिओन की सिविल मिलिशिया कामाजोर के 5 नेताओं को उन्ही सब अपराधों का दोषी पाकर उम्र कैद दिया है जिस तरह के आरोप आज सलवा जुडुम पर लग रहे हैं ।

याद करने बैठें तो पडोस के इंडोनेशिया के महीदी, कांगो के निंजास और पेरु के रोंडेरोस मिलिशिया के नाम तो तुरत याद आते हैं । वेनेज़ुएला में तो सिविल मिलिशिया में 20 लाख लोगों के शामिल होने का दावा किया जा रहा है । मेरे मित्र याद दिलाते हैं कि रवांडा के मायी मायी और कोलंबिया के रैचर्स को क्यों भूल जाते हो।

यद्यपि कोई भी दो घटनाएं बिल्कुल एक जैसी तो नहीं होतीं पर मुझे मैक्सिको की भी याद आती है जहां सरकार ने आदिवासियों को मारने के लिये कमांडेंट मार्कोस के नेतृत्व में शहरी लोगों की मिलिशिया बनाई थी । सेना सडकों की सुरक्षा करती थी और सलवा जुडुम की ही तरह मिलिशिया जंगल के अंदर जाकर गांव के गांव जलाती थी ।
सलवा जुडुम की ही तरह सिएरा लिओन में भी कुछ लोग कामाजोर को आदर्शवादी लडाकू मानते हैं । पर संयुक्त राष्ट्र की विशेष अदालत ने अपने फैसले में पिछले ही महीने कहा कि मानव अधिकारों के जघन्य हनन के अपराधियों को सज़ा तो मिलनी ही चाहिये चाहे उन्होंने वे अपराध किसी भी आदर्श के लिये किए हों ।
हां एक खास फर्क सलवा जुडुम और इन उदाहरणों में नज़र आता है वह यह कि बाकी सारे प्रयोग गैर लोकतंत्र वाले देशों में हुआ और इनमें से अधिकतर देशों में प्रेस आज़ाद नहीं था । और एक खास समानता कि इन सारी जगहों पर बस्तर की ही तरह जंगल और खनिज की बहुलता है ।

हर जगह यह बताया गया कि सिविल मिलिशिया को शुरु करना तो आसान है लेकिन बाद में उस पर काबू रखना मुश्किल होता है और वे अक्सर उस समस्या से भी बडी समस्या साबित होते हैं जिनसे लडने के लिये उन्हे खडा किया जाता है ।

जहां तक मुझे समझ में आया साक्षात्कार में आप यह कहना चाह रहे हैं कि नक्सलियों को सलवा जुडुम से तगडी चुनौती मिली है । आप कहते हैं कि नक्सली नेताओं ने कहा है कि सलवा जुडुम के कारण उनके 500 से अधिक लोग मारे गए हैं ।

पर उन्हीं नक्सली नेताओं ने यह बयान भी दिया है कि सलवा जुडुम के कारण पिछले दो सालों में इतने लोग उनके साथ जुडे हैं जितने पिछले 20 सालों में नहीं जुडे थे ।
हमारी समझ है कि जिन 644 गांवों के लोग सलवा जुडुम में “शामिल” हुए हैं उनकी आबादी लगभग 3.5 लाख है और सरकारी आंकडों के अनुसार यदि 50 ह्ज़ार लोग भी कैम्प में हैं तो इन दो सालों में बाकी 3 लाख लोग नक्सलियों के और करीब जाने को मज़बूर हुए हैं ।

मैं आंतरिक युद्ध विषय पर विशेषज्ञ नहीं हूं पर मुझ जैसे पत्रकारों को भी पता है कि सलवा जुडुम जैसे प्रयोगों को मिलिट्री की भाषा में स्ट्रैटेजिक हैमलेटिंग कहते हैं और ऐसे प्रयोग वियतनाम, मलेशिया, पेरु सहित भारत के उत्तर पूर्व में भी किए जा चुके हैं, भारी असफलता के साथ ।

इसके बाद अब छत्तीसगढ पुलिस “4 कट स्ट्रैटेजी” की तरफ बढ रही है । इस रणनीति के तहत यह निश्चित किया जाता है कि गुरिल्ला को 4 चीज़ें : भोजन, धन, भर्ती के लिये नए लोग और सूचना की सप्लाई काट दी जाए । पडोसी बर्मा की सेना इसी रणनीति का उपयोग करती है ।

पर यदि आप सलवा जुडुम के शुरु होने के सरकारी कारणों पर नज़र डालें तो आप पाएंगे कि कहा जाता रहा है कि नक्सलियों ने तेंदू पत्ता तोडने पर रोक लगाई इसलिये लोगों ने सलवा जुडुम शुरु किया । और अगर अखबारों में छप रही खबरें सही हैं तो छत्तीसगढ में भी नई रणनीति के तहत अब तेंदूपत्ता व्यापार का सरकारीकरण कर उसी तरह की कोशिश की जा रही है ।

80 और 90 के दशक में तेंदूपत्ता व्यापारी नक्सलियों के धन के मुख्य स्रोत हुआ करते थे । पर अब जब बस्तर का “विकास” हो गया है और नक्सलियों को करोडों में चन्दा देने वाले लोग मौजूद हैं तब हज़ार रू का चन्दा रोकने से उनका क्या बिगडेगा समझ में नहीं आता ।
छत्तीसगढ पुलिस लगातार ऐसी नीतियों पर चलती नज़र आती है जिससे नक्सली को कोई नुकसान हो या न हो पर लोगों की तकलीफें ज़रूर बढी है । अपने दुश्मनों की तादाद बढाते चलना कौन सी रणनीति का हिस्सा है समझ में नहीं आया ।
आशा है आपके नेतृत्व में ये नीतियां बदलेंगी ।

आपका
शुभ्रांशु चौधरी
shu@cgnet.in

THE MAN WHO MOVED A MOUNTAIN.

Every morning for 22 long years, a frail diminutive man, clad in a loincloth would trudge two kilometres to a hillock of solid rock and chip away at it with a hammer and chisel.

Dasrath Manjhi was building a memorial to his wife Phaguni Devi.A poor man's Taj.Not for its esthetics but for its symbolising human power and spirit of endurance.

Dasrath eked out a living as a farm hand, toiling in the fields of local landlords on bare subsistance.One day,in the early 60's ,his wife Phaguni fell ill and Dasrath set off with her to the nearest hospital .She died on the way.If only there was no hillock blocking the road to the town,Dasraths wife would have made it to the hospital in time, and perhaps survived.

The villagers of Gelaur,in Bihar had to take a circuitous route and travel 19km. to Wazirganj, the nearest district town. It was because of the massive 360ft. long, 25ft. high and 30 ft. wide rock that came in the way of the shortest possible route between the village and the town.

Dasrath decided to alter the topography with a chisel and hammer to cut through the rock.After 22 yrs. of hard work he finished in mid 80's.The mountain had yeilded to man!

The Nitish ministry has promised to make a pucca road to connect the village with Wazirganj town, and a hospital in Gelaur itself.

The recognition that had been denied to Dasrath during his lifetime came after his death.After his death few days ago,the govt. brought his body to Gaya.Dasrath was given a state funeral in presence of dignitaries.

Dasrath Manjhi is remembered by everyone in his village as 'Dasrath Baba'.In caste ridden Bihar he would have never qualified for this title in normal circumstances, which only a Brahmin is entitled to.Dasrath was a Musahar, a caste which traditionally ranks among the lowest of the low.Musahars derive their caste name from thier unusual occupation- they dig through rat holes after harvest, and search for grains stored byt he bandicoots.(moos in local lingo) under the ground.When there is not enough grain they are known to hunt and eat bandicoots to keep hunger at bay.

This modest and selfless man is a fable for our times.An apt sobriquet for him as they know him in Gelaur, "The man who moved a mountain"

Source: Outlook dated 3 sep

WITHDRAW POLAVARAM DAM PROJECT:SAVE THE HABITAT OF THE KOYAS

Lokayan Bulletin 11:5, 1995 (pp 82 -86)
APPEAL
To Withdraw Polavaram Dam
We, the people of eight villages of Motu Tehsil (Malkangiri district, Orissa), Konta Tehsil (Bastar district, Madhya Pradesh) and Chintur Mandal (Khammam district, Andhra Pradesh), are writing this letter to, the Chief Secretary/ Chief Minister of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh.

We are Koitor (Koya, a scheduled tribe) people living on the banks of the Godavari and its tributaries - Sileru and Sabari. We have come to know that the AP government is planning to build a large dam across the Godavari river at Polavaram, and that the governments of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh have given consent to it. We have also learnt that the AP government is giving utmost importance to this project and that it is awaiting clearances from the Central Water Commission, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Ministry of Welfare, etc.

We are highly displeased that the three state governments have been pursuing this project in secrecy from us - a project that threatens to take away our lands, homes, trees, places of worship and to disintegrate our society.

We also believe that the AP government is trying to get all the clearances on the basis of false information. The information it is giving about displacement, the loss of assets, flora & fauna, and the opinion of the people in the submergence area are false. The project authorities are claiming the submergence of 250 settlements in three states. Actually, around 365 settlements would be affected. A recent study by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, made for the AP Irrigation Department, identified 276 settlements coming under submergence in AP alone. The claims of the benefits of the project are also shifting - first, it was primarily to irrigate lands in East & West Godavari districts which are relatively well irrigated, and now the AP government says that it is mainly for power generation.

We, the people of the region that is going to be submerged by the Polavaram project declare that we are not in favour of this dam and that we have never given our consent to it. We do not approve of this project for the following reasons:
1. The project which threatens to submerge about 350 settlements at 150 ft contour would disturb and destroy our habitat and our collective identity and life as Koya people. It would displace about two lakh people out of which the tribal population is around 1,25,000.

2. We, the Koya people, have been already affected adversely by several projects in the past. We have been subjected to severe pressures on our resources as well as dislocation by Dandakaranya Rehabilitation Project (Bangladeshi refugees), Machkund, Balimela project, Sileru Hydro - Electric project, etc. Any displacement or pressure on our habitat and resources would result in the disintegration of our tribe leading to the decimation of our culture and its people.

3. Our habitat is not a wasteland of poramboke as claimed by the Polavaram project authorities. We are not poor and primitive. We are being condemned to backwardness. We are peasants and we grow Jonna (sorghum), Makka jonna (maize), rice, mirch, tobacco, dal etc, of several varieties. We grow a variety of crops with bio-fertilisers and rain water. The crops we grow are not only free from poisonous chemicals, but also give good yields. We do not wish to allow the loss of livelihood and fertile lands.

4. We are people of the forest and nature. Forests are the abode of sacred spirits. They are the source and part of our economy- our daily food, agriculture, livestock, housing, implements; our belief system and worship; our song and dance; and our life world.
Our practices, lifestyles and beliefs protect nature and are shaped by it. We have festivals for the produce of all plants - Chikkudu pandum, Pacha pandum, Ippa pandum, Bhoomi pandum. We consume vegetables, cereals, pulses, mohua and several other things only after conserving the same for the next season.
We do not like to lose our life dependent on nature for one based on and dictated by money.

5. We do not approve of the project also because it has violated our right to decide how we like to live. Projects that affect life and the future of our children and the tribe as a whole cannot be decided by anybody other than us. That some governments attempt to do so is a violation of our fundamental right and we reject such acts.

6. We also declare that it is highly improper for any government to keep this project a secret from the people it affects and not to take our opinion and consent. It is not ethical, moral, and constitutional. This is more so in the light of: 1. The Draft National Policy on Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons as a Consequence of Land Acquisition prepared by the Ministry of Rural Development and submitted to the Cabinet, and, 2. The Dilip Sing Bhuria Commission (constituted by the Government of India) on draft legislation for tribals areas harmonising the provisions of the 5, 6, 11 and 12 Schedules of the Constitution. Both suggest a participatory and democratic mode of decision making about any project on the basis of full knowledge of the project.

7. Our settlements are on the banks of the Godavari and its tributaries. We do not have water for irrigation. We do not have safe drinking water supply. Many of our villages do not have electrification. Our children do not have schools to get primary education. Schools, if there are, do not function. Many of the irrigation schemes proposed for our lands have not been taken up at all. Those taken up have not been completed (i.e., Potteru canal, lift irrigation schemes in Motu & Konta areas, etc.)
We request the State Governments to provide us with basic amenities of safe drinking water, roads, health facilities, lift irrigation for our fields without further delay.

8. We request the State Governments and other bodies related to the developmental activities in our region and/ or Polavaram project to consider our appeal favourably and help us preserve our culture, identity, collective life and help us prosper without displacement.
1. Mrs. Sode Bayamma, Sarpanch, Motu, Malkangiri Dt., Orissa


This Appeal vas drafted and approved on March 18, 1995 at a regional meeting held at Motu village, Malkangiri district. It was translated by Bharath Bhushan.
For further details of the campaign against displacement and the Polavaram Dam, contact:
R Shanta Rao, Chatti, Chintur Mandal, Khamman-507126; M. Bharath Bhushan, Kranthi Dhamam, Rahmath Nagar, Hyderabad – 500045

The forests of India are a critical resource for the subsistence of rural peoples throughout the country, but especially in hill and mountain areas, both because of their direct provision of food, fuel and fodder and because of their role in stabilising soil and water resources.

As these forests have been increasingly felled for commerce and industry, Indian villagers have sought to protect their livelihoods through the Gandhian method of satyagraha non-violent resistence. In the 1970s and 1980s this resistance to the destruction of forests spread throughout India and became organised and known as the Chipko Movement.

The first Chipko action took place spontaneously in April 1973 and over the next five years spread to many districts of the Himalaya in Uttar Pradesh. The name of the movement comes from a word meaning 'embrace': the villagers hug the trees, saving them by interposing their bodies between them and the contractors' axes. The Chipko protests in Uttar Pradesh achieved a major victory in 1980 with a 15-year ban on green felling in the Himalayan forests of that state by order of India's then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

Since then the movement has spread to Himachal Pradesh in the North, Kamataka in the South, Rajasthan in the West, Bihar in the East and to the Vindhyas in Central India. In addition to the 15-year ban in Uttar Pradesh, the movement has stopped clear felling in the Western Ghats and the Vindhyas and generated pressure for a natural resource policy which is more sensitive to people's needs and ecological requirements.

The Chipko Movement is the result of hundreds of decentralised and locally autonomous initiatives. Its leaders and activists are primarily village women, acting to save their means of subsistence and their communities. Men are involved too, however, and some of these have given wider leadership to the movement. Prominent Chipko figures include: Sunderlal Bahuguna, a Gandhian activist and philosopher, whose appeal to Mrs. Gandhi results in the green-felling ban and whose 5,000 kilometre trans-Himalaya footmarch in 1981-83 was crucial in spreading the Chipko message. Bahuguna coined the Chipko slogan: 'ecology is permanent economy'.

Chandi Prasad Bhatt, one of the earliest Chipko activists, who fostered locally-based industries based on the conservation and sustainable use of forest wealth for local benefit.
Dhoom Singh Negi, who, with Bachni Devi and many village women, first saved trees by hugging them in the 'Chipko embrace'. They coined the slogan: 'What do the forests bear? soil, water and pure air'.

Ghanasyam Raturi, the Chipko poet, whose songs echo throughout the Himalaya of Uttar Pradesh.
Indu Tikekar, a doctor of philosophy, whose spiritual discourses throughout India on the ancient Sanskrit scriptures and on comparative religion have stressed the unity and oneness of life and put the Chipko Movement in this context.

A feature published by the United Nations Environment Programme reported the Chipko Movement thus: 'In effect the Chipko people are working a socio-economic revolution by winning control of their forest resources from the hands of a distant bureaucracy which is concerned with selling the forest for making urban-oriented products.'

"The solution of present-day problems lie in the re-establishment of a harmonious relationship between man and nature. To keep this relationship permanent we will have to digest the definition of real development: development is synonymous with culture. When we sublimate nature in a way that we achieve peace, happiness, prosperity and, ultimately, fulfilment along with satisfying our basic needs, we march towards culture." Sunderlal Bahuguna

source:www.iisd.org

The Chipko movement began as a modest but a powerful effort to save our nature..The rate at which felling of trees for so called 'development'is progressing, there is an increasing need for reinforcing the chipko movement in the cities and in the fast disappearing mustical forests of Bastar.

WHY THE BISHNOIS CAN'T FORGIVE SALMAN..

The Bishnoi's of Bagda ki Dhani, a group of few dozen homes about 30km. from Jodhpur have neither forgotten nor are willing to forgive the Bollywood stars involved in the alleged killing of two blackbucks.

The term Bishnoi ,originates from the 29 tenets( bish meaning 20 and noi meaning 9) that the community follows. Protecting wildlife and trees are two such tenets.They protect deer, bulls, peacocks, blackbucks and other animals.

Back in the 18th century, 363 Bishnois were martyred trying to stop felling of trees in Khejarli village.This love for nature and wildlife should be emulated by all and inculcated during childhood..A greener and healthier earth will then be a reality!

source:The Times of India

CHATTISGARH: BABE IN ARMS

The rifle cocked a bit to the left, the boy peered into the car. His face was puffy, hair wiry and dull brown a sure sign of malnutrition. He barked at me, demanding to know where I was coming from. He walked with a faint swagger in ill fitting fatigues, surveying me and my camera-person, as we looked on confused.Confrontations with security personnel is fairly routine for journalists reporting in Bastar in Chhattisgarh but this was the first time I had encountered a child soldier among the security personnel.

It was November, 2006.We were in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh's bleeding heart, to see how well the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) was functioning in the midst of conflict and it was clear that the situation had worsened considerably in the last couple of years.In village after village, we found burnt remnants of homes, empty shells of primary healthcare centres - polio slogans fading. Anganwadis were abandoned, walls charred, grains spilt and trodden on.Families had been driven away to government camps in the name of security by members of the government backed anti-Naxal force, Salwa Judum, which controls four blocks of Dantewada. We found notices nailed to trees warning villagers not to return or else face severe consequences.

At the checkpost, I found it hard to strike up a conversation looking down the barrel of a gun. But I wanted to know how the boy soldier was carrying firearms. In the interiors, I knew the government had set up Village Defence Committees but none of them had guns.Fortunately, intrigued by the camera, the teenager let down some of his guard. He told us that he had been hired as a Special Police Officer (SPO) by the Salwa Judum to monitor the movements of adivasis and vehicles. He confirmed there were many like him. His own brother was posted at the Errabore relief camp.So far, it was fairly well known that Maoists recruited children as sangam members to work as informants or simply as porters, ferrying necessities to their hideouts. But now it was clear that the Chhattisgarh government wasn't shying away from using children either.

Chief Minister Raman Singh says he wants to stamp out every vestige of Naxalism from the state. Ironically, the job has been entrusted to these young boys with adult faces. At every roadblock, they clutch rifles bigger than them and stare defiantly at those who pass by.In a region that is slowly turning into the bloodiest battleground in India's recent history, these child soldiers are the government's first line of defence against Maoists.And the price they pay is steep. When Naxals attack police posts, it is usually these young, semi-trained SPOs who get shot as we saw in Rani Bodli, a small outpost in Bijapur, where 55 security personnel were killed in a midnight attack, 39 were SPOs.But other than a head count, the police gave out little information. What they forgot to mention was those who died were mostly minors, who were dead drunk and unable to fire a single bullet because they were frightened out of their wits.And with good reason. Picture this. The Rani Bodli post is a small school building with no lights that stands in a rough clearing, surrounded on all sides by dense forest. Sandbags offer the only protection from guerilla attacks which Maoists mount.The 303 rifles that the government has kindly provided the SPOs with, don't always work. All their lives they have watched their fathers and brothers use bows and arrows or axes to hunt. With the Naxalite problem escalating, rifles have been thrust into hands unused to steel.On most days though, the guns come handy. In a world defined by exploitation, guns provide a new identity synonymous with power. Finally, there's an opportunity to assert even if it mostly against their own kin. Unfortunately, it's just another form of enslavement from which there is no escape.Losing lives apart, the community too is splitting up into shards. Brother has turned against brother - every family must choose either join Salwa Judum or else get branded as Maoists.

There is no space for negotiation.A father who refused to allow his teenage son to take up the gun was burnt to death before his son. The boy is an SPO today but who knows why? Fear drives most decisions in Dantewada these days.A British journalist who visited Dantewada compares it to Darfur (Sudan). The devastation may be of the same scale but for me, there is a crucial difference. Sudan has caught international attention while Dantewada is nobody's baby.Curiously, the central government, which is helping the state fight Naxalism with funds and manpower ... has so far maintained a stony silence on this issue.But the question is, where surveillance helicopters and armoured vehicles, supercops and trained paramilitary forces have failed to control Maoist violence, arming adolescents cannot make much sense.

courtesy:www.nai-sehar.blogspot.com