Naxal Movement In Karnataka

It is often said these days that the Naxal movement in karnataka has reached its end. The main reason cited is the arrest of two top maoist leaders Nandakumar and Chandru Gorabal. Former was thought to be relieved from Karnataka duty and posted to other state. The latter as per police statements was a Member of South Zone committee and also a member of central committee. Will the arrest of these two top leaders will end the maoist movement in karnataka?
Ofcourse it should be accepted that arrest of many cadres is  certainly a set back for the movement. At present the movement is facing difficulties because of small number of full time party workers. But this is not the end of the movement. Though for few days there will be decreased armed movement and the parties aim should be in organising the mass movements for which the conditions in the state and pattern of ruling by the government are perfect.
One should remember that the armed movement is a part of the naxal revolution and it is not the only way. The people of Karnataka has seen the success of Naxals though smal, in the agrarian movement in which they were actively involved. It was because of Naxals the conditions in the Malnad was improved a bit. People have seen that democratic people movements are being crushed by the government. Recent example is of S.K. Kantha who was fighting against the land acquisition near Gulbarga for thermal power plant. He was also leading the struggle of Poura Kaarmika’s. He was arrested regarding the latter struggle and was also granted bail recently, but the government arrested him with a fear that the land acquisition may become difficult if he is out. Now the government forcefully made the farmers to accept its conditions, if they fail they will get least compensation.
When more land is being marked for all MNC’s who will develop Karnataka, the people who have seen the democratic movements getting crushed from the government with an iron hand will join and lead the movement with naxal ideology.

Change the system by being a part of the system?

It is often said that you should be a part of the system to change or to better the system. But this report will speak. I think there is no need for much comments from our side.

Staff Reporter, hindu
BANGALORE: Karnataka Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde resigned from the post on Wednesday in “disgust” against the “non-cooperation” by the State Government in his crusade against corruption.
Mr. Hegde met Governor H.R. Bhardwaj and handed over his resignation, which will come into effect on August 31, 2010, at the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday evening.
Explaining the reasons for staying on till August 31, the Lokayukta said he had to complete unfinished work, including submitting a report on THE wall collapse that killed a teenager. Moreover, with the Upalokayukta’s post still vacant, his resignation would render the institution of Lokayukta a nonentity. He hoped that the Government would fill the vacancy by then.
Mr. Hegde’s resignation, which is apparently the first time in the country that a Lokayukta has quit after blaming the Government for its failure to prevent corruption in public administration, comes on the eve of the second anniversary celebrations planned by the Yeddyurappa Government.
Mr. Hegde took over as Lokayukta on August 3, 2006, and his term was to end in 2011.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Hegde cited three reasons for his resignation: non-appointment of the Upalokayukta for the past six months because of which thousands of complaints had piled up; reinstating officers suspended following the Lokayukta’s recommendation to the same post after a few months; and a recent recommendation made to the Chief Secretary by a Minister to suspend the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Karwar, who, on the directions of the Lokayukta, had seized eight lakh tonnes of iron ore illegally transported to Belekeri port.
Mr. Hegde said the official who had carried out a commendable investigation of the illegal transport of iron ore to the Belekeri port had brought to Lokayukta’s notice the Minister’s recommendation and sought his help. “‘But I told him that I can only provide legal advice if he is suspended.”
“I do not know whether the Government has suspended the officer. But this is not the way a Minister should act. Officers will lose their morale if Ministers behave in such a fashion. I thought over all these developments that happened over the past couple of months and decided that I should not continue in the post if I am unable to protect an officer who discharges his duty on my instructions, and also when I am not in a position to perform, not because of my inability but due to non-cooperation by the Government,” he said.
Officials shocked
The resignation of Mr. Hegde came as a shock to many in the institution. “I was shocked to hear the news,” said the former Upalokayukta N. Patri Basavanagoud.
Earlier, Mr. Hegde had a meeting with the Lokayukta personnel and made his intentions clear. “They were really heartbroken. They asked me to reconsider my decision and not to leave them in the lurch,” Mr. Hegde said. “But I explained to them that the institution’s integrity would be lost if I continued to function in such a situation.”

The Line Of No Control

source – tehelka

MORE ADIVASIS ARE BEING RAPED. MORE ADIVASIS ARE BEING ARMED. THE GOVERNMENT CLAIMS IT IS DISAPPEARING, BUT THE SALWA JUDUM CONTINUES TO FUEL A PROXY CIVIL WAR. TUSHA MITTAL REPORTS FROM GROUND ZERO. PHOTOGRAPHS BY TARUN SEHRAWAT

AT A clearing in the forests of Chhattisgarh, barely a kilometre from the Chintalnar CRPF camp, a man in civvies walked up to our local guide. “Don’t take them any further. Remember, you have to live in this state,” he threatened.

Price of rice Tribal women walk back to their village through dense jungle, carrying rice from a ration shop 20 km away. Few buses ply the route in these times of escalated conflict

A few hours earlier, we had chanced upon a Naxal poster nailed on a tree, saying 10 women were raped by the forces. We were waiting for motorcycles to visit their villages. The narrow strip of road slowly disintegrates ahead of Chintalnar, after which the ‘interior villages’ are considered Maoist strongholds. In the myopic narrative of the state, any attempt to venture into these areas is seen as an attempt to assist the Maoists.

Despite repeated attempts, security forces did not allow TEHELKA to go beyond the Chintalnar camp. Reasons ranged from safety concerns to the pretext of a Naxal bandh. “No one is being allowed into the area,” said Dornapal Assistant Sub-Inspector SK Dhurve. We watched as trucks and buses passed through without hindrance. TEHELKA then met the rape victims by crossing over into Andhra Pradesh, traversing an alternative back route through deep forests. What was an 80-km journey stretched to atleast 300 km.

In the Chhattisgarh conflict, there are many tools of war — the clampdown on civil society, the unplugging of Adivasis from access to the media or the judiciary, the arming of civilians, fake encounters, the arbitrary detention of villagers, and now a brutal targeting of tribal women. Rape has become a way to terrorise an entire community into submission. The Adivasis of Dantewada are increasingly being left with two choices — become part of the ‘mainstream’ or flee further into the forests.

Already, a new exodus has begun. The village of Mukram, only a few kilometres from where the Maoists ambushed 76 security personnel, is turning into a ghost village. On May 22, three girls were raped and five people including the Sarpanch picked up.

Facing a backlash from the troops, most of the 115 families are fleeing to Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. “The forces broke into my house during search operations,” says Mangal Kunjam. “Who knows what they might do next. We are leaving for Orissa tomorrow.”

OF RAPES AND REFUGEES

Victims of bestiality Tribal women accuse SPOs and security forces of rape

At the edge of the forest, under a bamboo thatch, a lone clay pot simmers on a log fire. Crushed chillies and strewn clothes are the only markers of habitation. This clearing in the forest is now home to two sisters — Madvi Hidme and Madvi Aimla — who recently fled their mud huts in Mukram. A third girl, Madvi Posse, hides in her aunt’s hut a few kilometres away.

Hidme, Aimla and Posse are the new pawns in a brutal war raging inside India’s heartland. All three girls, 14-18 years, accuse the forces of rape.

‘DON’T RUN, I WILL MARRY YOU,’ AN SPO TOLD MADVI HIDME AFTER SHE WAS RAPED. ‘ELSE I’LL CUT YOU UP AND BURY YOU IN CEMENT’

At around 4 pm on May 22, they were sorting mahua flowers when they were picked up by patrolling troops and taken towards the Chintalnar CRPF camp. Two men held each girl by the arm. Midway, the women were thrown on the ground and beaten. They say the assaulters were a group of SPOs — Special Police officers — in shirts and lungis, joined at varying points by men in uniform. “You are so healthy, the Naxals must be feeding you well,” a man sneered at Hidme.

“They stamped on us with their boots. They kicked us in the stomach. They thrashed our backs with a gun and poked us with rifle butts. They beat us till our skin turned black and blue and until we soiled ourselves. They tore our clothes off. They accused us of helping the Naxals attack the forces,” says Hidme.

When the men tried to press themselves upon her, Hidme began screaming for help. She was gagged with a towel. “I was kicked in the genitals till I bled,” she says. She recalls being ‘groped’ by several men before she lost consciousness. There were nail marks across her chest and her genitals bled for several days after.

“Don’t go back home, I’ll marry you,” one of the assaulters told Hidme. “If you run away, we will find you, cut you up into pieces and bury you in cement.”

When Hidme regained consciousness, she was ordered to wash up in the pond. By then, Hidme’s mother had arrived to save her daughters. All four women were taken inside the CRPF camp and beaten again. “They pulled us by the hair, and twirled us around in circles,” Hidme says. At the camp, the men said that these women were part of the Chetna Natya Manch (CNM) — the Maoist cultural outfit — and had been picked up while they engaged in song and dance. It was only when an officer told his men, “Are you going to eat them? Let them go,” that the three women were let off.

“We have no knowledge of any rapes last month,” says TG Longkumer, Inspector General of Bastar. Ask Madvi Hidme if she wants her assaulters punished, and the horror of her story becomes more evident. You expect a fierce cry for justice. It does not come. Instead, there is a quiet statement: “These Cobras and SPOs should leave Dantewada. They should be sent out.” She has never heard of the Supreme Court, or any court, but says she’s willing to testify.

Justice, perhaps, is an urban idea. Perhaps that is why six women in Samseti village are yet to see any trace of it. TEHELKA’s cover story in July 2009, detailed the rape of six women in Samseti village in Dantewada. In court hearings, the state claimed that the accused SPOs are absconding. But TEHELKA tracked two of the accused. Soyam Muka, leader of Konta camp, was interviewed at his home a few kilometres from the police station. Budo Raja, leader of Injaram camp, lives opposite the CRPF camp and greeted us with a jawan by his side.

Trapped SPO at Errabore camp

In Lacchipara, barely a few hundred metres from the Chintalnar CRPF camp, villagers say at least one woman was raped, while attempts were made to rape two others. Madavi Nanda had stepped out of her bath and was barely clothed when the forces dragged her out of her house towards a distant handpump,” says her mother-in-law. She was stripped naked and beaten. Another woman who was also dragged to the spot says she saw the forces lift Nanda’s petticoat. “They would have raped me too, but villagers had gathered,” she says.

“It has become a pattern for the forces to harass the women when the men are out in the fields,” says Jago, a farmer. He alleges that they tried to rape his wife while she was cooking. “The forces tried to steal a hen I bought from Andhra for Rs 300,” says neighbour Madkam Sodi. “When I protested, a man grabbed my throat and bit my cheek.”

THE STATE CLAIMS RAPE ACCUSED SOYAM MUKA AND BUDO RAJA ARE ABSCONDING. TEHELKA FOUND THEM AT THEIR HOMES IN DANTEWADA

RUTHLESS MILITIA

In many ways, Dantewada is rapidly descending into a zone of no control — a battlefield where both armies have little writ over their soldiers. The Naxals continue to kill Adivasis as police informers — villagers say it is often personal enmity, done without the knowledge of top comrades. The troops and SPOs continue to loot homes, steal chicken, threaten children, kill farmers and rape women.

This month, 600 more men arrived at the Chintalnar camp. TEHELKA has lernt that 150 SPOs were recruited this year and there is talk of inducting at least 1,000 more. To understand why this is significant, wander the 23 ‘relief’ camps in Bastar, set up in June 2005 after the raising of the Salwa Judum. Though the term means ‘Peace March’ and is touted as a local uprising against the Maoists, it is widely accepted that the Judum is a statesponsored militia responsible for evacuating 644 villages, killing countless tribals and displacing at least 1.5 lakh people.

In a sense, the Judum split Bastar into two — the camps and the villages, the roadside and the ‘interiors’, the State and the Naxals. It left no other options. That is what continues to be reinforced brutally on the ground. That is why a Sarpanch and his wife, an anganwadi worker, had to rent a room by the road in Dornapal. “It’s not safe in the village. You never know when homes can be attacked,” says Madvi Podiyam. His own friends in the Salwa Judum have warned him: “Don’t go to the interiors. If we see you during a search operation, we might kill you.”

A widow in Konta camp whose husband was killed in Chingawaram bus attack

Inside the Injaram camp, villagers are virtually under curfew. “We feel caged — we have to come back by 6 pm. We can’t even trust the forces. If they bump into us on the road at night, they’ll think we were helping the Naxals,” says Madvi Bhime.

In Konta town, Aslam Bhai can barely sustain his family. Before the Judum days, his income was Rs 10,000 per month— now it’s barely Rs 3,000. A flourishing trade of tora (a fruit), mahua and tarmarind brought thousands of villagers to the Konta town market every Thursday. “No one comes now,” he says. “They are either in the camps or the villages.”

In April 2008, an Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Congressman Veerappa Moily recommended the disbanding of the Salwa Judum. Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam asked: “How can the State give arms to some persons? The State will be abetting a crime if these private persons kill others.” On February 5, 2009, the state government assured the Supreme Court that the Salwa Judum was on its way out.

Yet, on the ground, Judum leaders themselves claim the movement is alive. Thousands continue to live as refugees, forcibly brought to the camps, unable to return home, and forever trapped in their identity as part of the Judum. More among them are now being made SPOs.

“How can they claim the Judum is over?” asks Kora Podiyam, a Sarpanch living inside Dornapal camp. “We have come here in the name of the Judum. We help the forces. If we get information about Naxals, we inform them immediately. Until we are here, the Judum exists.”

‘WE HAVE NO INTELLIGENCE. WE HAVEN’T CAUGHT ANY NAXALS. WE LIVE IN FEAR,’ SAY SPOs. YET, MORE SPOs ARE BEING RECRUITED

“There is no question of the Salwa Judum dissolving,” exclaims Judum leader P Vijay. “In fact, more and more people want to join us.” Most of these are families affected by Naxal violence or unemployed boys in the camps. Like Rajesh Arvind, who became an SPO when he was 12. “I had nothing else to do,” he explains. “It was good money.” His monthly salary of Rs 2,150 will increase to Rs 3,000 starting July 2010.

Then there is Madkam Moriya from Banda village. “The forces barged into my village and began burning men alive,” he says. “We had no choice but to flee to the camps. Then the Naxals burnt the remaining homes.” When he reached the Konta camp, “Netas asked me to become an SPO.” And so he did.

Madkam Munna, 19, has been living in the Dornapal camp since 2005. In the violence that ensued at the start of the Judum, Naxals killed three people in his village, including his uncle. He became an SPO in August 2009. Within six months, in February 2010, he was made part of the elite Khoya Commandos and trained in operating SLRs, LMGs, AK-47s, hand grenades and rifles. In the past one month, Munna has been on 20 search operations and picked up five people.

The empty village of Mukram

The SPOs are a lethal tool in a divideand- rule policy that is rapidly pitting Adivasi against Adivasi. Though the government claims that SPOs are distinct from the Salwa Judum, such stories blur the lines. The irony is that the women being raped and the SPOs assaulting them are pawns in a dangerous game.

At present, insiders estimate the total number of SPOs in Chhattisgarh to be at least 12,000. Sources told TEHELKA that the state police are hoping to induct more SPOS into the District Force (DF), where Rs 12,000 is the starting salary. In the last batch of DF vacancies that opened up this month, 70 of 120 posts have been filled by SPOs who need only to have passed Class 5. In a way, this could turn the DF into a sort of ruthless militia.

Sanjay Sharma, deputy SP of Dantewada, confirmed to TEHELKA that the DF has reserved seats for SPOs but would not say how many. “Those who are unemployed and against the Maoist ideology can become SPOs,” says Sharma. “For constables, education, physical fitness and a constabulary exam is a must. These not do apply to SPOs. They have to be 18, have good attitude and knowledge of the local terrain.” Intelligence is meant to be the primary asset of an SPO, but it often becomes a way to get personal enemies killed.

If you happened to be in an SPO tent, in the fading light of a hot summer day, as a bunch of 20-somethings toss around a football, the irony would become evident. “We have no intelligence, we haven’t caught any Naxals, and the public lives in fear of us,” says Soyam Mukesh, 22, “but there’s no way out.”

That is why SPOs inside Errabore camp whisper when the inspector is not looking. “We fear a Naxal attack. They fire at the camp at least twice a week. I’m scared to walk on the road at night. We have become bigger targets after becoming SPOs,” says Venkatesh, 26, from Gaganpalli village. “Even if we leave the job and go elsewhere, we’ll always be marked. We will die either way, so it’s better to keep fighting.” That is why Panda Mukesh, 23, shrugs now after four years of duty. “I’ve seen so much blood, nothing affects me now.”

LIFE IN GROUND ZERO

Slowly, insidiously, the conflict has altered daily life in Bastar. Villagers trek hundreds of kilometres to weekly markets in Andhra Pradesh fearing harassment at the local bazaar. In Burkhapal, villagers have gathered in the dusk, frantically hailing passersby. Hours ago, in single file, the women started their 20- km trek to Chintagupa to get their PDS rice. The men have stopped going to the market for fear of being picked up. It is night in the deep jungle, and women have not returned. Patients in Dantewada now cross over the border because there is not a single MBBS doctor in their town. Children in the ‘interior’ villages go to a school in Adrapalli, AP. Whatever hospitals and schools existed earlier have either been emptied out by the Judum or blasted by the Naxals. Nearly 100 schools closed last year.

Villagers in the ‘interior’ who did not join the Salwa Judum

It has been five years since the Judum was formed, but there is no rehabilitation policy for displaced villagers. TEHELKA visited four ‘relief’ camps and found that almost 100 percent of the Adivasis want to return to their villages. Manni Paro pays a Judum leader Rs 200 a month to keep her mud hut and tarpaulin sheets. Those who cannot afford the bribe moved further into the more cramped sections of the camp.

“We were much happier in our villages. The Naxals didn’t bother us before the Judum started. We got fish from the lakes and reared our chicken. Everything was cheap,” says Madkam Sita, from Konta camp. “Here, there is nothing to do and not enough to feed my three children.”

In what is perhaps an attempt to corroborate the government’s claim that it is giving the Judum no official support, the supply of free ration to the camps was stopped three months ago. Korsa Sanmu, Sarpanch of Silger and Judum leader, met the CM for answers. “We can’t feed you forever. You have to stand on your own feet. The supplies had to end at some point,” he says the CM told him.

The desperation has triggered a new trend. Most Dornapal camp villagers now trek upto 20 km to cultivate their fields, always fearfully. Some have received notices from the Naxals: “Come back home. We will not harm you.” But the past records are ugly, and there is a trust deficit in Dantewada.

For those whose homes are deeper in the jungle, even such daily trips are impossible. Mangal Dai from Aserguda village now toils under the NREGS, but yearns for his five-acre plot. “If I go back, the Naxals will kill me for being part of the Judum, and the Judum will kill me for helping the Naxals,” he says. “We’re being hounded at both ends.”

CONDEMN THE CONSPIRACY OF THE RULING CLASSES AND THE MEDIA HYSTERIA TO IMPLICATE MAOISTS IN THE JNANESWARI EXPRESS TRAGEDY

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release: June 1^st, 2010

CONDEMN THE CONSPIRACY OF THE RULING CLASSES

AND THE MEDIA HYSTERIA TO IMPLICATE MAOISTS IN

THE JNANESWARI EXPRESS TRAGEDY!!

The removal of panroles on the railway track near Jhargram in West Bengal leading to the accident of Kurla-bound Jnaneswari Express and consequent deaths of 150 innocent civilians and injuries to over 200 passengers is highly condemnable. The CC, CPI(Maoist), expresses its deep sorrow at the tragic incident and shares the suffering and pain of the families of the deceased. Strangely, the tragic incident which took place on the intervening night of May 28/29 is being used by West Bengal government, the police and some ruling class parties like the Hindu fascist BJP and the social fascist CPI(M) to tarnish the image of our Party—CPI(Maoist)— and gain legitimacy to the counter-revolutiona ry war unleashed by the Indian State against the poorest sections of the Indian society led by the Maoists.

Baseless accusations against the Maoist revolutionaries are part of the dirty disinformation campaign let loose by the reactionary rulers through their police-intelligence agencies and their pet media. For two days after the incident the police did not even confirm whether a blast had occurred at the site let alone finding any clue about the involvement of the Maoists or the PCAPA. However, they came up with the theory of Maoist involvement with the argument that the area is a hotbed of the Maoists, and Maoists had been targeting trains for some time. The entire media has been playing to the tune of the conspirators by running banner headlines that “Maoist terrorists” had taken the lives of innocent people, Maoists are blood-thirsty hounds and such trash which only insane people can say. Would anyone in his senses ever imagine that the CPI(Maoist), which had been fighting for land, livelihood and liberation of the people for over four decades, which had sacrificed thousands of its leaders and cadres for the cause of the oppressed, which has no other interests than the interests of the people, can harm the lives of those very people?

It is the reactionary rulers who would stop at nothing to acquire power and retain it. They would set fire to their own houses to discredit others and gain the sympathy of the people. It is universally known how Hindu fascists like Narendra Modi had engaged VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal hoodlums to unleash attacks on Muslims; how a Sri Ram Sene is hired to create riots in Karnataka; how a Raman Singh kills adivasis and accuses the Maoists of having committed the crimes. A fascist Hitler had set fire to the Reichstag, to put the blame on the Communists and begin a witch-hunt. Likewise, these reactionary rulers themselves had organized the sabotage of railways with the aim of discrediting the Maoists. With an eye on the elections and unnerved by their fast-eroding social base, the social fascists think they can gain sympathy through such dirty tricks. The reactionary ruling class parties have degenerated to such a low level that they will go to any extent to be in power.

Strange is the manner in which most of the media had reported on the tragic incident. While they ran headlines attributing the cause of the sabotage to the Maoists, they report in their columns that the enquiry is on and that Maoist involvement is suspected. How can the media deliver its judgement even before any evidence is found or enquiry conducted? What morality do these reporters, some of them quite renowned at that, possess when they pass judgements based on their own ideological biases? Worse, some media sources have not even published or aired the statement issued by our Party representative in West Bengal denying our involvement. The media is becoming increasingly anarchic, irresponsible and unaccountable. While propagating falsehoods without investigation, the media does not even have the courtesy to admit its gross mistakes and irresponsible accusations when the truth comes out in the open. It had done the same kind of false propaganda against the Muslim community after the blasts in Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, Ajmer Dargah blast, Goa blast and so on and remained unapologetic about its false and biased reporting even after it was clearly proved that these blasts were the handiwork of Hindu fascist gangs.

The CC, CPI(Maoist), condemns this kangaroo trial by the media and its irresponsible accusations against our Party’s involvement in the train tragedy. We consider this as a deep conspiracy by the rulers to defame the Maoist revolutionaries and gain legitimacy to their suppression campaign. We warn the reactionaries who have been vomiting venom against Maoists to stop their vicious campaign and hurling false allegations. We call upon the democratic and progressive forces, civil rights groups and people at large to see through the intrigues and diabolic designs of the reactionary rulers in spreading such lies and falsehoods against the Maoist revolutionaries. We demand an impartial enquiry into the incident to bring out the truth. Our Party will never hide the truth from the people. When we commit a mistake we frankly admit it, apolgise to the people from the depths of our hearts, and assure them that we would not repeat such a mistake. This has been the hall-mark of our Party in all its history. In this particular incident of the Jnaneswari express the Party leadership so far is not aware of any involvement of its cadre but if it is found that anyone close to our Party had indeed carried out the sabotage of the railways, then we will take stringent action against them and openly admit the lapse on our part. We will investigate into the incident and come out with the facts in the shortest time. We assure the people of our country that there will not be any attacks on trains in future and we will instruct our Party cadre to abstain from such acts as they can cause loss of ordinary lives.

Azad,

Spokesperson,

Central Committee,

CPI(Maoist)

Bhopal’s Gas And India’s Future’s tragedy.

Our politicians, officials and some intellectuals never told this. Atlast the judiciary system showed the strength to declare To Whom This INDIA belongs.
Recently Veerappa moily stated that judicial failure is one of the reason for the naxal uprising in the country.Unfortunately again he was forced to comment on judicial system BURIED JUSTICE regarding Bhopal gas tragedy verdict.

8 accused for Killing more than 25 thousand people have been put to imprisonment for 2 years with a fine of rs 1 lak but granted bail. Hats off. But it is not just the judiciary which has to be blamed here. Why did the government failed to bring the main accused to india? It was surely a deal to put it in raw words.
At the place of one multinational industry which was least bothered about the lives of people now we have politicians who are always ready with garlands to welcome them in big numbers.

They arrange Global Investment Meet to attract the investors like that happened recently in karnataka. Yediyurappa who sworn in the name offarmer is showing his full gratitude towards the farmer by displacing them from their lands. They are ready to provide them uninterrupted power whereas for the biggest industry, AGRICULTURE which is just not a need but an essential thing for everyone’s living 4-5 hours of 3phase power is also a dream. Atleast our judiciary is not dramatic like our politicians, they have showed it many a times clearly that india belongs to the elite class. Ofcourse there judgement is a reflection of our politicians attitude and more than that reflection of their interference in the legal system.

Global Investors Meet In Bangalore

Todays paper had a lot of turns and comedy sequences. First page told
that 4 lak crore is being invested in k’taka 9lak jobs!, cm in full
suite.next page an ad by BBMP about environment
white. Next page murugesh nirani’s statement that 1lak acres of land
is needed for industries. And last but not the least the reality bite
which informs us that the prices of DAL has further rocketed.so
finally we will have iron,steel,computer,cement to eat and electricity
to drink. Jai ho.

Battle for survival

MAHIM PRATAP SINGH
in Kalahandi

The tribal people of Niyamgiri hills in Orissa are determined to prevent Vedanta Aluminium Ltd from mining the area for bauxite.

MAHIM PRATAP SINGH

Nearly 8,000 of the Dongria Kondh Adivasis, who revere the Niyamgiri mountain as their king and god, fear displacement and disruption of their centuries-old culture once the company gets the clearance to mine the hills.

Niyamgiri in Orissa is all set to become a scene of local community resistance to corporate interests. The hills of Niyamgiri, a Fifth Schedule area under the Constitution of India and home to Dongria Kondh Adivasis, are allegedly under threat from the proposed mining activities of the Mumbai-based Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL), a subsidiary of the British mining giant Vedanta Resources Plc, which owns the majority stake in the now privatised BALCO. VAL is awaiting the second stage of clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for its Niyamgiri project. It got the first-stage clearance from the MoEF in September 2004.

The company has already started operations at its refinery in Lanjigarh, a town downhill from the Niyamgiri forest. The bauxite for the refinery is brought chiefly from Vedanta’s mines at Bodai-Daldali in Chhattisgarh. The refinery requires three million tonnes of bauxite a year. Naturally, Niyamgiri is extremely important for Vedanta because getting the required amount of bauxite transported from outside would not be viable for the company.

The clearance granted to the refinery is also fraught with controversy. The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) constituted by the Supreme Court following a complaint of environmental violations against Vedanta, in its report submitted to the court in September 2005, accused Vedanta of deliberate violations. The committee’s member secretary, M.K. Jiwrajka, belongs to the MoEF. The CEC observed that “out of the requirement of 723.343 hectares for the alumina refinery and 721.323 ha for the bauxite mining, 58.943 ha and 672.018 ha, respectively, are forest land” and “since the project involved the use of the forest land for the alumina refinery itself, the environmental clearance could have been granted by the MoEF only after the use of the forest land was permitted under the F.C. [Forest Conservation] Act”.

The CEC concluded that “M/s Vedanta has deliberately and consciously concealed the involvement of the forest land in the project… so that environmental clearance is not kept pending for want of the F.C. Act clearance”. It further stated that in violation of the Act the project was split into alumina refinery and bauxite mining although the latter is an integral part of the project and that although the MoEF was “fully aware that the use of the forest land for the mining at Niyamgiri hills is absolutely necessary if the alumina refinery is to be established at Lanjigarh, the environmental clearance to the alumina refinery has been accorded by the MoEF by overlooking these facts”.

According to information provided by VAL, the mines of Niyamgiri belong to the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), with which the company has signed a memorandum of understanding for the procurement of bauxite on a long-term basis – 150 million tonnes from the Lanjigarh bauxite deposits and other nearby mines of the OMC. An MoU was signed by the OMC and Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd, also a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc., in 1997. However, in October 2004, the OMC signed another MoU with VAL for mining bauxite in Lanjigarh and Karlapat. For this mining, the OMC entered into a joint venture with VAL, in which it would hold 26 per cent equity and VAL the rest.

Around 8,000 Dongria Kondh Adivasis, who are a Primitive Tribal Group (PTG) notified by the Union government and who revere the Niyamgiri mountain as their king and god, fear displacement and total disruption of their centuries-old culture once the company gets the clearance to mine the hills. However, the company dismisses all such concerns.

“It has already been clarified by the State’s Minister of Steel and Mines in the Assembly that there is no habitation in the mining lease area and as such no displacement is involved there,” VAL’s chief operations officer Mukesh Kumar told Frontline.

Three-member team’s report

The MoEF, in December last year, constituted a team comprising Usha Ramanathan, a law researcher from the Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies; Vinod Rishi, former Additional Director General of the Wildlife Institute of India; and J.K. Tewari, Chief Conservator of Forests (Central), Bhubaneswar, in view of the allegations regarding the violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and to address concerns regarding tribal rights and wildlife. The team submitted its report to the Ministry on February 25, highlighting, among other things, the gross violations of the Forest (Conservation) Act and the Forest Rights Act (FRA) by the “user agency”, VAL. According to Usha Ramanathan’s observations in the report, which has the most scathing indictment of irregularities and violations committed by the company, the Dongria Kondh people feel that although there is no habitation in the mining area, over 200 villages on a hillside will get affected by the road, vehicles, mining activities and the drying up of perennial streams and that the dongar (hill), which they worship as their king and god, will be dug up and blasted.

Concern is also expressed over the disregard for the forest rights of the Adivasis under the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. According to section 5(c) of the Act, it is to be ensured that “the habitat of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers is preserved from any form of destructive practices affecting their cultural and natural heritage”.

“Until these [forest rights] and allied rights are recognised, recorded and settled under the FRA, it would be unconstitutional and in breach of the FRA to disturb their [the Dongria Kondh] habitat,” Usha Ramanathan notes in her report. The report also observes that “disruption of the habitat and the way of life of this PTG cannot be remediated nor compensated, and may lead to the destruction of the Dongria Kondh”.

The report also expresses concern over the receipt of material assistance and benefits by the district administration from VAL. It says that “two rooms have been added to the BDO office [Block Development Office] in Vishwanathpur and furnished by VAL as a resting place for the Collector when he travels on duty”.

J.K. Tewari’s observations point towards violations of the Forest (Conservation) Act by the company in the construction of 47 pillars for its conveyor belt. Tewari has observed that the area calculated by the State government (45.6 square metres) over which the pillars are constructed is faulty and that the actual area of construction and operation would be much larger. He has also observed violations of MoEF guidelines in the construction of an incomplete mine access road. Apart from environmentalists, human rights activists, the CEC and the MoEF’s three-member team, Vedanta has also faced ire from its own shareholders. In February this year, the Church of England withdrew its £3.8-million share from the company citing no “level of respect for human rights and local communities” on the part of the company. Earlier, in 2007, the Norwegian pension fund, the world’s second largest sovereign wealth fund, sold off its shares worth $13.2 million owing to alleged environmental and human rights violations by the company’s Indian subsidiaries.

Legal ambiguity

There is also a lot of ambiguity regarding whether VAL or Sterlite Industries is the core representative for the mining activity. The Supreme Court order of August 8, 2008, which allowed the diversion of 660.749 ha of forest land for mining, was “in matter of M/s Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd (SIIL)”.

In an earlier order dated November 23, 2007, the court had expressed doubts over the credibility of VAL and noted that “keeping in mind the totality of the above factors (a series of facts and circumstances in relation to M/s VAL having caused environmental damage and human rights violations), we are not inclined to clear the project”. In this order, the court gave the liberty to SIIL to move the court if it agreed to comply with the modalities suggested by the court and categorically stated that “such an application will not be entertained if made by M/s VAL or by Vedanta Resources”. However, all communications with Usha Ramanathan, as mentioned in the report to the MoEF, were handled by representatives of VAL. This, the report has observed, is a violation of the Supreme Court orders. All communication with this correspondent too was by VAL representatives.

REINHARD KRAUSE/REUTERS

Members of The Dongria Kondh tribe dance in a ceremony on top of the Niyamgiri mountain on February 21 to protest against plans by Vedanta Aluminium Ltd to mine bauxite from the mountain.

The Supreme Court’s decisions too have come in for criticism. The new Chief Justice of India, Justice S.H. Kapadia, has been criticised for hearing cases relating to Vedanta while being a shareholder of its subsidiary, SIIL.

“When I brought up this issue of conflict of interest of Justice Kapadia, I got served with a contempt notice,” says Prashant Bhushan of the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reforms. Justice Kapadia responded by stating that he had declared that he was a shareholder of Sterlite and had invited objections, and when none was raised, he went ahead with the hearing, and thus acted according to the code of conduct.

The forest and its people

Five kilometres on a bicycle, 10 km on foot, and five streams of water to cross along a steep, rocky passage through dense forest in sweltering tropical heat, often 45 {+0} Celsius or more, means that getting to Jarpa, like most villages of Niyamgiri, is not easy. Rajulguda village at the foothills serves as a night halt, from where Lenju, an activist leader of the Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti (Niyamgiri Protection Committee), leads one to the villages uphill the next morning.

The residents of Rajulguda greet Lenju and this correspondent with a raised fist and a casual ‘Lal Salaam’. That, Lenju explains, is because of the leadership activities of the Lok Sangram Manch, a frontier organisation of the CPI-ML (New Democracy), which supports the movement in principle.

The entire interaction with the Adivasis is extremely secretive, and Lenju constantly cautions against asking the “wrong questions”. Bitter experiences with journalists and other visitors in the past have meant that the Dongria Kondhs do not allow anybody uphill without prior approval from the committee. Taking pictures is prohibited as they believe that several of their photographs clicked earlier have made their way into the market.

On the way up is Serkopadi village, also home to the Dongria Kondh. “Downhill, water- and air-related problems exist because of the company’s presence. Our committee will make sure that the company does not enter the forest or it will be the same here,” says Indra Sikoka of the village.

Another difficult trek of around 10 km takes us to Jarpa, where the Dongria Kondh Adivasis wait for us. “Vedanta is an enemy, a foreign monster that has come here to destroy us,” says Lahadi Sikoka, a villager, sharpening a wooden stick with his axe. Thousands of others of his tribe, spread across over a 100 villages in Niyamgiri, share the same sentiment.

It is common for the Dongria Kondh to carry some weapon or the other at all times to survive against attacks from wild animals, which are aplenty in Niyamgiri. It could be an axe, a bow and arrows or even a crude gun. Niyamgiri means the mount of Niyam Raja, the law god of the Dongria Kondh, whom they also worship as their king and ancestor. While the company maintains that there is no habitation on the mountain top, which is the proposed mining area, the Kondh people believe it to be the abode of Niyam Raja.

According to the residents of Jarpa village, Niyamgiri is a sacred place for them, a bank that provides them with everything they need. Salt and oil are the only things they need to get from outside.

The CEC report to the Supreme Court in 2005 strongly recommended against allowing mining in the Niyamgiri hills. It observed, among other things, that the rich biodiversity of Niyamgiri (which also happens to be an elephant reserve) would be under serious threat from the company’s mining activities. According to the report, the forest “contains sambar, leopard, tiger, barking deer, various species of birds and other endangered species of wildlife…it has more than 300 species of plants and trees, including about 50 species of medicinal plants”.

Nalli, which is the Kuvi (the language spoken by the Kondh) word for bauxite, is a precious resource necessary for the survival of the forest and its 36 perennial water streams because of its water-retaining characteristics.

In late February, the Kondh held an oath-taking ceremony on top of the hill where they resolved not to allow Vedanta to enter the forest even if it gets the clearance, which they fear is imminent. In such an event, says Lenju, the tribal people will run short of options. “Once they get the final clearance and come here for mining, we will have no option but to fight them tooth and nail,” he says. “We have started preparations for the confrontation and that is when the government will declare us Maoists and unleash CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force] troops on us. But we have nothing to lose. We will fight it out and die but will not let go of our forest,” he says.

In an exclusive conversation with Frontline, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said the Ministry was not in any hurry to give the clearance. “The team sent by us found that Vedanta has violated the terms and conditions under which the approval was given to them. The project involves forest and non-forest areas. These guys have already started work in the non-forest areas, which is a violation,” he said. The Minister admitted that mining would spell doom for the mountain and its people and also expressed surprise at the fact that the Supreme Court overlooked the recommendations of the CEC.

“If they manage to get the clearance, Niyamgiri will be destroyed forever. But there is no hurry and we are exploring all options. The Supreme Court has given its approval, but I have to say it seems strange as it is the only case where the Supreme Court has not accepted the recommendations of the CEC,” he said.

Bulldozer regime

PRAFULLA DAS
in Bhubaneswar

source – frontline

Protests against displacement by industries in Orissa show no sign of losing steam.

BISWARANJAN ROUT/AP

Kabita Sahoo inside her house, burnt during clashes between anti-Posco activists and the police at Balitutha village, on May 16.

In a State where more than two-thirds of rural families live below the poverty line and other social indicators are as dismal, the process of industrialisation that began at the turn of the century ought to have been a cause for optimism. But, of late, people have been fighting tooth and nail the many proposed industrial projects in Orissa because they threaten to take away their fertile lands and livelihood sources. The latest flashpoint was on May 15 at Balitutha, the main entry point to the project area of Posco-India Private Limited in Jagatsinghpur district, where the police fired rubber bullets and resorted to lathi-charge against hundreds of men and women who have been holding a dharna against the South Korean company’s steel project since January 26 this year.

The protests against displacement in the State have shown little sign of losing steam despite publicity campaigns by private companies “to be partners in progress” or Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s frequent statements on television about peaceful industrialisation. Highways of the State are replete with billboards of private companies announcing sponsorships, scholarships, health camps or skill development programmes.

The hard sell is no more evident than in capital Bhubaneswar where workshops and seminars on Orissa’s ‘development’ in various sectors have become a regular feature. Both the government and the private sector feed the media with information that suits them the most. Leading editors in the State are invited for exclusive briefings or meetings with corporate bigwigs.

In the far-flung districts where there is much opposition from people to industrial projects, company executives seem to have won over many local journalists; it is not surprising for a visiting journalist to find scribes canvassing for the projects. The Internet is a major tool used by corporate communications departments and public relations firms to issue press releases that squarely blame people’s organisations for the delay in the implementation of industrial projects.

The major projects facing strong anti-displacement protests in the State are Posco, Tata Steel, and Vedanta Aluminium Limited. In Jagatsinghpur district, Posco faces opposition from the people of three gram panchayats for its proposed steel plant with a capacity of 12 million tonnes. In Kalinganagar, Tata Steel is trying to acquire 3,200 acres (one acre is 0.4 hectare) for a six-million tonne steel plant.

Vedanta has plans to extract bauxite from the Niyamgiri hills at Lanjigarh for its alumina refinery situated near by. Besides, a foundation run by Anil Agarwal, the founder-director of U.K.-based Vedanta, is making all-out efforts to establish ‘a world-class university’ alongside the Puri-Konark marine drive. The State government, however, is nonchalant about the anti-displacement agitations. Indeed, the administration seems to have been left free to help the companies acquire land through various means. Using police force against the agitators has become the order of the day.

On January 2, 2006, 14 tribal men and women opposing ground-levelling work on the land allotted to Tata Steel in Kalinganagar were killed in police firing. Later, criminal cases were registered against those leading agitations against various companies in different regions, and many of them were arrested.

The next phase of action against those opposing industry-induced displacement started in Kalinganagar in March this year when the people of affected villages and activists of the Bisthapan Birodhi Janamanch were attacked indiscriminately. More than 700 armed policemen were deployed in the Kalinganagar area to facilitate the construction of a common corridor road. The local people say the road will primarily be of use to Tata Steel if the plant is established there. On March 30, hundreds of policemen entered Baligotha village in Kalinganagar and fired rubber bullets at the residents and beat them up for opposing the construction of the road. Apparently, many people who were injured did not go to hospital fearing arrest. A few days later, members of the pro-industry group attacked workers in the same area. A local journalist was hurt while covering the incident, and his camera was snatched away.

The police action then shifted to villages where people refused to vacate their land and homes for the Tata project. On May 12, the police opened fire in Chandia village and a tribal person was killed. The body of the victim, Laxman Jamuda, was cremated under mysterious circumstances, and the police refuted the villagers’ claim that the death was caused by police firing.

Rabindra Jarika, secretary of the Bisthapan Birodhi Janamanch, is, however, firm about continuing the protest. “We will not allow destruction in the name of development at any cost. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik cannot carry out industrialisation at gunpoint,” he said.

Balitutha incident

As efforts were on in Kalinganagar to carry forward the displacement process, on May 15, hundreds of policemen went berserk at Balitutha when they tried to chase away people who were holding a dharna against the Posco steel project. Many people were injured in the incident, which occurred in the presence of senior administration officials. The police were acting under the instructions of the State government, which was making a desperate attempt to facilitate the implementation of the project, already delayed by five years.

Those sitting in dharna at Balitutha had created a ‘laxman rekha’, resolving to prevent the entry of any official, the police or Posco employees to the gram panchayats of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakunjang. The proposed project is likely to affect 20,000 people in these villages.

The local residents who ran for their life on May 15, however, returned to Balitutha on May 19 with the same resolve to resist the project and attended a public meeting organised by the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti. The Samiti has been opposing the steel project since the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the company and the State government in June 2005.

The leaders of six opposition parties – the Communist Party of India (CPI), which is backing the Sangram Samiti; the Communist Party of India (Marxist); the Samajwadi Party; the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Forward Bloc – addressed the meeting. CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan condemned the police repression and warned the State government against using police force to acquire land for the Posco project, which would affect thousands of families. “Use of force will only add strength to the agitation,” he said.

PRAFULLA DAS

Rabindra Jarika, Bisthapan Birodhi Janamanch leader, leading a rally of tribal people against displacement in Kalinganagar area, on May 22.

Sangram Samiti president Abhay Sahoo criticised the State government for not taking the village committees into confidence and for submitting wrong information to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests with regard to the use of nearly 1,200 acres of forest land in order to help the company get the final forest clearance for the project. The government said no one lived on the forest land when there were tribal people living there and cultivating the forest land. Under the existing laws, villagers living on forest land have genuine rights over the land on which they have been living for generations together, he added.

A day after the meeting, the Chief Minister held a discussion with the Lok Sabha Member from Jagatsinghpur, Bibhu Prasad Tarai of the CPI, and four legislators of the ruling Biju Janata Dal from the area. He gave them a proposal that Posco would be asked to exclude 300 acres of private land under Dhinkia panchayat from the 4,004 acres of land earmarked for the steel plant. The CPI rejected it.

Bardhan, who was camping in Bhubaneswar, told the media the next day that the State government should shift the project to another place. Although he welcomed the government’s willingness for talks between senior officials and those opposing the project, he said there would not be any deviation from the demand for the shifting of the site.

He also demanded that the State government issue a White Paper on the Rs.52,000-crore Posco project stating how much Orissa would lose in terms of land, captive iron ore and water from the Mahanadi river; the impact the project would have on the people and their livelihoods; and the impact of the proposed captive port of Posco on the existing major port at Paradip.

Vedanta’s projects

As for the agitation against Vedanta Aluminium’s proposed bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills, which is considered sacred by the Dongria Kondh tribal community, and the pollution the company’s alumina refinery is allegedly causing, the Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti is hopeful that the Centre will deny mining clearance to the company in view of the latest reports by three experts who were sent to the area by the Union Environment Ministry. The tribal people of Niyamgiri had failed to resist the construction of the company’s refinery, but they are now united in their fight to save Niyamgiri from being mined (see “Battle for survival”, page 37).

Similarly, hundreds of families and many people’s organisations in Puri are strongly against the acquisition of 6,000 acres of land for the Vedanta University project. While there are many cases pending in different courts against the project, those opposing the venture are sticking to their stand against handing over a vast expanse of land for the establishment of a university in alleged violation of coastal zone management rules. Acquisition of land for the proposed steel plant project of ArcelorMittal with a capacity of 12 million tonnes also faces opposition in mineral-rich Keonjhar district, which has been in the headlines for large-scale illegal mining.

But even as protest continues in different places against the handing over of thousands of acres of land, displacement, diversion of water meant for irrigation to industries, illegal mining and pollution of the environment, the companies, with the help of the local administration and political leaders, are trying hard to divide people in the name of development in order to achieve their goals. The main opposition parties in the State, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, which express their opposition to displacement now and then, have not been able to force the government to resolve the issues of land acquisition and displacement. Meanwhile, the district administrations concerned are making serious efforts to facilitate land acquisition for the industries.

The Chief Minister reiterates that his government favours peaceful industrialisation and warns that no one should take the law into their hands. He has also been saying that not a single drop of water meant for irrigation will be diverted to industries. He has been attending most of the ceremonies organised at the State secretariat for the signing of MoUs to set up new steel plants, alumina refineries, ports, thermal power plants and other such ventures.

He has also been assuring companies and promoters of all cooperation from the government. He also reviews regularly the progress on different industrial projects such as Posco.

But he has not visited any of the villages opposing the industrial projects – even the tribal hamlets of Kalinganagar since the 2006 police firing or Lanjigarh or the coastal villages in Jagatsinghpur where innocent people have been facing the wrath of the police and pro-industry groups.

Arundhati Roy talks on ‘War of People’

source – rediff

Activist Arundhati Roy spoke on ‘War of People’ at the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh in Mumbai on Wednesday. Below is the transcript of the talk.

“I think we should reverse the way we see this issue (war against Naxalism) and the way it is being put to us. But the fact is nobody needs this war more than this government. The fact is it is manufacturing an enemy to justify its war. When the PM said Maoists are the greatest internal threat to the country for the first time in 2004, what was the situation?

Maoists were just wiped out in Andhra, but why did the share prices of the mining companies go up? Because it was a message to them saying their interests were taken care of. The government actually made the Maoists seem bigger than they were…

What is that makes it so urgent for the government to fight this war? In 2005, a huge number of MoUs were signed by the biggest corporations in the world, and they have been waiting. If you read the business papers you will understand clearly which MNC is waiting for which land.

Maoists are only the violent end of a spectrum of a dissent in this country that this massive sale of land is just not on. Whether it is Kalinganagar, or POSCO, or Singur, or the Maoist movement, at the heart is land

All these infrastructure projects, the first thing they do is relocate the poor people.

I am not here to defend the killing of innocent people by anybody, not by the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Maoists or the government. That is not my brief. When the 76 CRPF personnel were killed, there was this tremendous pressure on me, saying you went inside, you romanticised violence, now come and condemn this violence. BUt I ask what were the CRPF people – she lists an array of heavy arms — doing there?

It is not so simple, it is a very thorny, knotty issue. It is not possible for me to go there and see these people with their loin clothes, bows and arrows, and you want to snatch it from them, and you want me on your side, it cant be done, she says

This is the war between the poorest people of the world, against the biggest democracy in the world. And they are winning. They have stopped the corporates on their tracks.

They are asking a serious question. This is questioning the meaning of democracy, of civilisation itself.

These are not questions that are coming from art galleries — they are coming from the millions of people who have put their lives on the line to ask this question. The answers are the key to what is going to become of this planet, this civilisation, the human race.

When Capitalism won against the Afghans in the 1980s, the whole world did a somersault, including India [ Images ]. We became natural allies of the US and Israel, and then digressed to condemn the attack on the flotilla.

When i wrote ‘Walking with the Comrades’, I was happy when I was criticised of romanticising because I believed in the romance of the forests, the romance of the people. We love romance… we like the romanticism of violence in our movies, as long an airhead with biceps and machine gun is doing it. But, when the violence of the poor people is romanticised, we don’t like it.

In the Dandakaranya, where I walked with the comrades, 640 villages were emptied. Many of them live in Andhra, many live in the forests.

The same things — same violence, same terror, same allignment of forces — happened during the Telangana movement of the 50s and 60s.

Pakistan, which was never allowed to have a democracy thanks to the US, is craving for a democracy, while India, a democracy is fighting for a military state.

The media, the middle class is begging for a military state, she says.

When a journalist asked her if she supported violence, she said, “In human nature, there is always violence, and there is always love. When we decide to be violent and when we decide to love is up to the individual.

Today people like me are totally on the side of the resistance; because we think the question the tribals are asking — whether the bauxite can be left in the mountains — is correct.

The adivasis are not fighting for state capitalism, they are fighting for the bauxite to be left in the mountains. They are saying we don’t want advanced weapons, aircraft, etc. Mining bauxite gives alumina, which consumes a lot of water. They have a revolutionary armed resistance but they do not have a revolutionary vision.

It has a totalitarian vision, it does not tolerate dissent. I cannot quarrel with that military strategy right now but then we have to think what is going to happen. So that is why a dialogue is needed…

A rock hard resistance, which is elastic and takes in dissent and argument, will make it stronger. But we need to understand we can’t betray the causes we are fighting for.

All across South Asia, what are the areas under attack? All of them are under assault by a marauding capitalist system. In Afghanistan, the resistance is taking the form of radical Islam; in India, it is communist extremism — but the assaulting force is capitalist everywhere.”

You must talk about these issues because your life will be affected too at the end of it.”

Roy then takes questions from the audience.

A questioner says he shared every emotion expressed today, but what can we do until human nature changes?

Roy: We shouldn’t conclude that human nature is greedy. IT is also sensible. The most successful secessionist movement in this country is the secession of the middle and upper class in this country. They are sitting there and saying ‘What is our bauxite doing in their mountains, what is our water doing in their rivers, they ask from up there’.

A questioner, who introduces himself as a student of Indian economics, says India is the most oppressive society and a revolution is required, but the Maoists are not the revolutionaries who are needed right now. He says it was wrong of Roy to support them.

Roy: What is going in the Congress is an old game, where Sonia and Rahul are playing the good guys, and Chidambaram and Manmohan are the bad guys. Rahul Gandhigoes to Dantewada, but doesn’t say a word about Salwa Judum (an uprising of local indigenous people in Chhattisgarh to fight Naxalites  which was run by a Congress leader and supported by the BJP government.

Suspected naxal Nandakumar arrested

Source – hindu

SHIMOGA: N. Nandakumar, alias Rangappa (38), suspected to have been involved in naxal activity in the border villages of Raichur taluk in the 1990s and who later was active in the Western Ghats region, has been arrested, the Shimoga Police announced on Tuesday.

He was nabbed by the Hyderabad Police when he was allegedly attempting to meet naxal leaders in the Andhra capital, and then handed over to the Shimoga Police. He was taken into custody by a team led by Shimoga Deputy Superintendent of Police Shekharappa which went to Hyderabad last week. He is likely to be produced before the court in a day or two. The police claim to have extracted crucial information from him in connection with naxal activities in the State.

Nandakumar is said to have married Asha, who was among the four persons arrested last year somewhere on the Andhra Pradesh border. He had taken an active role in the fighting eviction of forest dwellers in the Kudremukh National Park in Chikmagalur. He was wanted by the Sadar Bazar Police in Raichur in connection with the murder of Siddangouda in 1997 and a stone-throwing incident during the inauguration of a police station at Yapaldinni village of naxal-prone border areas of Raichur taluk.

After the death of Bhaskar, a naxal leader from Srikakulam in an encounter in 1987, Nandakumar is said to have shifted his activities to the Western Ghats.

His name figures in the list of the most wanted naxalites