Resisting MNC Greed
By Raja Jaikrishan
30 April, 2010
Countercurrents.org
In this land of Valmiki
Who cursed the quarry of birds in love?
In this time of Salim Ali
Who gave his life for love of birds?
Infrequent are men
Who live or die for fellowmen
(From Shall we live to kill? by Varavara Rao)
All religions urge the devout to shun greed as it creates need in many. An observer noted recently that if Americans continue consuming the resources at the existing rate, the world resources would be over faster. This in some measure explains the US wars for resources in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In India the bulk of natural resources are in hills and forests. These resources are gods of Adivasis because they answer their all needs.
Enter greedy MNCs with heavy machines to cart away the tribal gods. Since greed is not their way of life they resist the invasion. The history is witness; people free from greed can‘t be dominated. The British tried and failed.
The history has repeated itself as a farce. By launching Operation Greenhunt—the people’s government is fighting its own people; Salwa Jhudam —setting Advasis against each other—the government is trying to satiate the MNC greed.
Advasis led by Maoist are taking the MNC violence head on, here and now, for their languages have no future tense.
“Over the last decade the Maoists have built new societies in tribal areas of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Jharkand. The elementary health and education networks are in place”, says G.N. Saibaba, deputy secretary, Revolutionary Democratic Front.
“This experiment has brought irrigation and drinking water projects. Experienced doctors have trained Adivasis. There's one barefoot doctor for a cluster of villages. There are makeshift schools – which move to places where children work.
They have their own syllabus. The scientific models of study material, including audiovisual material, have been put in tribal languages.
The government’s two-pronged strategy to defeat the Maoist protracted war includes development and security. To help the government meet obligations under the Right to Education Act, a panel has suggested that education in elementary schools should be imparted in tribal languages in scheduled tribe areas.
The main factor for the high dropout rate of tribal students is the difference in language in which they are taught in schools and their mother tongue, said the panel, headed by former education secretary Anil Bordia.
The teaching and study material should be in tribal languages to ensure that such children are retained in schools. The Central Institute of Hindi and Indian Languages, Mysore, could prepare teaching and learning material in tribal languages for such students, the committee said in its report.
Tribal children face certain exclusionary practices in schools like derogatory reference to their communities, names and cultural practices, it further said.
The government for meeting obligations of international aid agency is waking up to the need of universal literacy so that people in this country are able to distinguish brands and help them to make an ‘informed choice’.
“Further, for the first time in the history of these regions, they have surplus grain – not only for the revolutionary army, but for the people too. Even now if the Indian military offensive blocks these areas for several years they will not have a problem due to this surplus grain, and in addition they have fishponds and other income-generating activities. These villages and their governments have started exporting to other markets as well, keeping the surplus for their own consumption, and using the surplus they have accumulated to build other development projects. This is the way in which their self-reliant economy is developing”, says Prof Saibaba.
The public distribution system of ration to people below poverty line in the Maoist-affected areas has done well, according to a government nationwide survey.
To steal the thunder from the Maoist resistance to MoUs with MNCs over mining in the area, the government has come out with the New Draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act.
Prof B.D Sharma, coordinator Bharat Jan Andolan, had given a similar proposal to the then Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar that the mining companies could be allowed in the area as junior partners.
The draft act envisages setting up of ‘’mining area welfare funds’’, where profits of companies can be shared in perpetuity with local villagers and Adivasis whose lands are taken away. Currently, a one-time compensation is mostly given to those whose lands are taken away by the companies, a government official said.
The government is also mulling bringing provisions, which include granting free equity to those who give a major portion of land to companies, the sources said.
The government is also trying to build in provisions where companies may be asked to build ‘’model villages’’ within a 10 km radius of the industry being set up to enable maximum benefits of development reach the local villagers. For the setting up of power plants, the government will be asking the authorities to provide free electricity within 10 km radius, the sources said.
Notably, the government is also in the process of withdrawing cases against tribals for accessing minor forest produce.
The Maoists are not the first to oppose the plunder of MNCs. Socialist trade union leader George Fernandes managed to oust Coca-Cola out of the country, temporarily. The Swadeshi Janjagran Manch has been consistent in its opposition. Yoga guru Swami Ramdev has ‘oust MNC’slogan in the soon-to-be-launched party constitution.
Unlike their Avatar of the sixties and seventies, the Maoists are resisting the abettors of MNC loot. In this protracted war Advasis are with them. The New Draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act shows that the government wants to arrest the alienation caused by security forces in these areas. Sooner such measures are implemented, the Maoist guns will fall silent.
