नदिया बिक गई पानी के मोल

आलोक प्रकाश पुतुल

कहते हैं सूरज की रोशनी, नदियों का पानी और हवा पर सबका हक़ है। लेकिन छत्तीसगढ़ में ऐसा नहीं है. छत्तीसगढ़ की कई नदियों पर निजी कंपनियों का कब्जा है. दुनिया में सबसे पहले नदियों के निजीकरण का जो सिलसिला छत्तीसगढ़ में शुरु हुआ, वह थमने का नाम नहीं ले रहा. छत्तीसगढ़ की इन नदियों में आम जनता नहा नहीं सकती, पीने का पानी नहीं ले सकती, मछली नहीं मार सकती. सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड इनवारनमेंट की मीडिया फेलोशीप के तहत पत्रकार आलोक प्रकाश पुतुल द्वारा किए गए अध्ययन का यह हिस्सा आंख खोल देने वाला है. यहाँ रेयाज के ब्लॉग हाशिया से साभार प्रस्तुत

पानी का मोल कितना होता है ?

इस सवाल का जवाब शायद छत्तीसगढ़ में रायगढ़ के बोंदा टिकरा गांव में रहने वाले गोपीनाथ सौंरा और कृष्ण कुमार से बेहतर कोई नहीं समझ सकता.

26 जनवरी, 1998 से पहले गोपीनाथ सौंरा और कृष्ण कुमार को भी यह बात कहां मालूम थी.

तब छत्तीसगढ़ नहीं बना था और रायगढ़ मध्यप्रदेश का हिस्सा था. मध्यप्रदेश के इसी रायगढ़ में जब जिंदल स्टील्स ने अपनी फैक्टरी के पानी के लिए इस जिले में बहने वाली केलो नदी से पानी लेना शुरु किया तो गाँव के गाँव सूखने लगे. तालाबों का पानी कम होने लगा. जलस्तर तेजी से गिरने लगा. नदी का पानी जिंदल की फैक्ट्रीयों में जाकर खत्म होने लगा. लोगों के हलक सूखने लगे.

फिर शुरु हुई पानी को लेकर गाँव और फैक्ट्री की अंतहीन लड़ाई. गाँव के आदिवासी हवा, पानी के नैसर्गिक आपूर्ति को निजी मिल्कियत बनाने और उस पर कब्जा जमाने वाली जिंदल स्टील्स के खिलाफ उठ खड़े हुए. गाँववालों ने पानी पर गाँव का हक बताते हुए धरना शुरु किया. रायगढ़ से लेकर भोपाल तक सरकार से गुहार लगाई, चिठ्ठियाँ लिखीं, प्रर्दशन किए. लेकिन ये सब कुछ बेकार गया. अंततः आदिवासियों ने अपने पानी पर अपना हक के लिए आमरण अनशन शुरु किया.

बोंदा टिकरा के गोपीनाथ सौंरा कहते हैं - “मेरी पत्नी सत्यभामा ने जब भूख हड़ताल शुरु की तो मुझे उम्मीद थी कि शासन मामले की गंभीरता समझेगा और केलो नदी से जिंदल को पानी देने का निर्णय वापस लिया जाएगा. लेकिन ऐसा नहीं हुआ “

भूख हड़ताल पर बैठी सत्यभामा सौंरा की आवाज़ अनसुनी रह गई. लगातार सात दिनों से अन्न-जल त्याग देने के कारण सत्यभामा सौंरा की हालत बिगड़ती चली गई और 26 जनवरी 1998 को जब सारा देश लोकतांत्रिक भारत का 48वां गणतंत्र दिवस मना रहा था, पानी की इस लड़ाई में सत्यभामा की भूख से मौत हो गई.

सत्यभामा के बेटे कृष्ण कुमार बताते हैं- “इस मामले में मेरी मां की मौत के ज़िम्मेवार जिंदल और प्रशासन के लोगों पर मुकदमा चलना था लेकिन सरकार ने उलटे केलो नदी को निजी हाथ में सौंपने के खिलाफ मेरी मां के साथ आंदोलन कर रहे लोगों को ही जेल में डाल दिया. ”

इस बात को लगभग दस साल होने को आए.

इन दस सालों में सैकड़ों छोटी-बड़ी फैक्ट्रियाँ रायगढ़ की छाती पर उग आईं हैं. पूरा इलाका काले धुएं और धूल का पर्याय बन गया है. सितारा होटलें रायगढ़ में खिलखिला रही हैं. आदिवासियों के विकास के नाम पर अलग छत्तीसगढ़ राज्य भी बन गया है. कुल मिला कर ये कि आज रायगढ़ और उसका इलाका पूरी तरह बदल गया है.
नहीं बदली है तो बस नदी की कहानी………

The Walking Paradox

by Eduardo Galeano


Every day,
reading newspapers,
I attend a history class.
Newspapers teach me
by what they say
and by what they don’t say.

History is a walking paradox. Contradiction moves its legs. Perhaps for that reason its silences say more than its words and its words reveal the truth frequently through lying.

Soon a book of mine will be published, titled Espejos [Mirrors]. It’s just like a universal history — pardon my audacity. “I can resist everything except the temptation,” Oscar Wilde said, and I confess that I have succumbed to the temptation to recount some episodes of human adventure in the world, from the point of view of those who have not appeared in the picture.

In other words, it’s about little known facts.

Here I sum up some of them, just a few.

- - -

When they were expelled from Paradise, Adam and Eve moved to Africa, not to Paris.

Some time later, after their children had already embarked upon the ways of the world, writing was invented. In Iraq, not in Texas.

Algebra, too, was invented in Iraq. It was founded by Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi, one thousand two hundred years ago, and the words algorithm and guarismo [numeral] derive from his name.

Names usually do not correspond to what they name. In the British Museum, for example, the sculptures of the Parthenon are called “Elgin marbles,” but they are marbles of Phidias. Elgin was the name of the Englishman who sold them to the museum.

The three novelties that made the European Renaissance possible, the compass, gunpowder, and the printing press, had been invented by the Chinese, who also invented just about everything that Europe reinvented.

The Ancient Indians had known before everybody that the Earth was round and the Mayans had created the most exact calendar of all times.

- - -

In 1493, the Vatican gave America to Spain and granted Africa to Portugal, “so that barbarous nations be reduced to the Catholic faith.” At that time, America had fifteen times more inhabitants than Spain, and Black Africa one hundred times more than Portugal.

Just as the Pope had commanded, barbarous nations were reduced. Very much.

- - -

Water made Tenochtitlán, the center of the Aztec Empire. Hernán Cortés demolished the city, stone by stone, and with its rubble he filled the canals where two hundred thousand canoes sailed. This was the first water war in America. Now Tenochtitlán is called Mexico City. Where water once ran, now run cars.

- - -

The highest monument of Argentina has been erected in tribute to General Roca, who in the nineteenth century exterminated the Indians of Patagonia.

The longest avenue of Uruguay takes the name of General Rivera, who in the nineteenth century exterminated the last Charrúa Indians.

- - -

John Locke, the philosopher of freedom, was a shareholder of the Royal African Company, which bought and sold slaves.

When the eighteenth century was born, the first of the Bourbons, Felipe V, abdicated his throne signing a contract with his cousin, the King of France, that the French Guinea Company would sell Blacks in America. Each monarch took 25 percent of the profits.

Names of some slave ships: Voltaire, Rousseau, Jesus, Hope, Equality, Friendship.

Two of the Founding Fathers of the United States vanished in the fog of official history. Nobody remembers Robert Carter or Gouverneur Morris. Amnesia was the reward of their deeds. Carter was the only independence leader who emancipated his slaves. Morris, drafter of the Constitution, objected to the clause that established that a slave was equal to three fifths of a person. …………

Onwards to the First Conference of Anti-Displacement Front

Onwards to the First Conference
Anti-Displacement Front

March 22nd, 23rd 2007, Ranchi, Jharkhand

“Heaven is a forest of miles and miles of Mohua trees
And hell is a forest of miles and miles of Mohua trees with a forest guard in it.”

–A popular saying of the Muria Adivasi of Bastar, Chhattisgarh

Whatever contributes to assimilating people to Nature is a dangerous threat…At least that has been the lesson, of any discernible reading of the history of humankind. Here too, in the South Asian sub-continent, the experiences of the vast sections of the people have not been an exception. Specifically, after the advent of British colonialism…

Post-1947, there has hardly been any difference in the experiences of the people of the sub-continent. “If you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of our country”, this was what Jawaharlal Nehru asked thevillagers, while laying the foundation stone of the Hirakud dam in Sambalpur, Orissa. Hirakud, or the dam at Bhakra, Nehru termed these’temples of modern India’. Ever since then, through the years of the so-called ‘green revolution’, canal irrigation cultivation, introduction of cash crops and hybrid variety of seeds we have daily proof that we create our world against Nature for want of profit. That people are forced to be the mute recipients of this expropriation of wealth in the name of development; of creating a new world out of Nature that is useful for a few rich and powerful. Even the most conservative estimate of the Government of India in 1994, after lot of jugglery with statistics, had to admit that more than 10 million (1 crore) people are still to be rehabilitated displaced by dams, mines, deforestation and other ‘development projects’. ………

WILL THE COURT PUNISH THE RAPIST S.P?

A fact finding team of CAVOW and PUCL recently visited the Sarguja district of Chattisgarh and found gross voilations of democratic rights.To suppress the democratic movements of the tribals police is terrorising them. here is the press statement —

POLICE TERROR AND BRUTALITY IN SARGUJA DISTRICT

During investigations the team came across the shocking case of a tribal woman who was raped by the Superintend of Police in North Chhatisgadh. This happened after she tried to get her husband to surrender before the police. Her husbnad, who had come to surrender, was shot in front of her eyes and then she went through this prolonged ordeal of gangrape. Two pertinent questions come to mind? How genuine is the surrender policy for Naxalites? We say that one of the achievements of the women’s movement is to have the law amended regarding custodial rape? But where is the law for the women of the toiling classes? Description by Shoma Sen (Convener,CAVOW) —

WILL THE COURT PUNISH THE RAPIST S.P?

Anil (Student, MGAHV Wardha)

No Displacement; No Rehabilitation; Only People’s Development

(The following is a press Note released in a Press Conference on 21^st Jan 2007 soon by the Anti- Displacement Conclave in Ranchi, Jharkhand attended by scores of organisations from several states)

Today the vast sections of the people have been subjected to the worst kind of socio-economic crisis in the name of development. Today more and more tribals, dalits, minorities and the poorest of the poor are brutally removed from their forests, fields, lands, homes and cultures. They are being evicted in thousands from their lives and livelihoods. The powerful imperialist forces and their lackeys in the sub-continent are on their bid to capture the natural resources and perpetrate ruthless exploitation of labour. The people are rendered defenceless in the process of the dreaded Ds–Displacement, Disorganisation, Destitution and Decimation.

It is at a time that the need to unite and bring together all the fighting forces at the ground level against all forms of displacement under a single platform was mooted. And hence this preparatory meeting being held in Ranchi on the 20, 2tst of January, 2007. In this meeting, representatives of organizations and individuals from various states such as Jharkhand, Bengal, Haryana, Orissa, Delhi, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh deliberated on the strategies to carry forward the movement against displacement at the sub-continent level. ‘No to Displacement in any form’, was the firm resolve of the Meet.

The loot of the Indian people started after the advent of British rule with the super-imposition of the principle of Eminent Domain that virtually extinguished the natural right of the communities over their habitat and livelihood. This imperialist paradigm continued even post-1947 and despite the adoption of a new constitution. The special provisions for recognition and honouring the tribal people’s right under the constitution has been blatantly ignored that has sharpened the resentment of the people against the exploitative state. ………………

Bastar:where war is a way of life

Dandakaranya – Where war is a way of life for Adivasi women

(A Paper presented in a seminar by Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Mukti Manch)

Portrayal of the life of Adivasi masses

Our Dandakaranya is a vast area. Once upon a time we Adivasis were its majority inhabitants. But since the inception of outsiders’ rule in DK (14^th century AD), in the protracted period of the past 700 years, our Adivasi population gradually diminished. This pace increased during the aggression of British imperialists and ‘after independence’ in some places we even became a minority. For the area we call Dandakaranya the Sileru, Godavari and the Pranahita rivers form the borders in the East and South, with Raipur in the north and Chandrapur on the west. The vast forest area in between comprising parts of Maharashtra, Chattisgarh and Orissa is in the form of a contiguous area. Many types of tribes with different traditions are residing in this area. The majority of them belong to Dorla, Madia and Muria tribes. We call ourselves ‘Koyathur’ in our language and call our language ‘Koya’. In academic books we are referred to as ‘Gonds’. In this vast area covering more than 55,000sq.km our population is more than half a crore.

Among our Adivasis the ratio between women and men is almost equal. The outside rulers who know only to exploit us and to pillage our areas never aspired for our development. Exploiting our labour cheaply and looting the wealth of our forests has been increasing with each advancing year ever since the British ruled. It never came down. They have confined us to interior (remote) forest areas and to medieval lifestyles and as each day passed our lives became increasingly unbearable. The recent statistics from South Bastar-Dantewada show that literacy rate is not more than 25 percent and among women it is even lesser – 17 percent. The number of our children who die due to malnutrition is more than those who survive. The government record itself shows that the rate of infant mortality is very high. For a woman to be alive after child birth is like rebirth. We have no cloths to cover our entire body and no food to provide at least two meals a day. Our life is a continuous struggle for production and our reproductive activities are leaving us emaciated. ……………….

How long will tribals be killed

How long will innocent Tribals be killed in the name of Naxalite by the Indian Army and Chhattisgarh Police…..

 

Only yesterday 25/12/06 both Maharastra Police and Chhattisgarh Police were taking pride in killing 4 youths near Gadhchiroli in the name of naxalites and seizing Telivision,Generator etc from them and now when the truth has come out that the youths killed in the name of Naxalite were innocent Tribals who were on the way to return rented T.V and Generator which they had brought to their village to watch movies the Chhattisgarh Police Chief and Army has put the blame completely on Maharastra Police.

Are we living in a civilized society?

Everyday innocent Tribals as young as 12 years are falling victim to the atrocities of Naga,Mizo and other forces patrolling the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

Yesterday in Village Chitoor near Sukma in Bastar region soldiers from the Mizo forces misbehaved with the Tribal women and there is huge protest against the Army.Infact today the people of Chitoor have called for Strike against the inhuman acts being committed by the Naga and Mizo Forces in these regions.

CM Raman Singh and DGP O.P Rathore have assured action against the culprits but the fact remains that are these people with power really want justice to prevail in Bastar?I doubt the honesty of the Politicians and the Beaureaucrates since they are playing in the hands of Industrial houses like Tata,Essar,Iffco and others whose sole aim is to drive the Tribals from bastar region so that they can enjoy the mineral reserve available in the Tribal areas.

Where is the main stream media and press who claim to bring truth and justice in front of the whole world?????

Regards

Prabhat

Ganpathi reply to Independent Citizen Initiative on Dantewada

To

The members,
Independent Citizens’ Initiative

Dear Friends,

I received the letter sent by six prominent personalities of the Independent Citizens Initiative who had visited Dantewara district of Chattisgarh on a fact finding mission in last May. I could not ascertain when the letter was actually sent as it did not bear any date and I could get hold of it only recently. On behalf of our Party I thank you all for your letter and the responsible attitude and genuine desire shown by you to put an end to the armed conflict in Dantewara between the oppressed adivasis on the one hand and the state-sponsored salwa judum, state police and central para-military forces on the other. I convey my apologies to you for the long delay in sending a reply, whatever are the reasons on our side.

Our Party appreciates the serious efforts made by you in your genuine quest for finding a resolution to the tragic conflict that had suddenly flared up in Dantewara since June 2005 and has taken over 400 lives until now. It is indeed heartening to all of us waging a just war for the liberation of the most oppressed sections of the Indian society to see democratic intellectuals like you seeking to explore the truth and place it before the world. There are some good articles written by some of you such as the one in The Hindu by Sri EAS Sharma, which made attempts to present the truth in a more objective manner.

He had correctly analysed the origin and nature of salwa judum in sharp contrast to the barrage of false propaganda that it is a spontaneous movement and an uprising against the Maoists: “It is certainly not a “peoples’ movement” as it has been made out to be. It is a State-sponsored campaign in which unsuspecting Adivasis are used as ammunition in a war that will serve the private interests of a few.” He had also traced the exploitation of the adivasis by the non-tribal trader-contractor nexus: “For decades, unethical land-grabbers, wily traders, and exploitative contractors, all non-tribals, have dominated the lives of the Adivasis in this area, undeterred.” …………………….

Corporate onslaught on tribals of Chhattisgarh

by Prabhat

 

 

(we have got this article through email by prabhat.as he was asked to contribute in the blog by us. - Editor)

 

In the age of Internet and Satellite T.V. when the whole world looks like one big family its amazing how the Tribals of Chattisgarh,Orissa,Jharkhand are fighting to save their culture and tradition,their forest,their land from the greed of the Government at the Center,from the State Government and most of all from the MNC’s like Tata,Reliance,Essar,Iffco etc.In the name of development these MNC’s who are capable of buying any politicians are only interested in the mineral reserve available underneath these Tribal lands.

 

In Chattisgarh is it just a coincidence that ‘Salwa Judum’ started only few days after the State Government signed MOU’s with these Multi National Companies?Tata Steel is being allowed to call the shots in Chattisgarh only few months after they were responsible for the death of nearly 20 tribals who had gathered to protest the land acquisition by the Tata company in Kalingnagar in Orissa.This was not the end of the terror for the innocent Tribals because even their dead bodies were chopped to create fear amongst them.Its shocking that the Press and Television of our country who are at payroll of these companies didn’t write much about it.This is the dark side of these corporate houses like Tata Steel,Reliance etc who project themselves as the leader in nation building.

 

Salwa Judum in Bastar is a conspiracy to drive the Tribals away from their homeland so that their forest and land can be exploited without any resistance from them.Today more than fifty thousand tribals are living in Camps,nearly 700 villages are empty,rest have migrated to neighbouring state like Orissa and Andra Pradesh,thousands have already died.Where is the world press and media I wonder?

 

The current State Government has leaders whose forefathers came to Chattisgarh to exploit the Teak Forest and Precious Stone of the State so its not surprising that their sons are also doing the same.The Tribals of chhattisgarh have no voice at all.Instead of reserving the CM post for the Tribals even the Governor of the State has no knowledge about the Tribal Culture and Tradition.

 

There is so much more to write but the pain I am feeling right now at the state of Tribals is making me to stop.

 

Regards.

 

Prabhat