India’s Adivasi Problem

TROUBLED TIMES IN THE ADIVASI HOMELANDS.

Sept 11, 2014Mohan Guruswamy

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India’s War on India!.

The original inhabitants of India are described as being the Negrito people.

The next wave was of the Dravidians, a Mediterranean race who established the Indus Valley civilization. Finno-Ugric language group.

Between 3000-1500 BCE Aryans speaking Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, with origins in Central Europe, began migrating.

The origins of the caste delineation are at this point in history, when the fair skinned Aryans defeated the darker skinned Dravidians and other non Aryans, and evolved a new hierarchy. The word used to describe this classification is 'Varna', Sanskrit for 'color’. Prior to that, it was just a social-class-based structure. Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Shudra and those outside the pale of the caste system – Mlechha or Chandala.

This view of Indian has been validated by archeologists, linguists and geneticists. Sept 11, 2014Mohan Guruswamy 2

How today’s India came to be.

A very diverse country.


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India has more than two thousand ethnic groups, and every major religion is represented, as are four major families of languages (Indo-European, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman languages) as well as a language isolate (the Nihali language spoken in parts of Maharashtra).

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Geneticists and linguists pronounce.

According to a view put forward by geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza in the book The History and Geography of Human Genes, the Dravidians were preceded in the subcontinent by an Austro-Asiatic people, and followed by Indo-European-speaking migrants sometime later.

The original inhabitants may be identified with the speakers of the Munda languages, which are unrelated to either Indo-Aryan or Dravidian languages.

Some linguists believe that Dravidian-speaking people were spread throughout the Indian subcontinent before a series of Indo-Aryan migrations.

In this view, the early Indus Valley civilization (Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) is often identified as having been Dravidian.

Cultural and linguistic similarities have been cited by researchers such as Finnish Indologist, Asko Parpola, as being strong evidence for a proto-Dravidian origin of the ancient Indus Valley civilization.

The late Professor Nihar Ranjan Ray, one of India’s most distinguished historians, described the central Indian Adivasis as “the original autochthonous people of India” meaning that their presence in India pre-dated by far the Dravidians, the Aryans and whoever else settled in this country. “These are the real swadeshi products of India, in whose presence all others are foreign. These are ancient people with moral rights and claims thousands of years old. They were here first and should come first in our regard.” Verrier Elwin

The original people of India.


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Ādivāsi is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups believed to be the aboriginal people of India.

The term Adivasi carries the specific meaning of being the original and autochthonous inhabitants of a given region and was specifically coined in the 1930’s. In officialese they are known as Scheduled Tribes or ST’s.

Over a period of time the word Adivasi has developed a connotation of past autonomy which was disrupted during the British colonial period and has not been restored.

The Constitution of India, Article 366 (25) defines Scheduled Tribes as "such tribes or tribal communities or part of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to the scheduled Tribes (ST’s) for the purposes of this Constitution"


The meaning of “Adivasi”.


Diversity of the tribals.There are some 573 communities recognized by the government as Scheduled Tribes and therefore eligible to receive special benefits and to compete for reserved seats in legislatures and schools.

The biggest tribal group, the Gonds, number about 7.4 million; followed by the Santhals with about 4.2 million.

The smallest tribal community are the Chaimals of the Andaman Islands who number just eighteen.

Central India is home to the country's largest tribes, and, taken as a whole, roughly 75 percent of the total tribal population live there.

The 2001 census classified 84.33 million persons as Scheduled Tribes, corresponding to 8.2% of the total population. The majority of the indigenous peoples live in an almost contiguous belt stretching from Gujarat in the west to the seven states in the north-east, with the highest concentration in the central region, where more than 50% of the tribal people live.

India's tribal people are among the poorest in the country. They have the highest poverty rate of the three population groups. In some states it is as high as 72%.

Most of India's indigenous peoples have been forest dwellers for centuries. A long process of turning forest areas into a source of revenue and timber, and exploitation of the mineral resources, has led to deforestation, loss of livelihood and displacement of peoples.

Since tribal communities have been forced off most of the fertile plains they previously inhabited, the majority of tribal farmers now cultivate marginal land, using rather extensive methods.


The status of India’s tribal people.


“As a jungli, as an Adivasi, I am not expected to understand the legal intricacies of the Resolution. But my common sense tells me that every one of us should march in that road to freedom and fight together. Sir, if there is any group of Indian people that has been shabbily treated it is my people. They have been disgracefully treated, neglected for the last 6,000 years. The history of the Indus Valley civilization, a child of which I am, shows quite clearly that it is the newcomers — most of you here are intruders as far as I am concerned — it is the new comers who have driven away my people from the Indus Valley to the jungle fastness...

The whole history of my people is one of continuous exploitation and dispossession by the non-aboriginals of India punctuated by rebellions and disorder, and yet I take Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru at his word.

I take you all at your word that now we are going to start a new chapter, a new chapter of independent India where there is equality of opportunity, where no one would be neglected.”

The Resolution, to Jaipal Singh , was simply a modern restatement of his own people’s point of view. In Adivasi society, there was no discrimination by caste and gender. Thus “you cannot teach democracy to the tribal people; you have to learn democratic ways from them.”

The central Indian tribal homeland, located between 18 and 25 degrees north of the equator across the Indian subcontinent, operationally cover nearly 100 districts in eight states of the country. These district together account for about 55 million tribal people (roughly 70 per cent of India’s tribal population) spread over 68 million hectares of geographic area. They form about 7% of Indian population, however their share is very high among the vulnerable groups like poor, hungry and small and marginal farmers. An FAO study indicates a declining role of agriculture in household food security which lasts for 2 to 6 months of the year for the majority of tribal farming households. As per the study an average household in upland systems is only able to meet 20 to 40% of their food requirements; those in the middle system 30 to 40% and those in lowland systems between 50 to 70% of their needs. In the past, most tribals were able to cover most of the shortfall with foods gathered from the forests. Forest degradation and curtailed forest access has reduced the availability of natural foods, compelling these communities, to depend more on purchased foods to meet their minimum survival needs.


The plight of India’s tribal people.

Why so much discontent?


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Clearly there are two distinct reasons for the present unrest in the Adivasi homelands of India. One very clearly is the economic reason.

But the first and probably the more important one is the struggle for identity against the creeping Hinduization or de-culturisation of Adivasi society. Adivasi society was built on a foundation of equality.


Creeping Hinduization and other factors.

Tribal societies came under stress due to several other factors. Over the centuries the extension of commerce, military incursions on tribal land, and the resettling of caste Hindus amidst tribal populations had an impact, as did ideological coercion or persuasion to attract key members of the tribe into "mainstream" Hindu society. This only led to many tribal communities becoming integrated into Hindu society as lower jatis (or castes).

Quite clearly Hindu ways with their emphasis on stratification did not and still do not provide for any improvement in the status of the Adivasis.

This and the failure of the government to provide even a modicum of development and improvement on the physical quality of life has left in its wake room for newer kinds of proselytism’s. Marxism-Leninism/Maoism is one of them.

The other creeping encroachment is that of the Christian missionaries who with their deep pockets and pocketbook conversions promise an exit from the material drudgery of life.


5th & 6th Schedules of Constitution.

The Fifth and Sixth Schedules under Article 244 of the Indian Constitution in 1950 provided for self-governance in specified tribal majority areas.

In 1999 the Government of India even issued a draft National Policy on Tribals to address the developmental needs of tribal people. The NDA government even established a Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Little has happened since. The draft policy is still a draft, which means there is no policy.

Not to be left behind the UPA government drafted the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill in 2005 but did not act upon it due to pressure mounted by self-styled wildlife activists and the wildlife tourism lobby.

•Net irrigated area (NIA) to Net sown area (NSA) is 14.98% in tribal area against 33.59% in Rest of India.

•Net area irrigated by major irrigation systems is 3.66% against 9.89% in Rest of India.

•Net area irrigated by minor irrigation is 16.83% against 42.28% in Rest of India.

•Groundwater is 11.32% in tribal areas against 24.28% in Rest of India.

• Surface lift irrigation is 5.51% in tribal areas against 18.00% in Rest of India.

• Population below poverty line is 42.67% in tribal areas against 26.00% in Rest of India.

• Value of agricultural output (In Rs/ha) is Rs. 2697.55 in tribal areas against Rs. 8578 /ha. in Rest of India


Comparison of Irrigated areas in Tribal & non-tribal areas.

A Tradition of Revolt.


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The Adivasi revolts predate the advent of the Naxalites by more than a couple of centuries. Displaced from their homes, alienated from their lands and deprived of their resources, the tribal people have often taken to armed revolt in the past. There were over forty major insurrections recorded during the colonial period.

As soon as the British took over Eastern India, tribal revolts broke out to challenge alien rule. In the early years of colonization, no other community in India offered such heroic resistance to British rule or faced such tragic consequences, as did the numerous Adivasi communities of present day Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Bengal.

The Hindu and Muslim elites, by and large, collaborated with the British.


http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSTRE6241RL20100305









“India's mineral wealth obtained byviolating tribal rights”

An International Labour Organisation ( ILO)- funded report on India's indigenous population states that more than half the country's mineral wealth is obtained by violating the rights of tribals.

In 1991, out of the 4,175 mines in the country, 3,500 were in tribal areas.

Another estimate states that between 1950 and 1991 at least 2,600,000 people were displaced by mining projects of which only 25 per cent received any resettlement.

Among those displaced 52 per cent belonged to the Scheduled Tribes, the report notes: “In the case of private lands, proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act 1894 are initiated in order to acquire the land. The legislation also allows the government to acquire lands upon payment of cash compensation for any public purpose, including mining.”

Mineral Belt Location Minerals found

North Eastern Peninsular Belt

Chota Nagpur plateau and the Orissa plateau covering the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa.

Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, copper, kyanite, chromite, beryl, apatite etc. This region is the mineral heartland of India and further cites studies to state that: 'this region possesses India's 100 percent Kyanite, 93 percent iron ore, 84 percent coal, 70 percent chromite, 70 percent mica, 50 percent fire clay, 45 percent asbestos, 45 percent china clay, 20 percent limestone and 10 percent manganese.'

Central BeltChhattisgarh, Andhra

Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Manganese, bauxite, limestone, marble, coal, gems, mica, graphite etc. exist in large quantities and the net extent of the minerals of the region is yet to be assessed. This is the second largest belt of minerals in the country.

Southern Belt Karnataka plateau and Tamil Nadu. Ferrous minerals and bauxite. Low diversity.

South Western Belt

Karnataka and Goa. Iron ore, garnet and clay.

North Western Belt

Rajasthan and Gujarat along the Aravali Range.

Non-ferrous minerals, uranium, mica, beryllium, aquamarine, petroleum, gypsum and emerald.


India’s Mineral Wealth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhya_Pradesh


Whose minerals are they, anyway?Till recently the royalty paid on Iron Orewas Rs.270 per metric ton. The cost of extraction is estimated to be not more than Rs.250 per ton. In February 2012 the landed price per ton of Indian iron ore in China was over Rs.6000 per ton.

The Government has now considering raising the royalty rate by 5%, The State is likely to earn Rs 4,629 crores ($1bn.) after changes in the royalty structure. But how much of it will trickle down?

In 2007 the Andhra Pradesh government, reneging on pre-election promises, signed agreements with Jindal South West and Anrak to mine Bauxite near Vizagapatam. This is estimated to displace over 100,000 tribal’s while creating jobs for a mere four hundred. The state government expects to receive a royalty of Rs. 64.5 crores while the two companies are slated to rake in Rs. 1260 crores and Rs. 2350 crores respectively each year.

According to a recent Citigroup report, tribal’s are the biggest victims of displacement. Although they comprise nine per cent of the population, their land is 40 per cent of the land acquired till date.

How do the Rich get richer?

By selling mineral rights cheap and not giving back anything to the people from whose land it was taken.

The new government’s first big largesse.

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Bauxite mountain at Niyamgiri, Orissa.


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NMDC Iron Ore excavations in Kirandul, Bastar.


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Overlap of forest and mineral areas.


Overlap of tribal homelands and mineral rich areas.


Overlap of tribal homelands and illiteracy concentrations.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/India_literacy_rate_map_en.svg


Overlap with the “Red Corridor”.

How large is the Red Corridor?


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Q: How much of ‘Indian territory’ is under Maoist control? The Prime Minister once said 160 out of 604 districts. Was it an exaggeration?

A: We are indeed flattered by such statistics. But one thing we can understand from the Prime Minister’s statement, i.e. how much of a nightmare we have become to the reactionary ruling classes of India. It is an exaggeration to say that Maoists control that many districts, but our influence goes beyond that.”

M. Ganapathi, General Secretary, CPI (Maoist), in interview to an internet magazine.

The Naxalites or Naxals are a Maoist communist group in India. The Naxal name came from the small tribal village of Naxalbari in West Bengal where in 1967 a group of renegade communists attacked a police station. The Naxals are radical, far left communists and are inspired by Mao Zedong. However, the Andhra communist inspired insurrection predates Independence.

The movement originated in states where the Communist Party of India had a base, and has spread to neighboring states with similar tribal populations..

All the radical left factions have now united to become the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and are viscerally opposed to the two major Communist parties. The CPI (Maoist) is committed to the overthrow of the Indian State.


Who are the Naxalites?

There have been 5800 Naxal related violent incidents in the past three years.

Left-wing extremists have killed about 2,670 people -- about 1,680 civilians and nearly 990 security personnel -- since 2005, equaling three deaths every two days. About 1,440 Maoists have been killed in the past five years

In 2009, about 1,000 deaths were reported from Maoist-related violence. Of them 392 were civilians, 312 were security personnel and 294 were Naxals.

Interestingly, the statistics reveal that the ratio of government fatalities from Maoist-related violence is more than those recorded during the peak of Kashmir insurgency.

Extraction and export of minerals continues unaffected suggesting a major income stream for the Maoists.


The Growing Cost of Maoist Extremism.

Taking on the Indian State.


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Women at war.


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Paramilitary protecting democracy!


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The reaction of the national elite!


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“Salwa Judum” Government auxiliaries.


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“Salwa Judum” auxiliaries.

Police brass inspecting locally manufactured grenades.


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What has fanned the spread of Maoism?

The Indian Prime Minister speaks:


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“There has been a systemic failure in giving the tribal’s a stake in the modern economic processes that inexorably intrude into their living spaces. The alienation built over decades is now taking a dangerous turn in some parts of our country. The systematic exploitation and social and economic abuse of our tribal communities can no longer be tolerated.”

The Prime Minister also said the country’s authorities “must change our ways of dealing with tribal’s” and give them a “healing touch.” It is “highly important,” declared Singh, to integrate the tribal peoples “into the development processes…

How must the Government respond?


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Clearly the Government needs to think its way through this more carefully and with far greater intelligence than it has shown itself capable of so far.

It must be able to distinguish Adivasi aspirations from Maoist intentions.

The former needs to be nurtured while the later needs to be defeated.

But the problem is that this is beyond the capability of the public administration apparatus we have in place now.

What is to be done?


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You may write me down in historywith your bitter, twisted lies,you may trod me in the very dirt.But still, like dust, I rise. I rise. I rise....


Thank you!

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India’s Adivasi Problem