Vikas Maitri
Voluntary Development Society in Jharkhand
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www.vikasmaitri.org |
website for rural and tribal development |
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Vikas Maitri |
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Voluntary Development Society in Jharkhand |
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The excessive force used by police on protestors on 19 April evoked sharp reaction from many adivasi organisations. The adivasis were protesting against building of a crematorium at Harmu in Ranchi on land believed to be the traditional burial place of adivasis. The organisations had called for a general strike in the city on 25 April which affected normal life as schools and market places were closed and public transport vehicles were off the road. In the meanwhile, the administration
declared that it had earmarked 59 decimal of land behind the controversial
construction as burial ground for adivasis. As per news reports this
has not gone down well. "We are not against building a
crematorium for Hindus but we want our original land back", the
representatives said. Police beat up adivasi protesters Protection of land and forest has been one of the burning issues for the existence of adivasis. The struggle and movements for a separate state of Jharkhand as well as the identity of the adivasis were anchored around this issue in the past. Today most of the land in the city of Ranchi is occupied by the influx of outsiders. However, there are still many pieces of land all over the city which are recognized as land belonging to a special category such as sacred groves, burial places and communal service land revered by the adivasis. The population of Ranchi is growing and the dispute over the ownership of these lands is bound to occur. On 19 April, 2005 the police used excessive force to drive away a group of adivasi men and women who were protesting against building of an electric crematorium, believed to be on the sacred burial place (hargari) in the city. The government administration disputed the claim of the people and when the protesters entered the premises and attempted to demolish the construction already made, the police used batons to beat up the people mercilessly. Starvation death a slur on humanity A vernacular daily printed in a corner of the paper a small news item relating to death of Mr. Shobhi Bhuiya (60), a labourer in a remote village of Jharkhand. The neighbours said Mr. Bhuiya died because there was nothing to eat in the house. On reporting this matter the Circle Officer arranged for a sum of rupees five hundred to be given to the widow of the deceased which was instantly used to procure 20 kg. of rice. This is neither the only nor the first incident of death in Jharkhand. But not much was done to prevent its reoccurrence. This is a slur on us because we claim that our society has made much progress. Millions of rupees are spent in the name of poor. Many years ago as a young social worker, I remember, I was given the task of giving training to village young people as social animators. The project was assisted by a church related donor agency in Europe. I included in the provisions that the animators be given discretionary fund of rupees five hundred each per year to be used as emergency help to poor people. Today we have a plethora of NGOs working for the poor but I am afraid this basic aspect of development is not given due importance, instead national issues are predominantly taking up our mind. The voluntary sector, I think can play a significant role in eliminating this scourge from the face of the Earth. Drinking water crisis in the Capital There is acute shortage of drinking water in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. This is the situation today in the second week of April. What will happen in the coming month of May and June is anybody's guess. These months are the hottest in the year. Mr. Choudhary, our administrator says that his family is residing in Ranchi since the year 1886. He himself has lived in Ranchi for more than half a century. He says the traditional source of drinking water i.e. spring well is completely dry in most of the locations which is very unusual. The government's supply of piped water is erratic and is insufficient to fulfill the needs of the whole population. There is already long queues of people for getting supply water. The government is thinking of using mobile tanks but this may also not be sufficient. The third source of supply water is the boring well. The hand operated tube wells never work in 90% of the cases. In the bore wells having pump machines the water is already down by 15-20 feet resulting in less discharge of water. The bore well is considered safe with regard to bacterial contamination, but it contains too much mineral impurities. Indiscriminate boring is also the reason for drying up of traditional wells. In olden days Ranchi had many ponds, tanks, lakes and rice fields which helped keeping the water table up. But due to commercialization most of these are leveled up for making stadiums and concrete buildings. If things go this way one may not be surprised if water is sold like petrol in future. |