| ERC organised a three-day student workshop in
collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, India, on Constitution,
State Policy and Politics: A Tribal Perspective, in Ranchi from April
26-28, 2003. The workshop served an important purpose of putting the horse
before the cart: Understand the tribal first, before looking at the
constitution and policies from a tribal perspective.
Prof. Ram Dayal Munda, former Vice Chancellor, Ranchi
University, explained that tribal identity is linked to cultural values, not
material aspects of culture; values are eternal – material aspects
ephemeral. Tribal identity is based on a) Balance between Nature and
Culture, b) Egalitarian Society, c) Cooperation based
(non-competitive), Subsistence based (non-profit), Decentralised,
Barter (not currency), Community based (not private) Economy,
d) Consensus based (not majority based) Polity, e) Religion
based on Symbiosis – Interdependence of Man and Nature and Mutual
sustenance, f) Collective joy in Artistic Expression.
It does not believe that man is the most powerful or
beautiful of God's creations; it believes that all creations are equally
important. Man has no right to destroy and create imbalance of the
environment. Nature nurtures you; you are responsible for its sustenance.
Tribal religion is largely nature worship, though it is not recognised as
religion. Collective joy is expressed by singing, dancing together. There
are no authors for songs – someone sings a few lines, another adds a line
and in the ideal condition, there is no audience, everyone is a participant.
It believes that individual salvation is not important, rather it is the
salvation of the community that is important. The Musician knows that good
music needs right tuning - cannot leave strings loose or too tight. So also,
good life needs a good balance. Egalitarianism is both inter-group and
intra-group. There is community ownership (neither man's nor woman's) of
land.
Civilisation has to go back to these values, go full
circle, for survival. Alternative policies have to be based on these values.
Students were given a group exercise where they listed
the problems of tribal communities in their state, existing state policies
and alternative policy suggestions. It brought out an amazing similarity in
the problems that the tribal communities faced, though there were some
specific issues in each state, like sickle cell anaemia being a severe
problem for the tribals in Maharashtra.
It was time then to study the constitutional
guarantees. Mr. M.S. Ganesh asked students to see the Constitution from the
perspective of minorities and emphasised that minorities can have contexts
other than that of religion. Minority rights are reflective of the
understanding of social realities by our constitution makers. The
Constitution provides the philosophy and basic policy direction. He urged
participants to acquire a copy of the Constitution and refer to it regularly
– for it is the sacred text of secular India!
India leads in world forums on the rights of indigenous
people. The concerns of all indigenous people seem to be the same and the
Indian Constitution has taken the lead in protecting the rights of
indigenous people. No other constitution is better than ours for the
marginalized people. It is the implementation that has been found wanting.
The gap between tribals and others has increased, not been bridged. There
will be no need for tribal politics if constitutional provisions were
properly implemented. A large percentage of the establishment of the
Ministry of Tribal Welfare is non-tribal and most of the funds remain
unutilised. Tribal areas have become a home of corruption. In short, a lot
of money is spent in the name of adivasis, but not for them. Nevertheless,
the amendments to the constitution in 1996, which gave gram sabhas control
over natural resources, provide a ray of hope for Schedule V and VI to make
a difference in reality.
The root problem of all adivasis countrywide is their
dispossession from life-supporting systems, sustaining elements and
resources. Some primitive groups are moving towards extinction due to
malnutrition. About ten crore adivasis have been displaced by big
developmental projects - dams and mines - leading to large- scale
disintegration of tribal societies. Tribal religion and language are not
recognised. The Constitution guarantees the right to profess your own
religion and the right to study in your mother tongue but no tribal language
is recognised in the VIII Schedule and not a single tribal language is
taught at the primary level. There are not even 1% tribals in the
administration in Ranchi University. Projects undertaken on tribal land do
not provide employment to the tribals. There is no comprehensive policy
document on tribals to date - The result is ad-hocism.
In 1957, Verrier Elwin had spelt out five principles
for tribal development that Nehru adapted in the tribal sub-plan and has
come to be known as the Adivasi Panchsheel. Non-detailing of the Adivasi
Panchsheel in the tribal sub-plan adopted by Nehru in the form of a policy
document is the biggest problem. Community development is the only way for
tribal development, individual development is not the answer.
The Adivasi Panchsheel looked for a self-reliant
adivasi community, with control over land & forests. However, the reality is
their alienation from land, forests, water and deprivation - few jobs, poor
status of education, even cultural deprivation through non-recognition of
tribal languages and religion.
The way out is autonomy. There have been agitations (adivasi
andolans) demanding Union Territory status, autonomous councils and even
secession. These demands, (including those for secession, especially in the
northeast) must be seen from the perspective of the tribals living there, in
the context of the limitations the state imposes on them. Everyone wants to
be taken into confidence. People must learn to spell out what they want and
governments must learn to listen to people, instead of reinforcing
prejudices like adivasis are anti-development and by implication,
anti-national. There is need for development but the ability and strength of
the community to carry it is even more important.
There can be no tribal development without looking into
the central problem of displacement – migration – rehabilitation. There is a
report by the Inspection Panel Committee, World Bank that has laid down
conditions for rehabilitation for displaced persons – but policy makers take
no note of it, even for World Bank funded projects.
Mr. Ramesh Sharan, Ms. Vasavi, and Prof. Munda discussed several issues
related to state policy and politics in the case of Jharkhand. They were
critical of the forest policy of Jharkhand, which states that people should
become less-dependant on forests. They felt that the industrial policy,
promotes exploitation of local resources without any commitment to make
tribals stakeholders or investing in human resources by preparing/ training
and employing tribals in projects on their land. When tribal land is
acquired for development purposes and hundreds are displaced, deprived of
their habitat, culture (which is land, forest and community based), is there
a system of accountability to these people? Development has created haves
and have-nots, but no accountability.
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Mother India and Modern India:
Student's
Meet: A Memorable Event of My Life:
Devendra
Vasave's:Adivasi Poems:
Translated by Prof. B.P.Jadhav
