Ganging up against pro-poor law

BRP Bhaskar
Gulf Today

India Inc has started flexing its muscles in a bid to force the Central government to back away from its plan to make the poor people living in the mineral-rich backward areas of the country, most of them members of dispossessed tribal communities, stakeholders in the development process.

On Friday, the Cabinet approved a Bill which will require mining companies other than those in the coal sector to deposit 26 per cent of their net profits in a fund which will be used to help project-affected people in the tribal areas. Coal firms will pay what they already pay as royalty.

The Bill is expected to come before Parliament during the winter session. In all likelihood, it will be referred to a committee, and at that stage those concerned will have the opportunity to state their objections. But corporate India’s powerful instruments like the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries have already come out against it.

They term the proposed measure unviable and say it will make mining unattractive to domestic and foreign investors. They argue it will also create difficulties for existing mines.

The stock market echoed the corporate sector’s sentiments. The public sector Coal India Limited’s shares fell by 5.11 per cent, and private companies registered declines ranging from 1.09 per cent to 4.61 per cent.

Currently the mining sector is governed by a weak law enacted 54 years ago. The new law provides for the creation of a regulatory authority, charged with tackling illegal mining.

As many as 20,000 cases of illegal mining have been reported from the different states during the past few months. One of the worst-affected is Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Karnataka, where the Lokayukta (ombudsman) estimated that illegal mining had cost the state more than Rs160 billion. Following his indictment, the then chief minister and two of his cabinet colleagues, both of whom had risen in politics using illegal gains from mining business, had to bow out of office.

Much of the country’s mineral wealth lies in inhospitable terrain where hapless tribal communities ended up as they retreated from the plains under pressure from later waves of migrants. Mining and other developmental activities are now threatening to force them out from there too.

India’s tribal population, estimated at eight per cent of the total, is spread unevenly across the country. In Kerala, it constitutes only one per cent but in the Lakshadweep group of islands, off the Kerala coast, it forms the overwhelming majority.

Several northeastern states have more than 90 per cent tribal population. In the heartland states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand tribesmen constitute about one-third of the population.

The Centre has been earmarking funds for the welfare of the tribal population separately in the annual plans but middlemen often gobble up the money.

Social and economic backwardness render the tribesmen easy prey to forest encroachers and business interests.

The threat posed by mining to the environment and to the people assumed diabolic proportions as the governments issued a large number of licences to domestic and foreign companies in the wake of economic liberalisation. From Goa on the west coast to Meghalaya in the eastern hills, in almost all states where mining is going on tribesmen have been fighting corporate intruders.

In Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district, villagers are up against the South Korean giant POSCO which has a contract to build an integrated steel plant at a cost of $12 billion. Even children are participating in the struggle, leading to accusations that the POSCO Prathirodh Sangram Samiti, which spearheads the agitation, is using them as a shield against possible police action.

The PPSS says children have joined the agitation as they realise their future is at stake. An 11-year-old schoolboy asked a reporter, “If our parents lose their livelihood, who will protect us?”

The London-based Vedanta Resources is another big corporation that is facing the fury of Orissa’s tribesmen. The Church of England, which had a stake of 3.8 million pounds in the company, sold its shares apparently to distance itself from the company’s depredations in the tribal belt.

Tribes everywhere have been victims of ‘development’ in all history. The new law aims at making them beneficiaries of development. But business interests are determined not to make its passage easy. -- Gulf Today, Sharjah, October 3, 2011.

Human Rights Day eve attack on women’s fact-finding team

Today is International Human Rights Day.

It was on this day in 1948 that the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

On the eve of Human Rights Day, an all-woman fact-finding team comprising nine activists, including Madhumitta Dutta and Shweta Narayan (from the Collective in Besant Nagar, Chennai) were attacked on their way to Narayanpatna, Orissa, where a democratic tribal movement led by the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh is being brutally suppressed by the police at the behest of the local liquor mafia, landlords and mining companies, according to a message circulated by the human rights movement group (humanrights-movement@googlegroups.com).

This team had gone to Narayanpatna to bring out the real state of affairs, particularly regarding the spate of rapes and molestations of women by the Orissa Police, CRPF and the dreaded Cobra battalions. The local media has actively tried to hide the truth, branding the peaceful Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh as a Maoist outfit.

Members of the team narrated their experience at a press conference at Parvathipuram in Vijayanagaram district of Andhra Pradesh.

The following account was given by Shweta Narayan and Madhumita Dutta to Nityanand Jayaraman over the telephone:

At 10 a.m., the All India Women's Fact Finding Team consisting of nine women reached Narayanpatna Police Station and requested to meet the Station In-charge.

We were told that the policeman was busy, and were asked to come in the evening. The person questioning us asked us for names and mobile phone numbers and names of our organizations. We gave all of that. We noticed quite a number of uniformed policemen, and many people in plainclothes. None of the people in uniform (we assume they were policemen) had any name tags. We asked one of them who the people in plainclothes were, and were told that they were all policemen. We asked the man how many police were there in this area, and he said more than 2,000 police. One striking thing is that none of the many people gathered there were Adivasi.

About 20 Adivasi men were huddled, squatting inside the police station premises. We asked the policeman near us who they were, and were told that the Adivasis were former activists of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh, who had come to surrender. This has been happening for a few days now, and many newspapers are reporting this.

By this time, the crowd of so-called plainclothes police were getting restless. We heard people commenting saying: "Ab aa rahen hain. Jab hamarey gaon jal rahe the, tho kahaan the?" (When our farms were being burnt, where were you? Now they show up.)

Madhumita felt the situation was looking troublesome, and suggested we leave. As we were stepping out of the police station, our driver was cordoned off and was being questioned in a very hostile manner and being threatened. We heard someone saying that he is a regular to these parts, and they enquired as to his antecedents.

We somehow managed to extricate the driver. One of the policemen in plainclothes, whom we saw inside the police station premises, was taking photographs, and he said "Maaro Inko." (Beat these people up). That is when more than 200 people surged ahead. The driver was being slapped repeatedly. Madhu and 75-year old Kusum Karnik tried to
intervene and that is when one man went for Madhu's throat. Kusum was hurt too.

Rumita Kundu was verbally abused inside the police station. One man crudely said that all these women had come to sleep with the men there. Mamta Dash was hit on her back, and abused. One man attempted to strangle Madhu. When she moved to save herself, her jaw was injured. All this happened inside the police station premises.

The driver was the one that was being assaulted most, and we did all we could to extricate him and board our vehicle. By this time, the vehicle was being broken. The rear windscreen was broken. With great difficulty, we fled the area driving towards Bandhugaon. We were followed by the plainclothesmen who claimed to be police on bikes. Somewhere between Bandhugaon Police Station and the village itself, we were stopped by two men in plainclothes. They said they were police, and they demanded to see the driver's licence. As he was enquiring, about 20 people gathered there. But nothing untoward happened here. We were scared nevertheless.

From there, we proceeded to Kottulpetta. Even before we got to this village, news seemed to have reached them about our visit. A road blockade had been organized, with a bullock cart blocking the road. There were no oxen. The people there, again all non-tribals, pulled out the driver and started assaulting him. They tried to pull down another male colleague of ours, Mr. Poru Chandra Sahu and tried to beat them up. We intervened, and that's when Kusum didi, the 75-year old activist, was hurt on her head. We were there for more than 15 minutes. More violence. More damage to the vehicle. More slaps for the driver. Our friends outside had been notified almost as soon as problems began, and phone calls must have been pouring into the Collector’s and SP's offices.

By this time, two bikes carrying one of the plainclothes "policemen" who had taken our names in Narayanpatna, and another plainclothes guy who was tall and burly, reached there and asked the youth to disperse.

We reached Bondapalli, the border village within Andhra Pradesh. Almost in no time, a jeep load of Andhra Pradesh police along with plainclothes youth (young boys) armed with rifles and bullets arrived on the scene. They demanded to know who we were. We were treated more like criminals than victims, and our vehicle was searched. Only after
Madhu spoke to the SP of Vijayanagaram, and the DGP were we allowed to go. The police who stopped us immediately changed the tune, and offered to help us with medical assistance etc.

Our experience with armed youth and police has left us clearly terrified, and convinced that the situation created by the police in Narayanpatna and this part of Orissa is extremely vitiated. We have the following concerns and demands which we conveyed to the media at the press conference in Parvathipuram.

Concerns:
1. The scenario of terror that we witnessed, and were subject to shows the kind of tense situation prevailing in the Narayanpatna area post November 20, 2009's police firings in Narayanpatna.

2. There is no access for people to get in and out of the villages in Narayanpatna, with all routes blocked by armed goons.

3. There is no way to get information about what is happening inside, and no means of verifying the very disturbing accounts we are getting about abuses, molestations and violence against adivasi people.

4. The number of plainclothesmen who claimed they were police, and the comfort with which people outside the Narayanpatna police station were interacting with the police, and reacting to one policeman's instruction to beat us up, suggests that there may be some truth to reports that there is a Salwa Judum style Shanthi Samiti in this area as well. This may either be sponsored or working in close complicity with the police and state.

5. If the Fact Finding team of prominent women has been treated with such violence, it is clear that there is absolutely no room for dissent inside the villages.

6. All the people who attacked us were non-tribals.

Demands:
1. The officers at the Police Station should be suspended to create an impartial situation and enable the carrying out of investigations into the firing of 20 November, 2009, and the subsequent reports of atrocities against tribal people.

2. The SP Koraput should be suspended.

3. The Government should constitute a high-level independent investigation team and not depend on the police, who are clearly biased, and are using the language of terror and violence to suppress dissent.

The Women’s Fact-Finding Team consisted of
1. Sudha Bhardwaj, Advocate, Chhattisgarh
2. Mamata Dash, Delhi
3. Madhumita Dutta, Chennai
4. Shweta Narayan, Chennai
5. Rumita Kundu, Bhubaneswar
6. Pramila, Bhubaneswar
7. Kusum Karnik, Bhubaneswar
8. Ramani, New Democracy, Orissa
9. Durga, Chhattisgarh

POSCO's Orissa project: an Open Letter

The following is an Open Letter from the National Centre for Advocacy Studies and Posco Prathirodh Sangram Samiti to POSCO TJ Park Prize Committee, POSCO TZ Park Foundation, Seoul, Korea.

Dear Sir,

We, people from India and different parts of the world concerned with the protection of human and environmental rights, have learned that 2006 onwards POSCO TJ Park Prize has been awarding an individual or organization its Community Development & Philanthropy Prize. This gives us reason to believe that as an organization, POSCO is concerned about community development and has respect for human rights and social justice initiatives.

We therefore find it ironic that POSCO is simultaneously perpetrating severe human rights violations and threatening people's livelihoods, specifically in Jagatsinghpur, Orissa, and the livelihoods of more than 20,000 people are at risk due to POSCO’s US$ 12 billion plan to build a 12 million tonne per annum (MTPA) integrated steel plant, captive port and mines. This plant will require 4,004 acres of land, in addition to land for a railway, road expansion and mine development. The land earmarked for this purpose has been used for generations by Dalits, agriculturalists, workers and small businesses. These people will lose their homes and livelihoods as result of this project.

Against the establishment of the POSCO power plant and port, over 800 individuals from the affected areas joined together to march 150 km in protest from November 29 to December 5, 2009. The proposed steel plant is predicted to have devastating impacts on the environment and ecology in the area.

POSCO has applied for prospecting licences and direct leases for mining. The licence would allow the company to mine on 2,500 hectares in iron ore rich Khandadhar in Sundergarh district. These areas are currently covered with dense forest, which is home to a wide variety of wildlife and flora. The indigenous communities living there are totally dependent on these forests for fuel, fodder, fruits and medicinal plants. The water springs that exist there provide water for drinking as well as irrigation. Furthermore, the mining will affect the Khandadhar waterfall, a famed tourist destination in the state.

Various reports have indicated that there is a grave medical emergency developing in the Erasama and Kujanga blocks of Jagatsinghpur district, the sites of the proposed steel plant. A number of women in the area are in late stages of pregnancy but are unable to access the medical care they require because of the fear of harassment and arrest by the local police. There is also severe malnutrition among children living in these districts. In part, this is a result of poor economic turnover due to the turmoil that has been present in the area over the past few years as a result of the project. The general population of the affected villages also needs help in combating malaria. These people cannot go out and receive treatment because of the threat of arrests.

In keeping with the points outlined above, we strongly urge that you, as independent Committee members, immediately look into the matter with an open mind and urge POSCO Company to withdraw from the proposed project in order to respect and protect the rights and livelihood of the indigenous people and save the rich environment and bio diversity in the state of Orissa, India.

As fellow people interested in community welfare and philanthropy, we would also request that you seriously reconsider your position as committee members for the TJ Park Prize.

We are attaching herewith the following annexure, showing the impact of proposed captive plant, port and mining by POSCO Company on the life and livelihoods of indigenous people and the rich environment and ecology of the area.

With regards,
Yours sincerely,

Pramodini Pradhan
Convenor (PUCL- Bhubaneswar)

Official statistics indicate that only 438 acres of the 4000 acres required for the POSCO site is private land. The rest of the land required officially belongs to the government, and this has been recorded as “under forest” in official documentation. Government records do not show that the majority of this land has been under cultivation by the people living in these areas for generations.

The people of Jagatsinghpur are dependent upon the beetle, paddy and fish for their livelihoods. Around 30,000 families earn about INR one lakh (about USD 2000) yearly from these cultivations. There are approximately 5000 vines of beetle in the three panchayat areas, which are tended by about 10,000 cultivators. Many landless families depend on basket making, work as daily labourers on the betel vine farms or are engaged in pisiculture, mostly prawns.

In response to the claim of this land by POSCO, the local people have submitted applications for claims on titles repeatedly however regularization and settlement of the betel vine lands has not yet been initiated by the government. The Settlement record was prepared last in 1984.

POSCO began its operations in India by registering POSCO-India. The first attempt by the district administration to acquire land for the proposed plant and port was thwarted by strong local opposition, which began in early 2006 under the banner of 'POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti' (PPSS) (Anti-POSCO People’s Movement), based in Dhinkia village.

Scarcity of water for Irrigation

The volume of water required for the project is predicted to have a detrimental impact on water irrigation for the local population. According to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Government of Orissa is to permit draw and use of water (near about 12 thousand to 15 thousand crore liters) from the Mahanadi barrage at Jobra and Naraj in Cuttack for construction and operation of the “Overall Project”.

Concerns have been repeatedly raised over the past two years by citizens of the area and technical experts that this would severely impact the drinking and agricultural water supply of Cuttack and neighboring four districts. These concerns have not been addressed by the government yet.

Destruction of the Environment and threat to Gahirmala Marine Sanctuary

The proposed port to be built by POSCO at Jatadhari (Estuarine region of Ersamma) has also evoked environment concerns of damage to the coastline Conservationists. They have pointed out that any damage to the coastline by the construction of the port could pose a threat to the nesting habitat of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles. Especially at risk are the turtle-nesting beaches in the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, where nearly 400,000 Olive Ridleys come to nest every year.

Environmental research has shown that the nesting turtles are already threatened by illegal mechanized fishing, rapid loss of nesting beaches due to casuarinas plantations and industrial pollution. The proposed POSCO port poses a fresh threat. The port if built would also directly displace the livelihoods of several fishing communities as the Jatadhari estuary serves as a spawning and breeding ground for several species of fish. The recent analysis report prepared by Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of POSCO Captive port at Jatadhar Mohan Creek Paradeep Port points out that the “EIA report has completely missed out on addressing the issues of cumulative impact on people and habitat residing in the close vicinity as well as the land where the project is proposed”[4].

Implication of proposed mining in Khandadhar hills

The mining sites which have been proposed in the district of Keonjhar are also predicted to have detrimental impacts. Communities within these areas are already suffering under the social and environmental impacts of large-scale mining activity. Health problems are rampant in the region, particularly amongst the mine workers and their children. The poor health status of the mine workers and the increasing incidence of waterborne and respiratory diseases have been highlighted in a recent 'State of the Environment’ report.

The Khandadhar hills where POSCO is being allotted the mines, spread over 6000 hectares, are covered with forests, inhabited by a wide variety of wildlife and as well as flora. The adivasi (Indigenous people) communities, which form 74% of the population in the surrounding area will be severely impacted by the proposed mining.

Ongoing Human Rights Violations

Over the past four years, there have been a number of allegations of government repression from the local community. Local anti-POSCO activists have stated that the Government has filed several false cases against them, and that POSCO has been working to suppress the movement. In October 2008, the leader of anti POSCO movement, Mr.Abhaya Sahoo was arrested and 32 “false cases” were charged against him. To date, the movement has been democratic and non-violent, however, a recently released video reflects that Mr. Abhaya is being kept against his will by the government. You can view this video online at the following link www.youtube.com/watch?v=px3d52vTEuM

For more information, you can visit the following links:
http://stoposco.wordpress.com/
http://www.freewebs.com/epgorissa/posco.htm
http://www.ncasindia.org/public/GGG/series08.pdf

For further information, please contact
Prashant Paikray, Spokesperson, Posco Prathirodh Sangram Samiti (Anti-POSCO People’s Movement)
Email: prashantpaikray@gmail.com

Indian Christians- A community In turmoil

Steven L. D’ Souza, a 46-year-old voluntarily retired Indian civil servant and member of various peace keeping initiatives, makes an agonizing appraisal of the situation of the Indian Christians in a long article, distributed by Countercurrents.org.

The article is in three parts -- a brief introduction to the Indian Christian community in a wide historical context, an accounnt of the recent attacks on Christians in Orissa and several BJP-ruled States and analysis of the legal issues in the light of Supreme Court decisions.

The article, titled "Indian Christians -- a community in turmoil" can be accessed here.

Another fact-finding report from Orissa

The following is a press release issued by a fact-finding team which visited Kandhamal district of Orissa on September 22:

A fact-finding committee of 16 human rights activists from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Orissa toured the violence affected parts of Kandhamal district during the last two days to ascertain the factual details and the background concerning the wide spread events of arson, looting and murder aimed at the Christian people.

The team consisted of Dr. B. Ramulu, K. Balagopal, V.S. Krishna, V. Vasantha Laxmi, K. Murali, Rathnam, Shaik Khadar Baba (Human Rights Forum-HRF-Andhra Pradesh), V. Chitti Babu, V.V. Balakrishna, G. Raghuram, N. Srimannarayana and P. Venkata Rao (Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee-APCLC), Prof. A. Marx, (People Union for Human Rights, PUHR, Tamil Nadu), K.Kesavan, (Centre for Protection of Civil Liberties CPCL-Tamil Nadu), Prof. N. Babaiah, (People's Democratic Forum-PDF-Karnataka) and Debaranjan Sarangi, Social Activist, Orissa.

The team visited the relief camps at Darangabadi and G. Udayagiri. In addition we spoke to people of Baliguda, Brahmanigaon, Midiakia, Budrukia, Damikia, Jugapadar (Nuvagam), Lakebadi, Raikia, Kattingia and G.Udayagiri.

Before we begin a narration of the state of affairs, we must strongly condemn the attitude of the administration which is preventing anyone from meeting the inmates of the camps. Because of this we could spend only a short time at the camps of Darangabadi and G. Udayagiri. The situation we found in G. Udayagiri illustrates why the attitude of the administration is condemnable. The camp is located in tents put up on open ground which has become muddy in the continuous rains. The people are forced to sit on the water logged ground. We found pigs and other animals roaming around the place where food was being cooked. There is every likelihood of infections breaking out any day in this camp. When we spoke about this to the Relief Commissioner (southern region) Shri Satyabratha Sahu over telephone, he gave the unacceptable answer that other communities are objecting to the establishment of relief camps in pucca public buildings. Since these other communities are responsible for the Christians being reduced to refugees in their own land, their objection cannot be a consideration at all. But this is symptomatic of the way the administration is handling the violence.

From the very first day after killing of Lakshmanananda Saraswathi, there have been prohibitory orders in force in the whole of Kandhamal district. All the arson and murders took place during the prevalence of these prohibitory orders. It appears that the prohibitory orders were only useful to prevent the victims from assembling to protect themselves. They were never enforced against the large mobs of assailants. The marks of assaults could be seen in the burnt houses, church and other structures all along the road from Baliguda to G,Udayagiri and elsewhere.

As the administration well knows, the attacks continued to take place even after deployment of para-military forces and assurance given by the State government to the Supreme Court. A series of villages were attacked as recently as 18 September in the Raikia block and even as we were talking to people of Raikia information reached them that the Bajrang Dal planned to attack Sugudbadi, Padunbadi, Gundhami, Gamandi and Sisapanga. Even from other sources we have heard that large scale attacks are likely to take place today (22-9-2008). May be this is a precursor to tomorrow's programme that is the Kalash Yatra of the slain VHP leader. We have drawn the attention of the DIG of police southern range to this fact and though he assured us that the administration would give all necessary protection, given the fate of complaints made by the victims in the last one month there is reason of apprehension.

We were told by many of the victims that whenever they have given complaints to the local police station the response has been lukewarm. Even when specific names were mentioned, the FIRs were registered against unidentified persons. Even when information about an imminent attack has been given the SHO has not responded with a sense of urgency. These cannot be dismissed as imaginary complaints because the same people have appreciated the action of Rapid Action Force (RAF) in protecting lives and property. One instance is the attack on the village Kritapada in Raikia block.

The slogans uniformly given by the assailants when they looted and burnt villages show that they belong to Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal etc. While some arrests have been made by the police, the victims complain that the main leaders of these organizations are not only not arrested but some of them are on the peace committees set up by the administration. In the villages the same organizations are issuing threats that the victims will not be allowed to come back unless they agree to give up Christianity and convert to Hinduism. This is blatant violation of the constitutional fundamental right of freedom of religion. The administration appears to be helplessly looking on while such blatant suppression is taking place.

The VHP has been campaigning that there have been forcible conversions by the Christian missionaries in this area. On the other hand the victims have complained of forcible conversion by VHP. We will deal this issue in the detailed report that is to follow. For the present all that we need to say is that any forcible conversion is an offence in the eyes of law and can be dealt with by giving an appropriate complaint. Nobody has a right to indulge in mass violence against the Christian community in the name of forcible conversions. On the other hand we are of the opinion that the violence of the last one month is a planned attack on the Christian minority engineered by the Hindutva forces using gullible Adivasis as an instrument. The use of fire arms, petrol and other weapons, the selection of a lengthy route from Jalespeta to Chakapada along Christian habitations, and the blocking of all roads by cutting big trees indicates prior planning. The killing of Lakshmanananda Saraswathi merely gave an opportunity to them. While we do not support the killing of VHP leader, his followers have no right to indulge in mass reprisals and the administration cannot be a mere onlooker.

We place the following demands before the state government:

1. Visitors should be allowed to meet the inmates of the relief camps.
2. The camps should be located in pucca structures with protect from sun and rain and clean surroundings.
3. There is an impression that the administration is putting pressure upon the inmates of the camps to go back to their villages. The official number of persons in the camps has been reduced from 27000 to 13000 without the conditions improving at all in the villages. We demand that the camps should be continued until the people are able to live in freedom and dignity in the villages.
4. While a number of separate FIRs are registered, it is necessary to realize that the attacks are a consequence of a conspiracy by the VHP, Bajrang Dal etc. The leaders of these organisations must be charged with criminal conspiracy and immediately arrested.
5. Prompt and effective steps must be taken to prevent recurrence of incidents of violence and create confidence in the Christian population.

K. Balagopal, General secretary, HRF
V. Chitti Babu, Vice President, APCLC
Prof. N. Babaiah, PDF
A. Marx, State Organiser, PUHR
K. Kesavan, Joint Secretary, CPCL
Debaranjan Sarangi

Human Rights organizations call for tangible affirmative action in Orissa

The following is the text of a statement issued jointly by the Asian Human Rights Organization, Hong Kong, the National Human Rights Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, India, and the Dalit Solidarity Network, Denmark, on the Orissa developments:

The current wave of violence in Orissa, India is not surprising. After all, Orissa is a state in India ruled by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). The BJD has remained in power with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu fundamentalist political force operating in India. As a result, the BJD has subscribed to the larger Hindutwa agenda propagated by the BJP and its political allies like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal.

The ongoing violence in Orissa, though has been principally portrayed as a Hindu - Christian issue is in fact an act of attempted subjugation by the dominant caste upon the Dalits. Orissa like the rest of India is in abstract a society where the political economy is defined by the capacity of a dominant caste to arbitrarily subordinate the rest of its members especially the Dalits and the tribal communities. Social order is the excuse for this arbitrary domination; caste and religious practices its scepter.

In a society dominated by caste, the concept of individual and individual freedom does not exist. Caste is the language of unchallenged ascendancy of one group over the other. Subordination of the lower ranks is a rule than an expectation. The possibility of change is ruled out by awarding sempiternal birthrights to the privileged and anchoring perpetual subjugation and bondage to the underprivileged.

The essence of Hindu religion is this adamantine de rigueur of life. Vedas and the ultimate Sanadana Dharma are the pharisaic justifications offered to this slavery. The concept of Hindutwa, advocated by the BJP, VHP, BJD and its allies, in principle is the legitimisation sought for the attempted third revival of the Hindu religion and its necromantic practices.

The statements issued by these fundamentalist forces and their antagonism against other religions are transuding with hate speech, calling for the use of brute force to suppress any challenge to the dominant caste supremacy. The violence in Orissa used to suppress the Dalit empowerment in this context is not a surprise.

Orissa is a state in India with an estimated population of 32 million. About 84 percent of this population lives in villages and one third of them do not own any substantial extent of land other than their homestead. An estimated 28 percent of this population are Dalits. Until recently, this large Dalit population suffered unchallengeable exploitation by the dominant castes.

In the past 10 years there has been a massive social movement in Orissa empowering the Dalit communities. Empowered Dalits who declared themselves as socially equal in status started levelling the centuries old uneven social balance in the state.

Education and the knowledge gained through exposure emboldened the Dalits to fight and raise their voice against dominant caste supremacy. Discrimination and slavery were no more tolerated by the Dalits. Obviously, the dominant caste groups led by the VHP and its allies had to take drastic actions to suppress this awakening.

New avenues opened up for the Dalits by delinking themselves from the Hindu caste system and its pretentious hegemony has been an eyesore for the fundamentalist Hindu political forces in the state. The VHP that leads the fundamentalist Hindu forces in Orissa started forcibly closing all possible exits for the Dalits to escape from the furnace of the Hindu caste system. For this, they employed the wisdom they had gained from the annihilation of Buddhism in India.

Naturally for the Dalits the practice of any other religion other than Hinduism was declared a taboo. Regional and state-wide campaigns were organised by the VHP to counter the Dalit empowerment. Sections of the Dalit communities in the state were forced to declare their subjugation to the dominant caste groups in ritualised ceremonies conducted by brute use of force and intimidation.

The state government of Orissa led by the BJD, an invisible partner of the VHP, let these 'reintegration' ceremonies happen throughout the state. The confusion, trauma and sufferings caused by this religious vandalism was exploited by the so called anti-state actors like the Maoists operating in the state. Natural calamities, extreme poverty, starvation and malnutrition also added further fire to the commotion.

The murder of a VHP leader and four of his colleagues on August 23 was only yet another excuse for the communal forces like the VHP to fan out their vendetta against the Dalits and their empowerment in the state. What is being witnessed in Orissa is the meticulous execution of a larger plan to force the Dalits back into the talons of caste based discrimination.

A state government that lets such evil to befall upon a population by its inaction shares equal responsibility like the VHP. The conspiracy of the state administration and the VHP is evident from the five days of complete inaction of the administration to take any steps to prevent the violence. The state administration must be held equally responsible for the loss of life and property, including that of the VHP cadres.

Now that the state administration has proved itself to be a silent spectator to the violence in the state, the government of India must ensure that the ongoing violence is arrested immediately. The Dalits who were forced to seek shelter and safety in the forests must be provided security to return. The government must also ensure that the victims of violence are adequately compensated.

The true test of a state in protecting and promoting democracy and pluralism is not how much these terms are mentioned in the domestic laws, but how good is the state apparatus in preventing the infringement of democratic values and how much equipped are the state mechanisms in providing redress for any violations.

The government of India, by virtue of its Constitutional mandates and the moral and legal obligations arising out of its ratification of international treaties and conventions must ensure that a state of normalcy returns to Orissa.

India by virtue of ratifying international conventions like the Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination also has an obligation under the international human rights law to ensure that similar instances does not recur in the country. The international community also has a moral responsibility to urge the government of India to immediately put an end to the violence in Orissa.

It is only by such tangible affirmative action that the government of India can stand the test of commitment that it has sworn primarily to its own people and also to the protection, promotion and fulfilment of human rights and human values in the world.

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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984