Tata's dark underbelly -- biggest land grab after Columbus

I think the eulogisation of Tata's has gone too far. Behind all the glamour, sobriety and humanitariasm that we read and hear about Tata's, there is a dark hidden side which is kept under wraps. It is time we look at the destructive role Tata's have played over the years in uprooting thousands of poor families, and the resulting destruction of livelihoods and the environment.

To overcome their guilt, and that too aimed at pacifying the liberal voices in the urban centres, I am sure Ratan Tata would be thinking of setting up schools and funding some NGO activities in the tribal lands as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

What a sophisticated way to cover your dark underbelly !

I was quite taken aback today to see a frontpage headline in The Hindustan Times: The biggest land grab after Columbus. As the blurb says: Government report criticises corporate exploitation of tribal lands; tribals turn to new friends: Maoist. And if you remember only a few days back, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had publicly accepted, and made a promise: "The systemic exploitation of our tribal communities can no longer be tolerated."

Do you think Manmohan Singh will do anything to stop this? You bet, he will simply push for more such projects that will eventually destroy the social fabric of these tribal lands. If you think I am wrong, let us take the land-grab in Bedanji, a remote rural expanse in Bastar in Chhatisgarh, as a test case. The Tata's plan to set up a Rs 19,500 crore steel plant for which ten villages have to be emtied.

Interestingly, a report of the PM-appointed Ministry of Rural Development committee on Land Reforms has succintly said: "This open declared war will go down as the biggest land grab ever, if it plays out as per the script." The Hindustan Times report quotes the just-released government report warning against the corporate takeover in the Bastar hinterland: "The biggest grab of tribal lands after Columbus."

You can read the full news report here: http://www.hindustantimes.com/The-biggest-land-grab-after-Columbus/H1-Article3-476125.aspx

I was reading another detailed field report from Pravin Patel, a human rights activist. It tells you how the State government is helping facilitate the process of the massive takeover of tribal lands. It tells you how the official machinery has actually been hand in glove with the industrial houses to ruthlessly exploit the tribals.

This is what he writes: In Chattisgarh the tribal district Batar, District administration has played in the hands of house of Tatas by way of stage managed public hearing bluntly violating the norms and set procedures as laid down in the Notification to grant Environmental Clearances.

By making mockey of the conditions of the Notification where Public Hearing is a mandatory requirement where consultation with the likely affected villagers are held. But to fulfill this mandatory requirements, public hearing was held at the campus of the district collector, which is at a distance of about 30 Kms from the project area. This was done with mischivious motives as it is known to all that the villagers are strongly opposing the setting up of any steel plant in their area.

The entire drama was enacted to show off that the mandatory public hearing is held. This has proved to be nothing less than a puppet show of the district administration where except the most of the tribals who are residents of the villages to be affected, all others were present whom the project proponent hired or managed with the help of District Administration to dance to the tunes of the project proponent house of Tatas.

You may like to read his full report. Please click on: http://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/124f0af3377e6531

And finally, what does all this translate into. Well, you guessed it right. The tribals have no one else to seek solace and help from, except Maoists. What to talk of help, no one is willing to even listen to them except the Maoist. No wonder, Naxalism is growing.

As Gandhian Himanshu Kumar said the other day in an interview with the Times of India, (Nov 13, 2009) : Salwa Judum saw a 22-fold increase in Maoist numbers. Green Hunt will result in genocide of Adivasis. Those who survive will become Naxalites. (Read the interview: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Green-Hunt-will-result-in-genocide-of-Adivasis/articleshow/5223813.cms)

How true? But do you think anyone cares, least of all Manmohan Singh? Ha, he is more hinged to the GDP than the welfare of the human beings that he represents. With Tata's investing Rs 19,500-crore, which will add to the GDP, and that will be his government's report card.

"Silently I Weep" -- a scientist's tryst with science

Scientist Chitra Narayanasami gives us hope. I was feeling all these days that good science has been sacrificed at the altar of corporate interests. It is bad science that has taken over, with even distinguished centres of excellence like the Royal Academy of Sciences, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and universities like Harvard, Cornell, Cambridge bowing to the needs of Monsanto, ADM and Wal-Mart's.

I know quite a number of scientists who actually voice serious concern at the way present day science has been derailed by a few crooks in the guise of scientists, and I know they also weep silently. Like Chitra, I am sure there must be still a large number of scientists worldwide who haven't still mortgaged their conscious. This silent tide will turn the tables one day, I am very hopeful.

Thank you Chitra for giving me this hope. Your thoughts expressed in this moving poem have come as the only silver-lining peeping through the dark clouds of corporate takeover of science. I am sure the silent majority among the scientific community would remain eternally grateful to you for expressing their pain.

Here is a poem penned down by Chitra Narayanasami:

Silently I weep
My Tryst with Science

Beneath a smiling face
Silently I weep
When I put my little boy to sleep
In the scented fragrance of pyretheroids

Beneath a smiling face
Silently I weep
When I feed my little boy
With lethal genes of GM food

Beneath a smiling face
Silently I weep
When I clothe my little boy
With lethal genes of GM cotton

Beneath a smiling face
Silently I weep
When I failed to nurture my boy
The priceless natural air, food or clothing

Beneath a smiling face
Silently I weep
Enshrouded in languishing science
Pushed away miles from nature

Beneath a smiling face
Silently I weep
Tear by tear falling down in vain
Like pearls thrown before swine

Beneath a smiling face
Silently I weep
Hoping for a silver lining
In our tryst with science

- Chitra Narayanasami

(I thank my colleague Ramasamy Selvam for sharing this poem with us)

If you are an NGO, time to laugh at yourself

A picture they say is more than a thousand words. A good cartoon I think can be more than a Ph.D thesis. At times, I find a cartoonist says much more than what a post-doctoral thesis can conclude and that too after a study/research period has spanned three to five years. Rajkumar Patel's cartoon above (originally published at http://www.d-sector.org/) is not only a treatise on the working of the NGO community in India and for that matter worldwide, but also provides enough food for thought.

I find this cartoon is quite a reflection on the real purpose of innumerable NGO activities in the name of poverty, hunger and social discrimination. Although NGOs don't like to be told, but the fact remains that most of the civil society activities are driven by agenda of the funding agencies. It might be HIV AIDs today, tomorrow it can shift to global warming, and then you can always return to agriculture if nothing else works in the sense that project funding becomes a constraint.

It however does not mean that everyone is like that. There are good NGOs, there are bad NGOs and of course there are worst NGOs. I do agree that the number of good NGOs is fast receding, much faster than the Himalayan glaciers.

This cartoon also provides you an opportunity to laugh at yourself, and then to think whether it mirrors your role. If yes, it is time for a correction.

Himalayan Blunder: The perils of denying glacier melting

The last time I trekked to the Gangotri glacier was in 2007. I had to trek 37 kms (both ways) from Gangotri to reach Gomukh, the source of mighty Ganga. Everyone knows that Gomukh has retreated over the years.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh loves to challenge the dominant opinion (except in the case of Genetically Modified crops). Whether it is the stand India should take at the forthcoming Copenhagen conference or the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, he enjoys throwing a stone in the still waters and then sits back and enjoys watching the ripples it creates.

Jairam Ramesh loves to create unnecessary debate that can put him at the centrestage. At a time when newspapers and TV channels are dominated by film stars and cricketers, Jairam Ramesh has to find ways to stay in news. And I must acknowledge he has done fairly well. The PR agencies have a lot to learn from him.

I was therefore not even amused when Jairam Ramesh released on Monday a paper entitled Himalayan Glaciers by V K Raina, a former deputy director general of the Geological Survey of India. While the paper says that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that Himalayan glaciers are melting due to climate change, Mr Jairam Ramesh was quick to add that it is meant to "stimulate discussions".

I wonder what is the reason now for stimulating another discussion, after the recent leak of his letter to the Prime Minister asking him to take a u-turn in India's position on climate change to ostensibly show proximity to the United States. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if we learn subsequently that the paper was formally released to build up a case for river-linking. After all, billions of dollars are at stake and the lobby is still at work.

Neverthless, the simple reason why there is no "conclusive evidence" to show that the Himalayan glaciers are melting is because India had repeatedly turned down requests from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), for an exhaustive study of the Himalayan glaciers

The Indian government, which treats glacier studies only for defence purposes, did not see any major threat from the melting of glaciers and the formation of the newly created lakes. Perhaps India is waiting for another disaster to strike before it acknowledges the threat. Jairam Ramesh should realise that deflecting attention from the urgent need to do something more meaningful for protecting the Himalayan glaciers will be disastrous for the country's environment and food security.

I draw your attention to a Himalayan disaster in waiting. This is based on a detailed report prepared by ICIMOD sometimes back.

It happened on Aug 4, 1985. Dig Tsho glacial lake, situated close to the Mt Everest region at a height of 4,365 metres above sea level, suddenly burst. Within the next four hours, estimates show that nearly 8 million cubic metres of water had drained from the lake. The torrent moved forward rather slowly down-valley as a huge ‘black’ mass of water full of debris. The surge waters from what is called as ‘Glacial Lake Outburst Floods’ (GLOF), completely destroyed whatever came its way.

Within the next few hours, the GLOF had completely destroyed civil structures of Namche (Thame) Small Hydel Project (estimated cost of US $ 1.5 million), swept 14 bridges, long stretches of roads, trails, cultivated land and took a heavy toll of human and animal life.

Dig Tsho glacial lake was not the only of its kind in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain range that passes through Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan. With the glaciers retreating in the face of accelerating global warming, the resulting melting of snow forms glacial lakes downstream. While the total number of glaciers in the region is still unknown, ICIMOD had for the first time documented 3,252 glaciers in Nepal spread over 5,324 square kilometres. More significantly, the number of glacial lakes has been computed at 2,323. Most of these, it is believed, have formed in the past 50 years or so.

ICIMOD had identified 20 glacial lakes to be potentially dangerous, including 17 that do not have any prior outburst history. These lakes are situated in very remote and higher reaches but the catastrophe that they cause can be devastating for the local communities and the country’s economy. Take the case of Tsho Rolpha glacial lake. Situated in the Rolwaling Valley in Dolakha district, the lake is only 110 kms by a crow’s flight from the Capital city of Kathmandu. With the lake volume rising every year, the area increasing from 0.23 sq kms in 1959 to 1.55 sq kms in in 1990, and the subsequent weakening of the damming moraines that hold the water, researchers term it as ‘potentially dangerous’.

Not only in the Himalayas, glaciers are receding at a fast pace the world over. East Africa’s Mount Kilmanjaro is expected not to have any snow cap by the year 2015, its snow cover having shrunk at an alarming 82 per cent between 1912 and 2000. The alpine glaciers have reduced by 40 per cent in area and more than 50 per cent in volume since 1850. Since 1963, the Peruvian glaciers have retreated at the rate of over 155 metres a year. The Himalayan glaciers, however, are considered to be extremely sensitive to climate change as these accumulate snow during monsoon and shed it in summers. Other high-altitude glaciers on the other hand accumulate snow during winters and cast it off in summers.

The UNEP estimates that the bursting of glacial lakes is likely to become a major problem globally, especially in countries South America, India and China. But unfortunately, both India and China have used glaciers only for defence purposes. Much of the snow bound areas in both the countries is under the control of the armed forces and forms the ‘inner line of control’. No scientific access or public activity is allowed in these politically and strategically sensitive areas of high altitude. International pressure therefore has to be on both the giants to allow for scientific explorations and suitable remedial solutions to be put in place before the ‘inner line of control’ goes out of control.

While the world continues to debate over the dangerous implications of climate change on the glaciers, Nepal government, in collaboration with the Netherlands-Nepal friendship Association, had made a series of attempts to implement an early warning system, and at the same time launch efforts to mitigate the dangers of an outburst. Among the strategies adopted is to reduce the water level in the lake by three metres by way of a GLOF risk reduction system. Knowing that it is still not safe, the lake waters is planned to be further lowered by another 17 metres under the second phase, the Tsho Rolpha GLOF Permanent Remediation Project. This in itself is a remarkable initiative and needs to be replicated in the other countries faced with the fast receding but little understood phenomenon of the vanishing snow caps.

Three of the 20 potentially dangerous lakes (Nagma, Tam Pokhari and Dig Tsho) have past outburst records. There are six other glacial lakes that ICIMOD thinks have had a past outburst history but do not appear to be dangerous at present. Researchers opine that of the several possible methods of reducing the risk and probability of GLOF bursts, and that includes regular monitoring and early warning systems, the most important is to reduce the volume of water in the lake so as to cut down the peak surge discharge.

Protection human, animal life and the infrastructure and property would largely depend on careful planning and co-ordination with the concerned agencies. More importantly, it is crucial to frame the disaster mitigation policies and activities. Nothing better illustrates the urgency with which a massive global programme to save the mountains from an impending apocalypse. The mountain areas are already reeling under abject poverty and the accompanying destruction of the fragile habitat. Ignoring the serious and real threat of climate change will surely be still more catastrophic. #

"Naxalism is not a distant forest fire, it is now reaching our doorsteps."

My blog on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's concern about growing naxalism in the country evoked tremendous response. I am thankful to all those who took time off to write or text me their concern. This only goes on to show how outraged the nation feels at the dishonesty of the government's response.

Among the responses I received is this detailed analysis from film director Ajay Kanchan. It is a powerful and moving insight, which I would like to share with you all.

"Naxalism is not a distant forest fire, it is now reaching our doorstep."

Ajay Kanchan

One of the greatest philosophers Aristotle once said, "revolution is not possible in a country where there is a huge middle class". The rise of Maoists and Naxalites is not the withering away of middle class in India but swelling up of that section of society whose existence we barely recognize. This is the section of society whose generations after generations were made to pay with their lives and livelihoods in the name of so called "larger national interest" and what we are now witnessing is a stream of small but powerful pockets of revolutions in many parts of the country. And why not?

I shudder to feel if one fine morning someone comes and pastes a small poster in my colony that informs us that in the next 30 days our houses will be acquired in "larger national interest" as after demolishing them the Government will make a road here.

Just think of plight of people when their properties, especially the sources of livelihood are snatched on which they lived for generations and after generations, and that too without any compensation. During my Oxfam days many times I was driven to tears and my heart filled with anguished when I came across people who suffered multiple displacements. I still remember of visiting one village where many women even lost their eyesight because of chronic malnutrition and severe anaemia. That was not an exception as villages after villages will remind you as if you are not in India but in Ethiopia.

I have seen papers of compensation where people were paid 25 paise for mango trees, Rs 100 for their house and that too remained on paper as police simply heard them in a bus and sent off to far of places so that they can't even come back to the places where they used to live. Many of these people had never seen a road or a vehicle in their lifetime.


Actually sir, the rise of Maoists and Naxals is nothing but the outcome of the structural violence that the Indian State, or I should say the misrule that successive governments have unleashed against its own people in the last 62 years, which is largely responsible for the parallel power structures in almost 300 districts of the country.

A war with Pakistan or China may never take place in view of all the countries are possessing nuclear weapons but a civil war, where the armed forces will be pitted against our own people is now seems inevitable. The political diaspora in the country always needs a powerful villain to keep itself in power, and therefore Arundhati Roy is spot on when she said "What Muslims are for the BJP, the Maoists and Naxalites are for the Congress".

Let's face it sir that our country has always been described as "India" that belongs to the elite and upper middle class and "Bharat" where the poor and downtrodden live, but what everyone forget so conveniently that there are more than 40 million internally displaced people, a number which is perhaps much more than the combined population of refugees all over the world. These internally displaced people may still be the citizens of this country but their lands have been snatched, their means of livelihood have been destroyed, their women have been raped and butchered, their children have no future, so what will they do other than declaring a war against the Indian state. This is how it all started.

Two wrongs can never make a right, but how long one party will continue to behave as if committing wrong is its prerogative, and this is precisely the way the Indian state has behaved against its poor in the last six decades. We need to contemplate on the reasons why the successive Governments at Centre and in States have failed to stem the rot and why over 800 million people still earn less than Rs 20/- a day. Unless we do an honest introspection and address the issues as they are, we will continue to hurtle into chaos and civil war.

Sir, Salwa Judum, a defence committee of villagers against Naxals was the Congress idea and started during Ajit Jogi's tenure as the CM of Chattisgarh. It was a clever Congress ploy aimed at divide and rule but it boomeranged. Most of the displacement of people without any compensation has taken place during Congress regimes.

Just before leaving Oxfam I made a comprehensive project "India Displaced" and most of points that we listed were given to Ministry or Rural Development and Tribal Welfare. Question is that who is preventing the government from implementing it? Why there is no sense of urgency?

Sir, my fear is that with the emergence of a one party (or one coalition) rule in the country the corrupt elements in the political system will compromise the interests of the country. The emergence of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and surrendering of Indian agriculture to US MNCs like Monsanto is a case in point.

Unfortunately, Congress is not the only one as the eagerness of all the political parties to rob the people of their lives and livelihoods simply because of mineral wealth in areas where they live will only grow in the days to come. Previously we the rich urban dwellers wouldn't even get to know their misdeeds but this time they have a powerful villain called "Maoists and Naxals" to deal with, whose means are no less pervert than that of the forces they are combating.

One outcome is certain and becoming more and more apparent that India is cracking up from within. The continued hypocrisy and denial will only lead to bloody battles and ultimately result into disintegration of the country. It's inimical to "acquire and consume" culture that most of us live in. Fire is no longer somewhere in distant forest it's now reaching right on our doorstep.

Prabhash Joshi: The unsung hero of people's economics

Prabhash Joshi (1937-2009): The doyen of Indian journalism

"Sriman, Aapne Devi Lal aur V P Singh ko lagta hai bahut naraz kar diya (Mr, it looks you have annoyed Devi Lal and V P Singh)," Prabhash Joshi asked me the moment he got down from his car.

"So Sir, it looks you you have also got to know about it," I replied. "Know about it, you bet, they had wanted you to be sacked," Mr Joshi dropped the bomb. Putting his arm around my shoulder, he then took me inside, and narrated the entire story. I was then the State Correspondent for the Indian Express, based at Shimla in Himachal Pradesh.

Only a few days back, Mr V P Singh, Mr Devi Lal and Mr Ajit Singh, the trio contesting against Rajiv Gandhi in the 1989 general elections, had come to Himachal Pradesh to campaign. After the public rally held at Kufri, a little beyond Shimla, the three leaders sat down for a press conference at the Wild Flower Hall. It was there that V P Singh blamed Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, for using the official machinery in elections.

"Mr Singh," I asked, and added: "You came today in the the official beechcraft aeroplane of the Haryana government, so please tell me who will pay the bill." Before V P Singh could reply, Devi Lal, the then Chief Minister of Haryana, blurted out: Bhai, Devi Lal will pay the bill."

"Will Devi Lal pay the bill or the Haryana government," I asked. "You should know," he said in chaste Haryanavi, adding: "Devi Lal means the Haryana Government." I tried to correct him telling him that Haryana government meant the people of Haryana, and Devi Lal means he himself. Mr V P Singh intervened explaining that it becomes absolutely necessary for a chief minister to use his aeroplane otherwise by the time he returns back, the files on the table would touch the ceiling.

"Exactly, Mr Singh, this is what I want to convey. It is for the same reason that Rajiv Gandhi is also using the official machinery," I replied. Mr Singh then walked upto me, took me aside, and asked me which newspaper I represented. I knew my question was politically incorrect, and was not surprised to find even the journalists in the hall trying to avoid me, lest they be associated with me.

The next two days, Mr Prabhash Joshi said, both Mr Devi Lal and V P Singh had frantically tried to reach the editors of Indian Express, asking them to sack me. It was by sheer chance that when Devi Lal tried to reach the newspaper's owner Ram Nath Goenka in Mumbai, the call was put through to Mr Prabhash Joshi, who happened to be in the pent house of the Indian Express towers in Mumbai.

"Devi Lal must have called me at least ten times during the day. Every time, he wanted to know what action have we taken against you." I was listening to him very attentively. "Finally, in the evening I told Devi Lal that we have heard his complaint, and decided to file it," added Mr Joshi. This surely infuriated both Mr Devi Lal and Mr V P Singh, who finally did reach Mr Ram Nath Goenka, but in vain.

Mr V P Singh became Prime Minister after the elections, and Mr Devi Lal the Deputy Prime Minister.

Prabhash Joshi is no more today. He succumbed to a heart attack soon after India lost to Australia in the thrilling one-dayer at Hyderabad on the night of Nov 5. While the nation lost one of its doyen's of journalism, some rightly rate him as the bhisham-pitamah of Hindi journalism, to me it is a great personal loss. He was like an elder brother to me, always prodding and supporting my initiatives. I am very fortunate to have featured in his columns/writings and in his speeches.

He was not only a great journalist, the likes of which we may not see again, but was a also a great social reformer and activist. Even at a stage in his life when his health (he had already undergone a bypass surgery) would not allow him to take so much of physical stress, he was extensively travelling, mostly to mofussil towns and villages speaking about the economic injustice being perpetuated through the process of globalisation. It was in fact difficult for me to keep pace with his travels.

I once told him that you beat me in travelling. He would laugh it off, and once came up with a light remark: Who can beat you Mr Devinder Sharma. I am only trying to take your message to the masses. And I want to do it, before they beat me in this race"

And as Neerja Chowdhury writes in her obituary piece today in Times of India: "As he moved around in recent months, speaking in city after city, he would say, half in jest: It is because I move from Pune to Surat to Bhopal, I am able to elude the 'asli sipahis' (real soldiers) of Yamraj 'jo mujhe pakar nahin pa rahe hain' (who are unable get me)." On Thursday night, they finally got him.

From the obscure villages to the Prime Minister's house, was his reach. I don't think any journalist or activist or educationist can ever think of such a wide reach across the horizon. In fact, those who campaign in Geneva or Brussels or Washington DC do not know that if it was not for Prabhash Joshi, India would have thrown in the gloves in the multi-lateral trade negotiations much ago. Prabhash Joshi did not understand the nitty-gritty of the negotiations but used his skills and ability to bring people who matter onto a single platform, and influence policy decisions.

Just prior to the WTO Ministerial conference in Seattle in 1999, one day I called up Mr Prabhash Joshi. I told him that India is unlikely to stand up to the US pressure in the forthcoming talks, and my hunch is that India will buckle and sign on the dotted line. In fact, the position paper that India has prepared and submitted to WTO is very weak, and it looks India will sacrifice the livelihood of its 600 million farmers. Prabhash Joshi understood the urgency, and was equally concerned.

He said let us talk to the ex-Prime Minister Chandrashekhar. We both went to him, and I explained to late Mr Chandrashekhar the threats ahead. We pondered over the issue, and then finally Mr Prabhash Joshi suggested that let Mr Chandrashekhar organise a dinner at his place for all the big wigs in politics, and let us invite Dr M S Swaminathan to come and explain the threats to Indian agriculture. Chandrashekhar agreed, and we then got a suitable date from Dr Swaminathan.

A few days later, the dinner happened at Chandrashekhar's place. Among those present included former Prime Ministers V P Singh, H D Deve Gowda, Inder Gujral, and a galaxy of politicians including the then Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar, and also Sharad Pawar. Nitish Kumar was so preturbed after listening to me and Dr Swaminathan, that immediately thereafter he called the Agriculture Secretary to prepare a presentation for this group.

Sharad Pawar (the present Food & Agriculture Minister) offered to host another dinner the next evening, and also promised to bring some more senior politicians from across the political spectrum, so as to understand and take a collective decision. Every one agreed, and Dr Swaminathan also extended his stay in Delhi.

The next evening we met at Sharad Pawar's residence. The Agriculture Secretary made a power-point presentation. Believe me, it appeared very clearly that our decision makers were actually not aware of the ground realities, not aware of what was being negotiated on our behalf at WTO. I remember Mr V P Singh and Mr Chandrashekhar asking me several times as to what the particular statement like the subsidies to the US farmers would mean for Indian farmers, and so on. As far as I can remember, Sharad Pawar for instance was absolutely convinced after the meeting that WTO was harmful for Indian agriculture.

It was then decided to set up a small committee, which would include V P Singh and Chandrashekhar, to go and meet the then Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee. This happened, and we know India's position before the WTO underwent a dramatic change. Several years later, Prabhash Joshi was instrumental in initiating another similar high-level political meeting before the Cancun Ministerial.

Only a few days back, I had discussed the possibility of holding a similar all-party political dialogue on the agrarian crisis and farmer suicides, including the dangers of GM food crops and corporate agriculture. With both Chandrashekar and V P Singh no more with us, Prabhash Joshi suggested that this time we could involve the respected former Lok Sabha Speaker Mr Somnath Chatterjee. Now with Prabhash Joshi also departing, I am not sure whether I would be ever able to influence political thinking the way he could.

Prabhash Joshi was the hero in journalism, but remained an unsung hero of the movement against globalisation, was always for economics to borrow the phrase from E F Schumacher (who had a strong influence on him), 'as if people mattered.' He has left an unfinished task for me and my colleagues. He has taught me to stand up for the poor and impoverished. He has taught me to never be in the awe of big names and personalities, to stand up for truth and have faith in people. I assure you Mr Joshi, I will stand upto your aspirations and dreams. You have given me the confidence to say: Yes, I can.

Mr Prime Minister, your policies are alienating the tribals

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh often expresses his side of the dormant human face that lies somewhere burried deep inside him. A day before yesterday, as a Maoist bandh began in Orissa and in parts of West Bengal, Prime Minister acknowledged there has been a 'systemic failure' in ensuring the progress of tribals. "We've failed tribals, want to rectify that."

He was addressing a conference of chief ministers and tribal affair ministers in New Delhi, on Nov 4.

This is not the first time the Prime Minister has made such meaningful statements or let us say has come out in the open acknowledging the faults that prevails in the official system. Remember the last time he talked about crony capitalism, and then on one ocassion he had pointed at the vulgarity of the massive take-home monthly packages by the corporate and business heads at a time when the country was faced with hunger, poverty and growing unemployment.

"The alienation built over the decades is taking a dangerous turn," said Singh. "There has been a systemic failure in giving tribals a stake in modern economic processes. The systematic exploitation of our tribal communities can no longer be tolerated."

Very powerful words indeed. Coming from the Prime Minister himself it gives the nation an impression that man at the top is after all humane, and is willing to set the house in order. It looks as if the apathy and crime that the civilised India, and that includes the Corporate India, or call it modern India, has been inflicting on the tribals will come to an end. But don't forget, it is often said that if dreams were horses, beggars would ride.

I remember soon after he had for the first time taken over as Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh had in one of his speeches said that there were 161 districts which were inflicted with Maoism. Today, nearly a third of India, close to 235 districts, are faced with Maoist violence. These people have picked up the gun, not because they are trigger-happy, but because of the decades of oppression and suppression that they have been subjected to. What do you expect when someone is driven to the wall, and that too for ages.

The ruthless exploitation has gone on for generations, and what do you expect the simple folks in the tribal areas to do. They can't go on chanting bhajans and hope that someday the gods would listen to them. Picking up the gun comes as a last resort, and we must accept that it is because of our failure as a society that the tribals are on a warpath. No amount of fire-fighting or sending the army to fight the tribals in the guise of Maoists is going to be helpful, the Prime Minister must know this.

I agree that "no sustained activity is possible under the shadow of the gun," as the Prime Minister stated the other day. But no 'sustained activity" is possible when the government on the one hand is busy facilitating the process of continued exploitation of the tribal lands, and at the same time bringing in economic policies that displaces the tribals and forces them to sell their daughters and wives as a last resort to survive the State onslaught.

Mr Prime Minister, let us first acknowledge that it is your own economic policies that are alienating the tribals. The Special Economic Zones (SEZ) for instance that your government is aggressively pushing, the massive land acquisitions that your government is again thriving on, the usurping of the traditional rights of the tribal communities and above all the systematic destruction of sustainable agriculture all over the country, is primarily responsible for growing violence.

A Planning Commission report had very clearly brought out that roughly 360 districts in India (out of the 600-odd) are faced with one kind of strife or the other. If you leave aside communal violence, much of the fault rests with the Planning Commission itself for perpetuating policies that have acerbated the crisis, by alienating the people from their natural resources, by taking away their right of life.

We all know that the tribal lands are rich in natural resources, including forests, minerals and diamonds. We know that the economic growth the country talks about is actually built on criminal exploitation of these tribal resources. You call it growth economics, I call it violent economics. Violence not only in the form of the gun culture that prevails now, but includes the global economic crisis which also is the outcome of this violent economics. The climate change the world is faced with is also the result of the flawed economic thinking, another form of violence that has brought the world closer to a tripping point.

And then you say that "Nor have those who claim to speak for tribals offered an alternate economic or social path that is viable." This is not true, Mr Prime Minister.  The fact is that you actually do not want to see any reasoning in what those who speak for tribals are trying to say. There are ample suggestions being put forward. If not, you can spend some time visiting the tribal leaders, setting an example by leading from the front (like the young parliamentarian Mr Rahul Gandhi is doing).

The reality is that it is only you who is not keen to listen to these voices of reasoning.

Please tell the nation when was the last time you sat with them to find out the reasons behind the cult violence in the tribal lands. When was it that your government (or the State governments) have even thought of putting together a 'sustained activity' to restore the pride of the tribals. Your only interest is to see how the Corporates make more profits, because that is what will add to GDP, your sole rating criteria. You have your self said once that SEZ is an idea whose time has come. And how many of these SEZ are coming up in the tribal lands, will you please tell the nation.

There are enough reasons to get more worried. Privatisation of natural resources, including water, destruction of the sustainable farming practices, and the policies that are meant to push farmers out of agriculture, the population transfer that your government is contemplating, will add on to the existing crisis. It will lead to a still more 'dangerous turn'.

You will therefore agree Mr Prime Minister, every great leader must find some time to introspect, to see where he/she is going wrong. It is high time you re-discover the human side of Manmohan Singh, and then initiate policies and actions that can make that historical correction that you often talk about but never meant it. I am sure you can do it. You have the ability, and the capability. Do it, Mr Prime Minister, and this nation will remain eternally grateful to you.