Naxalism is the most significant political movement since independence. It has been the most long-lasting though it has had its ups and downs. Despite its fragmented nature a continuing thread with some variations can be seen in the ideological thrust, strategy and tactics of mobilization of different groups within its fold. It is the only movement which having started in one police station of a single district in West Bengal in 1967 has expanded its activities covering over 460 police stations in 160 districts across 14 states despite the police force and infrastructure having grown manifold during this period. The movement’s capacity to challenge the state has also enormously increased considering the incidents of violence and casualties resulting from them. The movement is viewed with greater anxiety in the government because it is most intense precisely in areas which are rich in natural resources and, therefore, targeted for fast-track industrial development. These are also the areas which have a history of mass protests by the peasantry against colonial policies. The movement is also unique in that it tends to mobilize the most subdued and socially marginalized sections and lays bare, as probably no other movement has done, the sharp fissures in the society, politics and economy. Unlike the political mass movements with violent underpinnings featuring in the border areas, naxalites do not seek to secede from the Indian union to establish a sovereign independent state of their own but only to capture political power through armed struggle to restructure society.
A movement with such clarity of goals and sharply carved out strategies is usually spearheaded by a well knit organization. Though the naxlite movement continues to be fragmented in separate small groups, after 1977 three organized political formations – CPI (ML)- Liberation, CPI (Maoist) and CPI (ML) have emerged with their distinct programmes, policies and strategies of revolution. Although all of them share the broad ideological goal of overthrowing the government and capture of state as a prelude to revolutionary restructuring of society, their strategies of achieving it in respect of mobilization of people, role of armed underground cadre, participation of people in their actions, solving people’s grievances differ. Basically it is the approach to parliamentary politics and the pursuit of armed struggle that differentiates the three formations (Mohanty, 2006). The groups which are not banned participate in the elections and also have representatives in the elective bodies. Their mass mobilization activities are, however, severely constrained by formal and informal prohibitions imposed by the local administration. After the merger of CPI (ML) (People’s War) with Maoists Community Centre (MCC) in September, 2004, CPI (Maoists) have emerged as the dominant naxalite group and the most visible face of the movement. Its mode of struggle has emerged as the defining feature of naxalism and determines the nature of state’s response to the movement and civil society’s attitude in the matter.
Social and political movements do not arise in vacuum. They are rooted in the objective conditions of life and respond to the deep-seated frustrations of the people with the existing social, economic and political order, its institutions and practices and the notions of development, participation and governance which they challenge and seek to change. The state becomes central to this enterprise since it carries the legitimate monopoly on the means of violence, functions as an arbiter for allocation of socially valued goods and upholder of existing institutions and practices, andshapes relationships between citizens, organized interests, institutions and political system. It makes binding decisions, claiming to represent and aggregate various social interests and enforces adherence to themAlthough naxalite movement is spread over 12 states, the most acutely affected ones happen to be Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa and
Structural violence
The social conditions of the dalits and the tribes are deeply conditioned by the agrarian and social structures. The agrarian structure is determined by the pattern of land holding, access to land and other productive assets and social relations evolved on that basis. The social structure is embedded in the caste based Hindu social order in the case of dalits and the hegemonic relations between the culturally distinct tribals and the predominant non-tribal population in the case of tribes which influences all facets of their lives. The two structures combinedly produce oppressive conditions for these groups and reinforce each other in this process. The land holding pattern is highly skewed and the dalits constitute the largest percentage of landless persons. A significant percentage among them does not even have secure homestead land. The tribals, which at one time were privileged to own some land, have recorded the fastest pace of landlessness among different social groups in recent times. The two constitute bulk of the agricultural labourers and workers in the unorganized sector. The dalits, in the absence of opportunities for wage employment elsewhere, are dependent upon the landowners for providing them avenues of livelihood in the rural areas. The conditions generated by this relationship are extremely exploitative. These include payment of very low wages, long hours of work, debt-bondage, control over produce from owned land, if any, humiliating treatment and physical assault in the case of non-compliance of employer’s orders. Theother dimension of agrarian structure is reflected in the arrangements for cultivation of land where a landless or a near landless person leases in land from the land owner and undertakes to cultivate it as a tenant or sharecropper. With no bargaining power due to unequal status and absence of alternative employment, the landowners take the lion’s share of the produce without contributing anything to the production of the crop and do not bear any risk if the crop fails. The tenant has no security and can be evicted at any time. This leaves the poor cultivator with not even sufficient share/income to subsist. These conditions produced by the agrarian structure are worsened by caste based social structure which institutionalizes social exclusion, imposes degrading occupations on the dalits, heaps numerous indignities in social intercourse including sexual exploitation of their women, blocks all avenues of social advancement to perpetuate domination. This oppressive regime is enforced by physical violence as evidenced in the numerous atrocities dalits face. In the case of tribes, the agrarian structure has deprived them of access to natural resources vital to their subsistence traditionally. This is being done through alienation of their owned land by force, fraud and manipulation, displacement from land, habitat and livelihood due to acquisition of land by the government, and denial of access to forest resources. It has robbed them of the fruits of their labour through low wages, usurious money lending, un-remunerative returns for their produce (forest and agricultural), and debt bondage. The multi-faceted exploitation in all spaces of social intercourse by the non-tribals accompanied by social indignities constitute, in short, the social conditions of the tribals. These conditions produce a never ending structural violence which is an integral part of their daily lives.
This violence become even more tyrannical and insufferable because of the deep injustices and violence of the state machinery - police, civil, forest, excise and development, and institutions which have been mandated to combat it. This happens when the dalits and tribes approach the state functionaries for seeking justice against violations of law, denial of entitlements and acts of oppression by the persons belonging to the dominant communities. Far from getting justice, they face an indifferent, unresponsive and, quite often, even hostile machinery which is in collusion with their tormentors. For example, in the case of physical violence and other criminal offences committed by the dominant landed castes on the tribes and the dalits, the latter’s complaints quite often are not registered. Rather, in many cases, false counter-cases are registered against the victims on the complaints of the accused persons. Even when complaints of victims are registered under pressure from above, deliberate flaws are built into the investigation of cases to spoil the case and facilitate the acquittal of the accused. In addition, pressure is exerted on the victims to enter into a compromise with the accused and withdraw the case. The other instances of such violence occur when no action is taken against refusal to deliver possession on land allotted to a dalit or a tribal by the government or dispossession from the land already under valid occupation, denial of minimum wages, forced labour, alienation of tribal land, and social boycott for protesting against injustices, imposition of degrading practices etc. The registration of numerous petty cases under forest, excise laws is yet another facet of this violence which results in incarceration of the poor tribals who cannot even find a bailer when a bail is granted. The violence is also inflicted when civil and political rights are denied, protest against failure to get justice is suppressed, the entire community is punished for transgressions of the individuals, and when excesses of officials fail to get investigated fairly and punished.
This structural violence is unrecognized, un-noticed and silently borne by the victims and becomes invisible in the public policy discourse on the naxalite movement which entirely focuses on the uni-dimensional violence of the naxalites for calibrating its response. It is to seek freedom from precisely this structural violence that the tribals, dalits and other poor of the area are attracted to thenaxalite formations since other political parties fail to incorporate this concern as a political agenda of top priority and vigorously pursue it to get justice delivered.
Human Development Deficits
Poverty
concentration of tribals in agriculture (more than 70% are dependent on agriculture) makes them extremely vulnerable because the tribal land is poor in soil fertility and almost entirely rain-fed. Only 26% of the land owned by the tribals is irrigated compared to 53% in respect of the other communities. The region is mono-cropped and productivity very low. The agricultural activity is also extremely vulnerable to climate fluctuations (most frequently visited by drought) and the produce by market fluctuation and, therefore, yields low income.
Food Insecurity
Both the dalits and tribals suffer from acute food deficiency but the tribals face it far more than the dalits. As per official data, nearly 1% of the tribal households do not have sufficient food in any month of the year while nearly 3% of the households face food shortage for some months in a year which is an underestimate. The food insufficiency affects 6% of the tribal households while the level is 4-5% in the case of dalits. In either case, it is far higher when compared to the other groups. Nearly 71.6% of tribal households are food deficit for 2-3 months and 5% for six months and above. The incidence of starvation deaths, characteristic of extreme impoverishment, is the highest in the tribal areas where families are forced to sell their children for survival. Hunger is also the greatest cause of indebtedness among the tribes as they borrow money for consumption at very high rates of interest during the lean agricultural season when there is no employment.
Low Per-capita Consumption
These depressing indicators in respect of productive assets, employment and food insecurity lead to low per-capita consumption expenditure – an indication of low purchasing power. In the case of tribals, approximately 50% of rural households are concentrated in the consumption class of less than Rs.340 while the corresponding percentage in the case of dalits is 40% and for others 17%. In the urban areas, 52% of the tribal households are in the consumption class of Rs.577 as against 29% of the other groups. The inequality and the ratio of poverty between the tribals and others have increased over the years (Radhakrishna and Ray, 2005). As per the Report of National Commission for Enterprises in the Un-organized Sector, 392 million people live with an average per capita consumption of Rs.20/- a day (NCEUS, 2006). There is little doubt that the dalits and tribals constitute the largest segment in this category particularly in the states which are affected by naxalite activities.
Literacy
But poverty is not an economic phenomenon alone. It has social dimensions as well which are reflected in other human development indicators. The level of literacy is the most important of them. The dalits had been deprived of education for centuries under the then existing social order and the tribals remained cut off from the mainstream educational facilities until the intervention of the Missionaries during the colonial period. Despite the policy of universalisation of education, the level of literacy as per census data (2001) among the dalits is 67% (male) and 42% (female) and among tribals, 59% (male) and 35% (female) as against 79% (male) and 58% (female) in the case of others. The literacy gap between the dalits and others in percentage points 14 and between the tribals and others 22 (GOI, 2008). In respect of the states affected by the naxalite movement, the literacy rate is 28% for
Health
The situation in respect of health status is even worse. The infant mortality rates, indicative of the reach of primary health care is as high as 84.2 per thousand in the case of tribals and 83 per thousand in the case of dalits compared to 61.8 in the case of others. Their limited access to health care is evident from the fact that barely 42% of the pregnant dalit women could get ante-natal care from a doctor compared to 64% of the other communities and 28% only could consult an ANM. In the case of the tribes, only 18% could have their deliveries in a health facility compared to 51% among the other communities and 33% in the case of dalits (GOI, 2008). The position in respect of the under 5 mortality is 119.3 in respect of the dalits and 126.6 in the case of tribes compared to 82.6 for others (MTA, 2005). The disparity is also reflected in the high morbidity, low level of immunization, high level of malnutrition among women in these communities. The nutritional levels in these groups are truly disturbing. The percentage of children with anemia is 78% in the case of dalits and 79% in the case of tribes. The incidence of anemia among women is the highest (64.9%) in the case of tribes while it is 40-50% in the case of other social groups. The estimated 46.3% of the tribal women suffer from body mass of <18.5 style="mso-spacerun:yes"> tribal adults suffer from chronic energy deficiency. The crude death rate is also higher among the tribals. The most chronic malnutrition areas in the country are in the tribal belt of
Drinking Water, Sanitation, Housing
The situation in respect of access to drinking water also reveals wide disparities. Only 15.2% of the tribal households and 27% of dalit households have a drinking water facility in their premises compared to 45.2% among the general population. While 28.2% of the tribal households have drinking water sources away from the premises, this percentage is 19.5 for the dalit households and only 14.4 in respect of the households of general population. Merely, 20% of the tribal households have the privilege of tap drinking water as against 32% of the dalit households and 40.1% households in the case of general population. The percentage of villages where there is zero improvement in drinking water source is the highest where the tribals reside (23.5%) while it was the lowest (6%) in the case of general population. The position in respect of sanitation is even more dismal. Only 17% of the tribal households and 23.7% of the dalit households have latrine facilities against 42.3% of the general category households. The percentage of households with connectivity of waste water outlet is only 21.8% for the tribals and 42.9% for the dalits when compared to 50.6% for the general population. Only 24.4% of the tribal household have a pucca house while this percentage is 42.8 for the dalit households and 57.7 in the case of general category social segment. This percentage is the lowest in Chhattisgarh (8.2%), followed by 12.9% in Orissa. The access to electricity is enjoyed only by 36.5% of the tribal households and 44.3% of the dalilt households in comparison to 61.4% of the rest of the social groups. As elsewhere, these figures for the tribals as a whole would usually be lower in respect of the states affected by the naxalite movement.
Disparities in Infrastructure
The wide disparities in human development are also accompanied by a huge gap in the availability of development infrastructure (roads, bridges, transport networks, telecommunication facilities) as well as social infrastructure (schools, health centres, piped water supply schemes, power distribution lines) and production infrastructure (irrigation, storage go-downs for PDS, cold storage for preservation of marketable produce, outlets for supply of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, veterinary centers, banking units – commercial and cooperative) in the naxalite affected areas. Geographical inaccessibility, hilly and undulating terrain, scattered habitations, sparse population with low density have provided convenient alibis for this neglect, such as economic non-viability, high cost, difficulty in operations and maintenance (MTA, 2006). The infrastructure is not merely inadequate but at a lower level of gradation than the rest of the country. There is a candid admission by the government that this lack of critical infrastructure results in the inability of tribal areas to meaningfully absorb funds, including institutional support (MTA, 2006). This gap in infrastructure is widening at a faster rate. Besides, even the meager infrastructure that exists in the region is deteriorating due to poor maintenance and, therefore, becomes increasingly non-functional due to lack of funds. The non-functionality of social infrastructure is even more seriously compromised by the absence of teachers from schools, doctors and paramedics from health centres, and service providers in respect of other vital services. These functionaries who largely come from the developed regions of the sate and higher social groups are disinclined to work in the tribal areas. This explains why the people in these areas receive poor services.
Social Exclusion
These disparities in human development attainments are not caused by bias in policies or paucity of resources but are rooted in the social structure which excludes these groups from the benefits of development and access to social services. The social status of the dalits is determined by birth, reinforced by degrading social practices and vocations imposed on them and sustained by social sanctions and physical force. The dalits and tribes in every walk of life and all stages suffer from numerous discriminatory and exclusionary practices which deny entitlements and equal access to opportunities by the higher caste groups in the case of the dalits and by the non-tribal groups in the case of tribes. This can be observed in the prevalence of untouchability experienced by the dalits not withstanding its abolition. The untouchability practices include exclusion in drawing water from a public well, access to a temple and participation in religious procession, entry into a village shop, restrictions in wearing clothes of choice and movement within the village, house entry, access to village level institutions, prohibitions on marriage processions through village road and discrimination in treatment while receiving services of the barber, postman, washer-man, potter, priest and the grocery shop keeper as also in village festivals, cultural events, sitting arrangement of students in the village schools, separate earmarking of seats in village panchayats and serving of tea and snacks in separate cups and plates. The extent of prevalence of these practices is not uniform and varies across states. On the economic front, discrimination is practiced in the labour market, input market, access to social services and participation in some category of jobs. This bias can be observed in refusing to hire dalit or tribal candidates in the case of employment despite fulfillment of formal qualifications and favouring less qualified candidates of the other castes, wage rate, share of rent, rate of interest charged, fees for services, working conditions, opportunities for upward mobility and in the sale of items from shops owned by the dalits. The restrictions are also imposed on the change of traditional occupation by them. The dalits also face differential treatment and restrictions in access to land, labour, capital, credit education and other inputs and services required for participation in commercial activities (Thorat, 2007). This translates into denial of jobs, denial of access to capital market through denial of sale, purchase or leasing of land, sale and purchase factor inputs and commodities and consumer goods. The social barriers also exist in the formal urban labour market even for the highly qualified dalits and tribals. Despite public policy to support entrepreneurship among these groups, they account for only 10% and 4.6% of the private enterprises in the country compared to 40% and 45% in respect of the OBCs and higher castes respectively in the rural areas and even less in the urban areas. The bulk of even these are household enterprises (Thorat and Sadane, 2009). The patterns of exclusion and caste discrimination pervade the public sphere as well including a number of state institutions and interactions that occur within them (Shah et al, 2006). It also afflicts government services, as brought out, for example, in a survey conducted in 531 villages of five states which exposed such practices in Mid Day Meal Scheme and Public Distribution System. The dominant caste communities bar dalit children from the Mid Day Meal Scheme, oppose engagement of dalit cook, segregate seating arrangement, serve separate meals, give dalit children inferior or insufficient food. The dalit’s access to PDS is compromised by differential treatment in the quantity of grains supplied, price of grain charged, favouritism in favour of the higher castes, untouchability in the mode of distribution and ownership of PDS shops (Throat and Lee, 2005). While the discrimination listed above also takes place, though less so, in the case of tribes, they are far greater victims of fraud by the non-tribals in every walk of life – in the transactions of the market, access to services, social intercourse, economic activities etc. This exclusion and discrimination is directly linked to lower income and higher poverty.
The social inequality driven by the hierarchical social structure and cultural differentiation and the inferiority it generates overwhelms economic inequality and is reinforced by it. This hurts the victims more than poverty and deprivation and explains why restoration of dignity is on the top of the agenda of the naxalites which the existing system has been unable to accomplish.
Affirmative Action: Constitutional Scheme
To be sure, the Indian polity has laid down an elaborate architecture of protection and affirmative action to deal with structural violence taking into account these social and economic disparities and the exclusionary practices. The Constitution was the first major step to invalidate the oppressive social structure and give equal rights to all citizens. The fundamental rights liberated the dalits from untouchability practices and guaranteed them equality before law and all freedoms to the dalits and the tribals on par with the other citizens. The affirmative action for them is comprised of reservation of jobs in public services, reservation of seats in educational institutions and representation in the central and state legislatures, and later extend to the PRIs. In addition, national commissions, as statutory watchdog bodies, have also been created to ensure that the constitutional provisions and state policies designed for their welfare are implemented. In the case of tribes, there are additional safeguards taking into account their distinct identity, culture, institutions and practices on the one hand and seclusion from the mainstream Indian caste society and vulnerability to exploitation by them on the other. This is reflected in a governance arrangement for the tribal areas different from the pattern in the non-tribal areas. The arrangement consists of demarcating territories where tribals inhabit and designating them as the Fifth and Sixth Schedule Areas. The tribal areas in the states affected by naxalites activities are included in the Fifth Schedule (Article 244 [1]). Under the provision of this schedule, the governor of the state has extraordinary power to protect the tribes from the impact of laws and policies made by the central and state governments for the rest of the population. The executive power of the
Affirmative Action: Policy Architecture
Protection
The constitutional provisions are given effect to by the government policy. The policy architecture in the case of dalilts and tribes is three dimensional, covering protection, development and participation. The first dimension relates to their protection from violence- physical and mental and exploitation. This was ensured by giving effect to the elimination of untouchability for which the Untouchability Offences Act, 1955 was enacted. This was later replaced by the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1976. To protect these groups against the physical violence inflicted by the higher castes, the SCs/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was enacted. The disgusting practice of imposing degrading occupations on the dalits has also been addressed. The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 is the most important in this regard. The other degrading practice is known as the Devdasi system. The state governments of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
Policy Architecture: Development
The second dimension of policy architecture relates to development which is addressed through specialized mechanisms of financial allocations for poverty alleviation and human development entirely focused on these groups, and infrastructural inadequacy in respect of the areas where they reside. These mechanisms are known as the Special Component Plan for the dalits and the Tribal Sub-Plan for the tribes which seek to ensure that the requisite percentage of plan funds are spent on activities which benefit them directly. In various sectoral schemes and programmes, specified share has been earmarked for these groups in the guidelines in order that they receive proportionate benefits from them.
Policy Architecture: Participation
The participation of the communities in governance constitutes the third dimension of policy frame. By way participation, besides reservation of seats in the Central and state legislatures and the PRIs, these groups have representation in the Cabinet at the state and central level, decision making positions in the political parties, committees of the Parliament and statutory commissions created for safeguarding their entitlements and interests. In the case of tribes, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 departs from the pattern of panchayats in the non-scheduled areas and restores some degree of self-governance to the tribes. This law provides for mandatory consultation with the gram sabha of the village in the Scheduled Area in matters relating to the management of natural resources and development activities.
Gaps in Implementation: Protection
Violence and Indignities
That this elaborate policy architecture has failed to liberate the dalits and tribes from structural violence is evident from the status of implementation of these measures. The gaps in implementation are too huge to be of comfort to them. The assault on dignity carried out by the untouchability practices continues in diverse forms in the rural as well as urban areas, more open in the former but more subtle in the latter. The implementation of the PCR Act, 1976 is extremely poor. There has been a perceptive decline in the cases registered since 1998 and no case has been registered in 8 states including some of those affected by the naxalite movement. In respect of the registered cases, the conviction rate is a measly 2.72% while the acquittal rate is 23.24% with nearly 75% cases pending for trial. A huge number of complaints are still at the level of investigation. There is no seriousness in identifying untouchability prone areas to pursue elimination of its practices (NHRC, 2004). The institutional arrangements for administration of this law like setting up of special courts and creation of a special prosecution machinery do not exist in many states. Lest the non-registration of cases give the impression that the untouchability practices are on the wane, a recent all
The atrocities against the dalits and tribes continue to be committed with no let up in the incidence. Two dalits are assaulted every hour. Three dalit women are raped and two dalits are murdered and two dalit houses are burnt every day (Anand, 2009). And this, by all indications, is an underestimate. The states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh,
The atrocities are committed against the dalits and tribals not merely by the higher caste social groups but also by the police and security agencies during the course of investigation of criminal cases and while carrying out search and seizure in combing operations and fighting insurgency. The victims are warned against reporting the matter. These cases rarely come on record. In the case of tribes, the atrocities also take the form of large scale filing of cases under the
Protection: Land Rights
The protective laws and alienation of the tribal land by the non-tribals meet the same fate. The alienation continues unabated. It is, in fact, on the increase. The alienation of tribal land takes place both by the non-tribals and the state. As per official reports, 3.75 lakh cases of alienation of tribal land by the non-tribals have been registered for restoration, covering 8.5 lakh acres of land which is a small fraction of the area of land actually alienated. Of these, only in 1.62 lakh cases, the claims were decided in favour of the tribals covering an area of 4.47 lakh acres while 1.55 lakh cases covering an area of 3.63 lakh acres have been rejected by the revenue courts on various grounds. The Expert Group on Prevention of Alienation of Tribal Land and its Restoration has noted that there were serious procedure and practice related anomalies in disposal of cases. The scale of pendency (for more than 10 years) was quite large. Huge expenses were incurred and time spent by the tribals in fighting cases which left them impoverished. In the cases rejected, the tribal’s claim was dismissed on flimsy grounds. The restoration courts, according to the group, ‘appear no better than ‘Kangaroo Courts’ with sheets of justice weighted heavily in favour of the non-tribals and large scale corruption everywhere. Even when case was decided in favour of the tribals, there was endless agony and even despair in getting possessions delivered. Besides, in overwhelmingly large number of cases, where land was restored, the adversary party went in appeal thereby negating the restoration order’ (MoRD, 2004). The expert group found, therefore, the figures of restoration unworthy of reliance.
But this is not the only dimension of their misery caused by deprivation of land. Much greater alienation of land takes place through compulsory acquisition by the government for development projects. This has made the tribals increasingly landless and displaced them from habitat, livelihood and environment as well without any rehabilitation. The tribals have faced the brunt of this development induced displacement. They constitute more than 40% of the approximately 60 million displaced persons between 1947 and 2000. The 3/4th of the displaced tribals have not received even a minimum of rehabilitation. It is significant that the naxalite movement has taken roots in precisely those states where there has already been large scale displacement of the tribals. Yet the future is more ominous for the tribes as more extensive land acquisition is in the pipeline since the areas they inhabit are rich in natural resources. This has been the most potent cause of their disaffection and alienation from the state. Yet the proposed amendments to the law of acquisition and reformulation of the policy of rehabilitation make no commitment to stop acquisition of the tribal land or even to reduce it. This happens despite the Supreme court judgment in the Samtha case. In this case, the Supreme court clarified that “the object of the Fifth and Sixth Schedule is not only to prevent acquisition,…but also to ensure that tribals remain in possession and enjoyment of lands in Scheduled Areas for their economic empowerment, social status and dignity of their person: The Constitution intends that land always should remain with the tribals. Even the government land should increasingly get allotted to them individually and collectively”. The response of the government to this judgment has been negative. First, it tried to amend the Fifth Schedule itself to neutralize the judgment but later tried to get it reversed by the court in the course of other judgments. This reversal has been done in the cases relating to BALCO and Vedanta companies. But state governments also circumvented the judgment through the subterfuge of creating a legal fiction of state enterprise as the agency to which the land could be transferred which, in turn, leased it out to corporates.
But displacement from land through land acquisition is not the only way the government deprives the tribals of their land. The other, more disturbing and without even the rationale of a ‘public purpose’, is dispossession through survey and settlement operations and environmental considerations. The tribal occupation of land beyond 10 degree slope have not been recorded while preparing land records and instead the land has been declared forest and ownership recorded in the name of government. The tribals have thus become encroachers on their own land. These areas have a forest cover where the tribals carry out shifting cultivation. This injustice has been done ostensibly to prevent cultivation of fragile hill slopes. In addition, the land use has been changed and plantation carried out on these lands. The tribals were forced to give up their cultivation. The affected people are among the most primitive tribes. This explains why the government owns most of the land in such areas. In this manner, the tribals are dispossessed of about 8 lakh acres of land under their occupation without their consent. To this date, the tribes have got no justice though this fact has been documented in Report of the Study Group on Land Holding System of Tribes (1985-86) and the Report of the Commissioner of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 1960s-61.
Besides the formal alienation of land through encroachment and fraud or through acquisition by the government or by way of survey and settlement operations, the tribals also lose land when there is large scale migration of the non-tribals to the area where they reside. This generally happens when some development projects are located there. The non-tribals who are more cunning create such pressures that tribals are either forced to transfer their land cheaply against the provisions of law or migrate from the area out of fear. They get little help from the administration against forces which unleash such pressures. This phenomenon is known as secondary displacement which remains invisible in the public policy discourse and is not even considered for compensation or rehabilitation of the persons so displaced. They are also demographically overwhelmed which disempowers them in numerous other ways which leads to the loss of identity as well.
Protection: Rights in
The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act, 2006 was enacted to douse the flames of widespread unrest among the tribes on account of their eviction from forest – a major cause of the spread of naxalite movement. The government had announced that all title deeds in respect of occupations of forest land shall be distributed by the end of 2009. But the implementation of the Act is being frustrated by the forest bureaucracy. This is being done by continued eviction of the tribals from their existing occupation of land, their relocation from wild life sanctuaries and national parks without consent, notifying wild life sanctuaries prior to the implementation of the Act, taking over the functions of the forest rights committee by the forest officials, forcible plantation on land under cultivation of the tribals, ignoring community rights, calling the gram Sabha at the panchayat level rather than at the village level etc. These violations of the provisions of the Act are vitiating the outcome of implementation process, thus defeating the objectives of the Act and frustrating the affected tribals. Besides, a number of environmentalists (proxy for the forest officials) have also filed writ petitions in various courts challenging the validity of the Act itself. If this drift is not checked, it would reinforce the feeling among the tribals that they cannot get justice from the system.
Protection: Economic Exploitation
Land Reforms
In respect of the homestead land too, legal provisions exist to confer ownership rights on the occupants of their dwellings existing on private or government land. There is also a policy to allot government land to all shelter-less persons for construction of a house. But here too the implementation is poor. This has led to an acute distress among the affected persons most of whom belong to the lower castes. In some states, the concerned persons are also agitating for implementation of this policy. In the access to common property resources on which the poor in general and the dalits and tribals in particular depend heavily for their survival, the situation is far from reassuring. The dalits are discriminated in a variety of ways by the land owners of upper and middle castes in the village. They have restricted or no access to village grazing land which reduce their capacity to rear animals. Similar is the situation in regard to accessing fish ponds (Planning commission, 2007b). They corner best part of the common land for their exclusive use. In many cases, they encroach upon portions of land adjacent to their owned land or dalit dominated settlements. The efforts to regain access to encroached common land by the dalits leads to severe punitive measures imposed by the dominant castes. The access of dalits and tribals to common property resources has also been adversely affected by public policies which have resulted in shrinkage of its area and degradation of its quality. These policies include intensification of agriculture, privatization of land through land reforms, diversion of land for non-agricultural purposes and commercialization of its products. The transfer of management of the CPRs to the PRIs led to weakening of use regulations, adherence to user obligations, and investment of efforts and resources for conservation and development which also impacted on the access of these groups. The access of tribals to the CPRs in forest was considerably curtailed and, in some cases, denied by the forest laws, specifically the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 and amendments in the Indian Forest Act. The revised forest policies, plantation policy favouring commercial species in place of the natural vegetation, allocation of forest land to the industry for cultivation of raw material and the paradigm of conservation for protection of wild life by displacing tribals from the forest have also contributed to the loss/decline of access of the tribals to the forest. The interventions made by the Supreme court in the Godavarman case had a more devastating effect on the tribals. Millions of tribals were evicted from the forest accentuating social unrest and alienating the tribals from the government further. The areas affected by the naxalite movement have a very high forest cover. Therefore, the tribals have been the most adversely affected by these policies. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights ) Act, 2006 has restored some of the rights denied to them by other forest laws. But, as mentioned earlier, the implementation of the Act is being thwarted by the forest bureaucracy thereby negating its intended benefits.
Labour Welfare
As for the labour welfare laws, the enforcement is even weaker than other pro-poor legislations. It is negligible in respect of vocations in the unorganized sector. The enforcement activity has virtually ceased in the existing neo-liberal economy where there is increasing pressure for giving complete freedom to the employers to hire and fire labour. The dalits and tribals are overwhelmingly employed in vocations in the informal sector. The largest of this segment consists of agricultural workers. The Minimum Wages Act does apply to them but its implementation is very weak. The agricultural worker is too weak and unorganized vis-à-vis the employer and, still worse, is dependent upon him for survival. He/she also fails to get the requisite support from the enforcement machinery. The adjudicating process is dilatory and extremely frustrating. There is widespread lack of political will to energize the implementation process for fear of alienating the land owners. The Equal Remuneration Act is violated with impunity for the same reasons. Similar is the fate of laws relating to handloom workers, beedi workers, brick klin workers etc. who constitute bulk of non-farm workers in the naxalite areas. As a result, the workers in such vocations are acutely exploited. The trade unions have concentrated their activities in the organized sector, leaving the unorganized workers more vulnerable. Besides, a large part of the 90% of the work force which is in the informal sector is not even covered effectively by labour welfare laws and is, therefore, completely at the mercy of the employers. The enforcement of the Bonded Labour Abolition Act is openly resisted by the states who are always in a denial mode about the existence of such labour. This has disappointed even the National Human Rights Commission, entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring its enforcement by the Supreme Court. The implementation of the Inter-State Migrant Labour Act is even worse with virtually nothing to show by way of enforcement and providing relief to the affected workers. This is due to the total indifference of the states receiving migrant labour as they are influenced by the parochial consideration to protect the employers from their state rather than render justice to the worker who is his victim. The Child Labour Act, despite the sensitive interventions of the Supreme court, fares no better in respect of its implementation as would be borne out by the increasing incidence of child labour visible across the country. The inhuman exploitation and even torture of child labour is frequently reported in the media when some children are freed from the clutches of the heartless employers by the NGOs. The cases of such detection are negligible and even in respect of them, the freed children come back to the same employers because they are not rehabilitated as per the prescribed guidelines. The largest percentage of child labour comes from the dalit and the tribal households.
Gaps in Implementation: Reservation
The reservation of jobs in public services though a potent instrument of status enhancement touches upon a very small section of the two communities which is privileged to have access to education. The performance in respect of this programme, therefore, does not have any major impact on the large sections of their population. Even so, the implementation of this policy too faces the stiffest resistance from the higher caste groups who resort to frequent litigation and open agitation against it. It is relatively better implemented where there is centralized direct recruitment through competitive examination. But here too, the process of recruitment is subverted by persons from the higher castes who manipulate to obtain false caste certificates of their status as dalits and tribals. The provisions, in any case, are very poorly implemented in autonomous government funded institutions. The scientific, technological and professional vocations have negligible representation of these groups. Though the share of dalits and tribals in government service has improved significantly during the last fifty years, the only categories where these groups have reached very near to their entitled percentage are the lowest C and D level posts. It is much less in A&B level posts. The shortfall is very high in scientific and technical jobs and posts in the universities. The representation of dalits is the largest in ‘D’ category posts. This is because the ‘D’ category consists of a large number of posts of safai-karamcharis which no person from other caste groups would like to occupy. Where, however, the dalits and tribal candidates have entered group C, B and A level positions, they have been able to upgrade their status though they continue to face caste discrimination in numerous subtle ways. But even the limited benefits from reservation provisions have considerably narrowed by the ongoing efforts of disinvestment, privatization of PSUs, virtual stoppage of further recruitment, downsizing the establishments, combining posts at several levels and above all failure to enforce them. The reservation of berths in higher educational institutions is far below their share of population. By the late 1990s, only 7.8% of dalit and 2.7% of tribal students were enrolled in these institutions. But even among them, only a third may be pursuing desirable programmes or institutions which would facilitate their access to better jobs. The programme, therefore has had very limited impact on eliminating structural violence.
Gaps in Implementation : Development
The development programmes for the dalits and tribals have not made much of a dent on the social and economic conditions of a vast section of these two groups. This is borne out by the human development indicators - poverty, literacy, health access to social amenities referred to earlier which show wide gaps in the status of these groups when compared to the other communities. The institutional mechanisms of Special Component Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan have also failed to bridge this gap. A scrutiny of implementation of these two sub-plans shows that the state governments are reluctant to earmark the required allocation of funds for the communities and place them at the disposal of the nodal department. The planning is uncoordinated and ad-hoc. Still worse, the allocated funds remain substantially under-utilized and eventually lapse. There is also disinterestedness to work out a time bound strategy to bridge the development gaps between them and the rest of the population and to design occupation specific schemes to improve their status. Even at the central level, a substantial number of Ministries fail to make any provision under these sub-plans on the ground that their activities are not divisible. As for the extension of credit by the banks, the picture is even more pessimistic. The reluctance of banks to extend credit to the members of these communities is widespread. They are considered unbankable as they have no collateral security to offer. Even in the programmes where a subsidy component is provided to the banks under the self-employment programmes to induce them to lend, the credit extension is too meager to be of effective use and that too after a lot of efforts and pressures. The situation has worsened after the reforms initiated on the recommendations of the Narasimhan Committee. The financing and development corporations set up exclusively for these groups to provide capital for self-employment suffer from poor management, low recovery of loan advanced, absence of dedicated field agencies to process proposals and oversee projects and delay in release of share capital by the central and the concerned state governments . Overall, the failure of development efforts to improve the conditions of the dalits and tribals can be attributed to, a) inadequate investment of public resources, b) non-utilization, wrong utilization and diversion of earmarked, allocated or committed funds for their benefit, c) deficiency in planning, d) poor project preparation, e) absence of monitoring, f) unresponsive and even biased delivery system, g) resistance from the non-dalit/tribal communities, h) absence of participation in programmes by beneficiaries and i) powerlessness of the communities to exert requisite pressure. The Panchayati Raj Institutions have made no difference to the situation. This overall picture, however, does not imply that a small section of these communities ( referred to as the elite) with benefit of reservation, education and social capital have not improved their status. But the overwhelmingly large number of the dalits and tribals do not show signs of significant change in their status.
Gaps in Implementation: Participation
With regard to the participation which constitutes the third dimension of policy architecture, the two communities continue to be politically marginalized. This constrains their ability to influence decisions which affect them vitally. The Constitution does facilitate their participation in the polity through fundamental right to equality, elimination of discrimination and reservation of seats in the state and central legislatures, and lately in the PRIs and Municipalities. A minimum representation has also been ensured by way of inclusion of a Minister in the central and state cabinets from these communities. One Standing Committee of the Parliament exclusively devoted to their problems also provides additional space for participation concerning problem specific to them. These entitlements have, however, not resulted in their effective participation. The political equality in the matter of right to vote and contest election is compromised by exertion of dominance by the higher caste groups through denial of access to the polling booths, pressures to vote as per their dictat and in the case of non compliance, threat of physical assault and social boycott etc. Booth capturing is another method to rob them of their right to vote. In addition, the discrimination is practiced by enforcing separate lines/timings at polling booths, separate seating arrangements in the Panchayats, refusal to permit the dalit elected heads to function, hoist national flag, access panchayat records and even enter office. The practice of influencing their voting behaviour at the time of election by distribution of cash, food, alcohol etc. is quite widespread. The dalit and tribal candidates being resourceless and not adequately funded by their parties are dependent upon persons with money and influence for getting elected even from the reserved constituencies. This compromises their ability to take up issues of their communities and protect their interests after getting elected or being appointed to an office.
The right to hold office is frustrated by refusal to accept the reserved status of the constituency by the locally dominant community, as for example, in Jharkhand where elections to PRIs have been stalled, and in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu where, in some panchayats, elections could not be held for many years due to the opposition from the locally dominant caste. The dalits and tribals, when elected, are also manipulated by the dominant communities to serve their interests. The dalit and tribal Ministers in the state and central cabinets are usually assigned portfolios carrying lesser importance, have the lowest position in the perceived ranking of the Ministers and have little autonomy to initiate policy changes. Outside the arena of government, political parties have provided no genuine space for sharing power beyond a tokenistic representation in the decision making institutional arrangements. There is dominance of upper/middle castes in the executive positions of these political formations and elsewhere in politics. There is little effort to mobilize members of these communities and give them leadership positions.
The reality in respect of PESA, 1996 lays bare the illusion of self-governance conveyed by the text. Notwithstanding its constitutional status, the states are reluctant to amend their Panchayati raj laws in harmony with it. Cosmetic amendments were introduced to give semblance of compliance under pressure. But in effect, action of the states in compliance of the law has effectively undermined the gram sabha or circumscribed its powers. The states of
The National Commissions entrusted with the responsibility to protect the interests of these communities are as weak as their constituents. They have no executive power to deliver justice in respect of the complaints received by them. Their power is purely advisory. Their reports are presented to the Parliament late and rarely discussed. The governments have showed little enthusiasm to seriously pursue their recommendations with the concerned agencies. The bureaucracy simply ignores them. The Commissions themselves feel virtually irrelevant at this state of indifference. There is little inclination in the government to make them vibrant watchdog bodies by strengthening their powers and treating them with the importance they deserve.
Governance
The analysis made above makes it evident that the policy architecture represented by three streams of intervention – protection, development and participation has failed to achieve their intended objectives and have, therefore, made no contribution to reduce let alone eliminate the structural violence inflicted on the dalits and tribals.
The gaps in policy architecture and ground realities emerging from its implementation makes it abundantly clear that the interface of dalits and tribals with the governance structures holds the key to the understanding of naxalite movement and appreciation of its violent manifestations. But the movement is also significantly related to the relationship which these communities have with the larger society around them. The state-people interface is multifaceted and covers all organs of the government as well as the economy and political formations outside it. The interface with the larger society is reflected in its institutions and practices as also the thinking and behavior of its members. Governance was expected to influence relationships of these marginalized groups with the state as well as society so as to create a feeling of inclusion among them. The first was to be achieved by formulating laws, policies and programmes to remove constraints and disabilities in enjoyment of freedom and equality. The second was to be realized by vigorously promoting social change. That this has not been achieved is a testimony of the failure of governance. The result is lack of confidence and trust in the established authority and deep alienation of people from the government. Far worse, it has generated in them a feeling of helplessness and despair.
Delivery System
The governance failure is multi-dimensional. One facet of this is the inefficient delivery system. The overwhelming majority of bureaucracy/technocracy comes from the land owning dominant castes or urban middle class whose values are deeply embedded in the attachment to private property, cultural superiority, purity – pollution driven behavior and assertion of their dominance. The structures of political power are also occupied by persons from this social segment. It is this coalition of interests which deeply influences governance at all levels and explain why programmes for the poor and the marginalized do not get delivered and the social outcomes of policy architecture continue to remain negative.
The delivery system has a number of negative features which have frustrated the effectuation of policy mandates into positive outcomes. The bureaucracy/technocracy is generally indifferent to the problems of the poor but more specifically to those of the dalits and tribals. This results in low priority assigned to those programmes whose implementation would address their problems. But much smaller problems of the dominant groups elicit their proactive and positive response. More devastating constraint is the social bias (caste-cum-class) in personnel manning the delivery system which leads to the ineffective implementation of programmes at best and neglect at worst. This also happens due to the absence of genuine internal accountability within the organization and absence of pressure exerted by the disempowered sections from outside. The existing institutional arrangements of internal and external accountability are either non-functional or ineffective. No punitive cost is attached to the poor performance nor reward to the good one.
Paradigm of Development
The other facet of governance is the paradigm of development pursued to achieve progress and modernization. This paradigm reflects the aspirations of dominant social and economic groups and serves their interests but has wholly negative effects for the poor in general and the dalits and tribals in particular. The model of economic growth relies heavily on the exploitation of existing natural resources through large infrastructural and manufacturing projects. These projects require huge areas of land which is acquired by the government. This causes displacement, landlessness, loss of livelihood and impoverishment not to speak of social disruption of those affected. It involves reverse transfer of assets from the poor and the marginalized groups to the corporates, exacerbates inequity and further disempowers the former. It is significant that the areas affected by naxalite activities, being resource rich, have emerged as the prime locations for such projects threatening even more displacement of the tribal communities who are concentrated in these areas. This is the single most identifiable cause of their resentment in recent times which has led to the widespread resistance against acquisition of their land. The tribes have suffered disproportionately in the past from this pattern of development which has produced the sinister phenomenon described as ‘internal colonialism’ wherein the local tribals get impoverished while the immigrant non-tribals coming to the developed area flourish and prosper. The social effects of this development have been devastating – social disintegration, devaluation of culture, loss of political autonomy and identity and a sub-human level of existence. (Areeparampil, 1989). The SEZ Act has intensified this process, enlarged the area of displacement and intensified impoverishment of those displaced. The pattern of activities to be pursued under SEZs would aggravate inequities and reinforce pattern of internal colonialism. With the dismal record of rehabilitation, the displaced poor, particularly the tribals are driven to despair. The proposed changes in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 do not provide any relief to the tribals from the acquisition of their land. The Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2007 neither assures land in place of the land lost nor guarantees dignified and sustained employment. This is indicative of the level of insensitivity to the problems faced by these groups at the highest level.
Environmental Degradation
Another dimension of this model of ‘development’ is the degradation of environment which also causes social injustice. The tribal heartland, the centre of naxalite movement, is the worst affected in this regard due to concentration of mining and industrial projects. The mining projects have turned agricultural land in the vicinity of projects barren, polluted water sources, denuded forests, defiled the air and degraded the quality of life of the people who live and work in the area. The change in land use deprives people of their traditional source of livelihood and life supporting benefits from the forest. The immense air pollution has devastating health effects – T.B, silicosis, cancer and even thelassemia which have increased mortality rates and lowered life expectancy. The commercial exploitation of bio-diversity through mass tourism generates severe competition for limited forest resources and causes social and cultural disruption in the tribal communities. The laws and regulatory arrangements to check environmental degradation are weak in fixing responsibility of the polluter and liability for payment of compensation, and ineffective in implementation. The regulatory authorities tilt in favour of the industry which has financial and political clout. Even social protests bring no relief to the affected persons as they are powerless. This environmental degradation threatens not merely the current level of existence of the people in the area but the future generations as well. The pattern of economic growth ignores huge social and human cost which the people in this region have to pay.
Justice Administration
The third dimension of governance relates to the administration of justice i.e., punishment for violation of laws and institutional arrangements for conflict resolution and grievance redressal. The greatest frustration is caused to the people when crimes and injustices are not punished and disputes and conflicts are not settled by the state apparatus fairly and in time. It is then that they look for alternative modes of getting justice and settling disputes. There are stories from naxalite areas about persons who took up arms when faced with such acute injustices like dispossession from land, rape of their women, deprivation of fruits of labour, incarceration in false cases and violence of the law enforcing agencies with no action against the guilty persons by the concerned agencies. The existing justice administration system has failed the people belonging to these groups. The authorities which deal with investigation and prosecution are insensitive and tilted in favour of those who violate laws and commit crimes. The judicial system is too formal, remote, slow, expensive and technical besides being user-unfriendly to be of any help to the weak and the poor. Both are ridden with corruption and their process are vulnerable to manipulation by the persons from the dominant social groups. The dalits and tribals feel that the system is not meant for them but only for the rich and the powerful. They get entrapped in it as accused rather than as complainants. They have no faith in it. It is not surprising that the naxalite system of dispensing instant justice, however abhorrent to the liberal mind, attracts them. The discourse on Alternative Dispute Resolution as an answer to the ills of the existing system is also irrelevant to the needs of these groups as also the other poor. The genesis of ADR lies in the needs of the business class and government who want quick resolution to save resources and time. The poor require a simple, inexpensive, user-friendly system of justice administration at the village/panchayat level. There is no thinking in the government to design such a system. What is being attempted is a new law to set up judicial courts at the block level called the Gram Nyayalyas to reduce the distance people have to travel as well as their expenses. But these courts would continue to operate with the existing rules of evidence and processes of adjudication and would, therefore, be riddled with the same problems witnessed at a higher level. The Nyaya Panchayats are also being contemplated to take the administration of justice lower down and make it user-friendly. But given the existing unequal power structure in the village, there is little hope that the marginalized groups would get justice against their powerful adversaries even in this fora. Besides, Nyaya Panchayats would only deal with minor offences.
The mechanism for redressal of grievances in the domain of civil administration is even more important for these groups. This is because a larger number of complaints such as those relating to land, wages, deprivation of entitlements and harassment of lower level officials fall in its jurisdiction and its processes of disposal are less formal and time consuming. Here too, the complainants fare no better. The officials are not easily approachable. The complaints are not entertained and when registered under pressure, enquiries remain pending for a long time. Still worse, enquiries into the complaints are eventually carried out by the same persons against whom allegations of omissions and commissions have been made. The higher level formations routinely accept reports received from the subordinate formations which falsify the complaints and defend their action. In this manner, delivery of justice is frustrated. There is lack of transparency in disposal of complaints and reluctance even to inform the complainant about the outcome of his complaint let alone give him/her a chance to contest the findings in the reports. The complainant is totally frustrated because he/she is unable to get grievances redressed and at times, even a personal hearing. Still worse, this mechanism is influenced by political intervention and manipulated by powerful persons. The grievance redressal system is most unresponsive when the complaints relate to the excesses of the local officials particularly the police and security officials. Here, even the statutory agencies like the national and state commissions have proved totally ineffective. In these circumstances, the system of governance far from providing comfort to the victims who suffer structural violence operates in a manner that accentuates the crisis of confidence in the system.
Approach to Collective Action
The fourth dimension of governance is the approach to deal with the collective action of people (social and political movements) in respect of the unaddressed problems. This social mobilization takes place when the aggrieved people have exhausted other channels of seeking redressal of injustice or when a particular issue/policy vitally affects a social group as a whole and, therefore, a collective approach is necessary to raise it. The reaction of local officials to this assertion is almost invariably negative. It is perceived as a challenge to the authority. Rather than treating it as a wake up call to deal with the issues involved, the administration responds with taking police action against the leaders to deter them from such action. This police action may range from disallowance of mobilization and protest, harassment of leaders to filing criminal cases with serious charges against them and use of force against the supporters. This repudiation of democratic space further alienates the affected people from the system and often creates conditions for more aggressive mobilization, leading, at times, to violence. More repressive action follows. If there is no political intervention to resolve the issue, the social unrest spreads and the movement takes a violent turn. The strategy of governance in such situations is to break the movement by application of draconian laws and retaliatory violence. In this chain of action and reaction, the underlying causes of collective action recede to the background and management of violence assumes primacy. This is known as law and order approach which is focused on maintaining public order at any cost . This approach of governance to social and political violence diminishes respect for rule of law and concern for human rights, condones excess of security forces, shrinks democratic space and leaves the affected population deeply wounded. A number of insurgency movements have followed this trajectory. The governance thus contributes to the deterioration of the already inflamed social situation.
Democracy
Democracy is considered to be the greatest antidote to the social discontent and its potential spillover to violence as it provides a safety valve through which the discontent of the people gets an outlet and can, therefore, be addressed timely and in an orderly manner. The institutional democracy and its processes have, however, significantly failed in this endeavour. Their non-performance lies in the indifference towards the widespread structural violence which members of these communities face in their daily lives and their failure to get justice from the system. It is also reflected in the lack of determination and corresponding efforts to break the feudal agrarian power structure, humanize corporate attitude to labour and eliminate caste ridden social order to promote social equality. It has also failed to enforce equity in governance and accountability of the bureaucracy. No interest is shown in proactively working for participation of the under privileged groups in a manner that can empower them to influence decision making in their favour against the dominant and powerful groups. The structures of national political parties reflect the same class-caste divide which is so representative of the governance structures. The existing representation of the dalits and tribals in the organization of political parties is tokenistic rather than empowering even though these groups constitute a sizeable vote bank. The leaders of political parties since independence have shared the same disinclination to act tough against the rural power structure which has subverted the implementation of progressive (pro-poor) laws and defeated the objectives of programmes introduced to benefit the weaker sections. None of them have demonstrated the resolute will to break the class and caste biases and conveyed a clear message to this effect to the bureaucracy and society at large. At a political level, the leaders of all political parties have failed to use democratic space to engineer social change so as to eliminate hostility of the dominant groups to equity promoting measures empowering the dalits and tribals. In the context of the naxalite movement, the fragility of democracy gets particularly exposed when one observes the virtual withdrawal of political parties from the affected areas and cessation of political activities therein, leaving a disquieting vacuum for the radical left groups to demonstrate their relevance. There is no sign of a concerted political response to the radical violence of the Maoists by way of a peaceful alternative to restore their faith in democracy. The greatest resentment of persons from the marginalized groups in the naxalite area against democracy lies in the unwillingness of its institutions and leaders to challenge the dominant view which gives primacy to the maintenance of public order as the main strategy to curb the movement rather than addressing their social concerns arising out of structural violence and collapse of institutions to render social justice. The silence of democracy towards violence inflicted on the people by the state supported non-state actors under the cover of a spontaneous people’s resistance to the naxalites is even more hurting. The institutional democracy, therefore, fails to generate trust in its ability to rescue the people from the onslaught of structural violence as well as spiral of violence resulting from the strategy of state to deal with the naxalite movement. It ends up by providing support to it.
Policy Response to Naxalism
How does the approach of the government to deal with the naxalite violence measure up to this understanding of the roots of naxalite movement. Is it adequately sensitive to the factors contributing to its growth? To answer this question, it would be useful to refer to the programme outlined by the Maoists and compare it with the strategy outlined by the government to deal with them. The programme of Maoists concentrates on agrarian reforms involving redistribution of land to the landless, equal rights to the women in ownership of land, agricultural development with guaranteed remunerative price for the produce, fixed wages and hours of work for male and female workers, abolition of contract and child labour, guaranteed employment and social insurance and elimination of regional inequalities. In respect of the tribals, the programme involves liberating them from the trader-contractor-money lender nexus and upholding their demands for self-identity, dignity and autonomy. These programmes are expected to liberate the poor and socially marginalized groups from the structure of violence they experience in their daily lives and thereby democratize Indian society (Gupta, 2006). This goal is sought to be achieved by first carrying out a ‘new democratic revolution’ through armed struggle for seizure of power as its principal task. The party would then continue to engage in protracted people’s war directed against the forces of imperialism, feudalism, capitalism and supporting struggles against social oppression, untouchability and castism, self determination of nationalities and equality of women.
Shorn of the radical rhetoric, the programmes outlined by the Maoists seem to be not very different from those already introduced / supported by the government. But this apparent similarity gets exposed when we look at the poor record of implementation whether of land reforms or abolition of untouchability or enforcement of labour laws etc. as discussed earlier in this paper. In fact, over the years, and particularly after the onset of neo-liberal economy, these issues disappeared from the public policy discourse. In many cases, equity oriented policies have been replaced by market oriented policies. The larger society is apathetic to these issues which have also ceased to interest major political parties as they all support the current paradigm of economic growth.
As for the specific policy response to deal with naxalism, some critical policy statements are relevant. The Prime Minister, in his address to the meeting of the standing committee of the six naxalite states on April 13, 2006, recognized that factors such as exploitation, artificially depressed wages, iniquitous socio-political circumstances, inadequate employment opportunities, lack of access to resources, under-developed agriculture, geographical isolation and lack of land reforms contributed to the movement. The latest report of the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) has lamented that the naxalites try to benefit from the overall underdevelopment and from sub-normal functioning of field institutions like police stations, tehsils, development blocks, schools, primary health centers and anganwadi centers, which administer and provide services at the ground level, and identifies issues of good governance, development, regular functioning of critical field institutions and public awareness essential for dealing with naxalite activities, in addition to core policing requirements. The government has characterized its approach as ‘holistic’ since it covers the arenas of security, development, administration and public perception (MHA, 2009). In his address at the DGP’s and IG’s conference recently, the Prime Minister emphasized that ‘left wing extremism required a nuanced strategy – it cannot be treated simply as a law and order problem. Despite its sanguinary nature, the movement manages to retain the support of a section of the tribal communities and the poorest of the poor in many affected areas. It has influence among certain sections of the civil society, the intelligentsia and the youth. It still retains certain élan. All this adds to the complexity of the problem. I expect you to keep this in mind as you devise newer and better strategies to deal with this problem’ (PMO, 2009). These statements maybe compared with the programme outlined by the government to tackle the naxalite problem to see whether there is harmony between the two. This programme is focused on pursuing effective and sustained police action against naxalites, prohibiting peace dialogue by the states with naxalites unless they give up crime, violence and arms, formulating of effective surrender and rehabilitation policies for naxalites who shun crime, violence and arms, extensive use of media to highlight the futility of the naxal ideology and violence and providing assistance to the states in effective policing. The strengthening of police organization and security apparatus which forms the core of this programme includes assistance for providing secure police station buildings, trained personnel, basic amenities for personal, specialized equipment, weaponry and vehicles, strengthening state intelligence set ups, optimization of existing training capacity and creating additional capacity, raising specialized units trained in counter-insurgency and jungle warfare, expeditious filling up of vacancies in state police forces, improvement in police population ratio and expeditious investigation and prosecution of naxalite crimes. The financial assistance of the central government is also being provided to the state governments for deployment of central paramilitary forces, setting up of COBRA battalion, counter-insurgency, anti-terrorist schools, sanctioning IR battalion, modernization of state police forces, hiring helicopters, appointment of special police officers, surrender and rehabilitation programme, filling up critical infrastructure gaps in affected areas and technical support. Elaborate Central institutional mechanism for review and coordination has been established at two levels – Home Ministry and Cabinet Secretariat for a coordinated strategy. The development measures are, no doubt, included in this ‘holistic’ approach which stress on qualitative implementation of central and state development schemes with fair deal to the deprived sections, fair and firm land administration with attention on maintenance of land records, expeditious recording of mutations and fair disposal of land disputes without undue delay, appropriate mechanisms for grievance redressal, public contact and awareness. The new development initiative consists of Backward Regions Grant Fund in 250 districts and effective implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
Apart from the stated strategy of the central government, the states have, at the operational level, extended special laws which empower the police to detain people on suspicion of involvement and abetment of activities and deny bail to the accused persons. They have also imposed restrictions formal and informal on the movement of outsiders particularly human rights activists, media, intellectuals, ngos in the area and contact with the people. Encouragement is given along with arms to groups within the affected areas to resist the naxalites so as to reduce the pressure on the security forces. In Chhatisgarh, the strategy has also involved depopulating the villages and herding together their residents in makeshift camps ostensibly to provide ‘protection’ from possible naxalite attack known as ‘Salwa Judum’. There is also strict secrecy about flow of information from the area beyond what is officially provided.
The above approach to deal with naxalism is far from holistic. Rather, it is ‘security-centric’. It is overwhelmingly fixated on curbing violence and maintenance of law and order. The complex naxal phenomenon has been seen entirely through the prism of violence of the naxalites. The development and governance dimensions are incorporated as a footnote to this approach and lack understanding of the context of violence which is at the heart of naxalism and the vision to combat its influence. The programmes outlined for development and governance fail even to refer to let alone address the whole gamut of structural violence that the people from the socially marginalized sections, which form bulk of the population in the affected areas, face from the landed castes and lately the corporate class and in the case of the tribals also from the non-tribals backed by the police, bureaucracy and the judicial system. In other words, the dimension of social justice is missing from its perspective. In development matters, it basically involves creation of the infrastructure- physical and social and the implementation of the existing development schemes. As we have seen, without eliminating structural violence, multi-faceted exploitation and deprivation and reforming insensitive governance which are at the root of naxalism, access to development programmes and opportunities for advancement and participation would remain blocked. Without breaking the feudal land owning and caste dominated power structure and its nexus with the governance institutions, changing some of its policies including transfer of productive resources to the corporate which impoverish the people, sensitizing governance and activating political institutions and processes to aggressively articulate their problems and strive for their redressal the suggested measures in the strategy would fail to remove alienation of the people from the government and democratic apparatus and convince them that they can get justice and equality within the existing political order. The Report of Expert Group on Development Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas (2008) constituted by the Planning Commission (Planning Commission, 2008) has also recommended, by and large, measures on these lines. The sincerity and determination of the government to pursue this course of action is the key to gaining trust and faith of the people in the system. In this effort, the government would have to involve individuals and groups from the civil society who have long experience of working in the area and in whom the people repose confidence. These persons can help the state in designing measures which would restore people’s trust in its sincerity and ability to address their concerns and helping it to implement them and monitoring their impact. Given this perspective, rubbishing and maligning human rights activists, intellectuals and those who empathize with the affected people as supporters of the naxalite violence is not only unhelpful but counter productive.
Conclusion
With the strategy outlined by the government and the massive coordinated operations involving security forces launched by it to deal with the naxalite movement, there is little doubt that it would win the battle of curbing the activities of naxalites and liquidating its cadres though at considerable human cost to the communities perceived to be their support base in the affected areas. But would the government be able to win the war against naxalism rooted in the determined struggle of people yearning for social justice, liberation from the oppression and structural violence of the exiting social, economic, cultural and political order and reversal of development policies detrimental to their interests which brought the people to this stage? Given the trajectory of naxalite movement and design of the public policy response, it seems unlikely.
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