Article Review

Adivasis, Naxalites and Indian Democracy Ramachandra Guha

Jyoti Thakur Roll no. -14 M.A. -II Subject :- Advance Dalit and Tribal social work practice skills

Jyoti Thakur

M.A II

This article is written by Ramchandra Guha who is an historian, author of various books, columnist is different newspaper and have many awards as well as recognition in his name. The title of the article - Adivasis, Naxalites and Indian Democracy, very well capture the essence of the article. In this essay Guha trying to analyse the situation of tribal in India after 60 years of independence. He very creatively juxtaposed the conditions of Tribal and that of other disadvantaged sections such as Dalits and Muslims. The article is arranged around six themes dealing with different aspects related to the life of the indigenous people of our country. The following figure is indicating the different themes of the article in a very brief manner:-

Themes of the article

Economic & Social Conditions of Tribal Vis-vis Dalits

How different government reports are describing poor conditions of adivasis

History of Rebellion and disorder in tribal areas

Politicsl differences between Adivasis and Dalits,Muslim

Why Naxalism is widespread in tribal regions

Approach of Indian state towards naxalism

In the introduction part Guha tries to build the background how India after independence moved towards being a republic where every citizen will be enjoying equal social, political and economic rights. Jaipla singh, a tribal leader in parliament articulated the concerns of trials population of the country and he told Nehru that I take you all at your word that now we are going to start a new chapter, a new chapter of independent India where there is equality of opportunity, where no one would be neglected. This statement shows how adivasis, who hitherto was not the part of India, believe in every promise made by the Indian state. But even now the ground realities shows that Adivaisis of this nation have became victims of the development.

Jyoti Thakur

M.A II

First theme, as I indicated above is describing how the adivasis are most deprived among deprived. Their socio-economic conditions are even worse than that of dalits and Muslims. He also described that the tribal community living in mainland India are different from that are living in Northeast India in various ways such as northeast tribal are exposed to English education due to which they have various advantages, unlike mainland tribal they were untouched by the harmful effects of development which led to displacement etc. But despite of these differences they share various other characteristics such as both live in uplands, women enjoy better status, rich culture of music & dance etc. Thus the tribal of north-east India are better placed as far as socioeconomic conditions are concerned. He also trying to show how adivasis1 are on lagging behind the Dalit on various human development indicators. I am trying to show the comparisons in the following table:Indicator Literacy Drop-out Rate BPL No access to Health Service Safe Drinking water 42.2% 63.6% Adivasi 23.8% 62.5% 49.5% 28.9% Dalit 30.1% 49.4% 41.5% 15.6%

The above table indicates that adivasis are deprived of many rights but the story of deprivation does not end here. They are the people who are actually paying the price of the development experienced by India. In the due course of development they have lost their tradition rights over forest, land, habitats etc. In the second part of the article Guha describes various concern showed by different committees appointed by the government time to time to look into the matter related to the situation of adivasis in the country. Verrier Elwin committee highlighted the indifferent attitude of the government officials towards the needs of the tribal and this committee identify poverty as the main problem faced by tribal. Later a committee headed by UN Dhebar observe that the tribal right over forest were suppressed by British in the garb of conservation and government of independent India also adopted
1

According to author the word Adivasi represents the tribal of mainland India

Jyoti Thakur

M.A II

this exploitative policy and thats how Indian state failed to provide them the rights which they were entitled to. Report submitted by renowned author and researcher B. D Sharme in 1980s noted that even after 30 years of independence tribal still does not have rights over land and forest products, still they are displaced to make way for development etc and state itself becoming the tool in the hands of capitalists to suppress poor people in the hinterland. The above mentioned atmosphere of exploitation and deprivation led rebellion in these areas. Even today naxalism is a big problem faced by government of India. But these disorders are not new to these areas. Tribal were the first community to oppose the British authority over their resources. The major rebellions of British India are :Kol and Bhumj Revolt 19th century Santhal Hool 1885 Birsa Mundas Ulugulan 1890s Gudem Rampa 1920s Worli Revolts - 1945-46 But the miseries of tribal does not come to an end with the decline of British flag in India. Although independent India had made various tall promises of providing security to them but the real situation offers some other story. Even in independent India since beginning tribals are rebelling against state to protect their rights. Some of the examples are as follows :Revolt led by maharaja Pravin Chandra - 1966 Militant demands for Jharkhand 1970s Bhoomi Sena and kashtakari Sanghatana 1970s With the adoption of Maoist ideology the revolt in tribal areas took a new form Naxalism. The revolt was stated from the naxalbari village in west Bengal and later it reached to A.P, Bihar , Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh etc. over the past 60 decades tribals of central India had expressed their discontent over policies, programmes of government in different ways. Sometime they were mobilised by activists like Medha patkar sometimes they resort to violent means.

Jyoti Thakur

M.A II

Fourth section of the article is dealing with the political differences between Adivasis and other deprived section i.e Dalit & Muslim. Dalit and Muslims have hold cabinet ranked positions but Adivasis were never raised to that political status. They also decorated the chair of Chief Justice of India as well as president and vice president of India but not even a single Adivasis ever in the entire history of India held those positions. The clear manifestation of their less participation in political matters is that while on one hand Dalits and muslims are able to organise themselves to be a pressure group the tribals are not able to do so. The reason behind the less ability of tribals to influence politics is the scattered pattern in which they live because although dalits are also monotities in many states but the live in clusters so they can influence election in many places thats why they have more bargaining powers then tribals. The next theme dealing with the reason of Left Wing Extremism in Tribal belt of the country is the obvious corollary of the above prevailing conditions. Guha identified two reason behind this high influence of naxals is these areas as Geographic and Historic. The hilly terrain support the type of war strategies these groups applies and the historical exploitation prepare the breeding ground for them. However the principal aim of the Maoist groups is not to provide economic and political justive to tribal rather they want to capture political power of the country. These naxal groups although fights for the rights of the people but still some time they also become the perpetrators. Sometimes they killed tribal people if they suspect them to be the informers of the police. In the last section of the article author analyse the approach of the government towards whole issue of naxalism. He highlights the failure of Indian government to uphold the rights of the people living in tribal regions as enshrined in the constitution. Instead of making them a partner in the development state acts like an agent of capitalists. They are alienating the tribal from their land and forest in the name of conservation and providing all the rights to the big companies to exploit the natural wealth of those regions. However to solve the problem of red corridor Maoist should make peace with the state and state should treat them as valuable citizens and recognise their rights.

Jyoti Thakur

M.A II

My Reflection
This article is a beautifully constructed document and it is clearly describe the dilemma tribal population of the country had at the time of independence and the difficulty faced by them even today. The part in which he is comparing the tribals with that of other disadvantaged section on Indian society is really very thoughtfully done. Generally there is a tendency to see Dalits as the most deprived and exploited section because they have faced the highest form of inhuman behaviour in the form of untouchability because tribal were never a part of Hindu caste system. But the analysis done by the author clearly shows that adivasis of this country have lost the most in the last 60 decades of independence. One thing which I think he have missed in the article is the allegation of involvement of foreign forces behind the naxal movement. They type of weapons they use ranging from Ak-47 to other explosive devices clearly shows that they are receiving support from outside. Another point which I think can make this article more comprehensive is the account of involvement of Female folk in this war against state because the number of women participating in naxal movement is quite substantive. Also women face many atrocities perpetrated by the police as well as the self styled soldiers in these regions.