[WSF-Discuss] Fwd: The Biggest Grab of Tribal Lands after Columbus

[Jai Sen]

Friday, October 30 2009



And this is an exceprt from a government committee



             JS



Begin forwarded message:

> From: "C.R.Bijoy" <cr.bijoy at gmail.com>
> Date: October 29 2009 9:13:37 pm GMT+05:30
> Subject: The Biggest Grab of Tribal Lands after Columbus
>
>
> [From the 'Committee On State Agrarian Relations and Unfinished Task  
> of Land Reforms, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India]
> http://www.rd.ap.gov.in/IKPLand/MRD_Committee_Report_V_01_Mar_09.pdf
>
> The Biggest Grab of Tribal Lands after Columbus
> A civil war like situation has gripped the southern districts of  
> Bastar, Dantewara and Bijapur in Chattishgarh. The contestants are  
> the armed squads of tribal men and women of the erstwhile Peoples  
> War Group now known as the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on the  
> one side and the armed tribal fighters of the Salva Judum created  
> and encouraged by the government and supported with the firepower  
> and organization of the central police forces. This open declared  
> war will go down as the biggest land grab ever, if it plays out as  
> per the script. The drama being scripted by Tata Steel and Essar  
> Steel who wanted 7 villages or thereabouts, each to mine the richest  
> lode of iron ore available in India.
>           There was initial resistance to land acquisition and  
> displacement from the tribals. The state withdrew its plans under  
> fierce resistance. An argument put forward was ‘you don’t play foul  
> with the Murias? It’s a matter of life and death and Murias don’t   
> fear death. A new approach was necessary if the rich lodes of iron  
> ore are to be mined.
>           The new approach came about with the Salva Judum,  
> euphemistically meaning peace hunt. Ironically the Salva Judum was  
> led by Mahendra Karma, elected on a Congress ticket and the Leader  
> of the Opposition and supported whole heartedly by the BJP led  
> government. The Salva Judum was headed and peopled by the Murias,  
> some of them erstwhile cadre and local leaders of the Communist  
> Party of India (Maoist). Behind them are the traders, contractors  
> and miners waiting for a successful result of their strategy. The  
> first financiers of the Salva Judum were Tata and the Essar in the  
> quest for peace? The first onslaught of the Salva Judum was on Muria  
> villagers who still owed allegiance to the Communist Party of India  
> (Maoist). It turned out to be an open war between brothers. 640  
> villages as per official statistics were laid bare, burnt to the  
> ground and emptied with the force of the gun and the blessings of  
> the state. 350,000 tribals, half the total population of Dantewada  
> district are displaced, their womenfolk raped, their daughters  
> killed, and their youth maimed. Those who could not escape into the  
> jungle were herded together into refugee camps run and managed by  
> the Salva Judum. Others continue to hide in the forest or have  
> migrated to the nearby tribal tracts in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh  
> and Orissa.
>             640 villages are empty. Villages sitting on tons of iron  
> ore are effectively de-peopled and available for the highest bidder.  
> The latest information that is being circulated is that both Essar  
> Steel and Tata Steel are willing to take over the empty landscape  
> and manage the mines.
>
> -- 
> C.R Bijoy
>
>
>
> -- 
> C.R Bijoy

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Jai Sen
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