Seasonal Hostels to prevent child migration

This piece was carried in hotnhitNEWS on 4th November 2012

Web link: http://hotnhitnews.com/Odisha-Seasonal-Hostels-to-prevent-child-migration-By-Pradeep-Baisakh-HotnHitNews-224004112012.htm

Odisha: Seasonal Hostels to prevent child migration

November 4, 2012

The seasonal hostels, known as residential care centre (RCC) in Odisha, started in the year 2001-02 in Balangir district and eventually experimented in the Nuapada district. The idea was that the school going children could stay back with the community and continue their study in the village school when their parents migrate out and thus the loss of education could be staved off.

PRADEEP BAISAKH

Distressed labour migration from western Odisha districts like Balangir, Nuapada, Bargarh and Kalahandi to other states has been in discussion for last one decade though it all started sometime over thirty years back. Several efforts have been undertaken by the state and non-state actors to prevent distressed migration on one hand and reduce the distress aspects in migration on the other. The major concerns in such migration have been associated with the violation of inter-state migrant workmen’s act, violation of other labour laws, and the third degree of treatment meted out to Odia labourers in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and other states. Still a major area of concern is the compulsive child labour and absence of basic education facilities for these children.

Initial efforts were undertaken by the civil society organisations to protect the education of children, which was eventually accepted by different governments. Two models have been adopted to this end.

One is to prevent the children from migrating from the villages by providing them the residential facilities in the village schools during the migration seasons when the parents are away, and the other is to design schools at the worksite to fetch education in mother tongue i.e. in Odia language in this case. While I have dealt in detail on the work site model elsewhere (Click here to see the report), this piece will mainly discuss about the seasonal hostels.

The seasonal hostels, known as residential care centre (RCC) in Odisha, started in the year 2001-02 in Balangir district and eventually experimented in the Nuapada district. The idea was that the school going children could stay back with the community and continue their study in the village school when their parents migrate out and thus the loss of education could be staved off.

RCC is opened in a suitably located school where the children of the migrating parents from three to four nearby village or schools can stay and attend classes there. During the stay of the children in RCC, the mid-day meals are also transferred from the parent school to the school that houses RCC. Initially the RCC model was a joint effort by government and NGOs with the government funding the NGOs to run the RCC. But eventually the government took over the operation and directly ran it. Some like Lok Drishti, an NGO in Nuapada, continued running independently with external funding alongside the government run ones.

Children benefited

Hrudananda Majhi is a student residing since last season at the RCC run by the Lok Drishti in the Khomtarai School in Khariar block of Nuapada district. He studies in class four. A child of regularly migrating parents and born in Hyderabad during a migration period, Hrudananda says, “I could never avail any school facilities in Andhra Pradesh before. Here, I have been staying for last two years when my parents migrate out to work.” Some other children like Sumitra Majhi and Sarat Bhoi, students of in class three and class nine respectively, also stayed in the same hostel last season. In ten such hostels run by the NGO, 253 students were accommodated last season.

Some students like Motiram Tandi and Chudamani Jaga from Khariar block of Nuapada district who have been consistently availing the facilities of seasonal hostels are now studying higher secondary (10+2) in nearby Khariar College. Otherwise, they also would have been migrating and working as semi-bonded labourers in other states.

Phulabai Kumbhar and other three girls from Belpada block of Balangir district, who stayed in the RCC, have now passed higher secondary as well.

Process followed and grey areas

Just before the families start migrating after Diwali (October/November), the block level education staff and NGOs conduct surveys to find out the number of migrant children. The children are then kept in the hostels. The NGOs in Balangir and Nuapada reach out the migrating parents and convince them to leave their children in the hostels.

The children stay in the school premises. A cook and a care-taker are appointed by the government to look after the children. It was when the government and NGOs were running RCCs jointly, the NGOs used to regularly interact with the children and the care taker to ensure that food, clothing, safe stay, first aid box, medical need etc are all put in place. Abani Panigrahi of Lok Drishti says, “At one point, there were more than 70 RCCs run by the government and NGOs accommodating about 1400 children in Nuapada”.

However, in last few years, there is apparently some reluctance in the administration to start RCC every year with beginning of the migration season. This is evident from the fact that district administration starts RCCs after people migrate out. In such case, rarely the migrant children get a place in government run RCCs.

For example, last year (2011-12), Lok Drishti surveyed and submitted a list of 1377 migrant children from a few Panchayats in three blocks namely Sinapali, Khariar and Boden. A resolution to that effect was passed by the respective School Management Committees (SMCs) requesting the government to open RCCs. But RCCs never came up. Similar was the case in Balangir district where barely 10 RCCs were run retaining about 200 students, much less than the need. Sources from Sarva Sikshya Aviyan (SSA), Odisha, suggest that even though a proposal for opening hostels for 3200 migrant students from Balangir, Nuapada and bargarh districts was sent under the head of ‘Residential Care Centre’, it was disapproved by the centre. This happened because Residential Care Centre (RCC) is an incorrect terminology, felt the centre.

This year, seasonal hostels have been approved for a total of 5089 students in Balangir, Nuapada and Bargarh districts under the head of ‘Seasonal Hostel’ which will commence this season.

In the previous years, the government run RCCs used to open in January and February leaving no scope for the migrant children to reap the benefit as they had to migrate two months before the RCCs came up. So, fake enrolments were made in RCCs, suggest information from attendance registers of RCCs attained by Lok Dristi under RTI in Nuapada district. As told by Abani Panigrahi of Lok Dristi, “Cross verification of these attendance registers revealed that some of them were not at all migrant children but actually stayed in their houses.”

Way ahead

Success of seasonal hostels depends on commitment of the government and an active involvement of the community. Survey of the migrant families is the pre-requisite for assessment of the number of prospective migrant families and migrant children. Under the law, tracking the number of migrant labourers is to be done by the labour department of the district. A collective effort by the labour, education and Panchaytiraj departments to survey the migrant children in the migration prone districts would deliver better result. Jatin Patra, a social activist based in Balangir says, “The School management Committee’s involvement at every stage e.g. surveying, beginning of hostels, accommodation of children and running of the hostels, would be the key to their effective functioning.” NGOs’ role in such ventures is also crucial. These steps would save the education of thousands of hapless migrant children and oblige the provisions of the right to education (RTE) law.

[Author is a media fellow of National Foundation of India (NFI) for the year 2012. This article is written as part of the fellowship work. He can be reached by e-mail: 2006pradeep@gmail.com]

How about schools on wheels for them?

This piece was carried in "Governance Now' in 1-15 November 2012 issue

Web link: http://governancenow.com/news/regular-story/how-about-schools-wheels-them

How about schools on wheels for them?

In Odisha, children of parents migrating outside the state for work are adding to the dropout problem. The state seems to have done precious little about it

PRADEEP BAISAKH

Photo: Kasturi Majhi in Telugu school in Rangareddy dist, AP

Kasturi Majhi left Tentulikhunti, her village, in Odisha’s Balangir district, to work in a brick kiln along with her parents in Andhra Pradesh. She was 11, old enough for work that could supplement her household income. But Majhi was also of an age when she should have been in school. A year later, her parents and she are a little consoled by the fact that she got to attend classes at a ‘worksite’ school run on the premises of the Dundigal primary school in Quthbullapur mandal of Rangareddy district in Andhra Pradesh.

However, Majhi’s case is an exception, not the norm. Such luck eludes almost 25,000-30,000 children from districts in western Odisha (Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bargarh) who migrate seasonally with their parents for work. Most of them fail to get regular education and eventually drop out altogether. Many of them are unable to secure admission in the first place because the language of instruction is not the one they know.

Distress migration, in search of work, is common in western Odisha districts. Poverty-stricken families leave their homes for some money working in degrading conditions in cities in coastal Odisha or in neighbouring states. Balangir, Kalahandi and Nuapada, part of the imfamous KBK (undivided Kalahandi, Balangir, Koraput) region, have high incidences of malnutrition. There have been reports of parents selling their children, unable to provide food. According to the 55th national sample survey organisation (NSSO) survey, poverty in the region hit an alarming high of 87.1 percent at the turn of the millennium (1999-2000). The area has a high population of scheduled tribes and scheduled castes, both vulnerable groups.

Starvation has been endemic in the region as agriculture has been wrecked by continuous droughts. Social factors like caste discrimination, uneven land distribution and deforestation have also furthered the problem. Welfare schemes like rural employment guarantee and public distribution system of subsidised grains have not benefited as many people as they should have — the government has failed to implement them with earnest. So, the chronic poverty and starvation in the area have become the ‘push’ factor for migration of families like Majhi’s. People try and flee, exchanging the conditions at home for the brutality of work at kilns and construction sites. Those from Balangir and Nuapada, studies reveal, leave for brick kilns in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.  Some may migrate to Bhubaneswar, the state capital, and the neighbouring Cuttack. A study conducted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Aide et Action International (AeAI) in 100 villages in six blocks in Balangir, Nuapada, and Kalahandi in 2011-12 found that 85 percent of the migrants from Nuapada and Balangir leave for work in brick kilns while in Kalahandi, the figure stands at 62 percent. Almost 80 percent of the total migrants from the three districts leave for employment outside Odisha.

Vulnerability of migrants

The migration to brick kilns is characterised by advance payments which ranges from Rs 15,000 to Rs35,000 per pathuria-the work unit, that constitute two adult members and a child. In the brick kiln sector, child labour takes place by design, not by default. By taking advance money the workers tacitly keep themselves in bondage (locally known as bahu bandhak) for six to seven months. The transport of labourers takes place in an entrenched system of middlemen who give the advance to the workers on behalf of the kiln owners in AP, TN and elsewhere. The middlemen charge the owner for each unit of workers. The ILO-AeAI study shows that about 26 percent of the total households in these three districts migrate out for work. (This is ascertained from the migration tracking registers being maintained by the NGOs in the 100 villages studied by ILO and AeAI.) Among these, as many as 24 percent are children in the age group of 0-17 years. The children in the age group of 6-14 constitute about 11 percent of the total migrant population. This is the age group that is now entitled to get compulsory primary education under the much-hyped Right to Education Act. As much as 18 percent of the total labour force migrating from the villages are child labourers. It has been observed that any child above the age of 6 or 7 works along with his/her parents.

Inter State Migrant Workmen’s (regulation of employment and conditions of service) Act, 1979, the law regulating inter-state migration for employment in the unorganised sector, mandates the registration of the middlemen who hire such labour. The registration is to be done at the district labour office. However, in the absence of proper institutional mechanism for labour registration and half-hearted monitoring, a major chunk of labourers migrate illegally. The gullible labourers, who are already bound by the commitments of meeting stiff targets, are more often than not subjected to several forms of physical, mental and verbal harassment by their employers. The women and children, as always, remain particularly vulnerable.

Recently, a three-year-old migrant child called Pappu from Nuapada who had migrated to Nellore district of Andhra, died in suspicious circumstances. A Telugu daily, Andhra Prabha, reported it on March 23 as a suspected case of human sacrifice. 

Quantifying the migrant children

In the absence of proper tracking mechanism of the migrant workers and children, it is quite difficult to get exact estimates of their numbers. The government data provided by labour offices (as mentioned in the reply to question in the Odisha assembly in 2011) suggest that there are 290 labour contractors in four districts – Balangir, Kalahandi, Nuapada and Bargarh. According to government data, the number of migrant labourers from Balangir is 33,035; from Nuapada, it is 4,786; from Kalahandi, it is 4,256; and from Bargarh, it is 596. These are, however, highly underestimated figures.

A UNDP research paper titled ‘Migration and Human Development 2009’ quoting sources from Action Aid suggests that about 2 lakh people migrate from western Odisha to Andhra Pradesh alone. An unpublished survey done by the district administration of Nuapada in 2008 suggests that 30,000 people migrate annually (source: Abani Panigrahi, Lok Drishti, a NGO based in Nuapada district). If 11 percent of the migrants are children in the age group of 6-14, the number comes to around 22,000 from Balangir and Nuapada alone. 

Initiatives for education of migrant children

Seasonal migration in western Odisha begins in October/November of the base year with the migrant labourers returning to their villages in June/July of the next. The seasonality does not match with the academic year. As the annual exams of the schools take place in March/April, most of the children who migrate out of state miss the annual test. The ones who migrate to Bhubaneswar or Cuttack areas of Odisha can come back home during that period and appear in the exams. But most of the inter-state migrant children were forced to repeat the class upon their return. There are several cases where such children eventually dropped out from schools becoming full-time labourers. Now, however, since the rigid linkage between exam and elevation to next level has been obviated under the RTE Act, children are upgraded to the next class after appearing in a special test. However, for many, continuing in schools becomes meaningless as they miss out regular classes for nearly seven months.

Two models have been experimentally implemented to try and stem the dropout phenomenon caused by migration. One is the model of ‘seasonal hostels’ at source areas to stop children of migrants from leaving with the parents during the migration season. And the other is ‘work site schools’ run in the destination areas, at the work sites, where the children can learn in a medium of instruction that they are familiar with.

Seasonal hostels

In western Odisha the seasonal hostels, locally named as residential care centre (RCC), started in 2001-02. Initially, many NGOs in Balangir and Nuapada districts ran RCCs with the support of government and international donor agencies. It worked quite well initially. Abani Panigrahi of Lok Drishti, a NGO which has pioneered in running RCC in the area says, “At one point, there were more than 70 RCCs run by the government and NGOs, accommodating about 1,400 children in Nuapada.” The figure for RCCs in Balangir district was more than 300 accommodating about 6,000 students, informs Sanjay Mishra from Balangir. But now, due to apathy of the state government, most of the government-run RCCs have been discontinued in these two districts. In the last academic year (2011-12), barely 10 RCCs were run retaining about 200 students in Balangir and there were none in Nuapada district though there were some run by NGOs. Moreover, the government-run RCCs start operation in January/February when all the migrant children would have left with their parents.

Krishna Gopal Mohapatra, the special project director (SPD) to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Odisha, says, “This time we have got the budget approval from the central government (65 percent of a state’s SSA budget comes from the central pool) for running seasonal hostels in Balangir, Nuapada and Bargarh districts for 5,389 migrant children.” 

Work site schools

The model of providing education to the children of the migrating parents near the work site in their own language started almost during the same time as the seasonal hostels. Some NGOs like Action Aid and Aide et Action have been running work site schools for Odia children in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In fact, Andhra Pradesh has travelled quite some distance on this. In the last academic year (2011-12), Andhra SSA claims to have provided education to 6,453 Odia migrant children alone. Madhusudan V, officer on special duty (OSD) in the department of school education, Andhra Pradesh, says, “In the last academic year we provided education to about 21,070 inter-state migrant children who have come from Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharastra etc.” Aide et Action is the nodal NGO partner of the AP government to manage the show with the help of more than 140 local NGOs. For providing education to Odia children in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, Odia teachers and Odia text books are supposed to be supplied by the Odisha SSA to AP and TN under an inter-state arrangement. The NGOs facilitate this process. However, there is a visible lack of coordination between Odisha and AP. During 2011-12, AP complained that despite repeated reminders, Odisha did not send them the textbooks. Officials at the Odisha SSA admit that there is a lot more that needs to be done on the inter-state coordination aspect. “We are working out an action plan for ensuring the education of Odia children in other states,” says Mahapatra. In Tamil Nadu 430 Odia migrant children were provided education last academic year by Aide et Action.

The challenge, however, remains ensuring the Right to Education for all the migrant children. The current coverage is a very small part of the total number of children in need of such education. Besides, both the models of education are now running on an ad hoc arrangement. Institutionalisation of the same and ensuring quality education are areas which need to be seriously looked into by the policy makers of the concerned state governments.

Umi Daniel of Aide et Action says, “We need to have a larger policy debate on ‘portability of rights’ or ‘roaming access’ to rights and entitlements by the migrant population. To start with, the governments can focus on providing elementary education, facilities under ICDS and health provisions under NRHM.”

Baisakh is an Odisha-based freelance journalist and National Foundation of India (NFI) media fellow of 2012.

This piece was carried in Counterpunch in its weekend edition 19-21 October 2012. 

Web link: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/19/children-of-the-migration-in-india/

Education and the Quest for Survival

Indian Children of the Migration

by PRADEEP BAISAKH

Khageswar Benya and Panchami Benya from Muribahal block of Balangir district of Odisha, an Indian state, are the children of regularly migrating parents. For last five years they have been accompanying their parents almost regularly who have migrated to work in brick kilns in Waltier and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh like places. Last season (2011-12) they came to Quthbullapur mandal of Rangareddy district in Andhra Pradesh to work in brick kilns. Both Khageswar and Panchami studied in a school in Odia medium and successfully completed class 6 and class 5 respectively in Andhra Pradesh itself. Now they are back in their villages in Odisha and have been promoted to the higher classes. Father Dasmu Benya and mother are marginal farmers who do not have adequate sources of livelihood to manage their family. “We have two marriageable daughters to marry for whom we have to earn working in the kilns in other states.” said the couple.

Forced migration

The western part of Odisha is characterised by distressed labour migration to other states and to coastal best of Odisha in search of employment. Districts like Balangir, Nuapada and Kalahandi are part of the infamous KBK region (Undivided Kalahandi, Balangir and Koraput districts) of the state which is known for high incidence of poverty and occasional reports of child sale and deaths due to malnourishment and starvation. As per 55th NSSO survey conducted in 1999-2000, the poverty in undivided KBK region was exorbitantly high at 87.14%. The area has a high Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste population. In Balangir district 20.6% people are STs and 17% are SCs; Kalahanddi has 28.7% of STs and 17.6% SCs, and Nuapada has 34.7% of STs and 13.5% of SCs. (Census 2001)

The faltering agriculture resulting from continuous droughts, uneven land distribution, loss of forest, caste discrimination, lackadaisical performance of the government schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), non-inclusion of many deserving beneficiaries under the PDS (Public Distribution System) system so forth have been the ‘push’ factors forcing people to go out of state in search of employment. People go with families or individually to work in brick kilns, agricultural fields, construction sites, pull rickshaws, work in tea gardens etc. The dominant trend in Balangir and Nuapada districts is family migration, where they go to work in brick kilns in states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka etc, so also to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in Odisha.

Quantifying the migrant children

In absence of proper tracking mechanism of the migrant workers and children, it’s quite difficult to get their exact number. The government data provided by labour offices (Source: State Assembly questions, 2011) suggest that there are 190 labour contractors in four districts-Balangir, Kalahandi, Nuapada and Bargarh. Under the Interstate Migrant Workmen’s Act 1979, the labour contractors have sought permission to take the following numbers of migrant labourers to other states. In Balangir it is 33,035, in Nuapada it is 4786, in Kalahandi it is 4256 and in Bargarh it is 596. The real labourers which migrate are too high; many of whom are taken illegally.

The UNDP research paper titled ‘Migration and Human Development 2009’ quoting sources from Action Aid suggest that about 2 lakh people migrate from Western Odisha to Andhra Pradesh alone (ActionAid 2005). And an unpublished survey done by the district administration of Nuapada throughout the district in 2008 suggests that 30000 people migrate from the district (Source: Abani Panigrahi, Lok Drishti, a NGO based in Nuapada district). If 11% are considered to be the percentage of children in the age group of 6-14 out of the total, the number comes about 23,000 in Balangir and Nuapada alone. The real number of the children of this age group in Blangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi and Bargarh districts could well be in the range of 25,000 to 30,000 or more.

A study done in 2011-12 by International Labour Organisation (ILO) with the help of Aide Et Action India (AEAI), a civil society organisation in 100 villages spread across three districts namely Balangir, Kalahandi and Nuapada suggest that about as many as 56 percent of the total migrant workers go to Andhra Pradesh, 12% go to different areas inside the state, 8% to Chhatisgarh and 5% to Chennai. As many as 79 percent people go to work in brick kiln sectors.

It may sound bizarre, but the fact is that many of the children accompany their parents as children labourers in brick kilns. In a typical system of labour unit, called Pathuria, a child constitutes its integral part in brick kilns. Advance payment is given to the Pathuria by middlemen on behalf of their out of state employers. Money is also given for the labour of the child!

Initiative to protect education of migrant children

After Right to Education law came into effect in 2010 the challenge for providing education to these migrant children has come to fore. This piece will focus mainly on the initiatives taken to educate Odia migrant children in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In 2002 providing education to the Odia children in Andhra Pradesh in Odia medium by the Odia teachers was experimented by some Civil Society organisations (CSOs). Eventually worksite schools were also started in Tamil Nadu for the Odia children.

These exercises were successful and have been expanded to a massive scale by the Andhra Government in 2011-12.

The season of migration stretches from October/November of a year to June/July of the next year. “In this season (2011-12) 727 worksite schools were operated where 21,070 inter-state migrant children from various states like Odisha, Chhatisgarh, Maharatsra, Tamil Nadu etc received education in their mother tongue” say Madhusudan V, Officer on special duty (OSD), Dept of School Education (SSA), Andhra Pradesh.

In 2011 a detailed survey was undertaken in AP by the government in association with about NGOs. The government entered into a MoU with Aide Et Action India (AEAI), which has expertise on running schools for migrant children, to steer the process. The survey captured more than 59, 000 migrant children-both intra-state and inter-state migrant children. A total of 34,997 intra-state migrant children and 21,070 inter-state migrant children have been provided education in 2011-12.

22 out of 23 districts have been covered under the initiative. In each district a group of NGOs have been identified to run the schools. Two types of schools have been worked out. Seasonal hostels model to accommodate the children of intra-state migrant at the source and worksite schools for the children who migrated both from within the state and from out of state.

Education to Odia students

In 2010-11, 377 Odia migrant children were provided education and in 2011-12 the number is 6453 in AP. In Tamil Nadu, 430 Odia children were taught in 2010-11 and in 2011-12 the number remained the same i.e. 430.

Providing education to the inter-state migrants in their own language was a big challenge. Inter state coordination at the government level and the NGO level was established between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha and Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

AEAI, which has also units functioning in Odisha, identified eligible Odia youth to teach in AP and Tamil Nadu. Books were sent by the NGO from Odisha. The government agencies at different levels were approached to supply books.

In AP, wherever possible, the local telugu school was directed by the administration to spare space for the Odia children where they can be taught. The Dundigal primary school in Quthbullapur mandal of Rangareddy district where Khageswar and Panchami studied is a case in point. In other cases make-shift arrangements were made right near the worksite itself so that children can read. The children in the regular schools were provided with mid-day meals. However the same was missing in schools which were run in the premises of the worksite. The arrangement is similar in Tamil Nadu also.

After the classes were over, annual examinations were held for the Odia students in the worksite schools which recognised by the host governments. The primary education departments of both the AP and Tamil Nadu governments issue certificates. The department of School and Mass education of Odisha has issued an notification to acknowledge the certificates issues by AP and Tamil Nadu and admit the children to the higher classes in their parent schools. The migrant Odia teachers come back to the state in July/August to help the children in, what they call it as, ‘mainstreaming’ into their parent schools.

Challenge of quality remains

While the initiative is noteworthy as it prevents the children from missing the school for seven months during migration period and eventually dropping out, institutionalisation of the process and quality of education remain as challenges. Madhusudan V says ‘What remains challenge is the quality education. The problem with migrant children is that many of them are drop outs or out of school for many days. And in some cases they are not admitted into any school system despite being eligible. In such cases ensuring quality becomes quite difficult.” Sridhar Meher of AEAI says “What we are doing is mainly engaging the students. A lot more needs to be done.” Suresh Gutta of AEAI adds “These are initial years of our experimentation. Gradually we are inching toward providing more meaningful education.”

The institutionalisation of the inter-state coordination also remains as challenge. The selection of teachers, training teachers, sending books, mainstreaming are all now done on an ad hoc arrangement. This year hardly the migrant children got any book from Odisha government. They had to manage with the photocopies of the books. Madhusudan V blames the Odisha government for lack of coordination. “We have gone more than half way in educating the migrant Odia children. The response of Odisha government is not encouraging.”

Krishna Gopal Mohapatra, the Special Project Director (SPD) to Sarva Siksha Aviyan (SSA), Odisha admits the gaps. “Inter-departmental coordination in our state is quite necessary to make this happen. It can be done at the governmental level. The labour department has to provide the figures of the migrant families and children.”

Child labour continues

Despite the attempt to educate the migrant children, the issue of children working in the brick kilns remain as a big concern. “The elderly children continue to work in the kilns along with studying in the schools. So they are unable to read anything after going back” said a migrant teacher in condition of anonymity. Any child above the age of six works in the kilns. The labour department officials of AP remained tight lipped on the issue.

A tripartite MoU among the labour departments of AP, Odisha and GoI has been signed. It aims to protect the rights and entitlements of migrant labourers coming from Odisha to AP and to develop an action plan for the migrant children. The action plan is likely to ensure the provision of education and prevent them from working in hazardous industries. This is an International labour Organisation (ILO) initiative. AP took a long time to sign the MoU. Sources suggest it was due to the pressure from these unorganised sectors that government was hesitant to sign.

In order to protect the migrant children from being employed in the hazardous industries in brick kilns and construction sectors and to protect their rights to quality primary education, the central government and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) should play a major role.

Pradeep Baisakh is a media fellow of National Foundation of India (NFI) for the year 2012. He has written extensively on right to work, transparency law, environment and forest issues, India polity and Constitution and women issues. This article is written as part of the fellowship work. He can be reached though e mail:2006pradeep@gmail.com

We will give political alternative to people: Arvind Kejriwal

The interview came in Orissa Diary on 20th September 2012

http://orissadiary.com/entertainment/interview/showinterviewnews.asp?id=141

We will give political alternative to people: Arvind Kejriwal

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

                                                             Arvind Kejriwal

The anti-corruption movement led by Kisan Baburao Hazare popularly known as Anna Hazare in April 2011 under banner of India against Corruption (IAC) in India shoke the whole nation and the establishment. The movement demanded the passage of an anti-graft law, Jan Lokpal (Jan Lokpal is an Ombudsman like institution to address corruption in public life). It brought about a new vigour among common people who came in large numbers to support the movement and it spread through out the country. The astounding success of the movement in its initial days is compared to the movement of Jayprakash Narayan against the autocratic rule of the then Prime Minister Ms Indira Gandhi (Popularly known as JP movement) in 1970s and V P Singh's tirade against the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was allegedly involved in Bofors gun scam in late 80s. Arvind Kejriwal, the trusted follower of Anna, is said to be the chief architect of the movement. A Gandhian by action and a meticulous strategist has many successes in his career of social activism. A bureaucrat (He was an Indian Revenue Service officer) turned activist got Raman Magasaysay award for emergent leadership in 2006 for his work on right to information in Delhi. Now Anna movement has turned political. The group has declared to form political party and contest election. Kejriwal speaks exclusively to Pradeep Baisakh on the road ahead in politics.

Q: What has been your response to the recent Coalgate scam exposed by the Comptroller General of India (CAG). It is alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was holding the coal portfolio while the allocation of coal blocks was made without auction?

Arvind Kejriwal: On 26^th August we made a gherao (surrounded) of the residence of Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi (UPA chairperson) and of Nitin Gadkari (BJP President). Along with these, the residences of the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Odisha were also surrounded. Police lathi-charged (Beating with sticks) and teargassed unprovoked in many places and arrested our supporters in Delhi and other states.

Q: Anna Hazare and team have has declared to go for an Alternative Politics. Why the change in goal post? Was the decision taken by wider consultation of your supporters or it's an on-the-spot decision to cover up the inconsequential fast undertaken by you in Jantar Mantar on 25^thJuly?

Arvind Kejriwal: We sat on the Ansan (fasting) in Jantar Mantar from 25^th July with the determination to 'do or die'. Owing to the non-response of the government, many people came to us with the suggestion of forming a political party and give alternative political platform to the people. On the eighth day of fast we decided to give three days to people to give their opinion on the need of an alternative politics. Almost everyone present in Jantar Mantar that time supported the idea. Zee TV received pool of 70,000 people and 96 percent supported it. On 9^thday Anna Hazare ji discussed with some of his old colleagues and declared that he is ready to give people a political alternative. We have trust in him. He knows the nerve of people.

Q: Why do you think you failed to evoke good public response to your recent fast in comparison to the earlier ones?

Arvind Kejriwal: Even though people had the faith in Anna's leadership, people did not have the hope that the protest or the fasting will yield any result now. It was clear that pressuring from outside the Parliament will not yield Jan Lokpal as none of the parties including ruling Congress, and principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) want a strong ant-graft law. All of them are neck dip in corruption. The movement has to go inside Parliament.

Q: Do you think that this new step will yield result?

Arvind Kejriwal: This will give hope to the people and this seems to be the next logical step.

Q: Do you have a clear vision on what would be the nature of this alternative politics?  What are you going to do to make it a reality?

Arvind Kejriwal: The current politics dominated by 'high command' culture. All members of Parliament (MPs) have to obey the decision of their high commands. Thus only 18 such high commands rule this country. People's voice has no scope to be heard. Our vision of alternative politics is complete decentralisation. People will select candidates and people will decide on laws and policies. Our idea of 'Gram Swaraj' (Village self rule) is a decentralised politics where people are the source of authority, not the high commands. 

We will form District Andolan Committees very soon consisting the leaders of India Against Corruption (IAC) there and student leaders, farmer leaders, tribal leaders, dalit (scheduled caste) leaders, minority leaders, women leaders, doctors, lawyers, unemployed youths and others who have good image. This committee will then identify volunteers in every village of the state.

On 2^nd October 2012 we will launch the political party and will give candidates in all Parliamentary constituencies in 2014 general election.

Q: You have any example which can be compared to your vision of alternative politics?

Arvind Kejriwal: As I said, it is basically a decentralised politics. Nothing can be carbon copy. But one has to learn from several other countries. There have been several examples. Switzerlandhas provisions of right to recall. United States has taken great measures; many European countries have it. It existed in ancient India. Mahatma Gandhi stressed on bottom up politics. He wanted a party less democracy.

Q: Who are your support base and will you not require money to fight elections?

Arvind Kejriwal: People at large are our support base. The candidates who will contest the elections will be chosen by people in that constituency. These candidates will not go to Parliament or Assembly for power but to serve people. The candidates will not have any red light cars, will not have any MP or MLA (Member of Legislative Assemblies) quota, and will be staying in a one room flat, not in multi-crore (one crore is 10 million) bungalows. Honesty and simple living will be their hallmark.

If people themselves campaign for the candidate chosen by them, we will need any money to fight elections. If people do not campaign for us, then we need not be in politics.

Q: You think you will be able to cope up with the power politics prevailing today which need muscle and money?

Arvind Kejriwal: We have to change that. Ours will be an Andolan, not a typical political party like we have many today. It is all about people's politics, not power politics.

Q: What will be the fate of the Jan Lokpal now?

Arvind Kejriwal: Jan Lokpal will come. This is basically a journey to Jan Lokpal only. Because none of these parties are willing to give us Jan Lokpal, this movement should go to the Parliament and pass Jan Lokpal bill.

Q: Your friend Retired Justice N Santosh Hegde says that India is not ready for an anti-graft party. How do you respond to it?

Arvind Kejriwal: I really do not know what he has said exactly. But he has signed the letter saying that we should provide a political alternative to people. I have a copy of the letter.

Q: On Anna's fight against corruption, P Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor of 'The Hindu' and Magsaysay award winner said, in a discourse delivered in Bhubaneswar, Odisha (An Indian state) on 29^th April 2012, that it's trying to check the flow of water with all the taps open. He meant that you are not addressing the sources or root causes of corruption. What you have to say?

Arvind Kejriwal: What are the sources of corruption?

Q: I think he was basically meaning that you have not taken a stand on the neo-liberal economy. He may have other reasons to say so.

(Note: P Sainath has spoken on various basis of corruption in many of his discourses. They are: structural inequalities like caste, class and regional inequalities, economic policies taken in last twenty years and the culture of arbitrariness. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qfAyDVogxc&feature=player_detailpage)

Arvind Kejriwal: There are many reasons for corruption. What he says is also right which needs to be tackled. Our entire movement was for Jan Lokpal bill for creating deterrence against corruption. We never took a position that Jan Lokpal law will remove all types of corruption. Many steps need to be taken to end corruption. Neo-liberal policies are not the only reason for corruption.

Q: But the fact is that the quantum of corruption has been multiplied after the neo-liberal economy is in place. Bofors scam was of about $10.8 million (INR 60 crore) (one dollar is equivalent to 55.4 rupees as on 26^th August 2012) and now we have 2G spectrum scam which is of $36 billion (INR 2 lakh crore) and Coalgate scam is of $33.6 billion (INR 1.86 lakh crore), to cite some examples?

Arvind Kejriwal: I completely agree.

Q: Why have you not taken a stand on the neo-liberal economy? Is it due to that fact that by doing so, you fear you may lose the middle class support, which is your base, as middle class (along with upper class) has benefited from these policies?

Arvind Kejriwal: I never said that we cannot take a stand against the neo-liberal policies. Our campaign was on Jan Lokpal bill. We are not supposed to take stand on everything. We are not politicians.

Q: And now that you are entering into politics, will you take a public stand on the same?

Arvind Kejriwal: We are creating platform for discussion on several issues and we will take all these issues to public. And we would like public discussion take place on all these issues.

Q: There are waves of policies which legitimise the transfer of natural resources like land, water, forest to the private companies and multi-multinationals in name of public interest. Many say that hardly any public interest is served by this. What you have to say on this?

Arvind Kejriwal: That's wrong. That has to stop.

Q: You have been off and on with Baba Ramdev. You had distanced from him at times and you sided with him at times. Is it a compulsion for you to be with him for garnering the large follower base that he seems to be having?

Arvind Kejriwal: This movement is not about garnering followers. There is no partnership for getting followers. It is only about the cause. He has been fighting the battle to bring black money back to India. It is a legitimate cause, we support his cause. We do not support any individuals, we are supporting the causes.

Q: But he has not come clean on the charges on his multi-billion empire.

Arvind Kejriwal: Let the government do whatever investigations they have to do.  

Q: You have demanded for right to recall and right to reject. What's your stand on other important reform proposals on electoral reforms like state funding of elections?

Arvind Kejriwal: Anna movement had four demands. Jan Lokpal, right to recall, right to reject andGram Swaraj (Village self rule). We are open to various ideas of electoral reforms. Let suggestion come and let people debate over it.

Q: Do you want to be the Prime Minster of the country?

Arvind Kejriwal: Position is not important for us, issues are. I am not fighting this battle to be the Prime Minister but to address various issues plaguing the nation and the people.

(Baisakh is a freelance journalist based in Odisha, an Indian state. He is a media fellow of National Foundation of India (NFI) for the year 2012. He has written extensively on transparency law, right to work, forest and environment issues, Indian Polity and Constitution, Industrialisation and displacement etc.  He can be reached through e mail: 2006pradeep@gmail.com)

Is expelled Maoist leader planning to go mainstream?

This news piece came on Tehelka on 12th August 2012

Link: http://tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=Ws130812ODISHA.asp

Is expelled Maoist leader planning to go mainstream?

While Sabyasachi Panda formed a faction last month, CPI (Maoist) expelled him last week for being a 'revisionist'

Pradeep Baisakh 

  Bhubaneswar

Two days after the central committee of the banned CPI (Maoist) expelled one of its top leaders Odisha Sabyasachi Panda from the party for his ‘betrayal’ and for being ‘revisionist’, Panda issued an audio tape on 12 August night rebutting the charges leveled against him. Panda said, “The expulsion is meaningless as we have severed our ties with them and formed a new party a month ago.”

On 14 July, a 16 page letter written by Panda and addressed to CPI (Maoist) general secretary Ganapathy, was released to media. In his letter, Panda had leveled various charges against the party leaders, saying, “Killing innocent people, apart from unarmed and innocent police personnel, has become the norm of the party.” He had alleged that “Ganapathy wants to establish dictatorship based on terror and fear.” He said that “Adivasi women were being sexual exploited” and also raised questions on “domination of Telugu and Koya cadres in the party.”

Reacting to Panda's letter, the central committee of CPI (Maoist) issued a press release on 10 August, branding Panda a ‘renegade’ and declaring his expulsion from the party. The release said that Panda is ‘fulfilling his selfish political motives that serve the ruling classes.’ The statement also termed the allegations of ‘exploitation of Adivasis’ and ‘sexual exploitation of women’ as baseless, claiming that there are several Adivasis, including women, in the Maoist fold.

In response to the expulsion, Panda criticised the party for its diversion from its main ideology since 2003. “They have killed the workers of SUCI, CITU, CPI (ML) and many common people without any solid reasons. They killed Nava (the leader of a group protesting against the bauxite-mining project in Niyamgiri) branding him as a police informer. During that time, I was kept under strict vigil for seven months and the Andhra cadres were employed to spy on me,” Panda said in the audio tape. “They have not clarified how I became a ‘revisionist’ or an ‘opportunist. We will not continue with a party that is working against people’s interest,” added Panda. He alleged discrimination against Odisha cadres by the Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh cadres.

The differences between Panda and the party have existed for quite some time now. The party did not approve of Panda's kidnapping of the Italian tourists Paolo Bosusco and Claudio Colangelo in March this year. Apart from that, a Maoist organisation Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee kidnapped the Laxmipur MLA Jhina Hikaka even when the negotiations for release of the Italian hostages were on between Panda and the police. Last month, Panda declared the formation of Odisha Maovadi Party, though he did not openly declare disassociation from CPI (Maoist).

Meanwhile, Subhashree Dash alias Mili Panda, wife of Sabyasachi Panda, hinted at his possible surrender. “He hasn't committed any crime in the two years. The government should provide a democratic space for him and withdraw cases against him,” she told a local TV channel.

However, Odisha DGP Prakash Mishra said, “Sabyasachi Panda has not offered to surrender. Let that situation come, then we will think about it. All Maoists are free to surrender, of course.” On whether the cases against Panda will be dropped if he offers to surrender, Mishra said, “I am not the government, it is premature to discuss on this. Let the offer come.”

Gopala Nanda, former DGP of Odisha said that a clash between the two factions can not be ruled out. “In fact the life of Sabyasachi is now under threat as this is a small group. The language he has used in his audio tape – that he does not believe in violence, in dictatorship or authoritarianism – indicates that he is eager to come to mainstream. However, he may demand some degree of respectability from the government to clear the legal hurdles.” He has cases pending against him in Nayagarh armory raid in 2008 and in Swami Laxmananda’s killing, among others. “I think the government should grab this opportunity and facilitate his entry into mainstream. With his surrender, the Maoist activities will suffer a jolt in areas like Kandhamal, parts of Ganjam and Rayagada districts,” said Nanda.

Nihar Nayak, an Associate Fellow at Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis, said, “It is extremely difficult for Panda to go underground for a long period. In order to carry his activities, he needs cadres and arms. He may somehow manage to get cadres but getting arms from outside would be difficult as it may be thwarted by the Maoists. Given the nature of expose he has made of the internal matters of Maoists, the chance of his reinstatement into the fold also seems bleak. He may go ahead with his newly formed Odisha Maovadi Party for a few days and use pressure tactics with the government to come to mainstream.”

...........

Pradeep Baisakh is a freelance journalist based in Bhubaneswar. 

letters@tehelka.com