Judges under scrutiny

This article was carried in India Together on 25th September 2009

The web link: http://www.indiatogether.org/2009/sep/rti-judges.htm

Judges under scrutiny

Despite recent concessions to be subject to Right to Information Act, the Supreme Court's attitude to the sunshine law remains a matter of concern, writes Pradeep Baisakh.

25 September 2009 - In an apparent climb-down, the Supreme Court agreed on 11 August 2009 to disclose information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act what action has been taken by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) on a complaint against some judges of the Allahabad High Court. Earlier, the apex court had declined to provide this, claiming that such information is not available with its official registry. Its reversal of that stand is a welcome change of view.

Nonetheless, the overall attitude of the Supreme Court toward the sunshine law continues to remain a cause of concern. In the most recent development where a single judge bench of Delhi HC ruled that office of CJI comes under RTIA, the SC is planning to appeal against the order in a division bench of the same court.

Don't look inside our house
P K Dalmia of Noida, Uttar Pradesh had sought information from the Public Information Officer of the Supreme Court on what action had been taken on three of his complaints made in 2007 and 2008 against the judges of Allahabad High Court on some matter of embezzlement. The PIO replied in negative as information relating to complaints against High Court judges were not part of the routine SC registry. Though such information was available with the 'office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI)', the PIO neither attempted to get it from there nor transferred the RTI application to that office. Dalmia appealed to the Central Information Commission (CIC), which ordered the PIO on 24 February 2009 to provide the information sought by him. At this stage too, the Supreme Court did not comply; instead, this order of CIC was challenged in the Delhi High Court.

During the hearing before the High Court, the Attorney General Vahanvati (appearing on behalf of the Supreme Court) agreed to provide the information sought. However, he maintained that he does not accept the correctness of the CIC's judgement on the matter.

Even an order by the full bench of the CIC delivered in January 2009 could not change the Supreme Court's view on the 'personal capacity' of an office-holder. This case has similarities to the much-highlighted case of S C Agrawal, where the applicant had sought information from the Supreme Court whether any declarations of assets have been made by the judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts to their respective Chief Justices, as expected under the resolution passed by the All India Judges Conference in May 1997. The Supreme Court declined to provide this information, arguing instead that the May 1997 resolution was an 'in-house mechanism'. Moreover, the court took the view that assets declared by judges to their respective chiefs, were given 'voluntarity', and received in the 'personal capacity' of the Chief Justices (implying, therefore, that they were not official documents subject to RTI).

Even an order by the full bench of the CIC delivered in January 2009 could not change the Supreme Court's mind on this - instead, the SC filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court, and obtained a stay on the order. Since then, the CJI has reversed himself (see below).

Both these cases center around a key legal issue, namely, whether the 'Office of Chief Justice of India, in his capacity as Chief Justice not sitting in a Court" is subject to the application of Right to Information Act, 2005. The Information Commission's view was that the Chief Justice is a custodian of the information available with him, and that it is available for perusal and inspection to every succeeding office-holder. Therefore the information cannot be categorized as "personal information" even if the CJI holds it in his personal capacity.

Legalising secrecy
The proposed legislation that rocked the upper house in recent monsoon session of Parliament was the "The Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill, 2009". The bill apparently aimed at brining transparency to the functioning of the higher judiciary by providing for declaration of assets and liabilities by the judges. Under it the judges of Supreme Court would declare their assets to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and judges of High Courts to the concerned Chief Justice, the CJI would be required to declare assets to the President. Judges failing to declare their assets (in 30 days time) or providing a false declaration would be deemed to be misconduct and misconduct is a ground for removal of a judge.

But clause 6 of the draft bill prohibits such declaration from being made public. This exclusion was vehemently opposed by most political parties, as well as some legislators from the ruling Congress. Parliamentarians termed such a move violative of the Constitution and the RTI Act. Arun Jaitly of BJP wondered why, if candidates contesting elections are to divulge their assets and liabilities under the constitutional provisions , why cannot the judges; and argued that there cannot be two interpretations of Article 19 that gives fundamental right to citizen to know. Brinda Karat of CPI-M said [the proposed Bill] violates the equality of all citizens, a basic feature of Constitution. Noted Constitutional expert and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani termed it as a "conspiracy of corruption".

It would be pertinent to put here what exactly clause 6 of the bill reads. It says, "notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, a declaration made by a Judge to a competent authority shall not be made public or disclosed, and, shall not be called for, or, put into question by any citizen, court or authority, and, save as provided by sub-section 2, no Judge shall be subjected to any enquiry or query in relation to the contents of the declaration by any person."

The higher Judiciary welcomed the bill in its totality. Responding to the bill, CJI K G Balkrishnan said "We [the judges] welcome it. We only wanted it". Commenting on keeping the same information out of the purview of the RTIA, he said "We do not want the judges to be harassed."

Public statements have been issued from time to time by the CJI, who has been in forefront in advocating the view of keeping the higher judiciary out of the purview of RTI, e.g. "no self respecting judge will accept compulsory declaration" (05/02/2007, The Hindu), "The Chief Justice is not a public servant. He is a constitutional authority. RTI does not cover constitutional authorities" (20/04/2008, TOI), "We do not want the judges to be harassed." (26/07/2009, The Hindu) all of which are directly or obliquely concerned to the asset declaration case.

Since then, however, amidst views from some judges themselves that declaring their assets publicly is necessary, the Chief Justice has reversed himself owing to a unanimous decision taken by all the SC judges; now the Court will place the statements of assets on its web sites. Whether this amounts to accepting the jurisdiction of the RTI or if any action will be taken for non-declaration of assets, is unclear.

Disclosure and judicial independence
The second concern that bears examination is this: "will greater scrutiny of judges affect their judicial independence, or will scruinty become a tool of harassment by the public or by vested interests?". I think not.

The SC and the High Courts already enjoy numerous protections to ensure that they are not unduly pressured, whether by other branches of government or by the public. The Constitution provides that the CJI will be consulted in judicial appointments, that judges will have guaranteed tenure, their salaries are not voted upon, their conduct cannot be discussed in legislatures, and they have absolute immunity from civil and criminal proceedings for acts done in discharge of their official duties. They also hold the power of 'contempt of court' to protect themselves from any malicious criticism and to enforce implementation of their decrees.

All these provisions make the higher judiciary immune from interference from legislative or executive organs of the state and also from any individual. Eminent jurist Fali Nariman has rightly said "If only the judges had relied on the Constitution of India to protect them, as when they decide individual cases, and disgruntled litigants sometimes make allegations against them, they would have had no need for additional protection from government or from Parliament". Therefore any apprehension that judges would be harassed if their assets and liabilities are made public is only superfluous.

And among judges themselves, as we saw recently, there is divided opinion. Even earlier, progressive voices to include judiciary under the purview of RTI have come from former CJI J S Verma (January 2007) and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Law and Justice (April 2008).

The Judges Assets Bill would also, in all likelihood, be challenged in the courts if passed in its current form, and therefore it was wise that the government withdrew it for the moment. If the question of the constitutionality of the Bill were to be raised, it would have been uncomfortable for the justices to have sat in judgment of their own views. Instead, we now witness a compromise, by which the judges have agreed that their assets would be declared publicly on the SC's web site. ⊕

Pradeep Baisakh 25 Sep 2009
Pradeep Baisakh is a freelance journalist based in Orissa.

Winning the cashew battle in Orissa

The piece caem in Infochange India (http://www.infochangeindia.org/) in September 2009

The web link: http://infochangeindia.org/200909197952/Livelihoods/Features/Winning-the-cashew-battle-in-Orissa.html

Winning the cashew battle in Orissa
By Pradeep Baisakh

To avoid siltation of the newly constructed dams caused by traditional forms of agriculture, the tribals of the Koraput district of Orissa were persuaded to shift to cultivation of cashew and other trees and promised ownership of the land. But when the government reneged on its promise and started reaping the benefits itself, a people’s movement began that has just ended in victory after 10 long years

It took ten years of struggle by the people of Koraput district to get the government of Orissa to pass an order that ensured that usufructuary rights over cashew plantations would be handed over to the tribals who have traditional rights over such natural resources in areas under the Fifth Schedule. The spirit of women like Chandrama Honatal, a tribal woman from Koraput district kept the issue alive through the years. “Maribu sina daribu nain, dangar jami chhadibu nain” (We will die but not fear; but we will not leave our land) Chandrama Honatal had declared at a meeting in June 2007 with Orissa’s chief minister, Naveen Patnaik.

The chief minister had assured the delegation of villagers then that the government would soon hand over the usufructuary rights over cashew plantations to the tribals but it took more than a year to officially pass the order to that effect.

“Cashew plantation taken up as soil conservation measure in the catchment area of the reservoirs and those taken up under anti-poverty programmes like ERRP, RLEGP, JRY, EAS, anti-podu schemes etc would be distributed to the poor ST/SC families in the Schedule Area and MADA/cluster areas” read the minutes of a meeting chaired by the chief minister on July 31, 2008. Defayati rights would be conferred on the landless, small and marginal families belonging to scheduled tribes and scheduled castes to the extent of 2 acres per family and the beneficiary selection entitlements shall be decided in the Palli Sabha (the general body of adult members in a revenue village).

By this order, mostly tribal people from 20 out of 30 districts of the state will benefit and about 63,000 acres of land will be distributed among them. In Koraput district alone, cashew plantation on about 16,700 acres will be handed over to the people.

This order came after ten years of struggle waged by the people, particularly those from the Machhkund area (Lamtaput, Nandapur and Machhkund blocks) of Koraput district.

The issue
In the early-1950s it was realised that podu cultivation, which causes soil erosion, must stop if dams like the Machhkund and Kolab in Koraput district, Chitrakonda in undivided Koraput district, Rengali in undivided Dhenkanal district etc, are to be saved from siltation.

The Soil Conservation Department of the state government was created in 1956 with the objective of undertaking massive plantations of cashew, silver oak, and coffee among others, in the catchment areas of the dams. The local people who were doing podu cultivation on these lands were persuaded to plant the trees instead under various wage employment schemes. They were assured that such plantations would eventually be handed over to them and would give them a sustainable income. The Koraput District Gazette reiterates this promise of the government.

However, the government soon forgot its promise to hand over the plantation rights to the people, and itself sold the cashew and made good profits.

The survey settlement process, which was conducted at the same time, was faulty and did not record the rights of tribals over agricultural land that they had been traditionally cultivating. So the land stayed under the control of the government both de facto and de jure.

In 1979, the Orissa State Cashew Development Corporation (OSCDC) was created to carry on the cashew business on commercial lines by issuing annual tenders. Huge chunks of land were transferred to the corporation for the purpose, and the traditional owners were treated as encroachers on their own lands.

Guruchalan (now about 75) of Litiput village in Koraput district recalls an incident in his young days: “Once some cows strayed onto the kaju dangar (cashew land)while grazing nearby, and I went to take them back. On my way back I picked up one kaju seed. The watchman noticed it and slapped and beat me.”

Data on different divisions and areas under control of OSCDC : Please the table from the web link of the article)
Origins of the struggle
The peoples’ struggle to right this injustice began from Enugu village in the Lamtaput block of Koraput district in 1994-95 when a Vana Surakshya Samiti (VSS) was formed with the help of the forest department, by which the people of the village were given the responsibility to protect the adjacent forest and enjoy its fruits. However, due to the faulty survey and settlement process, it was not clear which parts of the forest land were under the forest department and which was revenue land. The Cashew Development Corporation, which had been issuing tenders on the forest land, refused to give up its claim. This led to a clash between the people on the one hand and the corporation and revenue and police administration on the other.

The people working as wage labourers collecting the cashew thwarted any attempt of the tender holder to employ outside labourers. A compromise was finally arrived at which allowed the people to collect the cashew and share some part of it with the tender holder to cover his investment. The people won because in this case a VSS was formed and they were united. But in other villages no such VSS was formed and the land fell under the revenue category.
However, the success of Enugu inspired people from other villages to also start taking control of their cashew dangars (land). This evoked a backlash from the corporation and tender holders who filed civil and criminal cases against people and had them arrested by the police. In 2000-01 the Dangar Surakshya Samiti was formed which was later named Dangar Adhikar Samiti (DAS) to lead a more organised struggle.

The affected people are mostly from tribal communities such as Gadva and Paraja but whole villages stood united, with dalits, backward class and other castes joining in. The DAS at village level and area level held regular meetings and collected funds to fight the battle. Gupta Panigrahi, a lawyer who was fighting cases of people in the courts, was the moving spirit behind the formation of DAS. Two other organisations, the Machhkund Basachyuta Mahasangha(a people’s forum fighting for the families displaced by the Machhkund dam) and Mahila Mahasanghas (a women’s federation of SHGs at gram panchayat level) also allied with DAS in the struggle. The Society for Promoting Rural Education and Development (SPREAD), a local NGO, played a vital role in facilitating the people’s movement.

The struggle yielded some results and in 2005, about 1500 tree pattas were issued by the Machhkund tehsildar to the people. However, these pattas were declared illegal by the government later.

Multi-pronged advocacy
Rallies and dharnas were held in front of the tehsil office, the collectorate and even the state assembly (in June 2007). Memoranda were submitted to the respective authorities demanding that the cashew plantations be handed over to the people as promised. As Bidyut Mohanty of SPREAD says, “In the tendering process, a handful of traders from Jeypore, Bilaput and Machhkund, in connivance with the officials of the corporation, are taking the whole benefit, but people are not getting anything.”

The Right to Information was used by the people, which revealed that proper procedure was not followed by the soil conservation and revenue departments when leasing the land to the cashew corporation. This meant that the corporation did not have any legal right to issue tenders. This revelation strengthened the case of the people against the corporation.

Awareness drives were undertaken by the social activists of SPREAD and the young cadres of DAS to make people aware about their legitimate claim over the plantation. This helped people wage an informed, and not just emotional, struggle. “According to PESA (Panchayat Extension of Schedule Areas) Act, the people have a right over jal, jungle and jamin (water, forest and land) in Schedule Five areas,” asserts Rama Badnaik, a young woman from the Mali community who led the movement in her village of Matamput.

Women, in fact, played a leading role in the struggle. Dasu Krisani, Chandrama Hontal and Rama Badnaik, all office-bearers of SHGs at village or panchayat level, were actively involved. The local MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati was persuaded to raise the matter in the assembly and seek response from the minister.

Revenue generated from tendering process of Cashew Corporation (See the table from the web link of the article)

The state hits back
As the people gradually took physical control of the cashew lands, the corporation and others who benefitted immensely from the tendering process (see box) did all they could to protect their interests.

Civil and criminal cases were filed indiscriminately against the people and many of them were arrested. In 2002, about 12 people, including Samara Sisa, Basudev Sisa, and Ravi Bisoi from Logum village, were arrested and put behind bars for a couple of days. Court orders were obtained to impose Section 144 of the CrPC to bar the entry of people into the plantations. On different occasions people were threatened by the superintendent of police, sub-collector and tehsildar to refrain or face dire consequences.

In order to create divisions within the struggle, dalits and other castes were given tenders of the plantations forcibly taken over by the tribals. SHGs were also offered tenders at very low cost (Rs 5,000-10,000 instead of Rs 100,000-125,000). Leaders of the agitation were offered bribes to back down. Even the local MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati, who helped facilitate meetings with the chief minister and other important ministers/leaders alleged that the corporation had tried to “influence” him.

Goons were hired by the tender holders to attack the villagers who had taken physical possession of the plantations. This led to bloody confrontations at times. In Litiput village, in 2007, Pratima Khara, aged about 65, was hit on her head with a tangi (a local weapon).

The winning strategy
Ultimately, what compelled the government to change its policy was the people taking physical control of the plantations and stopping the tender holders from reaping the cashew crop. This led to a huge loss of income for the corporation. In the last four years (2005-2008) in the Jeypore division (Koraput, Kalahandi, Rayagada and Nawrangpur districts) the income from the tendering process has gone down from Rs 85 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. Jeypore division constitutes about one-third of the total land under plantation and about one-fifth of the total income of the corporation (2004-05 data).

The loss in revenue brought the Agriculture Production Commissioner S P Nanda to Koraput in August 2007, which eventually led to the current decision of the government. With elections in the state scheduled for April-May 2009, the government found it expedient to come up with the formal order in November 2008.

On January 20, 2009 about 2,000 people gathered at Kujamba village in the Lamptaput block to celebrate the victory after the chief minister finally issued the order granting tree pattas to people.

But Ramchandra Badnaik, the current president of DAS, says “it’s a battle half won”. Now, the real challenge is how to reconcile the interests of the OBCs or general caste people in the villages who have been a part of the struggle, but who, under the current order, are not identified as beneficiaries. An even greater challenge is to renovate the plantations which have become old with new plantations and constantly maintain them and prevent deforestation.

Cashew economics
Cashew production is a lucrative business. According to Sadanand Behera, assistant manager, accounts, of OSCDC, Bhubaneswar, “In each hectare, there are at least 200 trees as per the government standard of maintaining seven metres distance between two trees. Each tree would yield at least 8 kg of cashew in the worst case.”

The market price of raw cashew varies from Rs 30-45 per kg. So, cashew from one hectare of land would fetch Rs 48,000 a year. Jeypore division has 6,796 hectares of transferred area (transferred from Soil Conservation department) alone. By this calculation, it should give an income of Rs 32 crore.

Says Dusmant Padhi of the NGO, SPREAD: “Since the trees in Jeypore division have become old, by most conservative estimates if the minimum income from a hectare of cashew land is Rs 10,000, the total income from the land under the cashew corporation in Jeypore division would amount to Rs 6.7 crore annually.”
The income of the corporation from the tendering process was Rs 85 lakh in 2004-05 - the highest in the last four years. So the beneficiaries of the rest of the money of about Rs 5.5 crore are, it would seem, all those who are involved in the tendering process of cashew plantation. The officials who sit in on the tendering process are the sub-collector, respective tehsildars, and the Cashew Corporation’s divisional manager.

The state level figure may suggest that while the official income of the corporation from tendering is Rs 4 crore, the potential income would vary somewhere between Rs 30-40 crore by most conservative estimates, and a more realistic estimate may put it somewhere around Rs 100 crore! MLA Bahinipati rightly says “A great lobby exists on the cashew issue.”

Those people who have control of their plantations are getting a good return. This serves as a great motivation for villagers in the Machhkund area, many of whom have been displaced by the Machhkund dam and have very limited sources of livelihood. For example, in Hanumal village under Lamtaput block, people have earned Rs 12 lakh in last four years (2005-08).

(Pradeep Baisakh is a development journalist based in Orissa)
InfoChange News & Features, September 2009

When beloved ones become your blood-hounds

Photo of Sashi Mansi Singh

A truncated version of this piece came in the 'Grassroots', August 2009 issue

When beloved ones become your blood-hounds

Pradeep Baisakh

Twenty year old Shashi Mansi Singh had been serving the people of Gunjivadi village of Kandhamal district of Orissa for about three years in several ways. She formed and gave direction to the functioning of Self Help Groups (SHGs), sent about twenty children to the school by persuading their parents, spread awareness on several issues and so on. She is a Christian girl from Daringvadi block of the district. Her selfless service had won confidence of villagers of different religious communities on her who affectionately address her as Madhu.

On 23rd August 2008 Swami Laxmananada Saraswati of Jaleshpata ashram in Kandhamal district was shot dead by some miscreants. This led insurmountable communal flare up among Hindus and Christians through out the state. Gunjivadi also did not escape from the communal hatredness. Just during the procession carrying the body of deceased Swamiji passed Gunjivadi, a message (rumour or fact is for the investigating agency to find out) was spread that a particular NGO of K Nuagaon-the nearest township was involved in the killing of Swamiji. Following the procession, some villagers of a particular community got together and decided to search Mansi and another person-Brahmanand to finish them altogether. What was their crime? They were working for the aforesaid NGO! The younger generation in the mob discussed “we had so much trust on them, they have played with our faith…” Mansi was eavesdropping from her rented house. She was unable believe her ears; are these the same people planning to kill her who till the other moment loved her so much!

Indecisive, she ran to the other hamlet where Christian people were staying. (She had taken rent in a hindu house.) It was a dark night and was raining. She banged herself against a wall and fell unconscious just as she arrived there. People rushed in and sprinkled water brining her back to consciousness. As she narrated her apprehension on the possibility of attack on her, the people there hid her in one house. The mob had by that time reached that hamlet and searched her thoroughly. Not getting her, they left the place.

The mob indiscriminately started burning and destroying the houses and property of a particular community. People fearing consequences hurriedly started running in that dark night to the nearest jungle leaving their belongings behind. Mansi and Brahmanand also joined the crowd. Unable to match the ‘life saving race’ some pregnant women were falling down, but somehow were managing to wake up and then run!

Mansi was not conversant with the route unlike the villagers. In the ‘run’ she got her dress torn while brushed against the thorns and lost her shoes too. The villagers spent four days and four nights in the nearest jungle. The search of Mansi and Brahmanand by the mob continued for these days in the jungle. ‘Cat and mouse’ game went on between one set of villagers who had turned mob and the other set of people who were trying to save themselves and these two outsiders. Mansi was given a towel to wear herself as her dress was already torn. None took any food or water in all these days; neither did they feel the need-so overwhelming was the fear of death!

At the end of four days Mansi and Brahamanad thought the villagers are unnecessarily suffering for them, they should go back to their village. So deciding, they left for Simanvadi GP of Daringvadi block in the night eluding the vigil of the mob. A boy-‘Nilkon’ was sent with both of them to guide. Uncertain about their future, the villagers bade them a tearful farewell. They had to criss-cross about thirty kilometres in the thick jungle to arrive at their destination.

Mansi had worn back the same torn dress. Bare foot and half torn saluaar punjabi, Mansi started her second innings of the ‘race to save life’ unsure about where destiny is taking her. Only Nilkon knew the route. Traversing through the thick forest housed by wild animals like tiger, bear and poisonous snakes was not like suiting a horror film for them as the threat to their life at every step was very real. Thorns were piercing Mansi’s bare foot leading to continuous bleeding-thus passed that night, but the journey did not stop. As they were passing through a bare and stiff mountain, Mansi slipped over a stone and lost control. Barely saved as she caught hold of a small single branch tree; otherwise she would have fallen down by about hundred feet. Brahamanand and Hilkon pulled her up. Walking on, they arrived in Dandavadi and Jiduvadi villages where they took water after five days. They passed about four to five villages on their way. But as and when they were passing any village, just after some time they would hear the mob shouting barely half a kilometre behind! It seemed the mob was able to know their whereabouts-so feels Mansi.

Sun was setting; they had to cross a narrow but overflowing river. There was no bridge. There were two parallel strings tied across two trees on the both sides of the river. Without lifting the steps they cautiously slip their feet over the lower string and simultaneously holding the upper one. Mansi could feel that bloods from her feet were dropping on the river. Mentally and physically exhausted and traumatised, Mansi started laughing like a mad girl-just not able to know what is happening to her. They crossed the river, but that’s not over. As they passed a few yards ahead, suddenly she stopped and shouted. She was about to step over a long black snake sleeping on their way…again saved! They also encountered with a bear, though it did not harm them but quietly left.

In that night they arrived on Nilkon’s house and ate some biscuits. This is something they ate after seven days!

Eventually she managed to reach her home in Daringvadi where her family members had thought that she was already dead. After the eight days of nightmare, Mansi was behaving erratically. “I could know that I was behaving abnormally, but I was unable to help it out” says Mansi. Then she had to go through a series of counselling to be back to normalcy.

Mansi still cannot understand-why her beloved one ran amok after her? Neither could she nor the villagers could understand that taking advantage of their low level of awareness, how skilfully religion is used by the influential category in the society to divide people and take mileage-both political and religious.

Looking at Checkered lives

This Piece came in July 2009 issue of Grassroots (A Press Institute of India publication)
Web Link: http://pressinstitute.org/scripts/grassroots_english_popup.asp?id=373
Checkered lives

By : Pradeep Baisakh
Orissa

Life is grim for the tribals living in the reserve forest areas of the country, who face pressure from corrupt officials on one hand, and the environment lobby on the other.

Samaru Durua was rushed to Ramgiri PHC by his relatives after he was beaten up by a bear. His life was saved, but his livelihood was lost. In four days of hospitalization, pharmacist Maheswar Behera had already extorted Rs. 3000 from him for medicines worth just about a thousand and five hundred rupees. “He will continue to be in hospital for some more days now. The total cost of his treatment would be in the range of ten thousand rupees,” said the pharmacist. When this reporter questioned him on why he had overcharged the poor tribal fellow, the pharmacist had no convincing answer, but certainly had something to offer (read bribe) to the reporter, to refrain from reporting the incident!

Samaru is from Haldikund Panchayat under Ramgiri reserve forest (RF) area in Koraput district of Orissa. To meet his hospitalization expenses, he mortgaged his two acres of agricultural land - the only landed property he had, to a money lender and took some money. How would he recover his land from local money lenders who are infamous for charging exorbitant interests and manipulating the verbal deals made with innocent tribals? Samaru and his wife had no answer. This turn of life leaves Samaru and his family in a vicious cycle of poverty and exploitation. About thirty thousand people from three nearby Panchayats who depend on that one PHC, are similarly exploited.

Thousand such incidents occur everyday among the people living in reserved forest areas characterized by low connectivity and poor infrastructure along with very low levels of awareness, leading to exploitation by traders, money lenders, police, forest officials, revenue officials and who not!

No education for children

Maliguda hamlet in Ramgiri area has about 45 households. People displaced from the Kolab dam area had settled there around three decades back, as the government did not rehabilitate them properly. None of the children (numbering about fifty) in the village can read as there is no school in the hamlet. There is a school in Pujariguda revenue village which is about two and half kilometres from Maliguda. But children of Maliguda do not go there as there is no proper road link between the two forest villages and besides, the fear of bears attacking kids venturing out of the village is very real. Villagers say that a plan for a school was sanctioned by the Panchayat, but that forest officials were opposed to providing any land for the purpose. Despite tall promises made under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the attempt of the central government to enact a law guarantying ‘right to education’, the ill fated children of this hamlet will have to live a life of ignorance throughout.

Malnutrition deaths

Similipal sanctuary area (Tiger Reserve Project) in Mayurbhanj district is infamous for malnutrition deaths. Sumati Dehuri, a four-year-old child, died of fever in April 2007. The death was termed ‘malnutrition related’. During the same period, about 27 deaths were reported due to malnutrition, malaria and some other diseases from Gudgudia and Barehipani Panchayats in the area. In 2006, nearly 23 people including 13 infants succumbed to death caused by malnutrition. Similar incidences occurred in 2008 and two infants reportedly died of malnutrition in January and March 2009.

Studies suggest that malnutrition is endemic among women and children inside Similipal sanctuary. The regular food taken by the people in the area is rice and salt which is grossly insufficient to address the nutritional requirement of an infant, a pregnant woman or a lactating mother. Strict sanctuary law does not allow the operation of big machines inside the sanctuary area. So tube wells and bore wells cannot be built here. The people have no other option but to drink polluted water.

According to official sources, 95.6% of the total (1015) families there have an average monthly income less than Rs. 500 (2002 BPL survey). People are heavily dependent on NTFP collections for their livelihood. But the Supreme Court ban (2000) on the collection of NTFP in sanctuary areas has adversely affected the income levels of people. Food and work related schemes like NREGS, PDS, NFBS, etc and institutions like hospitals or anganwadi centres do not function well. Many of the interior villages remain cut off from the panchayat head quarters during rainy days due to lack of proper road connectivity. Therefore, there is a huge food and income insecurity among these people, which leaves them at the doors of premature death.

High handedness of forest officials

In July 2008, a goon hired by forest officials allegedly burnt the house of Sada Golari of Benyamaliguda of Ramgiri RF and mercilessly beat Krishna Golari of the village and his three-year-old daughter Lanching Golari. Due to the non-recognition of land, habitation and rights over forest resources in the reserve areas, the people are left at the mercy of the forest officials who exploit them to the fullest. Sada Golari says “The gadu (forest guard) has always been threatening to evict us from our land, as it belongs to the government. In order to avert such a possibility, we villagers have been giving him and the revenue inspector hens, vegetables, etc., to appease them. Recently, they started forcible plantation on our land which we opposed. This led to their aggression on us.”

The government has plantation plans under several schemes like JBIC, RLTAP and KBK plan etc. Policies suggest that the areas for plantations have to be decided in consultation with the local people. But in reality, it gives a free hand to the forest officials to decide upon any area in the forest, many of which are in use by the villagers. Moreover, Encroachment related cases on the inhabitants are quite common in these areas. Singru Golari from Patkamunda village in Sarangpali RF area was jailed in charge of encroachment and had to fight court cases for 10 years. The case was finally disposed off in 2005.

One hopes that the recently enacted Forest Rights Act will bring in some changes in the lives of this section of people.

Dangerous tastes

This is a film review of 'Poison on Platter' -a documentary showing the negative impacts of GM food and crop, directed by Ajay Kanchan and presented by Mahesh Bhatt. It is carried in InfochangeIndia (http://www.infochangeindia.org/) in June 2009

Link: http://infochangeindia.org/200906237800/Film-Forum/Documentary/Dangerous-tastes.html

Dangerous tastes

By Pradeep Baisakh

With the first genetically modified food poised to enter the Indian market, a timely documentary entitled Poison on the Platter shows how little the Indian public knows about what it is consuming

If you think that the worst man-made and natural disasters are the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the attack on the World Trade Centre towers in the US in 2001, or hurricanes, earthquakes and floods, you’re wrong. Noted filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt says there’s a worse one waiting to happen. The propagation of Genetically Modified (GM) food has the potential to affect nearly every single individual on the planet, warns Bhatt in the 30-minute documentary film titled Poison on the Platter.

The film shows the proved impact and the possible future impact of the use of GM food on living creatures. It claims, based on “incontrovertible scientific evidence” that the consumption of GM food has the potential to stunt growth, impair the immune system, and even lead to severe damage to the brain, kidney and other vital organs. It may increase the incidence of life-threatening diseases like cancer and a number of other ailments.

Defining GM food Devinder Sharma, food policy analyst, explains that nature allows crossing among the same species, but in the case of genetic engineering -- the technique used in GM food – inter-species crossing is done. In other words, the character of one species is transferred to another by this technique, which is quite dangerous. For example, the gene from a pig is transferred to rice, from fish to tomato, from the milk of the human female to rice etc.

As the documentary shows, there is little understanding of these facts among ordinary people. Modern, urban and aware young people interviewed in the film found it hard to believe that food can have undesirable consequences beyond the commonsensical assumption that “it may prove so only if it is not cooked properly”!

The film depicts many instances of the harmful effects of GM food: soy allergies skyrocketed in the UK with the use of GM soy; 12 cows died in Germany after Bt corn is fed to them; Bt corn caused skin and respiratory infection in people in a Philippines village; Star Link, a variety of Bt corn caused irritation and other disorders in the US. A January 1, 2002 article in the Washington Post reported the vices of genetically engineered varieties of crops and food in a piece ‘Monsanto hid decades of pollution’.

In European countries, the initial euphoria about the prospect of GM food solving the world food crisis was dashed when increasing instances of prostate cancer were linked to a genetically modified substance called Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH). Use of this hormone caused mad cow disease and foot and mouth disease which led to massive destruction of cattle. Consumers, farmers and civil society groups in Europe vociferously protested against the use of any GM food and many countries banned the use of the same or put a moratorium on their use till it is proved to be safe.

In the US, however, the lobby of GM giants like Monsanto and Syngenta has succeeded in getting approvals for GM foods from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It was revealed later that the person who was in charge of taking policy decisions in the FDA was from Monsanto’s law firm and later became the vice-president of the company!

Such instances of regulators meant to protect the interests of the people working for unethical companies, is not uncommon. As Kavitha Kuruganti of the Coalition for GM-Free India says in the film: “It’s a classic case of vested interests wreaking havoc on people’s health because the institutions that have been created to protect our health are actually hand in glove…”

Dr Pushpa Bhargava of the Centre of Cellular and Molecular Biology debunks the claims of the GM lobby that the gene revolution is a great revolution like the green revolution and will solve the food crisis in India, and that the use of genetically modified seeds will increase food production by improving crop variety and lowering input costs. Dr Bhargava says that based on the facts available as of now, these claims are absolute lies as there is no scientific evidence to back them.

The film is relevant to India because GM food is expected to expand hugely in this country. The film points out that the combination of an ignorant public and a “corrupt and incompetent” regulatory system is lethal. Biotech multinationals are conducting experimentations on GM crops and as many as 56 such varieties are in different stages of trial in the country. The GM variety of rice and common vegetables like brinjal, tomato, cauliflower, potato, okra, ginger etc are being experimented with and will gradually be released into the market.

The film shows the impact of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton, the only genetically engineered variety of crop allowed in India so far. Thousands of poor farmers in Andhra Pradesh committed suicide when the benefits of using the modified cotton did not materialise. People working in the fields developed skin diseases and about 2,000 goats and sheep that grazed in the Bt cotton fields died, forcing the administration to issue a warning in 2006 against sending cattle to graze in these fields.

Bt brinjal is in a very advanced stage of approval for commercial use by the nodal regulatory body, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). Experts like Dr Pushpa Bhargava, Dr Jeffery M Smith, founder of the Institute of Responsible Technology, and Devinder Sharma claim that proper tests have not been done on the safety aspect, that examinations done on the so-called safety data by our regulators are full of flaws; it contains the type of genes which may cause superdiseases untreatable by antibiotics; it can kill useful bacteria inside our intestines, and so on.

Though Bt brinjal may become the first GM food to be consumed in India, this does not mean we are not already eating GM food, the film points out. “We are already eating food having GM content and it has been conclusively proved,” claims Rajesh Krishnan of Greenpeace India. Doritos corn chips made by PepsiCo International are illegally imported into India and sold here. The film says these were tested in laboratories in Germany and were found to contain GM corn which has the potential to cause liver and kidney damage. It has been banned in many European countries. The film shows several other such food items available in supermarkets here whose import is illegal since they contain GM strains.

One way to make the GEAC more accountable, Devinder Sharma suggests in the film, is to introduce a clause that says that “for anything going wrong with GM food, the chairman of GEAC is put behind bars; you will see everything will stop!”

More effective would be a strong civil society response. The film depicts some ongoing protests such as actor Milind Soman taking part in the ‘I am no lab rat’ campaign, and the formation of the Coalition for GM-Free India. Sri Sri Ravishankar, founder of the Art of Living says “…propagation of something which you are not sure of and which may cause enormous damage to life on the planet is simply not acceptable by any means; it’s not science, it’s terrorism…”

The film exhorts consumers to say ‘no’ to GM food. As Mahesh Bhatt says, “There is one definite outcome of genetic engineering of food, that is, the end of choice.” Bhatt doesn’t mince his words: “We have to ensure that our bodies are not enslaved by these corrupt and criminal multinationals and we will have to force our governments to put a complete ban on production and distribution till its safety is assured through extensive and impartial trials. What is, after all, at stake, is our health and very survival.”

The film is a CAC production and is directed by Ajay Kanchan. While the documentary does an excellent job of highlighting the argument against GM foods, it has not included a single voice from the pro-GM group, though it does mention that efforts to get such opinions did not materialise due to the latter’s unwillingness to participate in the documentary. Also, while it rightly concentrates on the impact on the health of consumers, the fact that genetic modification of foods will gradually lead to the extinction of indigenous crop varieties, is not mentioned.

That much more public information, discussion and debate must occur on this important issue is indisputable, and this documentary is an important part of that effort.

(Pradeep Baisakh is a freelance journalist based in Orissa)
Infochange News & Features, June 2009

Supporting underprivileged women

This piece came in 'GRASSROOTS' in May 2009 issue
http://pressinstitute.org/scripts/grassroots_index_popup.asp?id=361

Supporting underprivileged women

By : Pradeep Baisakh
Orissa
The proposal of Nano car may not have gone well with the people in Singur, but the concept of nano finance has definitely caught the imagination of the needy in the Sambalpur district of Orissa.

Contrary to the traditional social practice, where a mother stays with her son’s family, Lata Bagh of Sambalpur district stays with her daughter and son-in-law, as she has no son. But she is not a burden to them, she is rather an asset. She sells vegetables in the local market and makes a substantial contribution to the family. Of late, her business has been profitable due to the small monetary help she got through nano finance from “Amara Biswas”- an institution that provides small financial aids to the poorest women in times of need. Previously, she used to take loans from the local money lenders to invest in her small business. The high interest loan had virtually put her in a vicious cycle.

Nano finance – It is all about giving small monetary help from 100 to 1000 rupees without interest to people in need for meeting their emergency consumer expenditures or to undertake small entrepreneurial ventures. “The whole idea of nano finance came to my mind when I saw our domestic help in Sambalpur paying Rs 50 every month to a money lender against a small loan of Rs 500 taken for her son’s illness. As per the condition, she either had to repay the complete amount at a time or has to pay Rs 50 every month. And she would never have 500 rupees at a time to repay! This is the scale of exploitation by the local money lenders, but the poor lady had no other choice,” says Ms Jayashree (Ranu) Mahanti, a non-resident Indian (NRI) who coined the terminology ‘nano finance’ and is practising the concept in Sambalpur.

Amara Biswas has kept a sum of four lakhs for circulation among the needy and five lakhs as security money. Ms.Susama, is officially appointed to carry out the transactions. The women in need come through references of women who have already benefited. No security deposit is taken from anyone for handing out the loan nor is any interest charged. It is totally based on mutual trust. When you ask her what is the certainty that the loan receiver would return the loan since no security deposits are taken, Ranu Mahanti has this to say, “Trust is the hallmark of the functioning of nano finance in Amara Biswas (Our Trust). We do judge the returning capacity of the women at the time of disbursing loan by asking three questions: Why do you want; what will you do and how will you repay.” In last one year of transaction, the return rate has been about 80 percent and the rest have bought some more time to repay. As many as 1700 people have benefited in one year. The beneficiaries are treated as the stake holders of the money. For example, when there are ten needy women coming to take money at a time and the availability of money in Amara Biswas is for seven. Then the ten women themselves decide who needs the money most and money is given to them. It is therefore a practice of ‘women helping women’. To sum up the various beliefs of nano, they are: no greed, personal touch, community responsibility, sympathy and sacrifice.

Nano has proved to be quite useful to the poorest whose monthly income is less than 2000 or 3000 rupees. This small help makes a very big contribution to them. For example, Tapaswini Hota did not have enough money to purchase necessary material to send her newly wedded daughter back to her in-laws house. Nano helped her by giving 400 rupees. People have even taken loan for purchasing wood for the funeral of a dead family member. Similarly, its role in nano entrepreneurship is no less. Binodini has a small business of badi and papad, which she prepares and her mother sells in the market. She has recently expanded her business by taking loan from nano finance. Nano has brought about a sense of security in the women as another beneficiary Lata Bagh puts it, “Previously, whenever we needed money, we had only one difficult choice - the money lenders, but now we are confident that whenever we need money, we can safely go for nano finance.”

The nano finance in Sambalpur is flourishing even as the micro finance is gradually losing its appeal, not withstanding the big claims being made toward the success of micro finance institutions (MFIs). In certain cases, the MFIs have been exploitative to the extent of using coercion on the helpless women, who had to turn to money lenders again to repay their weekly instalments! These realities defeat the objective of MFIs to free women from exploitation of money lenders by making them self sufficient through entrepreneurship.

“Nano is implicit in micro finance,” says an employee of a MFI and continues, “In reality, most MFIs are basically banking business in the guise of women’s empowerment. In most cases, the interest rate is as high as 30 percent. And in other cases, though the declared rate is less but there are hidden charges. On the other hand, nano seems to be working well due to its truly non-profit motive and hassle free transaction.” Due to its success in Sambalpur, it has expanded to other districts of Orissa like Bhadrak, Jagatsingpur, Nuapada, Bargarh and Anugul.

Whether the rather forgotten concepts of trust, interpersonal relationship and sacrifice imbibed in nano will sell in this era is a moot point. Yet another area of concern is its expandability. The institution has to be kept small in order to keep the aspect of personal touch intact. It cannot be a huge institution like other MFIs. So nano finance may be supplementary to micro finance. Only time will tell if it can be a substitution to the latter

Of forest dwellers, voters and elections

This Piece came in 'Meri News' on 24th April 2009
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=15766595

and in Orissa Diary on 20th April 2009
http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowOriyaColumn.asp?id=12215


Of forest dwellers, voters and elections
By Pradeep Baisakh

This time around the forest dwelling communities are keenly watching the performance of ruling and the opposition parties on the Forest Right Act, which aims to recognise tribals' and other forest dwellers' right over forest land and resources..

IN THE midst of the general and Assembly elections, various political parties are busy making tall claims on what they have done and would do in future for the poor. This time around the forest dwelling communities are keenly watching the performance of the ruling and the opposition parties on the Forest Right Act (FRA), the law that aims to recognise tribals’ and other forest dwellers’ right over forest land and resources.

Orissa is among the forerunners along with some other states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal in reaching the full potential of receiving the claims under Forest Rights Law, claims the recent status report provided by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, government of India. Till the period ending February 28, 2009, a total number of claims filed in the state at the Gram Sabha level is 2, 91,524 out of which 2, 71,352 are of individual claims and 20,172 are community claims, states the report on the achievements of BJD government in Orissa led by ‘the most popular CM’ Naveen Patnaik (Courtesy: India Today). Till only recently it was a BJD and BJP coalition government. (BJP withdrew its support from the coalition government on March 7, 2009)

A research angle to the issue suggests that the state government’s score on FRA is not very high. According to the Planning Commission’s statistics, the number of people who are critically dependent on forest in the state is above one crore. Accepting the census standard of the size of a family (five people constitute a family), the number of potential families to reap individual benefits from the law is 20 lakhs. These include both the tribals and the other traditional forest dwellers. So, the submission of 2.71 lakh individual claims against the potential 20 lakh families does not leave much room for celebration, though comparatively Orissa has done better than many other states. Moreover, out of these many claims filed, only about 22,000 individual claims have been finally approved by DLC till the reported period.

Ground realities suggest that the rejection rate of the claims is very high. For example, in Sagada GP under Bhawanipatna block of Kalahandi district, out of 26 villages the verification in nine villages was complete by the Sub Divisional Committee (SDLC) by end of December 2008. Out of 196 claims received, the SDLC has rejected 144 claims. “Basing on the status of the implementation of the law in 2700 villages from 10 districts of the state that we are tracking, the percentage of rejection is as high as 60 percent” informs Tushar Dash, a researcher. If this data is extrapolated to the whole state, the households to be benefited after completion of the process are 1.08 lakh, which is a meagre 5.4 per cent of the total potential beneficiaries!

First big problem with the implementation of the law in the state is non recognition of the rights of the Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFD) during joint verification done by SDLC. Three generation issue has come up as a major bottleneck at the SDLC and DLC level. So the claims of this category are rejected. In Sagada GP all such claims filed by the OTFD, which were verified by the SDLC, have been rejected.

In some cases, the people have ignorantly filed claims over revenue land assuming them as forest lands, which are being rejected by SDLC as they would not be acceptable under this law. But the officials are responsible for this ignorance of people. Dash says “In 1980s, during ‘hal’ settlement many of the forest areas were transferred to different kisam of revenue and other (non-forest) land. However, revenue and forest officials kept the people ignorant about this and continued to extort them.” The case of Ramesh Maji of Sagada GP is an instance to cite.

According to Forest Survey of India report 1999, out of total 46,989 villages in the state, about 29,300 villages are located adjacent to the recorded forest areas, which include the villages inside the forest. If it is assumed that at least one community claim should comes from these villages, the performance of the government seems to be quite good as such claims filed at Gram Sabha level is more than 20,000. But, the concern remains about the minuscule number of such claims approved by the District Level Committee (DLC) which is only 27 till the reported period.

The government deserves a pat on its back on some of the progressive steps taken by it eg it identified the ‘village’ as the ideal unit for formation of FRCs and holding Gram Sabhas as against the Gram Panchayat approach in many states like Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat; it has empowered the Gram Sabha to issue caste certificates; it has directed the collectors to take special effort to sensitise people to file more community rights claims; and it has specially directed not to neglect the un-surveyed forest villages in the process.

But problem still lies which the government cannot wash away. Most of the forest land in the State is un-surveyed and detailed maps/records are not available.

The claims preferred by the communities living inside the protected areas are not verified by the technical committees appointed by the SDLC. The problem is more acute in tiger reserves of the state like Satkosia, Sunabeda and Simlipal. The government is also criticised by the activists for its lackadaisical approach in the High Court in fighting the case filed by the retired forest officials against FRA, for which the disbursement of the entitlements has been withheld.

The main opposition party in the state, Congress has not done enough toward the cause of the forest dwellers. In the current Assembly, it has not raised this issue with any seriousness inside the Assembly and failed to pressurise the ruling dispensation to deliver on FRA outside the Assembly also.

The election results will show on how far people were satisfied with the performance of these parties toward FRA, namely, BJD, Congress and BJP who are the major three players in the state.