Madhya Pradesh Adivasi activist asked to leave district: Govt move ahead of elections?

The Burhanpur district administration, Madhya Pradesh, has handed over externment notice Antram Awase, a 32-year-old Adivasi activist, who has been on the forefront of the campaign for implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) as well as the movement against mass illegal forest felling in Burhanpur. Earlier in April, he was arrested in an allegedly false case.
Reporting on this, the civil rights group Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS), to which Antram belongs, said, ever since April a wave of repression began with the arrest of many activists, demolition of people's homes, and notice of externment to others from the district. Yet, Antaram and the Sangathan continued their movement unfazed.
"Now, the MP Government is attempting to extern Antram on false, baseless charges. We believe that the government may carry out more attacks against forest rights claimants and the Sangathan ahead of elections in November-December", JADS underlined.
The family of Antram, 32, has been cultivating in the forest of Dhababwadi (Siwal) village of Burhanpur district since before 1980. Like other Adivasi families in Dhababawadi, his family has also faced terrible violence, torture and repression for decades now, noted JADS.
When Antaram was in 5th std, the forest department destroyed farms being cultivated by Adivasis of his village, their cattle were looted by the forest department and landed farmers together and their locality was burnt to the ground, JADS recalled.
After his home was burnt down, Antram was forced to leave his studies, started working to support his family. However, the thirst for education remained -- through self-study, he appeared for 10th class examination from an open school.
But despite taking the examination, he was marked absent in one paper and did not pass. He was not able to correct this mistake or study any further. Meanwhile, the Adivasi families of his village continued trying to cultivate their land despite facing the "violence and oppression" of the forest department. Even after passage of the FRA these families continue to be called "encroachers" in their own fields, said JADS.
When the Sangathan began its work in Burhanpur in 2018, Antram joined it and quickly became active in the campaign to implement FRA in letter and spirit. Through Antaram and his sathis, a strong movement against the atrocities and oppression of the Forest Department that had been continuing unchallenged and unabated for generations took shape, stated JADS.

In 2019, in yet another attempt to "illegally evict" Adivasis from their lands, the forest department fired upon protesting Adivasis who were asserting the legal safeguards under the FRA, injuring 4 Adivasis. A massive jail-bharo Andolan led by the Sangathan forced the Madhya Pradesh government to take partial action against the DFO and other forest personnel. Since then, the forest department has been holding its grudge against activists like Antram and the Sangathan, claimed JADS.
"Over the past 5 years, violence, oppression and corruption of the forest department have been curbed to a great extent in the district thanks to the relentless work by Antaram and his sathis. The organization publicly challenged and protested against the government's blatant complicity in illegal deforestation of roughly 15,000 acres", said JADS.
"This agitated not only the forest department, but also the Madhya Pradesh government and district administration, and resulted in a series of attacks on the organization. Antram, Dilip Sisodia and Nitin were arrested in fabricated cases, Madhuri Ben was externed from the district, many other activists were implicated in old cases and the Superintendent of Police started publishing many absurd, fabricated and baseless allegations in the newspapers to defame and discredit the organization in his defense", it added.
"Now, just before the assembly elections, Antaram is being threatened with externment from Burhanpur district. This is a possible precursor to more violence, evictions, and repression against forest rights claimants and the Sangathan, once the elections are done in December", asserted JADS.

Comments

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Whither Jeffrey Sachs-supported research project which 'created' Gujarat model of development for Modi?

Even as Donald Trump was swearing-in as US President, a friend forwarded to me a YouTube video in which veteran world renowned economist Prof Jeffrey Sachs participated and sought an answer as to why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "afraid to fly" despite being invited to Donald Trump's swearing in ceremony. This took my memory to 2003, when I -- as representative of the Times of India -- had a short tet-a-tat along with a couple of other reporters with Sachs in the chief minister's office in Gandhinagar.

Busy taking books to the needy, this rationalist exposes miracles in a superstition-infested Gujarat society

I knew his name as a campaigner against the sheer wastage of the large amounts of ghee brought by devotees from across India for a major religious ceremony conducted every year in Rupal village, near Gandhinagar, the Gujarat capital, on the ninth day of Navratri. I had seen him at several places during my visits to different NGO meetings as well as some media conferences.

No to free thought? How Gujarat's private universities are cowing down their students

"Don't protest"—that's the message private universities across Gujarat seem to be conveying to their students. A senior professor told me that students at the university where he teaches are required to sign an undertaking promising not to engage in protests. "They simply sign the undertaking and hand it over to the university authorities," he said.

'Potentially lethal, carcinogenic': Global NGO questions India refusing to ban white asbestos

Associated with the Fight Inequality Alliance, a global movement that began in 2016 to "counter the concentration of power and wealth among a small elite", claiming to have members in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, the Philippines, and Denmark, the advocacy group Confront Power appears all set to intensify its campaign against India as "the world’s largest asbestos importer".

To be or not to be Sattvik: Different communities' differing notions of purity and fasting

This is a continuation of my last blog on Sattvik food. When talking about Sattvik, there is a tendency to overlook what it may mean to different sections of people around the world. First, let me redefine Sattvik: it means having a "serene, balanced, and harmonious mind or attitude." Derived from the Sanskrit word sattva, it variously means "pure, essence, nature, vital, energy, clean, conscious, strong, courage, true, honest, and wise." How do people achieve this so-called purity? Among Gujarati Hindus, especially those from the so-called upper castes who are vegetarians, one common way is fasting. On fasting days, such as agiyarash —the 11th day of the lunar cycle in the Vedic calendar—my close relatives fast but consume milk, fruit juices, mangoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, pistachios, and potato-based foods, including fried items. Another significant fasting period is adhik maas. During this time, many of my relatives "fast" by eating only a single me...

World Bank approved $800 for Amravati despite negative internal view, court, NGO objections: CFA

Despite over 170 representatives by civil society organisations, hailing from 17 countries, all of them written to the World Bank’s executive directors calling upon the top banker to defer its approval, even as seeking further detailed studies, the Bank’s board of directors has approved $800 million for the Amaravati Capital City project.

Shyam Benegal's Mathan a propaganda film that supported 'system'? No way

A few days ago, I watched Manthan, a Shyam Benegal movie released in 1976. If I remember correctly, the first time I saw this movie was with Safdar Hashmi, one of the rare young theater icons who was brutally murdered in January 1989. Back then, having completed an M.A. in English Literature from Delhi University in 1975, we would often move around together.

Sattvik Food Festival: Shouldn't one question notion of purity, cultural exclusion in food choices?

Recently, I visited the Sattvik Food Festival, an annual event in Ahmedabad organized by Anil Gupta, professor emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). I have known Prof. Gupta since 1993, when I sought an appointment to meet him a few months after joining The Times of India in Ahmedabad—one reason why I have always been interested in the activities he is involved in.

Search This Blog