“Being Neutral is Our Biggest Crime” - Global Coalition to Protect ...

for at least 100 days a year. 303 The job card is a prerequisite to participate in the
scheme. The registration process requires adult members to make an application “to
the Gram Panchayat at the village level in the jurisdiction of which they reside for
registration of their household for issuance of a job card.” 304 The law does not
prescribe any minimum residence rule. 305
As mentioned earlier, displaced persons from Bijapur and Dantewada districts have
settled in Andhra Pradesh since June 2005. During the agricultural season, almost all
displaced persons are dependent on daily-wage agricultural labor for their
livelihood. 306 In the non-agricultural season, they are mostly dependent on dailywage
manual labor as their access to forest produce has been cut off. 307 Barring a
few cases where displaced persons have received job cards with the help of local
communities, in many cases authorities refused to accept job card applications from
displaced persons as they were not “locals.” 308 Even in many cases in which
authorities accepted these applications, they had yet to issue job cards when we
spoke with the displaced persons months after the applications had been filed. 309
A local NGO wrote letters to the Andhra Pradesh government requesting them to
issue job cards to displaced persons. 310 Despite these applications and requests,
the government has promised but failed to take steps to issue job cards to the vast
majority. 311
303 National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, sec. 5 read with Schedule II.
304 Ibid.
305 Human Rights Watch interview with K. Balagopal, first interview, November 27, 2007.
306 Human Rights Watch group interviews with numerous IDPs from different villages in Dantewada and Bijapur districts,
villages W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6, W7, K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, Kothooru, K7, K8, K9, K10, and K11, Warangal and Khammam districts,
November 29-December 8, 2007.
307 Ibid.
308 Human Rights Watch group interview with numerous IDPs from different villages in Dantewada district, villages K2 and K9,
Khammam district, December 4-6, 2007.
309 Human Rights Watch group interview with numerous IDPs from different villages in Dantewada and Bijapur districts,
villages W3, W4, and W7, Warangal district, November 29-December 1, 2007.
310 Letter from K. Balagopal, general secretary, and S. Jeevan Kumar, vice president, Human Rights Forum, to the principal
secretary, Department of Rural Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh, December 2006; Letter from K. Balagopal,
general secretary, Human Rights Forum, to the principal secretary, Department of Rural Development, Government of Andhra
Pradesh, January 2008.
311 Human Rights Watch interview with K. Balagopal, first interview, November 27, 2007.
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