CC_India

Women linked corruption with their ‘unequal’ access to state entitlements
including the availability of health and educational facilities,
that was further reinforced by the army’s occupation of these facilities.
disorder’ undermining democratic process and governance.
As an analyst of militancy in Tripura observed,
“The nexus between political parties and insurgent
groups in Tripura has become stable over the years. The
NLFT is said to have close linkages with the Congress (I),
while the ATTF is aligned with the ruling left front.” Even
the Tribal Council, an instrument envisaged to empower
the tribal population, has become an arena where the
insurgents effectively alter the poll dynamics through
the use of violence. Several respondents alluded to this
nexus as a source of insecurity and corruption.
CORRUPTION
The reorganisation of the Northeast into seven states
was determined more by political and security concerns
bypassing the criteria of economic viability.
These states remain ‘special category’ states with a
very high dependence on central funds up to 70-80%
in central grant assistance. In Tripura as elsewhere in
the Northeast such ‘peace as pacification’ funds have
deepened patronage networks. Moreover, insurgency
and counterinsurgency operations bring in more unaccountable
funds reinforcing non accountability as elaborated
in the J&K section. Speaking at the CC seminar
(Aug 2012) Subir Bhaumik, one of the most influential
journalists writing on the Northeast, drew attention to
the “misuse” of central funds and emphasised the need
for “greater accountability”. He also criticised development
projects that were disadvantageous for the tribals
such as the Dumbar dam which deprived and displaced
the indigenous peoples.
Women respondents to the questionnaire spoke euphemistically
of unequal access to government entitlements
and schemes because of ‘middle men’. Lilypar
Hrangkhawl of ATIMA complained about ‘political
manipulation’, drawing attention to the perceived discrimination
by a Bengali dominated power structure
that controls institutions including the State Women’s
Commission. As several respondents emphasised, such
institutions have proved indifferent and even hostile
to tribal interests. Women linked corruption with their
‘unequal’ access to state entitlements including the
availability of health and educational facilities, that was
further reinforced by the army’s occupation of these
facilities.
In the context of majority–minority ethnicised politics,
the tribes have been at a great disadvantage in
establishing documented claims to lands and community
forests resulting in significant land alienation and
displacement. Corruption translates into the unequal
access and capacity of the tribes to contest land alienation,
especially as most revenue officials and other
structures of power are dominated by non tribals.
In addition, the tribal women had to pay the taxes
extorted by the militants. Security forces and militants
habitually ‘take’ villagers‘ chickens and pork as their
due. With the men migrating for work, arrested, or gone
to join the militants, it is the women who are obliged
to pay up whether they can afford it or not. There was
sharp bitterness as articulated in the questionnaire
against ‘affluent people who can buy everything with
money’, while the women in some cases have been
reduced to near starvation and even prostitution.
UNEQUAL CITIZENS: Women’s Narratives of Resistance, Militarisation, Corruption and Security
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