2005 - Indian Social Institute

substantially dwindle. Raising issues of natural conservation, habitat and eco-system, former director of
Wildlife Institute, Dehradun, Mr V.B. Sawarkar said: "the bill is in contravention of our Constitution where
article 48-A states that "state shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard
the forests, lakes rivers and wild-life....", but once land rights are allocated to people all our natural wealth
will be prone to market forces. The Tiger Task Force has suggested that human population near the forest
areas is the main reason for the extinction of tigers, and the land rights are likely to create further
confusion. "It will increase tampering we may lose many of the natural treasures permanently." (Asian Age
7/6/05)
Tribals in the agency areas of Visakhapatnam are battling many illnesses (6)
HYDERABAD: "We fall like leaves, unnoticed. We bury our younger ones more often between May and
July. We are born to die, not to live," says Korra Singaiah of Urumu hamlet in the Visakhapatnam agency
of Andhra Pradesh. Fevers, including malaria, are raging in the hamlet, situated more than 3,000 ft above
sea level in the agency area bordering Orissa. The Telugu Desam, the main Opposition party, claimed
that more than 1,100 people died in June-July due to malaria and other communicable diseases. The
Government promptly denied it, saying the toll had not crossed double digits. "The fact remains that we
are burying more children and women every year," says T. Balaraju, who had come to attend the weekly
shandy in Araku mandal. "The entire population of the agency is shivering under the impact of fever."
Tribals get affected easily and repeatedly due to their anaemic status and unhygienic living conditions.
They don't have safe drinking water," says Krishna Sastri, a medical officer at the Araku Community
Health Centre. Till three years ago, anti-malarial operations were undertaken twice a year. "The spraying
operations have been handed over to contractors, and their work is not supervised. This is one of the
reasons for the severe viral backlash this year," says Venu (name changed), a post-doctoral medical
student, who has worked in the area. While the jury is still out on the cause of the deaths this year, District
Collector Praveen Prakash says: "Only seven persons have died due to malaria so far. In Champaguda
village of Araku mandal, for example, a political party claimed that 44 have died. On verification, it was
found that only one person died." (The Hindu 8/8/05)
Maoists urge tribals to give up traditional weapons (6)
Raipur : Concerned over increasing support to what is known as salwa judum (people's movement) in
local parlance, Maoists have asked tribals to surrender their bows and arrows. The traditional weapon
associated with the tribals is considered the most deadly weapon as it hunts down its target without
making any sound. The Maoists in fact see them as more deadly then automatic firearms. Aware of the
capability of this traditional weapon, Maoists have asked people in the Konta region of Bastar to give up
their arms, intelligence sources said. The fear among the left wing ultras is that the tribal people who have
launched an anti-Naxalite movement (jan jagaran or salwa judum) may use bows and arrows to target
Naxalites. Armed with their traditional weapon, tribals trained in the use of bows and arrows, are widely
participating in the jan jagaran movement in their resolve to uproot Maoists from their areas. More than
220 such meetings have already taken place in Bastar region. What is, however, more important is that
over two dozen people have been killed by Maoists during this period. The slain people had not only
attended the people's movement meetings, they were also actively spearheading the campaign.
Undeterred by the killings, the meetings are continuing.The Maoists latest diktat on surrender of arms has
triggered severe resentment among the tribals. This, while the police is devising various strategies to take
on the ultras, including arming the locals and trained them in the use of modern arms. (Pioneer 9/8/05)
'Govt penalising tribals by denying them forest land' (6)
New Delhi : The Government is trying to suppress the voice of the tribals in Orissa who are struggling
against mining projects in the forests, said tribal rights activists here on Monday, adding that more than
11, 000 tribals living in the forests were arrested in the state in the recent past. The tribal rights activists
gathered here under the aegis of the National Consultation on the Draft Forest Rights Bill to discuss the
issues of concern about the country's tribal population, following the delay by the UPA Government in
introducing the Bill in Parliament. The Bill is about entitlement of about 8.1 per cent of the total population
of the country who in 1991 constituted about 55.16 per cent of the total displaced people. The state has
failed to record and recognise the ancestral land rights of the tribals, but has instead been penalising them
for it, Mr Chakma, a tribal representative, said. Tribals are neither responsible for violation of Forest
Conservation Act, nor the Wildlife Conservation Act. Do not punish the whole community for the misdeeds