Tribal Plight - A Gadchiroli Experience (Non-casual readers expected to respond)
Santosh Gedam
With the falling darkness,
a usually sleepy & deserted looking village busted with the musical bang of
latest songs from bollywood with all narrations of women, her body, and
everything which would demean the dignity of women. This village of 465 people
(Census 2011) is a tribal dominated with more than 75% tribal people who are
been reduced to minority at alarming rate because migration of non-tribal
people from outside. This has impacted every sphere of tribal life. Welcome to
Gadchiroli!
The villagers who could cross 65 years of age in hostile situations recounts how in their youth villagers use to celebrate family & community gatherings. In tribal culture, the girl goes to the groom’s home for marriage. The selection of a life partner is one of the most democratic processes through community approved GOTUL system. They recounted how they used to celebrate through expressions in RELA & DHIMSA forms of tribal dance. I had an opportunity to witness one of them. It is simple, rhythmic, and suits novice dancers also leaving him or her in the state of lasting immense mental pleasure. They revered their god which is in their village limits. It is formless & demands no valuables. Now the village is getting increasingly decorated with several outside religious banners & poster of outside religious preachers. The villagers are slowly & slowly taught about other religious practices. Illiterate tribal people are susceptible to external aggressions. It surprised me how when government schemes could not reach here for so many decades, but the outsiders to influence the vulnerable tribal people could form their bases easily & increasingly.
I call this cultural transformation as cultural degradation of tribal people which has been continuing since independence, the policy makers who have been endowed with the responsibility under Constitution (Vth Schedule) are conveniently ignoring their constitutional responsibility. Surprisingly, the state regulates strongly the reach of community radio license which would in fact empower & help people know crucial information, but DTH can go directly to people’s homes & poison their minds with urban & patriarchic culture through V Channel, M TV, & Z TV, among others. The tribal who are passing through degradation hardly know the degradation due to their legendary vulnerability & culture of accommodation. The outsiders have procured immense land in the schedule area; however, a tribal person staying here from time immemorial is grappling to find a space in the insensitive & partisan Government offices. The outsiders in last few decades of their coming have turned in to money lenders, political leaders/influencers, and big businessmen, but the tribal are left to remain in penury & sufferings. Against the general perception that villagers live long during my camps of National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) I have witness several men & women who look very old for their age. There are hardly people living with more than 65 years of age due to village hardship, Government ignorance on healthcare service, and rampant exploitation at village level PDS shops. In last month, one youth died of snake bite in the same village. People die due to small & curable diseases.
Recently in my interaction with the villagers got to know how they manage in harsh summer. For them, there is no luxury of continuous water supply. The water sources are limited & drying in summer. Then to manage with limited water, they simply drink less. In harsh summer when the body needs more water, the villagers drink less making them prone to dehydration. They don’t have water for basic needs whereas in urban area we have it for cleaning homes, running coolers, & washing vehicles. While this village which is 25 Kilometers from the Northern block of tribal Gadchiroli District represents the pathetic & irreversible cultural degradation & no space policy situation from that state for dying Indian tribal presence in the diverse Indian country.
While I write this, no one in these tribal blocks know the promises enshrined in the Constitution on 26th November, 1949. Timely & sincere exercise of these powers would have helped realize democracy in truest sense. The thought which would have made Dr. Ambedkar write Schedule V in the current form would be surely with the understanding of the vulnerability of tribal population & with the assumption that Constitutional authorities choose people’s right over their personal positions. Unfortunately, voiceless could not find voice in the suppressive political system, the state which is more than 1000 Kilometers away from this sleepy village & farthest Gadchiroli district rest conveniently drafting yet another policy for diverting tribal lake & river water to fill their Mineral water bottles.
