Profits over people

The attempts to suppress a people's movement against a mining project in southern Orissa lead to the death of three tribal people in police firing.

CONFLICT over the mining of bauxite in the Kashipur region of Rayagada district in southern Orissa has taken a violent turn with the killing of three innocent tribal people. On December 16, two platoons of armed police entered Maikanch village in Kashipu r block and opened fire at the residents. Abhilas Jhodia (25), Raghu Jhodia (18) and Jamudhar Jhodia (43) died and eight others sustained serious injuries.

Ever since the entry of multinational companies for bauxite mining and processing in 1993, the tribal people of Kashipur and Laxmipur blocks of Rayagada district, Dasmantpur block of Koraput district and Thuamulrampur of Kalahandi district have been appr ehensive of displacement and loss of livelihood.

Orissa is known for its rich mineral deposits. The assessed reserves of chromium and nickel ores and bauxite in the State constitute a substantial proportion of the total deposits of them in the country. Taking advantage of the process of liberalisation and the opening up of the economy, private companies set their sights on the Kashipur region, which has considerable concentration of bauxite. In the region, the Baphilimali hill is estimated to have a deposit of 1,957.3 lakh tonnes of bauxite, Kadingama li 914 lakh tonnes, and the Sasubo-humali hill 860 lakh tonnes. The Katuramali hill in nearby Thuamulrampur block has a deposit of 400 lakh tonnes. Utkal Alumina, a consortium of Indian Aluminium Company (INDAL) (now owned by HINDALCO, part of the Aditya Birla group), the Tatas (they pulled out in 1998), Hydro Aluminium of Norway (or Norsk Hydro) and ALCAN (Aluminium Canada), are in the forefront of the mining-related activities. The Orissa Mining Corporation, the State government organisation, has been sidelined in the process. In the case of Utkal Alumina, it is estimated that 1,750 hectares of land will be required for mining, the plant site, a township and dumping spots. Apart from this, a stretch of land approximately 20 km long and 50 metres wide will be required for conveyer and corridor maintenance. The entire project is 100 per cent export-oriented.

Ore would be mined from plateau tops in the areas. Just one plateau, Baphilimali in Kashipur block, has bauxite deposits in an area of about 10 sq.km. The crushed ore will be transported by a conveyer belt to the plant site.

UNAWARE of government rules, most of the tribal people do not register their land rights. In these areas land is broadly divided into two categories - forest and unsurveyed upland (Dongar). Upland constitutes about 60 per cent of the total land in tribal -dominated areas such as Rayagada, Koraput and Kondhamal. Such upland is considered unsuitable for cultivation and a record of right is not allowed in its case. Although the tribal people in the lowland areas own land, their rights are either not recorde d or are recorded in the names of others. Illegal transactions of land are common, and the tribal people are often at the receiving end.

Since the finalisation of the proposal, the Orissa government has actively tried to hand over the land to the companies. Government officials now say that the transfer of land has been made and that the tribal people have to vacate. Encouraged by the sup port from the State government and the local authorities, corporate houses claim that they are the real owners of the land.

Displacement of populations, loss of livelihood and damage to the environment and ecology of the region, which have been the consequences of mining and industrial activities, were kept hidden from the outside world or presented in a misleading manner.

Concerned over the prospect of having to leave their hearth and home, people started organising themselves. Road blockades, demonstrations and dharnas were organised in front of government offices at Kashipur and Rayagada. Survey teams of the companies w ere denied access to the area. Day and night vigil was maintained to prevent the entry of the government and company officials.

The responses of the tribal people were coordinated by organisations such as the Prakrutik Sampada Surakhya Parishad, the Baphilimali Surakhya Samiti and the Anchalik Surakhya Samiti. Every village now has a resistance body.

The State government, instead of winning the cooperation of the tribal people by accepting the community's customary rights over the land and water and of access to forest resources, alienated them. The government and the companies appear to prefer the p ath of confrontation.

Meanwhile, under the direct patronisation of the companies, a pro-project group has also been formed. Those who fight for the rights of livelihood and against displacement are branded as people who oppose industrialisation and development. The pro-projec t group propagated the idea that the mining of bauxite was the only means for the area to cross the boundaries of backwardness. The tribal people are advised to sacrifice their "petty" rights in the "interest of the nation".

The pro-mining group, which includes professionals, traders, contractors and others feel that the tribal people would have gained enormously with the implementation of the projects. The government machinery, which is supposed to protect the interests of the people, are not perceived as such but are identified with the strident moves of these groups, which are not affected by the projects.

The State machinery in Orissa appears to have capitulated to the designs of the companies. All the major political parties, the local administration and the police apparently act in concert to help them. "All-party committees" have been floated, with par ties such as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress(I) on them. Political leaders, police and administration officials visit the tribal areas; the tribal people allege that they create panic among the residents.

The December 16 incident was preceded by certain actions of an "all-party committee", which the tribal people looked at with suspicion. On December 15, under the leadership of N. Bhaskar Rao, Rayagada district president of the BJD, and Krishna Mohapatro, a former block chairman of Kashipur, a group of people reached Maikanch and allegedly tried to disrupt a gathering of tribal people who were to discuss a "road blockade" (Chakajam) programme at Rafkana junction, 30 km away from Kashipur, scheduled for D ecember 20. The programme was planned by the Paribesh Sampad Surakhya Parishad. The companies and the State administration obviously wanted to foil it.

The people resisted the efforts to disrupt the meeting. On December 16, armed with a first information report (FIR) filed at the Kashipur police station, two platoons of armed policemen led by Circle Inspector Subash Swain and Kashipur Block Development Officer (BDO) Golak Mohanty reached Maikanch. The policemen allegedly beat up the women and asked for the whereabouts of the men, who were hiding in the nearby hills. Hearing the commotion, the men returned from the hills. It is alleged that as soon as t he policemen noticed the men, they opened fire.

Since 1993, the police have registered 80 criminal cases against the tribal people and activists. On several occasions, the police resorted to lathi charge. Activists were attacked and offices of the resistance movement were destroyed. Even mediapersons entering the area were not spared.

On a number of occasions the tribal people filed cases against anti-social elements who were involved in the attacks. But the police took no action. Even when mediapersons were attacked, the police did not react, for years.

The version of the police and the administration is that the police party went to Maikanch to investigate the "attack" on Bhaskar Rao on December 15. Residents of the village attacked the police party by means of bows and arrows and threw stones at them, and this forced the police to open fire, it says. Several political parties, such as the BJD, the BJP and the Congress(I) and the State administration allege that a non-governmental organisation, Agragamee, which has been working among the tribal people of Kashipur, for about 20 years, and its director Achyut Das are inciting the tribal people to resort to violence and refuse to vacate the area. It is alleged that the attack on BJD leaders was planned by Agragamee. The BJD organised rallies and meeting s at Rayagada demanding the arrest of Achyut Das and a ban on Agragamee. It is a fact that Agragamee played a role in raising the consciousness of the people, uniting them and making them aware of their rights.

A three-member delegation of Left parties, comprising Ali Kishore Patnaik, member of the Orissa State secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Pradipta Panda, CPI(M) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Biswanath Sahoo, former Communist Party of India (CPI) MLA, visited the area on December 19 and 20. The team visited Kashipur, Maikanch, Kucheipadar, Tikiri, Rayagada town and other places and met a number of people. It also met the Collector and District Magistrate at Rayagada.

On December 21, at a press conference convened in Bhubaneswar, the team members described the police firing as "pre-designed murder" to crush the movement against displacement. It was "murder" because all the three people who died received the bullets ab ove the chest, they said. It cannot be disputed that the police opened fire as soon as they saw people coming down from the nearby hills because three cows and one buffalo that were grazing on the hillock also died.

The team came to know that although the disputed area was a scheduled one, the resolutions of the panchayats were not considered and the rehabilitation and resettlement package was yet to be finalised. The provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the S cheduled Area) Act, 1996 envisage that the gram sabha or panchayats are to be consulted before resettling or rehabilitating persons affected by such projects. Acquisition of land for any project cannot be undertaken without consulting them.

The team alleged that the postmortem of the bodies were conducted 29 hours after death, on the night of December 17, that too at the village itself. According to the team, it was against the rules, which stated that an autopsy cannot be conducted after s unset.

The government of Orissa has ordered an inquiry into the firing, which would be conducted by a senior civil servant, Sanjeev Kumar Hota. The team of Left parties demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting Judge of the High Court. It wanted the commission t o submit the report within 90 days. The team demanded Rs.5 lakhs as ex gratia payment to the relatives of the dead and Rs.50,000 for the injured. The Orissa government has declared an ex gratia of Rs.1 lakh in the case of the dead. The team also d emanded the suspension of the Circle Inspector and the BDO, who it said were directly responsible for the killing, and the arrest of the BJD leaders.

The team observed that the details on the extent of land necessary to relocate the affected people had not been published. The R&R package over and above the compensation for the land acquired by the bauxite mining and alumina companies had not been upda ted yet. An objective and comprehensive study of the environmental implications of bauxite mining and processing units had not been undertaken yet, it alleged.

Several organisations have protested against the killings and supported the tribal residents' right to livelihood. At Berhampur, a day-long dharna was organised in front of the office of the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Southern Division) by the Adiv asi Dalit Vikas Manch on December 23. At Bhubaneswar similar protests were held by various NGOs.

The resistance to the alumina project and the police firing have important implications. Indian and foreign business companies are keen on exploiting the rich bauxite deposits in the Kashipur area irrespective of the social and ecological costs of such a n effort. The entire State machinery has capitulated to their wishes. Successive governments, various political parties that have been in power, local elite and businessmen supported the alumina project. At the same time, the struggle of the people and t heir determination to make any sacrifice in order to protect their civil and political rights, rights to livelihood, and habitat clearly demonstrate that people at the grassroots are not going to tolerate the onslaught of market forces.

The attempts by market forces to exploit the mineral resources in Orissa have threatened a large number of vulnerable social groups with displacement, loss of livelihood and destruction of the natural environment. Hence, the main issue is to decide wheth er to accept the prevailing definition of development as provided by the market and the state or to look for alternatives emerging out of people's struggles. In other words, whether development should mean profit for capitalists or protection of the righ ts of the people and their prosperity.