MISSION SARANDA MISSION SARANDA A War for Natural Resources in India GLADSON DUNGDUNG with a foreword by FELIX PADEL Published by Deshaj Prakashan Bihar-Jharkhand Bir Buru Ompay Media & Entertainment LLP Bariatu, Ranchi – 834009 © Gladson Dungdung 2015 First published in 2015 All rights reserved Cover Design : Shekhar Type setting : Khalid Jamil Akhter Cover Photo : Author ISBN 978-81-908959-8-9 Price ` 300 Printed at Kailash Paper Conversion (P) Ltd. Ranchi - 834001 Dedicated to the martyrs of Saranda Forest, who have sacrificed their lives to protect their ancestral land, territory and resources. CONTENTS Glossary ix Acknowledgements xi Foreword xvii Introduction 01 1. A Mission to Saranda Forest 23 2. Saranda Forest and Adivasi People 35 3. Mining in Saranda Forest 45 4. Is Mining a Curse for Adivasis? 59 5. Forest Movement and State Suppression 65 6. The Infamous Gua Incident 85 7. Naxal Movement in Saranda 91 8. Is Naxalism Taking Its Last Breath 101 in Saranda Forest? 9. Caught Among Three Sets of Guns 109 10. Corporate and Maoist Nexus in Saranda Forest 117 11. Crossfire in Saranda Forest 125 12. A War and Human Rights Violation 135 13. Where is the Right to Education? 143 14. Where to Heal? 149 15. Toothless Tiger Roars in Saranda Forest 153 16. Saranda Action Plan 163 Development Model or Roadmap for Mining? 17. What Do You Mean by Development? 185 18. Manufacturing the Consent 191 19. Don’t They Rule Anymore? 197 20. It’s Called a Public Hearing 203 21. Saranda Politics 213 22. Are We Indian Too? 219 23. Mining against Life 225 24. Is Mittal More Powerful Than our God? 231 25. Concluding Remarks 237 About the Author 245 Glossary ADGP – Additional Director General of Police ANM – Auxiliary Nurse Midwife Anganbari – A centre run in the village under Integrated Child Development Scheme ARS – Additional Rojgar Sevak BJP – Bhartiya Janta Party BMP – Bihar Military Police CRPF – Central Reserve Police Force CPI-Maoist – Communist Party of India (Maoist) CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility CBCID – Central Bureau of Crime Investigation Department CBI – Central Bureau of Investigation Chabutra – Public sitting place in the middle of a village CLA Act – Criminal Law (Amendment) Act DIG – Deputy Inspector General DID – Detailed information dossier DC – Deputy Commissioner FIR – First Information Report FRA – Forest Rights Act FDC – Forest Development Corporation FDI – Foreign Direct Investment Gram Sabha – Village Council IDC – Integrated Development Centre IG – Inspector General IISCO – Indian Iron and Steel Company Jawan – Commonly used name for the security force in India IAP – Integrated Action Plan IAY – Indira Awas Yojna, a housing scheme for the families living below poverty line. JMM – Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JFM – Joint Forest Management JHRM – Jharkhand Human Rights Movement MoU – Memorandum of Understanding Mission Saranda MLA – Member of Legislative Assembly MCCI – Maoist Communist Centre of India MGNREGA – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act NAC – National Commission on Agriculture NCST – National Commission for Scheduled Tribes NRLM – National Rural Livelihood Mission NHRC – National Human Rights Commission NDA – National Democratic Alliance NGO – Non-Governmental Organiztion Panchayat – Governance unite of a set of villages Panchayat Samity – Village Council PDS – Public Distribution System PIL – Public Interest Litigation PRI – Panchayat Raj Institution PESA Act – Provisions of Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Area) Act PMGSY – Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojna (Rural Road Scheme) PWG – People’s War Group PLGA – People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army PLFI – People’s Liberation Front of India RAW – Research and Analysis Wing Salwa Judum - A private army of Chhattisgarh SPO – Special Police Officer SEZ – Special Economic Zone SP – Superintendent of Police SDPO – Sub-divisional Police Officer SAP – Saranda Action Plan SDP – Saranda Development Plan SAIL – Steel Authority of India Limited TAC – Tribes Advisory Council TISCO – Tata Iron and Steel Company TRTC – Tribal Research and Training Centre UAPA – Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act UPA – United Progressive Alliance USA – United States of America x Acknowledgements The former President of the United States of America, George W. Bush taught us that ‘war is peace’ by bombing Afghanistan in 2001.1 Of course, we (Indians) always run for everything behind the USA and Europe, seeing these as the most developed places on earth. When we talk of development, we forget that India is a union of villages; this is what the father of our nation Mahatma Gandhi reminded us. Do we really want to convert our villages, towns and cities to resemble Washington D.C., New York, London, Paris or Singapore? India has been in a rat race to become a powerful nation; it is converting its beautiful villages into polluted cities, rural markets into shopping malls and small cities into the concrete forests called smart cities. When the USA President Barak Obama, during his visit to India, announced in the Indian parliament that ‘India is not simply emerging but it has already emerged’, how our politicians applauded him! They forgot that more than 70% of our people live on less than Rs.20 (US$0.33) per day.2 What kind of emerging super power are we? 1. ‘War is Peace,’ by Arundhati Roy, in her book The Algebra of Infinite Justice, published by Penguin. 2001. 2. ‘Earn Rs. 15 a day and feel rich, says Planning Commission’. The Sunday Guardian, available at http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/earn-rs-15-a-day-and-feel-rich-says- planning-commission Mission Saranda The Indian State is attempting to go to any extent to make itself a superpower. However, India’s own people who live in the villages do not even know about this superpower theory. They have been struggling for survival over many years and generations. They are still struggling to ensure adequate food, clothing and shelter for their families, which had been promised as fundamental rights during India’s freedom struggle. Instead of ensuring basic needs, the Indian State has been alienating them from their livelihood resources. Is India set to become a superpower by grabbing its own people’s resources? The government, since independence, has already grabbed 2.5 million acres of lands of the Adivasis (Indigenous Peoples) in the state of Jharkhand alone. What would be the actual figure if we count it across the country? These citizens were alienated without any proper compensation in the name of development, national security and the national interest. After Jharkhand State was created in the year 2000, the new government soon started signing one memorandum of understanding (MoU) after another, with national and multinational companies for mining projects, steel factories and power plants. Jharkhand government signed 104 MoUs with the corporate houses3 in a decade. When villagers realised what was happening, they started protest against unjust development projects, in which the landowners are always betrayed. Similarly, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal signed a long series of MoUs with the corporate houses for such projects. These MoUs had multiple ripple effects in these states, and when the State failed to hand over promised lands to the corporate houses, the issue of Maoism/Naxalism came to the surface, with increasing force from 2008. 3. ‘World listens to ‘Iron lady of Jharkhand’, The Hindu, 25 May 2013. xii Gladson Dungdung The argument of the government was that development activities cannot be carried out in Naxal infested areas without cleansing the Maoists. Finally, a joint operation was chalked out, codified as ‘Operation Green Hunt’, which was launched in October 2009 in various parts of the country that were declared as the ‘Red Corridor’. In the beginning, there was protest from the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar, but later on, all the ruling elites joined hands in what was in effect a war against the people in the name of cleansing the CPI-Maoist. Therefore, I started travelling to the Red Corridor of India for collection of evidence to prove that it is not a war against the CPI-Maoist but a war against the Adivasis to snatch their resources i.e. lands, forests, water, hills and minerals from them. The centre of the war is mineral resources, which I am able to establish through my mission to Saranda Forest. The ‘Mission Saranda’ reveals that the war against the CPI-Maoist is actually, fundamentally, a war for mineral resources, waged against the security of the common people in the Red Corridor, their peace, good governance, development and prosperity. This book would not have been possible to publish without the courage, commitment and dedication of Ms. Christina Nilsson. I am indebted to Ms. Christina, who supported my mission to Saranda Forest and also helped me in conceptualising, designing and tirelessly editing the book. I am indebted to my friend a renowned anthropologist & author Felix Padel, who has not only written the foreword for the book and helped tirelessly with editing but also inspired, encouraged and supported me in my journey to the Red Corridor. I will always be grateful to a renowned Indian classical dancer Madam Mallika Sarabhai and a renowned academician & Director xiii Mission Saranda of the Centre for World Environmental History (University of Sussex, UK), Dr. Vinita Damodaran, for their powerful messages for the book, inspiration and great support to my initiatives. I am indebted to Mr. Suhas Chakma, Dr. Shailendra Awale and Mr. Anand Kumar, without their support, I would not have started my mission to Saranda Forest in 2011. I am grateful to Dr. Christian Erni, Ms. Genevieve Rose and Mrs. Lola Garcia-Alix of IWIGA (Denmark), Mr. John Rowley of Gandhi Foundation (London), Ms. Anna Winterbottom & Mr. Zuky Serper of University of Sussex (UK), Mr. Samrendra Das of Foil Vedanta (UK), Dr. Theodor Rathgeber, Ms. Martina Claus & Mr. Sebastian Hartig of Adivasi-Koordination (Germany), Mrs. Bernice See of AIPP (Thailand) and Ms.