Illegal Activities and Violation of Tribes' Human
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RESEARCH PAPER Law Volume : 5 | Issue : 5 | May 2015 | ISSN - 2249-555X Illegal Activities and Violation of Tribes’ Human Rights: an Empirical Study of South Rajasthan” KEYWORDS BRAJ LAL MEENA Research Scholar, University college of Law, MLS University, Udaipur The tribal population reside is a place of paradoxes. Its ing or in dustier uses. It restricted mining activity in these rich in minerals but the people are living in abject poverty; areas to be carried out only by State Minerals Develop- both legal and illegal mining led to severe environmental ment Corporation or a co-operative of the tribal people. degradation and also severe loss of traditional livelihood All leases granted by the State governments were declared methods. Their livelihood is totally accompanied by the to contravene Schedule V of the Constitution and were government policy of globalization, capital intensive indus- declared null and void. The judgement known as Samatha trialization like mining in the regions, land grabbing by us- Judgement, is a significant check to restrain the state from ing all the tricks possible, not just by the mining mafia but encouraging indiscriminate exploitation of land, forests, also by the government. The tribal land acquisition and water bodies and other resource for commercial purposes, alienation besides resource displacement are severe cases especially in tribal areas. Looking to the Samatha judge- of human rights violation. Keeping in mind we taken case ment illegal mining operation in forest land has emerged study method as one of the tool of field study and the fol- out. As there are rich deposits of minerals in forest land. lowing case studies have been presented to strengthen It caused loss of revenue of crores of Rupees on one hand field experiences of human rights abuse and tribal in the and caused life injuries and other health problems on oth- field of South Rajasthan. er side. According to Deepak Malik, Director of Health, Environment and Development Consotorium, the plight of Illegal Mining: Mining contributed less than 0.5 percent of sand stone workers is the worst as most of them are affect- the NSDP of Rajasthan until 1970-71. Later its contribution ed by silicosis and tuberculosis. Silicosis is a lung disease steadily in- creased and reached 2.2 percent in 2000-01. In caused by silica dust. It is incurable and has been certi- value terms (measured at 1993-94 prices) NSDP from the fied as an occupation hazard through the Rajasthan Silico- mining sector increased from Rs. 39.38 crores in 1970-71 sis Rules, 1955. The Silicosis Rules (1955) requires getting to 1000 crore in 2000-01. Rajasthan has a dominant share workers medically examined before hiring them, followed in the produc- tion of quite few minerals like Wollestonite, by a check-up every five years to check for the onset of Zinc, Asbestor, soapstone, rock phosphate, ball clay, 100% silicosis. Rule to require that a postmortem be performed share in National production. Gypsum 99%, Calcite 97%, on a worker who dies of silicosis, so that the family of the Felspar 96%, Jaspur, 92%, marble 90%, Lead 89%, Sand- diseased can claim compensation. None of these rules is stone 81% and Flerg lime stone 70% of share in the Na- followed, and as a result, the incidence of silicosis is found tional production. Rajasthan is an important producer of to be as high as 40-50 percent among sandstone work- copper-ore. Mica, Manganese ore, phosphoresce, potash, ers. Women workers are paid by Rs. 50 a day, which is be- and other minerals, though the contribution of these min- low the minimum wages in the State. They are told that erals in the total value added is negligible.1 In South Ra- they do not work ‘as hard as men’. Though women born jasthan, some of the important minerals are marble, graph- 37 percent of the mine workers and children 15 percent. ite, zinc, lead manganese, soapstone, asbestos, be rye and But the states apathy to the health and safety of workers fluorite. Out of the total mineral production in Rajasthan, in sector that brings crores of Rupees as revenue is worry- south Rajasthan area produces about 97-38 percent of ma- ing. All attentions are directed towards raising production, jor and 2.12 of minor minerals. But due to highest concen- while the welfare of workers is ignored. In Rajasthan, min- tration of tribal population who constitute the core among ing tends to be a family occupation, passed on from father the weaker sections of the society.2 Greater preponderance to son. ‘With bonded labour’ sons frequently inherit their of backward population, higher dependency ratio, and top father’s debt. The number of bonded labours in Rajasthan sided occupational structure, backward agriculture, low lev- today stands at a whooping 5 lakhs approximately. The el of capital and labour productivity, low per capita income foremost reason behind peoples being caught in the trap and chronic unemployment are some of the basic features is poverty. Nearly 95 percent of the laborers are dalits and of the region. The tribes must have the possession of min- tribes.3 ing on their land. But the mining on their lands are taken away in the name of economic advancement of the coun- Case 1: Humri Bai Wife of Heera Lal Damor is a mine try. But in return they received landlessness, impoverish- worker. She belongs to Ogna village of Jhadol Panchayat ments and long-term degradation of the environment on Samiti of Udaipur District. She attributed during the inter- which they totally depend. view that she and other family members– a daughter, son and husband all worked in an asbestos mine, inside the The Supreme Court held that forests and mining and lands forest. “My father in law and brother in law (Jaithji) were in Scheduled areas, irrespective of whether owned by the also working in the asbestos mine previously. Father-in- government or by a tribal community, cannot be leased law died in the accident due to collapsed of mine 8 years out to non tribal people or to private companies for min- back. Jaithji died due to tuberclosis 4 years back. The con- INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH X 19 RESEARCH PAPER Volume : 5 | Issue : 5 | May 2015 | ISSN - 2249-555X tractor did not give any compensation. Inspite he claimed becomes more difficult as the children and men get pri- the due of the debt taken by my grand father-in-law. We ority. New Delhi based Centre for Environment and Food are in the trap of debt and compelled to work with him. I Security carried out a survey on Hunger in advasi areas of too have chest problems. One of my relatives is suffering Rajasthan and Jharkhand” and its report was formally re- from silicosis. We dreamed to send children to school. But leased by the noted social scientist Mr. Ashish Nandey in our poverty did not allow. Our children of 8-10 years have Oct., 2005. As per the report a Shocking 99% of the Adi- to work to earn Dal-Roti.” vasi (tribal) carried out in Udaipur and Dungarpur districts, but the very year this report was released 48 persons had Case -2: Neetesh – 13 years boy during Jan Sunwai (pub- died of hunger and malnutrition induced illness in 40 vil- lic hearing) said that in Kushalgarh – Distt. Banswara “We lages in Baran district from mid July to mid Sept.6 are employed to load ‘manganese’ during late hours in night. Day time we go to school but at night we work to In 2004 putting a question mark over the State govern- support the family for survival. Some time we forgot to ments pronouncements on the deaths among the Sahari- wash the hand after loading manganese so some of my yas in Baran district, a Supreme Court team concluded that friends are feeling not well.” When asked did they went these tribes were living in a situation of hunger and starva- for medical check-up. He refused and said “There is no tion. As per the report of the team a large proportion of doctor or clinic nearby.” In short, workers in illegal mining the Sahariya population was at a risk of mortality because and legal mining quarries toil in condition that often lead of chronic malnutrition and hunger. Using a Body Mass In- to injury, disease and death, but neither the mine owners dex, the survey conducted by the team in Sahariya villages nor the State government has done enough to mitigate found 100% boys and 93% girls at a high risk of mortality. their suffering. It calculated consumption of 800 to 1000 calories per capi- ta per day for at least 90 days before the survey. And food Food Scarcity and Starvation Deaths: Prof. P.N. Srivastav, intake that is lower than 850 calories per day is in compat- the noted social scientist and a former member, Planning ible with life in due course and is indicative in starvation. Commission expressed the view that more than 200 million people, nearly 25 percent of our population, were not hav- Peoples Union for Civil liberties Rajasthan Unit remained ing two square meals a day, adding that wastage of food very active to raise the issue of Human Rights viola- amounted to Rs. 25,000 crores per annum at different lev- tion any- where in the State. Noted the revisiting of hun- els in products, transportation and handling.4 ger and starvation death it filled a case of Right to Food (196/2001) in the Supreme Court. This case became a his- Food security is basically understood in terms of food toric case with several orders making MDMS, ICDS, PEN- availability, stability and accessibility.