People who till yesterday (recently) were land owners and farmers, will become daily wage laborers after the onset of mining operations. The farmers who used their traditional knowledge to grow crops and feed the society, will be converted into unskilled and semi-skilled laborers in the mines of UCIL. Those aadivaasi (aboriginal tribal) women, the touch of whose aanchals (saree ends) would fill milk (nourishment) in grains of the cereal crops, will now become female laborers in the mines. The young women, who reveled in the songs hummed by bees intoxicated by the mild perfume of the milky white blossoms weighing down the saal (Shorea robusta) trees, will now migrate out of the state to become maid-servants washing the dirty dishes of the rich families in the cities. I am not being carried away in a stream of emotion while saying all this. This is the truth of the gift given in name of Development to the aadivaasi community.

Young Women Will Become Maids Washing Dirty Dishes

Original reporting in Hindi by Dayamani Barla
Translation by Vidya Jonnalagadda

(in Prabhat Khabar, dated 1 October 2005)

People who till yesterday (recently) were land owners and farmers, will become daily wage laborers after the onset of mining operations. The farmers who used their traditional knowledge to grow crops and feed the society, will be converted into unskilled and semi-skilled laborers in the mines of UCIL. Those aadivaasi (aboriginal tribal) women, the touch of whose aanchals (saree ends) would fill milk (nourishment) in grains of the cereal crops, will now become female laborers in the mines. The young women, who reveled in the songs hummed by bees intoxicated by the mild perfume of the milky white blossoms weighing down the saal (Shorea robusta) trees, will now migrate out of the state to become maid-servants washing the dirty dishes of the rich families in the cities. I am not being carried away in a stream of emotion while saying all this. This is the truth of the gift given in name of Development to the aadivaasi community.

The EMP report prepared by UCIL states that the forests situated presently in the Core Zone are inferior in quality, comprising small trees, shrubs, scrub and herbs. These plants need to cut down for mining operations. Let it be known that an aadivaasi village typically has fruit-bearing trees such as those of mango, tamarind, jackfruit, jaamum, badhar, bel, karanj, neem, paakar, bamboo, sindvaar, putkal, kusum, kendu, piyar, doomar and mahua. These fruit-bearing trees grow here also, and these trees are bearers of the social, economic and cultural aspects of the aadivaasi community. The report states that the deficiency caused by cutting down the trees, shrubs, scrub and herbs will compensated by tree plantings and the development of a massive green belt, which will provide a green canopy over and around the mines, and elaborate a diverse population of trees and plants. The question is how the variety of the traditional flora of the aadivaasi community can be provided, since the report states that the saplings to be planted in the green belt will be procured from small nursery to be established under the aegis of the State Forest Department.

The major species of plants that are to be grown are as follows: Butea, Chilichira, Tijuga, Walvesliya, Sertola, Anogesis latifolia, Madhuca indica, Bauhenia, Racemomia, Albizzia amara, Zizyphus, Mangifera indica, Dalbergia sisoo, Artecarpus, Hetophilis, Azadirecta indica, Cassia fistula, Bhejar stomia, Parviflora mangifera, Gmelina, Arboria, Diosciferus,

Melanokisnal, Polygamia, Glwavara, Sisyjius cumivi, Terminalia chibula, Sterculia euriens, Polyjithia longifolia, Bucchinia, Latifolia, Ficus religiosa, Indigofera pulisesa, Peltoforium ferijinum and Dolonims rainia etc.

Bunduhuraang was a bahul village. The Jharkhand Pollution Control Board held a public hearing on 24 February 2004 to obtain a ‘No Objection Certificate’ prior to the commencement of mining. The displaced people told (us) that the authorities had promised that everyone would be provided with employment. In addition, they would be given money (compensatory payment), but the Company has not fulfilled its promise. At the foothills of a hill where mining was underway, cowherds from Taalsa village were playing cards sitting on a mat spread under a tamarind tree.

Pointing to the row of hills ahead, the young men told (us) that those were Banaay Dungri (small hill), Marang Goda Dungri, Taalsa Buru and Kerva Dungri, where mining was underway.

(To be continued).