Handia - An Adivasi Drink

Adivasi (Tribal) Witchcraft News Reports

2009-04-07T01:30:00.000-07:00

Adivasi Witchcraft

URL: adivasi-witchcraft.jharkhand.org.in

Children of 'witches' fight social stigma

September 19, 2007 (IANS) Ranchi: A social revolution is taking root in Jharkhand's villages. Daughters and granddaughters of women who were once branded witches are coming forward to root out the social evil.

Poonam Toppo, 29, whose grandmother was once tortured for being a witch, has taken up cudgels to fight the crime of branding innocent people witches and then killing them brutally.

A resident of Bhusur village on the outskirts of Ranchi, Poonam became an orphan at the age of eight. She was the third child of her family and lived with her grandmother.

Recalling her past, Poonam, now director of the Ranchi unit of Free Legal Aid Committee (FLAC), said that when a villager died, residents put the blame on her grandmother.

The village panchayat branded her grandmother a witch and she was brutally beaten up. The family was ostracised and prevented from going to the village market or participating in tribal festivals.

"My grandmother was blamed for everything taking place in the village, be it the death of a cow or a buffalo. One day I decided to stand up against this. When they once came to beat my grandmother, I stood at the doorway and asked them to kill me first. The villagers retreated," Poonam said.

"I took up the matter with the panchayat leaders and argued that if my grandmother could kill anyone, then why couldn't she protect herself from the wrath of the villagers. The panchayat accepted my argument and agreed not to harass my grandmother," she said.

Poonam started a campaign against the social stigma at the age of 12. She was ridiculed in school as the granddaughter of a witch. Undaunted, she organised more than 50 plays to create awareness among children.

Seema Toppo, another girl from Namkom village in Ranchi, is also in the campaign. Seema's mother too was tortured by her neighbours. Villagers beat her, blaming her for the death of a woman.

Seema also started a protest campaign by organising street plays and puppet shows.

But women are still being attacked and killed after being branded witches in the state.

Official figures show that 189 women were killed between 2001 and 2006 for allegedly practising witchcraft. The figure is contested by FLAC, which says 412 women were killed between 2001 and 2006.

And since 1991 to July this year, 922 women have been killed.

To prevent witchcraft killing, Bihar unveiled a Witchcraft Prevention Act, 1999. Jharkhand accepted this in 2001.

"Law is not sufficient to curb witchcraft deaths. The real culprits are Ojhas (witch doctors). We want stringent action against anyone torturing women," said Ajay Kumar, a former director of FLAC.

Three of a family killed for practising witchcraft

June 28, 2008 (IANS) Ranchi: Three members of a family were beaten to death in a Jharkhand village after being accused of practising witchcraft, police said Saturday.

The incident occurred late Friday night in Torpa block of Khuti district, around 90 km from Ranchi.

Police identified the victims as Ghuchara Pahan, his son Kisun and daughter-in-law Mukta.

The villagers had convened a panchayat meeting Friday night and summoned the trio, who were asked to stop practicing black magic as this was causing suffering to the villagers.

Ghuchara and Kisun had a verbal altercation with the villagers, after which they ran into their hut. The villagers dragged them out and started beating them with bamboo sticks and irons rods, killing all three on the spot. The villagers later informed the police about the incident.

The police reached the village Saturday and took the bodies away. The villagers involved in the killing are absconding.

Over 700 people, mostly women, have been killed over the past few years in Jharkhand after being branded as witches.

Accused witch axed to death

Jamshedpur / telegraph / July 05, 2005: A 35-year-old woman was axed to death in Lodhanbani village under Barsole police station for allegedly practising witchcraft.

The woman, identified as Badbari Munda, was allegedly axed inside her house by four villagers from the same village at about 1.30 in the night. Sukra Munda, the husband of the victim who is also the eyewitness, revealed that late Sunday night four persons forcefully entered their house and started beating Badbari.

The four have been identified as Ranga, Maha, Lolia and Tira Munda. ?We had just finished our dinner and were about to sleep when we heard some people shouting outside our house. Soon someone knocked at the door. We did not open the door, but they broke the bolt and entered the house,? said Sukra.

Ranga was carrying an axe and the other three assailants were carrying iron rods and sticks. ?As soon as they entered into the house they started abusing my wife as a witch. Before we could find our way out of the house, Ranga attacked her with the axe and she fell on the ground,? said Sukra.

Sukra and his family members, however, denied Badbari ever practised witchcraft. They maintained that before this no one has ever raised any allegation against the deceased. ?The most important thing is that witchcraft is practiced by old women and she was just 35 years old. How could they label her as a witch?? said the father of the deceased.

From Superstition to Savagery

Women Accused of Witchcraft Face Violence in Rural India

The Washington Post, August 8, 2005 - At sundown, Pusanidevi Manjhi recalled, nine village men stormed into her house shouting, "Witch, witch!" and dragged her out by her hair as her six small children watched helplessly.

"This woman is a witch!" the men announced to the villagers, said Manjhi, 36. She said they tied her ankles together and locked her in a dark room.

"They beat me with bamboo sticks and metal rods and tried to pull my nails out. 'You are a witch, admit it,' they screamed at me again and again," Manjhi said, tearfully recalling her four days of captivity in June.

"They accused me of casting an evil spell on their paddy crop that was destroyed in a fire. I begged them and told them I was not a witch," she said, showing wounds on her legs, thighs, hips and shoulders one recent morning in this village in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand.

After a police investigation, the men who attacked Manjhi were arrested. An official said that the attack was spurred by a powerful landowner who owned rice paddies in the village and used local superstition to mask his attempts to maintain control.

Threats and charges of witchcraft occur in a number of Indian states that have large tribal populations with traditional beliefs about witches. Indian newspapers periodically publish reports about women who, after being accused of being witches, have been beaten, had their heads shaved or had strings of shoes hung around their necks. Some have been killed.

In a tribal society steeped in superstition, the spells of witches often are blamed for stubborn illnesses, a stroke of bad luck, the drying up of wells, crop failure or the inability to give birth to a son. But social analysts and officials said that superstition and faith in witchcraft often are a ploy for carrying out violence against women.

"Superstition is only an excuse. Often a woman is branded a witch so that you can throw her out of the village and grab her land, or to settle scores, family rivalry, or because powerful men want to punish her for spurning their sexual advances. Sometimes it is used to punish women who question social norms," said Pooja Singhal Purwar, an official at the Jharkhand social welfare department.

"Women from well-to-do homes in the village are never branded witches," Purwar said. "It is always the socially and economically vulnerable women who are targeted and boycotted."

Purwar said she sees an average of five women a month being denounced as witches and tortured in rural Jharkhand. Her department has drawn up a public information project to oppose the practice, providing information at village fairs and conducting street performances and puppet shows. Police at the local level have been alerted to track the cases of women who are attacked, she said.

While Manjhi was imprisoned by her captors, her husband, a farmhand, sought help from the village elders, who called a meeting to determine if Manjhi was a witch and summoned a witch doctor for verification. But by then, word spread and the police arrived.

The nine men were charged under a Jharkhand state law that forbids accusing people of being witches. One of them was Gahan Lal, the man whose paddy had caught fire. Lal later confessed to torturing Manjhi.

"Gahan Lal was a powerful landlord. There were fights all the time in the village over land and wages," said Jayant Tirkey, the police officer investigating the case. "When his paddy caught fire, he blamed [Manjhi] for casting an evil spell. But that is merely an excuse. His real motive is to instill fear among the poor."

Tirkey said he thinks that village witch doctors are to blame for superstitious practices, but added that witch doctors are not arrested and tried because they are not directly involved in the violence.

"I never name a witch. I only give villagers some clues to find her," said Leena Oraon, who is known as a witch doctor in Aragate village and who says she studies rice grains to ascertain the presence of a witch in the village. "Today's doctors cannot cure ailments that are caused by a witch's curse. That is why people come to me."

In a case three years ago in Lalganj village, an elderly woman, Baili Kashyap, was branded a witch for supposedly causing sickness in the family of a relative. The relatives, who allegedly were engaged in a land dispute with her, tied her to a tree and slit her throat with a sickle while others in the village watched. Six men are in prison for the murder.

"My mother-in-law was not a witch. They were after our land. But the entire village just stood and watched the murder," said Kashyap's daughter-in-law, Reena, 28. "They believed she was a witch and deserved to die."

According to a study by the Free Legal Aid Committee, an advocacy group that works against witch-hunting, only 2 percent of people charged with witch-hunting are convicted in court.

"People go scot-free because witnesses are hard to come by. Villagers often approve of the torture meted out to these women," said Girija Shankar Jaiswal, a lawyer who heads the organization. "They think witch-hunting is a heroic act and that it will clean the society of evil."

Only two Indian states, Jharkhand and Bihar, have outlawed witch-hunting. Last year, one of India's northeastern states, Tripura, conducted a discussion in the legislative assembly about the need to ban the practice of witch-hunting. After a day-long debate, the assembly unanimously decided that killing of people for practicing witchcraft should be prevented.

However, members failed to reach a consensus on whether witchcraft was a science or superstition.

Couple killed for practising witchcraft in Jharkhand

Ranchi (IANS)| July 02, 2007: An old couple were killed in Jharkhand for allegedly practicing black magic, police officials said.

Tanekta Bhokta, 60, and his wife Ashamani, 55, were residents of Beti village under Pithoria block, about 40 km from Ranchi.

Police officials said Monday that the couple's neighbour Deodhari Bhokta and his brother Surendra Bhokta dragged them out of their house Sunday. The brothers tied the old couple to a tree and beat them to death with sticks. The men then hacked the dead bodies with sharp edged weapons and chopped off the hands and legs.

Later, they informed other villagers about the crime that they had committed and surrendered before the police.

However, the brothers do not regret having killed the couple. "The couple were practising black magic and due to impact of their black magic our family members were falling ill. We have no remorse," said Surendera Bhokta.

The couple are survived by their two daughters. One of them, Rupanti Kumari, 19, said: "We tried to save our parents but they did not show any mercy. Not a single villager turned up to help us".

Killing people suspected of practising black magic is common in Jharkhand. In the past 10 years, more than 600 persons, mostly women, have been killed in Jharkhand after they were branded witches.



Man sacrifices sons in Jharkhand

Ranchi (IANS) | January 10, 2007: In a strange incident of child sacrifice, a man in Jharkhand sacrificed two of his sons Wednesday in search of spiritual powers, police said.

Jeetan Munda, a resident of Barki village in Hazaribagh district, is a sorcerer by profession, escaped after sacrificing his sons with the help of an aide, police said.

The younger son died on the spot, while the elder son sustained serious injuries and he was admitted to a local hospital. His condition is said to be serious.

Police have recovered materials like vermilion, mustard oil and clothes, which suggest that Munda had worshipped the god before sacrificing his sons.

Witchcraft and occult practices are common in Jharkhand.

More than 20 persons have been sacrificed in the state recently in the name of appeasing god.



Three of a family killed for practising witchcraft

June 28th, 2008 by IANS - Three members of a family were beaten to death in a Jharkhand village after being accused of practising witchcraft, police said Saturday. The incident occurred late Friday night in Torpa block of Khuti district, around 90 km from Ranchi.

Police identified the victims as Ghuchara Pahan, his son Kisun and daughter-in-law Mukta.

The villagers had convened a panchayat meeting Friday night and summoned the trio, who were asked to stop practicing black magic as this was causing suffering to the villagers.

Ghuchara and Kisun had a verbal altercation with the villagers, after which they ran into their hut. The villagers dragged them out and started beating them with bamboo sticks and irons rods, killing all three on the spot. The villagers later informed the police about the incident.

The police reached the village Saturday and took the bodies away. The villagers involved in the killing are absconding.

Over 700 people, mostly women, have been killed over the past few years in Jharkhand after being branded as witches.

Chhattisgarh police arrest 22 for assaulting 50 women

December 23rd 2008 Raipur (IANS) - Twenty two men have been arrested in Chhattisgarh for assaulting about 50 women and branding them witches, a senior official said Tuesday. According to reports, a nine day "purification ceremony" was organised by about 200 villagers on the advice of a local leader at Dhodhakesra village in Surguja district, about 400 km north of Raipur.

During the "ceremony", about 50 women were branded witches and they were forced to get a haircut "to free them from impact of evil spirits". The women were also beaten in public. The "ceremony" ended Dec 19.

"Police will not tolerate such an act; 22 men have been arrested under the stringent Chhattisgarh Witchcraft (Prevention) Act that makes crimes against women in name of witches a non-bailable offence," senior police officer Radheshyam Nayak told IANS.

He said the probe is on and villagers are being interrogated, adding that more arrests are likely.

Chief Minister Raman Singh has taken a serious view of the incident and termed it "most inhuman, unfortunate and shameful". He has asked police chief Vishwaranjan to thoroughly investigate the case and ensure tough punishment to culprits.

With a rising number of cases against women in the name of witchcraft, the state government enacted a Witchcraft (Prevention) Act in 2005. Those convicted under the act can be jailed for upto five years.

Teenager lynched in West Bengal on suspicion of being a witch

Kolkata, Nov 23 (IANS) A 16-year-old girl was beaten to death by villagers in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, who accused her of practising witchcraft and entrancing the son of her former employer to marry her, the police said. "Tulu Dolui, 16, was dragged out of her hut in Ghoramara village around 11.30 p.m. by at least eight people, who then tied her to a tree and beat her with sticks for over three hours," an official at Sagore police station told reporters.

He said police intervened to rescue the girl, but she succumbed to her injuries on way to the local health centre. She had sustained serious head, abdominal, chest and back injuries.

The official said the villagers alleged that Dolui was a witch and had hypnotised the son of a rich grocer's son, who decided to marry her against his parents' wishes. She was working there as a maid servant until the grocer came to know of the relationship and sacked her.

No one has been arrested so far in this incident, he said.

Jharkhand tribes facing Malaria deaths

November 12th, 2008 by ANI - Kuramu (Pallamu) Jharkhand, Nov.12 (ANI): Widespread ignorance, dependency on exorcism and witchcraft among tribes in Jharkhands Palamu district have become a major problem for people struggling against Malaria here.

Malaria has claimed over 24 lives and affected hundreds of others in Kuramu village under Chandwa Block of Latehar Division of States Palamu district.

"My grandson was already suffering from fever. We called the exorcists and even witch doctors, but nothing could help. He died on the Diwali night. Later my granddaughter also fell ill and we have taken her to Primary Healthcare Centre at Chandwa," said Ram Chandra, a local resident.

Marshy lands, water logging and unhygienic conditions in this region have become a haven for mosquitoes to breed and spread dreaded filaria, malaria and dengue, further the situation is compounded by apathetic attitude of the State administration.

Nine persons belonging to the Lohra and Ganjhu tribes have reportedly succumbed to the disease in the last week alone.

Another factor that let the spread of the disease has been the isolated location of these affected areas with no concerned officials turning up for inspection.

"We know that this place is a remote place, and it''s not really accessible by general public. But still the way administration has delayed the matter and this is something very much unjustified," said Boidya Nath Ram, a former legislator of Chandwa area.

Hundreds of hapless villagers are compelled to endure the dreaded malaria while those responsible in the administration appear to have just woken up from slumber.

Doctor and para-medical staff of Primary Health Centre at Chandwa, however, blame the inaccessible roads and remote location for the delay in providing help.

"Kuramu is not very accessible, and thus, treatment in this area has been bit delayed. But we are trying our level-best to treat as many people as possible. Hopefully, things will get better soon," said Dr. R R Prasad, Medical Officer at the Primary Health Centre, Chandwa. (ANI)

Youth killed in witchcraft related violence

Raipur, May 21 (IANS) Eight people have been arrested in Chhattisgarh's industrial city Bhilai after a young man was killed in group clashes over a dispute over witchcraft. Police said two groups clashed Monday night at Sector 11 in Bhilai, about 30 km from here, after some people attacked a woman's house blaming her for the death of a boy.

This led to the group clash in which a 22-year-old man, S. Gopi, suffered severe head injuries and died later, said Additional Superintendent of Police Prashant Thakur.

Chhattisgarh is infamous for witchcraft related violence.

Dalit woman branded witch in Bihar, beaten up



Patna, March 28 2008 (IANS) A middle-aged Dalit woman was brutally thrashed and her hair cut off for allegedly practising witchcraft in a Bihar village, barely 20 km from the state capital, Patna, the police said Friday. The police lodged a first information report and arrested six people, including prime accused Ramayodhya Rai.

The woman, Lalpari, in her 40s, is a resident of Naubatpur village nearPatna. The police said the people suspected she practised witchcraft in the neighbouring Adalchak-Dumaria village, near Maner in the outskirts of Patna.

"She was first tied to a palm tree with a rope, then thrashed and her hair was cut off and burnt in front of a crowd of villagers Thursday," a senior police officer said.

The incident created an uproar in the state assembly Friday and an opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal legislator and a minister in the erstwhile Rabri Devi government, Shyam Razak alleged that women were not safe under the present regime.

"Women were being tortured by feudal forces," Razak said while his party members raised anti-government slogans. The opposition demanded stern action against the guilty.

The police said Lalpari had gone to Adalchak-Dumaria village Thursday to treat a woman, Manorama Rai, who suffers from a mental illness.

As Manorama's condition deteriorated, her husband Ramayodhya Rai lost his temper and accused Lalpari of practising sorcery and inflicting harm on his wife.

He got together some of his friends from the village and paraded Lalpari through the streets. The men tied her to a palm tree, cut off her hair and smeared her head with limestone paste.

Lalpari, however, refuted the charge of practising witchcraft and said she was a healer. When the police were informed about the incident, they rushed to the village and rescued the woman.

16 arrested for burning alive woman in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, March 27 2008 (IANS) Sixteen people including five women have been arrested for allegedly burning alive a 40-yr-old tribal woman in Korea district of Chhattisgarh after beating her for hours with hot iron rods, a police officer said Thursday. "The woman, who belonged to the Gond tribe, was beaten for hours with hot iron rods before being set on fire in the presence of dozens of villagers. They accused her of witchcraft and claimed she was responsible for the recent deaths of three children in the village," A.M. Juri, district superintendent of police, told IANS.

The woman called Phulkanwar was killed Sunday in Dholpur village, about 500 km north of here. A case was registered Wednesday when her husband Harilal Singh reported the tragedy to the police.

"We have strong evidence against 17 people and 16 of them have been arrested. The one person who is absconding will also be arrested soon," Juri said.

Besides murder, the 17 have been charged under the stringent Chhattisgarh Witchcraft (Prevention) Act, 2005.

Crimes against women accused of witchcraft are common in Chhattisgarh's northern and southern regions.

Man enters police station with severed head

Jamshedpur, Apr 20 2008 (PTI) In a ghastly incident, a woman was beheaded on suspicion of practising witchcraft by a tribal who later walked in the police station with the severed head in Ghatsila sub-division of Jharkhand today.

The accused Jairam Hansda held the woman Renti responsible for the death of his brother a few days back and had been looking for a chance to get her, police said.

On finding her alone today, Jairam coaxed the unsuspecting woman to accompany him to a desolate spot next to a paddy field and made her consume alcohol at Musaboni area under Ghatsila sub-division.

Watch this incident in video - http://jharkhandforum.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/jharkhand-forum-adivasi-witchcraft-in-india-the-most-sensational-murder-of-sorcery-suspect/

Tribal Woman in Assam Hacked To Death on Suspicion of 'Witch'

Sinlung / Jan 31 09 Baksa - A 65-year-old Adivasi woman was hacked to death, allegedly by her two brothers, on the suspicion of practising witchcraft in lower Assam's Baksa district.

The decomposed body of Buddha Bala, with cut wounds on her head and neck, was found at her house in labour line quarter of Dumuni tea estate on Friday, police sources said.

Inquiries revealed a group of 20-25 neighbours along with her two brothers came to the woman's house on Tuesday night and forcibly took her away at knife point.

Her body was found near home this morning, the sources said.

Bala's two brothers Jogen Kerketa and Jonathan Kerketa confessed before reporters after their arrest that they had killed their sister on suspicion of her practising witchcraft along with four others.

The dark side of India where a witch-doctor's word means death

Monday, 5 July 2004: The decision was made in the hot jungle night: Bhobesh Pahan and his two adult sons, Nirmal and Bimal, must die. Two weeks ago, the villagers of Poaltore, near the border with Bangladesh, had a meeting to decide what to do about the spate of illness gripping the village. A month before, a two-year-old, Sumon Pahan, no relation, had died of dysentery.

The decision was made in the hot jungle night: Bhobesh Pahan and his two adult sons, Nirmal and Bimal, must die. Two weeks ago, the villagers of Poaltore, near the border with Bangladesh, had a meeting to decide what to do about the spate of illness gripping the village. A month before, a two-year-old, Sumon Pahan, no relation, had died of dysentery.

Several villagers had viral fever. The village witch doctor said the cause was simple. The 65-year-old Bhobesh Pahan and his sons were witches, and had placed a curse on the villagers.

The jungle is never far in the villages here. The banana leaves and creepers are so thick you cannot see through them, even by daylight. There are spiders bigger than a man's hand, and some of the world's most poisonous snakes. At night, the villagers hear the sounds of leopards in the undergrowth.

The witch-doctor is said to have told the people the only way to rid themselves of the curse that was making them sick was to kill the witches. Bhobesh Pahan and his sons were condemned to death. The villagers agreed to kill them.

But, by a rare stroke of fortune, the Pahans were saved. The police were tipped off that there was about to be a witch-killing. The officers raided in force and rescued the men. Since then, there have been intensive police patrols in the village to prevent violence.

This incident, just two weeks ago, has cast renewed scrutiny on a darker side of India. The country is at the forefront of the cyber-revolution, the home of the world's biggest film industry, and a place where more and more business is being outsourced from Britain. But if India is changing fast, the more remote parts of the country are being left behind. Witch-killing is still an everyday part of life here. And not all the victims are as lucky as the Pahans.

They came for Sanseriya Oraow on a humid monsoon Sunday. Her neighbours dragged the middle-aged mother from her house and hammered a nail through her skull into her brain. Then, while she was still alive but in desperate pain, they sewed her up in a sack and dumped her in the nearby Murti river. Two days later, the police recovered her body.

The neighbours dragged four other middle-aged women from their homes that day. Each one suffered similar treatment, nails being hammered into her head, then, in her confusion and agony, being sewn into a sack and dumped in the river to die. This was the most notorious case of recent times. The local witch doctor had proclaimed the women witches after a run of illness among the people.

The place where it happened, Kilkott tea garden, seems an unlikely setting for such stuff of nightmares. This is a plantation set up by the British in colonial times, and is famed for the quality of its tea. On the mountainsides nearby are the great tea gardens of Darjeeling.

Kilkott is in stark contrast, surrounded by encroaching jungle. At the head planter's bungalow, the managers sit in wicker chairs on a vast, white verandah, gazing over manicured lawns and flower-beds that look straight out of Surrey, shielded by an elaborate iron screen from the monsoon deluge hammering into the garden. In a curious throwback to the colonial era, the managers of the tea estates dress in old-fashioned, tight English shorts that would be considered risqué in polite Indian society and seem ill-advised in a region ridden with malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

In another notorious case, across the border in Bihar state in 2000, Manikul Gopai survived only because her family fought to the death to defend her after she was named as a witch by a medicine man and 10 men attacked her house. Her husband was hacked to death by the attackers as he tried to guard the door. Her son's arm was sliced open, but he managed to escape and get to the police to beg for help with his dying breath. They arrived armed to the teeth and just in time to rescue Ms Gopai. She had been seriously wounded with a sword- blow to the forehead.

Activists believe there may be up to 100 cases a year in India. In May, Dituben Singhod was hacked to death with a scythe and an axe by two men who accused her of being a witch and putting a spell on their niece, who had died of illness. That was in Vadodara, hundreds of miles from here.

But tea plantations founded by the British are the focal point of anti-witch activities. Between 1992 and 1998, the most recent period for which figures are available, 1,403 people were killed as alleged "witches" on the plantations. The reason, says Sundeep Mukherjee of the Indian Tea Association, also dates from colonial times. When the British planted tea in India, finding local labourers prepared to do what was seen as the menial work of laboriously picking leaves from the bushes by hand was difficult.

So the British imported workers called Adivasis, people still living in tribal society at the time in the jungles of neighbouring Bihar, and offered them a new life. Free accommodation on the tea estates, and a job not only for life, but for at least one child after their deaths. To this day, most of the workers on the estates are still Adivasis, and they still enjoy the deal made with the British.

Mr Mukherjee is a retired Indian army officer, immaculately dressed and with perfect English. At one point, he suggests a trip to a neighbouring village where a rogue elephant is on the rampage, "just for the adventure of it".

He says: "The witch-hunting [is caused by] ignorance, because they are so steeped in superstition. First, most of the tribals are illiterate. They are so engrossed in their superstition that, although qualified doctors are provided for them, it's so deep-seated that they still go to their witch-doctors."

The Indian Tea Association has been trying to stamp out the witch-hunting phenomenon by pushing for better education in the plantations, and for initiatives such as plays to encourage adults to go to real doctors instead of witch-doctors. Although some Adivasis still practise animism, most have become Hindus or Christians. But primitive beliefs are still deep.

Several types of poisonous snakes roam the jungle, including the deadly king cobra. Most Adivasis who are bitten still go to the witch-doctors, who are believed to be able to draw out the poison with a mixture of herbs applied to the skin.

The medicine men also try to cure other illnesses with mantras. When the witch-doctor fails to cure an illness, Mr Mukherjee says, he faces the wrath of the family, so he claims the sickness has been caused by a witch, and names one of the local labourers, usually a middle-aged or elderly woman, often unmarried or widowed. The only cure is believed to be to kill the witch.

In an effort to stamp this out, the plantations are required by law to provide free medical care for workers, and doctors and hospitals are all available nearby. But many workers still prefer the witch-doctors.

"The witch-doctors are themselves illiterate, and are pawns in the hands of rival groups, used to settle scores among them," Mr Mukherjee says. There have been cases in which one side in a land dispute is believed to have persuaded the witch-doctor to name his rival as a witch to get him off the scene.

"Pointing out of 'witches' is an offence under Indian law, but because of the lack of witnesses, the witch-doctors invariably go free," Mr Mukherjee adds.

The Kilkott case is still being investigated, and there is a court case pending. But many of the witnesses are said to have changed their police statements. On the plantation, no one will admit they witnessed the killing. Everyone claims they were somewhere else at the time. Even Sanseriya Oraow's two grown-up sons denied to The Independent that they had seen anything.

"I was in the fields when it happened," Somra Oraow says. "When I got back I saw my mother's dead body." But when questioned about the condition of the body, he quickly changed his story. "I didn't see the body," he says. "I didn't see anything." Something has the labourers of Kilkott deeply scared. But whether it is fear of the police, the witch-doctors, or reprisals from the guilty labourers, is impossible to tell.

On the plantations it is not hard to understand why the labourers still believe in witchcraft. The night is pitch-dark here, there is no light for miles, and if you find yourself out on the plantations after dark you are alone amid the impenetrable darkness and the incessant sound of the surrounding jungle. Anyone can start believing in witchcraft under such conditions.

The labourers live by the sun. They get up at dawn to start work, and got bed soon after dark falls. They live on the "lines", rows of wood-and-mud houses with little gardens full of chickens and goats. Compared to the slums of India's city, these artificial villages don't seem that bad; there is space and everybody has a roof over his head. But the jungle begins where the "lines" end, at the end of the street, and leopards have been known to come in at night to kill the chickens and goats.

We found a witch-doctor on the tea plantation at Gandrapara tea garden. His name was Ashok Goaala, a slight man with deep-set, dark eyes. He seemed more frightened than intimidating, and was dressed in Western clothes, a tatty shirt and trousers.

"I possess my power from God," he says. "I can cure sicknesses. For snakebites, I put herbs next to the bite and then I recite a mantra. People come from as far away as Assam and Nepal to see me. My great-grandfather was a witch-doctor."

When asked if he believed in witches, his reply made the skin prickle: "As far as I know, there are witches in the lines here," he says. The manager of the plantation, who was standing nearby, looked shocked, but Mr Goaala added: "I don't publicise this or point it out. I don't believe in witch-hunting. I am capable of handling it myself."

The management of the tea plantations is often as reticent about the incidents as the labourers. At the Gairkata tea garden, where a woman was beaten to death last year as an alleged "witch", the management claimed there were "no official records" of witch-killings. All over the tea gardens, you get the same answer: yes, it happens, but not here.

A visit to the local police station shows the difficulties police are working under. There is no air-conditioning, despite the damp jungle heat. Officers sit sweating and mopping their brows, cradling the military rifles they need to patrol India's lawless rural areas. There are separatist militants here, some roads are not safe to travel at night.

"We'd like you to do an article," Sub-Inspector Nirmo Yonzhan, the senior officer, says. "We want more exposure for the witch-hunting, we want to stop it." But producing his files on witch-killing is no easy task. The station has no computers, just thousands of dusty documents that would have to be laboriously sifted through. It could take days.

There are piles of documents like that about witch-hunting across India, but with so few witnesses prepared to testify against the killers, and traditional societies resisting efforts to wean them off the witch-doctors, they may just keep piling up.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-dark-side-of-india-where-a-witchdoctors-word-means-death-552084.html

Witchcraft in Assam school curricula?

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has mooted introduction of a subject relating to 'dayan pratha' or witchcraft in the syllabus of primary education in Assam to eradicate the growing menace.

Neeva Konwar, member of the National Women Commission, said witch-hunting, like an infectious disease, was slowly spreading to newer areas and solutions would have to be found to eradicate the evil practice.

"The idea behind introducing dayan pratha in primary schools is to bring about awareness from an early age to do away with the primitive practice of witch-hunting based on superstitious beliefs," said Konwar.

Mridula Saharia , chairperson of the Assam State Women Commission, stressed the need for better medical facilities and mass awareness in remote rural areas to eradicate the evil practice. She said women cell should be activated at panchayat and district-level to tackle the evil.

The practice of witch-hunting is prevalent among some tribal communities in the state. These include Bodos, Ravas and the greater Adivasi community.

The Assam government had already adopted multi pronged strategy to combat witch-hunting. The Assam police have also intensified their drive to curb this problem. Codenamed 'Project Prahari', the crusade includes community policing measures, besides regular awareness campaigns, among tribal chiefs and village elders.

The police campaign is now focusing on educating villagers and holding meetings in areas dominated by tribal people.

Indian 'witchcraft' family beheaded

A family of five has been beheaded in Sonitpur district, north-east India, by a mob who accused them of witchcraft.

The tea plantation worker and his four children had been blamed for causing a disease which killed two other workers and made many unwell in Assam state.

About 200 villagers tried and sentenced the family in an unofficial court, then publicly beheaded them with machetes.

They then marched to a police station with the heads, chanting slogans denouncing witchcraft and black magic.

'Pregnant wife fled'

The incident occurred at the Sadharu tea plantation near the town of Biswanath Charali, about 300 km (190 miles) north of Guwahati, Assam's main city.

Sixty-year-old Amir Munda, who was killed alongside his two daughters and two sons, was reportedly a traditional healer.

After two plantation workers died and many others became ill from mysterious illness, other members of the Adivasi Santhal community accused him and his family of being the cause.

"A trial was held to prove if Munda and his family were involved in casting evil spells in the tea garden that led to a bout of epidemics in the area," police officer D Das said. "They said the killings would appease the gods.

"Munda's pregnant wife and her three young children managed to escape before the mob killed the other members of the family," A Hazarika, a local police official, told AFP.

Six people were arrested for the killings, Mr Hazarika said.

According to police records, some 200 people have been killed in Assam in the past five years for allegedly practicing witchcraft.

Source: BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4822750.stm

Witch' family buried alive

Guwahati, 11 Jun 2008 | Telegraph: Four members of a family were stoned and buried alive in a village in Upper Assam's Sonitpur district last night after a kangaroo court found them guilty of practising witchcraft and sentenced them to death.

The victims — Lakhan Majhi, 65, his wife Sumoni, 60, son Durga, 45, and daughter-in law Sabitri, 35 — incurred the wrath of villagers in Koilajuli Milanpur after a 21-year-old youth, Gobinda, died on Saturday.

Sonitpur superintendent of police Munna Prasad Gupta said Gobinda had died after prolonged illness, but the villagers held Lakhan, who used to regularly perform puja at Gobinda's residence, responsible for his death.

The villagers summoned the Majhis to village headman Bhutkori Majhi's house for a public hearing last night.

"The entire village was present at Bhutkori's house. The elders charged the Majhis with casting evil spells on Gobinda that resulted in his death," an officer at Biswanath Chariali police station, under which the village falls, said.

The villagers then stoned the four and buried them in a nearby jungle while they were still breathing.

When police reached the village this morning to exhume the bodies, all the males of the village had fled.

"We interrogated a few women who said the men of the village had crushed the victims' heads with bricks and stones and buried them even before they died," the officer said. He added that the headman was the main accused and the police were looking for him.

This is the second time that alleged witches have been murdered in Biswanath Chariali in the past two years.

On March 18, 2006, five members of a family were beheaded by a mob at Sadharu tea estate in the heart of Biswanath Chariali. The mob then marched to a police station with the heads, chanting slogans against witchcraft and black magic.

Amir Munda, 60, his two sons and two daughters were beheaded after a mysterious ailment struck the labour lines.

Two garden workers died while several others were afflicted by the disease.

Soon, the community's suspicions fell on Munda.

The labourers called a meeting, to which Munda was also invited. When he fled with his family, their suspicion turned to conviction.

Munda's pursuers caught him and held a kangaroo court. When Munda denied practising witchcraft, he was beaten until he "confessed" his entire family's involvement in occult practices. The court sentenced them to death.

According to police records, over 200 people have been killed in Assam in the past seven years for allegedly practising witchcraft.

Assam police have launched campaigns in Sonitpur and Lower Assam's Kokrajhar district to educate people against witch-hunts.

The dream of e-governance in districts of drought, hunger, poverty and starvation

2009-01-12T13:28:00.001-08:00

Jharkhand Blog

The dream of e-governance in districts of drought, hunger, poverty and starvation


Palamu commissionerate in the state of Jharkhand consisting of districts of Palamau, Garwah and Latehar are better known for their alarming poverty levels, drought, hunger and starvation in extreme times resulting In deaths, absentee governance,   highest levels   of corruption, punishment transfers In terms of the community getting notorious and corrupt officials, equally corrupt political parties and its leaders.   It is unfortunate but many civil society organisations are not far   behind them and most of the development programs in the region are given to agencies who can tread the same   path of corruption.   Thus this region is steeped in deep corruption.    As   there are frequent droughts in the region, there is always speculation and declaration of drought is greatly   looked forward as   the natural   calamity   brings about bounty In terms   of programs and resources .

TRAVAILS OF THE POOR

The poor   are steeped in extreme illiteracy and their prime concern is survival of self and their families. They consider the   poor governance and maladministration as their fate and hence in the absence of any opposition there is uninterrupted looting of the resources meant for the poor. In the absence of able leadership that works for the   people's cause the different political parties are at a collision course .    Incidentally this region was earlier steeped in feudalism the traces of which are   still existing to till date.    Large tracts of land   called   Gair Mazrua land also was usurped by the landlords.   The   mean existence of the poor at the behest of collection of mahua fruit and flowers - these resources - the trees also were under   landlord's control.   The other attributes of feudalism are creation of   bonded labour,   child labour, using   the entire family force of the dalits for domestic, agricultural and cattle rearing and grazing .    The   dalit women being subjected to sexual harassment were common   features of the region.

EMERGENCE OF EXTREME LEFT GROUPS

Independence, land ceiling act, abolition of zamindari    system, peasant   revolution   brought about some cosmetic and some deep rooted changes.   The   extreme left   ideology   took deep roots in the region as all the ills of the class ,caste divide of the society were found in the region .    Majority of the   landlords sold their lands or leased their lands and shifted their base to escape the violence and life threats from the extreme left   ideology groups.   They   took up a new avatar in the form of contractors.

DEADLY NEXUS

The contractors, corrupt officials both civil and police , political groups   forms   core nexus .    This nexus   eats   into almost 80% of the resources allotted for the poor.   The forest resources such as kendu patta generate huge resources for the contractors.    But they give "protection money" or "levy " to various sources which includes the extreme groups .   In   the similar manner for execution of any development works in the region the kickbacks to the various levels   is   included In the estimation itself and an inflated estimation is made.   Thus   most of the works are incomplete or it is   of most poor quality .    It is observed that in the name of drought relief umpteen times   irrigation structures of various hue and cry are announced. And if really executed then there would be no more ground available in   the region for execution of watershed works.   During each drought relief work some cosmetic work in the same structures take place and it is shown as new work.

THE SAGA OF COMPLEX FAILURES IN THE REGION

It if difficult for any outside person to understand the complex failures of systems and paralysed programs in the region. The education, health, agricultural, banking , the government and name any system all are paralysed.

Though so much hype is created In the media and the government circles on NREGA . It is a non-starter or total failure in   the region.   Recently we had a rapid assessment of the ground level realities on NREGA.     There is no need to conduct any social audit on the system. Because already it is known that all the documents are fake and built up.    In the entire year only 5—7 days and in some places 14 days of work has been carried out under this scheme. But the entries in the   job   cards shows 56,60 and even 100 days of employment given to them.

Even in this scheme touts are fully engaged as link person between the community of the poor and the government.   The illiteracy , ignorance and helplessness of the poor is brought   to full utility .     The people's testimony and their job card entries are enough to estimate the extreme levels of corruption In the region.     No doubt the lives of the activists taking up such complex issues   are   always under the threat.     Further the voices are muffled   and muted by the authoritarian administration.

EMPLOYMENT ASSURANCE STANDS VITIATED

Rita Devi, Sanju Devi, Gaura Devi, Sunil Paswan, Akileshwar bhuiya and countless more people all hailing from Palamu region have common problem.    They have all obtained the job cards. But in the last one year they were provided work ranging from 7 days to 14 days and no more. What is more startling is that they never understood that their job cards show that employment of 54 to 100 days has been marked for them by the touts. When this was brought to their notice they were furious and helpless. They all want to catch hold of the contractor who is managing their job cards and take them to task. But in the existing system only these contractors are their link with the government officials and hence cannot also do away without them and are in dilemma as to what is to be done?


THE INFLATED TENDERS THAT BENEFITS ALL

The SHG women groups in one of the tribal villages have taken tender for laying the roads. It is a huge tender nearing 14 lakhs of rupees. The tender was for laying a stretch of 3k.m. road. The first stretch of 1 km was laid by the women group and their family members and members of the village community at a cost of Rs.2 lakhs. But the average estimate of 1 km works out to be Rs4.60 lakhs . The women groups members are aware that they need to "manage" the accounts and the major money will go to the different levels of officials and inspite of that they will be able to make better margins out of such contracts.

The school   teachers need not attend the schools.   It is enough if they provide money to the school inspectors .   In some places the teachers are generous enough to appoint local volunteers to take classes at very low costs.    The   emoluments of the teachers are rotated for money lending to   the villagers at very high cost . Further the teachers are at liberty to continue their domestic chores and agricultural works unabated.    While at the residential schools for the girl children the families of the teachers   are    well   taken   care at the cost of food   deprivation of the girl children.

The health care is in shambles. The life of the poor is not valuable and in the absence of appropriate and minimum medical care the poor are forced to fully depend on the quacks locally called "Jholachap doctors".Most of them have either worked under some doctor for short period or have just learnt the art of providing medication and made it as their means of livelihood. Malaria and diarrhoea are the most common ailments and there are many times deaths due to these preventable and treatable diseases. Due to lack of transport the villagers bring the patients by carrying the cot and walking a distance of 16-20 kms.     This is the stark reality in the region.

As the poor's livelihood is totally dependent on agriculture, they necessarily have to migrate enmasse with family at least for 3-4 months in a year to the neighbouring Bihar or to far off places like Punjab for their mean survival.   As there is no organised system of labour migration, they go through contractors or based on their earlier rapport built. There have been several instances of fatal accidents as they try to travel in every means of available transport on the goods vehicles and top of the trains.

MIGRATION COSTS THEIR LIVES

Very recently 5 men from this Lesliganj region went to UP for agricultural labour but found the owner was too demanding and tried to escape from him as they were almost living in captive condition. They started running towards the railway station on the railway tracks. While they were trying to cross the bridge a train was approaching and had no option and three of them jumped into the river and lost their lives instantly. Two of them tried to hang o n to the rails and have their fingers badly mutilated. The fact that many times such deaths are hushed up as they are afraid of the lengthy police cases. Migration is a means for their survival.  In the absence of any kind of constructive intervention from the government the people are forced to devise their own means of livelihood and thus migration has become the way of life for the poor in the region.

RAIN DURING HATHIA NAKSHTRA DETERMINES THE FATE OF FARMERS

As far as agriculture is concerned, it is the experience and the expertise of the farmer and the entrepreneurship of the seeds and fertiliser dealer which takes ahead the agriculture. It is untouched by any kind of intervention from the experts. The scientists are in their ivory towers and their expertise never reaches the common farmer. There is no advice for the drought resistant crops and which to be used in   which season. Each year when the monsoon starts the entire farmer sow the seeds. As it is totally rain fed agriculture, they wait for rains during the " Hatia Nakshatra" which falls in the Hindi calendar month of "Ashwin" and in English calendar is it around September - October. If the rain fails in   this period of 15-20 days then the farmers are aware that all their crops will wither and they cannot go for the next Rabi crop as well. Thus they mentally prepare themselves and make plans for migration for their survival. This is also indication of the upcoming drought in the region. There is no meteorological forecasting but it is indigenous knowledge and expertise of the local farming community which determines their immediate future in relation to assured livelihood or there is need for migration.

FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMS IN DISARRAY

The so called food security schemes   are in total disarray. Primarily the BPL number   and card is the poor's passport to social security entitlements of the government.   To enable the poor get this entitlement itself is a big hurdle. But having the BPL card is no assurance that they will be able to get hold of the social security measures.


THE POOREST OF THE POOR PUSHED TO THE BRINK WITH FAILURE OF FOOD SECUIRTY PROGRAMS

Manoj Bhuiya of Bakasi village is a daily wage labourer.   He lives with his wife and 9 children.   He has been allotted the Antyodaya card - which is the food security scheme for the poorest among the poor in the village.    While going   through his card we can find out that for the current year all the 10months are ticked showing that he got his ration entitlements of 35 kg's of rice at Rs.2 per kilo. But while discussing with him ,we understand that so far he has received the rations only thrice but records show that he has been issued the rations for 10 months. In spite of various ills the administration thinks it is a blot on its image to accept the fact of starvation deaths in the region. It bends back   to declare that the deaths are due to " disease" and denying the facts that disease at the first place has   been manifestation of cyclic hunger, consumption of forest roots ,ill health   and ultimate death.     As if the government is not responsible for deaths due to ill health ???

THE DREAM OF E-GOVERNANCE

In this scenario the central government envisaged e-governance has been   planned and brought in this region also. Common Service   Centres (CSC) is   one of   the policies of Central   Government of India - Ministry of   Information Technology(IT) to    launch 1 lakh centres   covering all the rural panchayats of India.     A public private   partnership initiative was mooted and tenders were called   for   by different states in India.   Jharkhand   though   lags   behind on all   the development parameters surprisingly was one of the first state to launch this program in the country which many are unaware.

One of the main planks of CSC is to bring about   transparency,   accountability and good governance at the grassroots level.   All   the   common certificates which the citizens require from time to time for various purposes are to be made available at the panchayat level itself through the CSC centres   which would be linked with the Government of Jharkhand portal at Ranchi. Apart   from this the CSC would be nodal point for services related to education,health,agriculture and   any other commercial services.

CSC centres is a luxury in the state of Jharkhand which is second last state in the ladder of development next only to its parent state of Bihar with 50% of the population living below the poverty line.

The creamy layer among the poorest is only the stakeholder who come forward with lot of hesitation to take up the csc centers.

The establishment of csc centres amidst lack of basic amenities such as roads, electricity, telephone and internet connectivity, official apathy primarily due to lack of awareness and secondly due to fear on loss of "control" over people and resources   and last but not the least the threatening of the Maoist groups is the ground reality in Jharkhand.

Both Centre and State accepts that establishment of CSC is very difficult in the tough terrain of Jharkhand but only lip service is paid with no pro-action.

The State and Centre retorted back that SCA's have signed agreement knowing the infrastructure lacunae in the regions and hence should not complaint now.     Are the SCA's supposed to establish the infrastructure required prior to establishment of CSC's in the region??

Financial inclusion is a buzz word and bankers are just not inclined to render any financial assistance in terms of loans for the CSC's. They have been playing passing the ball game successfully for the last one year. There is rampant corruption at the banking level as well. When you talk to any villager, they tell you the prevailing rates of commission for obtaining any loan. Sudama Singh said that for obtaining the Kisan credit cards the current rate is 10-15% of the loan amount,   Beena Devi said , "revolving fund for the women under the Swarna Jayanthi Rozgar Yojna (SGSY) is 20% " and thus long list of existing rates are available when we talk to the villagers. Thus the public sector banks in the region are also steeped   into the commission culture of the region.   Recent reports also indicate that many of the banks have not rendered loans to even a single BPL family in the past many years and they are categorised as zero lending banks.

Only corporate giants who can amass public wealth are appropriate for establishing the CSC's. Even the government is interested only in the same. Be it banking, mobile technology, micro credits such institutional set ups which want to convert csc are as their upfront shops in every nook and corner of the country are the prime players.   Thinking about equal opportunities, enabling the poorest of the poor to participate in the decision making, making them party to the platform of CSC does not seem to happen with so many obstacles strewn around. CSC is a platform for the rich and the richest and poor has no role in it.

Though CSC can be used as a platform to promote the youth from diverting themselves in joining divisive forces there is no political and administrative will. The government could direct all its energies to utilise the various developmental programs allocated to the states through CSC's. But as of now only the number games are on, There is a kind of rush and competition between states to show where they stand in terms of CSC.   The State of Jharkhand which is least in all parameters at least in the statistics of CSC is trying to catch the prime slot.   But the ground reality is totally different.

The   governance is paralysed and proxy rule rules the roost in the region. As the region is under the proxy rule of the extreme left this is used as major excuse by the officials for not performing their duties.     As development of roads and communication is considered as threat to the extremists groups they make every possible effort   to sabotage or destabilise the communication networks. The continuous blasting of the mobile towers in the region in the recent times is establishing the above facts.

There is   lack of phone and internet connectivity. Even the government established Jharnet at the block level is non-functional.   The computers   given to the block offices are non-functional due to absence of electricity and no resources allocated for generators and running expenses and also the human resource crunch of no trained personnel   available.   The government owned telecom giant has been given crores of rupees to set up Broadband connectivity in all the rural regions. Yet we are struggling with basic connectivity.    Though the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification boasts of around   1500 crores grant to Jharkhand state , as yet the CSC centres are struggling without power and are fully dependent on the generators for the power.   There is no proper pucca structures available everywhere though the government dictates to have them placed in panchayat bhavans.

Thus the CSC's in Jharkhand are struggling for its basic existence among all the odds and most   importantly the government apathy.    As it is not taken as an opportunity to establish and nurture the relationship of partnership.   The approach is more intimidating.   If Jharkhand government expects the private players will take the entire risk of rooting themselves against all odds I n the state and it has no role to play except passing orders then we can increase the list of the failures among which CSC may feature as one of the prominent programs.

The major issue which is affecting the functioning of the csc centres is the deep rooted corruption in the region. The major plank of the program is for transparency and good governance, but again the programs are administered under the same set of inept corrupt officials the program will be tainted in corruption. The government talks of outsourcing number of its programs to CSC's. But locally at what cost? The first program of outsourcing has taken place for Narega Photography program. Only the Village level Entrepreneurs (VLE's) who were smart enough to strike a deal with the Block Development officers were successful.   The deal being for every photograph of Narega beneficiary a set amount is given to the officials.   This is the beginning….   There are many more programs to follow suit and if the same trend is going to continue then unless and until you are mentally prepared to be "practical" and go along with the existing practices no program will be forthcoming.

The officials are not sensitised on the benefits of the program. The majority of the officials are IT illiterate.   Their core concern remains that their power will diminish and their recourse to the speed money will be lost. By pushing the ICT program of CSC under the purview of such officials the sheen of the program is being lost and it is pushed to the brink in the same manner and fate as of other programs.

The biggest challenge will be whether you will be able to wade through the turbulent tides of corruption to enable the CSC's to survive or the community will prepare itself to brace against corruption and fight to its logical end and ensure the CSC's survive, flourish and bring about the required changes.

But the failure of CSC   will be a biggest loss to the community especially the poor who will loose the opportunity of seeing good governance knocking at their doors.   The youth who have involved themselves in establishing the csc's will have their dreams crashed.   We see CSC as an last opportunity to ensure a semblance of   governance in   the region and that should not become a   lost opportunity. Amidst all its backwardness, controversies at least the CSC platform can be utilised by the Jharkhand state to negate its inactiveness in the region.

Before it is too late, the Government of Jharkhand and its officials need to wake up from their deep slumber. They need to ensure the basic minimum infrastructure is made available to run the CSC centres. Without internet connectivity, absence of pucca structures, absence of loans to the youth it is difficult to set up CSC centres in the state of Jharkhand. There is need for a white paper from the Jharkhand government on the programs that are going to be outsourced to the csc centres. There is need for bringing the different grant-in aid programs to synchronise with the CSC programs so that the youth are not pushed to the brink.

bihartimes.com/Newsbihar/2009/Jan/Newsbihar12Jan5.html

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Jharkhand Directory

Adivasi Gotras (septs) and History of Kurukh Tribe

2009-01-11T14:19:00.000-08:00

Jharkhand Blog

Adivasi Gotras (septs) and its meaning

The Kurukh tribe have large number of septs (Gotras) of the totemistic type, named after plants and animals. Members of any sept commonly abstain from killing or eating their sept totem. A man must not marry a member of his own sept nor a first cousin on the mother's side. The names show that as usual with the tribes of this part of the country the law of endogamy is by no means strict. The tribe have also a large number of exogamous septs of the totemistic type, named after plants and animals. Majority of Oraons write their septs. List of totemistic names of Kurukh septs:



Sr.Nos

Gotras

Meaning

1

Kerketta

Quail bird, found among Munda and Karia tribes.

2

Xalxo

Shad fish

3

Xaxa

Crow

4

Xess

Corn

5

Kujur

A climbing plant

6

Toppo

Wood picker bird

7

Tirkey

Name of a bird or young mouse

8

Tigga

Monkey or field rat

9

Minz

Eel

10

Ekka

Tortois

11

Barla

Exogamous sept, found in Mundas and Kharia tribes.

12

Barwa

Wild hog.

13

Indwar

-

14

Lakra

Tiger

15

Beck

Salt

16

Dhanwar/Dhangar

Domestic Worker

17

Baghwar

Tiger

Meaning of the totem may be wrong, if you find any mistake please inform to the Kurukh World.

Kurukh World is maintained

by N Ekka,

Email: nekka@jharkhandi.com

18

Kachhap

Tortois

19

Kindo

Carp fish

20

Kispota

Intestine of hog

21

Kanda

Sweet potato

22

Kokro

Cock

23

Gaddi

Deep

24

Khoya

Wild dog, Jackal

25

Chermanko

An animal, Rate

26

Dadel

-

27

Niya

-

28

Panna

Iron

29

Bakula

Crane

30

Bara

Banyan tree

31

Bando

Fox

32

Bhagat

Kurukh priest(Baigas)

33

Binko

Star

34

Munjni

-

35

Runda

-

36

Linda

-

37

Son

Son river

38

Rawna

Valture

39

Oroan

Cast name of Oroan

40

Ram

Lord Ram, Exogamous sept

42

Gidh

Valture Bird

43

Kannhar

Valture Bird

44

Baxla

Tank weed

45

Beshra

A name of tree

46

Nikunj

Exogamous sept

45

Beshra

Name of a bird

47

Devi

Exogamous sept

48

Ckigalo

Jackal

49

Hartu

The Haluman ape

50

Orgoda

hawk

51

Chelekchela

Swallow

52

Dhechua

Swallow-tailed bird

53

Chitkha

Ficus religiosa

54

Amdi

Rice-water

55

Madgi

Mahua

56

Kiss khochol

Lit, hog bone, a thorny tree

57

Kashyap

-

58

Godo

Name of a water creature.

59

Kuhu

Cockoo

60

Say

Exogamous sept, found among Gode tribes



However, those who follow Tana Bhagat principle or Sarna Dharma write Bhagat in place of gotra. Many prefer to write Oraon as second name in place of gotra. In Chhattisgarh some oroans write Say, Nikunj, Ram and Devi after their name.

Indus Valley Civilization - Origin of Kurukhs

According to the history and traditions of Kurukhs, once they were lived in "Indus Valley Civilization" before 2500 B.C., peacefully and sophisticated life with another people of Indus valley. The earliest cities Mohenjodaro and Harappa to be remained at Indus Valley of Sind. Further up the another ancient cities were discovered, as Rupar near Chandigarh,and Lothal near Ahmadabad etc. These cities had been made with carefully planed before houses and streets built. Houses were built of brick (Fig.1) and had thick, strong walls, which were plastered and coloured, roofs were flat, windows and doors were probably made of wood. The streets ran straight and at right angles to each other. The houses were built on both side of the street. Lothal was the foreign export-emport center, had a big harbor. It can be seen till today. With anothe people of Indus Kurukhs people had trading to the other part of Asia, Africa and Egypt, they had trading contact with people of Sumer. Even in those days there was trade between India and other parts of world. They used to ate meat, fish and wheat, barely and fruits, they liked particularly pomegranates and bananas. They knew how to weave cotton women wore a short skirt and lining par (near boarder) cotton saree, as like kurukh women are wearing today.The men wrapped long pieces of cloth around themselves, they liked most lonngi, dhoti, feta and langot as today adivasis are wearing. They discovered couper, bronz, tin and lead and made tools and knives for agriculture and domestic use. One ancient tools has been found in Palamu district of Jharkhand state, which is similar to the tools of Indus Valley. Now it is kept in museum of Patna. It proofs that kurukhs are descendants of Indus civilization. It is proofed from the seals and scripts, that people of the Indus were spoken star as binko, village as paddu and woman as ali and man as aal. Even today kurukhs says Binko, padda, aali and aal respectively.



Indus valley civilization have been destroyed by floods, which came regularly; or there may have been an epidemic or some terrible disease which killed the people. The climate also began to change and the region became more and more dry and like a desert (once desert of Rajasthan was a big fertile plane), or else the cities may have been attacked by the Aryans. There has so many cast lived in Indus Valley. Kurukhs are from Dravidian family and they had relation between Brahui and other people of Indus. They were very honest, simple and peaceful persons, another people had been always unnecessary pressurized and attacked them. As like another Dravidian people of Indus, Kurukhs were unable to stay there. They have migrated in about 2500 B.C. to North East and South West region from Baluchistan (Area of Indus River). Brahuies had been already went out to the North West region in 3000 B.C.

Migration Paths:

This migration paths (Fig.3) has been drowned by Elefenbein,1987 is called Bloch's hypothesis. According to this migration paths Brahui tribes were migrated from Baluchistan, area of Indus Valley in different direction. One can see in fig.3, the tribes which spoke Brahui, split into three as they moved south- east from the Baluchistan province of Pakistan, in older times. The fourth one went to the Sindh province in Pakistan. Figure 3 shows the area in Baluchistan where they speak Brahui even now. In the Figure one of these tribes who were going south - east, split into two at Rohtasgarh in the present state of Bihar. After splitting, one went to the Raj-Mahal hills near Santhal Pargna and settled there, and the other went to the Chhotanagpur plateau. These were the Kurukh ( Oraon ) speaking tribes.

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These tribes who were going south-east from Baluchistan came and lived at west coast of India at carnatic region. There was a king of Karkal and Karkai named 'Kank Pany'. These are located in Carnatic area. He was a Kurukh king and made fort of 'Doshar'. Kurukhs are again migrated from here and through plane of Nerbudda River they came to Amarkantak, than Kat region, where they made Annandgarh and Pipragarh in Madya Pradesh. They spent 500 years up to reach here. Thereafter they had been living in flat area, near Son River and Karamanas marday. They said this place Kurus Country. They had been made various fort during the year 900-800 B.C. One of these is Rohtashgarh fort in Dehri On-Sone of Bihar state.

Kurukhs in Rohtasgath (500-400 B.C):

Rohtashgarh is in Kurus, where Kurukhs made a hugh fort. They had their own King named Raja Harichandra. They were rich and spent more time peacefully and good condition. It was the period between 500-400 B.C. and called Gold Period of Kurukh's in Rohtasgarh. It is hill place called series of Kaimur hill and situated at 1490 fit above from sea level and 45 KM far from Dehri On-Sone and 39 KM from Sasaram. It now occupies a part of the plateau about 4 miles east to west and 5 miles north to south, 28 miles in circumference. It is considered one of the largest and strongest hill forts in India. This fort served as a safe shelter for treasures and families of Sher Shah Suri, Shah Jahan, maan singh, Mir Qasim. Records suggest that there are 84 passages to the hill with 14 main gates entry. However 10 were closed by Sher Shah Suri.   ( About detail History of Rohtasgarh click it).

In about 100 B.C., king of Cheros, descendants of Sung had been attacked at least three times, but they were defeated by the Kurukhs. Now Cheros are the tribal of India, found in Palamu and Chaibasa region , migrated from the sub-Himalayan tract and they bear the Dravadian physiognomy with light brown complexion. In 1538, it is said that Sher Shah Suri attacked to the fort on Sarhul - the festival of the Kurukhs, when they were dead drunk. He has chosen this day, because he had known, Kurukhs were very strong and brave, he can't succeeded in another day. Singi Dai, princess of Rohtashgarh, and her friends Champa and kaili were the most brave women of Tribes. They have show the soldier of Sher Shah, coming to the fort, at once, they used their mind in leadership of Singi Dai. All men were dead drunk thrugh the hadia (house made rice bear). Women dressed on men clothes , they tied up pheta in head, weared dhoti, trousers and langot, armed with weapons and went out to the battle field. Enemies are driven out from the fort three times. A milkmaid from another village had been coming every day to Rohtasgarh for selling milk. Afghan soldiers told her that, Kurukhs are very strong and brave, we can not fight against them. Milkmaid said " Whole you are stupid, they are not men, but women. All Kurukh men are in dead alike, after drunken hadia. She told them some action to reorganization women, she continued, if they will taking water from both hand and wash their faces with both hands, they are women and if they will wash faces with their one hand, than they are men. Women were washing their faces into Son River after defeating enemies and driven out them from the city. Afghans seen them from far away. They went again to the fort and attacked and captured the fort. Kurukhs are defeated and they were driven out by forcely from Rohtasgarh.

Settled in Chhotanagpur:

As we know Kurukhs are divided into two group from Rohtasgarh, one group had been went to the Chhotangpur plateau. It is told that King, Queen and their son Ruidas and their soldier came to a village named Sutiyanba at near Ranchi. Mundas were there already engaged in Chhotanagpur. Head of the soldier Mr. Lakhser had came down from his horse and requested from Shri Manki Madira leader of Mundas to escape themselves and to give house for stay. Manki Madira have put off shield from his body and gave food with beef and Kodatoli and Jonkhtoli for their stay. Shri Budhwa Oroan, Parha leader of Oroan had borned from daughter in low of Lakhser at village Sutyanba. Who had been governed Chhotangpur for some years. He had made Navratangarh of Donysa. Another group of Kurukh driven out from Rohtasgarh have went to the Rajmahal hill sereis of Santhal Pargrna, after that they have residing bank of Ganga River. Maltos at Litipara of Dumaka and Sour Pahadia people are the same people. Sour Pahadia people are speaking is 90% Kurukh language.

Ancestors of the Oraons or Kurukhs often call themselves." Towards Lohardaga the Oraons found themselves among the Mundas or Kols, who probably retired by degrees and left them in possession of the country. "The Oraons," Father Dehon states, "are an exceedingly prolific tribe and soon become the preponderant element, while the Mundas, being conservative and averse to living among strangers, emigrate towards another jungle.The Mundas hate zamindars, and whenever they can do so, prefer to live in a retired corner in full possession of their small holding; and it is not at all improbable that, as the zamindars took possession of the newly-formed villages, they retired towards the east, while the Oraons, being good beasts of burden and more accustomed to subjection, remained." In view of the fine physique and martial character of the Larka or Fighting Kols or Mundas, Dalton was sceptical of the theory that they could ever have retired before the Oraons; but in addition to the fact that many villages in which Oraons now live have Mundari names, it may be noted that the headman of an Oraon village is termed Munda and is considered to be descended from its founder, while for the Pahan or priest of the village gods, the Oraons always employ a Munda if available, and it is one of the Pahan's duties to point out the boundary of the village in cases of dispute; this is a function regularly assigned to the earliest residents, and seems to be strong evidence that the Oraons found the Mundas settled in Chota Nagpur when they arrived there. It is not necessary to suppose that any conquest or forcible expropriation took place; and it is probable that, as the country was opened up, the Mundas by preference retired to the wilder forest tracts, just as in the Central Provinces the Korkus and Baigas gave way to the Gonds, and the Gonds themselves relinquished the open country to the Hindus. None of the writers quoted notice the name Munda as applied to the headman of an Oraon village, but it can hardly be doubted that it is connected with that of the tribe; and it would be interesting also to know whether the Pahan or village priest takes his name from the Pans or Gandas. Dalton says that the Pans are domesticated as essential constituents of every Ho or Kol village community, but does not allude to their presence among the Oraons. The custom in the Central Provinces in Gond villages is that the village priest is always known as Baiga, because in some localities members of the Baiga tribe are commonly employed here. In villages first settled by Oraons, the population, Father Dehon states, is divided into three khunts, or branches, named after the Munda, Pahan and Mahto, the founders of the three branches being held to have been sons of the first settler. Members of each branch belong therefore to the same sept or got. Each khunt has a share of the village lands.

In 1616, descendent of Nag, king Durjan Sai bacame a king of Chhotanagpur. He made Ramgarh, as a capital of the Chhotanagpur. This time Jahangir was the Mugal King of Delhi. He demanded tax of Oroan and Munda people. Durjan Sai was unable to pay this vital tax. Janhagir attacked to the Ramgarh by governer Ebrahim Khan. King Durjan Sai had sized and he had taken to the Jail of Gavalior, where he had spent 12 years. Durjan Sai was the specialist to recognize diamond of Govalior .Therefore he had taken out from the jail and came to Ramgarh. Now he had changed his culture and became a member of Aryan Culture.

In 1831, Jagarnath became a King of Chhotanagpur. During this period British had been ruled in India. Taxes rules and landlord rules started. Jagarnath was can't payed the taxes of Chhotanagpur. In 1832, war started between British and Adi-Vashi. A lot of adi-vashis were died. Kol insurrection (1832), Ganga Narayan revolt (1832), Birsa Revolt(1895), In 1895 war started against Sikh, called Sardar War. Large number of people sheltered through the sword. War between Kurukh and Munda was happened at Murma ground near Mandar. Mundas were defeated. In memory of this victory Kurukh people celebrate a big Mela every year at Murma. In ancient time it was being the traditional Mela and Jatra dances was happening. But now a days it was converted into a big business market.

In 1908, land tenancy act passed by the British Government. Now kurukhs have a chance to save their land and encourage their property. They have found an opportunity to manage their own house.

Christian Missionaries & their roll:

In 2nd November 1845, first time four missionaries were came to Ranchi, from Barlin city of Germany. After that, many missionaries have came to Chhotangapur from different churches. The British colonial power in order to create a class for manning its ruling apparatus utilized Christian missionaries to open educational institutions and schools in the area, which produced a section of tribal people educated in western pattern. Britishers succeeded in creating a class within the otherwise classless tribal society. This was in fact, the beginning of the dilution of tribal identity. Amit Ghos said "Missionaries functioned according to well chalked out programme in the Chhotangpur. They produced an ideology for the peasant system emerging in the tribal region and grafted the notion of private property in land to the communal mode of production, articulated the demands of tribals as peasant proprietors for the restoration of land, regulation of rent, and abolition of of feudal dues, guided peasant struggles against Zamindars, worked for the passage of agrarian law and setup peasant organizations like co-operative credit societies. In fact, they gave a new sense of self-respect to the tribal peasants and sought to create a separate identy of them." Christian mission offered a useful institutional canopy over an area seething with adivasi discontent and helped usher in the associational density that was a feature af adivasi mobilization in the early 20th century. Soon numerous assciations wre formed to raise funds for educating adivasis and fight diku operation like the Christian association in 1898 by Lutheran gradates, Christian Students Organization in 1912, Chhotanagpur Charitable Association in 1912, Chhotanagpur Unnati Samaj in 1915, Decca Students Union in 1916, Catholics Sabha in 1935. There were mostly initiatives of Lutheran and Anglican youth leaders, further they were followed by Catholics who formed Catholic Sabha. Owing to the exposure and motivation given to them by the Christian missionaries a sense of new political awareness developed among the tribal people in the national context. An entire generation of Christian tribal politicians, emerging from a comparatively earlier access to education, founded and established the movement for state autonomy that started in the late 1930's, with active support of German Evangelical Lutheran Church. Emergence of some semi-political organizations like, Chotanagpur Unnati Samaj(1915), whose members were mostly Christian tribals from the Lutheram and Anglican congregations. It was led by Joel Lakra and Catholic Sabha (1935), through the unifying efforts of Ignes Beck, a Catholic politician, that all these associations merged to become the Chotanagpur Adivasi Mahasabh(1938), which was to start the movement for a separate state for tribals. Later, finally it turned into the first political Party of the tribals (1949) known as Jharkhand Party, which became the largest opposition entity in the Bihar assembly in the 1952s with figures like Jaipal Singh, Theodor surin, Ignace beck, Paul Dayal, Julius Tigga, Bonifas Lakra, Samuel Purti, N.E. Horo and Jastin Richard working in tandem with prominent non-Christian leader Bandiram Oroan . Ironically, except one Bandiram Oraon all the prominent leaders of the party were Christians. Later Theble Oroan and Kartik Oroan came to the Party. Again Jharkhand Party succeeded 1n 1957. There is a sense now that the Christian activism has retreated and been superseded by the frenetic nature of ethno regionalist clamor splitting into various factions, merging with the Congress in 1963, the locus of social movement activity shifting to agrarian struggles in in the Santhal Pargana led by Shibu Soren' s Jarkhand Mukti Morcha in the mid 1970s, the agitationnist phase of the All Jharkhand Students Union(AJSU) in the mid 1980s leading to formation of the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council in 1995 prior to the formation of the Jharkhand state in November 2000.

Jharkhand Movement:

The Jharkhand movement, which was basically for the cause of tribals, turmoil is basically a manifestation of tribal youths' urge to identify the Jharkhand nationalism, got momentum, when Jharkhand Party won all the 33 reserved tribal seats in Bihar assembly in 1952 and became the main opposition party. Later in 1955 it placed a demand for a separate Jharkhand state comprising of the contiguous regions of Bihar, West Bengal , Orissa and Madhya Pradesh before the State Reorganization Commission. The demand was however rejected on grounds of some reasons. Jharkhand movement got a set back in 1963 when the Jharkhand Party merged with Congress with ministerial berth to Jaipal Singh, the main tribal leader belonging to Munda tribe. Gradually, leaders emerging from different ethnic groups in the name of Jharkhand movement also became commodities in the market of politics to be purchased by the highest bidder of the contemporary ruling party. This political turmoil however provided an opportunity to the forces like Left Extremists, Social Action Groups and Christian Action Groups to infiltrate into the Jharkhand movement.

Tribal and Regional Language department in Ranchi University :

Opening of Tribal and Regional Language department in Ranchi University in 1981 was a landmark event in this regard. This department started post-graduate teaching of the following five dialects: Mundari, Santali, Kurukh, Kharia and Ho, of the region being spoken by the prominent tribal groups. This newly created department, which worked as a midwife to help the delivery of a new concept of Jharkhand nationality - was entrusted with the task to develop these dialects into languages and to propagate the spirit of Jharkhand nationalism from urban centres to the remotest and nearly inaccessible parts of the region. This department also provided leadership to the Jharkhandi students, who gradually became vanguard to the movement for the demand of separate Jharkhand State. This department has been conducted various Kurukh courses from Intermadiate(12th) to Post-Graduate students. So many books, like as poem, songs and story etc. are written for the courses. Now this language is developing gradually.

New Jharkhand & Chhattisgarh States and expectation of Tribal:

New Jharkhand state along with Utranchal and Chhattisgarh states were created in year November 2000. Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have the majority of tribal. Both Adi-Vashis, Shri Bab Lal Marandi and Shri Ajit Jogi were became first Chief Ministers of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. We have seen, Jharkhand movement was basically a manifestation of tribal youths' urge to identify the Jharkhand nationalism with tribal welfare. With the natural growth of careerism among the students and unemployed youths , when the state of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were born by the end of twentieth century the tribal people came up with the demand for their employment. Kurukhs are inhabitants both on Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Now a day Kurukhs are developing with another tribal people. They are enjoying as various employment, they become member of parliament and legislative member in both state. Various government scheme and programme are runing for development of Tribal people.

Since the political leadership of the state is not in a position to meet the expectations of the Jharkhandis, it initiated the controversial domicile policy to divert their attention. Babulal Marandi , the former chief minister, has thus opened the Pandora's box as only Jharkhandis whose fore fathers' names were recorded in 1932 would be benefited.

Conclusion:

We studied the history of Kurukh tribe, which was very rich and well established. They has been nomadic and migrated one place to another place, since 2500 B.C. to near about 1540, until they settled in Chhotanagpur. They spent 4040 years in nomadic environment, therefore they can not develop their society and language like as south Indian society and their language. Even though, they are developing their society and language. At present, they can find anywhere in India, working in different field on private, semi-government and government organizations, even someone, who are well qualified, migrated to developed foreign countries, i.e. Unite states and England etc. They are becoming member of parliament and legislative member in both state. As a hockey player, many Kurukh players in Indian men and women hockey team, they have been spreading name of India in the world. Today they have school, collages, i.e. Tana Bhghat Schools, Kartik Oroan Collage, Bero, Perm Veer Albart Collage Chainpur through the help of Government. Hospitals and School, Collages are opened by some private organization for development of tribes. Government has so many programme to implement the plan for development of Kurukh tribal, i.e. Rojgar Garantee Yojna, Indra Aawas Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Sark Yojna, Tribal Education Scheme etc.

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Material Collected & Written by: N. Ekka,

Email: nekka@jharkhandi.com

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Adivasi of Puducherry continue to wait for recognition as Scheduled Tribes

2008-12-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

Adivasi of Puducherry continue to wait for recognition as Scheduled Tribes

The tribal people of the Union Territory of Puducherry, spread over 138 habitations in three regions, have all the five characteristics required to be notified as a Scheduled Tribe under Article 342 of the Constitution – primitive traits, a distinctive culture, shyness of contact with the public at large, geographical isolation and social and economic backwardness. But 61 years after Independence and over five decades after the merger of the four enclaves of French India – Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam – with India, these people, belonging to more than 1,300 families, have not been given this status. In the absence of a Presidential notification, the Central government has declared that no community has been specified as a Scheduled Tribe in Puducherry.

The Madras High Court, in an order on October 24 on a writ petition filed by a native of Lakshwadeep belonging to a Scheduled Tribe, observed that there could not be any reservation for Scheduled Tribes in the Union Territory of Puducherry so long as there was no Scheduled Tribe population there and so long as there was no Presidential notification.

The tribal communities of Puducherry – Irular, Kattunaicken, Malaikuravar, Yerkula and Kuruman – who have been living for generations in Puducherry, Karaikal and Yanam, quietly bear with their fate in the midst of poverty, illiteracy, lack of basic civic amenities and administrative negligence.
Many among these tribal communities do not have even a roof above their heads and are often forced to seek shelter in cashew and mango groves. There are others who have been pushed out of their farm lands and homes by influential land-owning communities and now live in tiny thatched huts in remote areas or on the outskirts of the villages where their families had lived for generations. Most of these habitations do not have power supply, potable water or sanitation facilities.

The strict implementation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the shrinking natural scrub jungles have forced tribal groups to give up their traditional occupations of hunting in many places. They work as farmhands and take up low-paid jobs such as strengthening bunds in fields, weeding, collecting cashew fruits, peeling cashew nuts, cutting cane, making baskets and mats and cleaning poultry farms. For instance, members of the Irular tribe and its sub-castes, Villi and Vettaikaran, who are known for their hunting skills, now eke out a living by trapping hare, squirrels, tortoises, field rats and mongooses. They have virtually given up snake-catching.

According to the president of the Pondicherry Scheduled Tribes People's Federation (PSTPF), K. Ramkumar, the Irular, Villi and Vettaikaran tribes live in 63 villages in the Bahour, Mannadipet, Nettapakkam and Villianur communes and in areas under the Karaikal municipality. Members of the Kattunaicken tribe reside at 22 villages in the Bahour, Villianur and Nettapakkam communes and in areas under the Oulgaret municipality in the Puducherry region and certain areas in Karaikal. Kurumans belong to nine villages in the Mannadipet commune and areas within the Oulgaret municipality. Malaikuravans live in 35 villages in the Villianur, Bahour, Nettapakkam and Mannadipet communes and areas under the Oulgaret and Puducherry municipalities. Yerkula tribes live in a total of nine villages in Puducherry and Yanam.

Interaction with residents of the tribal settlements, including those at Kalapet, Vadanour and Irulan Sandai, vindicate anthropologists' view that certain of the core elements of these people's culture are still intact.

The tribal people see the non-issuance of community certificates as the major stumbling block on the road to progress. Among other things, it means their children do not get a chance to pursue higher studies.

The condition of the Irular people in Kalapet, close to Pondicherry Central University, is appalling. Addiction to liquor is a major problem among this tribal group. Most of them make do without a roof over their heads: they leave the children and the aged under the shades of cashew trees. Their clothes are hung on the branches and they cook, eat and sleep in the groves. But even this shelter is uncertain. "Once the cashew groves are auctioned, we are not supposed to stay here," said K.Boominathan.

L. Kanniamma and Govindamma said they were allowed to work in the groves and were given Rs.15 for collecting 100 cashew fruits. Most of the Irular people engaged in peeling the hard outer shell of the cashew nut complain that the anacardic acid it contains burns their fingers. P. Manjula said she was paid around Rs.100 a day for cleaning poultry.

Safe drinking water is rare in many tribal habitations. The tribal people of Kalapet depend on a pond close to the Akkamittar Aiyanarappan temple in Kollimedu to quench their thirst, along with the livestock of adjacent villages. The tribal people of Irulan Sandai rely on the excess water drained from paddy fields for bathing and for washing utensils. The quality of water drawn from a borewell in the area is so bad that rice cooked in it turns yellow. Thirty-two families have put up thatched shelters, but residents said they had not received land pattas from the government.

Unlike Kalapet and Irulan Sandai, where the percentage of school-going children is low, in Vadanour, around 60 tribal children, including 20 boys, attend classes from lower kindergarten to Standard IX at the local government high school. S. Krishnan and S. Sudhakaran were among those who could not proceed with their studies after completing Standard X, in 1984 and 1997 respectively.

The residents of the new habitation, which has come up close to the original one, has 55 families of four tribal groups – Irular, Vettaikaran, Yerkula and Kattunaicken. They live in harmony while maintaining their separate cultural identities. S. Sivakumar said, "We seldom seek the help of the police as all our disputes are settled amicably at the Adivasi Kula Panchayat comprising representatives of all the four groups."

But the tribal groups faced stiff opposition from other communities when they built shelters at the Vadanour settlement, even after the government issued house site pattas in October 2007. In an attempt to prevent the settlement from coming up on the outskirts of the village, these communities pitted Dalits against the tribal people. The problem was sorted out with the timely intervention of the local activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), with the government also playing a proactive role, said R. Saravanan, a State Committee member of the CPI(M).

Feedback from the functionaries of the PSTPF, Dean of the School of Social Sciences and International Studies of Pondicherry Central University, T. Subramanyam Naidu, Lok Sabha Member M. Ramadass, and leaders of the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the CPI(M) and the Communist Party of India revealed that the issue of community certificates had reached a deadlock because the Registrar-General of India (RGI) had vetoed the proposal to recognise the tribal people of Puducherry as Scheduled Tribes.

According to the guidelines approved by the Central government in June 1999, claims for inclusion in the S.T. list can be considered only if they are backed by the State/UT government, the RGI and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST).

Professor Subramanyam Naidu, who conducted an ethnographic study on behalf of the UT government in 2000, is of the view that the problem has its roots in the post-merger era of the 1950s, when the administration identified no tribe as an S.T. on the grounds that there was no hilly terrain or thick jungles in the four regions of Puducherry.

The Puducherry government tried to take corrective steps subsequently, following representations made by tribal organisations. It argued that the tribal population in the UT, though numerically small, deserved a share in the welfare measures and constitutional guarantees, such as reservation in employment and education. When the issue was raised in Parliament, the UT government was asked to conduct a detailed ethnographic study. Subramanyam Naidu, who undertook the study, described the work as "an attempt on the lines of Edgar Thurston's efforts in publishing 'Tribes and Castes of Southern India' in 1909".

"These tribes were rather small in number because they were only relics of larger communities that had been enslaved while they themselves had escaped, or because they became separated in the forests and hills of South India, and in course of time, developed into different tribal societies. Moreover, their hunting and collecting mode of life forced them to live in small groups…" Subramanyam Naidu pointed out in his report.

The report identified five tribal groups – Irular (including Villi and Vettaikarn sub-tribes), Kattunaicken, Malaikuravan, Yerkula and Kuruman as original inhabitants and Malayali and Konda Reddy as migrant tribes. Successive Chief Ministers pleaded with the Centre for S.T. status for the tribes, especially after Subramanyam Naidu's report.

In February 2001, the Puducherry government notified the Irular, Vettaikaran and Kattunaicken and the migrant Konda Reddiars as Other Backward Classes. In May 2003, the government decided to earmark 1 per cent of the vacancies in civil posts and services for Scheduled Tribes. The UT Assembly adopted a resolution in September 2001 pleading for recognition of these tribes as S.Ts. Now the government has come forward to start special schools, besides constructing houses for the tribal groups.

Subramanyam Naidu's report was accepted by the UT Cabinet in August 2002. Subsequently, the Assembly and the Lieutenant-Governor gave it their approval. It was sent to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs on October 7, 2002, for Presidential notification. After obtaining the comments of the RGI, they were communicated to the Puducherry government on February 2, 2005. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs and the NCST, after visiting the UT in 2005 and 2006, respectively, also supported the demand for recognition of these tribal groups as S.T. The Backward Classes Commission of Puducherry had acknowledged the fact that these tribes existed in the UT even before the French left in 1954.

The PSTPF, which has been making representations to the Central government, the NCST and the RGI for two decades, prepared a documentary film portraying the life of the tribal groups. The federation referred to J.J. Chabrelie's lithographic editions of 1827 and 1835 on the social life of the Kuravars, Vedars and Irulars in areas including French Indian territories. Several agitations were launched on the issue of S.T. status.

But the RGI raised questions on the claim and described the tribal groups in the UT as migrant tribes. A detailed reply to the RGI's queries has been forwarded to the Centre by the UT government. Subramanyam Naidu and the federation activists have cited the existence of places bearing the names of the tribal groups, such as Irulan Sandai and Kurumbapet villages in the Puducherry region and Vettaikaranpudur in the Karaikal region, even during French rule as proof that these tribal groups have lived in Puducherry for generations.

It was also pointed out that geographically the UT regions were surrounded by Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and the boundary marks in the survey map were nothing but lines of political and administrative divisions that were drawn after the French occupation. The tribal groups in Puducherry had matrimonial relationships with their kin in the three neighbouring States.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee (Home) expressed concern over the issue in 2006. The RGI's views on the five criteria for recognition were "not pragmatic and hence might be dispensed with", it said, recommending the issuance of the notification in view of the existence of the tribes in Puducherry before 1954.

http://adivasi.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/adivasi-of-puducherry-continue-to-wait-for-recognition-as-scheduled-tribes/

Posted in Adivasi, Jai Adivasi, Jharkhandi.com | Tagged Adibasi, Adivasi, Indian Act, Jai Adivasi, Jharkhand, Jharkhandi, Jharkhandi.com

Karma festival greetings to all of you from Jharkhand (India) Network

2008-09-12T21:10:00.001-07:00

Jharkhand Blog

  Karma festival greetings to you from Jharkhand


Karma Festival and Dance -

Karma is one of the most popular festival of Jharkhand region celebrated by Adivasi community as well as Hindu. This festival falls in the month of August / September.

The name Karma is drawn from the name of a tree "Karam". The branch of a tree is worshipped, carried by the Karma dancers and is passed among them with singing and dancing. This branch should not touch the earth, as it is washed with milk and rice beer locally known as Handia. Then it is raised in the middle of the dancing arena. All worshipper dances for whole night in the praise of the "Karam".

The ritual starts with the planting of the trees. The dancers form a circle and dance with their arms around each other's waists. During the dance they pass the branch of the tree. During the dance, the men leap forward to a rapid roll of drums. While women bend low to the ground with their feet moving in perfect rhythm to and fro, until the group of singers advances towards them.

There are many varieties of Karma dance and the most popular varieties of the dance are Lahsua and Khare. Karma Dance is common among the Gonds and the Baigas subgroups of Adivasi (Tribes). It is also one of the oldest dance form in India is the only dance form which is common to the many ethnic groups of India.

Watch Karma Dance Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpR-crU75Bc

Video Title: Karam Gaad De uploaded on youtube by www.jharkhandi.org

Karma festival greetings to all of you from Jharkhand (India) Network

- Jharkhand Directory

Jharkhand

Karnataka Forest Department neglecting its duty towards tribals of Western Ghats

2008-08-21T07:32:00.001-07:00

Karnataka Forest Department neglecting its duty towards tribals of Western Ghats

27 July 2008

Sirsi: Non-timber forest produce (NTFP) earlier called Minor Forest Produce (MFP) is the source of income for many families, particularly the tribal people, in the villages of Western Ghat districts.

But thanks to the negligence of the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD), NTFP has been losing its importance. KFD has lacked interest in rejuvenation, caring of these plants and produce, creating awareness among the tribal, their training or motivation, monitoring the extraction of NTFP and the like programmes.

According to sources in the Department Canara Forest Circle, just with five forest divisions, there is a potentiality of getting an annual income of Rs two to three crore from about 30-35 NTFP species. In Canara Circle, about 3000 families depend on NFFP. They get around 33 percent of the total value of the NTFP in a year, according to a survey done by the Department a couple of years ago.

The NTFP in Canara Circle include Uppage (Gracinia gummigatta), Murugulu (Garcinia indica), Cane, (Clalmus thwaitesi), Dalchinni leaves (Cinnamoum), Sheegekai (Acasia coninna), harda (Analekai), Halmaddi (Ailanthus triphysa), Honey and wax, beedi leaves, Surige (Mammea suriga), Rampatre (Myristica malabarica), Shame Bidiru (Oxytethera stocki), Laavancha (Vativenia zizaniodes), resin and the like.

Environmentalist and spokesperson of Life Trust in Sirsi Narasimha Hegde felt that the KFD should take it seriously. It must empower the village forest committees (VFC) to enlighten the NTFP collector families about various issues including value addition of the products, protection of species and so on. He opined that even the Stree Shakti groups might also be involved in the process. When his attention was drawn to the problems in NTFP collection the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Sirsi Division, Vijaymohanraj told this paper that the DFD was ready to associate the awareness among the villagers and in protecting the concerned species.

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Also See: kurukh.jharkhandi.com The first Kurukh Video Blog on the web

Adivasi of Puducherry continue to wait for recognition as Scheduled Tribes

Adivasi of Puducherry continue to wait for recognition as Scheduled Tribes

Interaction with residents of the tribal settlements, including those at Kalapet, Vadanour and Irulan Sandai, vindicate anthropologists' view that certain of the core elements of these people's culture are still intact.

The tribal people see the non-issuance of community certificates as the major stumbling block on the road to progress. Among other things, it means their children do not get a chance to pursue higher studies.

According to the guidelines approved by the Central government in June 1999, claims for inclusion in the S.T. list can be considered only if they are backed by the State/UT government, the RGI and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST).

http://adivasi.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/adivasi-of-puducherry-continue-to-wait-for-recognition-as-scheduled-tribes/

Karma festival greetings to all of you from Jharkhand (India) Network

Karma festival greetings to you from Jharkhand

Karnataka Forest Department neglecting its duty towards tribals of Western Ghats

Also See:

kurukh.jharkhandi.com

The first Kurukh Video Blog on the web