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Journalism of Courage
Forget TV and telephone, even the sight of a state transport bus has been a distant dream for the tribals of Binagunda. But now, for many of them, it’s time to step out and have a glimpse of the big, wide world outside, courtesy the government. In a bid to combat the influence of Naxalites in the remote villages of Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, the local administration is planning to take a busload of tribals from the area on a guided tour. The destination: the nearest airport and railway station, in Nagpur.
The government move was prompted by a directive from the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court last month. After treating a newspaper report as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the Bench ordered Nagpur Collector A D Kale and Divisional Commissioner S K Sharma to pay regular visits to the area to understand the needs of the over 600 Madia-Gond tribals there—many of them have to walk for over four hours to reach the nearest road.
The officials are now scrambling to get their act together in the area, known more as a Naxalite den. “We’ll give you whatever you want. We can move you to accessible areas and give you agricultural land. Take another 15 days, sit together and decide,” Sharma told the villagers of Binagunda during a visit last week. Sharma and Kale, incidentally, visited the village under unprecedented police cover.
But is 15 days enough to draw the tribals out? Consider this: till about seven years back, villages such as Binagunda—over 200 km away from Gadchiroli—were virtual museums of tribal life. Surviving mainly on shifting cultivation and the animals they hunt, the villagers have stayed stuck in a time warp for as long as they can remember, thanks mostly to Naxalites who had shut the door on the world outside.
“We haven’t yet decided whether we can move from here. The government says it will give us agricultural land and bullocks. We’ve demanded borewells, but they said you will have to work as labourers. We lack the skill for that,” say the villagers. But the real story here lies in what they don’t say: the palpable fear of Naxalites.
“Logistically, we can’t hire labourers from outside to work in these places,” says Sharma. The onus, he hints, is on the tribals who have to emerge from the Naxalite shadow.
Yet, the HC directive has forced government to take more than a few steps towards the tribals. Binagunda, for instance, now has a brand new health sub-centre, a well-equipped anganwadi and a fair price shop. There’s a school coming up too, backed by an NGO.
But the main problem remains the lack of road access—Naxalites have stalled all road-work in the area.
In fact, they sent a strong message to the government during Kale’s first visit to the village last month by detonating a mine a few kilometres away. Ask the villagers about the Naxalites and the answer is a deafening silence.
Meanwhile, others who are involved in tribal welfare here have welcomed the government’s initiative but point out that only a sustained effort will succeed.
“The tribals must feel convinced that the government really wants to help them. It requires a very sensitive and careful approach,” says Paromita Goswami, who runs Shramik Elgar, an NGO for tribal welfare.
“Solving the Naxalite problem first and making the tribals feel secure can take the process further,” she adds.
