No full stops here, only exclamations

What does the upcoming election mean to the tribals of Bastar?

Dukalu was up and about at 3 am today and, with six neighbours, walked 20 km to the nearest forest to collect his staple two bundles of firewood. It was a particularly chilly morning, so the team of firewood-gatherers jogged intermittently just to keep themselves warm. On the return journey, the heavens opened up without warning and the party was drenched to the bone.

Who will Dukalu vote for? The question elicits a swift, as-though-on-cue answer: "The candidate who can convince me that daru (liquor) will be made available near myhome."

Dukalu had paid a Rs 2 bribe to the local forester for letting him "steal"the firewood. So have the rest of the group. After some initial hesitation, the team of seven opened up, unburdening their woes in a torrent.

The going rate of hafta to be paid to the forest official is Rs 2 per kanwar (two bundles) of firewood. For a bicycle-load of firewood, Rs 5 has to be paid. If anyone is caught and unable to pay the "tariff" on the spot, his axe or scythe is confiscated. It can be reclaimed the following day. No "fine" is imposed.

Dukalu’s village Nagarnar is on the outskirts of Jagdalpur in backward Bastar. It is reeling under the aftermath of a drought.

Champa Bai (52), remarkably lean (and hungry, one may add), is the sarpanch of village Nagarnar. She says that people in at least 20 surrounding villages would vote for anyone who provides them easy access to fuel to keep their kitchen fires burning. The forests of the area have been plundered by the mafia and governmentofficials who have winked at the marauders and looked the other way for years.

Arvind Netam, who has been a Congress minister at the Centre and claims to be the guardian of tribal interests, is himself in the thick of controversy. Netam, a district commissioner, four additional collectors, nine SDMs and 80 revenue officials have been formally charged by the CBI in a case that identifies them as the masterminds of a conspiracy to defraud tribals of their forests. Netam is now contesting the Kanker seat as the BSP’s candidate, after having been a Congress MP for 25 years.

Seventy per cent of Bastar district’s 30 lakh people are tribals. The Bastar and neighbouring Kanker Lok Sabha seats are reserved for tribals, as are 14 of the 16 Assembly segments. With education as the modern world knows it non-existent, anyone who can read and write is eminently qualified to become a tribal leader. And there are, not surprisingly, not too many of them either.

In village Charama, Budhram is adamant that he will notvote this time. "They promised us a tubewell here last time. Forget the tubewell, we have not seen them since the last election," Budhram said, bitterly. But how would his not voting help? The question leaves Budhram despondent. He has in the past voted either for the "Kamal" or the "Haath". "Considering that neither helped, I might as well have voted for my dead mother," he says, half-seriously. Budhram’s cynicism has apparently not yet spread to his fellow tribals. That could take some more time.

The 30 per cent non-tribals in the electorate could be expected to turn out in large numbers on polling day. This section of the population comprises mainly business people and government servants, many who hail from either Bihar or Kerala. They reside in the more "developed" areas of the region, and their polling booths are within walking distance in most cases.

During the 1996 elections, the main issue was whether Schedule Six of the Constitution would be applied in Bastar, giving the right ofgovernance exclusively to tribals. The non-tribals found a crusader in Mahendra Karma, himself a tribal, who rode an anti-Schedule Six plank and won the Bastar seat as an Independent. This time the plank is missing, and Karma is contesting on the Congress ticket.

Figures show that there are no full stops in Bastar, only exclamations marks. Each year, Rs 1,000 crore is pumped into the district. This would average to roughly Rs 3 lakh per tribal. Yet, infant mortality is a staggering 75 per 1,000. Of the surviving children, 126 don’t reach the age of five.

Education levels, in reality, is said to be much below the official claim of 25 per cent. Though there may be no starvation deaths, disease snatch away thousands of lives every year. Displacement due to developmental activity is enormous.

In all this, where does next fortnight’s election fit? Nowhere, it appears. Bastar has rarely registered above 35 turnout on polling day. Bastariyas, clearly, do not lay much in store for the ballot box improving theirlot.