Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Haresh Vasava 26, a matriculate tribal in Bharuch, ekes out his living by taking care of five calves, three bullocks and three cows. He also shares a three-acre land with his three brothers. Haresh is no illiterate tribal8212;he knows he lives in a part of Gujarat different from those whose development figures are being politically claimed and contested in the assembly polls.
Haresh and his extended family live in a run-down factory in Bharuch, an area that falls in the contiguous eastern tribal belt of Gujarat that runs from Dahod to Dangs8212;the most underdeveloped part of the state.
In Valia, Haresh and his family have never heard of the Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojana, the tribal development programme floated recently by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, or even the Forest Rights Act, 2006, though they live right on Valia Road, barely 3 km from the Jhaghadia industrial estate in Bharuch.
At a public meet in Mangrol in Surat district, Modi addressed a tribal crowd, claiming that he did in five years what 13 chief ministers of Gujarat could not in 45 years for the development of tribals.
But in Valia, Haresh8217;s cousin Ranjit said, 8220;I had to drop out of school. More than the fees, we could not afford the monthly computer fee of Rs 250. I think I will become a labourer.8221;
