Why MP officials 8216;fear8217; this activist

Madhuri Krishnaswamy dresses simply and comes across as unassuming,hardly a person one would expect to strike anyone with fear.

Madhuri Krishnaswamy dresses simply and comes across as unassuming,hardly a person one would expect to strike anyone with fear. Striking fear among government officials was,however,the basis of an externment notice that the administration of Badwani served her last year,though it backed down later. The notice cited the 17 cases the social activist,who has a huge following,faced till then for protests,gheraos and manhandling of government employees.

Madhuri Behen,as she is known,was sent to judicial custody last week after she refused to apply for bail in a five-year-old case,one of the few that are still standing against her,with the rest having been either withdrawn or closed.

In 2008,a pregnant woman who had allegedly been turned away by a primary health centre in Badwani delivered her baby on the road. Krishnaswamy,who was passing by,found her and stopped a government ambulance to shift her to a hospital. She was later charged with obstructing government work.

Recently,the police realised that there was no evidence against the activist to support the charge and decided to withdraw the case. However,there were discrepancies in the governments communication to the court. When she appeared in the court,she was advised to seek bail; she refused.

Now in her mid-40s,Krishnaswamy has been the face of tribal protests in Badwani,one of the most backward districts in Madhya Pradesh,and her home for nearly a decade and a half. The causes she has been taking up include lack of health facilities,delayed payment of wages under MNREGA,and food security. She has had several run-ins with government officials on account of movements by her Jagrut Adivasi Dalit Sangathan JADS.

She has taught the tribal to look their oppressors in the eye and question officials,which they resent, says activist Rakesh Diwan. Even the police often support her,he adds,because she highlights issues that affect them and their families too.

Daughter of a retired air vice marshal,Krishnaswamy has an M Phil in history from St Stephens in Delhi. After that,she chose to work in Badwani with existing organisations until JADS was formed. Her organisation now has 13,000 registered members,many of whom turned up on Tuesday to protest her arrest,saying what she had done had served to highlight the deteriorating health infrastructure in the district.

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Activists have condemned the 15-day judicial remand given to her. Their reaction echoes the way they had taken the externment notice in May 2012.

The district administration had served the externment notice under the MP State Special Security Act before withdrawing it. Madhuri had then said the notice was the result of pressure from local politicians and government employees who were the target of JADS campaigns.

A government report had accused her of promoting Naxal ideology,instigating people to target government employees,and causing anarchy. However,the police later said they had no such information against the activist or her organisation.

Badwani collector Shriman Shukla was not available for comment.

In 2006,JADSs intervention enabled workers to get unemployment allowance under MNREGA,possibly the first such instance under the legislation. What unsettled the district administration was her campaign against the health infrastructure,deaths in government hospitals,and inadequacies in schemes such as Janani Suraksha,and later corruption in MNREGA.

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Right to Food campaigner Sachin Jain says Krishnaswamy insists on strengthening local governance fixing accountability. And Abdul Jabbar,who works for survivors of gas tragedy victims,says her commitment to the cause is exemplary.