Opinion Forgetting those left behind

These are testing times for India’s hapless adivasis. The government has given a clear nod to eliminate the Naxals (or to eliminate adivasis?) through Operation Green Hunt. One section of opinion views this operation as an attempt to release the full potential of mineral wealth to private parties,a potential otherwise locked and blocked by adivasis — and accuses the present home minister (interestingly,a former finance minister) of having a personal stake in such an operation. So the poor FM,tethered neck and feet to the continuing privatisation regime,is helpless and does not even bother to plan interventions that would wean away adivasis from the Naxalites. The unprecedented urgency with which UPA-II has quickly drawn maps of the “red corridor” and the haste with which such an operation is pushed will make the entire effort counter-productive unless there is well thought-out planning and large-scale financing for adivasi upliftment. There is no question here of justifying the Naxalites’ ideological and political infantile disorder — but a simple understanding does not penetrate the core of UPA-II: an operation to eliminate Naxalites will invariably eliminate a large chunk of adivasis. It will be like the elimination of the Tasmanian Aborigines by the Europeans who colonised Australia.

Therefore,before attempting to flush out the Naxalites to create the free entry of neo-colonial private parties there should be sufficient debate on the ways and methods of liberating adivasis from economic exploitation,social exploitation,deprivation,discrimination and denigration. Such planning,of course,starts with the FM: and one way is to invite Dalit and adivasi MPs for discussion before the budget. Before this invitation the minister should ensure that he has read the report of the national commission for enterprises in the unorganised sector instituted by UPA-I,the reports of the national commissions for SCs and STs,and the reports submitted by the parliamentary committee on SC/ST welfare. It is now a very well-known fact that the processes of privatisation,liberalisation and globalisation have devastated the lives of Dalits and adivasis and made them far poorer than they were earlier. Such facts are often denied by corporate groups but they do not have any data to prove their denial — even after the famous report of the national commission on enterprises,where it was announced that 76.7 per cent of the population of the nation is poor and vulnerable,55 per cent of the population is marginally poor and vulnerable. It is easy to understand that such poverty and vulnerability is induced by the policies of liberalisation and privatisation. Further,only 11.2 per cent per cent of SC/STs are “middle income” and only 1 per cent fall under high income shows that 87.8 per cent of Dalits and adivasis are poor and vulnerable. (45.2 per cent of upper castes fall under the middle and high income bracket.)

These are the facts; the failure of UPA-II to focus on integrating Dalits and adivasis into the economy is glaring. Only 1.4 per cent of adivasis and 2.8 per cent of Dalits have formal skills — yet “skill development initiatives” that have not seen the light of the day do not focus,from the very beginning,on skill impartation to Dalits and adivasis. The NREGS falls miserably short on work given to Dalits and Adivasis.

The exercise of SC and ST sub-plans has become mere jugglery of data and statistics to “prove” that sufficient funds are spent on Dalits and adivasis. The irony is that the overall allocation to the ministry of social justice and empowerment actually fell — including to core schemes such as post-matric scholarships,Rajiv Gandhi scholarships for PhD students,and others. Uplift through encouraging economic activity fails miserably — because the capital outlay for such schemes is set far too low. Ironically,banks do not fear that a Rs 100 crore loan to industry might become a non-performing asset,but are very scared that a loan of Rs 25,000 to a Dalit or an adivasi may end up like that. Similarly,the government handed thousands of crores to the corporate sector as a stimulus package but has not given a copper to Dalits and adivasi defaulters on loans.

Even now,the FM can address the concern of SCs and STs,significant stakeholders in the economy. They are not as rich and powerful as the corporate bodies,who,paradoxically,always have a standing invitation. Are you listening,finance minister? Will you listen to them too?

The writer,a Rajya Sabha MP,is National Secretary of the Communist Party of India