It was a pleasure & a pain both, to read the many mails posted for Tata sucking
blood
. At the outset, let me first accept that my Pro-Tata/Vedanta response
was fairly impromptu & not backed by any research or data. It was meant to
convey a different outlook towards the scenario of Hoping someone will do
something for us or Blaming someone is not doing something for us & to
counter the rather laid back attitude I have seen among tribals towards
injustice done to them & towards competition, being a tribal myself.
(Exceptions & Hats Off to people posting in this group or otherwise, who are
working at the grass-root level to understand the real problems of the local
people & for devoting their lifes for the cause of the people)
May be I have not seen/known enough & may be things are beginning to change
which is a good thing. From the articles posted in this group, I can make out
that the maturity level, understanding & knowledge levels increasing. Although
I found some of the responses to the article equally impromptu, the views of
Nachiketa from Orrisa EPG, really touched me. Questions raised by Alok in the
recent article If the learned would guide their children to face the open
competition was very genuine & a little something, which we can do for our
fellow, more- needy tribals.
Coming back to Tata / Vedanta
on 1 side they have contributed to Indias
growth and generated employment opportunities but on the other they have left
troubled locals. While the presence of industries are a must for economic
development of a country, exploitation of the poor & oppression of the week
means something is wrong with the development. What a commoner like me can do,
apart from sitting in front of the computer & writing this article I Dont
know. Neither do I know what the other people sitting in front of their
computers & writing articles for this group are doing for the people suffering
out there. Shall I have sympathy with the locals? What good will it do to
them? Appeal the listserve to FIGHT, STRIVE, THINK, WORK HARD, COMPETE ? The
people on this listserve are probably already fighting & striving more than I
can imagine? Shut my mouth? Shout Loud? Unsubscribe myself from the group?
The truth really is I Dont Know what to do.
What I know is that right now, I need to go back to work & Load Commodity
Codes in the SAP system for my clients. And may be come back later & read some
more articles to know whats going on, so that may be someday, somewhere I
would be able to make a difference to someones life.
Savita
Alok <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
After reading the article I am confused whether the writer wants Tata
or does not want its presence. The article laments that Tata has only
exploited Orissa and given nothing in return but fails to mention
grossly condemnable incidents like Singur and Nandigram which are
coupled with the projects initiated in West Bengal.
There are problems from both pro-capital and anti-capital groups.
I have often found that the pro-capital individual is the typical
beneficiary of the current economic boom a businessman, an IT
professional, retail investor in the stock market,
engineering/management professional etc.
No doubt, economic boom has enabled a small section of the middle
class to fulfill those aspirations for which they worked hard all
their life. For these people TATAS, Reliance etc. who give them jobs
are the 'devtaas' (someone once asked me who is a 'devta' and on
replying that a 'devta' is god I was told that 'devta' is nothing but
'jo de wahi devta' - the one who gives is god. So, whatever gives
livelihood becomes god be it an MNC or a mahua tree). And hence they
become impervious to atrocities/exploitation brought about by the
industries in rural/tribal areas. To a certain extent there is nothing
wrong in what they feel and think. If I start thinking that to
manufacture silicon chips a lot of water is polluted so I should not
use silicon chips then I would not be able to write this message itself.
The anti-capital groups are correct in many points that they raise.
But they fail to realize that to some extent the people of the
'backward' states themselves are to be blamed for the present
scenario. When some people talk about 'tribals' they fail to realize
that the tribal society itself is divided into different classes
today. Some are well-to-do and educated people in cities who have
access to the best facilities. Do those educated 'tribal' people ever
look back to their own brethren who are being exploited? When it comes
to availing of the benefits of reservations they are the first in the
queue. In many of the tribal areas the tribal population is one-third
but the reservation is only 7.5% in educational institutions and
government jobs. These seats are grabbed mostly by the well-to-do
among tribals. The 'actual' tribal is left behind to bear the burden
of displacement, loss of livelihood and exploitation by the
capitalists. Will Mr. Samuel Lakra who in all probability is a very
learned gentleman promise that he will ask his children to compete in
the open category and not avail themselves of the benefits of
reservation so that some of their brethren from economically weaker
`tribal' background can get that seat. I pose the same question to Mr.
Maheshwar Munda jo ki kaafi jaankaari rakhne wale lagte hein - kya aap
apne bacchon se ye bolengey ki general category mein compete karo
taaki tumharey bhai bahan jo gaon mein kathin jindagi ji rahe hein
unko kuch karne ka, kuch bananey ka mauka miley.
It is a sad reality that the state has failed to regulate the
activities of the mining companies. Large-scale deforestation,
irreparable harm to ecology and land grabbing has been done.
Thousands of people have lost their land and their health has been
adversely impacted. At the same time the government has failed to do
anything substantial for the tribal areas. Proper sanitation,
educational facilities, healthcare everything is missing (A rank of
128 on Human Development Index for the country is a clear indication).
Proper government intervention to manage compensation to the affected
and to maintain transparency in all land acquisition deals needs to be
put in place.
Thanks
Alok
ita
