HADIA and OTHER CAUSES of ADIVASI BACKWARDNESS

No! No, Mr. Pandey ji; things are not like that. Firstly you please go through my previous mail on this topic and try to understand what I wanted to say. You said baki 90% wajah ka bhi main cause HADIA hi hai. You are right to some extent but not completely. In fact, Dr. Soren has come with a solution.

See Mr. Pandey, I said earlier that all the problems are interrelated and dependent on one another. You can say, "ALL PROBLEMS FORM A CYCLIC RELATION." You start from backwardness, illiteracy, lack of education, poverty, hunger, poor health and negligence from government, harassment from upper level community, and backwardness in terms of Agriculture etc. Anything you name, one problem is the cause of other and vice versa.

I am not supporting consumption of HADIA. MAIN HADIA KI WAQUALAT NAHIN KAR RAHA HUN. I am just trying to depict the WIDER FACTS of Adivasis. I will be happy if HADIA can be stopped in Markets. Anything which becomes ADDICTION is BAD. Whether it is Hadia or Mahuwa or Branded liquor or Smoking or even the Hobbies! And many Adivasis which become addicted to Hadia or Mahuwa destroy themselves and their family, because they cannot take care of themselves and their families. But all Adivasis are not addicted to HADIA or Mahuwa. Most of them are causal or occasional or even nil consumers.

Definition of DEVELOPED COMMUNITY might vary person to person. For someone it might be a community constituted by people living in air conditioned buildings and owning luxury Cars from Audi, Bentley, BMW, Lamborgini, Mercedes etc. For me, if each and every person of a community gets proper food, sufficient cloth; proper shelter (makan), and proper health facilities round the year, then I will consider that as developed. Proper food doesn't mean sweets, laddus, fast food, packeted food. Then sufficient cloth doesn't mean fashionable pricy apparels. Makan doesn't mean a cemented building only.  

Here I shall talk in the context of mine; my village and its nearby Area i.e. the conditions and problems of Adivasis living in the remote villages of forests like PORAHAT, SARANDA and KOLHAN. However, the status of the Adivasis living near towns or cities is more or less similar. I shall tell about my experience and observations in my Area, which more or less represent the overall picture of Adivasis of Jharkhand and the whole world.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing for the development of these Adivasis is to provide them QUALITY EDUCATION at nominal price or FREE of Cost. They need the type of Education which is provided by KVs or DPS etc. Agreed Pandeyji! Education doesn't mean teaching them 1,2,3 ….. 100 or Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha. If I present the data considering my village or nearby villages, the literacy rate is less than 10% in remote villages. Now you tell me Mr. Pandeyji how can you develop these people? To help you properly let me tell the topographical, sociological and historical data of my village and the vicinity. My village is at a distance of 7-8 kms from nearest bus stop in Ranchi-Chaibasa Road (80 kms from Ranchi and 40 kms from Chakradharpur) in BANDGAON Block of West Singhbhum district. You have to cross a river 3 times to reach my village. You go 200 m from my home, you entre in the forest. If you go my village in winter, I doubt if you dare to have bath in river water. (ye alag bat hai ki hum log naha lete hain). Mere gaon ke aage bhi GAON hain jahan aaj bhi koi CONNECTIVITY (approach road) nahin hai. Only MUNDA Tribes are living in that area.

When the grandfather of my grandfather started developing my village, that time the entire area was covered by hills, valleys and dense forests. Almost all types of wild animals from Rabbit, Fox, Boar, deer, stage, leopard, hyena, elephants were there. He had five sons and they worked hard to clear the lower part of hills, made "SIDINUMA KHET" in the valleys between two hills, and developed the lands in areas with lower slopes. All these works were done manually. No Crane, No Tractor, No Excavator! Pandeyji, HADIA wo log bhi pite the. Lekin unhone bina kisi sarkari madad ke gaon develop kiya. Aur ye us Area ke harek gaon ki story hai.

Now you consider my block i.e. BANDGAON. When my father was young (1960s), there was only two Primary Schools and one High School at Bandgaon for that entire area. Bandgaon is approx. 18 kms away from my village. My father had 3 elder brothers. My father's eldest brother is the FIRST LITERATE from my village. He studied at MURHU primary school up to 5^th. Because his MAMA GAON (my dadi gaon) was near Murhu. Then first Matric Pass was my father. My father studied at a primary school and passed matriculation from the High school at Bandgaon. Because our "OLD VILLAGE" is near Bandgaon and he studied from there only. Since my grandfather had expired way back, my father had to discontinue studies after Matric. Lekin sabka MAMA GAON ya PURANA GAON to Murhu / Bandgaon ke pass nahin hota!

Then few more primary schools were established in 1970-80. One was at the nearby village of mine. And if I give you the present scenario in that area, almost all villages with population 150+ have Primary Schools on paper. But, aapne school to khol diya, leking Teacher kahan? Pandey Sahab, TEACHER bina SCHOOL ka kuch matlab hai? Aur yadi, on paper kisi teacher ka posting us school mei hai bhi to actual mei kitna kaam karte hain? Mahashay, wo to MURHU / KHUNTI / RANCHI (30 / 45 / 80 kms) se aana-jana karte hain! MADAM ya MASTERji log 11 baje aate hain aur 2 baje KALTI MAR lete hain. Saptah mei kabhi 1 din, kabhi 2 din DARSHAN dete hain ya to mahine bhar ABSENT! Kya jarurat hai, PAGAR to yun hi mil jata hai! Masterji 1000/- rupye ka kaam bhi nahin karte, 8-10K le jate hain! Bachcha (student) bhi school jane se pahle 10 complain deta hai, ki MASTER nahin aata. Teacher bhi complain thok deti hai ki bachche nahin aate! Lekin mai kahta hun, bhai teacherji, 1 bachcha aaye, 2 bachche aaye ya koi nahin aaye, aapki duty banti hai school mei present rahne ki! Yaar, kitne teacher usi naukri ke liye hazaron / lakhon riswat dete hain, par DUTY ka time aaya to PICHHE hat jate hain. Kucch to jogadbazi karke town ke aas-pas ke school mei transfer karwa lete hain.

And, this is my firm belief that "IF ANYONE CAN CHANGE or DEVELOP THESE ADIVASIS (or Jharkhand), THEN IT IS NOBODY ELSE THE TEACHERS. JIS DIN JHARKHAND KE TEACHERS APNI SOCIAL JIMMEDARI SAMJHENGE, TAB JHARKHAND VIKAS KARNA SHURU KAREGA."

You may not believe Pandeyji, I also started my primary education from the primary school of my neighboring village. At that time (1984-85), that was the only primary school in that area. The only teacher posted in the school was from CHAIBASA side. He used to stay in the school building itself. 1^st - 5^th taq ka class tha, aur AKELA TEACHER!  Almost all the children of age group 5-14 years of the nearby areas (35-40 students) were studying. 09:30 AM se 04:00 PM daily class except Sunday and Wednesday (up to 12:00 Hrs) as the teacher had to go weekly market on Wednesday.  Kuchh Student 1-2 hours walk karke bhi aate the. Kud mere gaon aur us gaon ke bich ek nadi hai. Barsat mei nadi mei baad aati thi tab bhi humare family wale nadi paar kara dete the.

Unfortunately, the teachers died in dec-1985. After that NO teacher was posted in that school and now the school building is damaged. The students who were studying in that school had to discontinue their studies, except 3 who were admitted at schools at Bandgaon.

I still remember that teacher. He was very good teacher – dedicated and responsible teacher. Just imagine 1^st standard mei hi mujhe 20 taq ka PAHADA, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division properly aata tha.

WHAT I WANT TO ENTHRUST HERE IS, "YOU PROVIDE THE RESPONSIBLE, DEDICATED and GOOD TEACHERS TO SUCH ADIVASIS AND SEE THE OUTCOME."

I was among the 3 lucky boys. I have my MAMA GAON at a walking distance of 70-80 minutes from Bandgaon. I studied up to 6^th standard at Bandgaon. You may not imagine Mr. Pandey how I studied from 2^nd-6^th. Mere sath mere MAMA GAON se 11 bachche aur aate the. 7:30 ko ghar se nikalte the, 09:00 baje school pahunchte the. SUN hi humhe TIME batata tha. No watch! DHOOP GHADI ka FUNDA lagate the. Road tha nahin. Ek jungle bhi paar karna padta tha. Baki rasta kheton ke patli AAD (Narrow lanes of 1-1.5 ft width) se hokar gujarta tha. RAINY SEASON mei pura keechad (muddy) ho jata tha. Kitni baar fisalkar kheton mei kichad mei gira. Umbrella rahta tha lekin sir (Head) to bach jata tha, pant pura bhing jata tha. Chappal pahanke school jane ka sawal hi nahin uthta. SUMMER mei, subah to teek hai, dopahar wapas ghar jate samay halat kharab ho jati thi. Raste mei kheton mei jo pani milta usi ko AMRIT samajhkar pi jate the. Winter mei bhi khali pair hi jana padta tha. NO SHOES, NO SWETER! Walking karke hi body warm up ho jata. Ya kabhi kabhi body warm up karne ke liye RUNNING karte the. Pandeyji imagine kijiye, 2^nd to 6^th standard ka MAHESHWAR kitna bada raha hoga? 6 to 10 years. Main to phir bhi 70-80 minute walking karke aata tha, kuch student to 2-3 ghanta walking karke padne aate the. Us par bhi hum 07:15 ko Bharpet khakar ghar se nikalte the. NO LUNCH! Phir 5:00 PM ko ghar pahunch kar dabake khana kha lete the. School ke more than 80% student aisa hi the. There were 40-50 students in each class. Kuchh bachche to bina khaye bhi aate the. Pandeyji, ek bachcha 30 minute bhi walking karke aaye, din bhar bhukha rahe to kya class mei concentrate kar sakta hai? Lekin haan us taqleef ka bhi alag maza tha. Uchalte kudte, gili danda khelte, bhagte daudte school pahunch hi jate the.

Aisa nahin ki us school mei padayi achchi thi. I used to be class topper but my total marks never exceeded 45%. Ab aap socho, jab topper ka ye haal tha, to baki ka kya raha hoga! Science and Maths ke liye achche teacher tab bhi nahin the aur aaj bhi nahin hai. Aisa bhi nahi hai ki Adivasi apne bachchon ko nahin padhana chahte ya Adivasi bachche padhna nahin chahte.

There is one Boys Residential School in that area. But here also I need not tell about the quality of teachers or Education in that school. 2 saal pahle 2-3 ladke matric pass karte the, IIIrd divisions se. Pichhle 2-3 saal se 70% result hone laga, kyunki abhi Matric bahut easy kar diya gaya hai. But the level of knowledge is very poor among these students.

My NANA-NANI (maternal grandfather / mother) were very prudent and hard working. NANI herself was illiterate, NANAji 2^nd taq pade the. He too could not study as his father died when he was young. But he was one of the richest farmers in his village. He used to tell me, "YADI MERA PITAJI NAHIN MARA HOTA TO MAI BHI KHOOB PADHTA. TUM KHOOB PADHNA, NAHIN TO MERE JAISA KHETON MEI MITTHI DHONA PADEGA."

I used to study in the "DIBRI / DIYA" light. For this we used to purchase Kerosene (which was supposed to be distributed at subsidized rate from "Authorized Distributer / Control / LAMPUS") from Black Market. Wo kerosene stock mei aane se pahle hi khatam ho jata tha (hai). Mera NANA (card holder) to kerosene karidne ke liye rupya jogad kar leta tha, baki bachchon ke parents to nahin kar pate, bechare kaise self study karte!

By that time (1990) my father was able to establish financially a little comfortable. Comfortable in the sense that he was just able to manage Rs. 500/- per month including Rs. 150/- for rented house and 350/- towards meal, clothing, books etc. for me and my sister at Chakradharpur. Khud khana banao, khao, school jao aur padai karo ka Funda tha. From 7^th onwards I studied at Chakradharpur. There also I continued to be the continuous class topper up to Matriculation in each and every exam. My performance also increased to get marks between 75% - 85%. Lekin sare bachche mere jaise naseeb wale nahin the. Mere sath bandgaon mei jitney bhi padte the, all had to drop out after 10^th except 3-4. Many of them could not clear Matriculation even after repeated attempts. Padayi teek se ho nahin paati, achche teachers hain nahin, self study kar nahin pata teek se, matric kaise paas karega! Kuchh maa-baap to HADIA bhech ke bhi apne bachchon ko SCHOOL bhechte hain.

There are many MATRIC PASS persons in that AREA at present, but most of them never saw COLLEGE ROOMS. There is No College at Bandgaon. Nearest College is at KHUNTI (29 kms) and at Chakradharpur (54 kms). Har maa-baap ke paas bachchon ko bahar bhejne ki financial power nahin hai. Aur in College ka Standard bhi aapko batane ki jarurat nahin hai.

I am not trying to tell you about my story. I am just trying to tell ki Adivasi bachche Padna chahte hain, lekin unhe sahi school, sahi teacher nahi milta. Situations tab bhi wahi the, aaj bhi wahi hain. YADI 1970s MEI HI US AREA MEI ACHCHHE SCHOOL AUR KHOLE GAYE HOTE, KAM SE KAM EK COLLEGE HOTA, TO AAJ US AREA KE ADIVASI BEHTER STITHI MEI HOTE.

Pandeyji, ek Adivasi family mei har member (including children) ek EARNER hota hai. Aadmi ko bhook lagti hai to pahle khane ki hi sochega, baad mei dusre chijon ki. Maine bhi bachpan mei GAYE-BAIL-BAKRI (COW, OX, GOATS) charaya. Usi se to apna kapda lata kitab kalam ata tha. Jabse hosh sambhala Kheton mei HAL (PLOUGHING) chalaya hai. Summer Vacation mei pahli MONSOON ke baad kheton mei kaam karna hi padta tha. Unche unche KUSUM / BER ke ped mei chadkar LAH lagaya aur Kata hai. Ab bolo Pandeyji, kya ek bachcha itna sab kuch karne ke baad PADAI mei dhyan laga sakta hai? Ye sirf meri nahin, us area ke har ADIVASI BACHCHE KI DASTAN HAI.

Ye to huyi bachchon ki i.e. future ki baat.

Second most important thing to be done for development of these Adivasis is EMPLOYMENT to the elders / adults. On education front nothing much can be done for adults. But yes, if we want to provide the time and opportunity to their children for education, then we have to provide Employment to the Guardians. EMPLOYMENT can be provided to elders through various ROZGAR YOJNAS. But, we need to ensure ZERO CORRUPTION in implementing these schemes. And, you know the level of corruption involved in these schemes now a day. From an ordinary clerk to BDO, CO, Engineer, SDO, DWO, DC and ministers, all have become the part of corrupt system.

We also need to help these Adivasis in developing their lands i.e. to enhance the land productivity. Pandeyji even if you consider my village. We have more than 30 acres of Land on paper in the name of Grandfather that is to be divided among his 4 sons. But these lands need to be developed for cultivation. The lands which were earlier developed were damaged by heavy rains and flood during 1977-78. In addition, Agriculture is totally dependent on RAIN. Soil too is not fertile.

Pandey ji, here also I must tell about the problems involved in implementing these ROZGAR Schemes. See, TO SPEND MONEY IS NOT A GREAT MATTER, SPENDING MONEY PROPERLY AND IN PRUDENT WAY IS MORE IMPORTANT.

After 1995 there were certain schemes like INDIRA AWAS, JAWAHAR ROZGAR YOJNA etc. The work for constructing Two 2-roomed houses for two widows were started in 1996 (Sanctioned cost Rs. 20,000/- each) in my village and both are still incomplete. Why? Shortage of Fund!! How? Pandeyji, 1/3^rd of Money went to the pocket of Babus. The guy who had taken up those work used to cry, "YE KAAM 15000/- mei KAISE 15000/- POORA KARUN? Next, two CHECK DAMS (sanctioned amount Rs. 5,00,000/- each) were also started, one in my village and other in nearby village. Both the projects are also incomplete. Why? Again shortage of Fund! How? The same story. For one check dam my father had given land for free, "ki chalo gaon walon ko rojgar mile, gaon ke logon ko irrigation ke liye pani mile." Usme bhi nearby village ka dam to pahli baris mei hi tut gaya. And, this was because of basic Engineering Fault. Anyone can laugh at the design. Both dams were constructed at different locations with different topography, different landscape, but the size and shape of dam were same!

My father, himself was looking after the work. He tried honestly. But every time he had to go for money for payment of wages, material and material transport, the block authority demanded Rs. 20,000/-, then only the bill could be signed. Hardly half of the money was spent, and the authority declared "NO FUND"! Ab to wo bechara (my father) bhi koi "DEVELOPMENT PROJECT" hath mei lene se darta hai, kahte hain, "ITNA CORRUPTION HAI, KAAM KARNE KA MUNN NAHIN KARTA"

The road which connects my village to the Ranchi Chaibasa Road is repaired every year under the supervision of Engineer. But, there is no engineering at all. Engineer never visits the work site at all. The road gets damaged by the first monsoon itself. Only thing the engineer needs to do is to technically design the water-paths beside the road. No doubt this repeated repair provides "ROZGAR" to the villagers but ultimately this is the wastage of Public Money. There are many development works for spending public money. Pandeyji, why not such roads are constructed implementing basic FUNDAS of Engineering, so that no repair work is required for 3-4 years?  And this is possible. Most of these administrative officials belong to the talented communities of Pandeys, Sharmas, Jhas, Mishras etc, who don't consume HADIA.

Again, a bridge was attempted to be constructed across the river in the road which goes to my village. And, Rs. 5,00,000/- public money was wasted on this incomplete project. Firstly, the model / design of bridge itself was defective and it was broken and swept away by the first flood of that year itself. Even the uneducated villagers were telling, "YE PULL TO PAHLI BARIS MEI HI TUT JAYEGA. YAHAN PAR AISA PULL THODE HI TIKEGA." Yaar, Pandeyji, a river which becomes approx. 80 m wide, becomes 2-4 m deep and flows with speed up to 10 m/s in rainy season and you construct a bridge with eight SCUPERS of 1 m diameter each! Will it sustain the flood? NO, NEVER. The engineer / BDO might be aware (sure) that the design will not work at all, but they are not concerned of that, they are only concerned of KAMAI, "IS PROJECT MEI KITNA MAAL MILEGA." One more BRIDGE-CUM-DAM was started and stopped due to fund problem in my village. That incomplete project has damaged the cultivated lands at downstream.

Last year itself, the road connecting my village was re-repaired. One thing is the workers / villagers are never paid their wages at time. In December the Munda tribes of my area celebrate "MAGE PARAB". My father was given responsibility for taking care of attendance. The engineer and the contractor did not care to pay them before the festival. As a result people came to my father for money. I had given Rs. 3000/- for this from my pocket. Later the engineer and the contractor both disappeared leaving the work incomplete.

These are few examples which depict the incompetence of public servants, public engineers and government. These also depict the corruption level of our governance. Now you tell me Mr. Pandeyji, whether there is any roll / contribution of HADIA in the failure of System here? The answer is big NO.

You know Mr. Pandeyji, I am self-satisfied that I am a mechanical Engineering graduate and not the Computer Science graduate. Those so called Engineers, Babus with huge administrative power have failed in every project in my village area. This year itself (2008) I designed an "AAD / MED (similar to small dam)" in my village. I had spent Rs. 6000/-. Simple Engineering of Hydro-static and hydrodynamic Pressure and velocity and designed and got constructed the "AAD" under supervision of my father without using cement. Stones of appropriate size and shape were used. First rainy season had gone, 10 se jyada baar BAAD (flood) bhi aaya. Lekin us AAD ka ek pathar nahin hila. Usi DAM ke liye sarkari engineer public ka kam se kam 2,00,000 ka choona lagata.  I am now planning to make another "AAD" this year in 2009 and another one in 2010. This will ensure for the cultivation of AGHAN Rice in atleast 6-7 acres of Land. And that will ensure rice for my villagers atleast for 6 months.

Next is Health resources. I need not mention here that there are serious scarcity of Health centers and resources in Adivasi areas. Even I give you the health scenario my area, there is only one Public Hospital at Bandgaon. And, this is only on Paper. Hospital hokar bhi nahin hai. Hospital khud BIMAR hai, BIMARON ka kya ILAJ karega. No doctor, no staff, no nurse, no medicines! Doctor ya Nurse (staff) hokar bhi nahin hain. Even today, if somebody gets fracture then he has to go either Khunti or Chankradharpur or Ranchi for getting plastered. Forget about medicines, even a disease like malaria cannot be diagnosed or identified there. So people have no faith in this Health Care system. Usse achcha to gaon mei hi JHAD-PHUNK ya JADI-BUTI se ilaz karega / ya mar jayega.

Next, the adivasis are not getting the appropriate price for their PRODUCTS. They produce like Mango, Jackfruit, Papaya, Lemon, Mustard seeds, goats, Hen etc but they are not getting appropriate price for them. They also don't get sufficient price for the wood / timber.

We only blame the Political leaders (NETAS) for being corrupt or opportunitist. No doubt that our political leaders are useless and corrupt, but what about government clerks, officers or administrative officials like BDO, CO, DWO, BEO, SDO, DC and police systems like inspectors, ASP, SP etc. and Civil doctors like ACS or CS?  What about the teacher, professors, nurses etc? If you consider one legislative constituency, there is only one MLA but there are atleast 10 administrative officials like BDO, CO etc and N number of government staff including teachers, clerks, nurses etc.

Yahan to aalam ye hai ki ek gareeb pariwar ka banda talented / well qualified hone ke bavjood NAUKRI nahin pa sakta, kyunki har chhote mote naukri (even for chaprasi) ke liye bhi 50,000/- RISWAT dena padta. Bechara gareeb adivasi kahan se layega RISWAT dene ke liye rupya?

Even if you stop consumption of HADIA, you can never uplift the Adivasis in the present SET UP or SYSTEM. But, you also know that this SET UP or SYSTEM is impossible to be changed or improved.

Mr. Pandey, mere ghar mei bhi HADIA banta hai. Mai bhi kabhi ghar jata hun to 1-2 gilas ghatak leta hun. But I am neither a drinker nor a smoker. Leking haan aap yadi bolenge logon ko ki bhai HADIA pina chhod do to ye practically impossible task hai. System ka ya desh ka ek ek banda yadi, apna social responsibility samjhe to ye adivasi kya sara bharat develop karega. Lekin kya karein, aap aur mai sirf baat kar sakte hain, neta apna netagiri karte hain, public servants / police bas commission aur maal kamane ke chakkar mei rahte hain, masterji gaon mei sirf mastergiri karte hain, baniya etc bhi pichhe nahin. Aur le de ke ultimately lower level wala ya garib banda / adivasi hi maar khata hai.

See, Mr. Pandey, your intensions are commendable. We know that adivasis are underdeveloped. Most of them are deprived of the basic requirements of livelihood. There might be N number of ways to approach for development. But before coming to a conclusion, we need to address the FEASIBILITY of the IDEA. APNE SYSTEM KI KAMJORI YA INCOMPETENCY KA TEEKRA HADIA PE HI PHOD NAHIN SAKTE NA HUM!

Sincerely Yours

MMunda

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