This Holi, Color Me Nature

Holi - undoubtedly one of the most beautiful festivals on earth- celebrates spring, youth, joy and new life through splashes of riotous colors. But often, hidden in the colors are scary chemicals that leave you with allergic rashes and red, ugly spots. So, how about celebrating this Holi (March 8) with the goodies of mother nature? Interested? Then come with me to Tosham - a village 239 km from Hyderabad - where Holi is all about being one with the nature.

Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh is usually in news for all the wrong reasons like a death sentence given to a police informer by a Maoist-held Kangaroo court, or a sacrifice of a child by superstitious parents. But on the eve of Holi, this is a place where people do all the right things and one of them is celebrating Holi with natural colors, made of flowers including the bright, fresh and beautiful Palash (Butea frondosa).

Use of natural colors, I am told, has been an old tradition and it has survived the pressure of changing time and availability of cheaper, chemical-based powdered colors.

The preparations for the festival of colors begin a week before.

People - and this includes both the young and the old - get busy with making natural colors from plants and flowers that are available locally.

Deforestation in India: Why I don't buy the Govt argument (II)

 In my previous blog, I shared with you the government's unacceptable explanation ("Maoists are behind it") on large-scale deforestation in Andhra Pradesh - the state that is the single largest forest cover loser in India.
Today, lets look at North east - the other area with big loss of green cover - 549 square km to be exact. And here the government has blamed two factors for the loss:  biotic pressure and shifting cultivation in the region. Once again, I am not buying that. No, its not as though these don't exist. They do. What I say is that these are neither the 'only',nor the 'main' causes.

The real causes are, and I say this as a Northeasterner, combination of some state-backed or state-neglected wrong activities that include smuggling, allowing of industrial units to operate in forest areas, indiscriminate mining, and illegal logging. 

Lets look at Meghalaya to see an example.

Maoists are India's main forest destroyers? Nah, I don't buy that!

Just a couple of months ago, during the Durban UN Climate change summit, India got a huge pat on its back for increasing its forest cover by over 2%. Piggy riding on that, the government loudly asked for increased funding for its growing carbon stocks under REDD+ program.

Barely 8 weeks later, however, that great green picture is already showing signs of fading: the country has just released India State of Forest Report 2011 which shows, India's forests have shrunk by 367 square km over the last two years.  According to the report, in 12 states the forest cover has fallen by 867 square km since 2009. Among the big losers are the North East - undeniably one of the country's pride green regions – which has lost a whopping 549 sq km of forest area – and Andhra Pradesh (AP), which, with the loss of 281 sq. km, leads this pack of losers. 

A forest in the Maoist stronghold of Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. The govt says, Maoists are prime destroyers of forests. The picture says something else!

Three to Tango: Teaming up with Panos to amplify a grass root voice

A month ago, the editor duo of Lilly Peel and Anna Egan from Panos, London asked me to do something I found both unique and exciting: write a 5-blog series on a social activist who had great stories to share with the world. It had to be someone who matched words with deed - a tough job, if you ask me, in the murky world of  activism where talkers outnumber doers.  

But I had a name ready: Bhan Sahu - a grass root activist from Chhattisgarh whom I have known since 2009. Bhan was introduced to me (and then to Video Volunteers - my then office) by Adiyog, a senor journalist and media trainer who has been Bhan's mentor for years.

Following a quick nod from Panos, I visited Bhan in Chhattisgarh and from 1st week of January, started to write the blogs. And thus began a unique story-telling journey in which I and Bhan and Panos were co-passengers, having a dialogue with the global audience.

A month later, the series of the blogs have garnered great response, with readers from all over Asia and beyond expressing awe and saying how impressed they are to hear a powerful and true voice from the ground. 

Chhattisgarh: How Does a Woman Sarpanch Work in Bastar?

The participation of Indian women in the political process, especially at the hyperlocal level, has been on the rise since reservation of  33% of seats in the village councils came into force. In the tribal belt of Bastar, women actually have 50% seats reserved for them. But, with the Government Vs Maoist conflict raging, how is that reservation helping? How does a woman village head work?

Kalavati and I: It would be easy to criticize this Sarpanch for not doing enough, but it would  be wiser to try to understand the reasons that force this under-performance

To find the answer, I have met 23 women Sarpanch (head of the the village council) in Bastar, 15 of them are in forest areas where the Maoist activists are very active. Let me share the story of Kalavati Salam - the sarpanch of one such village panchayat.

Chhattisgarhnama II: "Keep 16 Suhagans ready"

The twin evils of Displacement and Forced Migration are dogging both  men and women in tribal belt of Chhattisgarh, especially Bastar, but its the women who are the worst affected

So far, I have visited 22 villages in 4 districts of Chhattisgarh that have been officially declared as 'Maoist Affected' (a term used to indicate the intense armed conflict between the government and the Maoist activists). And, everywhere I have heard and seen what I had suspected: its women who are the worst affected by the conflict.

Let me begin with Khemi - a Madia (a primitive trbe) girl who lived in Abujhmarh of the state. Until a year ago, Abujhmadh was a protected area where one needed a special permission from the Government of India to visit. The reason was to protect the unique (and vulnerable) culture of the Madia people.

But as the Maoist vs Govt conflict intensified, the authorities decided to lift the restricted label off Abujhmarh, considered a Maoist stronghold, so the army and other security forces could take action there.

As expected, there has been chaos since then. The Maoists opposed the Government decision, saying it would not fare well either for the government, or for the tribals. But the government was not in a mood to back down.

Caught in this chaos has been Khemi (name changed),

Chhattisgarhnama: 'Don't let anyone use that Internet'

There are stories galore, but no means to tell them. It reminds me of a poem by Rabindranath Tagore: 'I closed the door to stop the untruth/ now truth is asking me, 'how do I get in?'

It has been a good 9 days since I came to Chhattisgarh. In these 9 days, I have been able to access internet only once, when a social activist called Keshaw Shori (who heads an organization called Disha) graciously let me use his BSNL internet data card. And that is how I was able to write my earlier blog, as well as upload a picture on Facebook. 3 days later, I am in Kondagaon - a newly formed (1st Jan 2012 to be exact) district where I have met someone who doesn't want to be named. Lets call him Mr X. We met in a overcrowded jeep and after we reached the town, Mr X told me that I could use his laptop and data card for a day, provided nobody knew about it.

And this brings me to the topic of the day: communication in Chhattisgarh. It seems, lack of mobile or web access here is more of a strategic move, than a technical impossibility. And I have reasons to feel this way:

I began my journey from Rajnandgaon - a district in western Chhattisgarh, bordering Maharashtra's Gadchiroli. In this district, there is a town called Ambagarh Chowki, that has at least 5 computer centers with internet connections. But not a single one will allow you to use the internet, even after you show your press card and tell them that it is urgent; that you need to file your story.

'We are not to let any outsider (visitors like me) use the computers here. Also, cyber cafes are not allowed to operate here,' each of them says.

'Have you been denied a permission?' I ask

'Yes, several times. We can only allow people who want to use the computers for learning to type. If there are students of a computer engineering or something similar, they can do their homework here.'

But why is this restriction on Internet use? A local reporter - lets call her Ms Makram - who has faced a lot of questions from the local police for her work, tells me that it is because of Manpur and Mohola - two semi-urban localities within the district where the Maoists are very active. This is something I have been observing as well; in Manpur, I saw a banner that was put up just a couple of weeks ago, giving an open call to avenge the death of Kishenji, the highest ranked Maoist leader, gunned down by the security forces in late November.

In interior Chhattisgarh, the idea of communication facilities is distorted; dish antennas sell everywhere. But there is strict controlling of Information technology.

In Kanker district, where I spent 2 days, I was surprised to find a particular block totally cut off from the outside world. There were shops, a primary health center, a bus station, a taxi hub and several government offices. But not a single mobile network had coverage there, let alone internet. When I asked, everyone said that it was because the Maoists uprooted every mobile tower in the vicinity. However, one woman called Gandai later told me that a month ago, two soldiers (there is a big camp shared by a big police force and a batalion of paramilitary forces) had been talking on mobile phone which was heard by a group of Maoists. Immediately, the Maoists shot the soldiers dead. 'From then on, there has been no mobile network.', she concluded.

On my way to Kondagaon yesterday, I did see two mobile towers (one of them belonged to the Aditya Birla group owned IDEA network)lying on the ground, which I was told, was the handiwork of the Maoists. 'Don't the Maoists use mobile phones themselves?' I wonder aloud. Someone tells me 'they do, but not in areas where they suspect police informers are operating.'

Last evening, I was at a place called Narainpur where a local social activist with a laptop - and I can't take the name again - told me that every single phone here is tapped and everyone has been expected to report if they spot a 'new face'.

Who expects you to report this?
'Dono log'(both sides),' he says. looking around cautiously.

'And do you do this?' I want to know.
'Not on our own. But when you leave, we will be asked who you were, where you came from and what you said and did. The safest way for us is to tell all we know. Otherwise they will come again and again. We are also asked not to let anyone use any of our mobile phones or laptops.'
.
And this is why my internet service provider (pun intended) today will have to stay anonymous.  But, here's a bagful of thanks, my friend, for your generosity!

Panos, London and I: a journey begins!

What is the most effective, yet the simplest way to bridge the gap between hyperlocal stories and the global audience? How can you make heard the voices off the ground in an authentic, unaltered manner? There are quite a few ideas floating around, but the 'Voice from the Ground' project of Panos, London which brings the stories straight off the ground, stands out among all.

Chhattisgarh: There are stories of inspiration waiting to be told in this land of despair and I am going to bring some of those stories on

This is how it works:
Panos selects a journalist who has been reporting development issues for a while. The journalist follows an activist/community worker for about a month and presents stories, as told to her/him by the activist/worker. The story appears as first person account and this way, the reader gets to hear and connect with the voice of the ground directly.

Kurukh Language in 8th Schedule? Why Not?

In our country, meetings and rallies are as common as are heat waves in summer. Yet, this morning news of a meeting in a sleepy town of Nagrakata (Near Jalpaiguri) caught my eye. In that meeting, groups of people were demanding inclusion of Kurukh language in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution.

Kurukh, the language of the Oraon tribe, is one of the few indigenous languages with a script of its own

Kurukh is the language of the Oraon tribe. Spread across Jharkhand and Terai region of northern West Bengal (Paschim Banga), there are around 25 Lakhs (2.5 million) Oraon people in India. The language also has its own script which is called Tolang Siki.

In 2009, the government of Jharkhand recognized the language. But in West Bengal (the so called most liberal state, the so called patron of art and craft and culture. Talk about myth!) Kurukh has remained unrecognized.