Lakshmindra Kumar Sarkar: social welfare

Monday, 23 January 2012

DISCUSSION ON TRIBAL EXPLOITATION

KALANTAR, 34 year, 299 volume, 14^th August , 2001, 29^th Sraban 1408, Tuesday, Rs. 2.00

A debate was arranged in the Paschim Bango Bangla Academy on August 13 and 14. The program was organized by Khatra Adibasi and Development Center. All of them criticized the unscrupulous British rulers and the mahajans as well as the role of the Government. Hikim alleged the tribes were negligent of their problems. Nikhil Ranjan Majhi described warned those who exploit and torture people and said that the tribal people have to understand their own problems.

Among the other speakers, there are Gurucharan Murmu, Dr. Arunendu Sarkar, Amalendu Roy, Sushil Mahali, Pradip Har , Pratibha Mondol, Subodh Soren, Mangal Soren, Baleswar Soren , Maheswar Soren, Prabhat Ghosh etc. The secretary of the Lakshmindra Kumar Sarkar invited everybody to cooperate and announced that a newspaper called “Adibasi Sangbad” will be published. At the open grounds of Academy of Fine Arts, the tribals performed in a cultural program. Along with them, Dolon Mitra and Kabita Barui also participated.

DEBATE: WHY TRIBALS ARE NEGLECTED IN 54 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE?

SATYAJUG …10^th August, 2001…..Friday.

A debate will be organized in the coming Tuesday and Wednesday in the hall of the Bangla Academy. “Sadhinatar 54 Bochorey Adibasira Abahelito Keno?” (Why The Tribals are Neglected?) is the topic our debate. The organizer is Khatra Adibasi Culture and Development Center. Lakshimdra Kumar Sarkar informed that the population of the country is more than 102 crores. The majority of them is the tribal population. They have characteristics like cultural flow, feng shui, economics, religion, language , the socio-political method, etc. They are independent of higher caste Indians. But most of them are economically backward, very poor , half filled stomach, half naked, illiterate.

A notable timeline must be created and we need to give them their proper right. Many initiatives and planning have been made to bring them under the main stream. All the government planning was spoiled, their minimum requirement is health, education, language, culture and cultural structure and they are deprived from all of them.

The moneylenders have exploited them during the British rule in India. Why the neglect is there? The Minister of Jail and Society Welfare Minister, Biswanath Chowdhury, the head of Nandan, Angsha Sur, the secretary of Bangla Academy Sanat Chattopadhyay , the director in drama Usha Ganguly, journalist Niranjan Haldar, district officer Tapan Sen , Amalendu Ray, etc. are the well known personalities. From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, a tribal and folk program will also be organized in front of the Academy of Fine Arts.

PROBLEM OF THE TRIBALS OF BANKURA AND PURULIA

LAKSHIMDRA KUMAR SARKAR

Published in Aajkaal Patrika, Kolkata

The Bankura and Purulia is a drought prone region of West Bengal. These regions get more affected in drought than other regions of West Bengal.

I have travelled the villages in the foothills of the mountains are Bagmundi, Bandowan, Mukundapur , Jhilimili and have understood the problems of the tribals.

The tribals mainly live in Purulia, Saturia police station and Neturia police station, in the south Kayra, Maanbazaar has 7 regions, kurbandh , Jamteria, Borgoria, Borokhari, Aakro, Dighi etc. and east of east of Burrabazar, Hura and Prishna. Other than this , some tribes also live in the west.

The communication system is very poor in South Purulia. The undivided region of Malbhum came under West Bengal in 1974. Bidhan Chandra Roy by the request of TATA , seven miles of road in Purulia have come under Bihar. Since it is of no use to the Bihar government, they neglect it. The government of West Bengal do not want to build the road from Bundwan to Purulia. So a traveler needs to walk 3 miles to go from Bundwan to Purulia. If someone has to go to Jaanbazar, then he has to take a bus to Purulia. Other than this there are many rivers but there are no bridge on those rivers.

It is not possible to say where the ration’s wheat, sugar , rice goes. There is problem in transport communication.

At the entrance of Khatra in Bankura district , the government has created a concrete structure. It has been constructed in such a low position that the waters of the river Kangsabati have immersed the concrete structure. Beside that the concrete structures are lying there. A school was constructed in the land at the starting of 1981. The land allotted for the school building has been used but only a small portion and the rest of it has been divided under 3 persons. In the Jamrai village of Maanbazaar police station, Ananta Soren has taken a patta on someone else’s land. They want to show the legal documents in the different places of Purulia. If they cannot take care of them , then the land has been distributed among the tribals.

The tribals are taken off of everything. The illiterate tribes are duped and the lands are taken away from them. 22 bighas of land have been taken and the tribals have started protesting. On the month of September in 1980, 6000 tribals have protested in a meeting where the punishment for the molestation of the tribal women and the cancellation of license of the liquor shops in Purulia.

The government have provided free education and providing stipend to the tribal students. Though there are schools in the tribal village, the teachers do not know Santali language. As a result, the girls and boys stop going to school. The recruitment of the teachers have stopped. So the teachers are not getting employed in the tribal villages. The population in the tribal village of Mukundapur is 800 but no school can be built. It is accused that the money of the stipend of the tribal students are stolen by the teachers. The Agrikil School of Purulia keep the students for 2 months in hostel and the rest of the money is stolen away. A protest is going on. While working in Burdwan, a stipend has been arranged from 5^th to 8^th class.

The right value is not given

The tribals do not get the right value. At Jhilimili of Bankura, there is a “Charaku Large Size Multipurpose Company Cooperative Society.” I heard that homeopathy doctor is there who lives in Srirampur. He comes to the health centre once a week. Even when there is a crucial stage of some patient, he is not found. He cleans and purifies the place where the tribals stand with cow dung, tulsi leaves and water from the Ganges just in front of them.

Deforestation

The forests of South Bengal are located in Purulia, Bankura and Midnapore, Jhargram subdivision. From these areas, a lot of woods are collected. But at present some selfish people are