Common people living in resource rich areas often end up paying dearly for the riches. Tribals in mineral rich Chhattisgarh are no exception.
This is from a government report:
….”The report is devastatingly frank about the collusion between government and big business, even accusing the two of funding and fuelling the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh. “This open, declared war will go down as the biggest land grab ever…. Tata Steel and Essar Steel…wanted seven villages or thereabouts…to mine the richest lode of iron ore available in India. (After) initial resistance from the tribals…the state withdrew its plans. A new approach was necessary…. (It) came about with the Salwa Judum…headed by the Murias, some of them erstwhile (Maoist) cadres. Behind them are traders, contractors and miners…. The first financiers of the Salwa Judum were Tata and Essar…640 villages…were laid bare, burnt to the ground and emptied with the force of the gun and the blessings of the state. (Some) 3,50,000 tribals, half the total population of Dantewada district, are displaced, their womenfolk raped, their daughters killed and their youth maimed. Those who could not escape into the jungle were herded together into refugee camps run and managed by the Salwa Judum…640 villages are empty. Villages sitting on tons of iron ore are effectively de-peopled and available for the highest bidder. The latest information being circulated is that both Essar Steel and Tata Steel are willing to take over the empty landscape and manage the mines.”
Tags: Chhattisgarh, Salwa Judum
