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Mainstream, Vol XLVIII, No 10, February 27, 2010

Sour Men of the Central Indian Wooded Uplands!

Monday 1 March 2010, by D. Bandyopadhyay

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On February 9, 2010, a solemn and portentous conclave was held by the Sheriff of Hindoostan and his two Vice-Sheriffs of Banga and Kalinga provinces in what was once known as Calcutta and is now called Kolkata. Two other Vice-Sheriffs of Anga provinces slipped away to keep their options open. The reason for this grave conference was to chalk out a plan of action to contain, if not to exterminate, the menace of Naxalism (Maoism) in the Central Indian wooded uplands which start from the edges of Junglemahal of West Bengal. The immediate objective was “to reclaim some of the Naxal dominated areas in the next six months”. Perhaps, sobriety dawned among the Sheriff and his Vices after an abject failure to achieve anything in the last six months of joint operations by the State Armed Constabulary and the Central paramilitary forces in the Junglemahal of West Bengal. Hence, with Papal dignity the Sheriff of Hindoostan declared in a solemn manner: “We all agree that force cannot solve the problem (Maoism), but in order to end violence and re-establish civil administration, we need force.” Then comes the Delphic Oracle: “It is a carefy, calibrated and controlled measure.” (All quotations are from The Statesman, Kolkata, dated February 10, 2010)

His language was impeccable. His diction was flawless. His delivery was enthralling. His pronouncement was followed by the clipped U-English of the Vice-Sheriff of Kalinga in full support of the Sheriff’s proposal for the use of force. His counterpart from Banga also lent his unequivocal support by his eloquent English sounding noises.

Perhaps it escaped his notice that in presenting his case for the use of force in his faultless articulation, the Sheriff of Hindoostan conceded two vital points to the Maoists. In the first place, he admitted that civil administration in the areas under Maoist control had collapsed. In fact it did not exist. Thus the Maoists had a parallel civil administration where the writ of the Indian state did not run. And secondly, in declaring his intention to reclaim the lost territory he openly acknowledged that the territories held by the Maoists were outside the control of the Indian state. Unknowingly, he thus admitted two significant attributes of statehood to the Maoists—(i) their own territory and (ii) their own civil administration. He had given the Maoists credits which even they (the Maoists) did not claim. He was, perhaps, too fascinated by his own eloquence which carried him a little too far for his own comfort and certainly to the discomfort of others. So he would use force to reconquer his lost land and having done so he would re-establish his own civil administration. Development etcetra, if any, would follow in due course.

It may sound strange but there was a near parallel event long ago recorded in English folklore. The Sheriff of Nottingham was growing angry by the day by the pranks of Robin Hood and his fellow outlaws in the forest of Sherwood. So the Sheriff laid a trap to catch Robin and his gang: “’I have tried law and I have tried being sneaky,’ he said to himself. ‘Now I will use force.’”

Three hundred armed men of the Sheriff marched into Sherwood Forest. A prize was declared for catching Robin Hood. For seven days they searched but found none of Robin’s men. Robin Hood had come to know about the Sheriff’s plan through his spies. They hid themselves in the deepest recesses of the forest where no ordinary person could go. On the eighth day being thoroughly bored, he sent one of his followers in disguise to find out how long the Sheriff’s men would remain in the forest. Unfortunately that person was caught by the Sheriff’s men. The Sheriff was delighted and decided to hang him the next day publicly. Robin Hood and his followers in disguise mixed with the crowd the following day at the hanging ground. Through trickery and feat of arms they rescued their comrade and retreated into the forest. The Sheriff got terribly frightened. He said to himself: “These men fear nothing. I would sooner lose my office than my life—I will leave them alone.” (The Adventures of Robin Hood by John Burrows, Sterling Publications Co. Inc., New York, 1972, p. 17)

The collapse of civil administration in some Maoist affected areas is a recent phenomenon. In fact there is a touch of exaggeration in the statement of the Sheriff of Hindoostan. But accepting that statement as valid, one could ask a simple question: how did the civil administration acquit itself before the system broke down? There is hardly anything to write home about. One of the basic features of any civil administration anywhere is providing justice. There is a Central Act entitled ‘The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989’. The Preamble of the Act reads as follows: “An Act to prevent commission of offences against the members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, to provide for Special Courts for the trial of such offences…” A novel feature of this Act is the punishment for neglect of duty. One would have thought that wherever the Sheriff’s civil administration existed the members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would get speedy and fair justice. The figures below, though slightly dated, tell a sad story.

Cases Registered under Various Crimes on Scheduled Castes and Tribes

1991 1999 2000

Total Cases 8029 115878 116131

Cases disposed of 8673 12956

(7.5%) (11.2)

Conviction 125 700 982

(1.6%) (0.6%) (0.9%)

Acquittal 1367 7420 11605

(17%) (6.4%) (10%)

Cases Pending 6537 107204 100891

(81.4%) (92.5%) (86.9%)

[Source: Development Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas: Planning Commission, Government of India, New

Delhi 2000]

With less than one per cent conviction rate, a little over 10 per cent acquittal rate and pendency of cases between 80 per cent 91 per cent, the Sheriff’s civil administration denied justice to the victims of atrocities by sheer delay and insensitivity of those involved in the administration of justice. There is mounting dissension among the victims that the Indian state is not serious about giving them justice. The state could have provided a system of speedy participatory justice by enacting the Nyaya Panchayat law. But on the plea of purity of justice, legal professionals opposed this move. Hence Nyaya Panchayats remain a non-starter. As against this, notwithstanding all its horrendous features, the people’s court system of the Maoists did provide an informal rough-and-ready fora for dispute resolution and in a way responded to the felt needs of the common man.

Then there is the whole question of displacement due to acquisition of land for development purposes. The Central Indian uplands are rich in mineral and other natural resources. So there is a development invasion in these areas. There are no official figures. But an intelligent estimate made by a noted scholar, Dr Walter Fernandes, indicated that between 1947 and 2004 nearly six crores (60 million) persons were forcibly displaced and among them 40 per cent constituted the Scheduled Tribes. Out of a total population of eight crore generic tribals, 2.4 crores were involuntarily thrown out of their land, home and occupation. This figure constitutes 30 per cent of the total tribal population. The entire tribal population of this vast area is in turmoil. Who has come to their succour? Certainly, not the Indian state. According to official figures, 28 per cent of the displaced tribal population has been rehabilitated. Even accepting this figure as correct, what happened to the remaining 72 per cent of the displaced tribals numbering 1.44 crores? They were the victims of “development terrorism”. Disillusioned, disgruntled, resentful and angry, they constituted the water of Mao Zedong’s terminology in which the militant Maoist fish roamed about freely without any fear of being betrayed and caught. Has the Sheriff any plan to properly rehabilitate this angry populace to wean them over from the Maoists and bring them into the mainstream? In all probability he has none. Instead of curing the cause of the disease, like a quack an attempt is being made to treat some outward symptoms, with remote chances of success. The more his forces repress the common men and women, the more will be the expansion of the mass base of the militants.

The Naxal movement started in April 1967 in one State (West Bengal), in one district (Darjeeling) and in one police station area (Naxalbari). In November 2009, that is, 42 years after it began, the Union Home Minister stated that Naxalism (Maoism) had spread to 23 States, 250 districts and over 2000 police station areas. Though there are no firm official figures, guestimates indicate that the combined police budgets of the Centre and the States had increased by more than 600 times during this period. Only a statistician can say whether there is any significant correlation-ship between the increase in the police budget and spread of Naxalism. It raises an inconvenient issue regarding the efficacy of the use of police or paramilitary force to contain Naxalism.

Let us now go back to the folktale. The Sheriff of Nottingham failed to contain Robin Hood and his fellow outlaws. King Richard III ascended the throne of England. He thought he would try his hand in solving the issue. He went to the Sherwood Forest incognito with a few of his followers and sought the hospitality of Robin Hood. He had £ 100 in a pouch. Robin and his men surrounded the King and his retinue and relieved him of his pouch. Then he counted the coins in the presence of the King and his followers. Thereafter he returned £ 50 to the stranger telling him that as he seemed to go on a long journey he would require the money. With the other £ 50 he organised a grand feast for the strangers and his own followers That night the King slept under an oak tree on the bed of tender grass. The next morning the stranger disclosed who he was. Then he declared a general amnesty. He inducted Robin Hood and his four close associates into his Imperial Guard and appointed other “outlaws” as the Rangers of the King’s forests and protectors of the King’s wild deer. That was the end of the story of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest. Even a folktale has some message.

Is anyone, notably the Sheriff of Hindoostan, listening to it?

The author, who has now retired from service, is a former Secretary, Revenue, and the erstwhile Secretary, Rural Development, Government of India.

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