The Paradox of Development

Human poverty is more than income poverty; it is the denial of choices and opportunities for living a tolerable life – UNDP


West Bengal, a relatively poorer state in India, is also a hotbed for political conflicts, often resulting in violence and institutionalised suppression. Among the poorest and most suppressed people of West Bengal – or any part of India for that matter – are the adivasis, indigenous tribes living for centuries at the bottom of the Indian caste system pyramid. The adivasis are often (as and whenever required) shamelessly exploited by local politicians, government officials, and unscrupulous industrialists.

One such exploitative nexus, recently brought to public attention by NGOs and the alternative media (and now even highlighted by mainstream media), is about rampant operation of illegal stone crushers across the adivasi villages of Birbhum, in west Bengal. Villages like ‘Mohammed bazaar’ and ‘Patharchala’ would never have existed in anybody’s mental map – beyond contributing to the national census once in every ten years – but for their rocky terrain, a valuable source of stone and stone-chips used for construction activities.

Fuelled by the construction boom in the cities, stone prices – and the greed of the unscrupulous industrialists ready to make a quick buck – have gone through the roof. They see these adivasi villages as a potential goldmine. However, it is not easy to get license for operating stone crushers (crushers are used for making stone-chips from the rocks blasted from quarries). Firstly, adivasi land, as per law, cannot be sold to non-adivasis. Secondly, it is strictly not permitted to build stone crushers in the vicinity of villages, due to health and safety reasons. In reality however, such legal restrictions mean only one thing: uncontrolled opening up of illegal stone crushers, often in full knowledge – and in some cases, even tacit complicity – of the local politician and the government officials. Currently, only about one-fourth of the stone crushers operating in the region are licensed.

The results of such uncontrolled growth in stone crushing activities, as can be expected, have been tragic. The crushers have been largely been built on land taken away from the adivasis by force – hence depriving them of their livelihood. The stone dust from the crushers have not only destroyed the productivity of the land and contaminated the water bodies in the vicinity, but also polluted the air to an extent that it has resulted in sharp increase of diseases like tuberculosis and silicosis (source: Anandabazar Patrika, 16 October, 2010 issue). The blasting of rocks in the quarries by explosives have resulted in stones flying into the nearby villages (often the quarries being set up at less than 50 metre from the villages), injuring and killing people, making holes in the roofs and falling into their huts , and cracking the walls (due to vibration of the explosions).

The adivasis, most of whom are extremely poor, do not have the means to fight such institutionalised atrocities. With the loss of their agricultural land and supporting ecosystem, and no other means to earn their livelihood, most of them are now struggling for sheer survival. Earlier this year in April, when some of them tried to raise their voices (in villages like Chanda and Sagarbandh), they were suppressed by armed mercenaries hired by the owners of these crushers – resulting in burning of 42 houses and killing of 4 people.

Some of the NGOs (including one backed by the internationally reputed author Mahashweta Devi) are trying to organise and educate the adivasis against such exploitation. Recently, even the chief minister of the state, Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharya, has acknowledged the problem and promised that no crushers will be allowed to be built within hundred metres of a locality. The situation at ground, however, has not changed much. While some of the crushers have stopped operation temporarily, most of them admit that there are many ways to bypass the law.

In a country where industrialists and second-generation politicians are increasingly seen as role models – and are expected to steer the country to the next level of development, such harsh realities – practiced regularly throughout the underbelly of rural India, but rarely highlighted – raises serious questions about India’s development paradigm, especially on issues of sustainability and inclusiveness. Even internationally, as India is trying to project an image of an emerging economic and political power, such violation of basic human dignity may prove counter-productive in the long run. Yet, it is only the tip of a corruption chain whose roots go very deep.

Unfortunately, the mainstream media in India is largely apathetic towards these critical issues. While people continue to be suppressed in villages and unabashed exploitation of nature and indigenous people continue, the national newspapers and television channels are getting filled up more and more with images of celebrities opening the next designer store.

                                                                                                                                                                                   - Siddhartha Banerjee