Underdevelopment and Naxal Movement

Author(s): Rajat Kumar Kujur

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 41, No. 7 (Feb. 18-24, 2006), pp. 557-559
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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92 per cent of nickel ore, 65 per cent of

graphiteand pyrophylite,66 per cent of
bauxite,31 per cent of mineralsand, 32
percentof manganese,28 percentof iron
ore and 24 per cent of coal resourcesof
the country. Yet, Orissa is one of the
pooreststates of the country.Ironically,
the under-developedandNaxal infested
The iniquitousdevelopmentagenda pursued by successive
westernand southernbelts of Orissaare
governmentsat the centre and the state has renderedseveral
the storehouseof most mines and mintribal groups in Orissa, who reside in some of the poorer,
eral deposits of the state.Overthe years
more inaccessible districts of the state, largely marginalto
severalindustries,big and small as well
as severalirrigationprojects,have come
the governanceprocess. Arguably,it is this alienation and
up in these areas.The ongoing developunderdevelopmentthat has affordeda fertile ground to several
ment processin these areashas not benNaxalite groups to set up base in these districts.
efited the ruralmasses. State-sponsored
RAJAT KUMAR KUJUR
Sundargarh,Mayurbhanjand Keonjhar 'developmentin Orissa remains largely
districtsthat are adjacentto Jharkhand. divorced from people's participationin
While
sans
theaboveninedistrictsremainnaxal decision-making. The nexus between
D
evelopment
people'sparticipationhas alwaysbeen seen as a strongholds,themovementhasalsogrown Naxalismandlopsideddevelopmenthave
breedinggroundfor politicalun- strongerin differentpartsof Sambalpur, considerably damaged the democratic
rest.Orissathatfigurespredominantly
in Kalahandi,Bolangir,Phulbani,Deogarh, values and institutions.
Over42 steel plantsarepoisedto come
the list of underdevelopedstatesin India Jharsuguda,
andAngul.As a studyof the
has been a victimof some ill thought-out developmentprocess in these areas re- upin Orissarequiring1,600milliontonnes
developmentstrategy. Despite being a veals differentdevelopmentprojectsand of iron ore in the next 25 years. Multirichstate in termsof its mines and min- the industrial growth in these areas nationalgiantslikeBHP-Billiton,Vedanta
erals andnaturalresources, Orissa has mighthavebenefitedonly the agricultur- Resources, Rio Tinto Mining, Alcan,
not madeany real progressas far as the ists and industrialists,but not the tribal AdityaBirlaGroup,TataGroupandSaudi
Arabian companies had queued up to
developmentof the state and its people ruralpeople.
areconcerned.
It is worthmentioningherethatamong exploit the state's resources.The state
The PlanningCommissionof Indiahas nine Naxal affected districtsof Orissa, governmenthas already given lease to
identified Orissa as having the highest Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri and mine 1,000 milliontonnesof bauxiteore
overallpovertyfiguresof anymajorIndian Nabarangpur
fall in theinfamouspoverty- to differentcompanies.Thesearebutmisstate,witharound48 percent(17 million) strickenKBKregion.Since the reportsof leading signs of developmentin Orissa.
of its populationlivingbelow the poverty starvationdeaths in the mid-1980s, the One cannot take this massive indusline. The literacyrate in Orissais 63.61 KBK zone has always attractedspecial trialisation and mining activity as the
percentwhereasthe nationalliteracyrate attention.In 1995, then prime minister scale to judge the rise in humandevelopis 65.4 percent.Infectiousdiseases(acute NarasimhaRao announceda Rs 4,600 ment indicatorsamongthe people in rerespiratoryinfections, diarrhoea,tuber- crorepackageforaccelerateddevelopment mote areas of southern and western
culosis and malaria)still affect manyre- of the regionbut all thatthe state got in Orissa.Exploitation,zerohealthcareand
gions in Orissa.The statestill has one of thenextthreeyearswasa meagreRs 20.49 educationalfacilities, malnutrition,inthe highest infant mortalityrates. The crore.Againin 1998,AtalBihariVajpayee humantorture,risingunemployment,inhealthcarefacilityis in realbad shape,as announceda new packagefor the same ordinatedelay in disposal of landcases,
it has lowestnumberof doctorspercapita region.It was renamedtheRevisedLong- unwillingnessto undertakelandreforms
in theworld.Thestateis poverty-stricken, TermActionPlan(RLTAP)andtheamount are the cruel realitieswhich speak to us
yet surprisinglyless than5 percent of the promisedwas a whoppingRs 5,600 crore about the developmentsyndromeof the
populationshasaccessto subsidisedfood but again, hardlyany of this money has area.
Tribal exploitationand suffering has
aimed at povertyalleviation.
reachedthe people of the region. DurThoughthe seeds of the Naxal move- ing 2003-05, KBKregionreceiveda sum become the destiny of many ever since
mentin Orissaweresownas earlyas 1968, of Rs500croreasspecialcentralassistance the establishmentof the RourkelaSteel
it gainedmomentumandstrengthenedits underRLTAP;governmentreportshows Plant (RSP). The Steel Authority of
positiononlyduringlasttwodecades.Now the money was spent,but these districts India(SAIL) had acquiredabout35,000
the Communist Party of India (CPI) continueto figurein the list of 150 most acres for RSP and another12,000 acres
(Maoist),whichcameintoexistenceafter backwarddistrictsof the countryas iden- for its reservoir,the Mandiradam. As
the mergerof PeoplesWarGroup(PWG) tifiedbythePlanningCommissionof India. per one gazette of Orissa notification,
over 33 villagescovering25,03,524acres
andMaoistCommunistCentre(MCC)in
of land had been acquiredby the Orissa
September16, 2004, has establisheda Incomplete Resettlement
in
base
nine
governmentin 1954 to set up the RSP.
strongsupport
predominantly
tribaldistricts,i e, Koraput,Malkangiri, NaturehasbestowedOrissawithplenty Another 31 villages spreading over
Nabarangapur,
Rayagada,Gajapati and of minesandmineralresources.The state 11,92,398 acres were acquired for
Ganjam abutting Andhra Pradesh and is blessedwith 99 per cent chromateore, the constructionof the Mandiradam in

Underdevelopment
and
Naxal
Movement

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1956-57.A totalof 36,95,912 acreswere dam area, which the government terms as
acquiredfor the RSP and Mandiradam the "cut-off area". One would find hardly
resultingin the uprootingof 4,251 fami- any sign of governance in these areas of
lies. Both SAIL as well as the stategov- Janbai, Panasput,Jodamba and Andrapali
ernmenthavefailedmiserablyto rehabili- panchayats; where there is no school, no
tate and resettlethe evacuees of the last hospital and even no public distribution
50 years.
system. To visit other parts of the district,
Inrecentyears,hundredsof spongeiron the villagers solely depend on motorboats
factorieshavemushroomedall overin the that run twice a week. The cut-off areas
Naxal-hitdistrictof Sundargarh.
Existing are not even interconnected by road.
environmentallaws have been flaunted Government-sanctioned development
openly by industrialistswho have no projects in these areas remain on paper;
concern for pollution and environment residents of these areas complain of gross
degradation.
Theyhavebeendumpingtheir financial irregularities because of an unwastequiteliberallyfor whichmost agri- holy nexus between contractors and govculturallandin theareahaslostitsfertility. ernment officials. It is an irony that
Local people have witnessed and com- habitants of these areas have sacrificed
plainedaboutthe pollutedair and water everything for the dam but till date they
beingemittedfromtheRexonStripsplant haven't seen the benefits of the electricin Kumarkelavillage of Gurundiablock. ity produced by the dam. Who says big
Thepollutingunitsareemittingammonia dams bring prosperity; for the people of
fumes,strongenoughto corrodetinsheets Malkangiri, the Balimela dam has only
andbur paddyandevengreenvegetables. brought broken dreams. Extreme povThousands of people who live in the erty and lack of basic requirements of
villagesof Ramabahar,
Jampali,Jhagarpur, life in most areas of Malkangiri have
Bargaon,Vedvyas,Balanda,Kuarmunda, made people move closer to Naxals. As
Kalunga, Rajgangpur,Birkera, Koira, of now Naxals have created a strong base
Bonai,Tensa,Birmitrapur,
Bijabahal,etc, in different areas of Chitrakonda,
in Sundargarhsuffer from various skin Balimela, Motu, Gomphakunda, Mv 90,
diseases,tuberculosisandotherallergies. Janbai, Jantabai, Jantri, Jodamba,
Similaris thecasewithpeopleintheBarbil Panasaput, Maliguda, Bhaluguda,
andJodaregionof Keonjhardistrict.The Padmagiri,Gunthabeda,Padia, Korkunda,
failureof the governmentto take along Kudumulugumma,Mat,ili and other areas
local tribalsin the developmentprocess adjoining the Andhra Pradesh and
was successfully exploited by the erst- Chhattisgarh borders.
whileMCCin establishinga strongNaxal
AnotherNaxal-affected souther district
support base in this tribal district of of Orissa is Rayagada, which bears the
same hallmarks of underdevelopment:
Sundargarh.
Affected Districts
Now let us turn our focus to another
Naxal-affecteddistrict,thatis Malkangiri.
Poverty,rampantcorruption,failed governmentmechanismsandprogrammes
are
some characteristicsassociatedwith this
area.The CPI(Maoist),underthe banner
of the erstwhilePWG has createda red
bastion in the more remote areas in
Malkangiri.In the 1970s,the government
of Orissaconstruc,edthe Balimeladam
project in Chitrakondaat Malkangiri.
Villagersfrommorethen250 villageswere
displacedas well as a numberof villages
of Kudugulugumma
block remainedcutoff from the mainland and from
supplies provided by the government
system.The government'sperformance
on the rehabilitationfrontcan be simply
termedas disastrous.Thousandsof people
are still living in tiny islands within the

558

significant inroads into Narayanpatana,

Langadbeda, Pedakamara, Ranigonda,
Upperlachu, Talalachhu, Kesili, Berla,
Barigi, Sekharam,Tikarpada,Pitinabalasa,
Kapalada, Sanpalumunda, Kadabeda,
Dadua, Kuntevu; Kankanput, Gunupur,
Rambaguda, Padampur, Kolanara and
Chandrapurareas of the district. As such
the area is blessed with a huge content of
bauxite; 1,957.3 lakh tonnes in Baphli
Mali, 810 lakh tonnes in Sasubahu Mali,
860 lakh tonnes in Siji Mali near Kasipur.
Utkal Alumina International (a joint enterprise of the Aditya Birla Group and
ALCAN, a Canadian company) is constructinga Rs 4,500 crore aluminiumplant
site at Doraguda near Kasipur.The project
threatens displacement of over 20,000
people, and would have an impact on the
rights to life and livelihood across 82
villages. It has been 12 years now that the
local communities in Rayagada began
protesting against bauxite mining, condemning the breach of constitutional provisions that bar the sale or lease of tribal
lands without consent. People are against
the devastation of their ecosystems, histories and futures, the destruction of
forests, agricultural lands, mountains,
perennial water-streams, the water retention capacity of mountains, so very integral to life and livelihood. So far the
government has not been able to come
out with an answer to people's apprehensions, instead it uses police methods to
suppress the people's voice. And, this
gives Naxals an excellent chance to drive
a wedge between peoples and their own
extreme poverty, rampant corruption and government.
a chaotic but violent social atmosphere. It
Another Naxal-affected district is
has a dominanttribalpopulation and a total Koraput,which has a poverty ratioof 78.65
of 72.03 per cent people in the district live per cent and the literacy rate is miserable
below poverty line. To the outside world, at 36.20 per cent. With a tribal population
the area is known for its backwardness and of 5,85,830, this district has been a hotbed
starvationdeaths. Between 1990 and 2000, Naxal activity since decades. It was as
more than Rs 100 crore has been officially early as in 1980 that an armed group of
spent, but most of the money went to the the PWG moved into interior area of
pockets of leaders, bureaucrats, contrac- Koraput and established its control by
tors, traders,etc. State government as part successfully motivating the Bangladeshi
of its development activity also began refugees and local tribals against the corextensively planting eucalyptus trees but ruption-ridden and failed state. The
this only helped the J K Paper Mill to get goverment's insensitivity towards basic
cheap raw material. A concrete road was problems of the poverty-stricken rural
constructed from Tikiri to Kashipur via tribals are the main cause for the meteoric
Maikanch only to welcome the Utkal Naxal growth in Koraput.It is a sad reality
Alumina Industries. To sum up, all these in Koraput that the government-declared
so-called development projects in no way programmes never really reach the people
helped the majority tribals of the region. for whom it is really made. It was in March
This has alienated the rural tribal people 2000 that the state government made a
and taking advantage of this anger and declaration that the tribal peoples have the
frustrationamongtribals,Naxals have made right to collect minor forest produces. But

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the declarationhas not beenimplemented

till date.Governmentmeasureson development has been mostly limited to lip
serviceonly,withoutreallyunderstanding
theproblemtypicalto thelifestyleof most
of the tribalpeople in Koraput.Thereis
no marketfor minor forest produce in
Koraputandtribalsdo not even have the
access to financialinstitutionsto secure
loans for investments.It is surprisingas
well as shocking that how the government has never thought of developing
self-help groups for the forest dependent communitiesin Koraput.Koraput
has no dearthof mineraldeposits,butthe
government's failure to take a proper
approachto utilise these resources in
favourof local peoplehas only worsened
the situation. Takingadvantageof this
alienationamongthe masses,the Naxals
haveshownthemthedreamof a revolution
- a Maoist Revolution.In the name of
revolutionthe Naxals now control over
400 villagesinKoraput,wheretheycollect
tax (extortion)andhaveestablisheda sort
of paralleladministration.
Thereare several reportsof Naxals holding training
camps,recruitment
campaignsas well as
jan adalats in remote villages like
Kanduruguda,Suvaput,Jadei, Badiput,
Pantulum,
Pudub,Ankaput,Pudu,Dabang,
Tamdingi, Pradhaniput, Patangi and
Machhakund.
Realities of Displacement
Rehabilitationof people displacedby
dams like the Hirakudin Sambalpurdistrict,built way back in 1950s, is not yet
complete. Compensationamountingto
Rs 15,41,46,994 has not been paid for
years. Finally when some compensation
was paid to some people, it was a saga
of gross financial irregularityas many
displaced persons have complained.
People still have not forgotten this
humiliationandthis is one primereason
for the meteoric growth of Naxal violence in different parts of Sambalpur.
As per the recently published Ghadei
committee report,of nine blocks of the
district, three are grossly underdeveloped,threeareunderdevelopedandthree
are developing. Hirakudis the world's
largest earthen dam, thus 28 per cent
area of the district is irrigatedwhereas
remaining72 per cent areahave seen no
signof it. Exceptin someareasin Rengali,
ManeswarandJujumura
block,therestsix
blocks are not linkedwith canal system.
It is a sadrealitythatin all the nineblocks

of Kuchinda, Jamankira, Jujumura, conditionof thepeoplehasironicallyseen

Naktideul, Bamra, Maneswar,Rengali, the use of excessive violenceandcounter
RairakholandDhankauda
thereis anacute violence in the nameof upliftmentof the
shortageof drinkingwaterfacility. The poor.
of thestateis mostly
On the other hand, while the Naxal
electricityrequirement
cateredto by the Hirakuddam, whereas leadershipmakesa strongclaimforfightmost villages in the districtareyet to get ing for the rightsof the poor, the former
properelectricconnectionandsupply.The has so far remainedapatheticin enhangovernmentcontinuesto ignorethe poor, cing thequalityof life in villages,arguing
downtroddenpeople of the area, which instead that all reforms have to follow
was successfullyexploitedby the Naxals. fromrevolution.To themdevelopmentis
Today,Naxalsbelongingto CPI(Maoist) adversarialto revolutionaryconsciousare very much active in most areas of ness. In fact, Naxal groupsin these areas
Sambalpur,especiallyin the remotevil- have vehemently opposed any type of
lages like Jujumura,Burda, Meghapal, constructionwork,it seems thatthey are
Chhamunda, Khalasuni, Naktideul, afraid the government will win over
Rairakhol, Badarama, Mahulpali, the poor ignoranttribalsto its side once
Karadapal,Biriaam,Debikhol,Khariya- they allow the developmentprocess to
Dhinkiri- start.
kani,Debatadahar,
Dingijharan,
A study of Naxal violence in Orissa
duma,HikpaliandJangula.Livingconditions in these villages are simply revealsthattoday'sexplosivesituationhas
inhuman;thereis no sign of crediblegov- been largely fostered by a continuous
ernancein these Naxal infestedareasof absenceof development.
Butviolenceitself
is by no means a way to attaindevelopSambalpur.
It is the cruelrealityborneout of the ill ment, rather it is an extreme form of
thought-out
developmentstrategyinOrissa exploitation.To evade"maldevelopment"
thatin all of the resettlementoperations, andto replacethe existingatmosphereof
the majorityof oustees have ended with chaos and terror,what is requiredis the
lowerincomes;less landthanbefore,less creationof appropriateinstitutions,sysworkopportunities,inferiorhousing,less tems and relations.The need of the hour
access to the resourcesof the commons is to freethe systemfromexploitationand
such as fuel wood and fodderand worse corruption which would bring down
nutritionandphysicaland mentalhealth. societaltension by ensuringequality of
It is estimatedthat aroundthree to five statusand opportunity.To deal with the
millionpeoplehavebeen displacedsince everincreasingNaxalproblem,Orissamust
1950 in Orissa on account of various sufficientlyincreaseandproperlymanage
developmentprojects;of the displaced, fund allocationin the field of healthcare,
morethan50 percentaretribal.TheTenth education,nutritionprogrammes,disease
Five-YearPlan (2002-07) makes a very control, irrigation,rural electrification,
specialmentionon differentpovertyalle- ruralroadsand otherbasic requirements,
viation schemes and programmes;how- especiallyin itsNaxal-affectedruralareas.
evertheirimpacton ruralpovertyremains The statemustensurethatits institutions
dubious.When it comes to implementa- do notbreedexploitation.It mustworkon
tion, the governmentagenda is grossly a formulawherethereis largerdemocratic
in the processesof decisionmismanaged,andit is mostlycorruption- participation
ridden,which raises seriousdoubtsover makingand development.Fl
the government'scommitmentfor human
rightsandsocialsecurity.Thisfailedstate Email:rajatkujur@gmail.com
of affairs so far has been successfully
exploitedby Naxalgroupsto win overthe
local tribalsas a formidablesupportbase.
The asymmetricaldevelopmentin Orissa Economic and Political Weekly
has fostereda conflictbetweenvaluesof
available at
democraticgovernanceandaspirationsof
Alter Media Bookshop
thepeople.TheNaxalmovementin Orissa
has so far managedto sustainbecauseit
BrahmaswomMadomBldg,
successfullyexploitsthe life of marginalM G Road, Trissur680 001
ised people in these areas.It has estabKerala
lished a link betweenunderdevelopment, Email:info
@altermediaindia.com
regional imbalance,economic disparity
andgun culture.But the deplorablypoor

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559