INDIA: Government denies the right to food of indigenous people affected by the development projects in Madhya Pradesh 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learn from a field visit that more than 30 hamlets of Mandla and Seoni districts are going to be affected by the power plant project being launched by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) in association with the government since 1984. Most of the hamlets are predominantly occupied by the tribes or indigenous people. The villagers have already gone through the displacement by dam construction in 1990s for the purpose of the irrigation water and electricity for the villagers. However, the benefits did not reach the affected villagers but rather increased their food insecurity by taking the land from them. Proposing the power plant project this time, the government suggests that the water from dam would be used for the power plant, reversing the primary purpose. Until today, the district administration has held a village representatives (Gram Sabha) meeting only once in April 2010, while making several informal visits or survey attempting to persuade the villagers to agree to the project. Three Gram Sabhas passed the resolution against the project. Lack of legitimate procedure to launch the development project exposed in this case infringes the domestic laws and the rights of indigenous people envisaged in the international laws, exacerbating food security and poverty of tribes.

 

CASE DETAIL: (based on the field visit and the research report):

Lack of legitimate process violating the right to food

The Bargi dam launched in 1970s and completed in 1990s submerged 162 villages including the Chutka Hamlet of Mandla district. Mandla district is predominantly occupied by the tribes and fully under the Schedule V area defined in Constitution, which means that the rights of tribes over the land or resources should be fully protected and no project can be launched without legitimate procedure and agreement of Gram Sabha (elected administration body at village level). In reality, the villagers have been confronting the denial of their rights and deprivation of their productive resources by the development projects.

The villagers affected by Bargi dam construction had lost their land, houses, and income sources from the river or forest without land compensation at that time, and currently fear that they would lose their land and other productive resources again by the power plant project that requires approximately 725 hectares. Chutka, Patha, Tatighat of Patha Panchahayt, and Kunda and Bhaliwada of Kunda Panchayat hamlets are likely to be directly affected whereas more than 30 villages of Mandla and Seoni districts will be allegedly directly or indirectly affected.

The Bargi dam was constructed for the public purpose providing water for the villagers, whereas the current government insists that the water from the dam would be given not to the villagers but used by the power plant. Despite the opposition of the villagers who have passed the resolution against the project in the meeting of three Gram Sabhas, the administration has been attempting to launch the project by visiting the villages, conducting surveys, and proposing compensation, without legitimate procedure. The administration also has allowed the company, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) to conduct survey and visit the villages several times without prior notice, failing to protect the rights of the villagers. It is witnessed that the officials of the company further threatened to put the villagers into the jail saying that the power plant project would be launched soon.

In 1980s, the helicopters had come to Chutka village to drill holes on the land and collect samples from the ground. Some villagers recalled that they did not have any idea about them and just used the stones as a cooking tool at home. Since then, without prior notice, the survey teams from time to time came to the village and allegedly threatened to put in jail to the villagers who asked them to leave. The current Collector Mr. K K Khare assured that the project would not be carried out without approval of the villagers, acknowledging that the new project requires the approval to be launched. He on the other hand suggested that the villagers would be provided with INR 40,000 (USD 882.5) per acre as compensation. The Collector did not suggest the accurate indicator for land assessment nor took proper process for that. In fact, the villagers found that the land price exchanged at the market is much higher than what the Collector suggested.

Even after the media disclosed the power plant project in October 2009, the local administration did not inform anything in public and the survey team rather came to the village to measure the land without any notice in November 2009. The villager, on December 22 2009, wrote a letter to the Governor expressing their opposition to the project as well as their concern about losing their nature with forest, land and water, and about environment destruction. The letter was sent to the Collector who forwarded it to the General Administration Department who conveyed it to the Governor. However, the Governor has not yet replied to the villagers.

In March 2010, Mr. Sanat Kumar Agarwal, a chief engineer of the NPCIL along with other officials came to the village and told that the power project would be launched. On April 13, the district administration held a meeting with the Gram Sabha in Chutka hamlet to explain the project and its impact. Jabalpur Divisional Commissioner Mr. Prabhat Parasher announced that nothing would be done without taking the villagers into confidence.

On July 6, 2010, the survey team again visited the village without prior notice and two days later the village council had a meeting and decided not to allow the survey and the project. One survey team member Mr. G N Solanki pledged in written statement that they would not do anything without knowledge of the villagers and would have a meeting with the villagers in public, but they did not appear to the meeting while the villagers from 15 villagers came for the meeting. On July 26, the villagers submitted a petition to the Collector demanding that the villagers should be informed and nothing should be done in a secret manner. The Collector has not yet replied to the petition. In December 2010, the villagers also sent a letter to the Ministry of Environment who has also yet to reply.

On December 26, without having any proper responses and legitimate procedure from the government, the villagers held a public meeting in Kunda village. It was attended by about 5,000 villagers from 54 villages affected by the Bargi Dam, and who are likely to be affected by the proposed nuclear power plant.

The villagers in the meeting suggested that the height of the water in the dam be reduced to 418 meters after December 15 each year, that cultivable land in the submergence area be returned to the former owners; that fish cultivation be given a boost; that the dam water be used only for drinking water supply or agriculture and not to private corporations; and that individual and community rights be restored at once in accordance with the provisions of the Forest Rights’ Act, 2006.

Three Gram Sabhas of the Chutka, Tatighar and Kunda villages have passed resolutions against the power plant project. On the contrary, the Sub Divisional Magistrate pressured the Secretary of the villages to withdraw the resolution.

As shown in the case, the non-transparent and non-legitimate process creates suspicion and unaccountability against the administration and the company who in fact violate the law and the human rights.

‘Development project’ aggravating child malnutrition, food insecurity and poverty

 

More than half of the total population in Chutka is tribes such as Gonds or Baiga. Out of 200-odd households in total, only 15 percent possess agricultural land ranging from one to twenty acres after displacement by Bargi dam construction. Many families cultivate the ‘drowned’ land that they have leased for ten years when the water of Bargi dam recedes. They harvest wheat once a year after rainy season paying INR 100 rent per acre. In general, a family can make INR 10,000-15,000 (USD 221-332) per year from two acres of land, which is less than one USD per day.

The forest has been providing various resources for the villagers for generations. Most families collect chicory and mahua fruit and flowers, and other fruit or seeds, which supplement their food while protecting the forest as well. Given the fact that the villagers do not have sufficient land to manage nutritious food and other necessity, and identify with nature, the forest is a significant part of their life economically and culturally. If the power plant project displaced the villagers to non-forest area, the villagers would lose even the small pieces of land they own at present as well as other resources from the forest, resulting in increasing food insecurity. On the other hand, as a tribe who has a right to claim the land under the Forest (rights) Act 2006, 68 families submitted the application for land claim, for which no result has come yet.

The agricultural lands are mostly occupied by the powerful feudal landlords who even took over the land drowned by the dam. Only after the villagers’ protest, the administration authority forced the landlords to give it to smaller farmers who usually possess 2.5 to 7.5 acres. However, the administration authority failed to protect the rights of small scale-farmers resulting in that some landlords have already snatched the land back from the small scale-farmers who have the title to the land but lost the right to cultivation.

The families affected by Bargi dam do not enjoy the benefits from the dam. They were provided with solar panels attached to batteries, which they use in daytime. The regular electricity was supplied to the villagers a few years ago without installing the meters in every house. As the bills were delivered to the village regardless of usage and were not paid, the electricity supply was cut off at the end of 2009. The villagers currently use oil lantern with no electric supply. The villagers do not get irrigation water from the dam either and further observe that they get less rain after the dam was constructed. The power plant will also aggravate food security of about 2,000 villagers who manage their lives by fishing, as the power plant will set up radioactive substance in water that will affect fishes and other water bodies.

In addition, safe drinking water is not sufficient. The villagers go down to the Narmada riverside to get drinking water. Only three hand pumps are available in the village, which is not sufficient for all. Women have to wake up early morning 3:30am to fetch water at the river to avoid the crowd.

While the government tries to launch various development projects, the villagers suffer from lack of basic infrastructure to ensure the right to food and health care. The Primary Health Centre (PHC) is far away from the village, taking two hours to reach. The subsidy for delivery, INR 1400 is usually spent for transportation to reach the PHC or public hospitals and food. The ambulance for emergency is not available any more. The anganwadi (child care centre) worker regularly provides vaccines under the program and does her work at her own house as the anganwadi building is not given. The anganwadi worker estimates that about 55 children are malnourished, and mothers who take the malnourished children to the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) find it difficult to stay in 14 days for the treatment as having other children and housework to look after at home and there is no additional assistance from the NRC. There is no guarantee for the malnourished children to be fully recovered after 14 days-treatment. The lack of infrastructure and poor system discourages the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) to do her service. The honorarium (150 INR for accompanying with pregnant woman to the public health institutions) she receives for her health care activities for the mothers and the children in the village is spent for transportation and is not given to her if it is not ready at the public hospitals.

In short, the development projects have not benefited the villager affected and aggravated the food security as the villagers have lost their land, one of the main resources for food while the administration authority fails to respect the right to food and health, neglecting their duty to provide basic facilities and to implement the social programs targeted for the poor.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The United National Declaration of Indigenous People adopted by General Assembly Resolution 61/295 on 13 September 2007 clearly states that the indigenous people should have right of self-determination, right to development in accordance with their needs and interest, right to land, territories and resources and control over developments and such as. The Declaration implies that the indigenous people often confront discrimination and exclusion in decision-making process and exploitation of the natural resources that they depend for centuries, resulting in the violation of their civil and political rights and loss of their cultural identity.

In particular, the Article 10 states that no relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return. The Article 8 emphasizes that the state shall provide effective mechanism for prevention of and redress for any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources.

The obligations are translated into the domestic legal framework in India and therefore, the rights of indigenous people are guaranteed by the domestic laws. However, the laws are not effectively implemented and rather infringed by the law enforcement agencies or administration officials.

Mandla district of this case is one of the districts of Madhya Pradesh which is fully under Schedule V areas defined in the Constitution. In 1998, the Government of India issued executive instruction to set up systems for consulting with the Gram Sabhas as the Collector of Mandla acknowledges and detail the procedure for land acquisition. Accordingly, the tribes in this area can enjoy their rights over land, forests, water bodies and other resources unless the villagers and gram sabhas agree to the project and land acquisition. Under the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act of 1996, the tribes can enjoy their rights over the natural resources and the government should take legitimate procedure and obtain the agreement of the villagers to launch development project in the scheduled areas.

More strongly in 1997, The Supreme Court of India (Samatha v. State of Andhra Pradesh A.I.R. 1997 S.C. 3297) held that forests and lands in scheduled areas, irrespective of whether owned by the government or by a tribal community, cannot be leased out to non-tribal or to the private companies for mining or industrial uses.

The Mandla district administration, infringing the domestic laws and international human rights principles, denies the rights of tribal communities and other villagers and rather contributes to aggravate food insecurity and poverty of the tribes. The state government who is the actual and main duty bearer in implementing human rights and laws also fails to respect and protect the rights of the tribes.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please join us in expressing your concern for the villagers who are likely displaced by the power plant project without proper legitimate procedure. Please be noted that the government authority infringe the domestic laws and international human rights laws for the indigenous people and other villagers. The AHRC has also written separate letters calling for the intervention of the UN Special Rapporteurs on the right to adequate food and on the rights of indigenous people.

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