On 10 June, 2004 when the news of death by starvation of five tribals at Amlasol in West Medinipur district in West Bengal appeared in a section of the Kolkata press, the initial public reaction was one of shock and surprise. Many found it hard to believe that at Amlasol some people who were not beggars had died only because they had no food to eat. And it happened in a state where the government has been proudly claiming its exemplary success in rural development and land reforms programme for more than two decades.
As expected, the West bengal Government refused to accept the fact and tried to explain away the cause of deaths as resulting from malnutrition or chronic ailment. Meanwhile, more news poured in. Investigation revealed that landlessness coupled with loss of traditional livelihood had led to the gradual impoverishment of the shavar tribals at Amlasol. While some of them had died from hunger, others were actually living on the brink of starvation.
In the face of this revealation, the chief minister finally conceded that starvation like situation prevailed in some remote rural areas. That the Amlasol tragedy was the result of official indifference to the people in a backward village in the midst of forests was also borne out by a statement made by Mr. Upen Kisku, the minister in charge of backward classes’ welfare. On 4 March, 2005 the minister boastfully announced that Amlasol had now undergone a “radical” change thanks to the development work taken up by the government. By development programme he meant digging tubewells, setting up healthcare centre etc. (The statesman, 5.3.05).
The minister thus indirectly admitted that despite the provision of several poverty-alleviation schemes introduced by the central government, Amlasole had so far been cruelly neglected. He also seemed oblivious of the fact that Amlasole was not an isolated case. Only a few days before he made the above statement, another tragedy had taken place in the Jalangi block of Murshidabad district. As reported in the statesman (22.2.05) one Alimuddin Sheikh in Dayarampur village at Jalangi had died from hunger. The continuing crosion caused by the river padma had robbed him of his land and living and turned him almost into a beggar, one year ago . His wife jaheda, according to the report was also battling for her life and she hadn’t had a morsel of food for days together. On 26 February, the same paper would break the news that though the district administration had meanwhile taken care of Jaheda, it was too late. Jaheda died on 25 February and had her name added to the sordid saga of official insensitivity towards the pauperised people living on the Ganga Padma embankments in Malda and Murshidabad districts.
Erosion
The problem of land erosion along the Ganga-Padma basin in Malda and Murshidabad has been the socio-political agenda for the last years or a little more. The problem, however, is not a recent one. While the erratic nature of the ganga, in this area, can be traced back to as early as the 13th century, the Bhagirathi, a branch of the Ganga had also changed its course and damaged the adjacent lands and villages several times in the last 150 years. The problem however assumed endemic proportions in the 1970s, following the construction of the Farakka Barrage in Murshidabad. The experts maintain that by obstructing the natural course of the river, the Barrage had definitely aggravated the problem of erosion and contributed to the process of silting at the mouth of the Bhagirathi. According to available statistics, while the Ganga in 1979 damaged 100 and 60 acres of land respectively in Murshidabad and Malda, the amount of land eroded by the river shot up to 400/500 acres in those two districts during 1998-99.
In this note we shall concentrate on Murshidabad and particularly on Jalangi because Masum sent a fact-finding team to the area, took up the case with the district administration and later set up with the assistance of Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Hong Kong, a public Tribunal to inquire into the condition of people in the erosion-strikes Jalangi area.
Jalangi
In the course of the Ganga, Murshidabad occupies a place of significance because it is here that the great river divides into two branches’ the Bhagirathi and Padma. Jalangi is particularly important because the Padma takes a south-east turn at this point and traversing around 60km enters Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan). Jalangi is situated almost on the borderline between the two countries and this border issue has also added to the misery of the erosion-affected people, as for example people who have lost their lands due to erosion cannot use the new alluvial land (char) that has come up in the midst of the river. The geo-political borderline between Jalangi and Bangladesh stands in the way of their using the new char-lands for cultivation.
As we have already noted, since the 1970s, lakhs of people living on the Ganga-Padma embankments in Malda and Murshidabad have fallen prey to the wrath of the angry river which retaliates against man-made obstruction by devouring land and homestead on the emlbankments. We have heard of the centre-State diologue on this problem and the steps taken to prevent erosion by setting up boulders and clay dams or ‘bandhs’. These measures, however, have failed to stop erosion. The experts attribute the failure to the permanent problem created by the Farakka Barrage. Some also maintain that the Ganga-Padma embankments, in this region, are weakly founded for geological reasons and hence no short-term measure can prevent the erosion menace in Malda and murshidabad.
Whatever be the reason, the fact remains that people in this area have been losing their agricultural lands, fleeing their homes and reeling poverty and insecurity for decades together. The Masum team which visited jalangi in january, 2005 talked to a large number of people and learnt of their plight in the face of continuing land crosion. As there is hardly any alternative means of living, growing landlessness has practically pauperised a considerable section of the peasants in Jalangi.
People’s Plight In Murshidabad, the Jalangi block is situated by the bank of the Padma. It consists of 14 mouzas with a 9000 strong population.
The village elders can distinctly remember that only seven or eight years back, Jalangi was about four kilometres away from the Indo – Bangla border. The position has now completely changed because by devouring land, the padma has reduced the dividing line and made the condition of the local people extremely vulnerable. As masum found, about 600 families in udaynagar, Dayarampur, paraspur, Taltali, suryanagar and some other villages in Jalangi are now living on starvation diet, and with the Padma fast approaching, hundreds of people are facing the threat of being uprooted any day. The local people told the MASUM team that hundreds of families have already lost their homes and some other hundreds have left their places for fear of being gobbled up by the river. Meanwhile, a number of young girls have been taken away and forced into the flesh trade in urban areas.
The villagers also added that several meetings with the BDO and other officials of the local administration were of no avail. As in Amlasole, so in Jalangi, none of the special schemes meant for people living below the poverty line (BPL) has been properly implemented. Many people haven’t heard the names of such schemes as Antyodaya, Anna yojana, Gramin Rojgar Yojana. Annapurna Yojana or the recent Mid-day meal scheme for school children. We present below some of the statements made by villagers in Jaykrishnapur. The statements, combined together, constitute a tragic story of human misery on the one hand and the apathy of a heartless administration on the other.
Bisad Mondol, aged 70, lost 12 bighas of cultivable land. In 1995 the BDO granted him Rs. 900 as compensation; but in reality he got Rs. 800 since he was forced to donate Rs. 100 to the party fund of the ruling CPI(M). The same story was repeated by Nahul Sarkar and Sukchand Mondal both of them had to ‘donate’ Rs. 100 to ‘party fund’.
Saibal Mondal, aged 50, told the masum team that his land had been washed away by the river. Since then his family has been living under abject conditions and unable to bear the growing poverty his daughter has committed suicide. He has received neither any compensation for his lost land nor any kind of financial assistance under any official scheme.
Abdul Rezzak shah alleged that though he has lost his land, he hasn’t yet received any compensation, not even a BPL card. Abdul is now desperately trying to maintain his family by working as a rickshaw puller. Kultoli Bibi, who is living in acute poverty hasn’t ever seen a BPL card; whereas sukchand mondal, even as he is a cardholder of Antyodaya Yojana alleged that it made little difference whether one got one such a card or not.
This endless story of deprivation was confirmed by Mr. Santosh Roy, the Anchal Pradhan of Ghospara panchyat. He admitted that Food for Work programme had not been implemented in his area and BPL cards hadn’t yet reached out to around 500 vulnerable families. Mrs. shamsara Begam, Panchyat pradhan, also agreed that Jalangi was worst affected by erosion and many people there were living in acute poverty. She however ruled out any case of death by starvation. All the officials we met shared our observation that people in Jalangi were living in a dismal condition plagued with landlessness, unemployment, lack of healthcare services, to name a few Dr. Ashis Ghosh, a local medical officer admitted that they don’t have the proper medical infrastructure to treat the people suffering from starvation and malnutrition. Dr. Motiur Rahaman of Baharampur District Hospital ruefully remarked that the Jalangi people who were being referred to his hospital were too weak to utter a word and there was little chance for their recovery and survival.
MASUM”s Role
Since January last year, masum has been in touch with the local administration and trying to draw their attention to the miserable condition prevailing in Jalangi. We have met the local officials, submitted memorandums to the district Magistrate (D.M.) and Block Development officer (B.D.O.) of Jalangi stressing the need for immediate rehabilitation of the uprooted families and providing employment or financial assistance to those living on the verge of starvation. In July, Masum informed the Additional District Magistrate Mr. Gulam Ali Ansari that the foodgrain sent to Daya rampur village was not fit for human consumption. masum also brought the matter to the notice of the D.M. Mr. N.M. Prasad. The DM however maintained that the quality of rice sent to Dayarampur was good.
Meanwhile, not happy with the official response, masum took up the Jalangi case with unicef and AHRC; and finally took the initiative to constitute a public Tribunal together with AHRC. The Tribunal conducted the hearing for two days 23-24 september, visited the erosion- hit places and talked to the affected people. we reproduce the Tribunal’s report in the following chapter.
Acknowledgement :
1. R. K. Mukherjee, The Changing Face of Bengal, Calcutta University, 1938.
2. Kalyan Rudra, Ganga Bhangan Katha (in Bangla), Mrittika, 2004
3. Supriya Sengupta, Nadi (in Bangla), Jijnasa, 1982
4. The Ananda Bazar Patrika, June 2004.
5. The Statesman, June 2004, February March 2005.
