Download full report: http://sanhati.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Undertrials.in_.Jharkhand.pdf
Excerpts: from Deprived of Rights over Natural Resources, Impoverished Adivasis get prison.
..Adivasis are being hunted as Naxalites in their own homeland... structur
al and cultural violence that produce of more of the same and additional direct violence of torture, bloodshed and killing. While they form a vicious circle of a rotten socio-cultural system that reproduces itself, the ruling elites, who benefit disproportionately from the present state of affairs, are unable even to recognize and acknowledge the rottenness and their causes.
Such a state of affairs might further worsen the situation instead of reforming the system to reduce conflicts in the long run.
In such a context, the state apparatus has been approaching this extremely complex issue of simmering insurgency arising out of long-standing, unresolved, genuine grievances by a narrowly perceived security centric approach which is flawed...This approach of the state only help aggravates the troubles of Adivasis in rural areas who would be picked up from their homes and villages with false allegations of being Naxalites or being involved in LWE often based on misinformation and bias against Adivasis.
Consequently, impoverished Adivasis come to bear multiple burdens of being falsely implicated in criminal incidents that occur due to those involved in armed criminal gangs aided by the state that cannot easily be traced and controlled by the police/CRPF
.. the most deprived sections of Adivasis have adhered to their alternate imaginations of a more egalitarian, democratic, authentic and less exploitative relationships with the other and with the natural environment. However, given the onslaught of the so-called, “modern” capitalist mainstream
values, the extinction of Adivasi societies, their cultural values and legacies of egalitarianism,
pure reciprocity, symbiotic relationship with the nature, etc. are imminent. Their distinct, more
sustainable socio cultural, political and economic values and systems, although labelled as
“primitive,” have increasingly been recognised as a solution to the impending catastrophe of environmental pollution and ecological imbalances, and a corrective to the onslaught of
destructive capitalist mainstream..
A meaningful expression of such solidarity must show itself in the emergence of a more organised people’s democratic rights movement for
1. legal and financial aid to all alleged Naxalite under-trials ..
2. “welfare measures,” such as distribution of cheap food materials
3. an alternate development paradigms based on Adivasi ethos.. realistic people-cantered, village-society and agriculture oriented small scale labour intensive. All this will work if people’s meaningful and equal participation
4. Work towards the re-enactment of PESA.. Panchayat level with their democratically elected representatives will manage institutions of primary education, health centres, the public distribution system, etc. And take the control of all natural resources
5. arrangements to redistribute the so-called “wastelands”.. restore all pieces of land belonged to Adivasis illegally appropriated by non-Adivasis, at least, during post-independence period.
6. Make sure that no Adivasi will be displaced from his/her homeland
7. Ensure that the trees in the forests, and the water in ponds, lakes, streams and rivers and the bauxite on the mountains remain undisturbed and the subsoil minerals are utilized more sustainably and equitably for the welfare of all, with priority for the people in whose landthey are found and not for the profit of a handful of greedy industrialists, politicians and their agents.
8. Supreme Court of India in 2014 has ruled that “police officers are liable for prosecution on being found guilty of filing false charges against any
individual despite knowing his or her innocence. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/punish-cops-who-file-false-charges-sc/articleshow/29226094.cms. People’s Movements and Human Rights Activists need to work for innocent undertrials most of whom are languishing in jails just because they do not have access to the legal system.