This ought to be slap on the face of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. American diplomats consider the Indian government "unwilling and unable" to "end the exploitation and victimisation" of the country’s 84 million tribal people. This will be difficult for the government to dismiss since these are revelations that have been made in the secret cables that have been released by The Hindu.
The cables reveal that the American government feared this neglect "plays into the hands of Naxalites." They warn that "India’s rapidly expanding population and growing economy have worsened the tribals’ plight by increasing pressure on shrinking forest areas and their resources."
This sounds extremely familiar. Except that the cries for justice in the alternative media space has been consistently and callously ignored by the Indian government. There's no loot taking place; what's happening is called development. That's what has been the official line.
The government has responded to the tribal peoples’ plight by passing the Forest Rights Act – a law which aims finally to recognise the rights of tribal communities to the forests on which they depend. But the cables point out that there are "entrenched and corrupt interests exploiting the forests."
It is ironical and, in fact, tragic that it has been left to American diplomats to point these out. The cable in question was essentially the US Embassy's assessment of the Naxalite situation, but it willy-nilly made the point.
As the cables state, "the issue is pressing, as non-tribals, aided and abetted by government officials, use corruption and coercion to remove tribals illegally from the forests and gain access to resources." This is a major problem for tribal communities all over the country, says Survival International.
The cables concluded that "India’s poorly motivated and often corrupt bureaucracy cannot be counted on to administer a bill aimed at protecting the environment and tribals, which the vast majority of Indians care little or nothing about."
Valid point, that. Only, that the myopic UPA government fails to see it. Staring straight at its face, though it is.
Reactions to these cables are yet to come in. But Survival has been prompt in reacting. Stephen Corry, Director of Survival, said, "As the cables say – ‘integration’ of India’s tribal peoples has really meant becoming ‘landless laborers at the bottom of the social ladder.’ It is high time that India really addressed the historic injustice suffered by its tribal peoples and abandoned this grossly wrong and outmoded notion of ‘integrating’ tribal peoples. Until these attitudes change, the ‘exploitation and abuse’ noted in the WikiLeaks cables will continue."
The tragedy of the unabashed plunder of India's natural resources taking place in mostly tribal areas is that it makes sense even to American diplomats, while the Manmohan Singh regime fails to feel the pulse of the people in the heartland.
