Our team travelled to Chhattisgarh in last week of May’13 and
was in the capital Raipur when Maoists ambushed the convoy carrying many
Congress party leaders and killed over 25 people. We visited 11 districts of
the state. We could not visit the southern tribal districts of Bastar,
Dantewada, Bijapur and Narayanpur due to security reasons.
On first impression, we found the state full of paradox and
perplexing. It took some real deep probing the common man to find some of the
answers.
For example more than 2/3rd of the state’s population
comprises of SC/ST and dalits. The industrial infrastructure is largely public
sector. But the political forces like BSP, SP and communists have only marginal
presence in the state – not only at legislative level but at the ground level
also. This seemed counterintuitive in first instance.
We probed over 250 people from various walks of life to find the
reason. What we discovered is that the state has an extremely deep rooted Sufi
tradition. A substantial large part of the poor and backward population
subscribes to numerous Sufi sects and therefore believes in equality,
contentment and non-violence. In fact, we found no sympathy for the Maoist and
Naxals amongst common people.
The key observations during our Chhattisgarh trip include the
following:
(a)
The economic disparities in the state are
overwhelming. The quintessential Marwari
owns almost all private enterprise. Local population mostly depends on
agriculture, forest produce and industrial/construction labor.
(b)
The social structure is mostly feudal. Resources
are mostly owned by a few and the majority depends upon them for provisions.
(c)
The society is mostly harmonious with little
internal strife on caste or religious grounds. Gender prejudices are relatively
much lower.
(d)
A large majority of the population appeared
politically indifferent. However, the current administration enjoys tremendous
goodwill of the people. The incumbent Chief Minister is very popular both with
people and administration – a rare feat in Indian context.
(e)
The economy retains the colonial structure. The
economic structure is mostly based on exploitation of local natural resources
for exports to other states as well as foreign countries, especially Japan.
(f)
Despite being rich in minerals, sufficient in
power and availability of local labor the state has not made much progress in
industrialization and urbanization. The strong allegiance of local populace and
administration to sustainability is cited as the primary reason. Naxal violence
may also have prevented development of large private enterprise.
(g)
The best part is that the whole state is very
passionate about education. With impeccable execution of food security, the
state administration has enabled people to strive for education. The tribal
population in non-tribal districts was found to be most enthusiastic.
(h)
The modern consumerism has not yet made any
significant inroads in rural and semi-rural areas, though the road network has
improved substantially.
Read our special series Mandate 2014
Thought for the day
Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.
-Mae West (1893-1980)
Word of the day
Hadal (adj):
Pertaining to the greatest ocean depths
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Shri Nārada Uvāca
Fully knowing that the delivery mechanism for food security legislation is far from ready, Congress Party would be more interested in failing to pass the Bill and put the blame on opposition rather than passing the Bill and facing the flake for failing to deliver the promised food.
No comments:
Post a Comment