Forced to fight

Background
The government has planned a series of dams to the north of Mumbai in order to satisfy Mumbai’s projected thirst for water in 2025. Twenty four tribal villages from Jawhar (Thane district) and Trimbak (Nashik district) will submerge in these proposed dams. 3,461 hectares of land will submerge. This includes 1624 hectares of forest and the rest is cultivable land. These villages do not have irrigation facilities, lands are degrading and so is the forest. The livelihood of people is in complete peril. While government is busy spending over 2000 crores for Mumbai’s need of 2025, it has not provided basic livelihood security to its tribal citizens. The law requires the government to consult Gramsabhas (village assemblies) before it undertakes a project of displacement. The government has broken the law here, kept villages in ignorance, and has planned to sacrifice the livelihoods of its weakest citizens.
The youth in some of the affected villages have formed a ‘Khargi-hill Dharan Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti’ (Anti-dam fight committee). Vayam has decided to support this struggle.

Threatened by “development”; life at still in village Hateri

Response of the villagers
Two villages in the submergence zone; Dhadhri and Kokanpada (Hateri) are associated with Vayam since last three years. Village Dhadhri belongs to Thakur tribe, while Kokanpada has Kokna and Warli tribes. Majority of people are subsistence farmers. Only a few youth are educated over 10th standard.
In last two years, Vayam’s youth teams in these two villages have mobilized the village community to protect forest and improve water and land. The teams generated employment for the people through NREGA. They also halted corruption of the bureaucracy by using legal powers. Communities have also passed resolutions of Kurhad-bandi (ban on felling trees) and Charai-bandi (ban on free grazing). They have documented biodiversity in PBRs and are collaborating with forest department (FD) in reviving the forests. Kokanpada village and FD are working to plant 70,000 trees in the nearby forest.
While the villages were planning and working towards their own development, the dam came in as an unwanted guest. Government servants told people that the dam was a seal of fate. They should simply surrender, because “government is all-powerful and will always do what it wants to”.
The aged villagers pleaded that their ancestors had settled here, the river was their mother; that their gods lived in the forest, and they had kept the lands and forest as a wealth for their children. They begged that the government should simply let them live and not send them to ‘vanvaas’ (destitution). The youth in the villages knew the powers of Gramsabha and believed in their democratic rights. They refused to surrender and organized the Sangharsh Samiti.

Vayam is opposing the dam on three grounds:
1. This project is leading towards further centralization of development. This will result in imbalance of development, where one section of population will be sitting on a mount of wealth, overflow of amenities, and over-consumption of natural resources. The other section – a huge majority – will be deprived of its sources of livelihood. Our country should have decentralized development, so that a majority of population gets their opportunity to grow, gets a right over natural resources, and a right to sustain at least minimum security of livelihood.
2. Centralization of governance over natural resources is anti-democratic. It brings bureaucratic and political top-shots’ control over basic resources like water and forest. These top-guns are seldom accountable to common people. Decentralized power is better in accountability; it is easy for village people to ask questions to their Sarpanch. Democracy cannot remain limited to voting rights. Local people must have rights to govern, manage, and conserve their natural resources. Water as well as forest must be governed in a decentralized and democratic manner.
3. Growth in GDP is not development. Enabling a big number of people to survive with dignity is development. If this number grows, that means our country is developing. A country with 60% farmer population cannot fake itself to be ‘developed’, if farmers continue to choose death. The mad rush for urbanization and centralization is resulting in exclusion of a majority of rural/tribal people. Forcible exclusion from opportunities of growth will destabilize our country.

Dam the tribal villagers and get water to the bulging metropolis

The chain of dams (Damanganga-Pinjal link project) to provide water to Mumbai is a symbol of centralization, autocratic control over water, and exclusion of tribal/rural people from development. Vayam is therefore opposing it. We are supporting the people’s organization: ‘Khargihill Dharan Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti’.

To volunteer and support:
Write to: vayamindia@gmail.com

Our people… (आपली माणसं)

During my recent visit to Jawhar, while talking with Milind about Vayam and the areas that is being focused by Vayam, I instinctively asked him about the ‘forces’ that drove him to Jawhar and made him initiate this activity. He said that the people living in these small villages are our people and we take efforts for our people, don’t we? (ती आपली माणसं आहेत आणि आपल्या माणसांसाठी आपण काम करतोच….)

I was stuck at Milind’s answer.

I started thinking about ‘our people’.

Have I seen ‘our people’? Do I know where they are? Do I know how do they look? What do they think? Why do they think what they think? Have I been able to come out of my own intelligent design of rational human behaviour and look at it as something that stems from factors like culture and environment and even government?

‘Our people’ could be different from us. But the fact, very subtly, remains that they are our people. A fact that we, the urban mortals, have probably forgotten.
I was listening to the newly elected Grampanchayat members reading out various operational instructions for conducting the Grampanchayat meeting. They all were quite young, lean, energetic and with those extremely curious eyes. (Listening them read Marathi – that too शासकीय मराठी – very slowly, giving emphasis on each word made me smile. Not because there were errors (in fact there was no error at all), but it made me think about my own habit of unnecessarily wanting to finish everything fast!) They were reading slowly and there was discussion at certain points that they did not understand. Milind would explain things and at some places, he would just ask them to find the answer on their own. As a witness to this process, I felt a sense of tranquillity within. It was little strange, but I did feel it. Probably it was the happy feeling that ‘my people were learning something new’. Something that will help them enrich their lives.

However philosophical it may sound, the truth cannot be denied. Truth that says that ultimately we all are connected. ती आपली माणसं आहेत. And they definitely do not deserve just compassion and tears. They deserve to be capable. Sometimes I hate the word ‘social service’ when it comes to working for weaker sections of society. What is needed is methodological approach towards solving their problems.

Vayam is doing that. By teaching our people to use one of the most effective yet not utilised (even by urban people) weapons – law. Believe me, when I went through those operational instructions, I was glad to note that government has actually prescribed many things in detail. The only problem is with the implementation. It could create wonders if Grampanchayat members understand the nitty-gritty of the law and run the show accordingly.
It is time we realise how important it is to make people aware of their rights. The whole social imbalance emerges from ignorance. (At least it is responsible for a large part of it!) And that is why what Vayam is eyeing is important. Vayam is not just a sympathetic movement for adivasis, it does not look at ‘providing service’ – it looks at ‘providing wisdom’.
Let us also look at the same direction. Collective vision, like collective work – is always powerful.

- Utpal Chandawar

(The writer is a columnist and media professional based in Pune.)

‘Vayam’ as seen by a visitor

It’s often said about India that where something is true, the opposite will also be true. Paradoxes have become an integral part of contemporary Indian culture. One of such stark contradictions can easily be seen if one looks below the beautiful veneer of natural beauty of tribal areas and landscapes. The disconnect between humans living here and rest of the fast growing, would-be superpower is enormous.  A visit to Jawhaar and villages around, only a few hours away from where I was born and brought up, makes me feel like a foreigner.

A bumiheen(landless) farmer from Vhelpaadaa(a village few KM from Jawhaar) tells me with all the hope he could gather of getting help. He has been doing whatever he can, to reclaim a piece of land confiscated before independence for forest conservation and then passed into clutches of “forest department” post 1947. Since the time his ancestors were kicked out, nearly half a dozen of his generations are farming illegally on their own land. There are about 448 such bhumiheen farmers in Vhelpaadaa alone and hundreds if not thousands of such villages still fighting for the rights “free India” owes. As clichéd as it may sound, all attempts to garner some real support from political left, right or center beyond “vote and/or note” have been in vain.

The recent Forest Rights Act of 2006, makes provision to reclaim the land owned by such farmers. It also lays out procedures to legalize and regularize illegal farming and resolve conflicts, if any, during distribution of the reclaimed land. All of this is shrewdly kept either only on paper or sometimes not even on paper by government officials. With no access to education and/or any other skills, these farmers continue to be exploited as much as possible by bureaucrats and baabus sitting in the forest department, while the department enjoys forest resources and wealth it generates.

This is the place where Vayam steps in. Vayam is a registered charity with an aim to create awareness among tribals of their own legal rights and to help create leadership from within these communities to fight for those rights independently. Milind Thatte, founder of Vayam and a passionate activist tells us (a group of urban facebook “likers”) about how he and his colleagues at Vayam, conduct training sessions to explain the laws and procedures to follow, in a layman’s language. Vayam has a very simple but effective methodology. Cultivate local leadership by honing the native volunteers to create awareness and help local communities to fight on their own. While eliminating any scope of xenophobia towards outsiders like himself, this approach also eliminates any possible sense of moral philanthropic superiority among the activists and volunteers.

The classical Forest Vs. Humans dichotomy pops out during the discussion. Surely, if the forest department is failing to conserve the natural resources, we certainly can’t rely on those uneducated, lowly skilled peasants to do the job! Or so does the echo-friendly classist in me thinks. Travelling through lush green landscapes of Jawhaar, “Vayam”, now seems like an environmentally ignorant, pro-human, anti-green organization. Only till Milind leads us to “Hateri”, another remote village in Jawhaar taluka, to show a couple of interesting projects.

He doesn’t take us to business straight away though. A local volunteer is looked up to show us the place. Vayam’s style! This is not a difficult job for Milind. Most of the village knows and treats him as one of their own. We see a rain water harvesting project built and maintained by the local farmers. Few kilometers away is a block of forest land on a hillock, planted with trees, maintained by and for the local farmers as a communal resource. No external effort has to be put for conservation of this land, neither does it get depleted by any extravagant consumption. This was possible, explains Milind, because local farmers who are the real stakeholders of forest resources were not only made aware of the need to conserve but also given ownership and hence responsibility of their own land. A rare living example of “by, of and for the people” phenomenon outside of law books and political rhetorics. This gives me a glimpse to an effective middle ground for the “Green” ergonomics.
Unfortunately these are still rare examples and majority of the cases still live in an “on paper” wonderland. This suppression and continuous exploitation can start taking roots of movements like those in red corridor, which can easily be nipped in the bud by effective communication and justice to local farmers. Vayam’s approach looks promising in that direction. Apart from legal knowledge, Vayam also tries to imbibe technical know-how of modern echo-friendly farming techniques in the youth. Graampanchaayat of “gorthaN”, after witnessing the great work of Vayam, has leased out a piece of land to build a training facility. The project, says Milind, is estimated to cost around Rs.10 Lakhs. Fundraising is underway with hopes of having this facility to train local youth in a much better and effective way. This truly looks to be a move in a positive and an even tempered direction.

Tejas Gokhale
+353 74 911 1640

जिंकण्‍याची गोष्‍ट

लोकमत दि. 21 जानेवारी च्‍या अंकात प्रसिध्‍द झालेला हा लेख… (लोकमत लिंक)

लोकशाही म्‍हणजे मत देणं आणि पुढची पाच वर्षे हतबल होऊन पाहत राहणं – असं नव्‍हे. लोकशाहीत लोकांचे राज्‍य अभिप्रेत आहे, म्‍हणजेच लोकांना काही अधिकार असावेत आणि ते वापरून त्‍यांना सुखाने राहता यावे – असे अपेक्षित आहे. पण बरेचदा आपल्‍याला हे अधिकार माहितीच नसतात आणि असले तरी ते वापरून आपल्‍याला खरंच काही जिंकता येईल असे वाटत नाही. ज्‍याच्‍याकडे पैसा आहे किंवा गुंड आहेत, त्‍यांनाच अधिकार असतात अशी समजूत आपण नकळत का होईना स्‍वीकारलेली असते. आपण कायमच मेंढरासारखे इकडून तिकडे हाकलले जाणार, हे काही बरोबर नाही, असं वाटून आम्‍ही ‘वयम्’ चळवळीच्‍या कार्यकर्त्‍यांनी एक प्रयोग केला.

आपल्‍याकडे पैसा, सत्‍ता, किंवा गुंड नसले, तरीही सामान्‍य लोक म्‍हणून लोकशाहीत आपल्‍याला न्‍याय्य अधिकार आणि सन्‍मान असलाच पाहिजे. असा अधिकार मागून मिळणार नाही. समजा, शिवाजी महाराज आदिलशहाकडे गेले आणि म्‍हणाले, ‘द्या हो थोडंसं स्‍वराज्‍य’. तर मिळेल का? असे मागून ते मिळणार नसते. त्‍यासाठी लढले पाहिजे. पण लढायचे कसे? तलवारी, बंदुकांनी आपल्‍याच देशात लढणे आम्‍हाला नामंजूर होते. डॉ. बाबासाहेबांनी सोपा मंत्र सांगितला आहे, ‘शिका, संघटीत व्‍हा, संघर्ष करा’. कायदा शिकायचा, गावातल्‍या सर्व लोकांसमोर कायद्यातल्‍या तरतुदी मांडायच्‍या, आणि सर्वांचे मत घेऊन सर्वांनी ठरवून संघर्ष करायचा. संघर्ष करण्‍यासाठी रस्‍त्‍यावर उतरायचे नाही, मोर्चा-घोषणाबाजी काहीही करायचे नाही, कायद्याची लढाई कायद्यानेच करायची.

आम्‍ही आदिवासी गावांमध्‍ये राहतो. दहावी-बारावी नापास असे शिक्षण असलेले, गरीब घरातले, पावसाळी शेतीनंतर रोजगाराची भ्रांत असलेले असे आमचे कार्यकर्ते. हे लेकाचे काय लढणार, असं कोणालाही वाटेल. प्रश्‍न सोडवण्‍याची इथली नेहमीची पध्‍दत अशी की, एखाद्या राजकीय पक्षाच्‍या कार्यकर्त्‍याकडे किंवा पुढा-याकडे जायचं, त्‍याला विनवायचं, मग तो फोनबिन करतो आणि आपलं काम करून देतो. त्‍याचे किती उपकार झाले, या समजुतीत रहायचं. किंवा मग एखाद्या संघटनेला भेटायचं आणि पुढची सगळी कहाणी तीच! यातले काहीच नसेल, तर सरकारी ऑफिसातल्‍या साहेबाला भेटायचं, आपण काहीतरी गुन्‍हा केल्‍यासारखं मान खाली घालून उभं रहायचं, तुसडे बोल ऐकायचे, आणि एवढं सगळं सहन करून वर पैसे देऊन आपलं काम करून घ्‍यायचं.

गावातल्‍या तरूणांनी कायदा शिकावा आणि त्‍यातले अधिकार डोळसपणे वापरावेत, असा प्रयत्‍न आम्‍ही केला.

नियमावर बोट, तोंडावर कुलूप…

वन अधिकार कायदा 2006 हा मोठा क्रांतिकारी कायदा देशाच्‍या संसदेने संमत केला. त्‍या कायद्याप्रमाणे आदिवासी लोक पूर्वापार कसत असलेल्‍या जमिनी आता लोकांच्‍या मालकीच्‍या होतील. त्‍यावरून लोकांना वनखाते हुसकून लावू शकणार नाही. तसेच जंगलातून सरपण, चारा, मुहू, मध, गोंद, बांबू अशा ज्‍या गोष्‍टी लोकांना लागतात, त्‍या घेण्याचाही अधिकार आता लोकांना मिळेल. अर्थात हे सगळे होत असताना 1864 पासून वनखात्‍याने जी जमीनदारी मालकी या सगळ्यावर गाजवली, ती सद्दी खतम होणार. म्‍हणूनच हे हक्‍क लोकांना फारसे मिळू नयेत यासाठी प्रशासनाने कळत नकळत आपले लगाम घट्ट धरून ठेवले.

आमच्‍या गावातल्‍या लोकांनी कायद्यानुसार आपण कसत असलेल्‍या जमिनींवर दावे दाखल केले. ग्रामसभेने निवडलेल्‍या गावाच्‍याच वन हक्क समितीकडे हे दावे दाखल करायचे होते. समितीने हे सर्व दावे तपासले शहानिशा केली, आणि मग ग्रामसभेसमोर सर्व दाव्‍यांचा अहवाल मांडला. ग्रामसभेनेच हे दावे मंजूर करायचे होते. ग्रामसभेचा तसा ठराव झाल्‍यावर वन हक्‍क समितीतल्‍या लोकांनी हे सर्व दाव्‍यांचे बाड तहसिलदाराकडे जमा केले. काही महिने लोकांनी आपले दावे पास होतील, म्‍हणून वाट पाहिली. पण झाले भलतेच…

पूर्ण देशात ही प्रक्रिया होत होती. अनेक राज्‍य सरकारांनी नेट लावून ही प्रक्रिया वेगाने पूर्ण केली. पण आपला महाराष्‍ट्र वेगवेगळ्या सम्राटांचा प्रदेश. इथे ही प्रक्रिया सर्वात ढिसाळ होती. केंद्र सरकारने राज्‍याला जाब विचारला, तेव्‍हा राज्‍य सरकारने जिल्‍हा प्रशासनाला 30 मे च्‍या आत सगळं उरका, असं सांगितलं. झालं, काहीही करून ‘सर्व दावे निकाली काढले’ असं दाखवायचं यासाठी सर्व साहेब लोक कामाला लागले. त्‍यात आमच्‍या भागातल्‍या साहेबांनी एक शक्‍कल लढवली. ग्रामसेवकांना एका ठरावाचा मसुदा हातात दिला, त्‍यात म्‍हटले होते की, ‘योग्‍य कागदपत्रे नसल्‍यामुळे आणि जीपीएस् यंत्राने जमीन मोजणी झालेली नसल्‍यामुळे आमची ग्रामसभा सर्व दावे फेटाळत आहे. सर्व दावेदारांनी उपविभागीय (प्रांत) समितीकडे अपिल करण्‍यास ही ग्रामसभा मान्‍यता देत आहे.’ या ठरावावर 176 गावातल्‍या ग्रामसेवक आणि सरपंचांनी तत्‍परतेने सह्या केल्‍या. ख-या ग्रामसभा झाल्‍याच नाहीत.

माहितीचा अधिकार आहे? मग वापरा!

इकडे आपले दावे असे परस्‍पर फेटाळले गेले आहेत, याची सुतराम कल्‍पना गावातल्‍या लोकांना नव्‍हती. ‘वयम्’च्‍या कार्यकर्त्‍यांनी ही गोष्‍ट माहिती अधिकार वापरून उघडकीस आणली. कार्यकर्ते गावागावात फिरले आणि लोकांना या गोष्‍टीची जाणीव करून दिली. 15-20 गावात छोट्या छोट्या बैठका झाल्‍या. हे कार्यकर्ते लोकांना त्‍यांच्‍या गावाचा ठराव दाखवत. यावर तुम्‍हाला लढायचं असेल, तर आम्‍ही तुमच्‍या सोबत आहोत. पण तुम्‍ही एकत्र येऊन लढलं पाहिजे. पाच गावातले लोक तयार झाले. त्‍यांनी ख-या ग्रामसभा भरवल्‍या. या ग्रामसभांनी आधीचे खोटे ठराव फेटाळले आणि नवे ठराव करून सर्व दावे मंजूर केल्‍याची घोषणा केली. जुन्‍या ठरावातल्‍या तीन बेकायदेशीर गोष्‍टीही लोकांनी नव्‍या ठरावात नमूद केल्‍या.

नंतर या पाच गावांचे शिष्‍टमंडळ प्रांत अधिका-यास भेटायला गेले. या शिष्‍टमंडळात कोणीही राजकीय पुढारी नव्‍हता, कुठल्‍या संस्थेचा वा संघटनेचा नेताही नव्‍हता, कोणी पत्रकारही नव्‍हते.  सगळे सामान्‍य आदिवासी नागरिक होते. कायद्यातल्‍या अचूक बाबी अधिका-यासमोर ठेवून या लोकांनी प्रतिवाद केला आणि आपल्‍याकडून चूक झाल्‍याचे त्‍या अधिका-याने मान्‍य केले. ‘तुमच्‍या गावाची कोणतीही अडवणूक करण्‍याचा आमचा हेतू नव्‍हता, आता तुम्हीही या प्रक्रियेत सहभागी व्‍हा, आम्‍ही तुमचे सर्व दावे पास होतील अशी काळजी घेऊ.’ असे समजुतीचे बोलणे या साहेबांनी केले. आणि तसे आदेशही आपल्‍या कनिष्‍ठांना दिले. त्‍यानंतर पुढच्‍या दोन-तीन आठवड्यात या गावांचे दावे खरोखरच पास झाले.

दरम्‍यान, ‘वयम्’चे कार्यकर्ते गावात जाऊन लोकांना सर्व माहिती सांगताहेत, लोकही त्‍यांचे ऐकताहेत – याचा धक्‍का बसल्‍यामुळे काही राजकीय पुढा-यांनी याच गावामंध्‍ये जाऊन लोकांना बहकवायचा प्रयत्‍न केला. ‘या वयम् च्‍या पोरांच्‍या नादी लागू नका. आमच्‍याकडे तुमचे दावे द्या, पक्षाचे सदस्‍य व्‍हा, आम्‍ही तुमचा मॅटर क्लिअर करून देऊ.’ असे त्‍यांनी लोकांना सांगितले. सुदैवाने लोक बधले नाहीत. उलट आत्ताच तुम्‍ही कसे काय आमच्‍या मदतीला आलात, असा सवाल त्‍यांनी पुढारी मंडळींना केला.

हाताला काम का नाही?

अशीच आणखी एक गोष्‍ट झाली. रोजगार हमी कायदाही वयम्’चे ग्रामीण कार्यकर्ते शिकतात. आपापल्‍या गावातल्‍या लोकांनाही ते हा कायदा समजावून सांगतात. कायद्याप्रमाणे मागणी केली, तर 15 दिवसात मजुरीचे काम मिळालेच पाहिजे असा आग्रह या गावातले लोक धरतात. सुरवातीला मागणीचा फॉर्म द्यायलाही काचकूच करणारे ग्रामसेवक लोकांचा वाढता दबाव बघून नरमतात. तसे नाहीच झाले, तर गावातले हे मजूर कार्यकर्तेच तहसिलदाराकडे लेखी तक्रार करतात, त्‍यात कायद्यातली कलमे लिहीतात. आणि मग तहसिलदाराकडून ग्रामसेवक, आणि अंमलबजावणी यंत्रणांना लेखी दम मिळतो. असे असल्‍यामुळे ग्रामसेवक लोकांशी सहकार्य करतात. कायद्याप्रमाणे मागणी करून आणि ग्रामसेवकाने पूर्ण सहकार्य करूनही काम मिळत नाही, असे लक्षात आल्‍यावर लोकांनी गनिमी कावा करायचे ठरवले. त्‍यासाठी त्‍यांचे शहरातले मित्र मदतीला आले. केंद्र सरकारची रोजगार हमीची वेबसाईट आहे. या साईटवर प्रत्‍येक मजूर कुटुंबाची सर्व माहिती उपलब्‍ध असते. या कुटुंबाला मागच्‍या वर्षात किती दिवस काम दिले, किती पैसे मजुरी दिली इ. सर्व माहिती कुणाही नागरिकाला मिळू शकते. आपल्‍या गावातल्‍या चार-पाच कुटुंबांची अशी माहिती वयम् च्‍या शहरातल्‍या कार्यकर्त्‍यांनी गावातल्‍या आपल्‍या दोस्‍तांना प्रिंट करून दिली. या प्रिंट गावात पोचल्‍या आणि खळबळ माजली. कागदावर तीस हजार रू. दाखवलेल्‍या कुटुंबाला प्रत्‍यक्षात आठ-दहा हजार रूपयेच मिळाले होते. 74 हजार रू. दाखवलेल्‍या कुटुंबाला 12-13 हजार मिळाले होते. काही कुटुंबातल्‍या तर मेलेल्‍या माणसाच्‍याही नावावर खोदकाम आणि काही हजार मजुरी दाखवली होती. आपल्‍या नावावर किती पैसा सरकारी नोकरांनी खाल्‍ला, याची जाणीव झाल्‍यामुळे लोक चिडले. तर ही कामे काढणा-या खात्‍याचे कर्मचारी हबकले. ही माहिती दिलीच कोणी लोकांना, त्‍याला पकडा. असे ठरवून त्‍यांनी वयम् च्‍या स्‍थानिक कार्यकर्त्‍यांना दमदाटी केली. ते दमदाटीला बधले नाहीत, तेव्‍हा त्‍यांना पैसे देऊन ‘मिटवामिटवी’ करण्‍याचा प्रयत्‍न केला. ‘मिटवामिटवी’ करता येईल, पण गावातल्‍या सर्वांसमोर करावी लागेल – असे त्‍यांनी सरकारी कर्मचा-यांना सांगितले. गावातले 10-12 जण आणि त्‍या खात्याचे कर्मचारी असे गावातल्‍या खुल्‍या ठिकाणी बसले. आमच्‍या गावाला दोन सिमेंट बंधारे आणि एक रोपवाटिका असे काम दिलेत, तर आम्‍ही प्रिंट परत करू, असे लोकांनी सांगितले. हे काम त्‍या खात्‍याने मान्‍य केले आणि गाव जिंकले. (अर्थात जेव्‍हा लागेल, तेव्‍हा आपण प्रिंट परत काढू शकतो, हे लोकांना माहीत होतेच!)

आपण जिंकलो, आपण पुन्‍हा जिंकू शकतो – हे लोकांच्‍या लक्षात आले.

जिंकण्‍याची गोष्‍ट

गोष्‍ट छोटीच आहे. पाचच गावांची आहे. खूप काही मोठ्ठा तीर मारला आहे, असे मुळीच नाही. यात काही हमखास यशाचा फॉर्म्‍युला सुध्‍दा नाही. खरे तर असामान्‍य असे काहीच नाही. आणि म्‍हणूनच हे आपणही करण्‍यासारखे आहे. यासाठी कायदा शिकला पाहिजे, संघटीत झाले पाहिजे, चतुराईने वागले पाहिजे आणि मनाचा निर्धार असला पाहिजे.

या कथनात गावांची, माणसांची, किंवा सरकारी अधिका-यांची नावे दिलेली नाहीत. कारण ही विशिष्‍ट गावांची वा माणसांची लढाईच नाही. ही आहे आपली सर्वांची लढाई…

- मिलिंद थत्‍ते

कार्यकर्ता, ‘वयम्’ चळवळ

a complete democratic struggle can win!!

We have recorded a win! It is small, but has boosted our faith in fighting a democratic lawful struggle to empower our people. This story must be shared.

The people from tribal villages are tilling the so-called ‘forest’ lands since last many many years. The land-holdings are small and in many cases eroded. However, the living of the people depends largely on the little farm produce from these lands. The Forest department, in the past has inflicted many atrocities – like burning the crops, burning homes, arresting people, beating them – and so on. The FRA (Forest Rights Act 2006) assured people that they could own these lands. The people had to file claims to their Village Forest Rights Committee. These committees were elected by the people and people entrusted the committees with their claims and evidence papers. Later, the committee verified all the claims, got them passed from the Gramsabha (village assembly) and forwarded the claim files to government. The government was sitting on these files for more than six months.

Then Delhi kicked Mumbai and Mumbai bosses kicked the districts to get things done before 30th May. When the kick reached the sub-division, some innovative brains got an idea to meet the deadline. They drafted a fake resolution to be signed by the Gramsabhas. The resolution said “We, the members of this Gramsabha, have received X number of claims and we are rejecting X number of claims because the claimed lands are not measured by GPS machine.”  That was ridiculous. How could a community reject all of its claims? And why would they do it on such grounds – of not measuring by a state-owned machine?

These resolutions were signed by Gramsevaks and Sarpanchs of 176 villages, without really understanding the implications of the resolution. The resolution meant that the village was giving up its decisive authority over the claims and handing it over to the bureaucrats. Nobody in the villages knew that such resolutions were passed in their name. Not even Vayam’s youth groups in the villages knew this. Vayam got hold of these resolutions by using RTI.

The activists then visited villages and asked people whether they knew that they had signed off their rights. (It was difficult to reach the villages and gather people during heavy rains.) Some village leaders chose not to pay heed to this mad call by Vayam. Their political and bureaucrat patrons told them not to worry. Some villages understood what Vayam was trying to tell them. Vayam’s active groups in villages Hateri and Kogda spearheaded the drive. They conducted new Gramsabhas with massive attendance of people. Gramsevak and Sarpanch apologised to people for hastily signing the fake resolution. The  Gramsabha passed a new resolution rejecting the old one. They also attached copies of State Monitoring Committee meeting minutes – which stated that GPS-measurement was not a pre-requisite to passing of claims. Hateri and Kogda villages were followed by three more villages. A political party approached these villages and told them that the party would clear their claims even without such Gramsabhas, only thing is they should join the party!

The villages then formed a delegation and met the Sub-divisional Officer. (Meanwhile, Vayam had also informed the State authorities about this incident and the State nodal officer had also called the Sub-divisional Officer enquiring about this issue.) The delegation (villagers) argued vehemently quoting the sections of law and effectively cornered the officer. He assured them that their claims would be cleared on priority and no further trouble would be caused. He called in his assistants and told them to cooperate with these villagers. He requested the villagers to communicate straight to him if there was any trouble.

Vayam’s volunteers from villages have recorded this as a second win. Earlier, they had brought another government officer to his knees for not delivering his duties under the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).

Vayam has held this premise that people can solve their problems without taking to streets or guns. Our democracy must work, must be made to work. Vayam chose a clear path for this: The youth in the villages must be empowered with the knowledge of law and with confidence that they are not alone. “Not even a Satyagraha should be needed, when we have the power to make our laws” – that was the dream of Dr. Ambedkar. Though at a very very modest scale, Vayam’s youth are proving that it’s possible!

Tu zinda hai to zindagi ki jeet mein yakeen kar

- Team Vayam,

[reachable at +91.94215.64330]

Youth leaders march further

Our third Netrutva Shibir (leadership camp) in Jawhar concluded last week. The 3-day residential shibir was hosted by the Vayam’s Mandal in Kokanpada village. Two new villages – Hateri-gaothan and Ayre joined this shibir. The shibir focussed on learning the relevant laws (NREGA and FRA) and on learning community mobilisation skills.
Resource persons from Pragati Abhiyan helped in the learning of NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and also provided excellent learning material. Vayam’s own resource persons taught the FRA (Forest Rights Act). Participants spent one full day in learning the process of filing community claims to protect and manage forests. They used the case-study of two villages of Gadchiroli district to understand the process in detail. N-CAS (National Centre for Advocacy studies, Pune) has published the case studies in the form of a book in Marathi. This book proved to be a good textbook for learning the process.
The final day of the shibir was marked by all participants making their village-action-plans. Kokanpada, Ruichapada, Hateri, and Ayre have prepared plans for next six months. The plans are targeted to improve the Jal, Jungle, and Jameen (water, forest, and land) in these tribal villages.
The most remarkable plan is that of Kokanpada where people are likely to plant trees in thousands!
As is the regular practice in Vayam’s shibirs, all the costs of the shibir were borne by the participants. The hosts i.e. our Mandal of Kokanpada giving a lion’s share.

this year in Vayam

Dear friends of Vayam,
Ram ram!!
This is a quick year-end update making sure we all hold hands and stay together for a better ‘present’ in 2010. The warmth of your good wishes has helped Vayam accelerate its work.
Vayam’s Green Dots has received a great response from both sides. 94 tribal families from 8 remote villages of Jawhar Taluka (Thane district) have planted about 250 medicinal herbs. 200 of these trees were donated by 29 urban friends. Our village teams have formed women’s groups and an informal learning process has begun last month. The women from participant families get together to learn about health and basic herbal medicine. The women have decided the agenda of these meetings and its frequency. The place of meeting rotates between villages and the lunch is provided by the women of host village. We have a Ayurvedic physician from Nashik offering her voluntary time as a resource person in these meetings. (We are looking for more such resource persons.)
Green Dots also organised a workshop in Pune for urban participants educating them on “home herbal garden”.
Green Dots aims at improving the family health of participant families, at restoring the green cover of forests, and at building a bridge of caring between urban and tribal friends.
Vayam’s leadership initiative focuses on developing strong-informed-sensitive leaders in tribal villages. We have conducted three ‘leadership development camps’ this year. 47 youth have participated in these camps. The youth learnt laws important for empowerment and development planning at village level. They charted out development priorities for their community and have begun activities towards their own goals. Two villages have drafted forest and water conservation plans: Gramsabha of Hateri has declared a ban on felling trees (kurhad-bandi and charai-bandi), while the Gramsabha of Kogda has approved a plan for construction of 120 small check dams to harvest water. The youth leaders in other villages have succeeded in rallying the community to demand its rights under NREGA. The youth leaders are also empowered to lobby and elicit cooperation from the local government administration. The leadership initiative is spreading in two Talukas: Jawhar and Mokhada.
Vayam has a good network relations with other organisations working on natural resources, forests, and tribal development. Vayam’s tribal volunteers have participated in Youth leadership program of UNDP-GEF. Resource persons from Prayaas (Pune) have trained our volunteers in NREGA. Nirman (Gadchiroli) fellows have taught our tribal volunteers to use internet to get information from government. Biodiversity experts from ARI (Pune) have helped the exercise of People’s Biodiversity Register. N-CAS (Pune) and Kalpvriksh (Pune) have provided training material on Forest Rights and conservation. Pragati Abhiyan (Nashik) has provided training material on Right to Information Act.
Vayam is now a registered Public Trust (E-5221/Pune) and donations are eligible for tax-exemption under Sec 80G of IT act.
You can visit Vayam’s blog: www.vayamindia.wordpress.com for latest updates and happenings!! You can send www.vayamindia.in for basic info about Vayam.
Vayam has active chapters in Jawhar, Nashik, and Pune. You can reach local coordinators by sending a mail to pune@vayamindia.in or nashik@vayamindia.in or info@vayamindia.in
We hope this update will ‘recharge’ your support and involvement in Vayam’s activities.
Wish you all a happy, prosperous, and nature-friendly new year!!

yours,

- Organizer
Vayam india
+91.94215.64330