Ear To The Ground

AWARDED TILKA MAJHI NATIONAL AWARD 2021 BY EMINENT GANDHIAN RADHA BHATT & OTHERS FOR JOURNALISM, RESEARCH, AUTHORING & GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM AT GANDHI PEACE FOUNDATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Drfb7mLR14&feature=youtu.be  

  Neo-liberal economic policies launched by India’s Central Government in 1990’s launched the twin onslaughts of communalism and ‘economic reforms’ undoubtedly sharpened and exacerbated the perceptions among the marginalized communities like small farmers, pastoralists, fishers and fish workers, Adivasi, Dalits and minorities and their livelihoods, lifestyles and identities are under further threat. The present Central Government led by Narendra Modi and BJP further accentuated the crisis and changed how economic indicators such as real GDP and unemployment are calculated, they cannot hide the reality of the working class - falling incomes, declining jobs, little to no social support, increasing labour rights violations, worsening environmental conditions, regressive agricultural policies and a general fear of life for India's most marginalized sections and oppressed citizens . Log in for the full study at http://ielaind.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ABMKSS-Study-on-Local-Self-G

Protests by farmers are an expression of their anger at Modi and BJP policies favouring the capitalist class and pushing the farmers and workers to the brink of disaster. Since the 1990’s neo-liberal policies have sowed the seeds of despair for farmers and the working class.  Modi and the BJP have accentuated the crisis and changed how economic indicators such as real GDP and unemployment are calculated, they cannot hide the reality of the working class - falling incomes, declining jobs, little to no social support, increasing labour rights violations, worsening environmental conditions, regressive agricultural policies and a general fear of life for India's most marginalized sections and oppressed citizens. Amidst the aggressive pro-capitalist reforms of Modi and the BJP, farmers and workers are taking risks and putting up a brave front against capitalist exploitation. Log in at for the full study http://ielaind.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ABMKSS-Study-on-Local-Self-Governance

  Fisheries provide direct livelihoods to over 20 million fishers and fish farmers.  The fishing industry contributes INR 1.75 lakh crore to the gross value added of India's economy every year. The Indian fishery sector leads the way in terms of export earnings and ranks among the top agricultural commodities exported. Rivers in India flow over 17,000 miles and other water channels cover over 70,000 miles. Marine resources include the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, as well as many Gulfs and Bays. India is now the third-largest producer of fish and the second largest producer of inland fish in the world. In addition to being a major foreign exchange earner, it is also a source of cheap and nutritious food. Log in for the full study at http://ielaind.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ABMKSS-Study-on-Local-Self-Governance-Ch7-Fishers.pdf https://www.academia.edu/50860971/CHAPTER_7_Crisis_for_Fishers_and_Fish_workers_further_deepens

Globally, pastoralists are vanishing at an alarming rate. In India, they are pushed to impoverishment and drudgery Herders of cattle, sheep, and goats play a vital role in protecting and restoring fragile ecosystems. Approximately 35 million pastoralists, spread across 200 communities, manage a livestock population of over 50 million animals. Exports of milk, meat, leather, wool, and animals used for traction and manure contribute to livestock raising's foreign exchange earnings. The study attempts to knit various strands together to show the linkages between ecology and the life support systems and the undermining of these by the State in different forms. The study brings this up very sharply due to non-recognition of the State of pastoralism as valid historic form of livelihood keeping in mind the ecological conditions. The British reduced both pastoralists and forest dependent communities to concessions while simultaneously undermining the life support system on which they dep

Today the Adivasis, not only in India but also elsewhere in the world, are continuously being threatened with brutal deliberateness to be submerged.  Following the legacy of the British colonial masters, the intention of India’s ruling class since Independence has been ‘to melt the Adivasi with the mainstream’, where the ‘mainstream’ is modelled on the image of the class-in-power.  Log in for the full study at http://ielaind.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ABMKSS-Study-on-Local-Self-Governance-Ch5-Adivasi.pdf https://www.academia.edu/50123236/Adivasis_struggle_to_survive_where_inequality_rules

  Chhattisgarh formed on 1st November 2000 by partitioning 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking south-eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh. Raipur was made its capital. Chhattisgarh borders the states of Madhya Pradesh in the north-west, Maharashtra in the south-west, Andhra Pradesh in the south, Odisha in the east, Jharkhand in the north-east and Uttar Pradesh in the north. In Chhattisgarh there has been a massive illegal loot of forest and mineral resources. The state ranks second in the nation in terms of total forest land diverted for mining purposes – accounting for 15%. The brunt of this diversion is being faced by the Adivasi communities in the area. The Adivasis have been agitating against displacement on an unprecedented scale - for mining, setting up of industries, dams, sanctuaries, four laning of highways, the posh capital region, and even army and air bases. Log in for full study http://ielaind.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ABMKSS-Study-on-Local-Self-Governance-Ch4-Chhatisgarh.pdf ht

Jharkhand is the 28th state of the Indian Union, which was sliced out of Bihar on 15th November 2000 to coincide with the birth anniversary of the legendary Adivasi leader and young freedom fighter Birsa Munda. The state has a total area of 79714 sq. km and shares borders with Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. The State in an account of its richness in some key ores and minerals and its abundance in cheap labour, thanks to its backwardness, otherwise, has been the site of a good many industrial establishment since pre-Independence days and that industrialization has brought with it concomitant ill effects the worst of which is the devastation of its environment. In the name of the development large forests have disappeared, tracts of inhabited land have gone under water. The chapter has a portion on Father Stan Swamy and his 'Institutional murder'. Log in for full study  http://ielaind.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ABMKSS-Study-on-Local-Self-Governance-Ch3-

Maharashtra is the most industrialised and the second most urbanised state assessed through the per capita income it ranks as second richest state in India. The chapter on Maharashtra covers the rural communities and the impact on small farmers. Adivasis, pastoralists, fishers and wage labour originating in the villages.  Log in for full study http://ielaind.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ABMKSS-Study-on-Local-Self-governance-Ch2-Maharashtra.pdf https://www.academia.edu/50122801/Maharashtra_s_marginalized_communities_still_at_the_crossroads _  

Dhule, Nandurbar and Jalgaon districts make up the Khandesh region of Maharashtra. Khandesh region lies just south of the great belt of mountains and forests that girdles India, and leads directly into the rich cotton tracts of north east Maharashtra. The strip of land between Akkalkuwa and Talode talukas of Nandurbar district and the Tapi River in the North connect Navapur and Nandurbar talukas of Nandurbar district and in the South form a part of Gujarat. In 1972, a large dam was built on the Tapi River at Ukai in Gujarat displacing hundreds of adivasis. The chapter on Khandesh draws from the lessons learnt from the principles of historical injustice articulated in the Forest Rights Act and the study done for All India Front for Forest Rights Struggle (AIFFRS) sponsored by Indian School of Business (ISB) and the policy briefs prepared by Ecological & Livelihood expert, Viren Lobo is with the idea to help trace the historical roots of marginalised communities so that current iss