Myths Regarding Immigration in the American Society

Comment by Sucharita Sengupta

Immigration continues to be treated as one of the most contentious topics in USA, more so, because USA is a nation of immigrants. However much of the debate regarding immigrants can be found in the past mythology. The article “Five Myths about Immigration” published in the Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 9 May, 2010 deals precisely with the existing myths on immigration and whether immigration can be considered as a blessing in America.

The first myth that the article explores is how immigrants are responsible for unemployment for the U.S population. Immigrants account for 12.5 percent of the U.S population and make up about 15 percent of the workforce. Since the 1980s, Immigrants and their children have accounted for almost 58 percent of the growth of the U.S population. The article claims that low U.S fertility rates and the upcoming retirement of the baby boomers mean that immigrants are going to be the prime workforce in the decades ahead. On one hand, it is true that this contributes towards a decrease in the overall wage of the workers including the U.S workers, but on the other hand immigrants also stimulate growth by creating new consumers, entrepreneurs and investors. The second myth is that most of the immigrants came in illegally , particularly 1890 can be considered as a watershed when immigrants made up to 14.8 percent of our population. Although it is true that unauthorized immigrant population includes more people from Mexico than from any other country, Mexicans are also the largest group of lawful immigrants. There is a third kind of perception which notes that immigrants do not integrate into the larger society. In the present scenario, immigrant integration takes a generation or two. Learning English facilitates this process. However, lack of legal status of millions of immigrants interrupt integration as illegal immigrants are ineligible for in-state tuition. The Fourth myth is that curbing illegal crossings will make the American citizens safe since the job of protecting the nation’s borders is a huge task. After September11 2001, the authorities have taken special care to protect the country’s borders through strict measures like securing cargo shipment, increasing regional cooperation and so on. The Border Patrolling has also increased to more than 20,000 agents. The final point which the article highlights is that reform regarding the immigration laws cannot happen in one election year. However, all the significant immigration bills passed so far were done in the election years. The list dates back to the Refugee Act of 1980 till the recent Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act in the 1996.

The article thus traces some of the focal perceptions regarding immigration in the American society. It concludes on the note that changes regarding the existing immigration laws should be ushered in gradually as attempts to foster fast changes have met with deadlocks. However, this does not imply a lack of immigration reform.

For details please visit: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Five-myths-about-immigration/Article1-541159.aspx

The Wall and the Eye: An Interview with Eyal Weizman

One of history's most fiercely contested landscapes, the 2,270 square miles of territory known as the West Bank was under the control of Jordan when it was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Over the last 35 years, the area has become ¬home to some 200,000 Israelis (400,000 including occupied East Jerusalem) who populate numerous, new, purpose-built settlements perched on its hilltops, overlooking long-established Palestinian lowland communities. This ongoing state-sponsored policy of expansion onto the high ground has been paralleled by the development, within the architectural and urban planning professions, of extremely particularized strategies for building on heights. Many of these draw on historical precedents; all are designed to provide basic municipal amenities within a context of highly refined, surveillance-based security. In the following interview, Weizman, a partner in Tel Aviv-based Rafi Segal/Eyal Weizman Architects, discusses both the natural and built environment of the West Bank – from the social, political, and religious history of the area to issues of photography and mapping to concepts of strategic building forms and settlement growth patterns. He also asks pointed ethical questions about Israeli architectural and planning practice and considerations of human rights, which he says is central to the research he and Segal continue to conduct. Weizman spoke by phone to Jeffrey Kastner and Sina Najafi from Haifa, Israel, in October 2002.

For details visit: - http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/9/wall.php

Persecuted Rohingya Flee Burma and Starve in Bangladesh

Physicians for Human Rights released the report, STATELESS AND STARVING – Persecuted Rohingya Flee Burma and Starve in Bangladesh on 9 March 2010. This emergency report is based on a sample of 100 unregistered refugee households at the Kutupalong makeshift camp in southeastern Bangladesh as well as in-depth interviews with 25 refugees and 30 other key informants throughout the region. The Burmese refugee population in Bangladesh is estimated at 200,000 to 400,000. The Government of Bangladesh and the UN refugee agency, (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR) jointly administer two “official” camps with a combined population of just 28,000 registered refugees. The remaining unregistered refugees are currently not protected by UNHCR because they arrived after 1993 when the Bangladesh government ceased conferring refugee status to any Rohingya fleeing Burma. Arbitrary arrests by Bangladeshi authorities have restricted people’s movement in this unofficial camp leading to quarantining of thousands of people. Tens of thousands of unregistered Burmese refugees in the burgeoning camp in Bangladesh have no access to food aid. Results from the PHR household survey reveal that 18.2% of children examined suffer from acute malnutrition. In emergency settings, acute malnutrition is traditionally measured among children age 6–59 months. In addition, PHR received numerous testimonies from families who had not eaten in two or more days. As a coping mechanism, many refugees are now forced to borrow food or money to feed their families. Results from the PHR survey show that 82% of households had borrowed food within the past 30 days, and 91% of households had borrowed money – often with exorbitant interest rates – within the previous 30 days. Walking through the Kutupalong camp, PHR investigators saw stagnant raw sewage next to refugees’ makeshift dwellings. Human excrement and open sewers were visible throughout the camp. Results of the PHR survey show that 55% of children between 6–59 months suffered from diarrhea in the previous 30 days. Such inhuman conditions presage a public health disaster.

For the full report please visit: - http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/documents/reports/stateless-and-starving.pdf

Hitch Hiking on High Seas

Ishita Dey

The very nature of “borderlands” is ambiguous for a person forced to flee, people have been forced to take various avenues to migrate particularly “high seas” to distant lands in search of safe passage and safe life. The media reports of rescue of 100 Rohingya refugees who were left to their fate after ill treatment by Thai Army followed by interventions from Bangladesh last year and death of ten Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees near Kakinada coast, India on 1 May 2009 shows that refugees continue to take high seas amidst the risk. While the reasons for such passage has been documented the current problem lies in the way developed nations and often states which have ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention fail to cope with the “ new boat people” for instance the initial refusal by the Australian authorities in October 2009 to grant protection mechanisms to 78 Tamil refugees who were stranded in Indonesian coast saying that "There's an agreement between Australia and the Government of Indonesia that the people who were rescued in the open seas will go to Indonesia and be processed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Indonesia," Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told ABC News 1 . Refugees have taken recourse to high seas to move to safer places and recent reports of Tamil refugees taking to high seas to reach Australia a signatory of 1951 refugee convention and the recent announcement on 9 April 2010 by the Australian Government not to take in Afghan and Sri Lankan Tamil refugees points to certain complex issues of refugee protection of those being intercepted at high seas.

Mark Davis (2010) 2 drawing from a recently published paper by Parliamentary researchers Janet Phillipes and Harriet Spinks that chronicles three decades of attempts to deter asylum seekers from entering lawfully in to Australia. “In 1978 the Fraser Government approached regional Government to hold vessels in transit so that claims could be processed while asylum seekers were in refugee camps. In 1982 the Liberal Party’s moderate Immigration minister, Ian Macphee, introduced individual determination of asylum claims to ensure only “genuine” refugees were admitted. In 1983 the newly elected Hawke Government endorsed a plan by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for “durable solutions” to the Indo Chinese refugee problem which made resettlement in countries such as Australia a last resort. In 1992 the Immigration minister, Gerry Hans, from the Victorian ALP’s Socialist Left, introduced mandatory detention for all non-citizens in Australia without a valid visa. From 1999 Howard Government tightened policy by introducing temporary protection visas for asylum seekers found to be refugees after arriving unlawfully”. These visas were valid for three years. In 2001 John Howard adopted the Pacific Solution by sending the unauthorized arrivals to Nauru and Papua New Guinea while their asylum claims were processed. The Rudd Government ended the Pacific Solution in 2008 and announced that all future arrivals would be processed on Christmas Island. The Christmas Island detention centre – built for 800 people were holding about 1,500 in tents and buildings according to reports in April 2010 3.
The recent cases of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees being intercepted near the Indonesian Coast and most of them wanting to seek asylum in Australia and the Australian Government’s refusal to process asylum applications of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and refugees from Afghanistan came at a time when 70 people the Australian navy rescued 70 people from a sinking boat in Australian waters in the Indian Ocean. According to the news reports “The passengers, who said they wanted to come to Australia, would be the last allowed to file refugee claims with Australia under the new standards”. The United Nations refugee agency said it would review Australia's decision, which it said was made independently of the agency's assessments of the situation in those countries."We are currently examining Australia's announcement, particularly with regard to issues around the detention of vulnerable persons and the provision of social support for those asylum seekers subject to this suspension," said Richard Towle, UNHCR regional representative for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific”.

In the light of these cases various issues come up: despite being a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, the suspension of asylum applications for Sri Lankan Tamils and Afghan refugees are a clear signal that no matter out how desperate are people are to flee through “illegal” means; risking their lives for a better future, protection mechanisms devised are not sufficient to grant them “legal” status. It is time that the international protection mechanisms available under such circumstances and the practices adopted by signatory states are closely monitored by the international community to avoid such arbitrary policies of protecting the victims of forced migration – the refugees.
---------------

1.“Australia refuses Tamil refugees” in http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8329420.stm; Accessed on 17 May 2010
2.Davis, Mark. “Long history of hardline rules to stem asylum boats” in The Sunday Morning Hearld, 10-11 April 2010
3.Australia stops accepting refugee claims from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, 9 April 2010 in http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/09/australia-refugees-afghanistan-sri-lanka; accessed on 18 May 2010

Urban Areas and Displacement

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) published its Urban Refugee policy, titled 'UNHCR Policy on refugee protection and solutions in urban areas' in September 2009. The policy, from the time it was first introduced in 1997, has undergone numerous changes. The policy needs to be understood in the ever changing context of globalization where we witness rapid urbanization but also the fact that a large number of refugees live in urban areas as against the camps.

The objective of the policy is two fold, to 'ensure that refugees in the urban areas are protected and have access to basic necessities such as health care, shelter, protection from detention, arbitrary arrests, harassment and discrimination, legal protection, opportunities to work, have a good relationship with the local population and can benefit from voluntary repatriation, local integration and resettlement' and to 'ensure that the opportunities for the above rights to be fulfilled is made available to refugees by UNHCR and its Implementing partners' (from the Policy Document). It focuses on refugees in the urban areas in developing and middle-income countries and is covers both refugees who have been recognized by UNHCR and those that are not.

The latest Issue of the Forced Migration Review published in February 2010 focuses on displacement in urban areas, is titled 'Adapting to Urban Displacement'. As the title suggests, this is broader than relatively narrower issue of refugees and their protection in urban settings.The articles address some of the practical and policy issues that urban displaced people face and that affect providers of the support. They also reflect the diversity of analysis and geography, covering East Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.

Mumbai Human Development Report 2009

Migrants are a sensitive political issue in Mumbai, with regional political parties, the Shiv Sena and the newly formed, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena holding that Mumbai is for Maharashtrians. The debate is an old one, with several of the migrant population from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and others being targeted for flooding the City at different points in time. Migrants have been held responsible, among others, for the local Maharashtrians losing out on jobs, in leading to burden on the civic infrastructure. These debates about Mumbaikaras and non-mumbaikars have often led to the question of who's city is Mumbai? It is exactly this question that has also been asked in the Mumbai Human Development Report 2009 (MHDR), released in October 2009 the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India. Done in collaboration with academicians, government officials, researchers and practicioners, the Mumbai Human Development Report also holds the distinction of the first ever report published by the Urban Local Body, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.

In a context where urbanization is gaining ground as an important area of study and practice owing to the fast pace in which urban centres are evolving, the MHDR focuses on urbanization, the growth of Mumbai over the last few decades and in this context, accounts for the population trends, education, livelihood, health, the quality of life and slums in Mumbai.

It notes, that according to the 2001 Census, the percentage of the migrant population has decreased from 64 per cent about 40 years to 43%. The increase in population has been attributed to not only migration from within and without Mumbai but also to 'natural increase' – that is, 'a combination of fertility rates and the balance of births over deaths'. It further notes that a third of the migrant population is from within Maharashtra. Secondly, that the migrants in most cases live in the slums, the influx guided by two facts: the push factor which operates in the rural areas of other parts of the country sends them to Mumbai. The pull factor is the livelihoods possible in Mumbai. It makes a clear point that Mumbai is not a preferred destination for residence but only for livelihood opportunities. That is because most migrants at the lower end of the economic strata head for the slums. The slums, according to the 2001 Census, houses, on about 7-8 per cent of Mumbai's land, 54.1 per cent of the city's population in conditions that are hellish, worse than what they tried to escape from their villages. That accounts for close to 60 lakh people in slums, of at least one of two Mumbai residents striving to sustain themselves there. There is no other city with such comparable proportion of people in hovels. The Report goes on to describe Mumbai as 'migrant-friendly' for the opportunities of employment it provides and acknowledges that 'migrants have a share in its economic growth'.

The Mumbai Human Development Report 2009 is a mine of information on not only the recent trends in urbanization in India but also helps reflect on the the question of identity and citizenship in the context of Mumbai.

For the Report, refer hdr.undp.org/en/reports/nationalreports/.../Mumbai_2009_NHDR_EN.pdf

Tales of Agony from Relief Camps of Western Assam

Urmimala Sengupta

[This write up is a part of a study on a project titled” An initiative for peaceful co-existence: a look into the conflict profile in the bodo heartland and capacity building needs among the displaced populace in bodoland territorial autonomous district council” sponsored by National Foundation for India. ]

The conflict in BTAD area threw open, the flood gates of challenges to the affected lot in general and more particularly to the most vulnerable section of the society i.e. women and children. More than a decade has passed since the conflict took place in May 1996 and May 1998 but a large number of the victims belonging to both Bodo as well as Adivasi community continue to live a life devoid of any access to basic services such as health and education, coupled with continuous state of acute fear and uncertainty about future.

According to, “Action Plan for Rehabilitation of the Refugees, 1993, 1996 and 1998 Ethnic Violence”. Kokrajhar (1998) in May 1996 a total of 42,214 families consisting of 202684 persons were rendered homeless. And these displacees were sheltered in 61 relief camps. The report further states that the resumption of the conflict in May 1998 added to the number of displacees. Out of 48,556 families consisting of 3, 14,342 persons who were displaced from their native places, a total of 34,3,48 families consisting of 2, 19,108 inmates were sheltered in 63 relief camps in Kokrajhar and Gosssaigaon area.

Presently the number of relief camps in the BTAD area stands at thirty three (33). The total population of the relief camps as per government records is seventy one thousand six hundred and thirty (71,630). Out of the existing thirty three (33) relief camps the team research tried to visit as many camps as was possible. A total of twenty three (23) relief camps were visited during the course of the study.

The camp listed in table 5 and 6 were visited since August 2007.▄
Table: 5

Sl. No. Names of the Relief Camps District/ Circle
1 Joypur Kokrajhar revenue circle
2 Bishmuri Kokrajhar revenue circle
3 Vety.Complex,Bengtol Sidli – Chirang revenue circle
4 Joypur (A) Kokrajhar
5 Joypur (B) Kokrajhar
6 Bishmuri (B) Kokrajhar
7 Runikhata & Bhurpar Sidli-Chirang
8 Serfunguri (SATC) Gossaigaon
9 Hazarkia Gossaigaon
10 Golajhar Gossaigaon
11 Bhumka-Maligaon Gossaigaon
12 Santipur Gossaigaon
13 Kachugaon Gossaigaon (Encroacher)
14 Sapkata Gossaigaon (Encroacher)
15 Hakama Gossaigaon
16 Alengibazar Kokrajhar
17 Anthiabari - Tinali Kokrajhar


Table : 6

Sl No. Partly Rehabilitated Camps District/ Circle
1. Patgaon(Adivashi) Gossaigaon
2. Deosri(B) Sidli-Chirang
3. Alengibazar Gossaigaon
4. Dhanpur(Karigaon) kokrajhar
5. Athiabari-Tiniali Gossaigaon
6. Simbergaon Kokrajhar


The following section will deal at length with the many difficulties faced by children youth and women living in the camps. During the course of the study it was observed that the conflict which brought along the pangs of displacement had some direct effect on the education, nutrition and health of the children, youth and women.

1.1 Education

Backdrop

Prior to the conflicts too the education scenario was not satisfactory. Nevertheless, villages in the area had excess to at least primary and at many places secondary schools. But the functioning of the existing schools began to be hampered as the Bodo movement changed its techniques and started taking resort to violence and bandhs (closure of schools, colleges, offices and business establishments) for achieving its goal. Owing to frequent bandhs in the area schools as well colleges were unable to cover their syllabus on time. This backlog became an obstacle for many who desired to further pursue their studies elsewhere.

Soon after the inter-ethnic clashes there was further deterioration in the over all educational scenario of the area. The following section accounts for the challenges, which some of the victims of the conflict continue to face even today.

Field Findings

One of the immediate effects of conflict on the education of the children is disruption/discontinuation of schooling. Here too the situation is not different. Soon after the conflict erupted, schools were closed down not for security reasons alone but also because schools were been used as shelters by those affected by conflict.

A sizeable number of young boys and girls living in the relief camps were school goers when the unfortunate incident took place. The conflict which was followed by displacement, to be more exact continued displacement did not give them any chance of resuming their studies. However, Runikatha - Bhurpar camp is among few camps which have access to government school. The school is in fact situated at a stone throw distance from the camp but the children of the camp are unable to avail the benefits of education. The research team was surprised to come across children who were in standard II and III but were not in a position to recognize alphabets from their text books. Explaining the reason as to why children could not recognize the alphabets Dara Kisko an elderly camp inmate said,

“They cannot learn anything, their teacher speaks in Assamese and they do not understand Assamese. We can speak in Assamese because we had Assamese friends and neighbors. But these children grew up speaking only their mother tongue. They just go to school for the sack of it.”

Since the children from this Adivasi camp speak only Adivasi languages (Santhali, Orang etc.) they fail to comprehend the medium (Assamese) of instruction and the language of their teachers who speak in Assamese. Hence, they lack interest in their lessons and most of them end up learning nothing.

According to UNICEF report on the “The State of the World’s Children 2001”, the period from birth to three (3) years age is a very crucial period in a child’s life. It says that this period “influences how the rest of childhood and adolescence unfolds” 1. However this important phase is more then often neglected by policy makers in this part of the world.

On a visit to Golajar camp in Gossaigaon which has a population of four thousand one hundred and seventy three (4,173) out of this the population of minors stands at

seventeen hundred (1,700), the research team noticed similar neglect on the part of the policy makers. Most of children in the camp aged between 2.5-8 yrs were playing with piglets and chicks. When the team expressed its surprise on the way the children were playing, Kunti Besra an old lady and grand mother of two of the children playing said:

“These piglets need supervision and our children need recreation, so I allow my grandsons to play with them. Otherwise in this place they have nothing else to do.”

Not only this, in the absence of any educational package that could allow the conflict-displacement induced school dropouts to resume their studies the number of frustrated, unskilled youth has reached an alarming level. The level of dissatisfaction among the young brigade could be well estimated from what an inmate of Vet. Complex Bangtol camp Sibu Besra, a 20 year old, high school dropout said:

“How can anyone think of going to school it such a situation. We could not come out of the horror of conflict, and attend schools. And after so many years I don’t want to study any more. Our lives will continue to be as it is. No one ever did any thing and they will never do any thing for us.”

This is not the voice of Sibu alone; his frustrations are echoed by his counterparts living in similar situation elsewhere. Dhiru Madri from Runikatha –Bhurbar camp echoes the sentiment of Sibu Besra. Madri says:

“I was in class 6 when the conflict took place. I was the brightest of my six siblings. My family had high expectations from me. But today everything has changed, I could not complete my studies, tell me who can study when there is constant fear and uncertainty. I could not fulfill the expectations of my family. I have no work here so I and my friends loiter around the whole day.”

The position of girl child and her accessibility to education needs a special mention here. During the conflict as well as in the post conflict situations girls not only lose their freedom of mobility; they also have to compromise on certain other spheres of life, education is one such sacrifice which is both expected and made mostly by the female child of the family. Bimla Murmu of Runikatha-Bhurpar camp is one such case. In spite of the easy accessibility of education, Bimla is not in position to avail it. When the researchers enquired as to why Bimla did not go to school. She said:

“How will I go to school, my mother has gone out to work and I have to look after my siblings and my ailing grandmother. My father died few years back. He died of dysentery.”

However in camps like Kasugaon the education scenario is not as deplorable, thanks to the initiatives taken by Lutheran World Service (LWS). Rupa Tiru’s success is a testimony of healthier education environment that prevails in Kasugaon camp. Ms. Tiru a standard X student harbors a positive attitude towards life. She says:

“I know there are many problems in our lives but I think if I study well things will change for better, Even our teachers say so.”


When she was asked about her aim in life she promptly replied that she wanted to be a teacher. Braving the daily hazards of camp life Ms. Tiru attends her classes regularly and she was found to have command over the subjects taught to her. English been her favorite subject she un hesitantly recited some lines from Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep.”

However, the research team learned from the elderly persons of the camp that the school service provided by LWS would end in 2007. Besides the ray of hope which was more than evident in the bright eyes of young Rupa, the overall education scenario in the camps in BTAD area wears a gloomy look

1.2 Health and Sanitation

The boons of popular health schemes like National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) are yet to be received by the relief camp dwellers. Most of the camps do not have access to health care centers. However, Vet. Complex Bangtol camp, which shelters five hundred and twenty eight (528) inmates, is an exception. The health center of the area is situated just opposite to Bangtol Vet. Complex camp. But surprisingly the camp dwellers prefer quacks to doctors and indigenous herbs to medicine. When the team desired to learn as to why things were so, the president of the camp Damu Besra informed the research team,

“When anyone in the camp falls sick they don’t go to the health centre, because there is no medicine there. So, the inmates prefer to be at home rather than going to the health centre. The health centre staffs suggest us to buy medicines from market. Tell me what is the use of going there?”

Moreover, the nutrition level of the inmates needs a thorough study. Presently the camp inmates are entitled to ration for only 10 days in a month. The ration consists of only rice. There is no especial consideration for pregnant women or growing children. Biru Hasda from the same camp complains:

“In a month we get ration for 10 days only. An adult gets 600gms and children get 400gms of rice. We don’t have any means of livelihood here. Some inmates fish from the nearby lakes, pond etc. Some work in small business establishments. This is how we have been surviving all these years. No one thinks for us. When you return to the city please tell someone to help us.”

Not only this, as a matter of fact pregnant and lactating mothers did not receive adequate attention and care in the relief camps, during the months immediately after conflict. Sukumari Hasda ex-secretary of Adivasi Mahila Samity (AMS) speaks about the hazards that she and her colleagues had to take while lobbying for baby food for the new born. Ms. Hasda said:

“Expecting mothers ate nothing for days, so you can imagine the condition of babies born out of hungry mothers. These women were not in a position to feed their new-born. I am a women I could understand the condition of the mothers. So, our samity decided to do something for the new borns. Some of us even went to Dispur so that the babies have something to eat. The situation was so tensed but keeping aside all our fear we visited the administration, and ultimately baby foods were supplied to camp inmates.”

Complications during pregnancy, childbirth, claimed many lives. Narration from an eye witness of one such incident follows. Tikhri of Vet. Complex Bangtol camp said:

“Immediately after the conflict, many women had to give birth to children in the open, without any medical attention or help from mid-wives. I myself have seen a lady wailing during her labour pain, but there was no one to help her and she ultimately died. I will never forget this incident in my lifetime.”

Decades have passed but little has changed and child birth continues to take place in the dingy, unhygienic dwellings of the inmates. Vet. Complex Bangtol is not the only exception, this trend can be observed in other camps as well. However the reason for this varies. For Bangtol camp inmates the nearby health center do not have adequate health facilities to assist during child birth, according to Bismuri camp inmates the health machineries are situated too far to be accessed by a women who is undergoing labour pain. This is what Sundari Tiru had to say:

“Doctors have never visited us, though a sign board reads nearest health centre Patgaon, but we don’t go there, it is too far for us. Even male inmates who fall sick cannot go to Patgaon. How can a pregnant woman go? When we fall sick we visit pharmacists in Bismuri area. And there are dhai maa’s (mid-wives) to assist us during child birth.”

Besides this at many other camps like Hazarkia, Golajhar, Bhumka-Maligaon the inmates were found to be unaware of schemes under NRHM which gives incentives to the mother for delivering child in government health centers.

WHO defines health as, a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity 2. Mental wellness refers to a positive attribute, such that a person can reach enhanced levels of mental health, even if they do not have any diagnosable mental health condition. This definition of mental health highlights emotional well-being, the capacity to live a full and creative life, and the flexibility to deal with life's inevitable challenges 3.


Going by the above definitions the inter-ethnic conflicts not only affected the victims physically, it also posed serious threat to victims’ mental health. Direct exposure to violence may result in acute psychological disorder. Conflict victims are vernarable to some of these long term psychological effects like lack of concentration, depression, anxiety etc. the research team came across such cases of conflict related psychological problems.Surprisingly it was found that there is no provision to help victims of conflict who were battling to come out of conflict related shocks. Tuli Besra, aged 80, an inmate of Bismuri camp is one such case. As per government records, the total population of the camp is two thousand three hundred and thirty four (2334). Ms. Tuli was found to be too shocked to narrate her pains. Her, son Mangal Murmu narrated the reason behind his mother’s silence –

“Don’t ask her anything she will not reply. She has stopped talking since that fateful day when twenty (29) members of our extended family were killed. She was witness to some of the killings. And since then she hardly talks.”

The difficulties faced by these camp dwellers are many however the problems faced by women and young girls have a different dimension which often goes unaddressed. In the initial days the relief camps did not provide for the much needed private space for the female inmates. Not only this, female inmates had to compromise on such bare necessities like maintenance of hygiene. Kamli Tiru (name changed) from Kasugaon relief camp where the number of female inmates is one thousand eight hundred and ninety eight(1,898), shares with the researchers the kind of adjustments that she and other females of the camp made during their menstruation period:

“We ran out of our homes without carrying anything. I could not find anything in the relief material which could help me to maintain minimum hygiene during those days, not even a piece of cloth. With no other option I started looking for some sort of isolation where I could site the whole day. Others also did the same. Please, don’t remain me of those horrible days.”

More then ten years down the lane females in the camps continue to be devoid of their ‘space’. The study found that there were no provisions of latrines for the inmates of the camps. Even today they continue to attend to nature’s call in the open or near the banks of rivers or streams. Simri Tudu from Bhumka-Maligaon says :

“During the day time we manage to go to the nearby woods. But at night we cannot go too far. So, at night we look for isolation and sit wherever possible.”

Though, these camp dwellers survived the inter-ethnic clashes. But their struggle for life continues to these days. Their biggest enemy today is – hunger, unemployment, and lingering fear of an unsecured future.

_______________________________________
▄ Some of the camps have been visited more than once.
1. http://www.unicef.org/sowc01/
2. http://www.who.int/about/definition/en/print.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_health

‘The Chittagong Hill Tracts; living in a borderland’- Willem van Schendel, Wolfgang Mey& Aditya Kumar Dewan.(The university press limited, Dhaka,2001)

Sucharita Sengupta

The book entitled ‘The Chittagong Hill Tracts; living in a borderland’ written by Willem van Schendel, Wolfgang Mey & Aditya Kumar Dewan explores a theme of neglect- to quote the authors- “…the Chittagong Hill Tracts form part of one of Asia’s most ignored regions” (Introduction), a story of marginalization of communities and yet another saga of partition politics. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) are perhaps one of the most glaring examples of how certain communities are still bearing the brunt of colonial rule followed by the partition of India. The authors trace uniquely the insecurities, identity crisis and dilemmas of communities living in the borderland. The CHTs are a borderland between Burma, India and Bangladesh which is inhabited by almost twelve distinct ethnic groups with strong cultural links to South East Asia. At the outset the authors make it very clear that they have employed photography as a methodology to study their subject. Although a photographic survey of the CHTs was ordered as part of this project, the authors have relied largely upon personal photographs to weave their arguments. Covering around 20 chapters the book manifests the struggle of the inhabitants to retain their indigenous identity amidst shifts in political control and cultural infiltration. It does not narrate the conflicts but rather focuses on the background that gave birth to the schisms.

The introduction begins with a claim of the authors that the book is solely based on a singular non written source of information which is photographic survey. Over 400 photographs have been used in the book to provide the readers an insight into the cultural heritage of the inhabitants. In fact it was a deliberate move on part of the writers since photographs can be considered as potential contributors to the understanding of history. The authors however do not deny the risk of doing so. In Chapters one and two they acknowledge this fact by stating that objective photography reflects reality in a controlled way. This point has been substantiated by images (Plates 1 and 4 in Pg 11) where it is shown how physical anthropologists have displayed people by making them stand in attention ready to be scrutinized. With the dawn of the 20th century thus the “trust in the objectivity of photography began to decline”(Pg-13) for fear of manipulation of visual image. Things started to look up from the 1970s with the emergence of visual anthropology. Now onwards ethnographic photographs started to be scrutinized as source materials of history. This book therefore bears testimony to how photographs can be used as a means to document the complexities of a trouble zone like the Chittagong Hills. The photographs were meant for personal use and therefore the authors had taken a lot of pain to compile and present them in the several chapters of this book. The photographs were taken by both the outsiders like travelers, anthropologists, missionaries and also by the inhabitants. The ones taken by the local people were mainly used to record family events. The authors here again warn the readers of how in absence of written materials one tends to depend on personal judgments. Like in the case of this book, the authors have used photographs and framed them with contemporary texts. While in certain cases the value of the photographs has been selected, in others focus has been given on what these photographs depict in terms of reality.

Chapters three to six deal with the history and nomenclature of the Chittagong Hills and the transition of control from one authority to the other. One of many instances can be sighted here to show how images have been used in the text. Like through some images the authors have tried to show how the chiefs in the hills used to dress up publicly in unique style, each distinct from the other. While the Chakma Rajas (plates 22, 23 & 24-Pgs 36, 37) liked to dress up like Bengali aristocrats, the Bohmong and Mong chiefs chose a different style.

In the subsequent chapters the authors sketch a brief history of the hills. Before the British annexation the hills were ruled by the ‘chiefs’. After the British took control in the 1860s the chiefs’ public display of power became restricted and although the hereditary system to power was still practiced the final say on the matter rested upon the colonial rulers. The authors here also note why at all the history of the hills were crafted by historians. The Chittagong Hill tracts never gained much prominence in the history of Bangladesh or Pakistan for that matter. It was not until an armed rebellion broke out between a regional political party and the Bangladeshi armed forces that historians began to eye the region with interest. Through a wide range of images, the book narrates the background of the genesis of the problem in the hills. The lives of the local people were always at the mercy of first the British, then the Pakistan government and finally the Bangladesh government after 1971. In 1947 with the end of the British rule India was partitioned into India and Pakistan. Much to the surprise of the people of the hills the area came under the domain of Pakistan control. The attitude of the Pakistan government towards the region was one of ignorance. While the government was interested in the rich natural resources of the region, the people were despised. All previous undemocratic measures like taxation and hereditary claim to power were retained by the new administration. This was the start of differences between the people in the plains and the hills. The authors meticulously sight not only the geographical but also the cultural division between the hills and the plains as another major cause of the problem of confrontation. While the plain was inhabited by the Bengalis, the hills were resided by several groups like the Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Mru and Taungchengya. The problem further mounted up and reached its zenith in forms of armed clashes after the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 following which the privacy of the hills were infringed upon due to a large influx of Bengali muslim settlers.

The final section of the book spans over the remaining twelve chapters. In this section the authors refute the pre-conceived myth of a romanticized lifestyle of the ‘natives’ in the hills which is ‘anti-development’. The locals were perceived by the westerners and Bengali settlers as innocent and nature friendly. This kind of a notion stems out again from a particularistic pattern of clicking the inhabitants. “Many photographs and writings on the Chittagong Hill Tracts project a vision of innocence and charm” (pg – 83). A sharp distinction was drawn in the images between the photographer (fully dressed and civilized) and the photographed (nude and uncivilized) like a semi nude woman is clicked spinning cotton (Pg-84, plate 89). The inhabitants were assumed to be associated with notions like ‘backwardness’, ‘uncivilized’, and ‘anti modern’. The visitors took pleasure in painting the ‘other’ culture as “looseness of morality” (pg-95), which never existed. ‘Nudity’ further contributed to creation of such a strange construction. Fanaticized open sexual life and nakedness have been the constant point of reference of visitors to the hills. The glorification of natural beauty again had an inherent implication that brands the people of the hills as ‘primitive’. Thus the Pakistan government was clear in its developmental endeavors in the hills which deprived the local people at large. The creation of the huge Kaptai reservoir by the government was a catastrophe as it floods around 650 sq kms of valley displacing around 100,000s of people whose houses and villages were submerged. So development in the hills was never attempted at doing well for the people rather it was development for the people neglecting the people.

To sum up, the book is an excellent documentation, probably the first of its kind to record the poignancy in the lives of the people of the hills trough images. The authors succeed in driving home certain key arguments, in particular the criticism of the construction of the ‘other’. They also put forth arguments on why they have decided to choose photography as a method in the book. The dearth of written materials and not so helpful archives shaped their decision. The ‘introduction’ and ‘conclusion’ encapsulate perfectly the introspection of the writers. The book also stands out because it argues each contention through images and the plethora of images that have been used in the document itself are unparalleled. The book would surely be of immense help to researchers interested in this subject as it covers a wide array of issues in the borderland, ranging from the early history of the region, to the fallacious developmental policies of governments resulting in violent clashes and also for throwing light on themes like how a notion of ‘other’ is always considered backward, opposition of civilizations and creation of a westernized notion of ‘modern’ and ‘primitive’. Any culture which does not match up with the accepted notions of developementalism and modernity is necessarily ‘uncultured’ and ‘anti-modern’.

The Anguish will Continue……………..

Sivaprashanthi. Thambaiah ( Shanthi)

[Translated by : Sarvarakshani. Thambaiah ( Rakshi) ]

Didn’t see my mom’s face
Didn’t touch my dad’s hands
Didn’t eat from my sister’s hand
Didn’t get sweets from my brother
I’m crawling on the dust
Of a refugee camp……..

The coconut in our garden
Never bowed its head
It had coconuts left
No matter how many you pluck

We ate only on the tip of the banana leaf
With much delight and pride
The rice that was brought from our own field
(Tip of the leaf is considered to be special and given only to heads of the family or on very special occasions)

Five kinds of pittu (a meal made from rice flour)
Fish gravy prawn gravy
Crab neththeli (a small variety of fish, commonly cooked in villages)
Every thing that flies and crawls
What did I miss?

The smell of ghee
From our village egg plant (gravy)
will stay on our hands for two days

This much happiness
We lost all now
I’m all alone………..

My machchal (cousin) from Canada spoke
But I couldn’t understand
She said ‘chips’ she said ‘bakers’
The rice I got in the camp from the charities
Is very hot, the egg plant is too spicy
My dear Canada Machchal (cousin from Canada)
Can you ask my Maami (aunt) to send me
A spoon of milk curry (a spoon- colloquial way of saying ‘little/some’)

In the pictures my priyamma mahan (cousin brother) sent from London
I see a big house and a car
But my Anna’s ( elder brother’s) push bike
Has gone into pieces in the shelling
But don’t send us a bike
Anna (elder brother) has no legs to ride

Periyappa!! (father’s elder brother) in France
Sithapppa!! (father’s younger brother) in Germany
periyamama !!(big uncle) in Switzerland
My mother used to boast
To the whole village….
My bothers shower their love at me
They send me money
They call me (on the phone) all the time
As soon as we get ‘Tamil Elam’
They say they are going to come here
I need to look for lands
To build two big houses

Periyamama!! Sinnamama!! (big uncle and small uncle)
My mother who stood alone
On behalf of you and I
To see the Tamil Elam bloom
Is lying dead on the ground
Will you come to pour milk???............. (Close relatives are expected to be present at the funeral to pour milk as the last rite/ritual )

The Flag

Sarvarakshanthi. Thambaiah

[Inspired by a photograph by a SriLankan blogger whose name unknown]

It was all like a bad dream
Of yester years
One fine morning
Peace has arrived

Peace has arrived
So we are told
so we believe
So we behave

The flag on the light post
One corner still tangled
No one notices
As the smoke form the crackers
Blinds the eyes

Collection of Literary Pieces on the Theme of Forced Migration

Mohamed Feroz Pakkeer Mohideen

Introduction

End of war does not mean end of displacement and its consequential effects. The displaced people are facing immense difficulties in the situation of displacement whether there in Relief camps or with friend and relatives.

Many people are lost their place of origin, the properties, family members and life with dignity and liberty. The relief and humanitarian assistance could be support them to recover few of the losses. Here some of the literary pieces express about the suffering of war and displacement.

ONE: A Poem from a School Child
Written by: Sivaramya SriChandran,Ramanathan Hindu Ladies College, Colombo-04

Can the Dead be Resurrected?

Even if you roll on the ground
Lose your senses,
And give out sounds of distress
Will human beings grow back from the field watered by your tears?
Will the dead be resurrected?

This is the karma of this birth
The soil of our country is wet with our blood
How many of countless lives and
Property that we have lost…

We lost our villages, our identities, our loved ones
Our kith and kin….
Fall on the ground like dried leaves
Will there be rains for these withered plants?
Will there be dawn for us?

TWO: A Poem from a Displaced Young Woman

This poem was published on a quarterly journal (April 2000) in Sri Lanka. Ms. Nasrin who was forcibly evicted in 1990 from North Province of Sri Lanka wrote it. She was expressing her suffering of forced displacement within the own country.

Un-Dawn Nights
Written by:Ms.Nasrin,Pravagam (April 2000) Quarterly Magazine, Sri Lanka

We were fled on that evening
from our houses, cottages ….
Without unwilling minds

Any one of us were not allowed
to take our cats and cattle, …..
Even our young ladies were scanned
Without bear any rings & trinkets…

The darkness of the night was covered our young girls,
The trees were feed us….
The moon was directed us…
But
The human only were not showing his kind upon us.

We were fled on that evening
from our houses, cottages ….
Without unwilling mind

Three: A Poem from School Child

Leaving My Birth Place, and My Home Town
Written by: Shamla Yusuf,Muslim ladies College, Colombo

My happiness and sorrows
Triumph and loss
Friends and families
bidding goodbye to all
No more joy in my life
All I have is a ragged old bag and sweet memories
Why am I a refugee in my own country?
Why am I scared of my own people?
Why should I suffer in hunger and thirst?
The hunger for peace and thirst for happiness?
Is this what life is all about?
Then why should I live?
When I say this now
Hits me a gun shot
and I lay there in tears on the truck
a boy sees me and feels the same

Four: A Poem from an Inhabitant Child

We Need True Peace
Wrritten by: Ramyahasini Wijieyakumar,Vadivambika Tamil Maha Vidiyalayam, Chilaw, Sri Lanka

These arms have never bagged
Even though they were poor
(now) they have not only been made to bag
But have been made to cry in despair

Isn’t our soil one which has seen
Hard work and education?
Is it not fate that made (us)
Beg from all and sundry?

We don’t want dry rations
We want true peace
Even if old age overtakes
We first want peace

We need it so that
At least our future generations can live relived -
What is the cost of independence?
This is the situation of the people of the peninsula

Five: A Story

People Who are Hoodwinked by War
Written by: Kusala Chamari,Wejieratne Swarnapala Girls School, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Even in our dreams we did not imagine this will happen to us. Our Chena cultivation has been destroyed, rendering us poor. Our lives and our children’s lives are endangered due to the war. We exported rise during the reign of king Parakrama, but now we are reduced to begging in the camps. This situation was so unexpected. We recollect our past when we were together, with tears strolling down our cheeks. But there is no one to wipe these tears away.

War destroyed everything. Need to overcome this situation. We need food and we need peace of mind. Will we even see the peace bird fly in our skies?

Port of Displacement

Geetisha Dasgupta

The Gangavaram port in Visakhapatnam was inaugurated on 12 July 2009 with much celebration. The new port, which became operational last year, has state-of-the-art highly mechanised cargo handling system to receive capsize vessels with a capacity of 2,00,000 DWT. Ms. Purandeswari, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, in her address expressed satisfaction over the inauguration of the port and added that some issues with regard to rehabilitation of affected fishermen should be sorted out on a top priority. The Chief Minister YSR Reddy complimented the Gangavaram port management for having completed the work with superb efficiency and no compromise on any front. The Andhra Pradesh Government had selected a consortium led by DVS Raju (of Hyderabad-based VisualSoft Technologies) and comprising Dubai Ports International and New Wave Securities and Industrial Credits Ltd to develop and operate the project for 30 years on a build-own-operate-share-transfer (BOOST) basis.

Indeed, it was a no compromise job. The construction and trial run of the port which began exactly one year before the date of formal inauguration coincided with uprooting and displacement of 25,000 fishermen in Gangavaram and the adjoining Dibbapalem village. Fishermen were forced out of their traditional occupation as their access to the sea was directly cut off. The fisher people agitated but the government turned a deaf ear because this was a mega project which promised to make Visakhapatnam a shining star in navigation cartography and make the maximum profit possible through gateways of foreign investment and public private partnership. Among the crores that were in the prospect, displacing thousands did not matter. It was an easy bargain that one person died from police firing while agitating and as said earlier, was not any compromise at all on the part of the state and the port authority, both of which congratulated each other.

A recent roundtable discussion held as part of the National Workshop on Resource Politics, Climate Change, Environmental Degradation, and Displacement in India organized by CRG in collaboration with CSSEIP, Andhra University, discussed the issue in detail. The participants were, G Papa Rao, an advocate for the fishermen displaced by the Gangavaram port project, Kadiri Kannaya, a fisherman from the village of Dibbapalem and Dr ABSV Ranga Rao from Andhra University. The roundtable dwelt on the premise that the master plan of the port and exclusion of the fishermen was drawn even much before the Special Economic Zone Act was in place. Land acquisition was completed for the port by virtue of a special act that the Andhra Pradesh Government passed to favour the construction.

One outcome was that the fishermen united and demanded jobs in the upcoming port. The administration called the agitators rowdy and immediately implicated them in police cases that ranged from civil to criminal. Thus keeping the fisher folks on one side, the port authority continued to build a firm wall around the port enclosing the sea. The fishing community has been largely neglected in India. Only disasters like cyclones etc bring their stories to the forefront. The fishing community includes not only the fishermen but also several secondary and tertiary occupational groups like women who sell fish in the Visakhapatnam market, people who make and repair the fishing boats and the nets and will be devastated if one ring of the collective chain if broken. Interestingly, the relief measures, however small attach only to the direct fisher people and not the others. The roundtable was a vent to the fisher people who think that the fishing community has been guarding the coasts from time immemorial and now the marine police force ward the same community away from the sea. This not only threatens them from the economic point of view but also push them to a point of suspecting the state to be conspiring against them.

A suspicion becomes a belief when the state throws ample scope to reaffirm the same. Khadri Kannaya brought into notice the related issue of the much promised fishing jetty that the AP Government promised to rehabilitate the fishermen occupationally to some extent. Though declared to appease the opposition at some point of time, the authorities plainly rejected the pleas from the fishing community to finally construct the jetty pointing towards the fisher people as criminals who did not deserve the fishing jetty. Their agitation against the construction of the port has earned them this wrath.

The most severe effect, as Dr Rao explained, is possibly that the fishermen suffer from psychological stress due to this untoward development and consequent displacement. This dislocation therefore causes problems of psychological health and decrease in average life span of members of the community.

Climate Change or Climate Justice in the North East

Ishita Dey

Walter Fernandes in “Climate Change or Climate Justice in the North East” published in The Assam Tribune argues that the politics relating to clean development mechanisms and its implication in the bio-diversity of North East India. In this context two facets of justice come to the forefront; firstlt international justice and secondly justice within poorer countries. Clean Development mechanisms adopted by richer countries not only highlights the evasion of responsibility and accountability through shift of burden to the poorer countries through funding of CDMs but also will affect the livelihood of vulnerable communities particularly the agricultural labourers, fish workers and small farmers. These strategies will not only lead to loss of livelihood but also resource crisis in North east India. Northeast is one of the world’s 25 mega-biodiversity zones but has become a biodiversity hotspot in which biodiversity is being destroyed fast. Unfortunately the Government of India fails to forsee the limitations of accepting commercial monoculture as a CDM . As an instance Walter Fernandes cites the case of Bhadrachalam Paper Mill in Andhra Pradesh where Eucalyptus has been for raw material on 300 acres of land taken from the tribals. The tribal communities have been forced to look for alternative sources of survival leading to overexploiting the forests around them for sale as timber or firewood which damages the environment much more than what the paper mill claims to preserve. “But the eucalyptus plantation that is responsible for their impoverishment and environmental degradation has been declared a CDM and gains points for it. The Northeast can face a similar situation. If this policy is followed in the region and its people are impoverished and forced to overexploit the resources for survival, they will be declared enemies of nature. Consumerism of the rich nations and of the middle and upper classes in poor countries has caused the problem. These classes invest in more and more vehicles. The state is investing on coal-based GHG emission producing thermal power plants. The 48 major dams it is planning in the Northeast will destroy its biodiversity and impoverish its people. Scarcity of resources will be one of its consequences. That will result in competition for scarce resources and more ethnic conflicts”.
To read the full article please visit http://www.assamtribune.com/dec0609/edit2.html

36 Million People were Estimated to be Displaced by Sudden-Onset Natural Disasters in 2008

Ishita Dey

Findings of a study by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre on “disaster displacement” shows that 36 million people were displaced by sudden onset of disasters of which 20 million were displaced by sudden-onset climate-related disasters. The report aims to fulfill the gap of “global monitoring mechanism” as the data on current trends in disaster related forced displacement will form the baseline for potential nature of displacement. The aims of the study were to provide firstly an estimate of the number of people displaced by natural disasters in 2008, a methodology for ongoing monitoring of forced displacement as a result of natural disasters and an indication of the resources required to implement the methodology on an ongoing basis. The report states that a total of 312 disasters (meteorological, hydrological, climatological (except drought) and geophysical ) occurred in 2008 .During the course of research, ten additional disasters were found to have resulted in displacement, bringing the total number of disasters included in
this study to 322. These disasters affected a total of over 207 million people.

To read the full article please visit
http://www.internaldisplacement.org/8025708F004CFA06/(httpPublications)/451D224B41C04246C12576390031FF63?

The People vs The State

Geetisha Dasgupta

The Salva Judum (meaning the Peace Hunt) was constituted in Chattisgarh to make way for peaceful acquisition of the natural resources by the bodies that pull the purse strings. The organization is a state sponsored and supported movement arming the civilians to keep the Naxalites at bay. They kept a tab on public reaction while villages together were turned upside down and ultimately razed to the ground. The Salva Judum is supplied with fire arms by the central police forces.

The Salva Judum was actually led by Mahendra Karma, elected on a Congress ticket, and the leader of the Opposition and had all out support of the BJP to ratify all he did. The organization was peopled by the Murias, a cadre which supported the Maoists earlier. Pulling the purse strings, there were people belonging to the contractor and miner communities who lend their support now to this group, waiting to see the success of their business plans. For example, the first financiers of the Salva Judum were Tata Steel and Essar who vouched for ‘peace’ as it may be interpreted against the business context. All these and much more have been revealed in a passage from a report published in 2009 by the Land Reforms Committee in set up by the UPA-1. The report reckons that the Salva Judum was principally set up to bring back ‘peace’ in the area: a peace by virtue of which all development business could be carried out without any humdrum.

What followed subsequently was an all out war between ideological brothers: the Salva Judum soon came to fight bitterly with the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The first strife was seen against and in the Muria village. The result was that, “640 villages as per official statistics were laid bare, burnt to the ground and emptied with the force of the gun and the blessings of the state. 350,000 tribals, half the total population of Dantewada district are displaced, their womenfolk raped, their daughters killed, and their youth maimed. Those who could not escape into the jungle were herded together into refugee camps run and managed by the Salva Judum.” Many others stay hidden in the forests or have moved out into nearby tribal habitats of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh etc. this is an open war now and would dig really deep holes on the landscape of this tribal tract.

Both Tata Steel and Essar Steel are now tightening their nets for the final bid to occupy these 640 deserted villages for mining and other allied business activities. Each of them wanted 7 villages originally and believed that these villages sat on the richest variety of iron ore available in India. Hindrance was created by the residents who put up slogans like “…don’t mess with the Murias…” or “…the Murias do not fear death…” These villages are otherwise available to the highest bidder.

A big question that emerges is one of violence and counter violence in which the state certainly appears somewhere and even takes a position definitively. A more difficult question however would be whether the state strikes first or merely retaliates!

For further information, please see Land Reforms Committee Report 2009 & http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091120/jsp/opinion/story_11750719.jsp

The Lives and Livelihoods of those Affected by the Zangmu Dam

Priyanca Mathur Velath

On 18 October, 2009, China revealed an ‘official’ plan to relocate a huge population of people who would be displaced by the Zangmu Dam. This is going to be China’s second largest resettlement plan, after the resettlement of the 1.27 million people displaced by the Three Gorges Hydro-Power Project. The people who are being evacuated from their homes are those living in the area around the proposed Danjiangkou reservoir in the Hubei and Hunan provinces, where a sluice will be built to divert water from the Yangtze river and its tributaries, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Information has been received that the Nanshan Regional Administration had issued orders as early as October 30, 2007 for the evacuation of people from the area from November 1, 2007. According to this order, the dam site was to include all areas upto 3310 m above sea level and people inhabiting these areas were asked to vacate. According to Indian media reports, resettlement authorities in Henan have already chalked out a huge resettlement project affecting 3.3. Lakh people spread over the central Chinese provinces of Henan and Hubei. The end-time of the resettlement process has been fixed at 2011, Xinhua said, citing Henan provincial authorities.

According to information with the Indian media, there is evidence that China has begun constructing a dam on the river that is known as the Yarlungzangbo (or Yarlong Tsangpo to the Tibetans). The plan is to build a series of five medium-sized dams along the river in the Nanshan region at Zangmu, Jiacha or Gyatsa, Zhongda, Jiexu and Langzhen, with the one at Zangmu being the first one. More information is available on the Zangmu hydrolectrical project, that was inaugurated on March 16, 2009 and where the first concrete was poured on April 2 this year. This Zangmu dam is supposed to be a gravity dam with water blocking structures that could mean the construction of a reservoir. It is expected to generate 540 MW; its height will be 116m, length 389.5m and it is to be 19 m wide at the top and 76 m wide at the bottom. It’s a 1.138 billion Yuan project that has been awarded to a five-company consortium, the Huaeneng Corporation, one of China’s biggest power companies. The tendering process for this entire project is being overseen by the Three Gorges International Corporation. In fact this water-diversion project could be nearly three times as expensive as the world’s largest hydroelectric project, the Three Gorges Dam, where the villages of the affected people had been flooded by a 660 km (410 mile) long reservoir that that dam had created in the middle of the Yangtze River.

A month ago, the Gezhouba group is believed to have publicly noted that the setting up of the concrete feed line to the Zangmu Dam had been successfully completed. In fact since February, satellite images have shown construction activity in Zangmu and Ziacha with evidence of labour quarters. Yet, let alone informing India of its plans, China has continuously just issued bald-faced denials when questioned about this dam.

The essential idea of this entire project is to divert water hundreds of kilometers to provide water to booming cities in China’s arid north like Beijing, Tianjin, Henan and Hubei. Its three routes are supposed to move billions of tons of water from China’s central, southern and western regions through pipes and canals to the fast growing northern cities. In fact, the central route, which is expected to supply one-fourth of Beijing’s water, is expected to be completed by 2014. But what needs to be noted in that there have been warnings issued by critics that ‘environmental damage will be created by this water diversion and boomtown’s thirst will not be quenched.’ There is also growing concern among opponents about the mass scale displacement that this project is going to entail.

The Chinese provincial government is assuring its people that each relocated family will be allotted new arable land in the newly built villages according to a standard of 0.1 hectare per person. It has also been insisting that not only will the soil of the approved new resettlement areas be good but that these sites will also have convenient traffic conditions. It has also been saying that it will come up with ‘preferential policies’ to help compensate for the relocation losses suffered by the evacuated people. People have been promised compensation for unmovable property like old house and also an annual subsidy of 600 yuan ($88) per person for twenty years according to the official media quote of Duan Shiyao, Deputy Chief of the Hubei Provincial Resettlement Bureau. But earlier this year there were also reports of complaints from some villagers that they had been forced by officials to sign agreements to relocate and that they had been offered less than half the land they currently use for farming and other means of income. Thus there are valid fears among people that post displacement they may face unequal and forced resettlement.

The biggest fear is the impact that this project may have on lower riparian economies like India and Bangladesh. The reality is that India has no robust water-sharing agreements with China and so may end up being at the losing end if a large share of the Tsangpo river, flowing into India as the Brahmaputra, gets robbed. India needs to institutionalize a sharing mechanism before it is too late, and before Beijing presents New Delhi with a fait accompli about its dams. According to Ramaswamy Iyer, former Water Resources Secretary of the Government of India, the water issue needs to be given more attention, and made as important a part of the agenda as the border issue. The lives and livelihoods of many people dependent on the flowing waters and lush fertile banks of this river, in India and Bangladesh, stands to get affected. On top of all this, one can also never be sure of how far and to what extent the R&R plans outlined by the Chinese authorities actually see the light of the day.

Notes

1.Pranab Dhal Samanta, ‘China begins building dam on its side of the Brahmaputra’, www.indianexpress.com, October 15, 2009.
2.Ananth Krishnan, ‘India, China and Water Security’, The Hindu, October 21, 2009.

Esmeralda: A Transgender Detainee Speaks by Break Through

Suha Priyadarshini Chakravorty

Despite the Obama Administration’s assurance to alter the functionality of the Detention System, not much has been done. The much ambitious Detention System is stretched across over 500 country jails, privately run prisons and federal facilities, with immigration detention being a $ 1.8 billion business (estimated to hold approx. 442 941 detainees in custody in 2009 alone). The accounts from these detention centres portray horrifying depictions of ruthless and brutal existences of detainees where they are denied basic facilities such as visitation, access to lawyers, medical care, and are subject to regular physical and verbal abuse. Vulnerable people including asylum seekers, pregnant women, children, lawful permanent residents as well as US citizens find themselves amongst those detained in these centres.

The short video ‘Esmeralda: A Transgender Detainee Speaks’ by Break Through as part of the Restore Fairness Campaign is a similar vignette that depicts a dismal chronicle of the US detention system, whereby transgender detainees undergo severe mental turmoil and physical abuse in centres which are meant for protection. The video deals with plight of Esmeralda, a transgender who seeks asylum in the United States of America, which she considered as having a more conducive environment than her home country, Mexico. Her aspiration to lead a ‘normal’ life at a free environment of the US turned out to be her worst nightmare. Facing discrimination at Mexico even from her family she wanted to pursue her ambitions at the United States and therefore had applied for asylum in the country. Subsequently she was detained. At the detention centre she was (like other transgender detainees) kept in a segregated cell and would even be taken to the bathroom in handcuffs. She says, “They would handcuff us as if we were murderers and were trying to escape.... but we were not trying to run away.” Esmeralda was also not allowed to drink or do anything that the other detainees were. Further she faced severe sexual abuse by an immigration guard who forced himself on her since she was handcuffed in a cell and could do little to defend herself. Additionally, when she protested against it and the immigration guard was sentenced to jail for a 6 months term, Esmeralda began to be watched even more closely for the guards were angry with her on telling on one of them. She felt so claustrophobic and suicidal that she wanted psychiatric help, which she was further denied. Following this, she cancelled her asylum and went back to Mexico and on applying for it the second time, she was detained with male detainees which was further more shocking for her and for as long as she lived in the detention centre, she lived in constant terror. Finally, she was granted asylum in the US. Esmeralda currently finds herself as a successful advocate fighting for the cause of sexual violence and its survivors in the US. Thus even while on the one hand, the video exudes a strong pessimistic undertone it ends on an optimistic flavour of ‘hope’ for positive change.


Watch video at: http://restorefairness.org/2009/11/esmeralda-a-transgender-asylum-seeker-speaks-out-against-immigration-detention/

Displaced in Media Space as Well

Chitra Ahanthem

As I sit down to write this post on the nature of media reporting on the issues faced by people living in border town of Moreh (on the Indo-Myanmar border) in Manipur, it would be pertinent to state that no newspapers have hit the stands today. The All Manipur Working Journalist Union took the decision of not publishing newspapers following the assault and harassment of two journalists by police commandoes. This is another ‘normal’ scene from Manipur but before one assumes that the media representatives in this highly militarized state bear the brunt of covering issues faced by the people consider this: a senior reporter from a Manipuri daily paper was apprehended by security personnel while ferrying underground rebels of a particular group about two weeks back. There was a shoot out in which two civilians were killed in the said incident. Last year, a lethod bomb was gift wrapped and delivered to The Sangai Express for failing to carry the press release of a particular group while there have been too many instances of newspaper going off the stands in protest against attempts to muzzle free press to be considered news or write home about (pun intended).

But why is the media being talked about in a posting that is supposed to look at media reporting of displacement and their impact on women living in border areas? Precisely because in the scheme of things that happen on a daily basis in Manipur, it is the “breaking news” of grenades lobbed at residences of Government officials/businessmen/contractors/private entrepreneurs (for failing to pay extortion amounts); shoot outs between various security personnel and militant groups or between the different militant groups itself; calls for bandhs/rallies/general strikes etc that makes it to newspapers. With the daily and regular chain of breaking news taking place on one hand, small media houses which are understaffed and mostly underpaid (often with no money kept aside for traveling to remote areas), it goes without saying that Imphal, the capital city remains the center of attention. Rural reporting or in the case of Manipur, writing about interior regions in the districts is made possible only when reporters accompany a Government official on tour or when they are taken along by NGOs or other civil organizations going to the said regions for their program coverage.

It is thus not surprising then that there has been no issue based reporting so far on women affected by displacement, either in Moreh or elsewhere in other parts of Manipur. A media scan of three newspapers: Imphal Free Press; Sangai Express, Huieyen Lanpao shows that the only news reports that mention “Moreh” are all of shoot outs or people being killed. The reports are all based on press releases sent by various security personnel including militant groups.

A scan of media reporting going back by a few years did bring up two stories (one of which is my own). “Desperately Seeking Samte” (IFP, Sep 21, 2008) is about the fate of Haikhohat Samte a 25 year old girl who was caught in a cross fire between the Army and an underground group. A bullet pierced her spinal chord when she went back to her house to collect household items and some food grains that the family had left behind while running away across the border. It also talked about how the displacement from their house also meant being uprooted from all things familiar to them and having to shift from one makeshift camp to another before finally taking refuge with a relative living in Moreh.

http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=43460&typeid=1&Idoc_Session=35724d946863197ee7cef4d307b09985

The second feature story (Refugees in a Supermarket, Anjulika Thingnam for Women Features Service, webcasted in 2007) is about the travails of being refugees, a situation brought about by intense militarization: the sprouting of land mines in the villages of Moreh and intensified firing among security forces and underground groups. The story also talks at length about inadequate facilities at the “refugee camp” (a supermarket) and hence the lack of toilet space.

http://www.boloji.com/wfs5/wfs947.htm
Apart from the above two stories, there is little about the people of Moreh and the issues they face in their lives. Yet again, there is little about most other interior parts of the state as well apart from the regular news reports of people getting displaced due to pressure points going off.

Fencing the Borders

Supurna Banerjee

Embarking a crowded train from Sealdah on my first ever field visit to Nadia I was in no way prepared for the experience that unfolded in the next two days of the trip. Situated in the heart of the Bengal delta with the Bhagirathi on the west and the Padma running into the Meghna estuary on the east, it is bounded by the district of Murshidabad on the north and north west and on the north-east and east it is bounded by the districts of Rajsahi and Kusthia in Bangladesh. My destination was a border village Char Meghna. It lies next to Murshidabad district’s Karimpur. It falls under the Hogolberia Police station.

Charmeghna is a Bangladeshi enclave, the land belonging to Bangladesh, residents being Indian citizens. The entire village is located beyond the electric fence. A pillar proudly proclaiming its Bangladeshi identity greeted us right at the entrance gate of the village. We had to submit our identification documents and sign our names before we could go in. It was almost like entering a high security apartment. Charmeghna is a strange paradox of the Partition as is Jamalpur on the other side of the border—this time Indian land with Bangladeshi citizens. The village of Charmeghna is situated between the electric fence and the Mathabhanga River, a distributary of Padma, beyond which is Bangladesh. The villagers are primarily engaged in agriculture.

My first meeting was with the seniors of the village in the primary school where they were waiting for me. Some of the young girls and older people accompanied me to the BSF post located within the village. From there we went to see the river which served as a border between the two countries. The river in reality turned out to be a narrow channel of water which would pose no kind of barrier to anyone wanting to cross the area. Following the exploration I was invited to one of the houses so that I could interact with the villagers.

The BSF, they held was a constant presence in their lives. But this has not been the situation always. In the past there was no BSF posting in the area which resulted into unregulated crime by people allegedly from the other side of the border. As a result of a movement spearheaded by the civil society organizations and the residents of the area the BSF was finally stationed within the village. Though there was complains of harassment by the jawans there had been no atrocities committed by them. They agreed that the BSF stationing has actually made the area more secure. Though there were still thefts of crops and cattle by ‘those Bangladeshis’ its frequency and intensity has definitely lessened. The villagers however were vociferous in articulating their grievances over the general state of affairs —lack of administration and development that they have been forced to grapple with everyday. Lack of electricity, good roads has been lacunas plaguing them for a very long time. The government perceived in the form of panchayat and the political parties seem oblivious to their needs. They only approach the villagers during election time and disappear once the polls are over. Moreover the residents of the village mostly hail from tribal background. But the administration does not supply them with the Scheduled Tribes certificates. Though they get all the benefits and privileges that the Scheduled Tribes are entitled to but without a certificate this would be true only within Nadia. It seems that with the gates closing behind them mainland India also turns her back towards them.

My next visit was to the local police station. I had the chance to interact with the local OC Arup Kumar Pal and he gave me a quite detailed insight on the state of the border villages. The inconvenience of the people living in the international bordering zone is caused by i) international security point of view and ii) when BSF personnel are guided by their whims. Cultivation of jute is forbidden adjacent to the IB fencing considering the international security point of view. He, however, claimed that trafficking of women and children have become a rare instance in this part of the Indo-Bangladesh border. However he is optimistic about the situation in these areas. “The local problems of the area are found to be solved with the intervention of local police station, local political personnel and, local NGO authority.” He concedes that the people of this area as poverty stricken mostly labourers or based on agriculture. Being located far from the district headquarter development is less, education is little and consciousness is minimal. Hence marginalization is only natural.

I was to spend the night in a border townlet called Shikarpur. It was much bigger in size than Charmeghna and much better developed with electricity and concrete roads. However this was also located at the margins. Just behind the settlement there was a far wider Mathabhanga beyond which was Bangladesh. A large contingent of BSF has been posted here. Though located just by the border it was not shut off from the Indian mainland by a gate which probably explains its much better condition than Charmeghna.
Being kept out of India’s border fence and not being a part of Bangladesh the very fact of its existence aggravates the security and developmental concerns that people struggle with everyday. The dichotomy of inclusion and exclusion continues as a part of their daily struggle for existence.