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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Resistance a strategy for staying alive: Binayak by Rahi Gaikwad

Resistance a strategy for staying alive: Binayak by Rahi Gaikwad

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published Published on Dec 16, 2009   modified Modified on Dec 16, 2009

One-third of India is starving. In fact, this population has been in a state of chronic hunger, a factor which should be taken into account while evaluating the poverty situation, human rights activist and eminent doctor Binayak Sen said in a lecture at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences here on Monday.

As a physician, “it’s been my privilege to read the politics of the bodies of my people,” said Dr. Sen, who spent two years in jail in Chhattisgarh for alleged links with Maoists. He was released on bail on May 25, 2009.

Data from the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau showed that 33 per cent of the adult population had a body mass index (BMI) below 18.5. This is regarded as a state of “chronic sub-nutrition.”

A community-wise analysis of this 33 per cent revealed that more than 50 per cent of the Scheduled Tribes had a BMI below 18.5. For the Scheduled Castes the proportion was 60 per cent.

For the Adivasis of Chhattisgarh, where the doctor carried out his health work, the very fact of fighting hunger to stay alive was a process of resistance. “Famine, war and genocide have been responsible for dispossessing lakhs of people of their homes and lands and for severing their hold on the natural resources they are entitled to in order to live with dignity,” Dr. Sen said.

“In this situation, resistance becomes a strategy for staying alive. In Dantewada [district] alone, three and a half lakh of the seven lakh people have been displaced from the village. Burning houses, chasing them, looting and raping are part of this process.”

In June 2005, the government started the Salwa Judum, allegedly as a people’s movement to counter naxalism. Dr. Sen, who is also vice-president of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, said when a consortium of human rights organisations investigated the activities of the Salwa Judum, three facts stood out.

“It was clear that it was not a spontaneous movement but a land-clearing operation. Secondly, it was misleading to describe villagers as having been caught in the crossfire between the Maoists and the state. Thirdly, the entire operation, instead of being a peace mission as claimed, has escalated violence on both sides.”

Asked by a member of the audience about the role of Maoists, he said: “I cannot presume to speak on behalf of the Maoists since I am not a member of that organisation.”


The Hindu, 16 December, 2009, http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/16/stories/2009121657281800.htm
 

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