The document discusses the impact of various development projects in India on tribal and rural communities. It describes how tribes have been displaced and harmed by projects like dams, army firing zones, mining, and industrialization that primarily benefit urban areas and private companies. The tribes often receive inadequate compensation and no alternative livelihoods. They have protested peacefully for their rights and environment protection with limited success. Large amounts of public funds are spent on projects but do not improve people's lives as promised. The document advocates for a self-sufficient village model of development that does not exploit rural communities.

1. And the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth
Chapter: 3
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P. Sainath
Everybody loves
a good draught

2. 3.1 Until a project comes along
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Who constitutes a nation? Only the elite? Or do the
hundreds of millions of poor in India also make up the
nation? Are their interests never identified with national
interest?
• A project for National Interest and its policy.
• Impact on tribes, dalits and other poor community people.
• Land acquisition and displacement of tribes .
• Problems regarding rehabilitation of tribes .
• Unjustified compensation and legal action.
• A question of Human rights.

3. 3.2 In the army’s line of fire-1
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When the Asurs go back to Sekuapani after the
fireworks, they count the costs in “damaged crops
and stolen chickens.”
• The story is unfolded. It is all about the tears
of the tribal people of Sekuapani Village in Bihar.
•Author explains how Sekuapani tribes were harassed
by Indian army in the name of practice firing.
• Army decided to convert the temporary
practice firing zone into permanent practice zone around
1,62,000 acres in Palamau and Gumla area in Bihar.
• It became an ecological threat for the jungles.
• Tribes spoke out but nobody was ready to listened to them.

4. 3.3 In the army’s line of fire-2
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Ironically, if the project is scrapped it will be due
to environmental consideration
• Finally Sekuapani issue got political interest.
• Conflict between Central Govt and state govt arises
regarding the issue of land and army activity.
• The Betla National Park and the project tiger along with
85,000 wild animals, 57 tigers, 60 leopards, 115 elephants
were likely to be homeless if the army activity continues to
acquire more and more land and to experiment with test
firing.
• Public Protest got support from environmental impact and
hence Indian army has to push back themselves.

5. 3.4 and 3.5: Chikapar: Chased by development-1 & 2
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When the refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan came into odhisa
in the ‘60s and again in 1971, nearly a lakh of rupees was spent on
each of them. Less than Rs 15,000 was given to whole joint family
who belong to here and were losing land, not gaining it like
refugees. Better to be a refugee.
•Only village in the world experienced 3 times displacement in the
name of development projects like NALCO, Jet MiG etc.
• Nearly 5,000 families or 40,000 people have been displaced to their
own land outside the region.
• Compensation given only Rs 150 per Acre (in 1985) to those who
has land documents and most of the people don’t.
• Govt claimed that adivasi are doing illegal acquisition of forest land
and ordered to vacate withing 60 days.
• Hum jaan denge lekin zameen nahi denge was the protest by adivasi,
horizon and other tribes of Odhisa.

6. 3.6 Banning the bees from honey
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From the companies, the government gets tax.
From the Koya, what do they get?
• Koya tribe in Odhissa are very much creative people on
bamboo crafts. They cut the bamboo in such a way that it
grows again and hence the bamboo forests never destroyed.
• Odhisa Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) cut off
Koya people from using bamboo in their region and allowed
the paper industries to use the bamboo forests.
• Since bamboo was the only means of life and the Koya
tribe lived by bamboo crafting, they did not have any other
option to live life by other skill of work. Neithewr the paper
companies appointed the Koya people as workers.
• in 1996, CM Biju Patnaik announced compasation to
Koya people but it was horribly insufficient.

7. 3.7 The house that Luaria built-1
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“This is my house”, says Luaria, “and I don’t
want any other.”
• Story about mass displacement of Bhil, Bhilala and other tribes from
Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat on acount of Narmada
project.
• They argued that the forest was their mother, they got food, firewood,
herbs and medicine everything from the forest. Their economy
concentrated at Mahuwa flower and the local wine preparation which
was also a part of tradinional tribe culture.
• They never want new land or rehabilitation centre nor they want
money. They just wanted to live as they like in the lap of the forest.
• The affect of Narmadao Bachao Movement and Jalsindhi gave support
to the tribes finally.

8. 3.8 The house that Luaria built-2
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“Look at this house we are building”, says Luaria. The
others in our falia come here to help us built it.”
• The tribal people of Jhabua found it a costly affair and inaccessible to
move to Gujarat and resettle over there; however many of them moved.
• Tribes refused to leave giving up their tradition, culture and offcourse
land. They decided to stay there and was ready to face the circumstances.
• Government announced that Narmada Dam would be 455 metres in
height from the lower end and 25,000 families were expected to be
submerged.
• As per the Govt scheme, some of the tribes left the place while some
decided to grab their own place facing the fortune and built their own
home.

9. 3.9 Big dam, little water
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Here the dam might be stopped but not the business of
contractors.
• Kutku dam project spent Rs 58 crores which was estimated in 1972 and
was still under construction for 20 long years.
• The dam would irrigate only 6,800 hectares land as the whole district
was in draught since last two decades.
• Government estimation was to rehabilitate 14 villages while
Chhotnagpur Samaj Vikas Sansthan NGO demanded that at least 30
villages would be affected and they fought for justice.
• The land acquisition benefit was allotted Rs 6,000 per acre but in actual
the market price was Rs 30,000 per acre at that time.
• As the dam would be of no use for that particular region, people
demanded to stop it and reconsider the irrigation project for which Bihar
state govt was allotted Rs 120 crores and the benefit of those money was
nil and nobody knew where these money went.

10. 3.10 : Neema: Portrait of a village doomed
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We were told some years ago of the great achievements ahead, that it was all
for us, that we were making progress. Today many of us have no jobs and all of
us have lost our lands. We have only the dust. Look at our houses. Will we be
given something like these when Neema is rubble?
• The beautiful vernacular Architecture of Neema submerged under dust
after the Asia’s largest coal mining project “Rajmahal” was executed.
• The coal project affected 18 villages in Bihar, among all Neema was the
largest one.
• Those who gave up land for the project got a job, but as time passes it
became a history and villagers became jobless and homeless.
• The compensation was Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 for every hut. By that
amount nobody was able to built a new hut in a new place.
• There was no hospital upto 10km radius and people were suffering
from severe health problems due to coal dust and the village was
doomed.

11. 3.11 : And silent trees speak
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The passengers’ minds seem to speak: here people lived. Here,
once, children played. For someone on the ferry, that was a
personal experience before their villages made way for progress
they never shared.
• 152 villages were isolated by Balimela and accompanying projects. A
land so remote that official named it is “The Cut-off Area.” Official
report said that 1,200 adivasi families evicted by the project.
• Rs 57 crores spent on Balimela power project and it produces 720MW
electricity per annum which had been shared by Odhisa and Andhra
Pradesh. But the villages are away of a single electricity bulb, even the
Panchayat office.
•The tribes and refugees from Bangladesh are the resident of that cut-off
area. They had to walk 20km for finding of food.
• Since they don’t have any other means of earnings, they work as
vendors in the ferry and for that purpose they had to pay bribe.

12. Conclusion
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1. For whom a project for National Interest being executed? Who will be
benefited?
2. Rethinking and Assessment of National Policies by Government for such
projects.
3. People never did any protest for anything big, they simply want their rights
and fair deal with justice. Is it so difficult for Government?
4. Recent examples: Singur Tata nano project (West Bengal), NHPC
Subandsiri mega dam project in North Lakhimpur (Assam) on Brahmaputra
where the project stopped before execution due to protest over citizens’
right.
I would say that if the village perishes India will perish too. India will be no more India. Her own
mission in the world will get lost. The revival of the village is possible only when it is no more
exploited. Industrialization on a mass scale will necessarily lead to passive or active exploitation
of the villagers as the problems of competition and marketing come in. Therefore we have to
concentrate on the village being self-contained, manufacturing mainly for use. Provided this
character of the village industry is maintained, there would be no objection to villagers using
even the modern machines and tools that they can make and can afford to use. Only they should
not be used as a means of exploitation of others.
- Mahatma Gandhi