In the following we share an article of People's March Magazine, which was published already in winter this year.
People’s March, has been an interesting and informative publication about the Maoist revolutionary movement in India since it first began publication in 1999. It was edited and published by the journalist P. Govindan Kutty from its beginning until 2012, when a combination of continuing government harrassment and ill health forced him to stop. However, a new series, in the form of a new Internet version put out by unidentified editors, began appearing in June 2014.
We have no knowledge about the relationship, or lack of relationship, betweenPeople’s Marchand the Communist Party of India (Maoist) or any other organization. We post these materials as useful sources on the revolutionary struggle in India, but not as representing the views of the CPI(Maoist) except in the signed and CPI(Maoist)-attributed statements which appear therein.
(https://bannedthought.net/India/PeoplesMarch/index.htm)
Reports from Areas of Revolutionary Movement Areas of Revolutionary Movement
Reports from Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area
The readers of ‘People’s March’ are well aware that Bihar-Jharkhand is one of the areas that the CPI (Maoist) aims to develop into a liberated zone. In this issue we give a brief report of revolutionary programs taken up by Revolutionary Mass Organisations and retaliatory actions of People’s Liberation Guerilla Army in this Special Area.
Bihar-Jharkhand have been being neglected for the past several years like any other states in the country. Genuine development of the people is not taken up by the governments of the two states. The government machinery is bent upon establishing carpet security in a bid to suppress the People’s War going on in the leadership of CPI (Maoist). But the people need development. So they are taking up several programs to expose the repressive policies of the governments in collaboration with the central government. One of the people’s struggles questioned ‘Are the schools for education or for police camps?’
The Indian Reserve Battalion set up a camp in Kuyeeda of Goelkera in a high school. The people were angry with the camp depriving their children of education. They rallied up to the Block Development Office and held a demonstration under the banner of Goelkera Regional Committee of Manki Munda Sangh. The people questioned the right of the government to set up a camp without the permission of Gram Sabha and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the camp. They also demanded action on the concerned officials. People of thirteen villages of Kuldeeha Peed such as Buruduyiyaa, Behaduyiyaa and Keetapee walked a distance of 20 kilometers to reach the office to show their protest. A delegation of 11 representatives submitted a memorandum to the Governor through the Block Development Officer.
People of Paidampur village and the surrounding villages in Chakradharpur block are protesting the new police camp in Paidampur. They held a meeting and informed the officials that they would take up struggle in a more intense manner if their demand to withdraw the camp was not fulfilled.
Another CRPF camp proposed to be set up in Pandeyadih-Parvatpur of Parasnadh hill under the limits of Khukhra police station of Pirtand Block of Giridih district gave rise to struggle in the surrounding villages. Villagers held a rally carrying their traditional weapons protesting the attitude of the government that did not heed to their earlier protest to the camp. They held a meeting in the place proposed for construction of police camp for two hours. They demanded school and hospital instead. When the MLA from Giridih reached the spot and discussed with the villagers they clearly told him that there was no need for a police camp in their area.
Despite the strong protest from the people there was no change in the decision of the government. Ten days later the people went once again and demonstrated in a stronger manner. They broke the barricades set up in front of the camp and destroyed the camp under construction. Twelve motorbikes, a JCB engaged in construction and a generator including water pipe and wiring were also damaged in the process according to the police. Instead of considering the demand of the people the police are busy filing a case against the demonstrators.
Here is one more incident from Giridih district. A police camp is being built in village Kalhabar in the name of a Degree College. Villagers protested the construction. The government did not heed to it. Then the people took the help of PLGA. PLGA burnt a JCB mixer machine after which the contractor did not have the guts to continue the work.
People are also struggling against the illegal arrests of villagers. People of Kedabeer village under the limits of Sonua police station in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand encircled the police station demanding release of a youth picked up by the police from the village. The police were on patrol into the area in the name of searching for Maoists. The people immediately followed the police up to the police station and blocked the main road. The people reached the police station with their traditional weapons such as bow and arrow.
In another incident of arrest in Ranjdakocha village of Otar panchayat of Karaikela people encircled Karaikela police station demanding the release of a villager by the CRPF and the local police. They also expressed protest to the beating of another youth of the village. Carrying their traditional bow and arrow the people encircled the station for almost one hour until their demand was met. They left the station only after the police released the youth. They successfully demanded the police treatment of the beaten youth. They warned the police that they would intensify struggle if they went on patrol again.
Government bent on new kinds of repression
While people are struggling for their rights to jal-jungle-zameen the government goes ahead with its draconian deeds in a bid to eliminate the people’s movement. Resistance to such deeds is also brewing. There was sudden bombing by the CRPF on a Company of PLGA during elections in Langurahi-Pachrukhiya forest of Bihar from 11 am to 12 am. Nearly 60-70 bombs such as mortars and high explosives were thrown. On the same day Jan Militia Squad and the people together made an attack on a police camp situated in a school in Sondaha in Bankebazar in Gaya district at 10 pm. Two generators, electric equipment, tent, chairs, benches and food material were destroyed.
The government took up a big program of laying roads in the interior areas of the revolutionary movement all over the country. As a part of stopping this, PLGA burnt 2 JCB vehicles and 2 tractors that were engaged in road construction in village Charyeeya. A private contractor took up the work of laying the road from village Navadih to Charyeeya up to Mudgaada. The road passes through the forest area and would facilitate the movement of the Para-Military and State Armed forces to attack the people and the guerillas. In a similar incident 2 machines involved in road construction in between Jagarnadh dam to Canal in the limits of Dev police station in Aurangabad district. A roller and pinching machine was burnt in village Khakhda in Lugu area of North Chota Nagpur area of Bokaro district. Two more JCB machines engaged in road construction were burnt in village Phatriyapani in Hazaribagh district.
We add here a recent report of a Fact Finding into violation of human rights in Jharkhand in brief –
Report of Fact finding into Human Rights violation in Jharkhand
On June 12, 2021 the media reported about an encounter between security forces and Maoists in Kuku-Piri forest, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Garu police station of Latehar (Jharkhand). According to reports, one Naxalite was killed and guns were found. The next day, many local newspapers highlighted that 24-yearold Bramhadev Singh of Piri Village had died in this encounter. He had gone to the forest with other villagers to hunt on the occasion of the Sarhul festival.
Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha investigated the matter by conducting a fact finding that included representatives of various organizations, journalists, lawyers and social workers. The group formed by the Mahasabha included the following social and media organizations – Adivasi Adhikar Manch, Adivasi Women’s Network, Human Rights Law Network, The Gram Sabha. On June 17, the team visited Piri village, met the villagers and victims, analysed the response of the local administration and police, the registered FIR and reports published by the local media.
The team found that the incident of 12 June was not an “exchange of fire”. Innocent villagers were fired upon by the security forces. The six Adivasis associated with the incident (including Bramhadev) were out on a traditional hunting ritual, as every year, for the Sarhul festival. They all carried a Bhartua gun, which has been in their families from generations. This single fire gun is used to hunt small animals and birds like rabbits, pigs and chickens and to protect crops from animals.
On the day of the incident, as a group of six villagers moved about 50 feet towards the forest, one of them saw security force personnel at the edge of the forest. He took two steps back and asked others to move back. This caused a panic and the people who were behind started running. Suddenly, the security forces started firing without any warning. The villagers, however, did not hear any shots from the Bhartua gun they were carrying. They instead raised their hands, shouted that they are common people, not Maoists and requested the police to not shoot. But the security personnel kept firing. One of the bullets fired by them hit one of the villagers Dinenath in the hand. Another bullet hit Bramhadev in the body. The firing continued for about half an hour. Fearing being shot at, the five men ran away from the forest. Thereafter, the security forces took Bramhadev to the edge of the forest and fired three shots at him, which led to his death. The villagers also told the fact-finding team that none of the six victims were associated with the Maoist organization.
The FIR lodged by the police makes it clear that the police is trying to hide the truth. The FIR does not mention Bramhadev’s death by the police firing. According to the FIR, this incident was an exchange of fire in which the first shot was fired by the group of armed villagers and some people fled into the forest. The FIR also mentions that Brahmadev’s body was found at the edge of the forest. These statements are contrary to the facts. The police has led a case against the six Adivasis, including Bramhadev, under various sections (including the Arms Act). This too exposes the true intention of the police – it wants to maintain pressure on the villagers to prevent them from questioning the police firing and the murder. In the police station, all the five victims were made to sign (or put their thumb impression) on many pages (some blank and some written) without informing them about the content of these pages.
Such incidents are continuously taking place in Jharkhand. For example, in June 2020, Adivasis of Chiriyabeda village in West Singhbhum were brutally beaten by the CRPF during a search operation. Although the Chaibasa superintendent acknowledged the role of the CRPF in the violence, the FIR lodged by the police does not even mention about the CRPF. Till date neither the victims have got any compensation nor any action been taken against the responsible CRPF soldiers.
Along with the statement the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha and the fact finding team made demands to bring out the facts, to constitute a judicial commission and enquire the facts and to implement PESA.
People against Brahminic Hindutva Fascism
The people are also fighting against Brahminic Hindutva Fascism. One program taken up to save Cows from the saffron forces is interesting to know.
A Cow knowledge foundation is running a Cow house in village Bara in the limits of Dhibra police station in Aurangabad district of Bihar. It meant to stop theft of Cows and to save Cows from slaughter. The foundation collected hundreds of Cows and put them in the house. But there was neither proper fodder nor facilities for treatment. Ten to fifteen Cows died every day. They were being buried through a JCB. The people in the surrounding were discontent with this. They were also angry for the Cow house was built on the land that the people seized from a landlord and were enjoying the crop. The people understood that the Cow house was also a conspiracy to seize back the landlord’s land. Moreover the house was in the midst of a road and caused difficulty in passing by. The issue was backed by the local gentry in collaboration with the ruling representatives and the BJP fascists. It needed force. So they approached PLGA. One fine day PLGA blasted the Cow house incidentally on 15th August and emancipated all the Cows. They distributed them among the people. Thus the people showed that the real protectors of Cow were they and not the saffron forces in the name of protection of Cow.
While the incident sent ripples of enthusiasm among the people it shook the ‘protectors of Cow’ and the police and government administrations. The people witnessed several incidents of harassment of the Dalit and Muslim people in the name of protection of Cow. The Cow knowledge foundation was a NGO of the saffron forces. This action of PLGA put the police department in an irksome position. In fact it was not aware of the house. It obviously got down to make an enquiry of the deaths of hundreds of Cows in the house.
People of Bastar make undulating struggles against police camps Silinger.
The name of a village Silinger in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh is reverberating all over Bastar and the state. The struggle of the people against a new police camp in the village soon spread all over in waves involving more and more people. It had already invited the attention of wellwishers of the tribal people, democrats and progressive minded people of the country. The people in struggle continue to obtain great support in spite of which the government is obstinate. This is how it began and is going on.
On 13th May 2021 the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) suddenly went and set up a camp in Silinger. This is against the provisions of Indian Constitution. The area falls under the Fifth Schedule and any activity such as procuring forest produce, cutting of trees and mining has to be done only with the permission of the Gram Sabha, meaning the people of the whole village. Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) is the Act that specifies the right. The government considers none of these and set up camps all over the areas of people’s movement in the state. Struggles gained momentum since mid-2020 (Detail reports of these struggles in Narayanpur, Kanker and Bijapur were reported in the magazine in the Special Issue of 20 years of PLGA in 2021 February).
People initially held protest demonstration in front of the Silinger camp on 17th May. The Inspector General (IG) of Chhattisgarh P. Sundarraj and the District Collector of Bijapur Kamalochan Kashyap personally directed the police to fire on the peacefully demonstrating people. Three persons died in the firing and 18 others received injuries. The first 4 days witnessed injuries to 296 villagers of 36 villages in police lathi-charge. One injured woman succumbed to injuries later.
The people were angry with the killings. They decided to perform the last rites of their beloved in the place of firing, in front of the new police camp. They set up firewood and completed their traditional rites of death. On 28th May people inaugurated a column in memory of the persons who died in the firing and paid homage.
By the time, the struggle invited unprecedented support from many sections of the people of the country and other countries. Political parties of Chhattisgarh belonging to all shades, few all India parties and organisations from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Jharkhand came in support of the struggle. Bharatheeya Janata Party (BJP) also condemned the firing. The Adivasi Samaj (tribal organisation) of the state came in full support of the people. Few political leaders and others tried to pacify the people. Representatives were also taken to virtually meet the Chief Minister of the state. The CM only spoke about giving money, job and other such and the persons who represented the people in struggle only spoke of withdrawal of the camp in Silinger.
Moolvasi Bachao Manch
People formed the Moolvasi Bachao Manch (MBM, meaning Forum for protection of the indigenous).
By June 8th-9th the number of people reached above fifty thousand. The Bijapur Collector invited the leaders of MBM to a camp in Terrem that was set up in 2020 for talks in vain. Meanwhile People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) went and released a book bringing out the reasons and facts of the ongoing struggle. Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan met the people and expressed solidarity. The struggle spread to all the districts of the Bastar Sambhag that include Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Bastar and Kanker.
It is interesting to note that fear of Corona pandemic or the state did not cower the people who stood and are still standing steadfast on their demand. When the police questioned them that they were holding rallies and demonstrations without permission, the people questioned them in turn, ‘You did not ask our permission to set up a camp. So why do we need to take your permission to oppose it?’
The protest of an old man is revealing. The police walked through the place of the demonstrating people. Then the good old man caught hold of one. He would not leave him. The policemen had to plead him a lot before getting out their colleague from his hold.
Tribal, democratic, human rights organisations and individuals went in large numbers in support of the struggle. Memorandums started flowing into the Collector’s Office of these districts. The struggle of the people became an important topic of discussion among many sections of the society. It went on enlightening the students, youth, teachers, government employees and women. Youth jumped voluntarily into the movement and expressed their commitment towards their society.
On 29th August there were demonstrations, rallies, road blocks in 15 districts and in 22 districts on 26th September that mainly protested firing in Silinger apart from few other related demands. Print and electronic media was busy with covering the daily events. Correspondents and camera persons reached the places of demonstration in large numbers. They interviewed the people, reported how the people were staying in plastic tents in splashing rains and severe cold. Social media groups released video songs, photos, power point presentations and so on.
The people told the media persons, ‘We do have difficulty in leaving our farming and family. But police camps became a life and death problem in our lives. So we made arrangements to come here in batches’.
Sexual assaults on women on the rise
The difficulty is not only to continue their means of livelihood. It concerns the survival and protection of women, half of the population. There are quite a number of incidents in which the village women and even minors were sexually assaulted and murdered by the patrolling armed forces of the state. Few such atrocities have raised intense struggle of the people earlier. Now with the increasing police camps, the number of atrocities on women too are on the rise.
‘Fifteen women of the villages where new police camps were set up were sexually assaulted. Women are increasingly insecure. Some of them were picked up while bathing. The mercenary armed forces chase the running women. We are fighting against these ill deeds. These violate our mere existence as the indigenous people of the country’ said one of the activist of MBM.
Meanwhile the struggle was picked up by people in areas a little distant from these villages. On 19th September 5 thousand people held a rally in Kattekalyan demanding stop to police atrocities and punishment to DRG personnel. They also demanded schools and hospitals. People of 18 panchayats rallied in this program under the banner of Sarv Adivasi Samaj. The Samaj is a social organisation that aims to protect the life, culture and heredity of the local Gond tribe.
Solidarity to the peasant movement
The struggle of the tribal people expressed solidarity to the peasant movement. It held a Kisan Ekta Sabha (peasant unity meeting) on 27th September. The meeting demonstrated the unity of tribal and peasant people in struggle for their fundamental rights.
Few students of Gangalur in Bijapur district were arrested in relation to the struggles. People protested the arrests. They put breaches in 42 places on the road in front of the media explaining the reasons. On 6th October people gathered in Edsametta and held meetings and demonstrations on 7th and 8th. Later they held a rally up to Gangalur where they took up relay demonstrations until 15th.
They said, ‘We shall not allow the police to beat us, send dogs on us or do any such unwanted things’. Dogs were sent on the protesting women in Gangalur one year ago. There was large coverage in the media of the atrocious behavior of the police. The present struggle also later transformed into that against police camps.
In October 7 thousand people from 35 panchayats of Bhopalapatnam held a rally placing 20 demands. In the same month relay demonstration was held in Dharmaram where the police propose to set up a camp that continues even now.
Moolvasi Adhikar Sabha
November 1st happens to be the day Chhattisgarh was formed into a separate state. On that day Moolvasi Adhikar Sabha (meeting for power of the indigenous) was held.
The organisers of the meeting emphatically said, ‘Even after 21 years of a separate state, the tribal people are being deprived of Constitutional powers. Now even after 75 years of so called independence the demands for implementation of the Fifth and Sixth Schedules and Autonomy of Bastar are not yet under consideration’.
On 5th November the police attacked Nahod village and made indiscriminate firing when 2 thousand people came together to hold a meeting. The police broke onto the stage and tried to manhandle the president of the meeting. The people held a rally and a press meet protesting the attack on the 7th. Then the police indulged in their typical method. They burnt the tent and beat the people. This led the people to intensify struggle. They went and sat in front of the Nahod camp.
In Gompad and Nulkanthong a meeting was held in protest to the proposed police camp on 12th November. Readers might remember that in Gompad Madkam Idime a village woman was caught from her house when she was pounding paddy for the family, sexually assaulted and murdered in 2016. In Nulkanthong more than ten villagers including two minor boys were killed in firing in 2018. ‘We know how it would be if a police camp comes in our village. So we are strongly against the setting up of police camps in the interior villages’ said one villager of Gompad.
On 26th November meetings were held in Empuram, Singaram, Gompad and other villages in the area around Silinger on the occasion of the Anniversary of Silinger agitation. Protest spread to Dabbakonta, Eladamadugu, Vechapal, Poosuguppa-Rampur, Nameedar and Oorepal.
Since the government did not come down on its decision of setting up police camps people started indefinite demonstration from 5th December.
People against bridge in Kanker district
In Kanker district of North Bastar people started an agitation more than a month ago against a bridge on River Mendki at Vechaghat near Chote Betiya where a camp was set up a few years ago. Now the government proposed to set up a camp of Bord Security Force (BSF). The struggle also includes the demand to stop laying a tourist centre in Paralkot.
The people said, ‘The tourist centre shall destroy our culture and tradition. This is a place of worship for us but not for the outsiders’. The government until date neither informed nor took the permission of the people in this regard once again violating PESA.
The struggle against setting up of police camps continue in Gompad, Singaram, Dharmavaram, Nahodi, Poosnar, Elmagonda, Pusuguppa, Nameedar and Vechapal without break. People hold demonstrations in batches from each village. They go along with rice and other necessary material. They are also helped with daily food by supporting organisations.
On the other hand the government continues to be repressive on the struggling people. It does not allow the methods specified in its own rules. The representatives of MBM were arrested on their way to submit a memorandum to the Governor of state. People rallied in big numbers demanding their release in Silinger. All the parties that have been in support of the struggle also rose to the occasion. Owing to the pressure of the protest the police released them.
The demands
The ongoing struggles demand the withdrawal of all the police camps from Bastar; an end to massacres; rigorous punishment and expulsion of the police officers and police personnel including the DRG personnel responsible for all the massacres in Bastar; stringent punishment to the police officers and men responsible for burning houses in villages such as Sarkinguda, Edsametta, Tadimetla, Morpalli and Timmapuram basing on the report of judicial enquiry; stop sexual assaults by the police on tribal women; punish the accused in atrocities and murders of women; provide employment to local unemployed in all the departments in appropriate posts in Bastar; authorize the Gram Sabhas to release nationality/residential/income certificates; provision of school, hospital and pure drinking water in each and every village; appropriate remunerative price for all the forest produce.
The entire process of these struggles brought a change in the daily life of the people. The struggle has become a part of daily life of the people. People collect rice, grams, vegetables and cooking oil for the demonstrators. They also collect money for the demonstrators to buy necessary things. A stage and an office were constructed in all the places of demonstrations. People also started planting vegetables for the purpose around the places.
The people of Bastar continue the legacy of anti-British struggles led by their legendary heroes that made history.
Malkangiri tribals up in arms opposing limestone mining
Over 2,000 people of five panchayats in Malkangiri district staged protests Sunday at Katamateru against mining of limestone at Matapaka and Niliguda panchayats. Shouting slogans against the administration over mining, the agitating people said that they would not spare their land, forest and water for exploitation. They stated that through the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), the state government had auctioned 200 acres of land for limestone mining at Matapaka and Niliguda panchayats in 2015-16 without the consent of the local people.
“Well before auction of the limestone mines, neither the state government, nor the OMC, nor the administration took locals into confidence. No palli sabha was held over the stone mining,” they added. Over years, tribals have been living and depending on forests, they said, adding that the administration has not paid attention to development of the villages in the region. People have been suffering for lack of proper communication, they added. The SC/ST welfare department has set up a high school at Katamateru.
Over 500 children study in the school, but they have to suffer in the absence of a pucca road from Matapaka to Katamateru. “Over years, we are in misery as communication is still a problem in Katamateru, Niliguda, Koyagiri, Puruna Niliguda, and Uskalbag. Telephony has been inaccessible. Every village here has many widows, who are still deprived of pension. Many government schemes do not reach people. Farmers have to face distress sale of their crops every year. On the other hand, the government has been trying to displace them through mining,” the agitating people observed, adding that they would not let the conspiracy of the government take shape.
People from Kalimela, Katamateru, Nandibada, Uskalbag, Niliguda, Kayagiri and Iralgundi also stated that huge quantities of minor forest produce, groundnuts and sesame seeds are transported to other states, but the state government has never thought of setting up agrobased industries to process the local produce and market them. They also pointed out that people in nine panchayats had been displaced due to the Chitrakonda reservoir, but many of them have not yet been rehabilitated. “So, we have been opposing the mining of limestone in the area,” said the sarpanchs of Niliguda, Matapaka, Gorakhunta, Materu and Tandapalli.
Reproduced from an English daily ‘Orissa Post’ 2022 January 9th.
People oppose Carpet Security
Here is one more report from Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zone.
The Odisha state government has been laying roads and bridges, building cell towers and other such things in cut-off area of Chitrakonda block in Malkangiri district in the name of development for the past two years. But the people of the area are not ready to agree this. They have been solving their fundamental problems such as drowning due to dams in the path of struggle in the leadership of CPI (Maoist). They clearly state that the present so called development is part of intensification of repressive measures on them and the party that is guiding them.
The government is spending hundreds of crores of rupees in this projects and infrastructure facilities. It deployed hundreds of Para-military forces, arranged carpet security. BSF, SOG, DBF have been deployed and new camps set up in Ontalaguda, Darlabeda, Gurusetty, Ondralu and Mudilipada in the past one year. There are constant attacks on the villages. With the support of the police the landlords who earlier fled are returning and trying to seize back their lands from the people. The contractors are minting lakhs of money in collaboration with the government officers.
Nearly ten thousand people from scores of villages of Panasaput, Ondralu and Jodamba panchayats came together to resist carpet security. They held a rally in Gurusetty in summer. They demanded immediate withdrawal of camps, unconditional release of the arrested, to stop attacks on villages and combing the forest.
Protest to GO Nos 317&3 in Telangana
The government of Telangana made Government Order No. 317 on 6th December 2021 that caused severe protest from the concerned sections. Teachers are in the forefront in the agitation for the withdrawal of GO No 317. They are holding demonstrations, encircling the government offices and such other forms of agitation. The GO introduced a zonal system in the allocation of jobs regarding public employment in Telangana.
The GO authorizes the District Collector and the concerned Head of the Department of the district to make decisions on jobs and transfers. The Principal Secretary, Special Chief Secretary, Head of the Department and Senior Consultant to the government are authorized for zonal and multi-zonal posts. Transfers and allocation of permanent posts shall be irrespective of nativity. Nearly 3 lakh employees and teachers are against the GO. They say that they were not informed of the proposal that was normally the practice. The employees say that the government is trying to implement the GO against the rules.
The opinion among the related sections is that the government brought the GO in haste to cover up its earlier GO in this regard. The government made one GO when there were ten districts that now became thirty-three. One district is divided into three or four and a transfer would lead the employees to go to faraway places. The agitators also say there are discrepancies in the preparation of the allocation list owing to corruption. The teachers and employees also demand the government to appoint a commission of experts, employees and teachers to find an agreeable solution.
The government is trying to implement the GO in the most undemocratic manner that is inviting a lot of criticism from all sections of the society. Unemployed and teachers are committing suicides in agony.
The Maoist party criticized the government for its undemocratic attitude. Telangana State Committee of the CPI (Maoist) gave a press release supporting the demands. The statement released by the spokesperson of the committee Jagan demanded the TRS government to withdraw the GO and stop the employee allocation with immediate effect.
The Maoist party demanded that the government take up recruitment on the basis of nativity and reservations. The allocation of employees on the basis of seniority put a whole lot of employees especially women to distress, said the statement.
Tribal people are also protesting the Supreme Court ruling in favor of annulment of Government Order (GO) No. 3 that deprives them of obtaining teacher jobs. The ruling came under strong criticism in the backdrop of rising movements for the rights of tribal people in the country.
In fact the Fifth Schedule itself provided hundred percent reservation for the people of local scheduled tribes. Go No. 275 was formulated as per the Constitutional provisions way back in 1986. Few contended the GO in the court but rights activists were successful in countering it. Then GO No 3 was made by the joint Andhra Pradesh government on 10th of January 2000 that specified hundred percent Secondary Grade teacher posts in the Scheduled Area to the ‘local tribal’ people.
A writ was filed in the High Court against the GO. The court gave ruling in favor of the order. The Supreme Court now decided against the order.
The said GO was however, implemented in only a few schools run by the Tribal Welfare department. It was not implemented in the rest of the tribal residential schools and Colleges thus depriving hundreds of people of the ST category of jobs. The present decision of the Supreme Court formally and totally deprived the tribal people of the teacher posts.
One more related issue is the appointment of a commission to fill fifty thousand vacancies. The point of discussion is that while a procedure is already defined for this what was the need for the commission. This according to the activists is to manipulate appointments.
There is wide protest from employees, teachers and the unemployed to the GOs. They say that the state government of Telangana is not filling the vacancies and creating vacuum in their lives.
People’s March January 2022
Reports from Areas of Revolutionary Movement Areas of Revolutionary Movement
Reports from Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area
The readers of ‘People’s March’ are well aware that Bihar-Jharkhand is one of the areas that the CPI (Maoist) aims to develop into a liberated zone. In this issue we give a brief report of revolutionary programs taken up by Revolutionary Mass Organisations and retaliatory actions of People’s Liberation Guerilla Army in this Special Area.
Bihar-Jharkhand have been being neglected for the past several years like any other states in the country. Genuine development of the people is not taken up by the governments of the two states. The government machinery is bent upon establishing carpet security in a bid to suppress the People’s War going on in the leadership of CPI (Maoist). But the people need development. So they are taking up several programs to expose the repressive policies of the governments in collaboration with the central government. One of the people’s struggles questioned ‘Are the schools for education or for police camps?’
The Indian Reserve Battalion set up a camp in Kuyeeda of Goelkera in a high school. The people were angry with the camp depriving their children of education. They rallied up to the Block Development Office and held a demonstration under the banner of Goelkera Regional Committee of Manki Munda Sangh. The people questioned the right of the government to set up a camp without the permission of Gram Sabha and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the camp. They also demanded action on the concerned officials. People of thirteen villages of Kuldeeha Peed such as Buruduyiyaa, Behaduyiyaa and Keetapee walked a distance of 20 kilometers to reach the office to show their protest. A delegation of 11 representatives submitted a memorandum to the Governor through the Block Development Officer.
People of Paidampur village and the surrounding villages in Chakradharpur block are protesting the new police camp in Paidampur. They held a meeting and informed the officials that they would take up struggle in a more intense manner if their demand to withdraw the camp was not fulfilled.
Another CRPF camp proposed to be set up in Pandeyadih-Parvatpur of Parasnadh hill under the limits of Khukhra police station of Pirtand Block of Giridih district gave rise to struggle in the surrounding villages. Villagers held a rally carrying their traditional weapons protesting the attitude of the government that did not heed to their earlier protest to the camp. They held a meeting in the place proposed for construction of police camp for two hours. They demanded school and hospital instead. When the MLA from Giridih reached the spot and discussed with the villagers they clearly told him that there was no need for a police camp in their area.
Despite the strong protest from the people there was no change in the decision of the government. Ten days later the people went once again and demonstrated in a stronger manner. They broke the barricades set up in front of the camp and destroyed the camp under construction. Twelve motorbikes, a JCB engaged in construction and a generator including water pipe and wiring were also damaged in the process according to the police. Instead of considering the demand of the people the police are busy filing a case against the demonstrators.
Here is one more incident from Giridih district. A police camp is being built in village Kalhabar in the name of a Degree College. Villagers protested the construction. The government did not heed to it. Then the people took the help of PLGA. PLGA burnt a JCB mixer machine after which the contractor did not have the guts to continue the work.
People are also struggling against the illegal arrests of villagers. People of Kedabeer village under the limits of Sonua police station in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand encircled the police station demanding release of a youth picked up by the police from the village. The police were on patrol into the area in the name of searching for Maoists. The people immediately followed the police up to the police station and blocked the main road. The people reached the police station with their traditional weapons such as bow and arrow.
In another incident of arrest in Ranjdakocha village of Otar panchayat of Karaikela people encircled Karaikela police station demanding the release of a villager by the CRPF and the local police. They also expressed protest to the beating of another youth of the village. Carrying their traditional bow and arrow the people encircled the station for almost one hour until their demand was met. They left the station only after the police released the youth. They successfully demanded the police treatment of the beaten youth. They warned the police that they would intensify struggle if they went on patrol again.
Government bent on new kinds of repression
While people are struggling for their rights to jal-jungle-zameen the government goes ahead with its draconian deeds in a bid to eliminate the people’s movement. Resistance to such deeds is also brewing. There was sudden bombing by the CRPF on a Company of PLGA during elections in Langurahi-Pachrukhiya forest of Bihar from 11 am to 12 am. Nearly 60-70 bombs such as mortars and high explosives were thrown. On the same day Jan Militia Squad and the people together made an attack on a police camp situated in a school in Sondaha in Bankebazar in Gaya district at 10 pm. Two generators, electric equipment, tent, chairs, benches and food material were destroyed.
The government took up a big program of laying roads in the interior areas of the revolutionary movement all over the country. As a part of stopping this, PLGA burnt 2 JCB vehicles and 2 tractors that were engaged in road construction in village Charyeeya. A private contractor took up the work of laying the road from village Navadih to Charyeeya up to Mudgaada. The road passes through the forest area and would facilitate the movement of the Para-Military and State Armed forces to attack the people and the guerillas. In a similar incident 2 machines involved in road construction in between Jagarnadh dam to Canal in the limits of Dev police station in Aurangabad district. A roller and pinching machine was burnt in village Khakhda in Lugu area of North Chota Nagpur area of Bokaro district. Two more JCB machines engaged in road construction were burnt in village Phatriyapani in Hazaribagh district.
We add here a recent report of a Fact Finding into violation of human rights in Jharkhand in brief –
Report of Fact finding into Human Rights violation in Jharkhand
On June 12, 2021 the media reported about an encounter between security forces and Maoists in Kuku-Piri forest, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Garu police station of Latehar (Jharkhand). According to reports, one Naxalite was killed and guns were found. The next day, many local newspapers highlighted that 24-yearold Bramhadev Singh of Piri Village had died in this encounter. He had gone to the forest with other villagers to hunt on the occasion of the Sarhul festival.
Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha investigated the matter by conducting a fact finding that included representatives of various organizations, journalists, lawyers and social workers. The group formed by the Mahasabha included the following social and media organizations – Adivasi Adhikar Manch, Adivasi Women’s Network, Human Rights Law Network, The Gram Sabha. On June 17, the team visited Piri village, met the villagers and victims, analysed the response of the local administration and police, the registered FIR and reports published by the local media.
The team found that the incident of 12 June was not an “exchange of fire”. Innocent villagers were fired upon by the security forces. The six Adivasis associated with the incident (including Bramhadev) were out on a traditional hunting ritual, as every year, for the Sarhul festival. They all carried a Bhartua gun, which has been in their families from generations. This single fire gun is used to hunt small animals and birds like rabbits, pigs and chickens and to protect crops from animals.
On the day of the incident, as a group of six villagers moved about 50 feet towards the forest, one of them saw security force personnel at the edge of the forest. He took two steps back and asked others to move back. This caused a panic and the people who were behind started running. Suddenly, the security forces started firing without any warning. The villagers, however, did not hear any shots from the Bhartua gun they were carrying. They instead raised their hands, shouted that they are common people, not Maoists and requested the police to not shoot. But the security personnel kept firing. One of the bullets fired by them hit one of the villagers Dinenath in the hand. Another bullet hit Bramhadev in the body. The firing continued for about half an hour. Fearing being shot at, the five men ran away from the forest. Thereafter, the security forces took Bramhadev to the edge of the forest and fired three shots at him, which led to his death. The villagers also told the fact-finding team that none of the six victims were associated with the Maoist organization.
The FIR lodged by the police makes it clear that the police is trying to hide the truth. The FIR does not mention Bramhadev’s death by the police firing. According to the FIR, this incident was an exchange of fire in which the first shot was fired by the group of armed villagers and some people fled into the forest. The FIR also mentions that Brahmadev’s body was found at the edge of the forest. These statements are contrary to the facts. The police has led a case against the six Adivasis, including Bramhadev, under various sections (including the Arms Act). This too exposes the true intention of the police – it wants to maintain pressure on the villagers to prevent them from questioning the police firing and the murder. In the police station, all the five victims were made to sign (or put their thumb impression) on many pages (some blank and some written) without informing them about the content of these pages.
Such incidents are continuously taking place in Jharkhand. For example, in June 2020, Adivasis of Chiriyabeda village in West Singhbhum were brutally beaten by the CRPF during a search operation. Although the Chaibasa superintendent acknowledged the role of the CRPF in the violence, the FIR lodged by the police does not even mention about the CRPF. Till date neither the victims have got any compensation nor any action been taken against the responsible CRPF soldiers.
Along with the statement the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha and the fact finding team made demands to bring out the facts, to constitute a judicial commission and enquire the facts and to implement PESA.
People against Brahminic Hindutva Fascism
The people are also fighting against Brahminic Hindutva Fascism. One program taken up to save Cows from the saffron forces is interesting to know.
A Cow knowledge foundation is running a Cow house in village Bara in the limits of Dhibra police station in Aurangabad district of Bihar. It meant to stop theft of Cows and to save Cows from slaughter. The foundation collected hundreds of Cows and put them in the house. But there was neither proper fodder nor facilities for treatment. Ten to fifteen Cows died every day. They were being buried through a JCB. The people in the surrounding were discontent with this. They were also angry for the Cow house was built on the land that the people seized from a landlord and were enjoying the crop. The people understood that the Cow house was also a conspiracy to seize back the landlord’s land. Moreover the house was in the midst of a road and caused difficulty in passing by. The issue was backed by the local gentry in collaboration with the ruling representatives and the BJP fascists. It needed force. So they approached PLGA. One fine day PLGA blasted the Cow house incidentally on 15th August and emancipated all the Cows. They distributed them among the people. Thus the people showed that the real protectors of Cow were they and not the saffron forces in the name of protection of Cow.
While the incident sent ripples of enthusiasm among the people it shook the ‘protectors of Cow’ and the police and government administrations. The people witnessed several incidents of harassment of the Dalit and Muslim people in the name of protection of Cow. The Cow knowledge foundation was a NGO of the saffron forces. This action of PLGA put the police department in an irksome position. In fact it was not aware of the house. It obviously got down to make an enquiry of the deaths of hundreds of Cows in the house.
People of Bastar make undulating struggles against police camps Silinger.
The name of a village Silinger in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh is reverberating all over Bastar and the state. The struggle of the people against a new police camp in the village soon spread all over in waves involving more and more people. It had already invited the attention of wellwishers of the tribal people, democrats and progressive minded people of the country. The people in struggle continue to obtain great support in spite of which the government is obstinate. This is how it began and is going on.
On 13th May 2021 the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) suddenly went and set up a camp in Silinger. This is against the provisions of Indian Constitution. The area falls under the Fifth Schedule and any activity such as procuring forest produce, cutting of trees and mining has to be done only with the permission of the Gram Sabha, meaning the people of the whole village. Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) is the Act that specifies the right. The government considers none of these and set up camps all over the areas of people’s movement in the state. Struggles gained momentum since mid-2020 (Detail reports of these struggles in Narayanpur, Kanker and Bijapur were reported in the magazine in the Special Issue of 20 years of PLGA in 2021 February).
People initially held protest demonstration in front of the Silinger camp on 17th May. The Inspector General (IG) of Chhattisgarh P. Sundarraj and the District Collector of Bijapur Kamalochan Kashyap personally directed the police to fire on the peacefully demonstrating people. Three persons died in the firing and 18 others received injuries. The first 4 days witnessed injuries to 296 villagers of 36 villages in police lathi-charge. One injured woman succumbed to injuries later.
The people were angry with the killings. They decided to perform the last rites of their beloved in the place of firing, in front of the new police camp. They set up firewood and completed their traditional rites of death. On 28th May people inaugurated a column in memory of the persons who died in the firing and paid homage.
By the time, the struggle invited unprecedented support from many sections of the people of the country and other countries. Political parties of Chhattisgarh belonging to all shades, few all India parties and organisations from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Jharkhand came in support of the struggle. Bharatheeya Janata Party (BJP) also condemned the firing. The Adivasi Samaj (tribal organisation) of the state came in full support of the people. Few political leaders and others tried to pacify the people. Representatives were also taken to virtually meet the Chief Minister of the state. The CM only spoke about giving money, job and other such and the persons who represented the people in struggle only spoke of withdrawal of the camp in Silinger.
Moolvasi Bachao Manch
People formed the Moolvasi Bachao Manch (MBM, meaning Forum for protection of the indigenous).
By June 8th-9th the number of people reached above fifty thousand. The Bijapur Collector invited the leaders of MBM to a camp in Terrem that was set up in 2020 for talks in vain. Meanwhile People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) went and released a book bringing out the reasons and facts of the ongoing struggle. Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan met the people and expressed solidarity. The struggle spread to all the districts of the Bastar Sambhag that include Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Bastar and Kanker.
It is interesting to note that fear of Corona pandemic or the state did not cower the people who stood and are still standing steadfast on their demand. When the police questioned them that they were holding rallies and demonstrations without permission, the people questioned them in turn, ‘You did not ask our permission to set up a camp. So why do we need to take your permission to oppose it?’
The protest of an old man is revealing. The police walked through the place of the demonstrating people. Then the good old man caught hold of one. He would not leave him. The policemen had to plead him a lot before getting out their colleague from his hold.
Tribal, democratic, human rights organisations and individuals went in large numbers in support of the struggle. Memorandums started flowing into the Collector’s Office of these districts. The struggle of the people became an important topic of discussion among many sections of the society. It went on enlightening the students, youth, teachers, government employees and women. Youth jumped voluntarily into the movement and expressed their commitment towards their society.
On 29th August there were demonstrations, rallies, road blocks in 15 districts and in 22 districts on 26th September that mainly protested firing in Silinger apart from few other related demands. Print and electronic media was busy with covering the daily events. Correspondents and camera persons reached the places of demonstration in large numbers. They interviewed the people, reported how the people were staying in plastic tents in splashing rains and severe cold. Social media groups released video songs, photos, power point presentations and so on.
The people told the media persons, ‘We do have difficulty in leaving our farming and family. But police camps became a life and death problem in our lives. So we made arrangements to come here in batches’.
Sexual assaults on women on the rise
The difficulty is not only to continue their means of livelihood. It concerns the survival and protection of women, half of the population. There are quite a number of incidents in which the village women and even minors were sexually assaulted and murdered by the patrolling armed forces of the state. Few such atrocities have raised intense struggle of the people earlier. Now with the increasing police camps, the number of atrocities on women too are on the rise.
‘Fifteen women of the villages where new police camps were set up were sexually assaulted. Women are increasingly insecure. Some of them were picked up while bathing. The mercenary armed forces chase the running women. We are fighting against these ill deeds. These violate our mere existence as the indigenous people of the country’ said one of the activist of MBM.
Meanwhile the struggle was picked up by people in areas a little distant from these villages. On 19th September 5 thousand people held a rally in Kattekalyan demanding stop to police atrocities and punishment to DRG personnel. They also demanded schools and hospitals. People of 18 panchayats rallied in this program under the banner of Sarv Adivasi Samaj. The Samaj is a social organisation that aims to protect the life, culture and heredity of the local Gond tribe.
Solidarity to the peasant movement
The struggle of the tribal people expressed solidarity to the peasant movement. It held a Kisan Ekta Sabha (peasant unity meeting) on 27th September. The meeting demonstrated the unity of tribal and peasant people in struggle for their fundamental rights.
Few students of Gangalur in Bijapur district were arrested in relation to the struggles. People protested the arrests. They put breaches in 42 places on the road in front of the media explaining the reasons. On 6th October people gathered in Edsametta and held meetings and demonstrations on 7th and 8th. Later they held a rally up to Gangalur where they took up relay demonstrations until 15th.
They said, ‘We shall not allow the police to beat us, send dogs on us or do any such unwanted things’. Dogs were sent on the protesting women in Gangalur one year ago. There was large coverage in the media of the atrocious behavior of the police. The present struggle also later transformed into that against police camps.
In October 7 thousand people from 35 panchayats of Bhopalapatnam held a rally placing 20 demands. In the same month relay demonstration was held in Dharmaram where the police propose to set up a camp that continues even now.
Moolvasi Adhikar Sabha
November 1st happens to be the day Chhattisgarh was formed into a separate state. On that day Moolvasi Adhikar Sabha (meeting for power of the indigenous) was held.
The organisers of the meeting emphatically said, ‘Even after 21 years of a separate state, the tribal people are being deprived of Constitutional powers. Now even after 75 years of so called independence the demands for implementation of the Fifth and Sixth Schedules and Autonomy of Bastar are not yet under consideration’.
On 5th November the police attacked Nahod village and made indiscriminate firing when 2 thousand people came together to hold a meeting. The police broke onto the stage and tried to manhandle the president of the meeting. The people held a rally and a press meet protesting the attack on the 7th. Then the police indulged in their typical method. They burnt the tent and beat the people. This led the people to intensify struggle. They went and sat in front of the Nahod camp.
In Gompad and Nulkanthong a meeting was held in protest to the proposed police camp on 12th November. Readers might remember that in Gompad Madkam Idime a village woman was caught from her house when she was pounding paddy for the family, sexually assaulted and murdered in 2016. In Nulkanthong more than ten villagers including two minor boys were killed in firing in 2018. ‘We know how it would be if a police camp comes in our village. So we are strongly against the setting up of police camps in the interior villages’ said one villager of Gompad.
On 26th November meetings were held in Empuram, Singaram, Gompad and other villages in the area around Silinger on the occasion of the Anniversary of Silinger agitation. Protest spread to Dabbakonta, Eladamadugu, Vechapal, Poosuguppa-Rampur, Nameedar and Oorepal.
Since the government did not come down on its decision of setting up police camps people started indefinite demonstration from 5th December.
People against bridge in Kanker district
In Kanker district of North Bastar people started an agitation more than a month ago against a bridge on River Mendki at Vechaghat near Chote Betiya where a camp was set up a few years ago. Now the government proposed to set up a camp of Bord Security Force (BSF). The struggle also includes the demand to stop laying a tourist centre in Paralkot.
The people said, ‘The tourist centre shall destroy our culture and tradition. This is a place of worship for us but not for the outsiders’. The government until date neither informed nor took the permission of the people in this regard once again violating PESA.
The struggle against setting up of police camps continue in Gompad, Singaram, Dharmavaram, Nahodi, Poosnar, Elmagonda, Pusuguppa, Nameedar and Vechapal without break. People hold demonstrations in batches from each village. They go along with rice and other necessary material. They are also helped with daily food by supporting organisations.
On the other hand the government continues to be repressive on the struggling people. It does not allow the methods specified in its own rules. The representatives of MBM were arrested on their way to submit a memorandum to the Governor of state. People rallied in big numbers demanding their release in Silinger. All the parties that have been in support of the struggle also rose to the occasion. Owing to the pressure of the protest the police released them.
The demands
The ongoing struggles demand the withdrawal of all the police camps from Bastar; an end to massacres; rigorous punishment and expulsion of the police officers and police personnel including the DRG personnel responsible for all the massacres in Bastar; stringent punishment to the police officers and men responsible for burning houses in villages such as Sarkinguda, Edsametta, Tadimetla, Morpalli and Timmapuram basing on the report of judicial enquiry; stop sexual assaults by the police on tribal women; punish the accused in atrocities and murders of women; provide employment to local unemployed in all the departments in appropriate posts in Bastar; authorize the Gram Sabhas to release nationality/residential/income certificates; provision of school, hospital and pure drinking water in each and every village; appropriate remunerative price for all the forest produce.
The entire process of these struggles brought a change in the daily life of the people. The struggle has become a part of daily life of the people. People collect rice, grams, vegetables and cooking oil for the demonstrators. They also collect money for the demonstrators to buy necessary things. A stage and an office were constructed in all the places of demonstrations. People also started planting vegetables for the purpose around the places.
The people of Bastar continue the legacy of anti-British struggles led by their legendary heroes that made history.
Malkangiri tribals up in arms opposing limestone mining
Over 2,000 people of five panchayats in Malkangiri district staged protests Sunday at Katamateru against mining of limestone at Matapaka and Niliguda panchayats. Shouting slogans against the administration over mining, the agitating people said that they would not spare their land, forest and water for exploitation. They stated that through the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), the state government had auctioned 200 acres of land for limestone mining at Matapaka and Niliguda panchayats in 2015-16 without the consent of the local people.
“Well before auction of the limestone mines, neither the state government, nor the OMC, nor the administration took locals into confidence. No palli sabha was held over the stone mining,” they added. Over years, tribals have been living and depending on forests, they said, adding that the administration has not paid attention to development of the villages in the region. People have been suffering for lack of proper communication, they added. The SC/ST welfare department has set up a high school at Katamateru.
Over 500 children study in the school, but they have to suffer in the absence of a pucca road from Matapaka to Katamateru. “Over years, we are in misery as communication is still a problem in Katamateru, Niliguda, Koyagiri, Puruna Niliguda, and Uskalbag. Telephony has been inaccessible. Every village here has many widows, who are still deprived of pension. Many government schemes do not reach people. Farmers have to face distress sale of their crops every year. On the other hand, the government has been trying to displace them through mining,” the agitating people observed, adding that they would not let the conspiracy of the government take shape.
People from Kalimela, Katamateru, Nandibada, Uskalbag, Niliguda, Kayagiri and Iralgundi also stated that huge quantities of minor forest produce, groundnuts and sesame seeds are transported to other states, but the state government has never thought of setting up agrobased industries to process the local produce and market them. They also pointed out that people in nine panchayats had been displaced due to the Chitrakonda reservoir, but many of them have not yet been rehabilitated. “So, we have been opposing the mining of limestone in the area,” said the sarpanchs of Niliguda, Matapaka, Gorakhunta, Materu and Tandapalli.
Reproduced from an English daily ‘Orissa Post’ 2022 January 9th.
People oppose Carpet Security
Here is one more report from Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zone.
The Odisha state government has been laying roads and bridges, building cell towers and other such things in cut-off area of Chitrakonda block in Malkangiri district in the name of development for the past two years. But the people of the area are not ready to agree this. They have been solving their fundamental problems such as drowning due to dams in the path of struggle in the leadership of CPI (Maoist). They clearly state that the present so called development is part of intensification of repressive measures on them and the party that is guiding them.
The government is spending hundreds of crores of rupees in this projects and infrastructure facilities. It deployed hundreds of Para-military forces, arranged carpet security. BSF, SOG, DBF have been deployed and new camps set up in Ontalaguda, Darlabeda, Gurusetty, Ondralu and Mudilipada in the past one year. There are constant attacks on the villages. With the support of the police the landlords who earlier fled are returning and trying to seize back their lands from the people. The contractors are minting lakhs of money in collaboration with the government officers.
Nearly ten thousand people from scores of villages of Panasaput, Ondralu and Jodamba panchayats came together to resist carpet security. They held a rally in Gurusetty in summer. They demanded immediate withdrawal of camps, unconditional release of the arrested, to stop attacks on villages and combing the forest.
Protest to GO Nos 317&3 in Telangana
The government of Telangana made Government Order No. 317 on 6th December 2021 that caused severe protest from the concerned sections. Teachers are in the forefront in the agitation for the withdrawal of GO No 317. They are holding demonstrations, encircling the government offices and such other forms of agitation. The GO introduced a zonal system in the allocation of jobs regarding public employment in Telangana.
The GO authorizes the District Collector and the concerned Head of the Department of the district to make decisions on jobs and transfers. The Principal Secretary, Special Chief Secretary, Head of the Department and Senior Consultant to the government are authorized for zonal and multi-zonal posts. Transfers and allocation of permanent posts shall be irrespective of nativity. Nearly 3 lakh employees and teachers are against the GO. They say that they were not informed of the proposal that was normally the practice. The employees say that the government is trying to implement the GO against the rules.
The opinion among the related sections is that the government brought the GO in haste to cover up its earlier GO in this regard. The government made one GO when there were ten districts that now became thirty-three. One district is divided into three or four and a transfer would lead the employees to go to faraway places. The agitators also say there are discrepancies in the preparation of the allocation list owing to corruption. The teachers and employees also demand the government to appoint a commission of experts, employees and teachers to find an agreeable solution.
The government is trying to implement the GO in the most undemocratic manner that is inviting a lot of criticism from all sections of the society. Unemployed and teachers are committing suicides in agony.
The Maoist party criticized the government for its undemocratic attitude. Telangana State Committee of the CPI (Maoist) gave a press release supporting the demands. The statement released by the spokesperson of the committee Jagan demanded the TRS government to withdraw the GO and stop the employee allocation with immediate effect.
The Maoist party demanded that the government take up recruitment on the basis of nativity and reservations. The allocation of employees on the basis of seniority put a whole lot of employees especially women to distress, said the statement.
Tribal people are also protesting the Supreme Court ruling in favor of annulment of Government Order (GO) No. 3 that deprives them of obtaining teacher jobs. The ruling came under strong criticism in the backdrop of rising movements for the rights of tribal people in the country.
In fact the Fifth Schedule itself provided hundred percent reservation for the people of local scheduled tribes. Go No. 275 was formulated as per the Constitutional provisions way back in 1986. Few contended the GO in the court but rights activists were successful in countering it. Then GO No 3 was made by the joint Andhra Pradesh government on 10th of January 2000 that specified hundred percent Secondary Grade teacher posts in the Scheduled Area to the ‘local tribal’ people.
A writ was filed in the High Court against the GO. The court gave ruling in favor of the order. The Supreme Court now decided against the order.
The said GO was however, implemented in only a few schools run by the Tribal Welfare department. It was not implemented in the rest of the tribal residential schools and Colleges thus depriving hundreds of people of the ST category of jobs. The present decision of the Supreme Court formally and totally deprived the tribal people of the teacher posts.
One more related issue is the appointment of a commission to fill fifty thousand vacancies. The point of discussion is that while a procedure is already defined for this what was the need for the commission. This according to the activists is to manipulate appointments.
There is wide protest from employees, teachers and the unemployed to the GOs. They say that the state government of Telangana is not filling the vacancies and creating vacuum in their lives.
People’s March January 2022
