Alternative Model for Development

- Prem P. Verma

The primary driving force behind today’s globalization and so-called liberalization is self-interest. It is promotion of self-interest that oils the engines of globalization and the free market is driven by the consumerism borne out of self-interest. I must have more – more goods, more comfort, more luxuries, more of everything that makes my life comfortable – without regard to any other human being. This is so contrary to everything that our Indian culture teaches us – care for others, service before self, visitors and neighbours before worrying about ourselves. In fact, what would Gandhijee would have thought of this materialistic crazy
world ? The path we are taking is so much opposite to what he believed and practiced.

As I said before, besides self-interest, globalization promotes consumerism and a craze for possessions. Under this suicidal hunger for more, not only we will never have enough; we will also be destroying and consuming the natural resources at such a fast rate that stark poverty of resources will stare in the faces of our future generations. We are hell bent on destroying nature and the environment under the false promise and glitter of globalization and thus leaving behind a world of conflicts for our future generations. Will our children ever forgive us ?

This globalization, urbanization, free market economy motivates us to be selfish and purely money-minded. A simple living man is looked down upon because we have stopped putting premium on scholarly pursuits like art, philosophy, music, history, etc. Economics is our only Goddess and profit the supreme deity. So where is the question of simplicity, humility and generosity ? We are supposed to flaunt our riches and mundane wealth and the newspapers today are obsessed with how many billionaires India has and has any Indian made it to the top ten richest men in the world. How come we are not concerned with how many poor people we have and what is the welfare index? A recent editorial that appeared in The Statesman is worth repeating :-

“Amartya Sen’s reference to India as a country that flounders between Sub-Saharan Africa and the Silicon Valley had at least presupposed a single entity. The subtext of the UNDP’s Human Development Report for
2007-08, virtually points to two countries in one. Despite the second highest growth rate in the world, the report has few bouquets to offer in terms of indices of welfare. The data on the human development index (HDI) – life expectancy, education and income – is chilling; it fully bears out the currently fashionable appellation of Incredible India. From the 126th slot in 2006 and 127th out of 177 countries in 2005, it has now been placed in the 128th position. So dangerous has been the process of slipping and sliding that India ranks below Equatorial Guinea and Solomon Islands in terms of the overall HDI. These places exist on the map, we know; if globalised India finds itself in their company the message quite starkly is that the orchestrated growth model and the high-voltage development mean little or nothing in tangible terms.

Specifics are still more damning. With life expectancy placed at 63.7 years, India ranks below Comoros (64.1) but may yet derive comfort from the fact that it is a notch above Mauritiana (63.2). The failure in the education sector is a national disgrace. For all the talk of a Knowledge Commission and universal education program, Malawi and Rwanda boast a higher adult literacy rate than does India. The report has even questioned the country’s commitment to education in terms of public spending which dropped from 12 per cent in 1991 to 10 per cent in 2006. Health was also accorded a relatively lower priority. The public spending of 0.9 per cent of GDP was only a fraction of Iceland’s 8.3 per cent. Civil strife may not have been a parameter of the UNDP report. It is now established that Rwanda is doing better in the search for learning. But if it has incurred international notoriety on account of man’s inhumanity to man, India’s record has been quite as dismal if Gujarat, Bengal and Assam are held up as case studies. The grot and size of human development is overwhelming. If an individual is judged by the company he/she keeps, so too must India.”

Many people congratulate us that we are living in India which is rich in ores and minerals and has an abundance of natural wealth. They tell us that with rapid large scale industrialization, India can become the leader of the world in terms of development. They all wonder why we are not doing so speedily and willingly and the country seems to be sleeping.

Many multinational industrial giants tempt us with the globalization development model that offers the false promise of tremendous employment and consequent happiness to all. If only they can be given the ores and minerals to exploit, they can make this country a glittering spectacle of modernity with large industries, expensive malls, modern townships, tall skyscrapers, etc.

The future looks very enticing and there is wonder all over why India is not enthusiastically jumping onto the bandwagon and taking care of all its pressing problems.

Let us analyze.

If we aspire to become like America, the eminent historian and writer of social issues, Mr. Ramchandra Guha warns us, “To approach the norm set by US - where two citizens in three own a car – 600 million Indians will have to drive around in their own, enclosed, private vehicles. And where will the steel and aluminium to make them come from ? And the oil to power them ? And the roads to drive them on ? The mind boggles at the number of square miles of earth that shall have to be devoted exclusively to mining. Or at the number of oil wells that would be required to move the minerals to the smelting plants to the car factories and eventually to the showrooms. Or at the number of peasants who will be displaced to build the highways these cars make necessary. Or, finally, at the number of tons of greenhouse gases that this mining and manufacturing and driving will cumulatively release into the atmosphere”.

What we need for development of this country that will be on an equitable basis for all is the now-discarded model of Gandhian economy which was based on each producing the need of the other through a large cluster of small-scale and cottage industries where people’s gainful employment becomes the overriding criterion. We don’t need these expensive SEZ’s where, in the words of our own Government spokesman, Union Commerce and Industry Secretary Mr. G.K. Pillai, “A total of 137 SEZ’s that had been notified so far in the country with allotment of land will invest a total of Rs. 1 lakh crore and this will result in 1 lakh jobs”, i.e. Rs. 1 crore investment to give employment to one person. What a misuse of public money!

I am neither an economist nor a social thinker, but what I am clear on is that we don’t need more slums, more displacement of farmers from farmlands, more uprooting of tribals from their natural occupations, more slavery of labour to produce more billionaires, and definitely we do not want more progress in the name of attractive label of “liberalization”.

We have to opt for a development model which will be village based and people oriented, consisting of self-reliant and self-governing small groups. The development model therefore will have to be of people living in small communities and producing mostly for self or local consumption on small machines.

This is not setting the hand of science backwards, as Jayaprakash Narayan declared in 1957 when endorsing the Gandhian model of development. As he continued to say, “Science and centralized large-scale production and large conglomerations of human habitations are thought to go necessarily together. Nothing could be more absurd. Science is of two kinds : (a) pure science and (b) applied science. I would call pure science alone science and the other technology. Now, the application of science does not depend upon science itself but upon the character of society. Large-scale, big machine production was profitable to the money makers, so technology took the course of that particular type of production. The money makers were the dominant class in society and their will had to be done. Government also – irrespective of ideologies – preferred centralized, big-scale production because that was necessary for war making (or defence, if you please), and – no less important – because it also concentrated great economic and, therefore, political power in their hands. Thus governments and profiteers combined to create the Frankenstein of modern society. Pure science had no say in the matter. Rather, had the scientists their way, many of them, I believe, would be happy to smash many of the engines of production and destruction that their discoveries had helped to create. But supposing, society had pursued not the aims of power, profit and war, but of peace, goodwill, cooperation, freedom and brotherhood, science could have been equally applied to evolve the suitable technology. If that were to happen, it would be not regression of science, but progression in a creative rather than destructive direction”.

The basis of the development model therefore would have to be, as so well explained by Schumacher in “Small is Beautiful” :
· An important part of the development effort should by-pass the big cities and be directly concerned with the creation of an ‘agro-industrial structure’ in the rural and small town areas.
· Primary need is creation of work-places, literally millions of work-places. We have to maximize work opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed.
· To quote Gabriel Ardant, “It is important that there should be enough work for all because that is the only way to eliminate anti-productive reflexes and create a new state of mind – that of a country where labour has become precious and must be put to the best possible use”.
· Hence the new development model must satisfy the following criteria –
1. Workplaces must be created in villages and small towns where people are living now
2. Workplaces must be cheap enough for creation in large numbers without high capital inputs and imports
3. Production methods must be simple, not requiring high skills
4. Production must be mainly from local materials and mainly for local use.

Let us remember that globalization destroys the culture and civilization of a nation and has no regard for its rich heritage and history. This single-minded pursuit of self-interest and running after material prosperity has only resulted in –
· Vast population displacements and genocide becoming, in the Swedish writer Sven Lindquist’s words, “the inevitable byproduct of progress”
· Serious rich-poor divide resulting in continuous conflict and unrest in society
· Destruction of nature and environment through insatiable urge for consumption of goods and luxurious comforts
· Gradual erosion of ethical and moral values with little or no examination of means to achieve the desired ends, resulting in disappearance of qualities like generosity, kindness, humility and altruism
· Art, music, humanities have been sacrificed at the alter of free market economies where measurement is carried out in terms of monetary value not spiritual need

We know now that man must live in balance with nature. The degradation of environment, the unbridled consumption of our resources, the squeezing of farmlands, the mania over machine productivity and the stress on efficiency of mass production, the dehumanizing of our population, the alarming chasm of rich-poor divide – all these can only produce a bare world devoid of emotions and relationships where human feelings don’t count and man is at the bottom of pile of our priorities. This alarming scenario is staring before us and we are looking the other way.

Hence the urgent need for immediate adoption of the Gandhian model of development to prevent the impending catastrophe looming over us which threatens to destroy the life of our future generations for the promise of a short-term gain of comfort for us.

To conclude, I would like you to ponder over these prophetic words of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi wrote the following as early as 1929 and 1936 –

“I would categorically state my conviction that the mania for mass-production is responsible for the world crisis.”

“I do not believe that industrialization is necessary in any case for any country. It is much less so for India. Indeed, I believe that Independent India can only discharge her duty towards a groaning world by adopting a simple but ennobled life by developing her thousands of cottages and living at peace with the world. High thinking is inconsistent with complicated material life based on high speed imposed on us by Mammon worship. All the graces of life are possible only when we learn the art of living nobly.”

Glorious 100 years of CNT Act for strengthens the power of indigenous people on their land, forest and water rights

- Kumar Sanjay

Laws, acts, articles & provisions whatever had and have possible regards the protection of traditional rights of tribal communities, brought forth in the constitution, but the dismal truth is that these were never enacted honestly. The Chhota- Nagpur Tenancy Act-1908 and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act-1912 are also the add in that, which prohibit the sale and transfer of tribal land to non tribals. But due the name of unexpected developments, the lands were snatched forcedly from the tribal. The constitutional rights, provisions for the Fifth scheduled Areas and the Extension of Panchayat Act- 1996 were never been implemented with the true spirit in the tribal regions. Off-course, the ruling elites always misused these laws for their own benefits.
Colonial rule and its accompanying commercialization affected tribal societies in a variety of ways. It strengthened penetration of tribal areas by the outsiders as moneylenders, traders, land grabbers, labour contractors, etc of the plains. It enforced alien concepts of private property. It forced sale of land out of sheer desperation of those in the vicious grip of debt. It ruthlessly exploited indigenous people as cheap indentured labourer. It led to alienation that was not just economic or material, but cultural, spiritual and community identity-related as well. ULGULAN by Birsa Munda was the culmination of a series of revolts in response, which forced the British to think back and devise some safeguards and protection for the indigenous people and forest based communities. And that resulted in the enactment of the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act in 1908.
Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) prohibits transfer of land to non-tribals and ensures community ownership and management rights of forest communities over Khuntkatti areas. In essence, the private forests under the zamindars (landlords) were reverted back to the Munda community. But, immediately after the independence, by dint of the Bihar Forest Act, 1948 (these areas of Jharkhand were within the State of Bihar till September 2000), the khuntkatti land was converted into private protected forests thereby depriving the Mundas of their ownership and management upon the forests. The entire land belonging to 600 villages was vested to the State Forest Department (FD). Although the subsequent Munda resistance forced the State Government to give back its land to the community. But, management still rested with the FD.
These include immediate restoration of tribal lands to the tribals from illegal occupation by landlords & land MAFIAS and other vested interests; not to dilute or exempt CNT, SPT Acts and Scheduled Areas Regulation; Replacement of 5th Schedule of the Constitution of India by 6th Schedule in 112 blocks in total 212 blocks in Jharkhand where 5th schedule and Scheduled Areas Regulation apply and establishment of elected Tribal Autonomous Council under 6th Schedule to protect the tribal land and other tribal interests; education in mother tongue including the tribal languages to begin with from primary education with establishment of schools and appointment of teachers; defense of central public sector units, which directly affects 60 per cent of 2.5 crore of people of Jharkhand and on whose economic activities the further economic development of Jharkhand depend; Rehabilitations, compensation and jobs to the largest number of displaced persons in Jharkhand compared to any other state in India due to mining and developmental activities protection and advancement of distinct tribal cultures and maintenance of communal amity; immediate Panchayat and local self bodies election etc. The charter also include the class and mass issue of the peasantry, agricultural workers, working class, women, youths, students and other toiling sections.
Ever since, history recalls ‘The Mundas’ and their other tribal brothers had been living in complete harmony along with themselves and nature, until the British set foot on their lands, and changed not only the rules of ‘Munda’ governance but also their culture to an extent that today their futures lie in the hangman’s balance.
The strict tribals rules were formulated under the light of their guiding star - ‘Sustainability’ – apparently an extinct term in the present development context. Which led to the sustainable development of the forest’s produce to support the livelihood of the dwellers. Seizing upon the opportunity to extract timber and other forest produces the colonial empire formulated ‘A forest department act in 1868 – inhibiting the tribal dependency on the forests, curtailing their pasture areas, collection of firewood, fodder, herbs, and other forest produce in commercially rich forest land. Whereas the Empire had the full rights over those potent areas. During 1893-4 all waste lands in villages, the ownership of which was vested in the Government, were constituted into protected forests under the Indian Forest Act VII of 1882
In Singhbhum as in Palamau and Manbhum the forest settlement operations were launched and measures were taken to determine the rights of the forest-dwelling communities. Villages in forests were marked off in blocks of convenient size consisting not only of village sites but also cultivable and waste lands insufficient for the needs of the khuntkatti villages. The Colonial interference brought with them countless adversaries of the tribal cultures… penetrating into their lifestyles, spirituality and even identity. Concepts alien to the tribals such as ownership of land, accumulation of wealth, money, power began cropping up.
Ulugan of Birsa Munda and his followers was a series of revolts against the forest department act.. forced the Colonial Empire to think back and lay down some safeguards and protection for the native people and forest communities consequential in the enactment of the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act in 1908.

Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) prohibits transfer of land to non-tribals and ensures community ownership and management rights of forest communities only over khuntkatti areas.
In essence, the private forests under the zamindars (landlords) were reverted back to the Munda community. But, immediately after the independence, by dint of the Bihar Forest Act, 1948 (this area of Jharkhand was within the State of Bihar till September 2000), the khuntkatti land was converted into private protected forests thereby depriving the Mundas of their ownership of and management to the forests. The entire land belonging to 600 villages was vested to the State Forest Department. Although the subsequent Munda resistance forced the State Government to give the community back its land management from the State Forest Department… the decision is awaited.
The next forty years was a story of loot and plunder of the forests in Jharkhand with active connivance of the FD officials and gradual alienation of the indigenous people from their forests. The primary forest cover was almost destroyed. The forest dependent indigenous community started asserting their rights over the forests. On many occasions the FD officials were not allowed to enter the forests and the villagers themselves initiated measures to save and regenerate forests. This movement was particularly strong in the khunkatti villages of Ranchi and West singhbhum forest .
Therefore, the forest communities in Jharkhand today, have decided to oppose and resist World Bank demanding:
a) restoration of the khuntkatti system;b) implementing the khuntkatti model in other forest areas of the State; andc) vesting the management of the forests to the gram sabha (lowest tier of the village self-governance model) in the indigenous Fifth Schedule Areas as per the Central Act of 1996 (extension of panchayati raj in scheduled areas).

Highlights of CNT Act 1908
11th November 1908
Passing of Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act

Section- 8.....The Mundari Khunkattidar is a Mundari, who has the right to hold jungle land. He is neither a Tenure Holder nor a Raiyat, but he is a tenant, a class in it.
Section- 3 (XI); 81(m); Khatiyan- Part II…..The community forest is a Jharkhand village, is a repository of the participatory culture of Jharkhand.
Section- 21 (A); 81(m)…..The nucleus of the Jharkhandi Community, providing into strength and energy, is the age old saying- "Fruits and flower for the whole village, Timber for the owner".
Section- 76…..This law of tenancy is tied down to the custom, usages and practices of the village concerned. Here, customary law prepares over the tenancy law.
Section- 3 (XIII)…..The wasteland of a village in Jharkhand, amongst the other community resources, is the key to the future development to that village. The village community has the first priority for any development activity on these G.M. lands.
Section- 81(I) (i) and (ii); 81(n)…..Rivers, lakes and hills dominate the geography of Jharkhand and, since there is life without water and no water without forests, so like the forests of Jharkhand, water is community property, first for the benefit of its people.
Section- 46; 47; 48…..This law of tenancy is the culmination of a long history of struggles between the concept of community ownership of resources- water, forests and the land- and individual ownership. Between democracy and feudalism. It protects agrarian relationships of all the people of Jharkhand, of all classes, castes and tribes. It is wrongly portrayed as a law for the protection only of the scheduled Tribe interests.
Section- 3(q) land Reforms Act 1950…..The Bhuinhari and Mundari Khuntkatti lands of Chhotanagpur have not bested in the Government as they are erupted from the provisions of the land reforms Act, for they are held in a collective of Bhuinhari or Mundari Khunkattidars. This theme of ownership of resources in a collective, in common, is the backbone of modern Panchayat laws.
Section – 76 …..Service Tenures known as Pahnai, Mahtoi, Mundari, Deshwali, Bhutkhata, Jaher, Sarna, Painbhora etc. in Jharkhand, form the basis of its ethos of SELF RULE. Therefore, self rule is our birth right. And this right has not been preserved and fought for from the Mughals and the feudal chiefs, but also from the British Raj. The Raj gave this region’s first written laws on agrarian relations, culminating in the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act of 1908. Independent Indian gave these service lands constitutional recognition, making these communitarian lands the basis on which the Panchayat Raj System is based in the scheduled area of India.
Section – 49, Chhotanagpur Tenancy, section 53, Santhal Pargana Tenancy….. The Chhotanagpur and Santhal parganas tenancy laws are not only agrarian laws, but are also the thesis of development.

Tribal and indigenous people’s concept of land

Land , water & forest which togetherly constitute the surroundings in the nature are not only the traditional key sources of livelihood of the indigenous communities , but their culture , lifestyle , customs, rites-rituals, folkways and even their whole life vibrates accordingly . They worship these natural constituents and ecosystem’s surrounding bodies like the hill (Buru Bonga),the sun (Sing Bonga),village spirit (Hatu Bonga) as their gods and goddesses . Even they derive their identity by belonging to their respective tribes in special relationship with nature and resources like ekka(tortoise) , lakra(tiger) , xess(rice orpaddy) , kujur(a creeper) , panna(iron) , soreng(rock) , tete (a bird) . Therefore obviously, entering or interferences of the outer world in to their lives had and have affected all their traditional social, cultural and natural resources based economy & other natural establishments in very cruel manners. And very unpleasant that they are struggling to save their endangered existence in the capitalistic competitive neo-imperialistic world.

Truths of Tribal Women’s right on lands

As the socio-cultural anthropological history witnessed that the equal socio-cultural status of the male and female in the indigenous societies . At every scale both got the similar rights . But , the traditional & customary establishments got convulsed due to the cruel and exploited policies implemented forcedly by the government. As the long term result of this, the women’s position in the tribal culture and societies get diminished to a dismal low level .These lead to a very unpleasant and exploited status of women at all levels whether socio-cultural , political or family . The equal participation rights of the tribal women is now matter of history . Govt.’s anti-tribal Policies gave the opportunities to multi-national companies to come in India. In the mixed economy of India, these foreign companies made their strong existence and got the power to influence the direction of economy as they wanted. This resulted in large destruction of culture, traditions, customs, lives & life-styles of those peoples, whose economy & lives were completely dependent on Natural Resources. Industrial revolution came in Jharkhand and robbed all the natural resources from the Indigenous Peoples, who have only the rights for its consumption. Due to this, the traditional indigenous type agriculture and Handicraft based economy of Jharkhand gone totally in well. But, the mirage of total robbery of Natural Resources in Jharkhand is still continuing. For the establishment of industrial belts, the forest at many acres lands cut-down. The capturing of the lands of tribes is going on with more velocity after the making of new separate state Jharkhand. Acquisition of lands of tribal women is continuing for the establishment of Factories and Industries, for Dams, for National Parks & Sanctuaries, for Field Firing Range etc. The development is going on in the positive direction only for few peoples, but in the case of Jharkhandi Tribes, the developments are pushing them to the ancient. As the urbanization in the state is increasing, the landlessness of tribal women is also increasing with the same speed. We often see the incidents of deaths of poor women involved in coal thefts , due to the land-slides in coal-fields . Constitutionally , it may be the case of thefts , but , the big question is that , why the tribal women are involved in these types of illegal behaviours . Its answer is very simple –they have no any source of livelihood. They have lost their lands , they have no properties , they do not have their controls over forests . In such case , intellectuals can think that , what the ways tribal women have to travel on the journey of lives ? absolutely-Nothing . Then why they do not involve in the consumption (theft) of these resources, which were theirs own. Not only the coals, but , a number of various types of natural & mineral resources had been and have been taken from the tribal women forcedly . The culture & life styles of tribal women encountered with the disasters caused by these uncommon changes in the surroundings.