31.01.2024.Wednesday.UNTOUCHABLES NEWS OF INDIA.By.Sivaji.CEO.Dr Ambedkar Ambulance Assn.Chennai.26.
Special Judge SC/ST Court has found two accused guilty of killing a Dalit youth and making his body disappear and has sentenced two accused to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 23,000 each. It is known that Puran Das, living in Mauranipur police station area, had lodged a report in Mauranipur police station on June 8, 2008 that Pushpendra Mishra, living in village Sabungram of Mauranipur police station area and Keshav Carpenter, living in Aliai Mohalla of Mauranipur police station area, had raped his brother. Ram Singh was murdered by making him drink alcohol and pelting him with stones.
After this, Motilal filled the body in a sack and hid it in the gold ruins. In this case, the police had registered a case against both the accused under sections 302, 201, SC/ST. This matter was investigated by the then CO Pramod Kumar Yadav. After investigation, charge sheets were filed in the court. Later, good testimony was also given against the murderers in the said case. The police also provided evidence through effective advocacy. Special Judge SC/ST Court has found both the accused guilty in the said case. On this basis, Pushpendra Mishra and Keshav Carpenter have been punished with life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 23 thousand each. The monitoring cell has advocated well in this matter.
Life imprisonment to two brothers in murder case
The District and Sessions Judge has punished two real brothers with life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 35,000 each after being found guilty on murder charges. It is known that Rajesh Kumar, resident of village Baratha of Baragaon police station area, had lodged a report that his brother Brijesh Kumar was standing outside the house on 7 November 2018, when two people living in the village came and abused his brother. When he refused, the brother was shot dead with a licensed gun. The police had registered a case against Kaptan Singh and Bhagat Singh under sections 147, 148, 149, 302. This case was investigated by the then Baragaon police station chief. Later the charge sheet was filed in the court. The District and Sessions Judge has found Kaptan Singh and Bhagat Singh guilty in the said case. On this basis, both the brothers have been punished with life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 35-35 thousand. The monitoring cell has lobbied effectively in this matter.
Punishment for standing in court
Additional Civil Judge (Junior Division) Room No. 4 found Mukesh Sahu, resident of Naibasti locality of Kotwali police station area, guilty of Section 60 Act and punished him with imprisonment till the rising of the court and a fine of Rs 2400. At the same time, JM Pratham Mauranipur punished Chandra Pal Singh alias Chandu, resident of Sendri area of Tikamgarh police station in Madhya Pradesh, with imprisonment under Section 25 Arms Act and a fine of Rs 1500. The District and Sessions Judge has sentenced Bhagat Singh and Kaptan Singh, residents of village Baratha of Baragaon police station area, to six months imprisonment each under 30 Arms Act.
Rigorous imprisonment for suitcase thieves
Due to effective advocacy being done under Operation Conviction, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate NCR has sentenced two accused to rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 100 each after they were found guilty of suitcase theft. Under the priority of the government and Operation Conviction being run by the Director General of Police, under the able leadership of SP Railway Vipul Kumar Srivastava, quality investigation and intensive and effective lobbying is being done by the police station GRP, advocate Ravi Shankar, GRP police station in-charge Pankaj Kumar Pandey and the prosecution. Following effective advocacy by officer Pankaj Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Arun Kranthi Yashodas sentenced Anil Rajput, living near the primary school of Raksha police station area, to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 100 each in three cases related to theft from GRP. In two cases of theft, Mohammad Akram, living near Prajapati Brahma Kumari University, Madhoganj police station, Gwalior, was punished with nine months rigorous imprisonment and Rs 100 each.
Courtesy: News track
தலித் கொலை வழக்கில் குற்றம் சாட்டப்பட்ட இருவருக்கு ஆயுள் தண்டனை
சிறப்பு நீதிபதி எஸ்சி/எஸ்டி நீதிமன்றம் தலித் இளைஞரைக் கொன்று அவரது உடலைக் காணாமல் போன வழக்கில் குற்றம் சாட்டப்பட்ட இருவர் குற்றவாளிகள் எனக் கண்டறிந்து, இரண்டு குற்றவாளிகளுக்கு ஆயுள் தண்டனையும் தலா 23,000 ரூபாய் அபராதமும் விதித்து தீர்ப்பளித்துள்ளது. மௌரானிபூர் காவல் நிலையப் பகுதியில் வசிக்கும் பூரன் தாஸ், மௌரானிபூர் காவல் நிலையப் பகுதியில் வசிக்கும் புஷ்பேந்திர மிஸ்ரா, மவுரானிபூர் காவல் நிலையப் பகுதியில் உள்ள சபுங்கிராம் கிராமத்திலும், கேசவ் கார்பெண்டர் மவுரானிபூர் அலியாய் மொஹல்லாவிலும் வசிப்பதாக மவுரானிபூர் காவல் நிலையத்தில் 2008ஆம் ஆண்டு ஜூன் 8ஆம் தேதி புகார் அளித்தது தெரிந்ததே. போலீஸ் ஸ்டேஷன் பகுதியில், தன் சகோதரனை பலாத்காரம் செய்தான். ராம் சிங்கை மது குடிக்க வைத்து, கல்லால் அடித்து கொலை செய்யப்பட்டார்.
இதையடுத்து மோதிலால் உடலை சாக்கு மூட்டையில் நிரப்பி தங்க இடிபாடுகளுக்குள் மறைத்து வைத்துள்ளார். இந்த வழக்கில், குற்றம் சாட்டப்பட்ட இருவர் மீதும் 302, 201, எஸ்சி/எஸ்டி பிரிவுகளின் கீழ் போலீஸார் வழக்குப் பதிவு செய்தனர். இதை அப்போதைய சிஓ பிரமோத் குமார் யாதவ் விசாரித்தார். விசாரணைக்குப் பிறகு நீதிமன்றத்தில் குற்றப்பத்திரிகை தாக்கல் செய்யப்பட்டது. பின்னர், இந்த வழக்கில் கொலையாளிகளுக்கு எதிராக நல்ல சாட்சியமும் வழங்கப்பட்டது. காவல்துறையும் திறமையான வக்கீல் மூலம் ஆதாரங்களை அளித்தது. இந்த வழக்கில் குற்றம் சாட்டப்பட்ட இருவரும் குற்றவாளிகள் என சிறப்பு நீதிபதி எஸ்சி/எஸ்டி நீதிமன்றம் தீர்ப்பளித்துள்ளது. இதன் அடிப்படையில், புஷ்பேந்திர மிஸ்ரா மற்றும் கேசவ் கார்பெண்டர் ஆகியோருக்கு ஆயுள் தண்டனையும், தலா ரூ.23 ஆயிரம் அபராதமும் விதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இந்த விஷயத்தில் கண்காணிப்பு பிரிவு நன்றாகவே வாதிட்டுள்ளது.
கொலை வழக்கில் சகோதரர்கள் இருவருக்கு ஆயுள் தண்டனை
கொலைக் குற்றச்சாட்டின் பேரில் உண்மையான சகோதரர்கள் இருவருக்கு ஆயுள் தண்டனையும் தலா ரூ.35,000 அபராதமும் விதித்து மாவட்ட மற்றும் செஷன்ஸ் நீதிபதி தீர்ப்பளித்துள்ளார். பாரகான் காவல் நிலைய எல்லைக்குட்பட்ட பரதா கிராமத்தைச் சேர்ந்த ராஜேஷ் குமார், தனது சகோதரர் பிரிஜேஷ் குமார் 7 நவம்பர் 2018 அன்று வீட்டிற்கு வெளியே நின்று கொண்டிருந்தபோது, கிராமத்தில் வசிக்கும் இருவர் வந்து தனது சகோதரனை துஷ்பிரயோகம் செய்ததாக புகார் அளித்தது தெரிந்ததே. அவர் மறுத்ததால், அண்ணன் உரிமம் பெற்ற துப்பாக்கியால் சுட்டுக் கொல்லப்பட்டார். கப்தான் சிங் மற்றும் பகத் சிங் மீது 147, 148, 149, 302 ஆகிய பிரிவுகளின் கீழ் போலீஸார் வழக்குப் பதிவு செய்தனர். இந்த வழக்கை அப்போதைய பாரகான் காவல் நிலையத் தலைவர் விசாரித்தார். பின்னர் நீதிமன்றத்தில் குற்றப்பத்திரிகை தாக்கல் செய்யப்பட்டது. இந்த வழக்கில் கப்டன் சிங் மற்றும் பகத் சிங் ஆகியோர் குற்றவாளிகள் என மாவட்ட மற்றும் செஷன்ஸ் நீதிபதி தீர்ப்பளித்தார். இதன் அடிப்படையில், சகோதரர்கள் இருவருக்கும் ஆயுள் தண்டனையும் ரூ.35-35 ஆயிரம் அபராதமும் விதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இந்த விஷயத்தில் கண்காணிப்பு பிரிவு திறம்பட பரப்புரை செய்துள்ளது.
நீதிமன்றத்தில் நிற்கும் தண்டனை
கூடுதல் சிவில் நீதிபதி (ஜூனியர் பிரிவு) அறை எண். 4, கோட்வாலி காவல் நிலையப் பகுதியின் நைபஸ்தி பகுதியில் வசிக்கும் முகேஷ் சாஹு, பிரிவு 60 சட்டத்தின் கீழ் குற்றவாளி எனக் கண்டறிந்து, அவருக்கு நீதிமன்றம் உயரும் வரை சிறைத் தண்டனையும் ரூ. 2400 அபராதமும் விதித்தார். அதே நேரத்தில், ஜே.எம்.பிரதம் மௌரானிபூர், மத்தியப் பிரதேசத்தில் உள்ள திகாம்கர் காவல் நிலையத்தின் சென்ட்ரி பகுதியில் வசிக்கும் சந்திர பால் சிங் என்ற சந்து என்பவருக்கு 25 ஆயுதச் சட்டத்தின் கீழ் சிறைத் தண்டனையும் ரூ. 1500 அபராதமும் விதித்தார். மாவட்ட மற்றும் செஷன்ஸ் நீதிபதி பகத் சிங் மற்றும் கப்தானுக்கு தண்டனை விதித்தார். பாரகான் காவல் நிலைய எல்லைக்குட்பட்ட பரதா கிராமத்தில் வசிக்கும் சிங், 30 ஆயுதச் சட்டத்தின் கீழ் தலா 6 மாத சிறைத்தண்டனை விதிக்கப்பட்டார்.
சூட்கேஸ் திருடர்களுக்குக் கடுமையான சிறை
ஆபரேஷன் கன்விக்ஷனின் கீழ் திறம்பட வக்கீல் செய்யப்பட்டதால், கூடுதல் தலைமை ஜூடிசியல் மாஜிஸ்திரேட் NCR, சூட்கேஸ் திருட்டு குற்றவாளிகள் என நிரூபிக்கப்பட்ட இரண்டு குற்றவாளிகளுக்கு கடுமையான சிறைத்தண்டனை மற்றும் தலா ரூ.100 அபராதம் விதித்துள்ளார். காவல்துறை தலைமை இயக்குனரால் நடத்தப்படும் அரசு மற்றும் ஆபரேஷன் கன்விக்ஷனின் முன்னுரிமையின் கீழ், எஸ்பி ரயில்வே எஸ்பி விபுல் குமார் ஸ்ரீவஸ்தவாவின் திறமையான தலைமையின் கீழ், காவல் நிலைய ஜிஆர்பி, வழக்கறிஞர் ரவிசங்கர், ஜிஆர்பி மூலம் தரமான விசாரணை மற்றும் தீவிரமான மற்றும் பயனுள்ள பரப்புரை செய்யப்படுகிறது. காவல் நிலைய பொறுப்பாளர் பங்கஜ் குமார் பாண்டே மற்றும் வழக்குரைஞர். அதிகாரி பங்கஜ் குமார் சிங்கின் பயனுள்ள வழக்கைத் தொடர்ந்து, கூடுதல் தலைமை ஜூடிசியல் மாஜிஸ்திரேட் அருண் கிரந்தி யசோதாஸ், ரக்ஷா காவல் நிலையப் பகுதியின் ஆரம்பப் பள்ளிக்கு அருகில் வசிக்கும் அனில் ராஜ்புத்துக்கு, திருட்டு தொடர்பான மூன்று வழக்குகளில் ஏழு ஆண்டுகள் கடுங்காவல் சிறைத் தண்டனையும், தலா ரூ. 100 அபராதமும் விதித்தார். GRP இலிருந்து. இரண்டு திருட்டு வழக்குகளில், குவாலியர், மதோகஞ்ச் காவல் நிலையம், பிரஜாபதி பிரம்மா குமாரி பல்கலைக்கழகம் அருகே வசிக்கும் முகமது அக்ரம், ஒன்பது மாத கடுங்காவல் சிறைத்தண்டனை மற்றும் தலா ரூ.100 தண்டனை பெற்றார்.
நன்றி: செய்தித் தடம்
குறிப்பு: இந்த செய்தி முதலில் newstrack.com இல் வெளியிடப்பட்டது. மற்றும் மனித உரிமைகளுக்காக மட்டுமே இலாப நோக்கற்ற/வணிக நோக்கங்களுக்காக பயன்படுத்தப்பட்டது.
4.UT NEWS.4.
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ADIVASIS CASTE DALIT NEWS EDUCATION NATIONAL NEWS TRIBAL
The condition of government schools has come to light, Dalit-Bahujan children are being affected.
The report shows that about 8 percent of the schools in the country have only one teacher. Teachers lack training in modern educational methods. And they s interactive and engaging teaching techniques. (Report by Sushil Manav)
About 8-10 years ago, there was a survey that class 8 students studying in government schools could not read Hindi, could not solve questions, did not know the English alphabet, did not know counting and counting etc. Along with this, there was a rumor in the upper caste community that children go to primary and secondary government schools only to get registered. Later people also started saying that if mid-day meal is abolished then not even a single child will be seen in government schools.
Obviously the middle income group had already shifted their children to private schools. Those in the lower income group, especially those in daily wage occupations, even those with decent incomes, immediately removed their children from government schools and sent them to private schools. In such private schools whose fees were slightly less. In schools with low fees i.e. three hundred to five hundred rupees per month. There is a severe lack of basic infrastructure in these schools. The entire school runs in barely three-four rooms. Teachers also do not conform to the required standards of teaching. That means their education is intermediate or graduate and they do not have any training or degree in teaching. What’s more, these schools don’t even have any recognition.
The target of these schools is the Dalit-Bahujan class, who want to get their children educated in English medium private schools. But they do not have that much income.
On January 18, a survey report has again come out regarding the level of education of the children who go to school in the village, which has been done by a non-governmental organization ‘Pratham Education Foundation’. It is described as an annual citizen-led household survey. The report titled ‘Beyond Basics’ focuses on children in the age group of 14-18 in rural areas who study in classes 8-12. The survey has four points. For example, what are the activities of children towards education, what are their aspirations, what is their level of awareness in general and how aware are they to learn common things.
From this report it emerges that in which activities the teenagers of rural India are engaged and how many have access to smartphones and for what purpose they are using it.
The report claims that 25 percent of rural youth in the age group of 14-18 are unable to read Class 2 level text in their regional language. Only 76 percent of girls and 70.9 percent of boys can read at a Class 2 level. At the same time, more than 50 percent of the youth are not able to solve the subtraction of one to three digits at the level of class 3 and class 4. Unable to divide three digit numbers by one digit numbers. The report shows that only 41.1 percent girls are able to tell time compared to 51 percent boys. About 43 percent of youth cannot read English sentences. Only 57.3 percent of the students were able to read sentences in English and only about three-fourth of them were able to understand their meaning.
Picture of a primary school in Purvanchal, Uttar Pradesh
The report also shows that boys have a better percentage than girls in reading English and solving arithmetic problems. The report claims that at the time of admission in class 11th, girls choose subjects like science, technology, engineering and mathematics etc. less than boys. The survey also revealed that 55 percent of Class 11 students take Arts and Humanities stream. Only 5.6 percent youth are taking vocational training.
What else is in the report?
The report also shows that 86.8 percent of students in the age group of 14-18 are enrolled in educational institutions. Among the youth who are not enrolled in any school, the highest number are 18 year old youth, which is 32.6 percent. Whereas among those who are not enrolled, 14 year old children are the least at 3.9 percent. That means 32.6 percent students aged 18 years are not studying. However, the survey report says that 23.6 percent girls and 24.4 percent boys in the age group of 17-18 years left their studies midway. Investigating the reasons for this, the report says that the most common reason for girls dropping out of school is family constraints. While the most common reason among boys is lack of interest. Compared to sons, daughters are more inclined to continue further studies after 12th. However, this decision is not in the hands of the daughters but in the hands of the family.
The survey said that the number of boys working outside the home along with studies is 33.7 percent, whereas in the year 2017 this figure was 41.6 percent. The number of girls working outside the home along with studies is 28 percent whereas in 2017 this figure was 45.1 percent. It has been said in the survey that in the minds of boys, there is a desire to earn money as soon as possible and in times of financial crisis, sons start working to pay their school fees.
It is noteworthy that under the New Education Policy-2020, talks were made to promote digital education. Regarding digital access and gender inequality of rural youth, this survey shows that 90 percent of the youth have smartphones in their homes. Whereas 43.7 percent boys and 19.8 percent girls have their own smartphone. Despite this, boys were found to lack digital skills. In the survey, boys performed better than girls in performing phone related tasks. The survey has claimed that social media and smartphones have more influence on the minds of youth and 91 percent children are active on social media.
The report points to these reasons
Talking about the reasons for the problem, the report states that about 8 percent of the schools in the country have only one teacher. Teachers lack training in modern educational methods. And they struggle to employ interactive and engaging teaching techniques, which has impacted students’ understanding of basic arithmetic concepts and their ability to read. Limited access to textbooks and learning materials has hindered students’ ability to practice and reinforce basic skills outside the classroom. Students from low-income families face challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, lack of educational support at home and limited access to extra-curricular activities that enhance their basic skills. In areas where the language of instruction is not in the students’ native language, students face challenges in understanding the curriculum and expressing themselves. Whereas students from tribal areas find difficulty in studying English. The survey shows that both student and teacher attendance in schools has remained stable. The attendance figure of children is 72 percent. Whereas the attendance figure of teachers is 85 percent.
It is noteworthy that digital literacy is not included in the school curriculum. And students are not prepared with the digital skills to be part of the modern workforce. Assessment has primarily focused on memorization rather than critical thinking, leading to students preferring rote learning rather than understanding fundamental concepts.
The UNESCO report – ‘2021 State of the Education Report in India – No Teacher No Class’ also claims that there are 1,10,971 schools in India where there is only one teacher. 89 percent of these schools are in rural areas.
Government rejected the report
However, the Central Government has rejected this report and said that it is wrong to present the picture of the country by conducting a survey in some districts. This report is based on conversations with 34,745 students from 1664 villages in 28 districts of 26 states. The survey covered 2 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and one district each of other states, while there are about 797 districts across the country.
It is noteworthy that this report was first published in the year 2005. A total of 16 reports have been received so far.
Such reports do not solve the problem but encourage migration.
Kiran, a social worker who works for the education and welfare of children living in the slums of Prayagraj city, says – “You see that cities are continuously expanding. Cities are expanding. The corporate is also expanding in the vast area. He is expanding his school branches. All the big private schools located in Allahabad city have opened three to four branches within a radius of just five to 10 kilometers. So they want children in these. The already open schools are sufficient for the number of children in the city. Where should the children be brought to the new schools opening every day, now their target is the children of rural areas.
Kiran further says that instead of finding a solution to the problem, such reports publicize the problem so much that people migrate from villages to cities even for primary and secondary education.
Even the most expensive school does not guarantee that children do not have to take separate tuition.
Sushil Kumar, who gives home tuition to children in Rajendra Nagar, Ghaziabad, adjacent to Delhi, says that he gives tuition to children studying in schools like Delhi Public School, Holy Angels School, Rayon International. These are counted among the best private schools of the city. The monthly fee of these schools is Rs 5-8 thousand per month. Children get admission in these schools only after the entrance examination. That means, through the entrance examination, they filter out bright children and take them. Despite this, not a single school guarantees that the children studying there will not need additional tuition or coaching. The bottom line is that the situation is more or less the same everywhere. The only difference is that such schools are run by corporates, hence no survey report comes on them.
Educationist Rohit Dhankhar says that our basic infrastructure is very weak. Most of the schools do not have as many teachers nor as many rooms as required. After the new education policy comes, there is a fear among teachers that their school may be closed. So they hold meetings in the village to ensure that as many children as possible come to school. The villagers raise questions whether there is a guarantee that studies will take place. A dialogue has started between teachers and parents. Hopefully, things will improve in the times to come.
The government is closing government schools little by little
In big states like Uttar Pradesh, the education system of primary schools rests on the shoulders of contractual workers like Shikshamitra. Who live in extreme social insecurity. They are given a very nominal salary and only for 11 months. Apart from this, they are made to do things like census, voting, administering polio drops, reciting Ramayana and Saptashati in temples, lighting lamps etc. In this way they spend all their energy and time in other works. The second reason is that under the new education policy and economic policy, the government wants to end the government basic education system along with cutting the education budget. On January 7, 2024, a news was prominently published that 832 schools in various districts of Haryana would be closed. There are a total of 7349 children in these schools. They will be shifted to other schools.
Actually, the Education Department had asked for a list of such schools where the number of students is 20 or less. The question is why does a teacher need more than 20 students to teach?
Similarly, 29,281 government schools have been closed in Madhya Pradesh in the last five years. According to the website of the Department of School Education and Literacy, Government of India, the number of schools in Madhya Pradesh was 1,21,976 in the year 2015-16, which decreased to 92,695 by the year 2021-22.
The Unified District Information System for Education, a unit of the Central Education Department, provides data on schools in the country every year. According to the UDISE Report 2018-19, the number of government schools in the country has decreased and the number of private schools has increased. Another shocking fact is that during the Corona epidemic, there were more admissions in government schools than in private schools, because many parents had to face financial problems during the Covid period, due to which they removed their children from private schools and sent them to government schools. Put in school.
However, from the above data recorded in various reports, it is clearly evident that the opportunity of students of Dalit-Bahujan class to get education with one scheme is continuously ending. In such a situation, the question arises that are the government schools of the country only for Dalit-Bahujan children and because of this the quality of these schools is being reduced.
सरकारी स्कूलों की हालत सामने आ गयी है, दलित-बहुजन बच्चों पर असर पड़ रहा है.
रिपोर्ट बताती है कि देश के करीब 8 फीसदी स्कूलों में सिर्फ एक ही शिक्षक है. शिक्षकों के पास आधुनिक शैक्षिक पद्धतियों का प्रशिक्षण नहीं है। और वे इंटरैक्टिव और आकर्षक शिक्षण तकनीकों को नियोजित करने के लिए संघर्ष करते हैं। (सुशील मानव की रिपोर्ट)
करीब 8-10 साल पहले एक सर्वे हुआ था कि सरकारी स्कूलों में पढ़ने वाले कक्षा 8 के छात्र हिंदी नहीं पढ़ पाते, सवाल हल नहीं कर पाते, अंग्रेजी वर्णमाला नहीं आती, गिनती-गणना नहीं आती आदि इसके साथ ही कई बातें भी सामने आईं। उच्च जाति समुदाय में एक अफवाह है कि बच्चे प्राथमिक और माध्यमिक सरकारी स्कूलों में केवल पंजीकरण कराने के लिए जाते हैं। बाद में लोग यह भी कहने लगे कि अगर मध्याह्न भोजन खत्म कर दिया गया तो एक भी बच्चा सरकारी स्कूलों में नहीं दिखेगा.
जाहिर है कि मध्यम आय वर्ग ने पहले ही अपने बच्चों को निजी स्कूलों में स्थानांतरित कर दिया था। निम्न आय वर्ग के लोगों ने, विशेष रूप से दैनिक वेतन वाले व्यवसायों में, यहां तक कि अच्छी आय वाले लोगों ने भी तुरंत अपने बच्चों को सरकारी स्कूलों से हटा दिया और उन्हें निजी स्कूलों में भेज दिया। ऐसे प्राइवेट स्कूलों में जिनकी फीस थोड़ी कम थी। कम फीस वाले स्कूलों में यानी तीन सौ से पांच सौ रुपये प्रति माह। इन स्कूलों में बुनियादी सुविधाओं का घोर अभाव है. पूरा स्कूल बमुश्किल तीन-चार कमरों में चलता है। शिक्षक भी शिक्षण के आवश्यक मानकों के अनुरूप नहीं हैं। इसका मतलब है कि उनकी शिक्षा इंटरमीडिएट या स्नातक है और उनके पास शिक्षण में कोई प्रशिक्षण या डिग्री नहीं है। और तो और, इन स्कूलों के पास कोई मान्यता भी नहीं है.
इन स्कूलों का लक्ष्य दलित-बहुजन वर्ग है, जो अपने बच्चों को अंग्रेजी माध्यम के निजी स्कूलों में पढ़ाना चाहते हैं। लेकिन उनकी इतनी आमदनी नहीं है.
18 जनवरी को गांव में स्कूल जाने वाले बच्चों की शिक्षा के स्तर को लेकर फिर एक सर्वे रिपोर्ट सामने आई है, जो एक गैर सरकारी संस्था 'प्रथम एजुकेशन फाउंडेशन' ने किया है. इसे वार्षिक नागरिक-नेतृत्व वाला घरेलू सर्वेक्षण बताया गया है। 'बियॉन्ड बेसिक्स' शीर्षक वाली रिपोर्ट ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में 14-18 आयु वर्ग के उन बच्चों पर केंद्रित है जो कक्षा 8-12 में पढ़ते हैं। सर्वे में चार बिंदु हैं. उदाहरण के लिए, शिक्षा के प्रति बच्चों की गतिविधियाँ क्या हैं, उनकी आकांक्षाएँ क्या हैं, सामान्य तौर पर उनकी जागरूकता का स्तर क्या है और वे सामान्य चीज़ों को सीखने के लिए कितने जागरूक हैं।
इस रिपोर्ट से यह बात सामने आती है कि ग्रामीण भारत के किशोर किन गतिविधियों में लगे हुए हैं और कितनों के पास स्मार्टफोन तक पहुंच है और वे इसका उपयोग किस उद्देश्य से कर रहे हैं।
रिपोर्ट में दावा किया गया है कि 14-18 आयु वर्ग के 25 प्रतिशत ग्रामीण युवा अपनी क्षेत्रीय भाषा में कक्षा 2 स्तर का पाठ पढ़ने में असमर्थ हैं। केवल 76 प्रतिशत लड़कियाँ और 70.9 प्रतिशत लड़के ही कक्षा 2 के स्तर पर पढ़ सकते हैं। वहीं, 50 प्रतिशत से अधिक युवा कक्षा 3 और कक्षा 4 के स्तर पर एक से तीन अंकों के घटाव को हल करने में सक्षम नहीं हैं। तीन अंकों की संख्याओं को एक अंक की संख्याओं से विभाजित करने में असमर्थ हैं। रिपोर्ट से पता चलता है कि 51 प्रतिशत लड़कों की तुलना में केवल 41.1 प्रतिशत लड़कियां ही समय बताने में सक्षम हैं। लगभग 43 प्रतिशत युवा अंग्रेजी वाक्य नहीं पढ़ सकते। केवल 57.3 प्रतिशत छात्र अंग्रेजी के वाक्य पढ़ पाए और उनमें से केवल तीन-चौथाई ही उनका अर्थ समझ पाए।
उत्तर प्रदेश के पूर्वांचल के एक प्राइमरी स्कूल की तस्वीर
रिपोर्ट से यह भी पता चलता है कि अंग्रेजी पढ़ने और अंकगणित की समस्याओं को हल करने में लड़कों का प्रतिशत लड़कियों से बेहतर है। रिपोर्ट में दावा किया गया है कि 11वीं कक्षा में प्रवेश के समय लड़कियां लड़कों की तुलना में विज्ञान, प्रौद्योगिकी, इंजीनियरिंग और गणित आदि विषयों को कम चुनती हैं। सर्वेक्षण से यह भी पता चला कि 11वीं कक्षा के 55 प्रतिशत छात्र कला और मानविकी स्ट्रीम लेते हैं। मात्र 5.6 फीसदी युवा ही व्यावसायिक प्रशिक्षण ले रहे हैं.
रिपोर्ट में और क्या है?
रिपोर्ट यह भी बताती है कि 14-18 आयु वर्ग के 86.8 प्रतिशत छात्र शैक्षणिक संस्थानों में नामांकित हैं। जो युवा किसी स्कूल में नामांकित नहीं हैं, उनमें सबसे ज्यादा संख्या 18 साल के युवाओं की है, जो 32.6 फीसदी है. जबकि नामांकित नहीं होने वालों में 14 साल के बच्चे सबसे कम 3.9 फीसदी हैं. यानी 18 साल के 32.6 फीसदी छात्र पढ़ाई नहीं कर रहे हैं. हालांकि, सर्वे रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि 17-18 साल की उम्र की 23.6 फीसदी लड़कियों और 24.4 फीसदी लड़कों ने अपनी पढ़ाई बीच में ही छोड़ दी. इसके कारणों की पड़ताल करते हुए रिपोर्ट कहती है कि लड़कियों के स्कूल छोड़ने का सबसे आम कारण पारिवारिक बाधाएं हैं। जबकि लड़कों में सबसे आम कारण रुचि की कमी है। बेटों की तुलना में बेटियां 12वीं के बाद आगे की पढ़ाई जारी रखने में अधिक रुचि रखती हैं। हालाँकि, यह फैसला बेटियों के हाथ में नहीं बल्कि परिवार के हाथ में है।
सर्वे में कहा गया है कि पढ़ाई के साथ-साथ घर से बाहर काम करने वाले लड़कों की संख्या 33.7 फीसदी है, जबकि साल 2017 में यह आंकड़ा 41.6 फीसदी था. पढ़ाई के साथ-साथ घर से बाहर काम करने वाली लड़कियों की संख्या 28 फीसदी है जबकि 2017 में यह आंकड़ा 45.1 फीसदी था. सर्वे में कहा गया है कि लड़कों के मन में जल्द से जल्द पैसा कमाने की चाहत होती है और आर्थिक तंगी के दौर में बेटे अपनी स्कूल की फीस भरने के लिए काम करना शुरू कर देते हैं.
गौरतलब है कि नई शिक्षा नीति-2020 के तहत डिजिटल शिक्षा को बढ़ावा देने की बात कही गई है. ग्रामीण युवाओं की डिजिटल पहुंच और लैंगिक असमानता के संबंध में यह सर्वेक्षण बताता है कि 90 प्रतिशत युवाओं के घरों में स्मार्टफोन हैं। जबकि 43.7 फीसदी लड़कों और 19.8 फीसदी लड़कियों के पास अपना स्मार्टफोन है. इसके बावजूद लड़कों में डिजिटल कौशल की कमी पाई गई। सर्वे में फोन से जुड़े काम करने में लड़कों ने लड़कियों से बेहतर प्रदर्शन किया। सर्वे में दावा किया गया है कि सोशल मीडिया और स्मार्टफोन युवाओं के दिमाग पर ज्यादा प्रभाव डालते हैं और 91 फीसदी बच्चे सोशल मीडिया पर सक्रिय हैं.
रिपोर्ट इन कारणों की ओर इशारा करती है
समस्या के कारणों की बात करें तो रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि देश के करीब 8 फीसदी स्कूलों में सिर्फ एक ही शिक्षक है. शिक्षकों के पास आधुनिक शैक्षिक पद्धतियों का प्रशिक्षण नहीं है। और वे इंटरैक्टिव और आकर्षक शिक्षण तकनीकों को नियोजित करने के लिए संघर्ष करते हैं, जिसने छात्रों की बुनियादी अंकगणित अवधारणाओं की समझ और पढ़ने की उनकी क्षमता को प्रभावित किया है। पाठ्यपुस्तकों और शिक्षण सामग्री तक सीमित पहुंच ने छात्रों की कक्षा के बाहर बुनियादी कौशल का अभ्यास करने और उन्हें सुदृढ़ करने की क्षमता में बाधा उत्पन्न की है। कम आय वाले परिवारों के छात्रों को अपर्याप्त बुनियादी ढांचे, घर पर शैक्षिक सहायता की कमी और उनके बुनियादी कौशल को बढ़ाने वाली पाठ्येतर गतिविधियों तक सीमित पहुंच जैसी चुनौतियों का सामना करना पड़ता है। उन क्षेत्रों में जहां शिक्षा की भाषा छात्रों की मूल भाषा में नहीं है, छात्रों को पाठ्यक्रम को समझने और खुद को अभिव्यक्त करने में चुनौतियों का सामना करना पड़ता है। जबकि आदिवासी इलाकों के विद्यार्थियों को अंग्रेजी पढ़ने में परेशानी होती है। सर्वेक्षण से पता चलता है कि स्कूलों में छात्र और शिक्षक दोनों की उपस्थिति स्थिर बनी हुई है। बच्चों की उपस्थिति का आंकड़ा 72 फीसदी है. जबकि शिक्षकों की उपस्थिति का आंकड़ा 85 फीसदी है.
उल्लेखनीय है कि डिजिटल साक्षरता स्कूली पाठ्यक्रम में शामिल नहीं है। और छात्र आधुनिक कार्यबल का हिस्सा बनने के लिए डिजिटल कौशल के साथ तैयार नहीं हैं। मूल्यांकन ने मुख्य रूप से आलोचनात्मक सोच के बजाय याद रखने पर ध्यान केंद्रित किया है, जिसके कारण छात्र मौलिक अवधारणाओं को समझने के बजाय रटना पसंद करते हैं।
यूनेस्को की रिपोर्ट - 'भारत में शिक्षा की स्थिति रिपोर्ट 2021 - नो टीचर नो क्लास' में यह भी दावा किया गया है कि भारत में 1,10,971 स्कूल हैं जहां केवल एक शिक्षक है। इनमें से 89 फीसदी स्कूल ग्रामीण इलाकों में हैं.
सरकार ने रिपोर्ट को खारिज कर दिया
हालांकि, केंद्र सरकार ने इस रिपोर्ट को खारिज कर दिया है और कहा है कि कुछ जिलों में सर्वे कराकर देश की तस्वीर पेश करना गलत है. यह रिपोर्ट 26 राज्यों के 28 जिलों के 1664 गांवों के 34,745 छात्रों से बातचीत पर आधारित है। सर्वेक्षण में उत्तर प्रदेश और मध्य प्रदेश के 2 जिलों और अन्य राज्यों के एक-एक जिले को शामिल किया गया, जबकि देश भर में लगभग 797 जिले हैं।
उल्लेखनीय है कि यह रिपोर्ट पहली बार वर्ष 2005 में प्रकाशित हुई थी। अब तक कुल 16 रिपोर्ट प्राप्त हो चुकी हैं।
ऐसी रिपोर्टें समस्या का समाधान नहीं करती बल्कि पलायन को बढ़ावा देती हैं।
प्रयागराज शहर की मलिन बस्तियों में रहने वाले बच्चों की शिक्षा और कल्याण के लिए काम करने वाली सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता किरण कहती हैं- “आप देख रहे हैं कि शहरों का लगातार विस्तार हो रहा है। शहरों का विस्तार हो रहा है. कॉरपोरेट भी विशाल क्षेत्र में विस्तार कर रहा है. वह अपनी स्कूल शाखाओं का विस्तार कर रहे हैं। इलाहाबाद शहर में स्थित सभी बड़े निजी स्कूलों ने महज पांच से 10 किलोमीटर के दायरे में तीन से चार शाखाएं खोल रखी हैं। इसलिए वे इनमें बच्चे चाहते हैं. शहर में बच्चों की संख्या के हिसाब से पहले से खुले स्कूल ही पर्याप्त हैं। कहां लाएं बच्चों को रोज खुल रहे नए स्कूलों में अब उनका लक्ष्य ग्रामीण क्षेत्र के बच्चे हैं।
किरण आगे कहती हैं कि ऐसी रिपोर्टें समस्या का समाधान ढूंढने की बजाय समस्या को इतना प्रचारित करती हैं कि लोग प्राथमिक और माध्यमिक शिक्षा के लिए भी गांवों से शहरों की ओर पलायन कर जाते हैं.
यहां तक कि सबसे महंगा स्कूल भी इसकी गारंटी नहीं देता कि बच्चों को अलग से ट्यूशन नहीं लेनी पड़ेगी.
दिल्ली से सटे गाजियाबाद के राजेंद्र नगर में बच्चों को होम ट्यूशन देने वाले सुशील कुमार बताते हैं कि वह दिल्ली पब्लिक स्कूल, होली एंजल्स स्कूल, रेयॉन इंटरनेशनल जैसे स्कूलों में पढ़ने वाले बच्चों को ट्यूशन देते हैं। इनकी गिनती शहर के सबसे अच्छे निजी स्कूलों में होती है। इन स्कूलों की मासिक फीस 5-8 हजार रुपये प्रति माह है. प्रवेश परीक्षा के बाद ही बच्चों को इन स्कूलों में प्रवेश मिलता है। यानि प्रवेश परीक्षा के माध्यम से मेधावी बच्चों को छांटकर ले जाते हैं। इसके बावजूद एक भी स्कूल यह गारंटी नहीं देता कि वहां पढ़ने वाले बच्चों को अतिरिक्त ट्यूशन या कोचिंग की जरूरत नहीं पड़ेगी. लब्बोलुआब यह है कि हालात कमोबेश हर जगह एक जैसे ही हैं। फर्क सिर्फ इतना है कि ऐसे स्कूल कॉर्पोरेट द्वारा चलाए जाते हैं, इसलिए उन पर कोई सर्वेक्षण रिपोर्ट नहीं आती है।
शिक्षाविद् रोहित धनखड़ का कहना है कि हमारा बुनियादी ढांचा बहुत कमजोर है. अधिकांश स्कूलों में न तो उतने शिक्षक हैं और न ही आवश्यकतानुसार उतने कमरे। नई शिक्षा नीति आने के बाद शिक्षकों में यह डर है कि कहीं उनका स्कूल बंद न हो जाए. इसलिए वे गांव में बैठकें करते हैं ताकि यह सुनिश्चित किया जा सके कि अधिक से अधिक बच्चे स्कूल आएं। ग्रामीण सवाल उठाते हैं कि क्या गारंटी है कि पढ़ाई होगी. शिक्षकों और अभिभावकों के बीच संवाद शुरू हो गया है. उम्मीद है कि आने वाले समय में हालात बेहतर होंगे।'
सरकार धीरे-धीरे सरकारी स्कूलों को बंद कर रही है
उत्तर प्रदेश जैसे बड़े राज्य में प्राइमरी स्कूलों की शिक्षा व्यवस्था शिक्षामित्र जैसे संविदा कर्मियों के कंधों पर टिकी हुई है. जो बेहद सामाजिक असुरक्षा में रहते हैं. उन्हें बहुत मामूली वेतन दिया जाता है और केवल 11 महीने के लिए। इसके अलावा, उनसे जनगणना, मतदान, पोलियो ड्रॉप पिलाना, मंदिरों में रामायण और सप्तशती का पाठ करना, दीपक जलाना आदि जैसे काम कराए जाते हैं। इस तरह वे अपनी सारी ऊर्जा और समय अन्य कार्यों में खर्च करते हैं। दूसरा कारण यह है कि सरकार नई शिक्षा नीति और आर्थिक नीति के तहत शिक्षा बजट में कटौती करने के साथ-साथ सरकारी बुनियादी शिक्षा व्यवस्था को भी ख़त्म करना चाहती है. 7 जनवरी 2024 को प्रमुखता से खबर छपी थी कि हरियाणा के विभिन्न जिलों के 832 स्कूल बंद हो जायेंगे. इन स्कूलों में कुल 7349 बच्चे हैं। इन्हें दूसरे स्कूलों में शिफ्ट किया जाएगा।
दरअसल, शिक्षा विभाग ने ऐसे स्कूलों की सूची मांगी थी जहां छात्रों की संख्या 20 या उससे कम है. प्रश्न यह है कि एक शिक्षक को पढ़ाने के लिए 20 से अधिक विद्यार्थियों की आवश्यकता क्यों पड़ती है?
इसी तरह, मध्य प्रदेश में पिछले पांच वर्षों में 29,281 सरकारी स्कूल बंद हो गए हैं। भारत सरकार के स्कूल शिक्षा एवं साक्षरता विभाग की वेबसाइट के अनुसार वर्ष 2015-16 में मध्य प्रदेश में स्कूलों की संख्या 1,21,976 थी, जो वर्ष 2021-22 में घटकर 92,695 हो गयी है।
केंद्रीय शिक्षा विभाग की एक इकाई, शिक्षा के लिए एकीकृत जिला सूचना प्रणाली हर साल देश के स्कूलों पर डेटा प्रदान करती है। UDISE रिपोर्ट 2018-19 के अनुसार, देश में सरकारी स्कूलों की संख्या घटी है और निजी स्कूलों की संख्या बढ़ी है। एक और चौंकाने वाला तथ्य यह है कि कोरोना महामारी के दौरान निजी स्कूलों की तुलना में सरकारी स्कूलों में अधिक दाखिले हुए, क्योंकि कई अभिभावकों को कोविड काल के दौरान आर्थिक समस्याओं का सामना करना पड़ा, जिसके कारण उन्होंने अपने बच्चों को निजी स्कूलों से हटाकर सरकारी स्कूलों में भेज दिया। स्कूल. स्कूल में डालो.
हालाँकि, विभिन्न रिपोर्टों में दर्ज उपरोक्त आंकड़ों से यह स्पष्ट है कि दलित-बहुजन वर्ग के छात्रों के लिए एक योजना से शिक्षा प्राप्त करने का अवसर लगातार समाप्त हो रहा है। ऐसे में सवाल उठता है कि क्या देश के सरकारी स्कूल सिर्फ दलित-बहुजन बच्चों के लिए हैं और इस वजह से इन स्कूलों की गुणवत्ता को नजरअंदाज किया जा रहा है?
साभार: हिंदी समाचार
SC/ST Commission Probes Alleged Violation of Reservation Norms in RMLIMS Recruitment
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences has been given 15-days to furnish a reply regarding the issue.
Satya Prakash Bharti
Lucknow- The allegation of disregarding reservation norms in the specialized recruitment drive for backlog positions at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, has prompted the intervention of the Scheduled Caste and Tribe Commission. The Commission, in response to a complaint filed by Dr. Ambedkar Samajotthan Samiti, has demanded an explanation from the institute regarding the alleged non-compliance with government directives. The complaint also advocates for the removal of economically weaker section (EWS) quotas from the backlog posts, urging the reissuance of advertisements.
The institute had issued an advertisement on December 1, 2023, announcing the recruitment of doctors for 320 backlog positions, including 17 posts for EWS candidates. The screening of applications for the positions of Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor, which attracted around 800 applicants, is expected to conclude by January 31. However, the accusation suggests that the recruitment process failed to adhere to reservation policies, particularly in the inclusion of only Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes in the backlog recruitment.
Following the complaint, the National Scheduled Caste Commission has initiated an investigation into the matter. Additionally, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences has been given 15-days to furnish a reply regarding the issue.
Courtesy : The Mooknayak
6.NEWS NO 6.
In this article, part of our Food Sovereignty and Spirituality series, members of the Food Sovereignty Alliance (FSA) in India share about their fight against the dominant Brahmanical patriarchal ideology which is at the root of the caste system. The discussion brings together landless Dalits, considered to be untouchables and ‘out-castes’, indigenous Adivasi whose lands and territories are taken over by corporations for commodity crops and other FSA members. Jointly, although from different perspectives, they reject the injustice of the caste system and insist that food sovereignty is about living in harmony with nature and with other fellow human beings. It is about being able to keep ancestral lands, decide what food to grow, what to eat and how to cook food. Based on these principles, they are reasserting their own ancestral spiritual practices, including the right to consume beef as part of their cultural heritage and identity. They are also working for the right of oppressed people to liberate themselves and to restore gender equity in farming.
By Jasber Singh, Priscilla Claeys, originally published by Agroecology Now!
AN: Sagari Ramdas, you have been a member and co-founder of the Food Sovereignty Alliance (FSA) since it came together in 2013. How would you describe the FSA?
Sagari: The Food Sovereignty Alliance is an alliance of Adivasi, Dalit-Bahujan food producers who are landless agriculture workers, marginal and small farmers, animal rearers, as well as non-food producing citizens in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in India. It is a diverse platform to build solidarity, reciprocity, and collective thinking around food and food justice.
AN: Murugamma, you are the leader from the Savitri Bai Phule Dalit Mahila Sangham, which is the collective of Dalit women in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh. Dalits, were historically the caste-oppressed institutionalised by the system of Caste as untouchables. They face severe forms of discrimination and marginalisation as a result of the caste system. The term “dalit” literally means crushed. Why did you join the FSA?
Murugamma: Our survival is linked to our control over the food that we grow, the food that we eat, and over our land. Land struggle is a major element for us Dalit women because the majority of Dalit families are landless. Beyond land, it is about who decides: we want to be able to decide what food we grow, what we eat it and how we cook food.
AN: Marsakola Kamala, you are an Adivasi leader from the Jai Jangubai Adivasi Mahila Sangham, in Telangana. Adivasis fall outside of the caste system. They are recognized as Indigenous and Tribal Peoples under international law. Why did your organization join the FSA?
Kamala: Food is key to our existence. When we talk about food, it is not just about what we buy, but it is about sovereign control over our land, resources, forest, and water. It is about the kind of diverse foods that we grow to meet our cultural priorities and needs. Key to all of this is sovereignty over seed. If we lose control over our seed, we have virtually lost control over our sovereignty over food. As Adivasis, we are losing control over our food and our seed as a result of the spread of the cotton crop. As a Sangham, we have investigated the impacts of cotton on our communities and territories, and have come to see that this cotton is really going to destroy us; it is alienating us from our foods, seeds and lands.
We therefore reenergised the community, especially women to create women’s seed committees who govern community seed banks, to enable community exchanges of seeds and collective local control. This is a kind of organising we cannot do in isolation. Being part of a broader alliance, it builds energies and strength to be in this struggle, so that future generations will be sovereign and will have self-rule.
AN: Chundru Nooka Raju, you have been a leader organising for food sovereignty in Adivasi areas of the Eastern ghats since the early 1990s, particularly in East Godavari district, where you began your journey and pioneering actions thorugh Girijan Deepika. Why did you join this struggle?
Nooka Raju: There has been a massive invasion of Adivasi lands and territories by corporations, for a variety of commodity crops like cotton, tobacco, cashew or tapioca. Adivasi communities are organising food sovereignty collectives or Sanghams, in every village. This enables us to have dialogues about these new plantation crops, and to have a space to collectively save our seeds and ensure that we are keeping our animals, land, forest, and knowledge. It is also a space where elders and the young come together in dialogue. If we don’t, we essentially become enslaved, even though we may have control over our land. I am organising our young people so that we can build leadership in our next generation, because it’s a long road ahead.
AN: Madhoo, you are one of the co-founders of the Food Sovereignty Alliance. Why did you join the FSA?
Madhoo: For me food sovereignty is about how people to people and people and nature can live in a harmonious relationship, how they can really build their own humanity. As a consumer of the food, my own commitment is to work with marginalised food producers and to be with them in solidarity. We are in a caste ridden society and we also have Indigenous Peoples who are deprived of various rights. They are the ones who actually know what food sovereignty means. There are also intense debates in India around what you should eat and what you should not eat. We are opening spaces to discuss food habits and cultures.
AN: A lot has been written about the political and legal dimensions of food sovereignty, but less about its spiritual aspects. What would you say is the role of spirituality, or religion, in the food sovereignty movement?
Sagari: One of our deep concerns is caste, we are living in a Brahminical patriarchy society. So class is shaped by Brahmanism the ideology at the roots of the caste system established over 2500 years ago, and which also has informed food choices. Today, we see that the genuine critique of industrial meat production, especially beef, are used by the Brahminical patriarchal forces to say that eating beef is bad. They are justifying banning beef by using environmental arguments while theirs is an ideological position, that beef consumption is against Indian Culture.
Food is not just about cereals and millets and pulses, but meat and milk is very critical for various communities. We are also engaged in countering this dominant narrative pushed by the State, of India being a Vegetarian Society. As an alliance, we have created a space for these kinds of dialogues. Even amongst the social and food movements within India, there is a deep reluctance to acknowledge that meat, and beef in particular, is a critical part of our cultural identity as well our food history and current diets.
AN: As a Dalit movement, what is your take on the role of spirituality in food sovereignty?
Murugamma: As Dalits, we have historically been treated as untouchables and ‘out-castes’. Food is one of the key areas where untouchability is practiced. For instance, we have multiple relationships with animals, and we eat the meat of our animals, including beef. Our animals are a source of food, of energy, of dung and manure, and a source of money for us. Brahmanism is telling us that the cattle we are eating is our God. This animal is placed in the temple and worshipped, and we Dalits are kept ‘outside’ of that temple. We experience the heinous practise of untouchability, from other communities, even if we do not eat beef- because Brahminism has created this unjust system of grading humans according to your birth. We say that you may worship the cow but this cow is not our god. We reject this Brahminical dominant religious practice in India today. We will not give up eating beef, it is our right. We have a right to this food and it is part of our cultural heritage.
For us, spirituality is what Dr Ambedkar gave us, liberation is our spirituality. Ambedkar gave us a lot of courage and hope and a lot of scientific insight to fight and counter caste injustice. Brahmanism says that you were born into this caste because God created these four castes. We want to demystify and reject this notion. If God created these castes, we reject that kind of religion and that kind of false spirituality.
AN: As an Adivasi movement, what is your take on the role of spirituality in food sovereignty?
Kamala: Adivasis are not part of the caste system, yet we are experiencing the effects of Brahmanism. We keep animals for ploughing, transportation and traditionally Adivasis have eaten beef. Now Brahmanism is telling us not to eat beef, that it is against our culture. As an organisation we are actively and proactively, with the youth, countering this, informing them that not eating beef has never been part of our culture. We have a long tradition where all our festivals have been about establishing and sustaining our relationship with our lands, our forests, our crops, our animals and nowhere have we ever had a celebration saying we don’t eat beef. It is not as evident as in caste society, but this colonisation by Brahmanism is happening day by day. We are countering this by reasserting all those amazing diverse spiritual practises of ours.
Every single part of our relationship to land is marked by a very special festival that we celebrate. Festivals show up the importance of our relationship to our gods and goddesses, and our relationship to the land. For instance, a very important festival is ‘Sanchi Bheemsen’ which is celebrated before the monsoon’s break. In that month the entire village gathers and brings the seeds which they have saved in the previous year. Every family comes together with food and it is collectivised at the sacred point in the village, where the rain is our gods. The spiritual leaders in the village will gather the seeds contributed from each home and tells us which seed, and which crop, should be planted in the next season, whether there is going to be more rain or less rain, this is knowledge which they have acquired from their elders. In this way the entire village collectively decides on the crop we will grow, depending on the reading of the air, of the land, soil, climate. It’s a very intricate kind of science and knowledge that informs this decision, on which seeds will be planted. There are other festivals for the harvest of specific grains and pulses and for special moments like before ploughing and sowing.
Nooka Raju: There are several Adivasi communities, tribes. And whats common for all us, is the entire cycle of food from preparing the land till we consume the food, begins and ends with celebration; it’s a coming together because food is a collective community action. We have so many festivals throughout the year. Animals are very important for us in our agriculture. In our festivals, we worship the animal, we worship the plough and all the agriculture equipment. Being an Adivasi itself is a spiritual being. Every experience is a spiritual relationship with our territories, our forest, and what we worship is our land, forests, water and seeds.
What is spirituality and what is God? For us it is the relationship we have directly with nature. Nature is God, and we look after nature and in turn nature looks after us; there’s godliness in us and we need to look after ourselves; and there’s godliness in nature, and it is this relationship which defines our spirituality. Where crops are alienated from humans, humans are alienated from nature, and in turn this means godliness/ spirituality is alienated from humans. In Adivasi culture, spirituality is connected to our food which comes from our crops and forests, which is connected to our land, and territory.
We have reached a point today, where a strong kind of Brahmanical religion is trying to take control of Adivasi life. Brahmanism coupled with corporatization is destroying this relationship, the interconnectedness, the links between one and the deepening alienation…I am very worried about this because what will be there for future generations? We are actively organising to reaffirm who we are, what is our form of spirituality, otherwise we will no longer be Adivasi and that is my fear that we lose our Adivasiness.
AN: Madhoo and Sagari, as founding members of the Food Sovereignty Alliance, what is your take on this?
Sagari: The alliance brings together various communities: Dalits, Adivasi, Bahujan which are the majority of the rural population from the ‘Other Backward Classes’ (OBC) or oppressed castes and the Muslim and other religious minority community. When we meet we have our dialogues, celebrations and popular education programs. How does this spirituality manifest itself, when we gather and come together? We have our own assembly or form of mystica. Our assembly is the Kacheeru , or Teydung. Kacheeru is from a cultural tradition or a space for people to interact, dialogue and relate. Teydung, inspired from the Savara adivasi community, is a conversation between you and your ancestors. It is almost as if your ancestors are there and you are having this conversation. As an alliance, our own spiritual practices are about bringing together or sharing of solidarity, some kind of joy, humour, fun, and sense of serenity.
AN: What are some of the gender dimensions of spirituality in your movement?
Murugamma: Let me start with with me – a Dalit women. When we look at our society today, it is about families, and in the family there is a husband, there is a wife and most of the time you find that there will be inequality in the home, the workspace, in terms of labour, wages, who eats what. Therefore, as a Sangham, and even as part of FSA, women are part of dialogues and decisions at every level, the family, decisions about what crops will be grown, which seeds will be saved, what kinds of decisions we make about farming. Organising for equal wages for both men and women, it cannot be that the labour of men is favoured more in terms of wages. Here there are proactive conversations and organising as a Sangham about food, and women have to have equal access to the consumption of that food, and not be eating last. This gender parity is part of our movements.
Kamal: Historically, in our Adivasi society, there was mostly equality between men and women. Everyone had some food and an equal amount of foods to eat and consume. This basic concept and philosophy of equality was there. However, because of Brahminical forces, inequality is creeping into our societies. So, in the Sangham we reflect upon why and when did we have a time of equality and why is it that we are allowing gender inequality to occur now. What are the factors, the forces behind this, and what are we gaining, what are we losing? Through that kind of very critical self-reflective community analysis, we are able to take collective decisions about gender equality, gender parity, and wages. That’s a strength of being organised as a women’s organisation and being part of a food sovereignty movement, an alliance where these elements are very critical.
Nooka Raju: In farming and especially in shifting cultivation, there are men and women in the family and both have to work together, and equally share labour. For us, it is always been in our society that everybody eats together. We also share toddy equally. Toddy (a natural fermented drink) is a very important element of our food and we drink together , women and men share the toddy. However, today, commodified agriculture and farming are penetrating Adivasi areas, and the community is under attack. Patriarchy enters our regions and communities. There is Brahmanism and there is corporate agriculture, which actually is built on the backs of patriarchy, these forces are making our societies more and more unequal and more and more patriarchal. These larger macro forces are a huge factor in the increasing patriarchy emerging in Adivasi society.
Sagari: Why are women not revolting in such a critical situation in India today? The bulk of labour is on their shoulders, they are subsidising a hugely exploitative, corporate and industrialised system of agriculture. It is the labour, of the Dalit, Adivasi and OBC women. How come there is no active revolt by women when you are not only the most belaboured, the most exploited, on the fields and in your homes but also impacted as far as your health and your nutrition go? This is where Brahmanism has played out and we are proactively countering that. Our movement is not just about food, it is about food sovereignty and social justice. This is important because it has become normalised to be oppressed from a gender and caste perspective. When you normalise oppression then how do you begin to reject it, when violence is normalised?
Whether you belong to the oppressed castes or genders, Brahminism enslaves you and teaches you not to question the inequality, oppression and discrimination of caste, as you are told that this is ‘written by gods’, is your ‘fate’ and unchangeable. So here in the alliance we learn how the caste system is not a creation of ‘god’ but by humans wanting to enslave other humans; and controlling women is key to perpetuating and reproducing over generations a system of graded inequality in the form of caste. So we learn to question and to counter Brahmanism through our popular education classes, whether its youth, women, or leaders. We have to become more and more conscious of this because if we just talk about food and organising around food without addressing this core of oppression, there is no complete liberation. Brahmanism is so strong, and Brahmanism continues because of patriarchal oppression.
AN: Do women play a special role in all the Adivasi festivals and spiritual moments that you have mentioned?
Kamala: Historically, women in our Adivasi community, have always been the seeds savers. They have the knowledge of which seeds to select, how to process and store them. For example, the knowledge they inherited from their ancestors is that if you store the seed, whether in a pot or a basket, during the new moon, the chances of it getting eaten up by worms or insects is very low. Whereas if you store the seeds during the full moon, the chances of your seeds going bad and rotting is very high.
Sagari: While this knowledge is inherited from the ancestors, it also has a scientific basis. During the full moon tides are at their maximum. Moisture levels are linked to the tide, gravity the moon, and so there is a strong scientific basis to why you would store your seeds during the new moon.
Kamala: For us, as Adivasi women, forest, land, the water and our relationship with those three elements is core to our spirituality. Therefore, even the festivals we celebrate, or our gods/goddess are related to this kind of relationship with nature. Our Karra pen is a festival but it is also a space of knowledge transfer from generation to generation in the village. All the animals that we have are taken to the boundary of our village, everybody attends this festival. Even the youngest child learns where the boundaries of the village are locates, and that boundaries of the village are very important for living and coexistence between villages.
AN: In your view, what are some of the challenges around food sovereignty and spirituality in the future?
Murugamma: It is important as Bahujan and Dalit families that we reject Brahmanism, we have to recognise that the final core of our existence is land, our people and resources. Our biggest challenge today is land rights, and that struggle becomes the core of our organising. We have to reject the form of spiritual oppression which is religious oppression. If we do not do that, we won’t be able to sustain this ongoing organising.
Sagari: Our biggest challenge is the Brahminical forces and their effect on communities. We have two streams within our movement. On the one hand, we have the Adivasi stream of organising where there is a lot of clarity in terms of spirituality. On the other hand, we have the Bahujan and Dalit communities. There are also Muslim communities who follow Islam, and yet are not liberated from the inequalities and discriminatory practices entrenched in caste. Because of this diversity, we do not try to pin down food sovereignty to a kind of ‘spirituality’. But our understanding of spirituality is rooted in challenging Brahmanism, and the concept of Buen Vivir from the Indigenous people/ Adivasi peoples.
There is also the issue of the personal and the political. In the alliance its also about how in our own lives we have to become aware of and stop discriminatory practices. In our collective meetings, for instance we have beef. You don’t have to eat beef but you have to become comfortable with people around you eating beef. These are new ways of redefining what is the spiritual because we are rejecting Brahmanism.
Madhoo: The onslaught of the dominant religious practises in Adivasi territories is coming. At the same time, food sovereignty writes a counter narrative against capitalism and against dominant cultures, monocultures. There is a monoculture that is being enforced upon struggling communities, particularly Adivasis. In Adivasis context, there are so many stories about the spiritual connection to Mother Earth.
When you speak to a marginalised Dalit community, the story will be a little different. They may agree there is a spiritual connection to Mother Earth but at the same time they are deprived, they are dispossessed of their Mother Earth, because of caste, and the unacceptable notion of untouchability. They serve as labour to the landed families to grow food or rear cattle, and at the end of the day, they eat whatever the land owning families are deciding. So, their struggle is to do with self-respect and dignity and food justice. Food sovereignty for them is all about food justice and how they can protect their food culture and have access to the land. They can only mention the spiritual connection in terms of how they want to keep their food culture. Dalits centre anti-Brahminism in their spirituality, they may belong to Christianity but at the same time they also talk about their right to eat what we want as a Dalit community.
AN: Are you suggesting there are very different approaches to food sovereignty and spiritituality within the Food Sovereignty Alliance, and between Dalits and Adivasis in particular? How are you navigating these as an Alliance?
Madhoo: Adivasi communities are continuously standing against the capitalist forces in India. Adivasis are struggling to really counter the capitalistic invasion that is happening there through agriculture, and the commercial crops that are grown for the outside market. Food sovereignty is so central to them and the concept of buen vivir. There is so much spiritual connection with Mother Earth. As activists in the food sovereignty movement, we had to really bring these two conceptions together, where the Dalit community can get inspiration from the Adivasi community and vice- versa , and how together they can fight for food sovereignty. How can Dalit, especially Dalit women, assert their right to land, and to grow and eat what they want to eat? The assertion to choose is a spiritual choice because it is about asserting their right to live in dignity.
Spirituality needs to defined differently in Dalit and indigenous contexts. Spirituality will work much more strongly in organising in Adivasi communities. In Dalit communities, it is more about how to counter the dominant spirituality that is imposed upon them by Brahaminism, so there is a clear difference. We won’t be able to really assert food sovereignty until we acknowledge and recognise caste oppression in India. Anti-caste is at the very core of building food sovereignty. It is important to not generalize the Adivasi experience as the Indian experience, which it is not.
For this reason, I feel that the counterculture narratives that are created in movements are so important. We are building a common future together, giving meaning to our lives and breaking the dominant narratives. We have to consciously reject certain practises which are coming from the dominant religious spiritual traditions because they are oppressing. Unfortunately, those forces are overtaking and infecting agroecology movements. We are seeing Brahmanism taking over as the dominant spirituality in the the food movement. We have to counter this trend.
Chundru Nookaraju, an Adivasi leader of the Food Sovereignty Alliance, India, organsing for food sovereignty in the Adivasi territories of East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, tragically passed away on October 3rd 2022, at a very young age of 47. Nukaraju’s involvement in Adivasi movements began soon after he completed high school in 1992, where as a member of the Adivasi peoples movement Girijana Deepika and Adivasi Aikya Vedika, he worked to defend Adivasi rights to land, forests, water, knowledge, seeds, breeds, crafts, cultures and Adivasi worldviews. He was a fine animal healer and craftsperson, with sweeping knowledge of every tree, shrub, herb, creeper and crop of the territory. Nukaraju was an amazing actor, trained in the theatre of the oppressed, and performed in critical plays to conscientize and organise his people. In the last few years of his life he spent a lot of his time sharing his profound knowledge, wisdom and skills with children and youth not only of East Godavari but other members of the alliance. This interview was one of his last public engagements.
This interview was designed, conducted, recorded, transcribed and edited by Jasber Singh and Priscilla Claeys. The final version was revised and validated by members of the Food Sovereignty Alliance in India who were interviewed in this blog.
Courtesy : Resilience
Note: This news piece was originally published in resilience.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights.
- సార్వభౌమాధికార ఉద్యమం కుల వ్యతిరేకం కావాలి": దళిత, ఆదివాసీ మరియు భారతదేశంలోని ఆహార సార్వభౌమాధికార కూటమ ఇంటర్వ్యూ
ఈ కథనంలో, మా ఆహార సార్వభౌమాధికారం మరియు ఆధ్యాత్మికత సిరీస్లో భాగంగా, భారతదేశంలోని ఆహార సార్వభౌమాధికార కూటమి (FSA) సభ్యులు కుల వ్యవస్థకు మూలమైన ఆధిపత్య బ్రాహ్మణీయ పితృస్వామ్య భావజాలానికి వ్యతిరేకంగా తమ పోరాటం గురించి పంచుకున్నారు. ఈ చర్చలో భూమిలేని దళితులు, అంటరానివారు మరియు 'బహిష్కృతులు'గా పరిగణించబడుతున్న స్థానిక ఆదివాసీలు, వారి భూములు మరియు భూభాగాలను వస్తువుల పంటల కోసం కార్పొరేషన్లు మరియు ఇతర FSA సభ్యులు స్వాధీనం చేసుకున్నారు. ఉమ్మడిగా, విభిన్న దృక్కోణాల నుండి, వారు కుల వ్యవస్థ యొక్క అన్యాయాన్ని తిరస్కరించారు మరియు ఆహార సార్వభౌమాధికారం ప్రకృతితో మరియు ఇతర తోటి మానవులతో సామరస్యంగా జీవించడం అని నొక్కి చెప్పారు. ఇది పూర్వీకుల భూములను ఉంచుకోగలగడం, ఏ ఆహారం పండించాలో, ఏమి తినాలో మరియు ఆహారాన్ని ఎలా ఉడికించాలో నిర్ణయించుకోవడం. ఈ సూత్రాల ఆధారంగా, వారు తమ సాంస్కృతిక వారసత్వం మరియు గుర్తింపులో భాగంగా గొడ్డు మాంసం తినే హక్కుతో సహా వారి స్వంత పూర్వీకుల ఆధ్యాత్మిక పద్ధతులను పునరుద్ఘాటిస్తున్నారు. అణగారిన ప్రజలు తమను తాము విముక్తి చేసుకునే హక్కు కోసం మరియు వ్యవసాయంలో లింగ సమానత్వాన్ని పునరుద్ధరించడానికి కూడా వారు కృషి చేస్తున్నారు.
జస్బర్ సింగ్ ద్వారా, ప్రిస్సిల్లా క్లేస్, నిజానికి ఆగ్రోకాలజీ నౌ ద్వారా ప్రచురించబడింది!
AN: సాగరి రాందాస్, మీరు ఆహార సార్వభౌమాధికార కూటమి (FSA) 2013లో కలిసి వచ్చినప్పటి నుండి దాని సభ్యుడు మరియు సహ వ్యవస్థాపకులుగా ఉన్నారు. మీరు FSAని ఎలా వివరిస్తారు?
సాగరి: ఆహార సార్వభౌమాధికార కూటమి అనేది భారతదేశంలోని తెలంగాణ మరియు ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ రాష్ట్రాల్లోని భూమిలేని వ్యవసాయ కార్మికులు, సన్నకారు మరియు చిన్న రైతులు, పశువుల పెంపకందారులు, అలాగే ఆహారోత్పత్తి కాని పౌరులు అయిన ఆదివాసీ, దళిత-బహుజన ఆహార ఉత్పత్తిదారుల కూటమి. ఆహారం మరియు ఆహార న్యాయం చుట్టూ సంఘీభావం, అన్యోన్యత మరియు సామూహిక ఆలోచనను నిర్మించడానికి ఇది విభిన్న వేదిక.
AN: మురుగమ్మా, మీరు ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్లోని చిత్తూరులో దళిత మహిళల సమిష్టి అయిన సావిత్రి బాయి ఫూలే దళిత మహిళా సంఘం నుండి నాయకురాలు. దళితులు, చారిత్రాత్మకంగా కుల-అణచివేతకు గురైనవారు అంటరానివారిగా కుల వ్యవస్థ ద్వారా సంస్థాగతీకరించబడ్డారు. కుల వ్యవస్థ ఫలితంగా వారు తీవ్రమైన వివక్ష మరియు అట్టడుగునను ఎదుర్కొంటున్నారు. "దళితుడు" అనే పదానికి అక్షరార్థంగా చూర్ణం అని అర్థం. మీరు FSAలో ఎందుకు చేరారు?
మురుగమ్మ: మనం పండించే ఆహారం, తినే ఆహారం మరియు మన భూమిపై మన నియంత్రణతో మన మనుగడ ముడిపడి ఉంది. దళిత మహిళలకు భూపోరాటం ప్రధాన అంశం ఎందుకంటే దళిత కుటుంబాల్లో అత్యధికులు భూమి లేనివారు. భూమికి మించి, ఎవరు నిర్ణయిస్తారు అనే దాని గురించి: మనం ఏ ఆహారాన్ని పండిస్తాము, ఏమి తింటాము మరియు ఆహారాన్ని ఎలా ఉడికించాలి అనే విషయాన్ని మనం నిర్ణయించగలగాలి.
AN: మర్సకోల కమలా, మీరు తెలంగాణలోని జై జంగూబాయి ఆదివాసీ మహిళా సంఘానికి చెందిన ఆదివాసీ నాయకురాలు. ఆదివాసీలు కుల వ్యవస్థకు దూరంగా ఉన్నారు. అంతర్జాతీయ చట్టం ప్రకారం వారు ఆదివాసీలు మరియు గిరిజనులుగా గుర్తించబడ్డారు. మీ సంస్థ FSAలో ఎందుకు చేరింది?
కమల: మన ఉనికికి ఆహారం కీలకం. మనం ఆహారం గురించి మాట్లాడేటప్పుడు, అది మనం కొనుగోలు చేసే వాటి గురించి మాత్రమే కాదు, అది మన భూమి, వనరులు, అడవి మరియు నీటిపై సార్వభౌమ నియంత్రణ గురించి. ఇది మన సాంస్కృతిక ప్రాధాన్యతలు మరియు అవసరాలను తీర్చడానికి మనం పెరిగే విభిన్న ఆహారాల గురించి. వీటన్నింటికీ ప్రధానమైనది విత్తనంపై సార్వభౌమాధికారం. మనం మన విత్తనంపై నియంత్రణను కోల్పోతే, ఆహారంపై మన సార్వభౌమాధికారంపై వాస్తవంగా నియంత్రణను కోల్పోతాము. పత్తి పంట వ్యాప్తి చెందడం వల్ల ఆదివాసీలుగా మన ఆహారం, విత్తనంపై నియంత్రణ కోల్పోతున్నాం. సంఘంగా, మేము మా సంఘాలు మరియు భూభాగాలపై పత్తి యొక్క ప్రభావాలను పరిశోధించాము మరియు ఈ పత్తి నిజంగా మనల్ని నాశనం చేస్తుందని చూశాము; అది మన ఆహారాలు, విత్తనాలు మరియు భూముల నుండి మనల్ని దూరం చేస్తోంది.
అందువల్ల మేము కమ్యూనిటీ విత్తన బ్యాంకులను పరిపాలించే మహిళా విత్తన కమిటీలను రూపొందించడానికి, విత్తనాల కమ్యూనిటీ మార్పిడి మరియు సామూహిక స్థానిక నియంత్రణను ప్రారంభించడానికి సంఘాన్ని, ప్రత్యేకించి మహిళలను పునరుజ్జీవింపజేసాము. ఇది మనం ఒంటరిగా చేయలేని ఒక రకమైన ఆర్గనైజింగ్. విస్తృత కూటమిలో భాగమై, ఈ పోరాటంలో ఉండటానికి శక్తి మరియు బలాన్ని పెంపొందిస్తుంది, తద్వారా భవిష్యత్ తరాలు సార్వభౌమాధికారం మరియు స్వయం పాలనను కలిగి ఉంటాయి.
AN: చుండ్రు నూక రాజు, మీరు 1990ల ప్రారంభం నుండి తూర్పు కనుమలలోని ఆదివాసీ ప్రాంతాలలో, ముఖ్యంగా తూర్పు గోదావరి జిల్లాలో ఆహార సార్వభౌమాధికారం కోసం నిర్వహించే నాయకుడిగా ఉన్నారు, ఇక్కడ మీరు గిరిజన దీపిక ద్వారా మీ ప్రయాణం మరియు మార్గదర్శక చర్యలను ప్రారంభించారు. మీరు ఈ పోరాటంలో ఎందుకు పాల్గొన్నారు?
నూక రాజు: పత్తి, పొగాకు, జీడిపప్పు లేదా టపియోకా వంటి వివిధ రకాల వస్తువుల పంటల కోసం ఆదివాసీ భూములు మరియు భూభాగాలపై కార్పొరేషన్లు భారీ ఆక్రమణకు గురయ్యాయి. ఆదివాసీ సంఘాలు ప్రతి గ్రామంలో ఆహార సార్వభౌమాధికార సమూహాలను లేదా సంఘాలను ఏర్పాటు చేస్తున్నాయి. ఇది ఈ కొత్త తోటల పంటల గురించి డైలాగ్లను కలిగి ఉండటానికి మరియు మన విత్తనాలను సమిష్టిగా సేవ్ చేయడానికి మరియు మన జంతువులు, భూమి, అడవి మరియు జ్ఞానాన్ని మనం కాపాడుకుంటున్నామని నిర్ధారించుకోవడానికి ఒక స్థలాన్ని కలిగి ఉంటుంది. పెద్దలు మరియు యువకులు కలిసి సంభాషణలో పాల్గొనే స్థలం కూడా ఇది. మనం చేయకపోతే, మన భూమిపై మనకు నియంత్రణ ఉన్నప్పటికీ, మనం తప్పనిసరిగా బానిసలుగా మారతాము. నేను మా యువకులను ఏర్పాటు చేస్తున్నాను, తద్వారా మన తరువాతి తరంలో నాయకత్వాన్ని నిర్మించగలము, ఎందుకంటే ఇది చాలా దూరం ముందుకు ఉంది.
AN: మధు, మీరు ఆహార సార్వభౌమాధికార కూటమి సహ వ్యవస్థాపకులలో ఒకరు. మీరు FSAలో ఎందుకు చేరారు?
Madhoo: For me food sovereignty is about how people to people and people and nature can live in a harmonious relationship, how they can really build their own humanity. As a consumer of the food, my own commitment is to work with marginalised food producers and to be with them in solidarity. We are in a caste ridden society and we also have Indigenous Peoples who are deprived of various rights. They are the ones who actually know what food sovereignty means. There are also intense debates in India around what you should eat and what you should not eat. We are opening spaces to discuss food habits and cultures.
AN: A lot has been written about the political and legal dimensions of food sovereignty, but less about its spiritual aspects. What would you say is the role of spirituality, or religion, in the food sovereignty movement?
Sagari: One of our deep concerns is caste, we are living in a Brahminical patriarchy society. So class is shaped by Brahmanism the ideology at the roots of the caste system established over 2500 years ago, and which also has informed food choices. Today, we see that the genuine critique of industrial meat production, especially beef, are used by the Brahminical patriarchal forces to say that eating beef is bad. They are justifying banning beef by using environmental arguments while theirs is an ideological position, that beef consumption is against Indian Culture.
Food is not just about cereals and millets and pulses, but meat and milk is very critical for various communities. We are also engaged in countering this dominant narrative pushed by the State, of India being a Vegetarian Society. As an alliance, we have created a space for these kinds of dialogues. Even amongst the social and food movements within India, there is a deep reluctance to acknowledge that meat, and beef in particular, is a critical part of our cultural identity as well our food history and current diets.
AN: As a Dalit movement, what is your take on the role of spirituality in food sovereignty?
Murugamma: As Dalits, we have historically been treated as untouchables and ‘out-castes’. Food is one of the key areas where untouchability is practiced. For instance, we have multiple relationships with animals, and we eat the meat of our animals, including beef. Our animals are a source of food, of energy, of dung and manure, and a source of money for us. Brahmanism is telling us that the cattle we are eating is our God. This animal is placed in the temple and worshipped, and we Dalits are kept ‘outside’ of that temple. We experience the heinous practise of untouchability, from other communities, even if we do not eat beef- because Brahminism has created this unjust system of grading humans according to your birth. We say that you may worship the cow but this cow is not our god. We reject this Brahminical dominant religious practice in India today. We will not give up eating beef, it is our right. We have a right to this food and it is part of our cultural heritage.
For us, spirituality is what Dr Ambedkar gave us, liberation is our spirituality. Ambedkar gave us a lot of courage and hope and a lot of scientific insight to fight and counter caste injustice. Brahmanism says that you were born into this caste because God created these four castes. We want to demystify and reject this notion. If God created these castes, we reject that kind of religion and that kind of false spirituality.
AN: As an Adivasi movement, what is your take on the role of spirituality in food sovereignty?
Kamala: Adivasis are not part of the caste system, yet we are experiencing the effects of Brahmanism. We keep animals for ploughing, transportation and traditionally Adivasis have eaten beef. Now Brahmanism is telling us not to eat beef, that it is against our culture. As an organisation we are actively and proactively, with the youth, countering this, informing them that not eating beef has never been part of our culture. We have a long tradition where all our festivals have been about establishing and sustaining our relationship with our lands, our forests, our crops, our animals and nowhere have we ever had a celebration saying we don’t eat beef. It is not as evident as in caste society, but this colonisation by Brahmanism is happening day by day. We are countering this by reasserting all those amazing diverse spiritual practises of ours.
Every single part of our relationship to land is marked by a very special festival that we celebrate. Festivals show up the importance of our relationship to our gods and goddesses, and our relationship to the land. For instance, a very important festival is ‘Sanchi Bheemsen’ which is celebrated before the monsoon’s break. In that month the entire village gathers and brings the seeds which they have saved in the previous year. Every family comes together with food and it is collectivised at the sacred point in the village, where the rain is our gods. The spiritual leaders in the village will gather the seeds contributed from each home and tells us which seed, and which crop, should be planted in the next season, whether there is going to be more rain or less rain, this is knowledge which they have acquired from their elders. In this way the entire village collectively decides on the crop we will grow, depending on the reading of the air, of the land, soil, climate. It’s a very intricate kind of science and knowledge that informs this decision, on which seeds will be planted. There are other festivals for the harvest of specific grains and pulses and for special moments like before ploughing and sowing.
Nooka Raju: There are several Adivasi communities, tribes. And whats common for all us, is the entire cycle of food from preparing the land till we consume the food, begins and ends with celebration; it’s a coming together because food is a collective community action. We have so many festivals throughout the year. Animals are very important for us in our agriculture. In our festivals, we worship the animal, we worship the plough and all the agriculture equipment. Being an Adivasi itself is a spiritual being. Every experience is a spiritual relationship with our territories, our forest, and what we worship is our land, forests, water and seeds.
What is spirituality and what is God? For us it is the relationship we have directly with nature. Nature is God, and we look after nature and in turn nature looks after us; there’s godliness in us and we need to look after ourselves; and there’s godliness in nature, and it is this relationship which defines our spirituality. Where crops are alienated from humans, humans are alienated from nature, and in turn this means godliness/ spirituality is alienated from humans. In Adivasi culture, spirituality is connected to our food which comes from our crops and forests, which is connected to our land, and territory.
We have reached a point today, where a strong kind of Brahmanical religion is trying to take control of Adivasi life. Brahmanism coupled with corporatization is destroying this relationship, the interconnectedness, the links between one and the deepening alienation…I am very worried about this because what will be there for future generations? We are actively organising to reaffirm who we are, what is our form of spirituality, otherwise we will no longer be Adivasi and that is my fear that we lose our Adivasiness.
AN: Madhoo and Sagari, as founding members of the Food Sovereignty Alliance, what is your take on this?
Sagari: The alliance brings together various communities: Dalits, Adivasi, Bahujan which are the majority of the rural population from the ‘Other Backward Classes’ (OBC) or oppressed castes and the Muslim and other religious minority community. When we meet we have our dialogues, celebrations and popular education programs. How does this spirituality manifest itself, when we gather and come together? We have our own assembly or form of mystica. Our assembly is the Kacheeru , or Teydung. Kacheeru is from a cultural tradition or a space for people to interact, dialogue and relate. Teydung, inspired from the Savara adivasi community, is a conversation between you and your ancestors. It is almost as if your ancestors are there and you are having this conversation. As an alliance, our own spiritual practices are about bringing together or sharing of solidarity, some kind of joy, humour, fun, and sense of serenity.
AN: What are some of the gender dimensions of spirituality in your movement?
Murugamma: Let me start with with me – a Dalit women. When we look at our society today, it is about families, and in the family there is a husband, there is a wife and most of the time you find that there will be inequality in the home, the workspace, in terms of labour, wages, who eats what. Therefore, as a Sangham, and even as part of FSA, women are part of dialogues and decisions at every level, the family, decisions about what crops will be grown, which seeds will be saved, what kinds of decisions we make about farming. Organising for equal wages for both men and women, it cannot be that the labour of men is favoured more in terms of wages. Here there are proactive conversations and organising as a Sangham about food, and women have to have equal access to the consumption of that food, and not be eating last. This gender parity is part of our movements.
Kamal: Historically, in our Adivasi society, there was mostly equality between men and women. Everyone had some food and an equal amount of foods to eat and consume. This basic concept and philosophy of equality was there. However, because of Brahminical forces, inequality is creeping into our societies. So, in the Sangham we reflect upon why and when did we have a time of equality and why is it that we are allowing gender inequality to occur now. What are the factors, the forces behind this, and what are we gaining, what are we losing? Through that kind of very critical self-reflective community analysis, we are able to take collective decisions about gender equality, gender parity, and wages. That’s a strength of being organised as a women’s organisation and being part of a food sovereignty movement, an alliance where these elements are very critical.
Nooka Raju: In farming and especially in shifting cultivation, there are men and women in the family and both have to work together, and equally share labour. For us, it is always been in our society that everybody eats together. We also share toddy equally. Toddy (a natural fermented drink) is a very important element of our food and we drink together , women and men share the toddy. However, today, commodified agriculture and farming are penetrating Adivasi areas, and the community is under attack. Patriarchy enters our regions and communities. There is Brahmanism and there is corporate agriculture, which actually is built on the backs of patriarchy, these forces are making our societies more and more unequal and more and more patriarchal. These larger macro forces are a huge factor in the increasing patriarchy emerging in Adivasi society.
Sagari: Why are women not revolting in such a critical situation in India today? The bulk of labour is on their shoulders, they are subsidising a hugely exploitative, corporate and industrialised system of agriculture. It is the labour, of the Dalit, Adivasi and OBC women. How come there is no active revolt by women when you are not only the most belaboured, the most exploited, on the fields and in your homes but also impacted as far as your health and your nutrition go? This is where Brahmanism has played out and we are proactively countering that. Our movement is not just about food, it is about food sovereignty and social justice. This is important because it has become normalised to be oppressed from a gender and caste perspective. When you normalise oppression then how do you begin to reject it, when violence is normalised?
Whether you belong to the oppressed castes or genders, Brahminism enslaves you and teaches you not to question the inequality, oppression and discrimination of caste, as you are told that this is ‘written by gods’, is your ‘fate’ and unchangeable. So here in the alliance we learn how the caste system is not a creation of ‘god’ but by humans wanting to enslave other humans; and controlling women is key to perpetuating and reproducing over generations a system of graded inequality in the form of caste. So we learn to question and to counter Brahmanism through our popular education classes, whether its youth, women, or leaders. We have to become more and more conscious of this because if we just talk about food and organising around food without addressing this core of oppression, there is no complete liberation. Brahmanism is so strong, and Brahmanism continues because of patriarchal oppression.
AN: Do women play a special role in all the Adivasi festivals and spiritual moments that you have mentioned?
Kamala: Historically, women in our Adivasi community, have always been the seeds savers. They have the knowledge of which seeds to select, how to process and store them. For example, the knowledge they inherited from their ancestors is that if you store the seed, whether in a pot or a basket, during the new moon, the chances of it getting eaten up by worms or insects is very low. Whereas if you store the seeds during the full moon, the chances of your seeds going bad and rotting is very high.
Sagari: While this knowledge is inherited from the ancestors, it also has a scientific basis. During the full moon tides are at their maximum. Moisture levels are linked to the tide, gravity the moon, and so there is a strong scientific basis to why you would store your seeds during the new moon.
Kamala: For us, as Adivasi women, forest, land, the water and our relationship with those three elements is core to our spirituality. Therefore, even the festivals we celebrate, or our gods/goddess are related to this kind of relationship with nature. Our Karra pen is a festival but it is also a space of knowledge transfer from generation to generation in the village. All the animals that we have are taken to the boundary of our village, everybody attends this festival. Even the youngest child learns where the boundaries of the village are locates, and that boundaries of the village are very important for living and coexistence between villages.
AN: In your view, what are some of the challenges around food sovereignty and spirituality in the future?
Murugamma: It is important as Bahujan and Dalit families that we reject Brahmanism, we have to recognise that the final core of our existence is land, our people and resources. Our biggest challenge today is land rights, and that struggle becomes the core of our organising. We have to reject the form of spiritual oppression which is religious oppression. If we do not do that, we won’t be able to sustain this ongoing organising.
Sagari: Our biggest challenge is the Brahminical forces and their effect on communities. We have two streams within our movement. On the one hand, we have the Adivasi stream of organising where there is a lot of clarity in terms of spirituality. On the other hand, we have the Bahujan and Dalit communities. There are also Muslim communities who follow Islam, and yet are not liberated from the inequalities and discriminatory practices entrenched in caste. Because of this diversity, we do not try to pin down food sovereignty to a kind of ‘spirituality’. But our understanding of spirituality is rooted in challenging Brahmanism, and the concept of Buen Vivir from the Indigenous people/ Adivasi peoples.
There is also the issue of the personal and the political. In the alliance its also about how in our own lives we have to become aware of and stop discriminatory practices. In our collective meetings, for instance we have beef. You don’t have to eat beef but you have to become comfortable with people around you eating beef. These are new ways of redefining what is the spiritual because we are rejecting Brahmanism.
Madhoo: The onslaught of the dominant religious practises in Adivasi territories is coming. At the same time, food sovereignty writes a counter narrative against capitalism and against dominant cultures, monocultures. There is a monoculture that is being enforced upon struggling communities, particularly Adivasis. In Adivasis context, there are so many stories about the spiritual connection to Mother Earth.
When you speak to a marginalised Dalit community, the story will be a little different. They may agree there is a spiritual connection to Mother Earth but at the same time they are deprived, they are dispossessed of their Mother Earth, because of caste, and the unacceptable notion of untouchability. They serve as labour to the landed families to grow food or rear cattle, and at the end of the day, they eat whatever the land owning families are deciding. So, their struggle is to do with self-respect and dignity and food justice. Food sovereignty for them is all about food justice and how they can protect their food culture and have access to the land. They can only mention the spiritual connection in terms of how they want to keep their food culture. Dalits centre anti-Brahminism in their spirituality, they may belong to Christianity but at the same time they also talk about their right to eat what we want as a Dalit community.
AN: Are you suggesting there are very different approaches to food sovereignty and spiritituality within the Food Sovereignty Alliance, and between Dalits and Adivasis in particular? How are you navigating these as an Alliance?
Madhoo: Adivasi communities are continuously standing against the capitalist forces in India. Adivasis are struggling to really counter the capitalistic invasion that is happening there through agriculture, and the commercial crops that are grown for the outside market. Food sovereignty is so central to them and the concept of buen vivir. There is so much spiritual connection with Mother Earth. As activists in the food sovereignty movement, we had to really bring these two conceptions together, where the Dalit community can get inspiration from the Adivasi community and vice- versa , and how together they can fight for food sovereignty. How can Dalit, especially Dalit women, assert their right to land, and to grow and eat what they want to eat? The assertion to choose is a spiritual choice because it is about asserting their right to live in dignity.
Spirituality needs to defined differently in Dalit and indigenous contexts. Spirituality will work much more strongly in organising in Adivasi communities. In Dalit communities, it is more about how to counter the dominant spirituality that is imposed upon them by Brahaminism, so there is a clear difference. We won’t be able to really assert food sovereignty until we acknowledge and recognise caste oppression in India. Anti-caste is at the very core of building food sovereignty. It is important to not generalize the Adivasi experience as the Indian experience, which it is not.
For this reason, I feel that the counterculture narratives that are created in movements are so important. We are building a common future together, giving meaning to our lives and breaking the dominant narratives. We have to consciously reject certain practises which are coming from the dominant religious spiritual traditions because they are oppressing. Unfortunately, those forces are overtaking and infecting agroecology movements. We are seeing Brahmanism taking over as the dominant spirituality in the the food movement. We have to counter this trend.
Chundru Nookaraju, an Adivasi leader of the Food Sovereignty Alliance, India, organsing for food sovereignty in the Adivasi territories of East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, tragically passed away on October 3rd 2022, at a very young age of 47. Nukaraju’s involvement in Adivasi movements began soon after he completed high school in 1992, where as a member of the Adivasi peoples movement Girijana Deepika and Adivasi Aikya Vedika, he worked to defend Adivasi rights to land, forests, water, knowledge, seeds, breeds, crafts, cultures and Adivasi worldviews. He was a fine animal healer and craftsperson, with sweeping knowledge of every tree, shrub, herb, creeper and crop of the territory. Nukaraju was an amazing actor, trained in the theatre of the oppressed, and performed in critical plays to conscientize and organise his people. In the last few years of his life he spent a lot of his time sharing his profound knowledge, wisdom and skills with children and youth not only of East Godavari but other members of the alliance. This interview was one of his last public engagements.
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