Call it irony or ignorance but even after 65 years of independence and twelve years post the formation of Jharkhand, several tribal villages are yet to get electricity.
The residents of Asur tribes living in the pat area of Netarhat have yet to accustom to the glow of a bulb.
Their hamlets situated in this richest areas—on the crust of the Bauxite and Hematite but they had not seen any light other than a lantern in there life.
The nights are still dark in several Asur hamlets includes Sakhupani, Amkipat, Jobhipat, Chaurapat, Polpolpat and others, we lit only by burning fire wood or oil lamps, said 80 years old Chamru Asur.
Only a few flames can be seen at night and other than the voices of the jungle and blowing winds there is absolute silence in our hamlets, he said. “But fear of snake and other reptiles we are forced to spent sleepless night during rainy days”, added Chamru.
Amid Jharkhand is one of the highest producers of coal in the country (for thermal power) several thousands of villages of are yet to get electricity across the State.
According to the Jharkhand State Electricity Board’s record state has 32,620 villages and only 14, 667 (45 percent) villages are electrified by till date. The Government in its highly progressive and potential programme Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutiakaran Yojna (RGGVY) sanctioned a huge budget.
Under RGGVY programme, all villages with no electricity were to be electrified by year 2009 and all households in those villages were to be electrified by year 2012. Duo (2009 and 2012) deadlines were already crossed and several thousand villages are yet to get electricity.
Asura’s— a primitive tribe of Jharkhand— were the ones who first made iron in the world now are threatened with extinction. They slipped between the gaps of the Government’s precarious balancing act between development, mining and the conservation of forest act.
On the name of forest act Government deprived us from the forest which earlier we depends for our livelihood, said Chamru Asur. But rampant mining in these areas cripples our lives, he added.
Mining has displaced lakhs of communities in Jharkhand, mostly tribal and other marginalized people. The water, air and environment have been degraded to a level where it is not possible to be consumed by the living. Ecological hazards triggered by rampant deforestation, mining and other factors have made the tribes, living in the lap of nature, endangered. Millions of lives and livelihoods have been lost, said Ganga Nath Jha, Professor of Anthropology Department.
The mining industry has immense negative effect on environment, which is undoubtedly shared by all in the long term. But the most violent and immediate effect is borne by the tribals who inhabit the land that is mined, as they live off the land and the forests they inhabit, said Dr P Das Sharma a retired professor of Anthropology Department.
“The present Forest Policy intended to deprive the tribal people and the traditional forest dwellers of their rights to the forest, their land and the forest produce on which they survive,” believe Asurs’ they demanded that the forest policy which was declared by the government to be corrected immediately on grounds that it permits mining and eco-tourism projects in forest areas inhabited by tribal.
(This article has been written under Jharkhand Media Fellowship-2012)