The rich history of Vantangiya’s are threatened when villages like Mahbubnagar are not given their rightful status

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March 12, 2019

Social workers demand that every eligible family of Mahbubnagar in Uttar Pradesh should get proprietary rights under FRA. The village was the centre of forest management during the British and is still facing colonial era repression in the present.

Lucknow: The District Level Forest Rights Committee meeting was held on March 2, Saturday under the chairmanship of District Magistrate Shambhu Kumar to convert the Vantangia Village of Mahbubnagar, Uttar Pradesh to a village gram category. During this meeting, it was stated that out of 247 claims, 144 claims were found eligible for proprietary rights under the Forest Rights Act. The villages have had to work hard to get these rights. Who are these Vantangiyas and what is their story?

Vantangiya’s have existed in India since the British
The British had their eyes for all the forests of India but had a peculiar interest in the forest of Deori, Nainital, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheeri, Bahraich, Balrampur Maharajganj, Gorakhpur and more in Uttar Pradesh. After passing the Awadh Forest Rules, the British cunningly captured the forests of Bahraich in 1961, and in 1885, they brought in the forest department to control the forest produce. For this, four ranges of Motipur, Chakia, Charda and Bhinga were made. Bahraich’s forests were very famous for the strong Sakhu wood.

Many Sakhu trees were chopped down to lay railway lines
The British were expanding rail lines at breakneck speed in the whole country. To lay a kilometre of a rail line, 60 Sakhu trees had to be sacrificed for their strength. The wood was used to lay sleepers below the railway line and the demand for the wood increased. The Forest officers in the newly minted forest department chopped down many Sakhu forests in the region.

The uniqueness of a Sakhu tree is that if its seed falls on the ground at midnight and is not sown deep in the land until morning, it can’t grow. In regions like Motipur, Kakaraha, Murthyaha, Nishan Ghat, Katarniya Ghat, the trees of Sakhu had disappeared. Due to a drought in the region, the tree couldn’t grow. The natural growth of a tree is known as natural rehydration in the forest language. The artificial growing of trees with the help of a nursery is known as mesmeric reproduction. The forest department did not possess the knowledge to grow Sakhu trees.

Many officers in the Bahraich region and other parts of the country went to the jungles in Myanmar to learn how to plant these trees from local Adivasis. The tribal community there trained them in the methods involved in growing Sakhu trees. This was called the ‘Tangiya’ method.

The word ‘Tangiya’ comes from Myanmar
The word means forest farming. The word ‘Tang’ means farming and ‘Ya’ means forest. If you find any place with a name ending with ‘ya’ it can be deduced that there used to be a forest there. The places like Bichia, Dhakia, Tadia, Chafaria, Badkhadia, Kataria etc bear this name. This form of farming is also called “zoom farming” or “shifting cultivation”.
Forest Farming was hard work

People are given empty land for the Tangiya method. They have to clean the ground and plough it with the help of bullocks to make it sustainable for farming. The plants are sown in a line and there is a distance of 15 feet from one tree to the other. They have to grow their crop in this distance. The forest department used to take half of the total yield and they had to survive on the other half. In the second year, when the trees started to grow, the cultivation between the trees had to be cleared with a shovel and in the fifth year, they had to clear their cultivated fields and had to repeat this process on another empty land. For this, many people resided in their fields itself and at some places, a community living place for Tangiya labourers was created. Mahbubnagar was the capital for Tangiya forest workers. Taranagar and Najir Ganj were also the workers’ centres. Getting pure drinking water at all these places was a big challenge. An old well was renewed in Mahbubnagar in 1935. It was constructed to provide water to hundreds of forest workers.

Forced labour under the Forest department
Labourers fled Taranagar and Najir Ganj in the absence of water. Tangiya labourers had to work hard in the forest department. They had to be given milk curd, ghee, grains and buffaloes for hunting. The forest officers had complete control even over the vegetables they had grown on their roof. Children of the labourers were forbidden from getting an education because if they became literate, where would the British find people to employ?

Britishers who trained in Myanmar had begun Tangiya cultivation
With training in Forest management from Myanmar, the British officers first began their plantation in 1925-26 with the Tangiya system in Motipur range. This work was experimental, for which three centres were established- Ghumna, Mahbubnagar and Motipur. In the initial work cycle, Sakhu seeds were sown in the Motipur range where the terrible outbreak of drought in 1915-16 had happened. There was no natural reproduction of trees in these areas.

Reading of the history of reserved forests shows that in 1925-26, the three centres of the Motipur range of Bahraich forest division were successful in this experiment.

Ghumna and Motipur Tangiya centres were closed down around 1954 but after the country’s independence, the Tangiya labourers of Mahbubnagar completed the plantation work in hundreds of hectares. These people resurrected the jungle by planting several mixed species including Sakhu in 140 sq km.

Received Boring water after Independence
It was after independence that the Tangiya labourers received Boring for cultivation. In some places, schools were also started by the Forest Department to teach the children of Tangiya labourers. The forest department employees were stationed to teach them. In the early days, there was also a provision to give alcohol to these forest workers. In the Gram Establishment law of 1904, this subject has been mentioned in the last paragraph.

Threats of eviction when refused to do gainless jobs
After managing the forests till 1984, the work was complete and the Tangiya labourers needed employment. Frustrated with bad employment opportunities in the forest department, when the Mahbubnagar labourers expressed their frustration, they were threatened with eviction and land grab. The process of withdrawing their land had begun and they were warned with dire consequences. The planner of the work schedules wrote that since the Tangiya workers are disinterested in the work, it would be better to uproot them.

Forest Rights Act
After this, the forest department was hatching a secret plan to remove the villagers. During those days, the forest rights movement under the leadership of Jang Hindustani was in full swing. After reading the forest management work plans for Mahbubnagar, he went to Mahabubnagar along with the young people of Bichia and informed the people. He started organizing them. In the year 2006, the Forest Rights Act came into existence and he helped the Tangiya labourers. After facing the dangers on Mahbubnagar, a meeting was held there along with the people of Bhawanipur, Bichia, Tadia, Dhakia, Gokulpur, villages by creating a Van Gram Adhikar Manch, a village rights forum.

Development in these villages
The people of Mahbubnagar were dependent on political representatives and they felt that forest rights would be easily granted to them but this was their illusion. In their village, many political powers emerged and collapsed, but their situations didn’t change. After the foundation of the Vanvasi Janata Union, Mahbubnagar’s movement became stronger. Sewarth Foundation surveyed all the households, analyzed the data collected and made the government aware. The problems of Mahbubnagar were shared at various platforms of the country by All India Janjivi Union. There are currently 256 families in Mahbubnagar. The total population of the village is 1374, of which 599 are women and 775 are male. There are elementary schools and pucca roads in the village. Lodh, Kurmi, Dalit, Yadav, Boat, Gosain and Muslim communities live here now.

Yogi Adityanath gave revenue village status
Most families have old lease receipts from the forest department. Only five families had ration cards at the beginning and is now reaching more families. 53 families are landless. 90 per cent of the families do not have a permanent house. They were named in the voter list of the nearest village panchayat Hansuliya. Often their names were expelled from the voter’s list during elections and they continue to agitate against this. After the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath gave the revenue village status to five Vantangiya villages of Gorakhpur, 18 in Maharajganj, five in Gonda, five in Balrampur and one village in Bahraich. Mahbubnagar has also begun the process to get the status. The administration did not spread any awareness or did any publicity for this and made people file incomplete claim forms and rejected them as well. When Jang Hindustani was made aware of this information, a thorough investigation was launched.

In this investigation, it was found that the Sub-Divisional Forest Rights Committee said that their village did not meet the 75 years of settlement criteria. Since Jang Hindustani had worked in these villages and had a lot of documents related to Mahbubnagar from Right to Information Act and the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, therefore, he had evidence of the village was a settlement for hundreds of years. With the proof, he reached the District Officer, Chief Development Officer and Additional District Magistrate/Finance Office, Bahraich, and gave them photocopied documents and showed them the original which got accepted. All the officers of the district went to Mahbubnagar and after going to Chowpal, they had to conduct public hearings and the then Deputy District Magistrate, Kirti Prasad Bharti, went to the village and examined it and it was decided that 144 people in the village will get proprietary right. But social workers had demanded that every eligible family of Mahbubnagar should get proprietary rights under FRA.

District Magistrate Shambhu Kumar said that proposals to grant the Vantangiya Gram Mahbubnagar the revenue village status will be promptly sent to the Government.

The meeting was attended by ADM Ram Suresh Verma, District Social Welfare Officer RP Singh, DFC JP Singh, District Panchayat member Satish Porwal, Usha Devi, Nafisa Khatun and the social worker Jang Hindustani.

(The above article was published in Hindi on Sabrang.)

Need to effectively defend Centre’s teachers’ reservation ordinance against PIL in Supreme Court

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March 12, 2019

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In a letter to Prakash Javadekar, Union human resource development minister, PS Krishnan, former secretary, ministry of welfare, Government of India, has insisted on the need to effectively defend the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Ordinance, 2019 against the Public Interest Litigation filed on March 8, 2018 in the Supreme Court, even as offering points to be incorporated in the government’s counter-affidavit and arguments. Text of the letter:

It is welcome that, on the proposal of your esteemed Ministry and the Cabinet’s approval, the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Ordinance, 2019 dated the 7th March 2019 has been issued, and your Ministry has issued on the same day the reservation notification for the SCs, STs and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEdBCs) in terms of the Ordinance, treating the Central Educational Institution as the unit for the purpose of reservation.

This has corrected the drastic reduction in the number of reserved posts, which arose from the Allahabad High Court’s judgment in 2017 in the Vivekanand Tiwari case.

While this is welcome and you and the Government deserve appreciation for this, it would have been better if

(a) your esteemed Ministry and the UGC had fully and properly placed the rationale behind the policy then existing, its basis in the Constitutional mandate for Equality, which includes Equality for SCs, STs and SEdBCs in faculty positions at every level compared to the Socially Advanced Castes (SACs), the present abysmal level of representation of SCs, STs and SEdBCs in the faculties and the severely damaging consequences of treating each Department as the unit, contrary to the Constitutional mandate;
(b) you had heeded my advice at repeated occasions from 24. 10. 2017
(c) the Ordinance had been issued immediately after the Supreme Court’s dismissal of your esteemed Ministry’s SLP/Appeal, without losing time on the Review Petition
(d) you had heeded my advice that the Review Petition is futile and will not yield any result, and will only cost time.
If action had been taken effectively in respect of the issues at (a) and (d) above and in accordance with my advice, your esteemed Ministry and the Government would have got full credit.

I am now writing this to request you to kindly take prompt action to effectively defend the Ordinance against the PIL filed in the Supreme Court by two persons named Prathvi Raj Chavan and Ms Priya Sharma on 8.3.2019, supported by full justification of the Ordinance and the correctness of the procedure restored by it, and their base in the values and mandates of the Constitution and the basic feature and the basic structure of the Constitution, which mandates and provides for real Equality. It is also necessary to preclude any stay order by taking anticipatory measures like filing a caveat.

I enclose herewith some of the points (click HERE) which need to be covered in the Government’s counter-affidavit and in arguments on behalf of the Government in the Supreme Court.

It has to be ensured that the AG and other Counsels appearing on behalf of the Government are fully briefed and instructed to raise these points in their arguments, and in addition to oral arguments, to submit to the court written arguments fully covering these points.

It would also be advisable and it would also help to correct the partly negative impression created by the avoidable points (a) to (d), if a draft of the Government’s counter-affidavit is placed in the public domain. This will help everybody to see how seriously and sincerely the Government takes the first step in effectively defending the Ordinance against the PIL. It will also help in enabling any Constitution-spirited person to suggest any additional points for inclusion in the counter-affidavit, which the Government may consider.

I shall be happy to provide any assistance in strengthening the Government’s defence of the Ordinance. In 2006, when on the initiative of one of your esteemed predecessors, late Arjun Singh, the Constitution (Ninety-third Amendment) Act was enacted to correct the consequence of the Inamdar judgment of 2005, and on the basis of the new clause (5) inserted in Article 15, the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act 2006 was enacted, he and the Secretary, late Sudip Banerjee, who was devoted to Social Justice, sought my help, as Advisor, in preparing the Government’s counter-affidavit and looking after the defence of the Act and new Clause (5) of Article 15, which help I readily provided on the condition that no remuneration shall be paid to me.

My role as above and in providing the full socio-historical background of the matter to ex-Solicitor General late Vahanvati, Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium and Special Counsel K Parasaran and also to the counsels of State Governments and NGOs, who also appeared as co-respondents, and thus orchestratring and symphonizing the defence powerfully, helped in getting a unanimous judgment upholding the validity of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act 2006 and the Constitution (Ninety-third Amendment) Act 2005.
I trust you will kindly consider the above and ensure that there is no laxity in defending the Ordinance and that the sincere efforts of the Government in this regard are publicly visible so as to remove scope for any misgivings and criticism.

It is good that the 200-point roster has been restored. But the existing 200-point roster itself is a dilution of the roster that was introduced in 1993. The 200-roster of 1997 reduced the position of SCs and STs by a misinterpretation of the Supreme Court’s Sabharwal judgment in 2005. I shall write to you separately about this and further improvement in the sequencing of points in the 200-point roster, so as to facilitate filling up the backlog as quickly as possible and faster fulfillment of the reservation goal in respect of SCs, STs and SEdBCs.

Courtesy: Counter View

Appeal to non-BJP opposition Parties Regarding 2019 Elections

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March 12, 2019

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The coming 2019 may prove to be a watershed in India’s political history, as were the 1977 elections forty-two years ago. In 1977, elections were held after a declared Emergency, during which the Constitution was suspended, political activity disallowed and opposition leaders and activists imprisoned. The success of non-Congress parties in those elections strengthened the electoral system in Indian democracy. Since then all ruling parties losing elections have demitted office gracefully, rather than attempting to subvert the popular mandate.

However, since 2014, the Modi government has attacked democracy in more insidious, thorough-going and indirect ways. This attack is aimed at weakening the institutional and popular foundations of democracy in India. It should be stressed that the regime has functioned in close proximity with its parent body, the RSS. Its policies are designed in pursuance of the RSS goal of militarising the political culture and creating an atmosphere of perpetual communal conflict. These are some of the elements of this strategy.

The Modi regime has devalued constitutional institutions, subverted the separation of powers, and used executive power for sectarian and corrupt purposes. It has diminished the legislative authority of the parliament, hidden information from parliamentary committees, and used it as a platform for political abuse. The use of CBI against political opponents, meddling in its functioning – including subverting its internal structure with the help of hand-picked officials is one of its infamous deeds. It has lied to the judiciary, and interfered in judicial appointments with mala-fide intentions. Governors appointed by it in states ruled by opposition parties have acted shamelessly as its agents.
The Cabinet system is in shambles, the principle of collective responsibility thrown to the winds. The PMO and a clutch of favoured officials and non-constitutional authorities such as the NSA have usurped the power tomake major decisions. This has been exposed most clearly in the Rafale deal.
The Modi regime has tried to subvert the federal structure of the Union to concentrate central power. Agencies such as the CBI, NIA, ED have been used opportunistically for this purpose.
The Modi regime has shamelessly subverted India’s criminal justice system. The use of sedition law and the NSA against students, journalists and activists who question it has become pervasive. Prosecution trials of Hindutva activists accused of terrorist acts have been wrecked from within. Upright officials have been victimised, and even judges threatened discreetly. The file containing evidence on Aseemanand’s involvement in the (Malegaon blast case) disappeared. Crucial evidence on the death of Judge Loya and two of his friends was apparently ignored and the case was subject to an indecent burial – the manner in which this was done has brought disrepute to our judiciary.
In states like UP, police have unleashed a reign of fake encounters to eliminate and threaten opposition party workers. In scores of incidents involving public lynching of poor people transporting cows, the so-called cow-vigilantes filmed themselves carrying out these brutal acts, indicating their confidence that they would be protected. In sum, the BJP/RSS regime has openly enabled hooliganism and violence. With what face can it confront Maoist and jehadi violence?
The Modi regime has tried to destroy the autonomy of important institutions of governance, which are necessary to maintain impartiality, professionalism and transparency. This became obvious in the case of the RBI, NSSO and CBI. The autonomy of institutions such as the Election Commission, Central Information Commission, etc has been sought to be compromised. Even more sinister is the attempt to drag the military and security organs into their political campaign.
The Modi regime has used state power to advance the totalitarian programme of the RSS and its affiliates. Marginalised communities have suffered the most from this policy. Religious minorities have been threatened and attempts made to erode their political representation and constitutionally protected rights. There have been a series of attacks on Dalits who question the caste system; and Adivasis trying to assert their autonomy. It tried to pass a communalised Citizenship Amendment bill which makes a mockery of the secular Constitution, and would have destroyed the delicate fabric of community relationships in North-East India.
The Modi regime has tried to criminalise India’s political culture and reduce it to gutter politics. The Prime Minister and BJP President have lied in public rallies and used offensive language against their political opponents. Its armies on social media have systematically circulated rumours and fake claims, and trolled critics of the government with hate messages in foul language including threats of rape and molestation. Organised groups have attacked and threatened ordinary citizens in the name of patriotism.
In the aftermath of the Pulwama suicide bombing, RSS fronts (ABVP, VHP, Bajrang Dal) have attacked innocent Kashmiri students and traders in places like Dehra Dun, thus further undermining social integrity, which depends on the impartial rule of law. This propaganda campaign was so poisonous that the CRP command had to run a programme to counter the communal poison being spread on social media by the so-called patriots. Senior retired Armed Forces officers have denounced these attempts at politicising the Services. It is now clear that anyone who differs from the RSS/BJP runs the risk of being attacked as ‘anti-national’

All these are taking India towards a totalitarian and violent mass culture, which will be a threat to everyone who do not come out to support the regime. Any successes of BJP in the coming elections will deepen the hollowing out of Indian democracy. All non-BJP political parties, irrespective of their programmes, and regardless of the social groups they represent, will be victims of the implosion of democracy under BJP/RSS rule.

We appeal to all opposition political parties to realise and confront the gravity of the threat to democracy. It is a time to rise above political competition. Political parties can function only in a democratic institutional structure and popular culture. If Modi, the BJP and the RSS succeed in their plans, our democratic institutions will be destroyed, and political parties will become irrelevant.

Besides an operational and effective electoral understanding, it is essential that parties project a minimum programme to undo the most insidious actions of the Modi regime. This should include the following.

The law for electoral bonds passed by the Modi government, allowing anonymous corporate contributions should be scrapped. All contributions to political parties should be transparent.
The colonial law on sedition should be scrapped.
We need a public commitment to strengthen citizens’ rights by not allowing misuse of draconian laws like the NSA, and further strengthen the right to information (RTI). A charter of citizen’s rights should be brought out.
Strengthen rights-based social welfare programmes like the MNREGA.
Laws are needed against social media abuse, particularly ones directed at women, in the light of threats of sexual violence received by many women activists, writers and journalists.

Battini Rao, Convener, PADS
Dilip Simeon, Author and Historian, Former Professor of DU
Dipak Dhoulakia, TU & Social activist, Delhi
Harsh Kapoor, Editor, SACW
Jamal Kidwai, Aman. Delhi
Kiran Shaheen, Social Activist, Delhi
Sanjay Kumar, DU, Delhi

Courtesy: Counter Current

No Tigers In Bangladesh Sundarbans By 2070, As Region Faces 100% Habitat Loss Over Next 50 Years

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March 12, 2019

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Mumbai: Bengal tigers could vanish from the Bangladesh Sundarbans in the next 50 years–by 2070–as a combination of climate change and rising sea levels threatens their last remaining habitats, says a new study by a team of researchers from Bangladesh and Australia, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Bengal tigers are in danger of losing 100% of their habitat in the Bangladesh Sundarbans by 2070, due to the effects of climate change.

The Sundarbans in south-coastal Bangladesh is the world’s largest surviving mangrove ecosystem, spanning over 6,000 sq km, and “the last stronghold” of the Bengal tiger, a species that is particularly adapted to living in this environment. Situated on the lower Ganges-Brahmaputra delta, up to 70% of the Sundarbans area is less than one metre above sea level, meaning rising water levels pose a significant threat to the low-lying tiger habitats. Meanwhile, climate change effects such as changing weather patterns, heatwaves and extreme weather events are likely to have an even greater impact, the study says.

Using computer simulation models based on two climatic scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), coupled with projected sea level rise in the area, the researchers have assessed the future suitability of the Sundarbans region for tigers.
“While this is preliminary analysis, we can conclude that the largest population of Bengal tigers is in an area where a combination of actors including climate change and human encroachment could both contribute to the decimation of habitats,” William Laurence, distinguished research professor at James Cook University and co-author of the study, told IndiaSpend.

The global tiger population is currently estimated at just under 4,000, with an illegal trade in tiger parts, hunting and habitat loss having culled the population by 96% from 100,000 in 1990, the study says. Three of the eight sub-species of tiger have already become extinct, with the remaining five species currently either ‘endangered’ or ‘critically endangered’.

As global temperatures rise and melting polar ice raises sea levels, the influx of salinated sea water can make it harder for certain plants to grow, subsequently decreasing the availability of certain food types. The Sundarbans’ spotted-deer population, a key food source for the Bengal tiger, is likely to be affected as the tree leaves on which it feeds begin to disappear. As resources become scarce, tigers are more likely to stray into human settlements in search of food, increasing the chance of tiger-human conflict.

Spotted deer, a key food source for the Bengal tiger, are facing food shortages as the vegetation they feed on struggles to grow in salinated land–an example of how climate change and rising sea levels is impacting the Sundarbans ecosystem.

The loss of the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem also raises concerns for human populations and other animal species. Mangroves are an effective water regulation system, preventing shoreline erosion that also act as a shelter belt against cyclones and tsunamis. Villages surrounded by mangroves experienced less loss of life and capital during the 2004 tsunami, than those that were not, according to this 2005 Annamalai University study.

“From an environmental perspective, mangroves are recognised as environmentally critical ecosystems,” said Laurence, “they store a lot of carbon and are very important for trapping sediment along coast lines.” Their role as nurseries for fish is often not appreciated, he said, adding, “They are critical environments for crustaceans and fish, as well as acting as buffers for extreme weather events.”

Shrinking habitat, declining population

Each climate projection, based on two different levels of global greenhouse gas emissions used by the IPCC, estimates “a dramatic decline” in suitable habitats for the Bengal tiger. Up to 49.7% of habitat loss is projected under the first scenario by 2050, and up to 96.2% under the second scenario.

Although sea-level rise will further threaten the Bengal tiger’s habitats, the effect will “not be as pronounced as climate change”, the study says. Under both IPCC scenarios, sea level rise will contribute 5.42% and 11.3% habitat loss in the area, respectively.

Bengal Tiger Habitat Loss In Bangladesh Sundarbans
Scenario		2050		2070
Scenario		Percentage Area Loss (%)	Area Loss (Sq Km)	Percentage Area Loss (%)	Area Loss (Sq Km)
1 (RCP 6.0)	Only climate change	49.7	2,401.50	99.4	4,803.10
	Only Sea Level Rise	5.42	261.9	28.5	1,377.10
	Climate change and Sea Level Rise	54.2	2,618.90	100	4,832
2(RCP 8.5)	Only climate change	96.2	4,648.40	100	4,832
	Only Sea Level Rise	11	546	48.9	2,362.80
	Climate change and Sea Level Rise	97	4682	100	4,832

Source: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014
Note: Scenario 1 refers to Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 6.0 and scenario 2 refers to RCP 8.5, both of which are future scenarios projected on the basis of greenhouse gas emissions and their atmospheric concentrations, air pollutant emissions and land use.

However, with the effects of climate change and sea level-rise combined, “there will be no remaining Bengal tiger habitat in the Sundarbans by the year 2070”, as the habitat loss will be complete, the study says.

Projected Tiger Habitat Loss In Bangladesh Sundarbans Under Two Climate Scenarios

Likely distribution of Bengal tiger in the Bangladesh Sundarbans – (top left) distribution in 2050 with IPCC’s RCP6.0 scenario; (bottom left) distribution in 2050 with RCP8.5 scenario; (top right) distribution in 2070 with RCP6.0 scenario; and (bottom right) distribution in 2070 with RCP8.5 scenario. The black borders show the current location of three wildlife sanctuaries.
Source: Combined effects of climate change and sea level rise project dramatic habitat loss of the globally endangered Bengal tiger in the Bangladesh Sundarbans, Science of Total Environment

“Sea level rise of course relates to climate change, but in this particular study they were analysed separately,” said Laurence. “Our models analysed how weather trends and extreme events should affect habitat suitability for the Bengal tiger and these climate change effects came out as having a stronger impact than sea level rise.”

The effects of rising sea levels and climate change in the Sundarbans delta area have been widely reported in recent years. An increase in Bengali-speaking students in Kannada-medium schools in east Bengaluru, for example, may be the result of forced migration, IndiaSpend reported in December 2018. Rising tides in low-lying areas of West Bengal are threatening traditional coastline communities, encroaching on buildings and negatively impacting agriculture.

For the Bengal tiger at least, researchers believe the population could continue to live in the region if tiger conservation is prioritised. The study calls on the Bangladesh government to designate more areas for tiger conservation, create corridors to help tigers move around the region more safely and continue monitoring illegal human activity in the area to avoid further losses.

However, while this study estimates total decimation of suitable tiger habitats in the next 50 years, not all experts believe the outlook is so bleak.

“I don’t subscribe to such a doomsday view,” said Sugata Hazra, professor of oceanography, school of oceanographic studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. “When we conducted our 2016 study, we accounted for a ‘sediment attrition rate’, since mangroves are also building land in the area as they attract sediment.”

“This has to be compensated for as well as sea level rise,” Hazra said, “Our study estimated maximum 17% area loss.”

What does this mean for India’s Bengal Tigers?

Up to 40% of the Sundarbans region, a 4,000 sq km area slightly larger than Goa, is situated in West Bengal in eastern India. An estimated 103 tigers currently inhabit the area, which houses the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve.

The effects of climate change and sea level-rise are expected to affect the Indian Sundarbans in a similar way as the Bangladesh Sundarbans, suggesting the fate of Indian tigers is deeply intertwined with that of their neighbours.

However, some believe classifying part of the region and parts of the tiger population as Indian, and some as Bangladeshi, may be hindering conservation efforts.

“We need to think beyond boundaries in order to form joint ecosystem best management practices,” said Hazra. “Tigers can cross easily between India and Bangladesh so the tiger population is not a separate one; they live in a transnational ecosystem.”

A basin-level approach with closer cooperation on forest sharing, tiger habitat sharing and management of the freshwater supply is what is needed, Hazra said, adding, “We need to form this joint force now, perhaps led by an international organisation. If we start now, we’ll see the benefit in 20 years–but if we don’t, then we won’t see anything.”

(Sanghera is a writer and researcher with IndiaSpend.)

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.

Courtesy: India Spend

Minority and Indigenous Women Human Rights Activists More Prone to Harassment: UN Report

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March 12, 2019

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The report said that women activists working for tribal rights who have waged struggles against big corporations and well-resourced government authorities are often implicated and harassed by police.

United Nations
Image Coutesy: edition.cnn.com

A United Nations Human Rights Council report released on Sunday, March 10, noted that women human rights activists from minority and indigenous background in the country are more prone to physical attacks, death threats and smear campaign on social media.

Citing the examples of Indian women human rights activists like Soni Sori and Rana Ayyub, the report maintained that women human rights defenders are often subjected to online harassment, violence and attacks, which include threats of sexual violence, verbal abuse, sexuality baiting, doxing (a practice in which private information about a person is shared online by others) and public shaming.

The UN report authored by Special Rapporteur Michel Forst, stated that former Tehelka journalist Rana Ayyub was particularly targeted on social media for her religious background. It said, “In April 2018, Indian investigative journalist Rana Ayyub was subjected to an online hate campaign and death threats when she was misquoted on Twitter. She was threatened with sexual violence on social media and subjected to misogynistic vitriol and hate speech for being a Muslim woman. A deepfake pornographic video manipulated to include her face was circulated. She was doxed and bombarded with sexual messages. Her reports to the police were not taken seriously, and the perpetrators are yet to be brought to justice.”

The report added that women activists working for tribal rights who have waged struggles against big corporations and well-resourced government authorities are often implicated and harassed by police. The case of Soni Sori, a Chhattisgarh-based women right activist who was subjected to brutal physical and sexual violence for raising her voice against the atrocities committed on tribal communities also found mention in the report.

It said, “In Chhattisgarh, India, for example, adivasi schoolteacher Soni Sori continues to be slandered, harassed and intimidated by the police for her activism. In February 2016, she was the victim of an acid attack by unidentified assailants who warned her not to complain about the Inspector General of Bastar District and threatened her daughter. In 2011, she was arrested on eight charges. She was acquitted in seven of them and granted bail in connection with the eighth. While in custody, she reported being tortured and sexually harassed.”

The report added that Sudha Bhardwaj who has been fighting court cases related to tribals in Chhattisgarh too became a victim of smear campaign which ultimately resulted in her arrest. The report noted, “Sudha Bhardwaj, a lawyer who assists adivasis, dalits, workers and farmers, endured a vicious smear campaign and was arrested on August 28, 2018, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Her house was raided, her personal items seized, and she has been placed under house arrest.”

Globally, the report claimed that apart from militarisation and fundamentalist groups, globalisation and neoliberal policies have led to economic disempowerment and power inequalities that affect the rights of women. Similarly, the powerful states like USA are adopting polices which are detrimental for women activists working for reproductive rights. It argued, “Restrictive donor policies have also had a distinct impact on women defenders. For example, the policy of the United States of America entitled “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” (known as the global gag rule), which was introduced in 2017, requires NGOs receiving funding from the United States to certify that they do not engage in certain abortion-related activities, including counselling, referrals and advocacy on access to safe services. The policy has had an adverse impact on women defenders working on sexual and reproductive rights, HIV, sexual orientation and gender identity rights and sex workers’ rights.”

Courtesy: News Click

RBI directors raised objections but “rubber-stamped” demonetisation anyway

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March 12, 2019

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Minutes of the hurried meeting of the RBI Central Board Directors show that it was called barely three hours before the announcement. The RBI Act technically provides for up to ten directors from various fields to be selected by the Centre. At the time of the note-ban decision, only three out of ten of such directors had been appointed and one couldn’t attend the meeting.

Image Credit: REUTERS/Altaf Hussain

New Delhi: Former RBI Governor Urjit Patel-led Central Board, which was asked to consider Centre’s demonetisation proposal, had met less than two-and-a-half hours before the announcement of note ban on November 8, 2016. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went ahead with the decision even before the central bank’s board approved of it, according to a report by Deccan Herald.

The minutes of the RBI meeting that were held right before the announcement was obtained under the Right to Information Act by activist Venkatesh Nayak and hosted on the website of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

The board of the Reserve Bank of India was assured of adequate preparedness before it signed off on the Government’s demonetisation decision, show minutes of an RBI board meeting held on November 8, 2016, just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the withdrawal of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes. The minutes were released following a series of appeals by Nayak after the central bank first denied information under the Right To Information Act.

“The board was assured that the matter had been under discussion between the central government and the RBI over the last six months, during which most of these issues have been considered. Apart from the stated objectives, the proposed step also presents a big opportunity to take the process of financial inclusion and incentivising use of electronic modes of payment forward as people see the benefit of bank accounts and electronic means of payment over the use of cash. RBI Board Meet Minutes.” (Obtained By RTI Activist Venkatesh Nayak.)

Some of the issues raised by directors on the board included:

Demonetisation would have a short-term negative effect on the GDP for the current year (2016-17).
Exemption provided to medical stores could be extended to private medical stores as well.
Demonetisation would have an adverse impact on tourists; long-distance travellers arriving with the high denomination notes would be taken by surprise and “put to hardship”.
The Rs. 400 crore of counterfeit notes in circulation is not significant as a percentage of the total money in circulation. However, it mentioned that any incidence of counterfeit is a concern.
Demonetisation would have an impact on real-sector assets such as gold or real estate since most of the black money was held in those forms instead of cash.

As much as 99.3 per cent of the junked Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes were returned to the banking system, the RBI had stated in August last year, indicating that a very small percentage of currency was left out of the system after the government’s unprecedented note ban aimed at curbing black money and corruption.

Obtaining the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) board of directors minutes “approving” the demonetization decision of the Government of India (GoI) 28 months after he made a Right to Information (RTI) plea, senior RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak said that these do not have any mention of “the black money reports submitted by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP, an autonomous research institute under India’s Ministry of Finance) and two other research institutions.”

RBI directors were of the view that most of the black money was held in the form of real-sector assets such as gold or real estate and not in cash and that demonetisation would not have any material impact on those assets. It had said that demonetisation would have a negative impact on the economy in the short term.

This was in reply to the GoI argument that the shadow economy for India (where black money transactions do not leave an audit trail) was estimated at 20.7% of GDP in 1999 and had risen to 23.2% in 2007 (based on World Bank estimates).

The minutes vaguely mentioned that the Board found the measure commendable, but did not elaborate. It also mentioned that demonetisation will help achieve financial inclusion.

Criticizing the Union Finance Minister making a “curious statement” in Parliament that the black money study reports may be made available to MPs, but will not be placed in the public domain, Nayak said that it was a violation of the RTI Act.

According to him, “The government seems to have ignored the proviso underlying Section 8(1) of the RTI Act which contains the noble democratic principle that information which cannot be denied to Parliament or State Legislature cannot be denied to a citizen. To hold that information may be provided to certain MPs but not to the people who sent them to Parliament is perplexing, to say the least.”

The Indian Express reported on November 8, 2018, quoting the minutes, that the RBI board rejected the GoI argument in favour of demonetization, that it was meant to fight black money, but the minutes were never made public. Received last week, these were sent to Nayak following RTI watchdog Central Information Commission (CIC) issuing a penalty show cause notice to a GoI official for “inordinate delay” in the matter.

The minutes showed that the RBI board’s 561st meeting was held less than five hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the controversial decision on television, though the RBI sent its resolution approving to GoI on December 16, a full 38 days after the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes were banned on November 8, 2016.

Suggesting that “RBI’s Board had only rubber-stamped the Government’s initiative”, Nayak said that the minutes show the board also rejected the GoI argument in favour of note ban which stated that growth of the banknotes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denomination was 76.38% and 108.98% during the period 2011-16 whereas the economy had grown only by 30%.

“RBI’s directors disagreed with this reasoning and responded that the growth rate of the economy was the real rate whereas growth in currency circulation was nominal and when adjusted for inflation did not constitute any stark difference”, Nayak said, citing the minutes.

According to Nayak, the RBI minutes are “strangely silent” on “what were the compelling factors that justified demonetization which took the lives of more than a hundred citizens who stood outside banks to exchange their currency notes and scores of bankers who collapsed counting them and have had well documented negative impact on various sectors of the economy.”

He added, “At para #4.3(i), it is mentioned that the Board found the measure commendable, but there is no reasoning provided for this commendation anywhere in the minutes. At para #4.4 there is a vague mention that demonetization will help achieve financial inclusion. How will criminalising possession of the DeMon currency beyond the grace period, lead to financial inclusion is not explained anywhere.”

“What is interesting is that the minutes do not contain any sensitive information such as factors, data or exchange of opinion about financial and economic security. Nothing in the documents that I have received indicates that any portion of it has been severed under Section 10 of the RTI Act to remove sensitive information,” Nayak said.

Commenting on the board argument that would help incentivise the use of electronic modes for making payments instead of cash, he said, “Opinion on whether increased use of electronic modes of payment was due to DeMon is divided. RBI’s own recent reports present a contradictory picture. While e-transactions have grown manifold there is more cash circulating in the economy than there was on the date of demonetisation.”

“Interestingly”, says Nayak, while the minutes claim, “a deputy governor of RBI was “working with the Central Government on the initiative to withdraw legal tender of the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes, for six months, his name is not mentioned anywhere in the minutes.”

The minutes also do not specify which director or directors raised these concerns.

Poor handling of “Independent Directors”
Even though it seems that RBI’s board had legitimate concerns over demonetisation, they approved it.

The board was “assured” that the concerns that they raised had been “under discussion between the Central Government and the RBI over the last six months”.

This would imply that the central bank and the Modi government had been discussing and debating demonetisation from June 2016.

At the time of demonetisation, it had only ten directors, out of which three are what critics would call truly independent directors, The Wire reported.

“The board included four representatives from the RBI (governor Urjit Patel and his three deputies), one director from the central bank’s local boards (Nachiket Mor), two government representatives (Shaktikanta Das and Anjuly Chib Duggal) and three independent directors (Tata’s N Chandrasekaran, Mahindra’s Bharat Doshi and former civil servant Sudhir Mankad),” the report said.

The RBI’s minutes show that Chandrasekaran was absent the day that the board decided on demonetisation, leaving only two wholly independent directors (Doshi, former CFO at Mahindra and Mankad, former chief secretary of Gujarat), the report said.

If there had been six months of debate between the government and the RBI, it is possible that the objections put forth in the meeting came from those who had no chance of being privy to any earlier discussion: Mor, Doshi and Mankad.

“The problem is that the minutes of the meeting don’t say. It is also equally possible that some of the RBI’s representatives on the board also either raised or approved of the objections that were put forth – even after six months of back-and-forth between the Centre and the central bank. And if this were the case, it would show that the concerns weren’t adequately addressed and that the board approval was consequently a mere formality,” the report added.

“The central bank’s board meeting on demonetisation is therefore also an indictment of how poorly the Centre has handled the issue of independent directors. The RBI Act technically provides for up to ten directors from various fields to be selected by the Centre. This is how industry professionals like Doshi or Chandrasekaran and former civil servants like Mankad are usually chosen,” the report said.

At the time of the note-ban decision, however, there were only three out of ten of such possible directors had been appointed. And to make matters worse, one of the three didn’t attend the board meeting on demonetisation, the report said.

World Development Report fails to suggest need for social protection from private sector

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March 11, 2019

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The World Development Report (WDR) is the World Bank’s development research and policy review report published annually. Started by IBRD since 1978, this report is intended to provide deep and extensive analysis on one particular aspect of economic development, every year.

The solutions and policy messages brought out in this report is widely scrutinised by researchers, policy makers, governments and civil society since this ‘flagship’ report is supposedly the Bank’s highly prized research contribution to the development world.

Heavy research budgets, far-reaching dissemination and the legitimacy of ‘World Bank’ publication make this a cherished one for the Bank. Few of the previous years’ reports focused on education, health, environment, risk management, poverty, the role of the state, youth, agriculture, equity and public services delivery.

Quick Glimpse into the development of WDR 2019

The World Development Report 2019: Changing Nature of Work (WDR 2019) examines the changing nature of work and firms, laying emphasis on the impact of technology and digital innovation on the current global economy.

But what made this report a highly talked about one in the recent debates on development? The Bank’s previous president Jim Yong Kim writes in his foreword that this document shows the transparency of work since it was open to all for modification of drafts, almost every week online.

And then, there were more than a million downloads even before halfway its publication which also made it the most downloaded report in 2018. Another occasion to note is that its preparatory phase was delayed by the Bank’s then chief economist Paul Romer’s resignation [he was the first director of WDR 2019], over his controversial remarks on the direct correlation between the political leanings of the staff and annual rankings of countries in Ease of Doing Business process of the Bank.

Subsequently, the work was taken over by Simeon Djankov, who is the Founding Director of the much sought-after, yet much criticised, Doing Business Reports. Yet another highlight of this report was the introduction of Human Capital Index [The human capital project examined in WDR 2019 will be explained in another section of this article], again contested, where countries will be now ranked annually in terms of a child attaining optimum productivity after having attained education and full health from birth till 18 years of age.

Paradoxical Messages of WDR 2019

But above all, this report faces strong criticism for its two pertinent direct messages – deregulation of businesses and shifting obligations of firms/employers for social protection of workers/employees to the shoulders of the State. Few voices have come out globally carefully analysing the nuances of various explanations given by the Bank to establish the context for its suggestions for the future of work for the evolving economy.

It is true that the report has failed to give a rounded, well-thought critique on the actual challenges faced by workers in the accelerated transformation of the world of work. To put it short, critically speaking, this report is inherently characterised on anti-worker perspective. The deregulatory solution brought out in this report parrots almost all the editions of Doing Business Reports since 2003 promoting private sector development and having influenced watering down of many regulatory policies across countries to facilitate rapid entry and development of the business.

This was eagerly executed by governments because labour regulations policies allegedly stifled exciting investments and swift economic growth. It is ironical that the same Bank, in its WDR 2013: Jobs, after extensive review on the link between labour regulation and employment [following a massive hue and cry from few governments, labour movements and ILO], had stated that this ‘link’ was non-existent. This obviously shows WDR 2019 disproves the exhaustive findings of WDR 2013!

Moreover, the Bank, during its previous Annual Meetings at Bali during October 2018 had introduced its new Environmental and Social Framework, where respect for workers’ rights in Bank’s projects was entered as Labour Safeguards [ESS2– Labour and Working Conditions]. Not less than two weeks later after the much appreciation for Bank’s new safeguard policy, came WDR 2019 in direct and stark contrasting opinions. This is highly contradictory and problematic from the Bank’s side sending two conflicting messages in two separate yet distinguished policy publications.

The world of work is progressing rapidly with technological and digital innovations including robots and Artificial Intelligence. Stable jobs are giving way to Gig- jobs and digital market places paved the way for platform market places and superstar firms. “Innovation will continue to accelerate” and there are growing chances, as already seen in many countries, that automation would replace the low-skilled redundant labour.
Hence the jobs remaining outside automation would require highly skilled work-force that would have exceptional cognitive skills [logic, reasoning, critical thinking], socio-behavioural skills [teamwork, resilience, confidence, leadership] and skills of predictive adaptability [‘an individual now can have not many jobs but different careers in one lifetime’].

In order to feed into this need for a productive workforce, education and health must be critical for every child [starting from birth, especially until 5 years of age] and adult [adult learning outside the school and tertiary education. Therefore, the bank’s new Human Capital Project and Human Capital Index examines closely at this aspect of development and will recommend policy actions through country strategies.

And what about those who fail to fall in the ‘formal’ and productive workforce, namely the informal workers? Well, they will be given social assistance [various forms of UBI, negative tax], social insurance and State will protect them with basic minimum, and if possible reskilling and upskilling initiatives would be undertaken].

All said, the gap of finances which then the State is faced with can be covered by mobilizing tax revenue – by imposing VAT, excise tax on tobacco, alcohol, sugar, etc. and by expanding the tax coverage base, along with further strengthening of global efforts of OECD and G-20 to agree together on preventing tax erosion and profit-shifting through tax havens.

And thereafter, to accommodate all these policy changes, there should be political incentives for governments through new social contracts for the State to protect all, whether they are formal or informal workers, whether they are employed or unemployed and wherein the returns to work for the State is also guaranteed.

It finally follows that the goal of social inclusion is achieved thus. Well, aren’t we all made happy … and all looks rosy!

A Few Disquieting Specifics from WDR 2019

Apart from the disguising semantics of WDR 2019’s storyline, here is a list of important suggested possibilities of what might not be well with a large number of us globally, if its recommended policy actions are adopted by governments:

Minimum wages, which ensured fair returns to workers against exploitation of employers, shall be reduced – employers are free to reduce the wages to the bare minimum.
You and I can be fired from work at will. Because we pose structural rigidity to firms.
Employers will be made free from providing workers’ protection rights (imagine how this would read for those who work in occupationally hazardous environments especially and already for those working as independent contractors and gig-workers who juggle multiple careers who do not fall under the regular labour category)
Already data is given in the report of advanced economies enjoying the productivity of robots, while the employment growth has been steady and has not been affected. But how can these be ideated with that of situations in poor and low-middle income countries?
Workers are expensive if labour rights and protection are implemented in every firm, hence do away with labour regulations! [Shake hands with the similar recommendations of Doing Business Reports!]
The present Bismarckian model of social security scheme based on workers’ and employers’ voluntary contribution will be changed since they do not include the informal workers who are 2/3rdof developing country population.
The informality of works worldwide poses a huge problem of workers not being able to be adapted to the past faced requirements of the transforming economy. Majority of us will be jobless unless we keep on learning if we are adults. No mention of senior citizens in the report.
Digital marketplaces, to read accurately, ‘intangible marketplaces’ get away with not having to pay taxes and profit-shifting. So, let the governments finance their basic social welfare schemes and assistance by expanding the tax base and increasing regressive VAT. Imagine how a poor or developing nation would suffer from the burden of it – the ordinary man’s wages go into his daily sustenance and will not have savings, and then he needs to pay VAT over what he consumes for his survival!
Various forms of Universal Basic Income [UBI] are recommended.
Rich will get richer, poor will be increasingly poorer (seems the Gini coefficient hasn’t moved altogether for some time)
Other General Global Concerns with WDR 2019

The following broad critique has been collated and arranged from all the sources given in this article, hyperlinked at various instances.

Lack of significant research data
Selective data and evidence presentation
Casual handling of the subject with sweeping generalizations
Central assertions of the document [except maybe a little in the Building Human Capital and Lifelong learning] are devoid of solid and reliable data and genuine analysis.
The Bank has perhaps allowed right-wing ideologies to trickle down into their research reports.
While stressing the need to acknowledge the rise of platform markets and independent contractors, legal protection and safeguards for the emerging distinct labour force [who have also met serious resistance while campaigning for their rights like Uber Drivers] have not been addressed.
Pro-business and superstar firms agenda
Growing inequality of economies inadequately discussed
“Disregarding history, blinkered to indigenous protests, pretending there’s a peaceful pathway to all things good”

Longstanding observers of WDR over many years have recognised the emerging pattern of the Bank to move away from their adopting best practices to better learning by doing exercises. And that the Bank has been engaging in wider politics for better acceptance of their policy recommendations, including the “elite interests and ideologies; addressing collective action problems; building support for reform…legitimising a wider consensus”, for “pro-poor experimentation.”

The report has not just suggested eliminating the responsibility of social protection from the private sector and superstar firms, but altogether failed to address and recall the need of commitment from advanced nations to contribute in global development, by limiting the scope of the report to just low and middle-income economy experiments and discussions.

Much disappointing and worse is the fact that, here, human beings are pitted as human capital only, to be tailor-made for ‘productivity’. In the impatient race for economic growth and capital, the creativity of humanity, the plight of less privileged and marginalised, the ever-present resistances of people’s groups and movements, declining natural resources and accommodating other living beings, much less… the essence of life and living itself is non-existent in this ‘development’ report.

Courtesy: Counter View

Graduate, Factory Owner, Farmers Seek Labour Jobs In Jaipur’s Wrecked Informal Economy

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March 11, 2019

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Jaipur: At three grimy market squares in India’s pink city of sandstone palaces, the fates of a former farming couple, a former factory owner, and a graduate illustrated how difficult it now is to find even a job of hard labour, as a general election looms in a country witnessing record unemployment.

Daily wage workers wait for contractors at a market square in Jaipur. Demonetisation, the hasty, often chaotic implementation of the goods and services tax, and competition from Chinese-driven automation and goods has crippled economies nationwide.

It had been eight days since Shanti Devi, 30, and her husband Babulal Saini, 33, had found work. Draped in a bright, red saree, Devi sat on the pavement. Nearby, Saini, dressed in a checked shirt and gray pants stained with paint, was in animated discussion with some of the 300 gathered labourers.

Here at the Thadi market choukdi or square–one of 35 where workers in search of daily jobs gather in Rajasthan’s capital–everyone was distressed about the lack of employment.

Devi and her husband have worked at construction sites for daily wages since they moved to Rajasthan’s capital eight years ago from their village of Rajor in Karauli district, 150 km east, where they had a “small farm”, which they sold because they could not pay back a loan of Rs 5 lakh.

Shanti Devi and her husband Babulal Saini–who sold their farm to pay a debt–now earn Rs 8,000 together, down from Rs 18,000 in 2017. “Two years ago, we would get work for 25 days a month, but now we get only eight to 10 days of work a month,” said Devi.

They said they had never before experienced such a lack of jobs.

“Two years ago, we would get work for 25 days a month, but now we get only eight to 10 days of work a month,” said Devi. Their earnings in this period dropped about 55%: Today, the couple together earn up to Rs 8,000 per month; in 2017 it used to be Rs 9,000 each.

All the people in this story earn enough to be above Rajasthan’s official urban poverty line, Rs 1,002 per person per month, which means they are likely not eligible for government subsidies and social-security programmes.

The drop in wages and opportunities, experts said, were precipitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation programme–which invalidated 86% of India’s currency overnight–in November 2016 and the implementation in June 2017 of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), widely criticised for its hasty, often chaotic implementation.

Over the year to February 2019, the number of employed Indians fell by 6 million to 400 million, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a consultancy. The unemployment situation mirrored the year following demonetisation but now indicates a “deeper and more sustained problem”, Mahesh Vyas, CMIE managing director and CEO, wrote on March 5, 2019.

“The low job opportunities compared to the size of the working age population have reduced wages in the private and unorganised sectors to a point, where, only the desperate are willing to take up such jobs,” wrote Vyas.

Competition from Chinese-driven automation and goods has further crippled economies nationwide, our reporting has found. A compounding factor in Rajasthan is a 2017 Supreme Court ban on environmentally damaging gravel- and river-sand mining, which threw thousands out of work, sent rural workers to cities and increased the pressure on jobs in India’s eleventh-poorest state by per capita income.

This is the second of an 11-part series (you can read the first part here), reported from nationwide labour hubs–places where unskilled and semi-skilled workers gather to seek contract jobs–to track employment in India’s informal sector. This sector, which absorbs the country’s mass of illiterate, semi-educated and qualified-but-jobless people, employs 92% of India’s workforce, according to a 2016 International Labour Organization study that used government data.

By delving into the lives and hopes of informal workers, this series provides a reported perspective to ongoing national controversies over job losses after demonetisation and GST. The number of jobs declined by a third over four years to 2018, according to a survey by the All India Manufacturers’ Organisation, which polled 34,700 of its 300,000 member-units. In 2018 alone, 11 million jobs were lost, mostly in the unorganised rural sector, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a consultancy.

Devi and Saini represent India’s informal sector, which employs, as we said, 92% of India’s 527 million workforce and absorbs those who have failed in other professions and those who are not qualified for anything but manual labour.

Like millions of informal workers nationwide, their already precarious economic situation has deteriorated over the last two years. Half their Rs 8,000 monthly wages are spent as rent on a one-room house with kitchen and toilet, and Rs 2,000 on the education of their two sons, aged five and seven. Devi studied till grade VIII, her husband is illiterate. They have a daughter, who was married at 13.

Their home is 4 km from the choukdi, and they pay Rs 10 per person per trip to commute to and fro in an electric rickshaw. The Thadi market choukdi is frequented by skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour. Skilled workers, considered the cream of the labour class, earn around Rs 500 per day; unskilled about half that.

But their stories are the same.

“Everyday, we wait for work from 8 am to 12 pm,” said Saini, clearly distraught. “When we do not get work, we return home. After this our whole day is lost because we have no work.”

A growing unemployment problem

Demonetisation and the GST “severely affected” Rajasthan’s small-scale construction, mining, gems and jewellery industries, made worse by a tide of Chinese imports and equipment that replaces jobs and a mining ban, experts and daily wage workers told us.

“Due to the cash crisis, the purchasing power of people decreased, and the market fell into recession,” said Nesar Ahmed, an economic analyst at the Budget Analysis Rajasthan Centre, a think-tank. “Since November 2017, jobs have reduced continuously (sic). The impact of the government’s decisions started showing after one year.”

Rajasthan’s unemployment rate more than doubled over two years, from 6.6% in 2016 to 14.9% in December 2018, according to CMIE data.
The jobs crisis has pulled into its fold even the educated.

Ganesh Mertha’s story reveals the magnitude of the crisis. At the Gurjar ki Thadi labour hub in Jaipur, Mertha, 22, an arts graduate of the Shaheed Captain Ripudaman Singh Government College in Sawai Madhopur in eastern Rajasthan, waited on a cool February morning to be picked up by a labour contractor. It had been a year since he moved to Jaipur in search of a job. On the day we spoke to him, he hoped to find work as a labourer for Rs 300 a day.

“I came to Jaipur thinking there would be a job for me, and I would like a good life in the city,” said Mertha, dressed in khaki pants and a worn, black tee shirt. In January 2019, he worked for only 12 days, earning Rs 4,800, of which Rs 3,500 was spent on rent for his single room near the choukdi.

Ganesh Mertha, an arts graduate, moved to Jaipur a year ago in search of a job. On the day we spoke to him, he hoped to find work as a labourer for Rs 300 a day.

In 2016, 200 of 300 people at a choukdi would find work, estimated Harikesh Bugalia, secretary of Nirman Mazdoor Union, a union of informal workers; today only 50-80 people do, and contractors exploit their desperation. “Labourers are going back to their villages,” said Bugalia. As their desperation grows, contractors offer lower wages, he said. “They are on the verge of hunger.”

Mertha knows that hunger.

“Many days I ate plain rice because I had no money,” he said, almost in tears. In February, he had found work on three of 28 days. “I am a graduate, and I am doing mazdoori (hard labour).”

Mertha’s life is harder because he must compete with scores of rural workers streaming into towns and cities after the mining ban, competing for fewer jobs than before. Mining continues illegally, but the ban has also slowed construction, which needs the sand, further squeezing jobs.

As sand-mining closes, more workers at labour hubs

Saurati Devi (45) and husband Rameshwar (49)–he uses one name–explained how they left Tonk city for Jaipur, 100 km to the north, after they lost their jobs to the sand-mining ban.

Her face lined and hands calloused, the effects of a lifetime of hard labour, Devi said she and Rameshwar, both illiterate, found work for no more than eight days a month, down from about 20 in Tonk.

“I have sent my son (who now studies in a college) back to Tonk,” said Devi, “Because it was difficult to afford the expense of having him here.”

Saurati Devi (centre) and her husband left Tonk city for Jaipur after they lost their jobs to the sand-mining ban. In the capital, the couple found work for no more than eight days, down from about 20 back in Tonk.

Their income is down by half to Rs 8,000 per month since 2017.

“People are forced to work on low wages because there isn’t work,” said Tarachand Verma, a lawyer at the Rajasthan High Court and an associate at the Human Rights Law Network, an advocacy. Even when there was more work, the options for daily wage workers were limited.

There are no official data, but about half the state’s 69 million people are workers–30 million on daily wage labour–according to estimates from the Nirman Mazdoor Union.

More than 3.5 million are construction workers, 2 million work in mining, 1 million in brick kilns, 500,000 in dyeing and printing, 200,000 in the gems and jewellery industry and 3 million on farms, the group estimates.

It was in gems and jewellery sector that we found the greatest anger at demonetisation and GST.

‘From a contractor I became a labourer, thanks to BJP’

Lalaram Chowdhury, 40, seethed with anger at the mention of demonetisation and the GST.

Once the owner of a gemstone-cutting and polishing factory, which he started in 2008, earning up to Rs 40,000 a month after expenses and employing 25 workers, we found Chowdhury at the Sitapur choukdi–looking for a job. He now travels 14 km to and fro by bus to Sitapur, earning up to Rs 10,000 and finds work for 14 days every month.

At first glance, Chowdhury looked out of place, dressed as he was smartly, in a black-and-white checked shirt, jacket and a grey muffler. A closer look revealed his jacket had faded. He has bought no clothes for two years, he said, and his family–parents, wife and two children, all of whom he supports–grow vegetables at home to save money.

Lalaram Chowdhury, once the owner of a gemstone-cutting and polishing factory, sold the factory’s machines, paid his 25 workers and gave up his dream. Today, he survives on manual labour, earning up to Rs 10,000, and finds work for 14 days every month.

“I lost Rs 200,000 in a year after demonetisation, and then GST came, so I had to close down the factory in December 2017,” Chowdhury said. He sold the factory’s machines, paid his workers and gave up his dream, although he continues to live in the three-bedroom house he built in 2013.

“I will not vote for BJP in the [2019] Lok Sabha elections,” said Chowdhury. “Because of their policies, I became a labourer from a contractor.”

It did not help that demonetisation and GST arrived at a time when Chinese machines were reducing manual labour in the gems and jewellery industry.

Dressed in jeans and a blue, checked shirt, Ramphool Haritwal, 36, the owner of a gem-cutting factory in the Jaipur neighbourhood of Sanganer and a 10-year veteran of the industry, explained how Chinese machine tools had reduced manual work by 60%.

Over a year, Haritwal has cut his workforce from seven to three. Previously, raw gemstones needed to be cut, shaped and polished before being sold to jewellers. “Now, with the arrival of Chinese machines, all this work is done in one place,” said Haritwal.

Ramphool Haritwal, 36, the owner of a gem-cutting factory in the Jaipur neighbourhood of Sanganer and a 10-year veteran of the industry, explained how Chinese machine tools had reduced manual work by 60%. Over a year, Haritwal has cut his workforce from seven to three.

Demonetisation and GST, he said, broke their economic chain. A 0.25% GST rate on cut and polished diamonds and precious stones ended the businesses of small units that survived for decades on marginal incomes. The son of farmers, whose parents now live with him, Haritwal’s earnings decreased from Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000 every month to between Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 at present.

The jewellery industry ran on cash, and with demonetisation and a government decision to limit cash purchases of jewellery to Rs 200,000–with the worthy aim of curbing unaccounted cash transactions and widening the tax net–the industry has been unable to cope, said Amit Basole, an economics professor at Bengaluru’s Azim Premji University.

“Due to lack of demand for gems and jewellery, we had to remove workers,” said Kailash Mittal, 53, president of the Jaipur Sarafa (jewellery) Traders’ Committee. Mittal owns a jewellery shop, where he has cut his workforce from 10 to six. By his estimation, the majority of those who drive electric rickshaws in Jaipur were once jewellery designers and gems cutters.

As Jaipur’s economy was wrecked, the government has always been many steps behind in addressing the resulting employment problem.

Social security programmes late, inadequate

In 1996, the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act was passed, intending to register all unorganised sector workers so they could benefit from government welfare and social-security programmes. Rajasthan implemented the law 13 years after it was passed and created a labour welfare board.

In theory, this should have led to substantial benefits for the state’s masses of informal workers: education and skill development; life insurance; compensation for accidental death or injury; maternity benefits; bicycles and more.

So far, 2.3 million labourers have been registered in the state, according to CBS Rathore, additional commissioner of Rajasthan’s labour department, and Rs 2,200 crore collected as labour cess.

But no more than 73%, or Rs 1,600 crore, has been spent, and no more than 23.9%, or 550,000 workers, have benefitted, Rathore said.
Government tardiness was revealed during a 2018 social audit ordered by the Supreme Court in Salumbar block of Udaipur district. The report revealed that 22% of informal workers received benefits more than four to six months after submitting applications, 6.43% after seven to nine months and 4.56% after almost a year. The report also revealed that 39% of the 1,400 workers surveyed were not labourers, calling into question the government’s database.

Rathore acknowledged that the last two to three years had affected workers. “But the responsibility of getting them work is the industrial department’s, not ours,” he said, adding that his department only implements welfare schemes.

Santosh Poonia, programme manager at Aajeevika Bureau, an organisation that helps labourers secure livelihood, blamed the labour department for “negligence and oversight” in registering those who were not labourers under the BOCW law. Many were so registered, alleged Poonia, by bribing registering officers.

Rathore, the labour department additional commissioner, denied allegations of negligence and corruption, saying benefits of all schemes had been given to registered labourers on time.

The Centre and state have presented no long-term solutions to rural unemployment. The new Congress government, which took office in December 2018, started the Kaam Mango Abhiyan, or Ask-for-Work campaign, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a rural jobs programme, demand for which increased when the campaign ran–initially, from January 5 to January 20, 2019, with a further extension to February 28.

More than 2.5 million have thus sought work, according to the government.

To address the issue of informal employment, the Congress had promised labour welfare boards in its manifesto before assembly elections in December 2018, but there has been no further word.

“The newly-formed Rajasthan government has not put forward any plans for employment of educated youth, although their unemployment allowance has increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 per month,” said Poonia.

Back at Gurjar ki Thadi, Mertha, the unemployed arts graduate, echoed the sentiments of other daily-wage labourers. “The government is not able to provide even small jobs,” he said. “Elections are held every time, promises are made to change everything, but nothing changes. In 2014, Narendra Modi had said that he would give 2 crore (20 million) jobs every year, but I read in the newspaper a few days ago that highest unemployment in 45 years has been recorded in his rule.”

At Thadi market choukdi, former farmers Saini and Devi term the 2019 general elections of little relevance. “My understanding of politics is very poor,” said Devi. “[All I know is] it is very difficult for workers to arrange for morning and evening meals. The government does not make any difference to any of us.”

Around her, most workers nodded in silent agreement.

This is the second of 11 reports. Here is the previous story from Indore.

(Sharma is a Jaipur-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.

Courtesy: India Spend

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