“Split Wide Open, 2001” 

Disturbing reports of caste, class and communal bias in its distribution continue to surface.

Split Wide Open


 
Nature was undiscriminating in the staggering death and devastation she wrought on Gujarat. But as international and national aid pours in, disturbing reports of caste, class and communal bias in its distribution continue to surface. Among other things, this could mean scant attention to the rehabilitation of craftsmen from worst-hit Kutch – a region famed for its rich and vivid handicraft tradition

Devastation, death and despair bring out the best, and the worst, in us. So it has been with Gujarat, a state that symbolises the latest paradigm of modern India — brazen communalism and urbanisation stalking hand–in–hand with aggressive globalisation and depletion of natural resources. The killer earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, which shook the state to its roots, proved to be a brutal leveller. 

Vankars (weavers), ajrak printers, all the Kutchi karigars who’s rich tradition of hand crafts spans weaving, block printing, intricate bandhni leather crafts, metalworking and woodwork, were severed from their livelihoods as much as the flourishing Patel business class. Migrant and landless labourers had their lives snatched away as much as salt pan workers. Among the survivors in urgent need of relief and rehabilitation were Harijans (the scheduled castes among the vankars in Gujarat still refer to themselves as Harijans, instead of Dalit) and Muslims, as much as upper caste Hindus — Rabaris, Darbaris, Bhanushalis, Patels. 

It was a Republic Day that few in Kutch (Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau), Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Surendranagar and more than 600 villages around are likely to forget. The tremors that reverberated across the state and impacted neighbouring Maharashtra, too, came shortly before 9 am.
The official R–Day functions in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Delhi – chief minister Keshubhai Patel and entourage saluting the tricolour, Gujarat High Court judges feasting on a lavish lunch after the traditional flag hoisting and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his cabinet at the official R–Day parade — continued stoically undisturbed by the crash of cement and concrete until well past mid–day. By then, much of Bhuj, Anjar and Bhachau towns had already been reduced to rubble. Even smaller townships in the Kutch and Saurashtra regions had lost most of the pucca dwellings. 

Today, rough estimates put the loss of life at close to 50,000. Gujarat joins issue and cause with Orissa in the east of the country that suffered a human tragedy of similar proportion when it was devastated by not one, but two, cyclones 18 months ago. In material terms, the loss in Gujarat has been officially computed at over Rs. 20,000 crores.

The sluggishness of government response — epitomised in Doordarshan’s non–acknowledgement of the ‘event’ until 24 hours later — to the sheer scale of the loss in human and material terms is reflective of how distant the State — central and state governments alike — have become from the real concerns and rights of people, the very people from whom they seek legitimacy.  Not only that, arms of the State in India today have distinctly partisan political and economic agendas that violate the core and spirit of Indian democracy and Constitution. It is a factor that influences responses in times of war and peace, disaster and normalcy.

A myriad images spring to mind when we reflect on the past three weeks of media glare – photographs, television images and reams of printed copy. There are the spontaneous stories of human bonding, the instinct and desire to rise above narrow mind–sets. Stray accounts of RSS workers in their khaki shorts and Muslim boys working together for rescue and relief were reported in the first few days after the disaster. Sadly, reports of sectarian mind-sets prevailing over common pain and suffering followed. Which are the ones that shall endure?

Republic Day 2001 was a Friday. A call was given through the khutba (sermon after Friday’s Juma namaaz) at the Al Fazal Mosque in the Juhapura area in the outskirts of the old city of Ahmedabad that all help should be rendered to the needy as speedily as possible. Even before the call from the mosque, 15–20 Muslim boys had rushed to the neighbouring Hindu–dominated Vejalpur locality in their bid to rescue the occupants of the Shiv Society apartments that had collapsed.

Days later, a spontaneous procession of a few hundred Muslim women dressed in burkhas, walked the streets of Ahmedabad — a city scarred by the wounds of otherness and division — praying to Allah to bring succour to Gujarat, a state affected by tragedy once too often. The march moved ordinary Ahmedabadis to tears.

However, after the initial days of such spontaneous display of undiscriminating solidarity in the face of unprecedented human tragedy, Communalism Combat began receiving complaints (from different parts of Gujarat) of exclusion from relief by marginalised sections, areas and populations. The caste–based marginalisation excluded traditional karigars and artisans from the ambit of relief and rehabilitation. And, in tune with the ascendant discourse of Gujarat as the “laboratory for a Hindu rashtra”, discrimination was also influenced by the religion of the affected.  Strange are the ways of seeing. The pall bearers of the Hindu rashtra ideology, that conjures images of military prowess gained through blood–soaked trishul and sets us back by several centuries into rank medieval discourse, has little to offer to the traditional karigars of Kutch. Karigars whose link with the past is so palpable and enduring. 

For example, in the pots crafted by the late master potter Suleimanbhai Mohammad. Or, the famed ajrak print process of the Khatris of Dhamadka. To the national award winner Khatri karigars, Mohammadbhai Siddik and Abdul Razzak goes the credit of reviving the natural dye process that had passed unnoticed to Sindh and Multan and bringing recognition, national and international awards, fashion and tourism to Dhamadka. Glitzy ‘Miss World’ outfits crafted in bandhni (tye and dye), in a technique so fine, are also notched to the credit of Ali Mohammad Isha from the region. Pooplibehn of Dhordo is another name recalled and remembered as a bandhni karigar of the highest calibre.

Hajaram is an upstart ajrak painter whose natural inclination for colour and blocks led him to acquire the technique of the famous ajrak printing from the local Khatris of the famed Dhamadka, 54 kilometres from Bhuj. Even before the devastation wrought by the earthquake, his village, like scores others in Kutch, had been reeling under a two–year–old drought, forcing people to buy food from the market, a practice alien to them. 

Today, Hajaram is a survivor of the quake that has left him bereft of five close family members. His workshop and home are badly damaged. Dazed and disoriented with the loss of family, home and workplace, he is busy trying to rebuild his own life and that of 150 other similarly affected families. 
Everything is under rubble. No heavy machinery has been brought to clear the debris. Dhamadka is on the international map thanks to the ajrak printers. But, today, no attention is being paid to the vibrant karigars who have brought the region fame and richness. 

Dhamadka and Anjar also suffered a quake in 1956; in 1912, too, the region was affected by a seismic shock. Nature, as the karigars, the landless labourers, the fishermen and women of Kutch know it, has rarely been kind to this stark region. In such an environment has sprouted the rich, philosophic, fiercely independent and enterprising Kutchi character.

Hajaram, Ghulam Hussain Oomer, Zakaria-bhai, Rameshbhai Savani, Vankar Premji Velji, are names that today represent the timeless crafts of the Kutch region, reflective of Kutchi khumari, of pride laced with self–respect. This karigar community, comprising of Muslims, Harijans and Hindus dotting the Kutch landscape, has remained marginalised from both relief and rehabilitation. Villages like Manpar, Adoi and Chaubari and 170 more around Bhuj are reduced to material nothingness, will schemes for rehabilitation allow the re-birth of these since they are home to vibrant local populations?

Emotional succour and limited support has come from some individuals and institutions associated with and interested in the crafts and culture of the region. These include Shrujan, an enterprise that supports design and craft in many villages run by Chandabehn Shroff. Sohan, a co–operative handicrafts enterprise linked for over four decades to the region with Prabhabehn Shah and Malti Jhaveri ‘in charge, is also attempting need-based assistance. Reeth with Anela Jasuja and Kalashetra with Judy Frater — a foreigner who has made Kutch her home — are other organisations in Mumbai trying to intervene sensitively. 

Meanwhile, the karigar communities have quickly gone about finding their own solutions. Ramesh Savani, is a karigar in batik from Mandvi that fortunately escaped the worst. But that has not made Savani complacent. He has been busy trying to help Hajaram and the Khatris from Dhamadka who have suffered the worst.

If Kutchi karigars are completely sidelined with little attention being paid to the revival and rehabilitation of their rich and enduring crafts tradition, there are increasing complaints from other parts of the state, too — especially Saurashtra (Morbi near Rajkot) and Surendranagar districts — of bias against minority sections in relief distribution and worse. 

“At a time like this, everything and everyone should transcend prejudices and narrow mind–sets. But in Gujarat today, these prejudices are fanned officially”.

Activists of the VHP and RSS have allegedly been insisting that irrespective of their religion, all must chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’ before they are given food at the relief camps. Both the VHP and the RSS have hotly denied the latter charge. Meanwhile, Communalism Combat has independently been receiving complaints of blatant bias being displayed by some Gujarat ministers, like Fakirbhai Vaghela, in the distribution of tents and cash doles. 

(The Gujarat government last week announced a cash compensation of Rs. 1,00,000 per deceased to surviving family members. In case of the surviving families of the nearly 400 school children from Anjar who died while participating in a Republic Day parade, the compensation amount has been increased to Rs 1,10,000 per death, since the children died while on ‘patriotic duty’).

When Vaghela, the minister for social welfare in the state cabinet, toured his constituency — in Surendranagar district bordering Kutch — on February 3, he crudely ignored Muslim–dominated areas. As we go to press, nearly three weeks after the killer quake, thousands remain subjected to the vagaries of bitter cold. Vaghela is accused by local residents of insisting that the RSS get credit for the material distributed in relief. He was also reportedly angered to find local residents having started medical relief operations cutting across community. He allegedly stopped them from doing so and took charge of the civil hospital forcibly. Hindu and Muslim residents thereafter have submitted a joint memorandum to the local mamlatdar urging that at times of crises the administration should work to unite and not divide people. 

Surendra Vanrajsingh Jala, from Kherali village in the Surendranagar district (located in Vaghela’s assembly constituency), spoke with anguish to CC, about the hoarding of relief materials and the fact that ‘backwards’ and Muslims were not being given relief. “The maximum damage from the region has been in Paldi and Halvat. Citizens of the town, from all communities, have been united in their protest against the minister’s attempts to divide people on the basis of religion. Villagers have made representations in this connection to the collector and to the chief minister and home minister protesting against this attitude.” 

Jala also revealed that in neighbouring Watwan, also in Surendranagar and the constituency of BJP MLA Dhanraj Kela, locals had looted the godown where relief materials had been hoarded at night instead of being distributed to legitimate claimants.

“For the past two weeks we residents of Dasada have been told that tents have been distributed,” complains Aslam Malik, a member of the Lok Janshakti party, “but we have not received a single tent and women and children are still sleeping out in the open.” 

Concurs Anwarbhai Pathan, a resident of Paldi: “So much relief material has been diversified or dispersed through the RSS–controlled bajaar samitis. Odhu village is nearly finished, all homes damaged, people are still sleeping out in the open. Members of the RSS, like Rashmibhai Rawal, Dilipbhai Khejadia, Bharat Painter, Vanvaji Thakore are being favoured with relief material that does not, then, reach anywhere else.”

The writ that the RSS and VHP over the state administration can be gauged from their ability to influence scrutiny of accusations of discrimination at the very highest level. The governor of Gujarat, Sundersinh Bhandari was scheduled to visit  Surendranagar following reports of discrimination, especially in Dasada, on February 19. Pressure from the RSS and Vaghela compelled him, at the last moment to cancel the visit, reliable local sources informed CC.

While CK Koshy, relief commissioner of Gujarat was unavailable for comment, PN Roy, in charge of relief operations at Anjar — one of the worst affected towns — categorically repudiated such allegations, at least in Anjar where he has been in charge. “There have never been allegations, now or ever, of the IAS being communal. Rest assured, we have taken extra care to ensure that distribution and responsibility is handled only by organisations with unimpeachable credentials. We will not let people be discriminated against,” he told Communalism Combat. 

On the day CC spoke to Roy, he had been honoured with an international award for his efforts, by an American relief agency. The citation praises Roy’s efforts for ‘excellence in International Major Disaster Management.’

“As in wars laws do not remain silent, so too in calamities and at times of crises, laws in general and constitutional rights, human rights and humanity cannot remain silent,” Girishbhai Patel, of Lok Adhikar Sangh told Communalism Combat. “We, too, have received complaints of caste– and community–based discrimination which we are looking into, case by case. But we can expect the worst from this government that is a victim of its own mindset.”

The present BJP government came to power in March 1998, publicly touting its Hindu rashtra agenda. On April 15–16, 1998, barely a month after chief minister Keshubhai Patel took the constitutional oath, the first attack on churches and Christians began. Three months later, Muslims in rural and semi–rural areas of Randhikpur and Sanjeli were targeted. 

In between, in June 1998 came the first killer cyclone that not only cost the Kandla region 10,000 lives, but also left the central government–run Kandla Port Trust squabbling with the state government on the crucial issue of relief and rehabilitation. Even then, within just a few months of saffron–hued governance in the state, there were detailed accounts of Muslim fishermen and migrant saltpan workers suffering from discrimination and bias. An official report by the Kandla Port Trust brought out recently, evaluating the proposed rehabilitation of 3,500 homes reveals that two–and–a–half years later, not more than 20 homes have been built! 

The Kandla cyclone, like the Gujarat earthquake, had raised serious questions of inept disaster management. Then, too, the Lok Adhikar Sangh had petitioned the court pointing out the total incompetence of the state government, despite scientific warnings, in dealing with natural calamities. “The government, instead of responding to the questions that had been raised, replied with reams of computer paper,” says Patel. Despite being a pioneer of public–spirited litigation, he has not gone to court this time. “I have lost complete faith in the judiciary. The two–year–old petition would have been relevant today. But what have the courts done to expedite its hearing? It is still pending. We had asked why the control rooms were inadequately staffed, why the staff that was there was not trained to handle proper co–ordination. What did we get in reply? Accusations and counter accusations between the Kandla Port Trust and the state government!”

Father Cedric Prakash of the Ahmedabad–based St Xaviers Social Service Society, a resident of Gujarat for 23 years, has been active in relief and rehabilitation work through many of these tragedies. The day after the earthquake, RSS volunteers physically stopped him from entering a building in Ahmedabad where people were trapped. Initial consignments of official aid, valued at a few million dollars, have been rooted through the St. Xaviers Society and Jan Vikas Collective along with some other NGOs. Their efforts at distribution of the material, that included heavy military tents etc. was acknowledged in a letter from the US ambassador, Richard F Celeste. 

Says father Prakash, “Look, caste discrimination is there everywhere. But what are the kinds of signals that come from the top? At a time like this, everything and everyone should transcend prejudices and narrow mind–sets. But in Gujarat today, these prejudices are fanned officially. While many people are bravely trying to transcend the confines of religion, here are organisations actually fanning differences with the blessings of the state.”
The Delhi–based All India Milli Council has also set up four camps in Gujarat to provide relief ad rehabilitation. In its initial report, it also made mention of bias in reaching of relief to survivors in Gujarat. However, while addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad on February 16, the group made a clear distinction between representatives of the RSS and VHP and ordinary Hindus who felt angered by the politicisation of relief operations.
Giving an example of attempts to make Muslims chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’ before being given food at a relief centre in the Kutch region, representatives of the Council told the media that many Hindu survivors in the camps also refused the offer of food in protest against this kind of coercion. 

Alongside communal bias, the scenario in Gujarat post–earthquake has revealed sharp and visible caste–based discrimination and prejudice. Tikar, a badly affected village in Surendranagar district happens to be the home of the brother of Sam Pitroda. When he arrived there in early February to convey his offer to re–construct the whole village, the Patels bluntly told him that while re–building the village, caste distinction would have to be strictly followed! This means that Dalits would continue to be discriminated against, continue to be subjected to the practice of untouchability and denied common and equal access to water and grazing lands.

Adhoi village, also in Surendranagar district, is also witnessing similar schisms. Valjibhai Patel, Council for Social Justice, told Communalism Combat that his organisation is co–ordinating relief effort in 90–100 camps in the district with no help from outside. The extent of caste prejudice has forced his organisation to approach the Gujarat High Court with a public interest petition. 

The governor of Gujarat, Sundersinh Bhandari was scheduled to visit  Surendranagar following reports of discrimination, especially in Dasada, on February 19. But pressure from the RSS and Vaghela compelled him, at the last moment, to cancel the visit.

“We have already collected affidavits from Dalit women from the village who have testified to the organisation of food and other rehabilitation items on a caste–wise and discriminatory basis. Even temporary shelters are being constructed on caste lines. Our plea to the court is that whenever re-built, an ideal village should emerge here within which Dalits, Muslims and Hindus intermingle and live together, not separated by discrimination.”

Serious questions about human rights issues in the context of a natural calamity have surfaced in the wake of the quake. What is the responsibility of the government towards human lives in terms of disaster management? That is, its response to warning signals of impending disasters. Also in the norms that it does or does not set for the powerful construction lobby that stands exposed for criminal and negligent conduct in Ahmedabad and Bhuj — especially in urban construction. Will the guilty builders of Ahmedabad and Bhuj be punished? There were huge individual investments made in the buildings that have collapsed. Who will bear the tab of compensation? 

Like Valjibhai’s petition, two other citizens’ interventions in court seek greater transparency and accountability from government. The first, filed by former chief justice of Gujarat High Court, Justice Bipinchandra Divan and other prominent citizens of Gujarat, has demanded accountability from government in the distribution of aid. On February 17, 2001 this PIL achieved success with Justice Dharmadhikari passing a pathbreaking order giving the reliefs that the petitioners had sought: all money received in aid would be put in a separate account (so as not to be diverted for purposes other than relief and rehab of survivors) and a district judge would monitor disbursal at every stage. 

International and national aid for Gujarat, from foreign governments, UN agencies and independent organisations, has been enormous. “If fairly distributed, aid can comfortably look after all the affected survivors of Gujarat for a year, but it is just not being distributed well,” says Martin Macwan, a leading rights activist who heads the Ahmedabad–based Navsarjan. 

Another petition filed by senior advocate Haroobhai Mehta on behalf of SAMVAD seeks criminal action against 55 builders named by aggrieved persons in private complaints filed in Ahmedabad. Some groups are also contemplating filing yet another PIL on the question of increasing and visible bias in the disbursal of relief.
Says Mehta: “Serious human rights issues have arisen after the calamity. The right to life is a guaranteed right. This means that the right to be rescued efficiently and quickly is itself the right of every human being. Chief minister Keshubhai Patel and home minister Haren Pandya have themselves admitted that one whole day lost was lost; the rescue actually started on the second day. For 24 hours there was nothing. Who will bear this responsibility? Even today the debris has not been cleared. Bhachau is still buried under cement and concrete rubble. It will be months before it is cleared.”

Inept governance that inspires little confidence, be it for the relatively privileged urban middle class or the utterly marginalised sections of quake-hit Gujarat, and a prejudicial mind–set sum up the response of the present political leadership to the calamity. 

“Immediate relief and supplies through official channels has been influenced by political considerations, the mainline versus interior bias and the poverty–caste–religion ratio,” says Macwan. Interestingly, the vocal voluntary and non–governmental sector that is always at the receiving end of governmental and administrative wrath, was open enough to work with any and all groups, until increasing reports of exclusion and bias began creeping in. The sheer scale of the tragedy that left none untouched governed this maturity. 

But was this approach rewarded? Says Macwan, “Above all, the mind-set of the present political dispensation shows up in nonsensical ways. At a recent meeting at the chief minister’s house where I was present, the general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad espoused the setting up of spiritual centres as part of their rehabilitation package! Now, this is really angering. Are we thinking of religion, or food? There are people who are still living out in the open after 21 days. 

“The fact that this mind–set can surface even at a time of a tragedy of the grossest magnitude, reflects the nuisance value of this ideology and mind–set. We have been part of different non–governmental and voluntary associations like the Janpath Initiative and the KMVS. We have in the past put aside ideological differences. This time, too, that was our approach. “Even now we feel that we should strive to look at everything as a basic human rights issue. There is the crucial question of rehabilitation. Government figures put the total loss at around Rs. 20,000 crore. The last cyclone had caused losses worth Rs. 10,000 crores. How are the people of Gujarat going to cope?

“If the RSS has a plan of rehabilitation totalling Rs. 15,000 crores, let them do it. We will be with them. But let a concrete plan emerge. And all we say is that everyone must benefit from the rehabilitation package. There must not only be a policy of equality but also an aim of social equity. Creating conditions of equity means accepting that gross inequity prevails. The question is, do they have the strength to go beyond their mind–set?” 

Hindus sweep Masjid before handing it to Muslims
Agencies/Ahmedabad

Overwhelmed by the gesture shown by Muslims in providing succour to the quake–hit people of Gujarat, Hindus swept and scoured a Shahi Masjid and invited them to offer namaaz at the place of worship, situated in the communally sensitive Khadia area of the city.
Earlier, Muslims were scared of going to the mosque because of the area’s long–history of communal riots, said Amjad Ali Rajput, Rajpur ward chief of BJP’s minority cell here Thursday.
“However, the good Samaritan job done by Muslims in providing all possible help to their Hindu brethren had an impact and the Hindus of the locality on Sunday washed and cleaned the mosque before inviting us to offer prayers,” he said. 
Since then Muslims have been offering prayers at the Khadia Shahi masjid five times a day without any hesitation or fear, Amjad said.

‘BJP govt wants RSS, VHP to get all the credit’

Girishbhai Patel
Lok Adhikar Sangh
Ahmedabad

It is a clear–cut strategy of the BJP that, at the cost of it’s own reputation, the government machinery should not work but the VHP and RSS should get credit for any relief and rehabilitation. Gujarat is crying for a different kind of leadership that can respond to the assaults by communalism and globalisation. Congress does not have people of vision and the BJP has no people, it has only mobs.
This government is functioning like a religious organisation. I am sure that large numbers of temples will come up in reconstruction!
Medha Patkar and myself have surveyed the situation. We feel that there is a surfeit of relief. But instead of awakening a scientific spirit among people, except for some established NGOs, relief is being distributed mostly by the RSS and the VHP and the Jamaat–e–Islami. In many villages, the Sai Baba Samiti and other religious and sectarian organisations have reached.
The real problem is going to be of reconstruction. To this end, some of us (Medha Patkar, Justice Ravani and myself) have made a public appeal: Let us seize this opportunity to reconstruct villages in a way that they become self–sustainable villages, in a way that they reflect the traditional framework, while not perpetuating the tradition–based caste discriminations. Let us not rely on corporate structure. We need to show vision and courage on the caste question, we cannot perpetuate discrimination.
We are privileged by a sharp constitutional vision on the question of equity, social justice and non–discrimination. We must not replicate the past.
This tragedy also brings into sharp focus the consequences of the new development paradigm that we have so blindly adopted. In Gujarat, we have had two cyclones, persistent drought. And yet, those who make decisions on our behalf do so at the cost of lives and resources. How do we build up an economy that does not cause so much damage to the people?

‘We don’t know when government help will come; we have to help ourselves’

Ramesh Savani
‘Batik’ craftsman
Mandvi, Kutch

“What is needed most is chappars, for temporary houses. Mandvi was spared but Dhamadka, Kothdi village, and similarly Daneti, Dudhai, Chobari are completely and severely damaged. We have just been to Bhavnagar and surveyed the ship-breaking yard and the scrap there. The malba (scrap) contains sheets of ply and other material that are lightweight yet durable, useful for our homes. We are planning to buy these in bulk, hire a lorry and take them to Dhamadka for our craftsmen, the Khatris and Hajaram. We don’t know when government help will come. We have to help ourselves. Our women and children are suffering sleeping out in the cold, how long can they do so? ”

Even three weeks after the damage we have received no relief’

Devji Premji
Vankar, Harijan 
Bhujodi village, Kutch

“Though our village is only nine kilometres away from Bhuj proper, even three weeks after the damage we have received no relief and only one visit from the Sai Baba Samiti. There are 200 vankars in the village. Seven or eight lives have been lost and nearly 30–40 per cent of the looms has been damaged. Ours is a total population of about 3,300; we have 1,900 Rabaris and 1,300 vankars. We need talpatris (covers for roofs) but not made of plastic as they melt in our heat, and columns made of material that do not attract white ants!”
‘The mamlatdar is selectively disbursing relief material only to the RSS and VHP’ Aslam Malik
Social worker Dasada, Surendranagar “We have completed a survey of 15 villages including Dasada, Vanod, Adhiraniya, Dhama, Jejuwada, Jenabad, Odhu and Patdi (a township of 20,000). This area is also within the constituency of an MLA and a minister hence the anger of people is palpable. It is the same story everywhere. These are villages dominated by Muslims and Dalits. Patdi is barely 90 kilometres from Ahmedabad; but the mamlatdar is selectively disbursing relief material only to the RSS and VHP. In Patdi, the mamlatdar goes on saying that 150 tents have been distributed, the collector dishes out a figure of 3,500. But where have the tents gone? They have not reached the people.  Locals have demanded a survey by the executive magistrate — the 92 villages under him should be visited. Where are the 5,000 that have been sent to the district collector, news of which has appeared from official sources in the press?”

‘The Muslim fisherfolk and Harijans from the Rann of Kutch have no one to help them’

Fr Cedric Prakash
St Xaviers Social Service Society
Ahmedabad

“Our team is also discovering villages which are out of the pale of relief, where people are still outside in the open. These are in the Rann of Kutch, the Nalya and Lakhpat villages. These villages have Rabaris, Darbars and Muslim populations. Now some influential communities like Darbars have connections outside. The Bhanushali community has samajs in Mumbai, they can garner help. But the Muslim Kolis (fisherfolk) and Harijans have no one to help them. Now, how has the RSS helped here? They have taken up one solitary village consisting of 350 people to concentrate on; this village has mainly Darbar families whom they want to help!” 

‘There are complaints that in common langars, Dalits and Muslims were asked to stand last’

Haroobhai Mehta
Senior advocate
Ahmedabad

“A general bias is visible. Maliya town near Morbi in Rajkot has a 60 per cent Muslims population, so here the government moved slowly. We have also received complaints that in common langars, Dalits and Muslims were asked to stand last. There was another example of the Mudra Masjid in Kutch district where Muslims who were receiving aid from the administration were physically stopped by the RSS and the VHP. There have also been reports of relief being diverted to trucks with the BJP Lotus or the RSS emblem. The whole issue is also of the reconstruction model which should not hurt the cultural setting and milieu of the people. But at the moment the whole situation is completely anarchic.”

‘The BJP government is blatantly in favour of the privileged sections’

Valjibhai Patel
Council for Social Justice
Ahmedabad

“In Adhoi village in Surendranagar, 80 per cent of the pucca houses were destroyed; 20 Dalits died as did some Kolis and Muslims. The Patels who are very prosperous have rehabilitated themselves on the other side of the highway and called the new settlement Udaipur. But there has been not even any elementary relief for the more marginalised sections. No tents have been received; people are still sleeping out in the cold. 
The Patels want the Dalits out. Why? The Dalits are living on good fertile land. The Patels are eyeing this land.
Our PIL will be filed in a few days. We want the court to apply the Indian Constitution in directing that in official rehabilitation efforts, an ideal village gets created. 
The BJP government is blatantly in favour of the privileged sections. The chief minister made a statement that was reported in the Sandesh (February 14) saying that those with more land and who own dairy cattle deserve more spacious home and land in rehabilitation schemes. A rehabilitation packet announced by the government gives 35,000 each under the Sardar Awaz Yojana for slum dwellers to rebuild homes, while big bungalow owners have been given Rs. 100,000 without interest!” 

Archived from Communalism Combat, February 2001 Year 8  No. 66, Cover Story 1


Ignored Warnings

Reports compiled by the Earthquake Affected Relief and Rehabilitation Services, Ahmedabad indicate that several warning signals that were reported by the media four months ago were ignored

The people of Gujarat, especially Kutch and Saurashtra, have been victim to a relent
 less cycle of natural disasters: two cyclones, in 1998 and 1999, coupled with two successive years of drought. The present earthquake was of unprecedented intensity and the tragedy has raised legitimate questions about the quality and efficacy of government response related to disaster management.  A significant aspect of disaster management relates to responses to warnings of imminent disasters. 

Reports compiled by the Earthquake Affected Relief and Rehabilitation Services (EARRS), Ahmedabad indicate that several such signals that even appeared in the media four months ago, were ignored

Reports from newspapers of Sept. 2000:

Major quake may follow Bhavnagar tremor: Expert 
(PTI) 18 Sept. 2000, The Times of India

MUMBAI: The large number of tremors being felt in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat “may be indications of a possible major earthquake”, according to an eminent geologist. The 11 tremors in five hours on September 12 could be foreshocks which normally precede a major earthquake just as it happened in Killari in Maharashtra on September 30, 1993, said Dr V Subramanyan while delivering a lecture on “Seismic scenario around Mumbai” at the Indian Institute of Geo–magnetism here during the weekend. 

Bhavnagar is geologically identical to Mumbai and both fall under earthquake zone III where quakes of magnitude up to 6.5 were possible, he said. 
The district lies along the Gulf of Khambat which is near Narmada faults, well near Satranj river basin. Subramanyan, currently project advisor of department of earth sciences in IIT Mumbai, said normally the faults, lying quiet for some time, get reactivated suddenly and act as the route for the release of stored pressures. 

Appreciating the Gujarat government’s effort at assessing the strength of the existing buildings and planning to adopt appropriate building technology, he said such studies should be done systematically for posterity since “we have to live with the earthquakes”. Scientific studies have helped to demarcate possible seismic zones through integrated geological and geophysical investigations, he said, adding, “the only thing which can be attempted in seismic zones is to go in for appropriate construction using the right designs for different types of buildings, warehouses, power reactors and dams”. Talking about prediction and prevention of earthquakes, Subramanyan said the scientific community was still not in a position to predict earthquakes. 

“It is because there are many factors we do not know, like the depths where the pressures build up, for how long they accumulate before getting relieved through earthquakes and where the pressure is built”. 

Earthquakes are brought about by the sudden release of pressures that have been accumulating for a long time inside the earth just like a pressure cooker, he said. Rocks are strong to withstand such pressures for quite some time, but when the accumulating stress exceeds ultimate bearing capacity, then they break by developing “fault” planes — which are actually cracks through which the accumulated pressure is released suddenly generating an earthquake which normally does not last longer than 15 seconds. 

Killer quake feared in Gujarat district 
Thursday 14 September 2000, The Times of India
GANDHINAGAR: Three more mild tremors kept people awake all night in Bhavnagar district as the government prepared on Wednesday to meet any emergency situation in the coastal region sitting on a seismically active faultline. More than 30 mild tremors have been felt in Saurashtra in recent days, raising fears of a major geological activity that could cause death and destruction. 

Experts warned that a ‘’killer earthquake’’ could strike the region anytime as the Bhavnagar–Kodinar faultline seems to have ‘re–activated’. The latest tremors were experienced at around 11.15 pm on Tuesday, and 2.24 am and 6 am on Wednesday. The region was shaken nearly a dozen times on Tuesday.

More than 30 mild tremors have been felt in Saurashtra in recent days, raising fears of a major geological activity that could cause death and destruction.Experts warned that a ‘’killer earthquake’’ could strike the region anytime as the Bhavnagar–Kodinar faultline seems to have ‘re–activated’.
— The Times of India, September 14 , 2000

Three hundred families had been shifted to safer places. Chief minister Keshubhai Patel, in Bhavnagar campaigning for the September 17 civic elections, urged the Centre to rush a team of meteorologists and seismologists to study the phenomenon. Patel also held high–level review meetings of officials here on Wednesday. The state government has sanctioned Rs 50 lakh as contingency relief fund and despatched medical and engineering teams to Bhavnagar. (UNI)
 
Quiet Bhavnagar tremor raises quite a storm: Geologists to study connection with earth-quakes in Turkey, Taiwan
Discussion forum on Local Economy & Politics, 23rd September, 2000 
A team of geologists from Dehradun, Pune and Vadodara will look into whether the tremors felt in Bhavnagar on Tuesday were anyway related to the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan. 

On the other hand, principal advisor to the chief minister, PK Lehari, said on Wednesday in Gandhinagar that there was no link between the earthquake that occurred in Taiwan and tremors felt in the Bhavnagar district of the state. Mr Lehari said that Bharuch and not Bhavnagar fall in the earthquake zone. 

Bhavnagar experienced slight tremors on Tuesday afternoon at 12.55 pm in an area of 80 sq km reaching up to Bhal Bhatta area in Alang. The tremors in Bhavnagar on Tuesday followed a severe earthquake in Taiwan where more than a thousand people died. Coincidentally, the earthquake in Turkey about one–and–a–half months back was also followed by tremors in the Bhavnagar city. 

Experts from Dehradun, Pune and Vadodra will also locate the epicentre of eruption in case the city faces a serious threat of earthquake. According to experts in the seismographic research department of the state, an earthquake is generally followed by slight tremors. No official records were taken one–and–a–half months back when the city experienced similar tremors following the Turkey earthquake. 

Gujarat Engineering Research Institute at Vadodara has also been contacted in this connection. According to the Maritime Board of Alang, the intensity of the tremors was greater at the ocean surface and near seashore areas. Similarly, in Bhavnagar, intensity of the tremors was less in rural areas, as a result of which residents have started shifting to villages. 

However, the Bhavnagar district collector, Mr Rajkumar, who was in Gandhinagar on Tuesday, said normal life was unaffected and also no loss of property was reported. 

Archived from Communalism Combat, February 2001 Year 8  No. 66, Cover Story 2


Orissa, who cares?

The response of the BJP–led central government to the disaster that has hit Gujarat has made millions of Oriyas acutely aware of the same government’s lackadaisical response to the cyclone that devastated Orissa only 15 months ago
 

Horrifying pictures of the  Gujarat earthquake are still fresh in public memory. None can belittle the devastation and death that the catastrophic earthquake caused in Gujarat on the January 26. 

But there is a reason to ponder over the responses this earthquake evoked. It may be true that a natural disaster does not recognise human frontiers, but its aftermath does. A disaster, be it a super–cyclone or an earthquake of high intensity, is normally believed to be a natural phenomenon. But the role of nature does not extend beyond the immediate happening of the disaster. Then ‘humans’ take over; to be more specific, those ‘humans’ who exercise the powers of the State and who decide how to make use of its resources in what situation. 

Whether it is the super–cyclone of Orissa or the earthquake of Gujarat, these greater mortals get ample opportunity to redesign and work out their own political and economic agenda. They are undoubtedly the direct beneficiaries of any disaster. The Gujarat earthquake has exposed one such group of beneficiaries — the BJP–led NDA government at the Centre.

The unprecedented response and the speed with which the government at the Centre reacted to the Gujarat earthquake was entirely missing when an equally, if not more, devastating super cyclone hit the Orissa coast in October, 1999 affecting almost 2/3rds of Orissa’s population. Union home minister, LK Advani, who owes his parliamentary berth to the people of Gujarat – Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency in particular — took up the co-ordination job on to his own shoulder and declared early on that the losses in Gujarat could be more than Rs 10,000 crore. 

Prime Minister AB Vajpayee issued almost a blank cheque to Gujarat. At least this was the version the media carried. Immediate assistance of Rs 1,300 crore was released to Gujarat by the Centre. Besides, the Prime Minister made an appeal to FICCI, CII etc to adopt all affected villages in Gujarat. 

The most significant initiatives of the Centre were the 2 percent surcharge on Income Tax and Corporate Tax and the temporary removal of Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) provisions by the home ministry to enable free inflow of foreign funds for earthquake relief. The other policy initiatives of the Centre included, the formation of a 39–member Central Disaster Mitigation Authority, (which does not include anyone from Orissa), steps towards a Disaster Mitigation Act and the formation of a Disaster Mitigation Commission on the lines of the Election Commission of India. 
This brings into focus the point that the BJP leadership of the Centre has made a direct assault on the spirit of Indian federalism and democracy by behaving differentially in similar situations. Since the super cyclone of Orissa has become part of history for those who neither witnessed it nor experienced its painful aftermath, it may be useful to recollect what was it all about.

Two cyclones hit the Orissa Coast in quick succession in October 1999 — one on October 17 and the more devastating one on October 29. The cyclone of October 29 acquired the distinction of a super cyclone because of the extent of damage it caused. The wild winds blowing at speeds of 260–310 km per hour accompanied by tidal waves wrought unimaginable devastation in the immediate coastal villages. 

About two crore people living in 20,000 villages and 46 urban areas were affected by the cyclones. About 21 lakh houses were destroyed, including the 8 lakh houses which were completely washed away. More than 13,000 school buildings, 2,000 village roads, 300 river embankments also fell victims to the super cyclone. Over 45 lakh coconut trees got uprooted, 84,000 tube wells were submerged in water for several days. 

Why was the central leadership so indifferent to Orissa and why it is so friendly to Gujarat? This question is agitating millions of victims of the super cyclone, who are yet to receive anything by way of reconstruction and rehabilitation measures.

In the post–cyclone situation, water logging was unprecedented. Between 90–100 per cent crop loss was reported from the affected districts. The cyclone had hit at the most vulnerable time for paddy crop. This was the crop on which the poorest of the poor depend the most because it was rain–fed. The loss of stored food, seeds and crop was overwhelming.

The Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission has estimated the total loss to be not less than Rs. 20,000 crore, the same as the officially estimated loss caused to Gujarat now. However, the Orissa government, while appealing to the Centre made a request for an assistance of Rs 7,000 crore only. How much did the Centre actually pay? So far, only Rs 828 crore and 15 lakh. It may sound unbelievable but that is the truth. 

This is despite the fact that Orissa today is ruled by the BJP along with the Biju Janata Dal. It is well known that the Orissa government is financially bankrupt. Even the 25 percent matching contribution it is supposed to make in the case of various centrally sponsored schemes, it is not in a position to do so. 

The state leaderships request to their own elders in Delhi to waive the criterion of matching contributions and for deferring the repayment of loan to Centre have been turned down by the latter. The possibility of any additional ‘favour’ from the Centre is also quite bleak, as it is evident from the statements of NK Singh, OSD to Prime Minister who visited Bhubaneswar February 16, 2001. According to Singh, the Centre will consider any request from the state only when it is satisfied that the fiscal reforms and power sector reforms are being carried out at a satisfactory pace.

Why was the central leadership so indifferent to Orissa and why it is so friendly to Gujarat? This is the question that the political elite and the press in Orissa are debating today. In fact, this question is agitating millions of victims of the super cyclone, who are yet to receive anything by way of reconstruction and rehabilitation measures. The Union government does not have even a mechanism to assess the post-cyclone situation as the only structure it created in the name of ‘Orissa Cyclone Reconstruction Committee’ under the chairmanship of the defence minister is, expectedly, defunct now. The new structure now created in the name of Central Disaster Mitigation Authority after the Gujarat earthquake has 33 members. Interestingly, not one of them represents Orissa. 

In the pre–cyclone situation, the BJP and other sangh parivar outfits virtually had no presence in the coastal districts. Immediately after the cyclone, the saffron brigade, playing the role of a Samaritan (the banner they used was named ‘Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti’) intruded into the coastal belt and gained considerable strength within a very short span of time. 

More than 70 percent of the 20,000 affected villages, now have RSS presence. Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, RSS–run schools, are coming up in large numbers. The ‘Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti’ — the saffron brigade’s relief wing — is emerging as one of the biggest NGOs in the state in terms of the resources it has mobilised in the name of cyclone relief and rehabilitation. 

The inefficiency of the then Congress government in mobilising resources from the Centre was the main election issue in coastal Orissa during the assembly election campaign which took place six months latter. The Congress eventually lost the election while the BJP emerged as the party benefiting the most out of the assembly elections.

Many, who are not aware of the BJP game plan, are even now under the illusion that things will change for the better with the change of guard in Orissa. “They want a Raj completely for themselves. They will allow the discontent to build up further, so that, later they can desert the BJD and try to capitalise on the situation to their advantage. People have lost faith in Congress. They still think it is BJD, which is ruling Orissa and not BJD–BJP combine. Therefore, BJP will look for a chance to form a BJP–only government”, says Prafulla Samantara, president, Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Orissa. 
“Don’t think that they are not benefiting in Gujarat, you make a mistake if you think so”, says RK Sarangi, now the convenor of Orissa Khadya Adhikar Abhijan and who earlier headed the Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission. Who will benefit from the removal of FCRA regulation for receiving foreign funds? asks Sarangi. Certainly not the established NGOs already active in relief operations. Nor the Christian missionaries, whom the saffron brigade normally targets in such situations, as they operate under the FCR Act of 1976. It is only the Hindu fundamentalist organisations who will benefit the most out of it, says Sarangi. 

The BJP general secretary, Narendra Modi, has already highlighted the role of these organisations that he calls NGOs. If a proper inquiry is conducted, it would reveal that the biggest beneficiary of any foreign fund in any post–disaster situation in recent times are the Hindu fundamentalist organisations,’’ says Samantara. If this is true, we have reasons of worry about.

Coming to the two per cent surcharge on income tax and corporate tax that the Union government so generously imposed was perhaps more badly needed in the Orissa case. The treasury of the state is not only empty; it is running on debt. Therefore, the Orissa government is not in a position to spend any additional rupee on super cyclone reconstruction work. The income of the state at present is less than Rs 200 crore a month whereas it has to spend more than Rs 400 crore to run the state administration. The state can’t afford to pay its matching contribution of 25 percent for the centrally sponsored schemes, which further reduces the potential of schemes such as the Indira Was Yojana (IAY) in meeting the needs of the cyclone affected people. 

To what extent pre–designed schemes meet the real challenge of reconstruction is, of course, another matter. For example, when 2 million people need support for houses, the Centre has actually allotted IAYs for Rs 50,000 only and has assured support for another Rs. 1.5 lakh. As per the government’s own admission, about 1.5 million people have applied for housing support.

The Orissa cyclone reconstruction committee, which was formed under the chairmanship of the defence minister George Fernandes, has not been able to mobilise a single paisa for the state from any other source. This committee is dead now. The UN system has altogether been able to spend only Rs 25 crore, says Sidhant Das, the executive director of Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA). 

As per the white paper of the state government, the World Bank is providing a total assistance of Rs 195 crore and Rs 880 crore in two phases. Out of this, 30 percent will be grant and 70 percent on a 12 per cent per annum interest basis. But, according to the managing director of OSDMA, Aurobinda Behera, the state is not going to get any amount from World Bank now. The Bank will only reimburse the expenses already incurred by the government. 

It may be recalled here that even this amount is not an original grant. The World Bank is only diverting its earlier loan to Orissa from a different head to the cyclone reconstruction work. The White Paper estimates the amount of fund spent by all NGOs at Rs 130 crore.
The situation in Orissa has now further worsened with a severe drought affecting about two crore people. There is no sign of any critical central assistance forthcoming for drought mitigation.

The people of Orissa now have to face two enemies at the same time — one being the recurrent natural disasters and the other one being a disastrous central government which makes a mockery of the whole situation they are forced to live in. The people of Orissa are not particularly concerned about what others think about them. For instance, they are least disturbed by the ridiculous statements recently made against them by JP Mathur, a senior BJP leader. 

Thousands of fishermen, who lost everything in the tidal waves, are not meditating on the seashores, waiting for the blessings of a Mathurji or an Advaniji. They are venturing into the sea once again to earn their livelihood. The lakhs of people who had lost their houses no longer sleep under the open sky. With their own sweat and skill they have re–build structures, which resembling a house. 

Life is once again blooming in the betel vines which were completely washed away by the cyclone. Even the most deprived ones and the Dalits in the worst affected Erasama block had preferred ‘food for work’ to ‘free kitchens’ within days of the disaster. 

Whether Gujaratis or Oriyas, common people everywhere have an unimaginable and perhaps in–built capacity to recover and recoup from even the most seemingly hopeless situations. Of course, the process of recovery would be smoother if the greater humans controlling state power behave rationally and responsibly in a post–disaster situation. By failing to do so, they only expose themselves as they have done in the aftermath of the Gujarat earthquake.

P.S.: The vastly different response of the electronic and mainstream media and also the response of the civil society to the calamities in Orissa earlier and Gujarat now are no less noteworthy, Here, ‘capital’ makes all the difference. If, as in Gujarat, the victims of a disaster are rich and have the potential to invest or entertain investment, they can be sure of a good response from the media and civil society in times if distress. If they are poor in the perception of ‘capital’, they are destined to be looked down upon, irrespective of the scale of the catastrophe they are confronted with and the dignity and self–respect with which they deal with their situation.

The responses received by the cyclone victims of Orissa then and the quake victims of Gujarat now bear ample testimony to the irony manifest in this era of globalisation. People of Orissa who have been condemned as poor and backward and who don’t have the capacity to help in the ‘appreciation’ of capital will not get the ‘benefit’ of a Bill Clinton or a Lara Dutta championing their cause. But, may be, the cyclone-affected people of Orissa, too, are least bothered about this discretionary display of humanitarian concern. 

(Figures quoted above are based on the white paper of the state government, and reports prepared by the government–run OSDMA (Orissa Disaster Mitigation Authority) and the ODMM (Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission, a collective initiative of NGOs in Orissa).

Archived from Communalism Combat, February 2001 Year 8  No. 66, Cover Story 3


Disturbing reports of caste, class and communal bias in its distribution continue to surface.

Split Wide Open


 
Nature was undiscriminating in the staggering death and devastation she wrought on Gujarat. But as international and national aid pours in, disturbing reports of caste, class and communal bias in its distribution continue to surface. Among other things, this could mean scant attention to the rehabilitation of craftsmen from worst-hit Kutch – a region famed for its rich and vivid handicraft tradition

Devastation, death and despair bring out the best, and the worst, in us. So it has been with Gujarat, a state that symbolises the latest paradigm of modern India — brazen communalism and urbanisation stalking hand–in–hand with aggressive globalisation and depletion of natural resources. The killer earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, which shook the state to its roots, proved to be a brutal leveller. 

Vankars (weavers), ajrak printers, all the Kutchi karigars who’s rich tradition of hand crafts spans weaving, block printing, intricate bandhni leather crafts, metalworking and woodwork, were severed from their livelihoods as much as the flourishing Patel business class. Migrant and landless labourers had their lives snatched away as much as salt pan workers. Among the survivors in urgent need of relief and rehabilitation were Harijans (the scheduled castes among the vankars in Gujarat still refer to themselves as Harijans, instead of Dalit) and Muslims, as much as upper caste Hindus — Rabaris, Darbaris, Bhanushalis, Patels. 

It was a Republic Day that few in Kutch (Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau), Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Surendranagar and more than 600 villages around are likely to forget. The tremors that reverberated across the state and impacted neighbouring Maharashtra, too, came shortly before 9 am.
The official R–Day functions in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Delhi – chief minister Keshubhai Patel and entourage saluting the tricolour, Gujarat High Court judges feasting on a lavish lunch after the traditional flag hoisting and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his cabinet at the official R–Day parade — continued stoically undisturbed by the crash of cement and concrete until well past mid–day. By then, much of Bhuj, Anjar and Bhachau towns had already been reduced to rubble. Even smaller townships in the Kutch and Saurashtra regions had lost most of the pucca dwellings. 

Today, rough estimates put the loss of life at close to 50,000. Gujarat joins issue and cause with Orissa in the east of the country that suffered a human tragedy of similar proportion when it was devastated by not one, but two, cyclones 18 months ago. In material terms, the loss in Gujarat has been officially computed at over Rs. 20,000 crores.

The sluggishness of government response — epitomised in Doordarshan’s non–acknowledgement of the ‘event’ until 24 hours later — to the sheer scale of the loss in human and material terms is reflective of how distant the State — central and state governments alike — have become from the real concerns and rights of people, the very people from whom they seek legitimacy.  Not only that, arms of the State in India today have distinctly partisan political and economic agendas that violate the core and spirit of Indian democracy and Constitution. It is a factor that influences responses in times of war and peace, disaster and normalcy.

A myriad images spring to mind when we reflect on the past three weeks of media glare – photographs, television images and reams of printed copy. There are the spontaneous stories of human bonding, the instinct and desire to rise above narrow mind–sets. Stray accounts of RSS workers in their khaki shorts and Muslim boys working together for rescue and relief were reported in the first few days after the disaster. Sadly, reports of sectarian mind-sets prevailing over common pain and suffering followed. Which are the ones that shall endure?

Republic Day 2001 was a Friday. A call was given through the khutba (sermon after Friday’s Juma namaaz) at the Al Fazal Mosque in the Juhapura area in the outskirts of the old city of Ahmedabad that all help should be rendered to the needy as speedily as possible. Even before the call from the mosque, 15–20 Muslim boys had rushed to the neighbouring Hindu–dominated Vejalpur locality in their bid to rescue the occupants of the Shiv Society apartments that had collapsed.

Days later, a spontaneous procession of a few hundred Muslim women dressed in burkhas, walked the streets of Ahmedabad — a city scarred by the wounds of otherness and division — praying to Allah to bring succour to Gujarat, a state affected by tragedy once too often. The march moved ordinary Ahmedabadis to tears.

However, after the initial days of such spontaneous display of undiscriminating solidarity in the face of unprecedented human tragedy, Communalism Combat began receiving complaints (from different parts of Gujarat) of exclusion from relief by marginalised sections, areas and populations. The caste–based marginalisation excluded traditional karigars and artisans from the ambit of relief and rehabilitation. And, in tune with the ascendant discourse of Gujarat as the “laboratory for a Hindu rashtra”, discrimination was also influenced by the religion of the affected.  Strange are the ways of seeing. The pall bearers of the Hindu rashtra ideology, that conjures images of military prowess gained through blood–soaked trishul and sets us back by several centuries into rank medieval discourse, has little to offer to the traditional karigars of Kutch. Karigars whose link with the past is so palpable and enduring. 

For example, in the pots crafted by the late master potter Suleimanbhai Mohammad. Or, the famed ajrak print process of the Khatris of Dhamadka. To the national award winner Khatri karigars, Mohammadbhai Siddik and Abdul Razzak goes the credit of reviving the natural dye process that had passed unnoticed to Sindh and Multan and bringing recognition, national and international awards, fashion and tourism to Dhamadka. Glitzy ‘Miss World’ outfits crafted in bandhni (tye and dye), in a technique so fine, are also notched to the credit of Ali Mohammad Isha from the region. Pooplibehn of Dhordo is another name recalled and remembered as a bandhni karigar of the highest calibre.

Hajaram is an upstart ajrak painter whose natural inclination for colour and blocks led him to acquire the technique of the famous ajrak printing from the local Khatris of the famed Dhamadka, 54 kilometres from Bhuj. Even before the devastation wrought by the earthquake, his village, like scores others in Kutch, had been reeling under a two–year–old drought, forcing people to buy food from the market, a practice alien to them. 

Today, Hajaram is a survivor of the quake that has left him bereft of five close family members. His workshop and home are badly damaged. Dazed and disoriented with the loss of family, home and workplace, he is busy trying to rebuild his own life and that of 150 other similarly affected families. 
Everything is under rubble. No heavy machinery has been brought to clear the debris. Dhamadka is on the international map thanks to the ajrak printers. But, today, no attention is being paid to the vibrant karigars who have brought the region fame and richness. 

Dhamadka and Anjar also suffered a quake in 1956; in 1912, too, the region was affected by a seismic shock. Nature, as the karigars, the landless labourers, the fishermen and women of Kutch know it, has rarely been kind to this stark region. In such an environment has sprouted the rich, philosophic, fiercely independent and enterprising Kutchi character.

Hajaram, Ghulam Hussain Oomer, Zakaria-bhai, Rameshbhai Savani, Vankar Premji Velji, are names that today represent the timeless crafts of the Kutch region, reflective of Kutchi khumari, of pride laced with self–respect. This karigar community, comprising of Muslims, Harijans and Hindus dotting the Kutch landscape, has remained marginalised from both relief and rehabilitation. Villages like Manpar, Adoi and Chaubari and 170 more around Bhuj are reduced to material nothingness, will schemes for rehabilitation allow the re-birth of these since they are home to vibrant local populations?

Emotional succour and limited support has come from some individuals and institutions associated with and interested in the crafts and culture of the region. These include Shrujan, an enterprise that supports design and craft in many villages run by Chandabehn Shroff. Sohan, a co–operative handicrafts enterprise linked for over four decades to the region with Prabhabehn Shah and Malti Jhaveri ‘in charge, is also attempting need-based assistance. Reeth with Anela Jasuja and Kalashetra with Judy Frater — a foreigner who has made Kutch her home — are other organisations in Mumbai trying to intervene sensitively. 

Meanwhile, the karigar communities have quickly gone about finding their own solutions. Ramesh Savani, is a karigar in batik from Mandvi that fortunately escaped the worst. But that has not made Savani complacent. He has been busy trying to help Hajaram and the Khatris from Dhamadka who have suffered the worst.

If Kutchi karigars are completely sidelined with little attention being paid to the revival and rehabilitation of their rich and enduring crafts tradition, there are increasing complaints from other parts of the state, too — especially Saurashtra (Morbi near Rajkot) and Surendranagar districts — of bias against minority sections in relief distribution and worse. 

“At a time like this, everything and everyone should transcend prejudices and narrow mind–sets. But in Gujarat today, these prejudices are fanned officially”.

Activists of the VHP and RSS have allegedly been insisting that irrespective of their religion, all must chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’ before they are given food at the relief camps. Both the VHP and the RSS have hotly denied the latter charge. Meanwhile, Communalism Combat has independently been receiving complaints of blatant bias being displayed by some Gujarat ministers, like Fakirbhai Vaghela, in the distribution of tents and cash doles. 

(The Gujarat government last week announced a cash compensation of Rs. 1,00,000 per deceased to surviving family members. In case of the surviving families of the nearly 400 school children from Anjar who died while participating in a Republic Day parade, the compensation amount has been increased to Rs 1,10,000 per death, since the children died while on ‘patriotic duty’).

When Vaghela, the minister for social welfare in the state cabinet, toured his constituency — in Surendranagar district bordering Kutch — on February 3, he crudely ignored Muslim–dominated areas. As we go to press, nearly three weeks after the killer quake, thousands remain subjected to the vagaries of bitter cold. Vaghela is accused by local residents of insisting that the RSS get credit for the material distributed in relief. He was also reportedly angered to find local residents having started medical relief operations cutting across community. He allegedly stopped them from doing so and took charge of the civil hospital forcibly. Hindu and Muslim residents thereafter have submitted a joint memorandum to the local mamlatdar urging that at times of crises the administration should work to unite and not divide people. 

Surendra Vanrajsingh Jala, from Kherali village in the Surendranagar district (located in Vaghela’s assembly constituency), spoke with anguish to CC, about the hoarding of relief materials and the fact that ‘backwards’ and Muslims were not being given relief. “The maximum damage from the region has been in Paldi and Halvat. Citizens of the town, from all communities, have been united in their protest against the minister’s attempts to divide people on the basis of religion. Villagers have made representations in this connection to the collector and to the chief minister and home minister protesting against this attitude.” 

Jala also revealed that in neighbouring Watwan, also in Surendranagar and the constituency of BJP MLA Dhanraj Kela, locals had looted the godown where relief materials had been hoarded at night instead of being distributed to legitimate claimants.

“For the past two weeks we residents of Dasada have been told that tents have been distributed,” complains Aslam Malik, a member of the Lok Janshakti party, “but we have not received a single tent and women and children are still sleeping out in the open.” 

Concurs Anwarbhai Pathan, a resident of Paldi: “So much relief material has been diversified or dispersed through the RSS–controlled bajaar samitis. Odhu village is nearly finished, all homes damaged, people are still sleeping out in the open. Members of the RSS, like Rashmibhai Rawal, Dilipbhai Khejadia, Bharat Painter, Vanvaji Thakore are being favoured with relief material that does not, then, reach anywhere else.”

The writ that the RSS and VHP over the state administration can be gauged from their ability to influence scrutiny of accusations of discrimination at the very highest level. The governor of Gujarat, Sundersinh Bhandari was scheduled to visit  Surendranagar following reports of discrimination, especially in Dasada, on February 19. Pressure from the RSS and Vaghela compelled him, at the last moment to cancel the visit, reliable local sources informed CC.

While CK Koshy, relief commissioner of Gujarat was unavailable for comment, PN Roy, in charge of relief operations at Anjar — one of the worst affected towns — categorically repudiated such allegations, at least in Anjar where he has been in charge. “There have never been allegations, now or ever, of the IAS being communal. Rest assured, we have taken extra care to ensure that distribution and responsibility is handled only by organisations with unimpeachable credentials. We will not let people be discriminated against,” he told Communalism Combat. 

On the day CC spoke to Roy, he had been honoured with an international award for his efforts, by an American relief agency. The citation praises Roy’s efforts for ‘excellence in International Major Disaster Management.’

“As in wars laws do not remain silent, so too in calamities and at times of crises, laws in general and constitutional rights, human rights and humanity cannot remain silent,” Girishbhai Patel, of Lok Adhikar Sangh told Communalism Combat. “We, too, have received complaints of caste– and community–based discrimination which we are looking into, case by case. But we can expect the worst from this government that is a victim of its own mindset.”

The present BJP government came to power in March 1998, publicly touting its Hindu rashtra agenda. On April 15–16, 1998, barely a month after chief minister Keshubhai Patel took the constitutional oath, the first attack on churches and Christians began. Three months later, Muslims in rural and semi–rural areas of Randhikpur and Sanjeli were targeted. 

In between, in June 1998 came the first killer cyclone that not only cost the Kandla region 10,000 lives, but also left the central government–run Kandla Port Trust squabbling with the state government on the crucial issue of relief and rehabilitation. Even then, within just a few months of saffron–hued governance in the state, there were detailed accounts of Muslim fishermen and migrant saltpan workers suffering from discrimination and bias. An official report by the Kandla Port Trust brought out recently, evaluating the proposed rehabilitation of 3,500 homes reveals that two–and–a–half years later, not more than 20 homes have been built! 

The Kandla cyclone, like the Gujarat earthquake, had raised serious questions of inept disaster management. Then, too, the Lok Adhikar Sangh had petitioned the court pointing out the total incompetence of the state government, despite scientific warnings, in dealing with natural calamities. “The government, instead of responding to the questions that had been raised, replied with reams of computer paper,” says Patel. Despite being a pioneer of public–spirited litigation, he has not gone to court this time. “I have lost complete faith in the judiciary. The two–year–old petition would have been relevant today. But what have the courts done to expedite its hearing? It is still pending. We had asked why the control rooms were inadequately staffed, why the staff that was there was not trained to handle proper co–ordination. What did we get in reply? Accusations and counter accusations between the Kandla Port Trust and the state government!”

Father Cedric Prakash of the Ahmedabad–based St Xaviers Social Service Society, a resident of Gujarat for 23 years, has been active in relief and rehabilitation work through many of these tragedies. The day after the earthquake, RSS volunteers physically stopped him from entering a building in Ahmedabad where people were trapped. Initial consignments of official aid, valued at a few million dollars, have been rooted through the St. Xaviers Society and Jan Vikas Collective along with some other NGOs. Their efforts at distribution of the material, that included heavy military tents etc. was acknowledged in a letter from the US ambassador, Richard F Celeste. 

Says father Prakash, “Look, caste discrimination is there everywhere. But what are the kinds of signals that come from the top? At a time like this, everything and everyone should transcend prejudices and narrow mind–sets. But in Gujarat today, these prejudices are fanned officially. While many people are bravely trying to transcend the confines of religion, here are organisations actually fanning differences with the blessings of the state.”
The Delhi–based All India Milli Council has also set up four camps in Gujarat to provide relief ad rehabilitation. In its initial report, it also made mention of bias in reaching of relief to survivors in Gujarat. However, while addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad on February 16, the group made a clear distinction between representatives of the RSS and VHP and ordinary Hindus who felt angered by the politicisation of relief operations.
Giving an example of attempts to make Muslims chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’ before being given food at a relief centre in the Kutch region, representatives of the Council told the media that many Hindu survivors in the camps also refused the offer of food in protest against this kind of coercion. 

Alongside communal bias, the scenario in Gujarat post–earthquake has revealed sharp and visible caste–based discrimination and prejudice. Tikar, a badly affected village in Surendranagar district happens to be the home of the brother of Sam Pitroda. When he arrived there in early February to convey his offer to re–construct the whole village, the Patels bluntly told him that while re–building the village, caste distinction would have to be strictly followed! This means that Dalits would continue to be discriminated against, continue to be subjected to the practice of untouchability and denied common and equal access to water and grazing lands.

Adhoi village, also in Surendranagar district, is also witnessing similar schisms. Valjibhai Patel, Council for Social Justice, told Communalism Combat that his organisation is co–ordinating relief effort in 90–100 camps in the district with no help from outside. The extent of caste prejudice has forced his organisation to approach the Gujarat High Court with a public interest petition. 

The governor of Gujarat, Sundersinh Bhandari was scheduled to visit  Surendranagar following reports of discrimination, especially in Dasada, on February 19. But pressure from the RSS and Vaghela compelled him, at the last moment, to cancel the visit.

“We have already collected affidavits from Dalit women from the village who have testified to the organisation of food and other rehabilitation items on a caste–wise and discriminatory basis. Even temporary shelters are being constructed on caste lines. Our plea to the court is that whenever re-built, an ideal village should emerge here within which Dalits, Muslims and Hindus intermingle and live together, not separated by discrimination.”

Serious questions about human rights issues in the context of a natural calamity have surfaced in the wake of the quake. What is the responsibility of the government towards human lives in terms of disaster management? That is, its response to warning signals of impending disasters. Also in the norms that it does or does not set for the powerful construction lobby that stands exposed for criminal and negligent conduct in Ahmedabad and Bhuj — especially in urban construction. Will the guilty builders of Ahmedabad and Bhuj be punished? There were huge individual investments made in the buildings that have collapsed. Who will bear the tab of compensation? 

Like Valjibhai’s petition, two other citizens’ interventions in court seek greater transparency and accountability from government. The first, filed by former chief justice of Gujarat High Court, Justice Bipinchandra Divan and other prominent citizens of Gujarat, has demanded accountability from government in the distribution of aid. On February 17, 2001 this PIL achieved success with Justice Dharmadhikari passing a pathbreaking order giving the reliefs that the petitioners had sought: all money received in aid would be put in a separate account (so as not to be diverted for purposes other than relief and rehab of survivors) and a district judge would monitor disbursal at every stage. 

International and national aid for Gujarat, from foreign governments, UN agencies and independent organisations, has been enormous. “If fairly distributed, aid can comfortably look after all the affected survivors of Gujarat for a year, but it is just not being distributed well,” says Martin Macwan, a leading rights activist who heads the Ahmedabad–based Navsarjan. 

Another petition filed by senior advocate Haroobhai Mehta on behalf of SAMVAD seeks criminal action against 55 builders named by aggrieved persons in private complaints filed in Ahmedabad. Some groups are also contemplating filing yet another PIL on the question of increasing and visible bias in the disbursal of relief.
Says Mehta: “Serious human rights issues have arisen after the calamity. The right to life is a guaranteed right. This means that the right to be rescued efficiently and quickly is itself the right of every human being. Chief minister Keshubhai Patel and home minister Haren Pandya have themselves admitted that one whole day lost was lost; the rescue actually started on the second day. For 24 hours there was nothing. Who will bear this responsibility? Even today the debris has not been cleared. Bhachau is still buried under cement and concrete rubble. It will be months before it is cleared.”

Inept governance that inspires little confidence, be it for the relatively privileged urban middle class or the utterly marginalised sections of quake-hit Gujarat, and a prejudicial mind–set sum up the response of the present political leadership to the calamity. 

“Immediate relief and supplies through official channels has been influenced by political considerations, the mainline versus interior bias and the poverty–caste–religion ratio,” says Macwan. Interestingly, the vocal voluntary and non–governmental sector that is always at the receiving end of governmental and administrative wrath, was open enough to work with any and all groups, until increasing reports of exclusion and bias began creeping in. The sheer scale of the tragedy that left none untouched governed this maturity. 

But was this approach rewarded? Says Macwan, “Above all, the mind-set of the present political dispensation shows up in nonsensical ways. At a recent meeting at the chief minister’s house where I was present, the general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad espoused the setting up of spiritual centres as part of their rehabilitation package! Now, this is really angering. Are we thinking of religion, or food? There are people who are still living out in the open after 21 days. 

“The fact that this mind–set can surface even at a time of a tragedy of the grossest magnitude, reflects the nuisance value of this ideology and mind–set. We have been part of different non–governmental and voluntary associations like the Janpath Initiative and the KMVS. We have in the past put aside ideological differences. This time, too, that was our approach. “Even now we feel that we should strive to look at everything as a basic human rights issue. There is the crucial question of rehabilitation. Government figures put the total loss at around Rs. 20,000 crore. The last cyclone had caused losses worth Rs. 10,000 crores. How are the people of Gujarat going to cope?

“If the RSS has a plan of rehabilitation totalling Rs. 15,000 crores, let them do it. We will be with them. But let a concrete plan emerge. And all we say is that everyone must benefit from the rehabilitation package. There must not only be a policy of equality but also an aim of social equity. Creating conditions of equity means accepting that gross inequity prevails. The question is, do they have the strength to go beyond their mind–set?” 

Hindus sweep Masjid before handing it to Muslims
Agencies/Ahmedabad

Overwhelmed by the gesture shown by Muslims in providing succour to the quake–hit people of Gujarat, Hindus swept and scoured a Shahi Masjid and invited them to offer namaaz at the place of worship, situated in the communally sensitive Khadia area of the city.
Earlier, Muslims were scared of going to the mosque because of the area’s long–history of communal riots, said Amjad Ali Rajput, Rajpur ward chief of BJP’s minority cell here Thursday.
“However, the good Samaritan job done by Muslims in providing all possible help to their Hindu brethren had an impact and the Hindus of the locality on Sunday washed and cleaned the mosque before inviting us to offer prayers,” he said. 
Since then Muslims have been offering prayers at the Khadia Shahi masjid five times a day without any hesitation or fear, Amjad said.

‘BJP govt wants RSS, VHP to get all the credit’

Girishbhai Patel
Lok Adhikar Sangh
Ahmedabad

It is a clear–cut strategy of the BJP that, at the cost of it’s own reputation, the government machinery should not work but the VHP and RSS should get credit for any relief and rehabilitation. Gujarat is crying for a different kind of leadership that can respond to the assaults by communalism and globalisation. Congress does not have people of vision and the BJP has no people, it has only mobs.
This government is functioning like a religious organisation. I am sure that large numbers of temples will come up in reconstruction!
Medha Patkar and myself have surveyed the situation. We feel that there is a surfeit of relief. But instead of awakening a scientific spirit among people, except for some established NGOs, relief is being distributed mostly by the RSS and the VHP and the Jamaat–e–Islami. In many villages, the Sai Baba Samiti and other religious and sectarian organisations have reached.
The real problem is going to be of reconstruction. To this end, some of us (Medha Patkar, Justice Ravani and myself) have made a public appeal: Let us seize this opportunity to reconstruct villages in a way that they become self–sustainable villages, in a way that they reflect the traditional framework, while not perpetuating the tradition–based caste discriminations. Let us not rely on corporate structure. We need to show vision and courage on the caste question, we cannot perpetuate discrimination.
We are privileged by a sharp constitutional vision on the question of equity, social justice and non–discrimination. We must not replicate the past.
This tragedy also brings into sharp focus the consequences of the new development paradigm that we have so blindly adopted. In Gujarat, we have had two cyclones, persistent drought. And yet, those who make decisions on our behalf do so at the cost of lives and resources. How do we build up an economy that does not cause so much damage to the people?

‘We don’t know when government help will come; we have to help ourselves’

Ramesh Savani
‘Batik’ craftsman
Mandvi, Kutch

“What is needed most is chappars, for temporary houses. Mandvi was spared but Dhamadka, Kothdi village, and similarly Daneti, Dudhai, Chobari are completely and severely damaged. We have just been to Bhavnagar and surveyed the ship-breaking yard and the scrap there. The malba (scrap) contains sheets of ply and other material that are lightweight yet durable, useful for our homes. We are planning to buy these in bulk, hire a lorry and take them to Dhamadka for our craftsmen, the Khatris and Hajaram. We don’t know when government help will come. We have to help ourselves. Our women and children are suffering sleeping out in the cold, how long can they do so? ”

Even three weeks after the damage we have received no relief’

Devji Premji
Vankar, Harijan 
Bhujodi village, Kutch

“Though our village is only nine kilometres away from Bhuj proper, even three weeks after the damage we have received no relief and only one visit from the Sai Baba Samiti. There are 200 vankars in the village. Seven or eight lives have been lost and nearly 30–40 per cent of the looms has been damaged. Ours is a total population of about 3,300; we have 1,900 Rabaris and 1,300 vankars. We need talpatris (covers for roofs) but not made of plastic as they melt in our heat, and columns made of material that do not attract white ants!”
‘The mamlatdar is selectively disbursing relief material only to the RSS and VHP’ Aslam Malik
Social worker Dasada, Surendranagar “We have completed a survey of 15 villages including Dasada, Vanod, Adhiraniya, Dhama, Jejuwada, Jenabad, Odhu and Patdi (a township of 20,000). This area is also within the constituency of an MLA and a minister hence the anger of people is palpable. It is the same story everywhere. These are villages dominated by Muslims and Dalits. Patdi is barely 90 kilometres from Ahmedabad; but the mamlatdar is selectively disbursing relief material only to the RSS and VHP. In Patdi, the mamlatdar goes on saying that 150 tents have been distributed, the collector dishes out a figure of 3,500. But where have the tents gone? They have not reached the people.  Locals have demanded a survey by the executive magistrate — the 92 villages under him should be visited. Where are the 5,000 that have been sent to the district collector, news of which has appeared from official sources in the press?”

‘The Muslim fisherfolk and Harijans from the Rann of Kutch have no one to help them’

Fr Cedric Prakash
St Xaviers Social Service Society
Ahmedabad

“Our team is also discovering villages which are out of the pale of relief, where people are still outside in the open. These are in the Rann of Kutch, the Nalya and Lakhpat villages. These villages have Rabaris, Darbars and Muslim populations. Now some influential communities like Darbars have connections outside. The Bhanushali community has samajs in Mumbai, they can garner help. But the Muslim Kolis (fisherfolk) and Harijans have no one to help them. Now, how has the RSS helped here? They have taken up one solitary village consisting of 350 people to concentrate on; this village has mainly Darbar families whom they want to help!” 

‘There are complaints that in common langars, Dalits and Muslims were asked to stand last’

Haroobhai Mehta
Senior advocate
Ahmedabad

“A general bias is visible. Maliya town near Morbi in Rajkot has a 60 per cent Muslims population, so here the government moved slowly. We have also received complaints that in common langars, Dalits and Muslims were asked to stand last. There was another example of the Mudra Masjid in Kutch district where Muslims who were receiving aid from the administration were physically stopped by the RSS and the VHP. There have also been reports of relief being diverted to trucks with the BJP Lotus or the RSS emblem. The whole issue is also of the reconstruction model which should not hurt the cultural setting and milieu of the people. But at the moment the whole situation is completely anarchic.”

‘The BJP government is blatantly in favour of the privileged sections’

Valjibhai Patel
Council for Social Justice
Ahmedabad

“In Adhoi village in Surendranagar, 80 per cent of the pucca houses were destroyed; 20 Dalits died as did some Kolis and Muslims. The Patels who are very prosperous have rehabilitated themselves on the other side of the highway and called the new settlement Udaipur. But there has been not even any elementary relief for the more marginalised sections. No tents have been received; people are still sleeping out in the cold. 
The Patels want the Dalits out. Why? The Dalits are living on good fertile land. The Patels are eyeing this land.
Our PIL will be filed in a few days. We want the court to apply the Indian Constitution in directing that in official rehabilitation efforts, an ideal village gets created. 
The BJP government is blatantly in favour of the privileged sections. The chief minister made a statement that was reported in the Sandesh (February 14) saying that those with more land and who own dairy cattle deserve more spacious home and land in rehabilitation schemes. A rehabilitation packet announced by the government gives 35,000 each under the Sardar Awaz Yojana for slum dwellers to rebuild homes, while big bungalow owners have been given Rs. 100,000 without interest!” 

Archived from Communalism Combat, February 2001 Year 8  No. 66, Cover Story 1


Ignored Warnings

Reports compiled by the Earthquake Affected Relief and Rehabilitation Services, Ahmedabad indicate that several warning signals that were reported by the media four months ago were ignored

The people of Gujarat, especially Kutch and Saurashtra, have been victim to a relent
 less cycle of natural disasters: two cyclones, in 1998 and 1999, coupled with two successive years of drought. The present earthquake was of unprecedented intensity and the tragedy has raised legitimate questions about the quality and efficacy of government response related to disaster management.  A significant aspect of disaster management relates to responses to warnings of imminent disasters. 

Reports compiled by the Earthquake Affected Relief and Rehabilitation Services (EARRS), Ahmedabad indicate that several such signals that even appeared in the media four months ago, were ignored

Reports from newspapers of Sept. 2000:

Major quake may follow Bhavnagar tremor: Expert 
(PTI) 18 Sept. 2000, The Times of India

MUMBAI: The large number of tremors being felt in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat “may be indications of a possible major earthquake”, according to an eminent geologist. The 11 tremors in five hours on September 12 could be foreshocks which normally precede a major earthquake just as it happened in Killari in Maharashtra on September 30, 1993, said Dr V Subramanyan while delivering a lecture on “Seismic scenario around Mumbai” at the Indian Institute of Geo–magnetism here during the weekend. 

Bhavnagar is geologically identical to Mumbai and both fall under earthquake zone III where quakes of magnitude up to 6.5 were possible, he said. 
The district lies along the Gulf of Khambat which is near Narmada faults, well near Satranj river basin. Subramanyan, currently project advisor of department of earth sciences in IIT Mumbai, said normally the faults, lying quiet for some time, get reactivated suddenly and act as the route for the release of stored pressures. 

Appreciating the Gujarat government’s effort at assessing the strength of the existing buildings and planning to adopt appropriate building technology, he said such studies should be done systematically for posterity since “we have to live with the earthquakes”. Scientific studies have helped to demarcate possible seismic zones through integrated geological and geophysical investigations, he said, adding, “the only thing which can be attempted in seismic zones is to go in for appropriate construction using the right designs for different types of buildings, warehouses, power reactors and dams”. Talking about prediction and prevention of earthquakes, Subramanyan said the scientific community was still not in a position to predict earthquakes. 

“It is because there are many factors we do not know, like the depths where the pressures build up, for how long they accumulate before getting relieved through earthquakes and where the pressure is built”. 

Earthquakes are brought about by the sudden release of pressures that have been accumulating for a long time inside the earth just like a pressure cooker, he said. Rocks are strong to withstand such pressures for quite some time, but when the accumulating stress exceeds ultimate bearing capacity, then they break by developing “fault” planes — which are actually cracks through which the accumulated pressure is released suddenly generating an earthquake which normally does not last longer than 15 seconds. 

Killer quake feared in Gujarat district 
Thursday 14 September 2000, The Times of India
GANDHINAGAR: Three more mild tremors kept people awake all night in Bhavnagar district as the government prepared on Wednesday to meet any emergency situation in the coastal region sitting on a seismically active faultline. More than 30 mild tremors have been felt in Saurashtra in recent days, raising fears of a major geological activity that could cause death and destruction. 

Experts warned that a ‘’killer earthquake’’ could strike the region anytime as the Bhavnagar–Kodinar faultline seems to have ‘re–activated’. The latest tremors were experienced at around 11.15 pm on Tuesday, and 2.24 am and 6 am on Wednesday. The region was shaken nearly a dozen times on Tuesday.

More than 30 mild tremors have been felt in Saurashtra in recent days, raising fears of a major geological activity that could cause death and destruction.Experts warned that a ‘’killer earthquake’’ could strike the region anytime as the Bhavnagar–Kodinar faultline seems to have ‘re–activated’.
— The Times of India, September 14 , 2000

Three hundred families had been shifted to safer places. Chief minister Keshubhai Patel, in Bhavnagar campaigning for the September 17 civic elections, urged the Centre to rush a team of meteorologists and seismologists to study the phenomenon. Patel also held high–level review meetings of officials here on Wednesday. The state government has sanctioned Rs 50 lakh as contingency relief fund and despatched medical and engineering teams to Bhavnagar. (UNI)
 
Quiet Bhavnagar tremor raises quite a storm: Geologists to study connection with earth-quakes in Turkey, Taiwan
Discussion forum on Local Economy & Politics, 23rd September, 2000 
A team of geologists from Dehradun, Pune and Vadodara will look into whether the tremors felt in Bhavnagar on Tuesday were anyway related to the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan. 

On the other hand, principal advisor to the chief minister, PK Lehari, said on Wednesday in Gandhinagar that there was no link between the earthquake that occurred in Taiwan and tremors felt in the Bhavnagar district of the state. Mr Lehari said that Bharuch and not Bhavnagar fall in the earthquake zone. 

Bhavnagar experienced slight tremors on Tuesday afternoon at 12.55 pm in an area of 80 sq km reaching up to Bhal Bhatta area in Alang. The tremors in Bhavnagar on Tuesday followed a severe earthquake in Taiwan where more than a thousand people died. Coincidentally, the earthquake in Turkey about one–and–a–half months back was also followed by tremors in the Bhavnagar city. 

Experts from Dehradun, Pune and Vadodra will also locate the epicentre of eruption in case the city faces a serious threat of earthquake. According to experts in the seismographic research department of the state, an earthquake is generally followed by slight tremors. No official records were taken one–and–a–half months back when the city experienced similar tremors following the Turkey earthquake. 

Gujarat Engineering Research Institute at Vadodara has also been contacted in this connection. According to the Maritime Board of Alang, the intensity of the tremors was greater at the ocean surface and near seashore areas. Similarly, in Bhavnagar, intensity of the tremors was less in rural areas, as a result of which residents have started shifting to villages. 

However, the Bhavnagar district collector, Mr Rajkumar, who was in Gandhinagar on Tuesday, said normal life was unaffected and also no loss of property was reported. 

Archived from Communalism Combat, February 2001 Year 8  No. 66, Cover Story 2


Orissa, who cares?

The response of the BJP–led central government to the disaster that has hit Gujarat has made millions of Oriyas acutely aware of the same government’s lackadaisical response to the cyclone that devastated Orissa only 15 months ago
 

Horrifying pictures of the  Gujarat earthquake are still fresh in public memory. None can belittle the devastation and death that the catastrophic earthquake caused in Gujarat on the January 26. 

But there is a reason to ponder over the responses this earthquake evoked. It may be true that a natural disaster does not recognise human frontiers, but its aftermath does. A disaster, be it a super–cyclone or an earthquake of high intensity, is normally believed to be a natural phenomenon. But the role of nature does not extend beyond the immediate happening of the disaster. Then ‘humans’ take over; to be more specific, those ‘humans’ who exercise the powers of the State and who decide how to make use of its resources in what situation. 

Whether it is the super–cyclone of Orissa or the earthquake of Gujarat, these greater mortals get ample opportunity to redesign and work out their own political and economic agenda. They are undoubtedly the direct beneficiaries of any disaster. The Gujarat earthquake has exposed one such group of beneficiaries — the BJP–led NDA government at the Centre.

The unprecedented response and the speed with which the government at the Centre reacted to the Gujarat earthquake was entirely missing when an equally, if not more, devastating super cyclone hit the Orissa coast in October, 1999 affecting almost 2/3rds of Orissa’s population. Union home minister, LK Advani, who owes his parliamentary berth to the people of Gujarat – Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency in particular — took up the co-ordination job on to his own shoulder and declared early on that the losses in Gujarat could be more than Rs 10,000 crore. 

Prime Minister AB Vajpayee issued almost a blank cheque to Gujarat. At least this was the version the media carried. Immediate assistance of Rs 1,300 crore was released to Gujarat by the Centre. Besides, the Prime Minister made an appeal to FICCI, CII etc to adopt all affected villages in Gujarat. 

The most significant initiatives of the Centre were the 2 percent surcharge on Income Tax and Corporate Tax and the temporary removal of Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) provisions by the home ministry to enable free inflow of foreign funds for earthquake relief. The other policy initiatives of the Centre included, the formation of a 39–member Central Disaster Mitigation Authority, (which does not include anyone from Orissa), steps towards a Disaster Mitigation Act and the formation of a Disaster Mitigation Commission on the lines of the Election Commission of India. 
This brings into focus the point that the BJP leadership of the Centre has made a direct assault on the spirit of Indian federalism and democracy by behaving differentially in similar situations. Since the super cyclone of Orissa has become part of history for those who neither witnessed it nor experienced its painful aftermath, it may be useful to recollect what was it all about.

Two cyclones hit the Orissa Coast in quick succession in October 1999 — one on October 17 and the more devastating one on October 29. The cyclone of October 29 acquired the distinction of a super cyclone because of the extent of damage it caused. The wild winds blowing at speeds of 260–310 km per hour accompanied by tidal waves wrought unimaginable devastation in the immediate coastal villages. 

About two crore people living in 20,000 villages and 46 urban areas were affected by the cyclones. About 21 lakh houses were destroyed, including the 8 lakh houses which were completely washed away. More than 13,000 school buildings, 2,000 village roads, 300 river embankments also fell victims to the super cyclone. Over 45 lakh coconut trees got uprooted, 84,000 tube wells were submerged in water for several days. 

Why was the central leadership so indifferent to Orissa and why it is so friendly to Gujarat? This question is agitating millions of victims of the super cyclone, who are yet to receive anything by way of reconstruction and rehabilitation measures.

In the post–cyclone situation, water logging was unprecedented. Between 90–100 per cent crop loss was reported from the affected districts. The cyclone had hit at the most vulnerable time for paddy crop. This was the crop on which the poorest of the poor depend the most because it was rain–fed. The loss of stored food, seeds and crop was overwhelming.

The Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission has estimated the total loss to be not less than Rs. 20,000 crore, the same as the officially estimated loss caused to Gujarat now. However, the Orissa government, while appealing to the Centre made a request for an assistance of Rs 7,000 crore only. How much did the Centre actually pay? So far, only Rs 828 crore and 15 lakh. It may sound unbelievable but that is the truth. 

This is despite the fact that Orissa today is ruled by the BJP along with the Biju Janata Dal. It is well known that the Orissa government is financially bankrupt. Even the 25 percent matching contribution it is supposed to make in the case of various centrally sponsored schemes, it is not in a position to do so. 

The state leaderships request to their own elders in Delhi to waive the criterion of matching contributions and for deferring the repayment of loan to Centre have been turned down by the latter. The possibility of any additional ‘favour’ from the Centre is also quite bleak, as it is evident from the statements of NK Singh, OSD to Prime Minister who visited Bhubaneswar February 16, 2001. According to Singh, the Centre will consider any request from the state only when it is satisfied that the fiscal reforms and power sector reforms are being carried out at a satisfactory pace.

Why was the central leadership so indifferent to Orissa and why it is so friendly to Gujarat? This is the question that the political elite and the press in Orissa are debating today. In fact, this question is agitating millions of victims of the super cyclone, who are yet to receive anything by way of reconstruction and rehabilitation measures. The Union government does not have even a mechanism to assess the post-cyclone situation as the only structure it created in the name of ‘Orissa Cyclone Reconstruction Committee’ under the chairmanship of the defence minister is, expectedly, defunct now. The new structure now created in the name of Central Disaster Mitigation Authority after the Gujarat earthquake has 33 members. Interestingly, not one of them represents Orissa. 

In the pre–cyclone situation, the BJP and other sangh parivar outfits virtually had no presence in the coastal districts. Immediately after the cyclone, the saffron brigade, playing the role of a Samaritan (the banner they used was named ‘Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti’) intruded into the coastal belt and gained considerable strength within a very short span of time. 

More than 70 percent of the 20,000 affected villages, now have RSS presence. Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, RSS–run schools, are coming up in large numbers. The ‘Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti’ — the saffron brigade’s relief wing — is emerging as one of the biggest NGOs in the state in terms of the resources it has mobilised in the name of cyclone relief and rehabilitation. 

The inefficiency of the then Congress government in mobilising resources from the Centre was the main election issue in coastal Orissa during the assembly election campaign which took place six months latter. The Congress eventually lost the election while the BJP emerged as the party benefiting the most out of the assembly elections.

Many, who are not aware of the BJP game plan, are even now under the illusion that things will change for the better with the change of guard in Orissa. “They want a Raj completely for themselves. They will allow the discontent to build up further, so that, later they can desert the BJD and try to capitalise on the situation to their advantage. People have lost faith in Congress. They still think it is BJD, which is ruling Orissa and not BJD–BJP combine. Therefore, BJP will look for a chance to form a BJP–only government”, says Prafulla Samantara, president, Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Orissa. 
“Don’t think that they are not benefiting in Gujarat, you make a mistake if you think so”, says RK Sarangi, now the convenor of Orissa Khadya Adhikar Abhijan and who earlier headed the Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission. Who will benefit from the removal of FCRA regulation for receiving foreign funds? asks Sarangi. Certainly not the established NGOs already active in relief operations. Nor the Christian missionaries, whom the saffron brigade normally targets in such situations, as they operate under the FCR Act of 1976. It is only the Hindu fundamentalist organisations who will benefit the most out of it, says Sarangi. 

The BJP general secretary, Narendra Modi, has already highlighted the role of these organisations that he calls NGOs. If a proper inquiry is conducted, it would reveal that the biggest beneficiary of any foreign fund in any post–disaster situation in recent times are the Hindu fundamentalist organisations,’’ says Samantara. If this is true, we have reasons of worry about.

Coming to the two per cent surcharge on income tax and corporate tax that the Union government so generously imposed was perhaps more badly needed in the Orissa case. The treasury of the state is not only empty; it is running on debt. Therefore, the Orissa government is not in a position to spend any additional rupee on super cyclone reconstruction work. The income of the state at present is less than Rs 200 crore a month whereas it has to spend more than Rs 400 crore to run the state administration. The state can’t afford to pay its matching contribution of 25 percent for the centrally sponsored schemes, which further reduces the potential of schemes such as the Indira Was Yojana (IAY) in meeting the needs of the cyclone affected people. 

To what extent pre–designed schemes meet the real challenge of reconstruction is, of course, another matter. For example, when 2 million people need support for houses, the Centre has actually allotted IAYs for Rs 50,000 only and has assured support for another Rs. 1.5 lakh. As per the government’s own admission, about 1.5 million people have applied for housing support.

The Orissa cyclone reconstruction committee, which was formed under the chairmanship of the defence minister George Fernandes, has not been able to mobilise a single paisa for the state from any other source. This committee is dead now. The UN system has altogether been able to spend only Rs 25 crore, says Sidhant Das, the executive director of Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA). 

As per the white paper of the state government, the World Bank is providing a total assistance of Rs 195 crore and Rs 880 crore in two phases. Out of this, 30 percent will be grant and 70 percent on a 12 per cent per annum interest basis. But, according to the managing director of OSDMA, Aurobinda Behera, the state is not going to get any amount from World Bank now. The Bank will only reimburse the expenses already incurred by the government. 

It may be recalled here that even this amount is not an original grant. The World Bank is only diverting its earlier loan to Orissa from a different head to the cyclone reconstruction work. The White Paper estimates the amount of fund spent by all NGOs at Rs 130 crore.
The situation in Orissa has now further worsened with a severe drought affecting about two crore people. There is no sign of any critical central assistance forthcoming for drought mitigation.

The people of Orissa now have to face two enemies at the same time — one being the recurrent natural disasters and the other one being a disastrous central government which makes a mockery of the whole situation they are forced to live in. The people of Orissa are not particularly concerned about what others think about them. For instance, they are least disturbed by the ridiculous statements recently made against them by JP Mathur, a senior BJP leader. 

Thousands of fishermen, who lost everything in the tidal waves, are not meditating on the seashores, waiting for the blessings of a Mathurji or an Advaniji. They are venturing into the sea once again to earn their livelihood. The lakhs of people who had lost their houses no longer sleep under the open sky. With their own sweat and skill they have re–build structures, which resembling a house. 

Life is once again blooming in the betel vines which were completely washed away by the cyclone. Even the most deprived ones and the Dalits in the worst affected Erasama block had preferred ‘food for work’ to ‘free kitchens’ within days of the disaster. 

Whether Gujaratis or Oriyas, common people everywhere have an unimaginable and perhaps in–built capacity to recover and recoup from even the most seemingly hopeless situations. Of course, the process of recovery would be smoother if the greater humans controlling state power behave rationally and responsibly in a post–disaster situation. By failing to do so, they only expose themselves as they have done in the aftermath of the Gujarat earthquake.

P.S.: The vastly different response of the electronic and mainstream media and also the response of the civil society to the calamities in Orissa earlier and Gujarat now are no less noteworthy, Here, ‘capital’ makes all the difference. If, as in Gujarat, the victims of a disaster are rich and have the potential to invest or entertain investment, they can be sure of a good response from the media and civil society in times if distress. If they are poor in the perception of ‘capital’, they are destined to be looked down upon, irrespective of the scale of the catastrophe they are confronted with and the dignity and self–respect with which they deal with their situation.

The responses received by the cyclone victims of Orissa then and the quake victims of Gujarat now bear ample testimony to the irony manifest in this era of globalisation. People of Orissa who have been condemned as poor and backward and who don’t have the capacity to help in the ‘appreciation’ of capital will not get the ‘benefit’ of a Bill Clinton or a Lara Dutta championing their cause. But, may be, the cyclone-affected people of Orissa, too, are least bothered about this discretionary display of humanitarian concern. 

(Figures quoted above are based on the white paper of the state government, and reports prepared by the government–run OSDMA (Orissa Disaster Mitigation Authority) and the ODMM (Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission, a collective initiative of NGOs in Orissa).

Archived from Communalism Combat, February 2001 Year 8  No. 66, Cover Story 3


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