Indian constitution has become no longer people specific, opined Dayamani Barla, a Chingari award winning indigenous tribal journalist at the Mini Conference on Women and Livelihood in South Asia organized as a part of the VIBGYOR Film Festival here on Friday. Livelihood is not merely linked with food and habitat but it is a matter of dignity, culture and identity. Nowadays even the corporate has started talking about livelihood. But their priority is totally different from priorities of minorities, she said.
Stating that livelihood of our nation is under threat, she said, “More than eighty lakh of people were displaced in Jharkhand in the name of development. However there is no record for that. Nobody wants to know what happened to all those people. Did they die or still alive?” Criticizing the anti people policies of the government, she noted, “The right over our water, land, food, seed is not with the farmers. The corporate companies have grabbed it with the help of government mechanisms. Now they decide what we eat, drink and wear.” Under the guise of helping poor rural Indian women, the banks are funding to raise SHGs. In real, the deposits of these poor women help only the corporate world, she explained.
However she expressed hope to bring a fair society if oppressed people are ready to take up the challenge.
Lauding the points raised by Dayamani Barla, Lakshmamma, a farmer and documentary film maker from Andhra Pradesh said, “We are not ready to give up our land to corporate.” She narrated her experience as a women farmer who fought against the companies like Monsanto to protect the indigenous seeds and organic farm technology.
Women are the most affected group in the struggle for livelihood, said C K Janu, leader of Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha in the panel discussion. She shared the bitter experience of Adivasis who have been fighting for their livelihood for the last many years. The government who is eager to allot title deed for the encroachers, is hesitant to give such power to Adivasis. The government is degrading the Adivasis by offering two cents of land while allotting acres of land to the corporate companies at nominal price, she rued. “Common people of Kerala have become refugees. They are forced to approach the government for their rights on water and land”, she said. She urged the people to come together to fight against such wrong policies of the government.
Talking on the feminist aspect of this issue, Carmel Christy, one among the Dalit activists and scholars from Kerala, said though academic discourse did not have any immediate effect on the issue, it has significant contributions in long run.