113) The fate of voiceless

There can no sin greater than the one displacing people from their homes. When you take away a habitat of an animal or grab land from tribal to hand it over to a MNC just because they offered you a plum bribe, then watch out: instant karma will get you faster!!!

Let us listen to what Velan has to say:

“They said our presence in the forest was endangering wildlife and chased us away. Now my family and I are living in a village, with no land and no other source of livelihood. I do odd jobs in the fields of some rich person, but what I earn is barely enough to support my wife. I have a 20-year-old son, who accompanies me on work and earns whatever little he can. How long can we go on like this?

For generations we Adivasis have been living in the forest. How can the forest department clear us out saying that we are causing problems for the protection of wildlife? All these years, we are used to living in the jungles and feeding ourselves. We are not accustomed to the life in the villages.

How can I, at this age, start all over again? It is not as though we have been given an alternate source of livelihood. My wife too goes from house to house in the villages begging for food or seeking work. How long can she do this?

The forests were better protected when the Adivasis lived there. The forest is our home, the trees our Gods and the wildlife our family. We were not allowed to touch the fruit of many trees in the forest. The officers told us that we are ruining the forest cover with our presence. How can they do this to us? We have planted those trees, taken care of them and now we are not allowed to go near them.

'The forest is our home, the trees our Gods' and now they have taken those away from us.

I don't know why they are doing this. We go to the officers and beg and plead with them, but they are not interested in listening to us. This rally was my only hope. I would rather die on the roads than go back and lead a pointless life which involves searching for a new job every morning or thinking of what I will feed my family today”.

When I heard him, I realized that our politicians are not inefficient at all. They are experts in self aggrandizement and gondas in a democratic garb. For a country that cannot go beyond SRK’s 6 pack abs, I wish to become a citizen of a country with a conscience.

To see such injustices and not react is enfeebling and life in India enervates in every direction. But to see Velan put up a fight gives hope; is still a hope that honesty is not yet completely dead in Bharatland.