NGOs can be the much-needed link between the government and the tribal poor. The challenge in Jangalmahal is so complex that it is beyond the means of the administration alone, says Saibal Sen
Jayati Chakraborty gave up a secure job with Tiscoin Jamshedpur, a nice apartment and a handsome salary "to build something new, create something that would be of use to others".
"Honestly, I did not know what it could be," she recalls. A trip to Purulia's remote Bandwan in 2000 answered the unspoken question. She happened to visit Bhalopahar, an NGO run by another former Tata employee Kamalesh Chakraborty. She was inspired by his development work in the area and ecstatic when he agreed she could work with him.
She tried out new things linseed and tomato farming before finally deciding that the area needed a school. "We converted a hall into a classroom and started with 66 students in 2001. It seemed the school was waiting to happen," she says. Students pay Rs 30 a month. But paid pupil or not, no one is turned away.
A small group of dreamers here have put their heart and soul into an acquired piece of barren land in arid Purulia, where they have so far planted more than a 120,000 trees. It is also an archive for the preservation and propagation of the almost extinct as well as existing folk culture from all over the world. The erstwhile government was surprisingly reluctant to allow NGOs be a stakeholder in the development process.
In July 2010, Congress MLA Debaprasad Roy asked the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in the assembly why the government wasn't roping in NGOs or civil rights activists to reach out to the Maoists. Bhattacharjee responded: "The NGOs are not an alternative to political forces. I don't have any disrespect for the NGOs. But I feel political parties and the government are capable of combating the Maoists."
Roy does not agree. "People like P V Rajagopal, who've worked extensively, can be the much-needed link between the government and the tribal poor. It is very clear that such people connect well because they understand the issues after working among the tribal poor for decades," he told TOI.
"I hope that the new government won't walk the beaten track. Mamata Banerjee had involved several such personalities be it Medha Patkar or Mahasweta Devi," Roy said.
Rajagopal and Ekta Parishad, the NGO he leads, have been championing the cause of land and forest rights of tribal and Dalit communities for two decades. The organisation is committed to Gandhian forms of struggle and has recorded a number of success stories in ensuring and legitimising the land rights of deprived people, particularly in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa.
Salboni's Trinamool MLA Srikanta Mahata runs an NGO working for tribal education. The MLA is keen that more NGOs are allowed to work in Jangalmahal. Big NGOs hardly come to work here, he says. "The lack of consciousness and education make tribals extremely vulnerable. Anyone can influence them. The few who benefited from education have left this place and settled in Kolkata, Midnapore or Jhargram," he says, pointing out that the magnitude of the work needed means it can't be done by the administration alone, "NGOs have a crucial role."
Jayati Chakraborty gave up a secure job with Tiscoin Jamshedpur, a nice apartment and a handsome salary "to build something new, create something that would be of use to others".
"Honestly, I did not know what it could be," she recalls. A trip to Purulia's remote Bandwan in 2000 answered the unspoken question. She happened to visit Bhalopahar, an NGO run by another former Tata employee Kamalesh Chakraborty. She was inspired by his development work in the area and ecstatic when he agreed she could work with him.
She tried out new things linseed and tomato farming before finally deciding that the area needed a school. "We converted a hall into a classroom and started with 66 students in 2001. It seemed the school was waiting to happen," she says. Students pay Rs 30 a month. But paid pupil or not, no one is turned away.
A small group of dreamers here have put their heart and soul into an acquired piece of barren land in arid Purulia, where they have so far planted more than a 120,000 trees. It is also an archive for the preservation and propagation of the almost extinct as well as existing folk culture from all over the world. The erstwhile government was surprisingly reluctant to allow NGOs be a stakeholder in the development process.
In July 2010, Congress MLA Debaprasad Roy asked the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in the assembly why the government wasn't roping in NGOs or civil rights activists to reach out to the Maoists. Bhattacharjee responded: "The NGOs are not an alternative to political forces. I don't have any disrespect for the NGOs. But I feel political parties and the government are capable of combating the Maoists."
Roy does not agree. "People like P V Rajagopal, who've worked extensively, can be the much-needed link between the government and the tribal poor. It is very clear that such people connect well because they understand the issues after working among the tribal poor for decades," he told TOI.
"I hope that the new government won't walk the beaten track. Mamata Banerjee had involved several such personalities be it Medha Patkar or Mahasweta Devi," Roy said.
Rajagopal and Ekta Parishad, the NGO he leads, have been championing the cause of land and forest rights of tribal and Dalit communities for two decades. The organisation is committed to Gandhian forms of struggle and has recorded a number of success stories in ensuring and legitimising the land rights of deprived people, particularly in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa.
Salboni's Trinamool MLA Srikanta Mahata runs an NGO working for tribal education. The MLA is keen that more NGOs are allowed to work in Jangalmahal. Big NGOs hardly come to work here, he says. "The lack of consciousness and education make tribals extremely vulnerable. Anyone can influence them. The few who benefited from education have left this place and settled in Kolkata, Midnapore or Jhargram," he says, pointing out that the magnitude of the work needed means it can't be done by the administration alone, "NGOs have a crucial role."
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