The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : People's War dons role of NGO

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 21, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

People's War dons role of NGO

By S.Harpal Singh

ADILABAD, SEPT. 20. If the naxalite couple of Burra Srinivas Goud and Talla Jamuna from the Dandakaranya area, who surrendered to the police, are to be believed, the CPI (ML) People's War is giving the non-government organisations a run for their money in the tribals tracts of Chattisgarh and Maharashtra since 1997. According to the former naxalite couple, the PW is engaged in imparting knowledge on agricultural practices among the tribals.

Different style

Srinivas Goud told The Hindu that the functioning of the PW is quite different in the Dandakaranya area comprising the tribal districts of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and Kanker, Jagdalpur and Dantewada in Chattisgarh. He said there was Government pressure on the underground outfit in these tribal areas unlike in Andhra Pradesh.

"There is ample time on our hands to take up developmental activities like imparting agricultural practices to the tribals. In many parts of these districts, the local people are not familiar even with growing vegetables. They are engaged in `podu' cultivation, which is known to give low yields. Hence, the party decided to help the tribals in the field of agriculture," Goud said.

The four districts are inhabited by the primitive Muria tribe (known as Gonds in Adilabad) and Dorla tribe (known as Pardhans in Dandakaranya). Under rainfed conditions, these hill tribes practice the `podu' cultivation, which entails the clearance of large tracts of forest land.

Modern practices

The tribals, who speak the Koya dialect (similar to Gondi in Adilabad), cultivate paddy on the foothills and `Kola' (Kural here), a type of millet. These two form the staple diet of the tribals in the region.

"We promoted bio manure, as the tribals were not aware of use of chemicals in agriculture. Earlier, the yield was about two bags of paddy per acre. Now it has gone up to 10 bags per acre," said the surrendered extremist. The naxalite refused to give the names of villages where the PW scored success in its `NGO type' activity.

Goud said the PW deployed their cadre with a rural background with sufficient experience of rainfed agriculture.

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