Time to wake up
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Abhijay Karlekar's documentary on the tribal people of Jharkhand is a telling account of Government negligence
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A TALE THAT NEEDS TO BE HEARED The tribal people of Jharkhand have been reduced to landless labourers
`Sorry I cannot even say that I enjoyed making the movie. It's a sad story of the tribals of Jharkhand who are on the verge of extinction as agricultural people.'
This is what the director of the documentary Ab Aur Waqt Nahin, Abhijay Karlekar, has to say about his 109-minute venture that was shown at the India International Centre this past week.
The documentary about the tribal population of Jharkhand takes you to their world of helplessness.
It shows how their lands are reduced to barren plots due to massive deforestation and poor irrigation facilities by the Government.
What made him decide to capture their condition and put it in the form of a documentary? "When we observed the situation there, we felt that the whole story needed to be told to the world.
At that time Jharkhand was just declared a State, but the State did not belongto its people but to the political parties," says Abhijay.
Agricultural period reduced
The documentary also shows that the agriculture period has been reduced to two months from six to seven months over the last 20 years.
With no Government facilities actually reaching them they are reduced to mere labourers.
People with land have become landless, as they cannot grow anything on it.
"The water table has not lowered, it has plunged in recent years. The adivasis are feeling restless with their situation," says the filmmaker.
The tribes have come to know that their 70 years of struggle have given them no results and their situation has only become worse.
Right to protection
"These tribes are registered in the 5th schedule and have the right to be protected. But there is no one to make sure that it gets implemented. They are facing a developmental conflict," he adds.
The kharif crop is perhaps the last anchor for these tribes. But with monsoons failing in recent years, they have very little time left to survive as cultivators, warns the director.
Uncertainty has gripped the ecosystem as well as the demography of the area.
And the Government seems to be turning a deaf ear to them. The reason for this crisis, points out Abhijay, is intervention in the ecosystem in the name of industrial and urban development.
In course of time the real inhabitants were left far behind.
The solution
What about the talks of adding these tribes to the mainstream population through education and vocation? The director answers with a question, "What about the 40-50-year-olds who are skilled cultivators and cannot be made to study and do odd jobs? The solution to their woes is developing strong irrigation facilities and increasing their control on their environment."
They need to be recognised. They are not paralysed, just slowed, down, he avers, and the solution to their problems lies with them.
With local movements and talk of self-governance, the future seems hopeful. If these measures are carried out effectively, the tribes will regain their lost strength, which is agriculture.
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