Ameliya Gram Sabha

When I was in school independence day celebration means lot for us, it's holiday, does not have to study and also don't have to go for work in the farm, it's just siting in school listen to speech ( mostly crap and also boring), till you get your  share of sweets, by then mostly half day over, so that is our independence day.

Over a period things changed, specially when we have moved to college the independence day is not just a day to wait for sweets its about being patriot, notion of nation, struggle etc. over a period of time things again changed, started questioning ourself of, what is freedom?, where is freedom?, who have got the freedom?etc,many more question use to pop up in mind.  Eventually stopped attending independence day celebration. I had not seen freedom being enjoyed equally or people enjoying freedom.

there are many time i have felt bad for what is happening and also what i am doing, but things become justifiable when i read about Gandi and that he was not celebrating Indian Independence day on 15th August 1947.  

This time it was different, I attended a independence day celebration that to in a village faraway from city and some where in a remote village in the state of  Madhya-Pradesh, the village is called Ameliya. This village is in Singroli dist of Madhya-Pradesh. I was not invited to attend this program, but I was there to attend the Gram-Sabha which was going to be held in that village, when i reach this village the school was still celebrating the independence day program so spent some time over there, though i missed the village heads speech i was happy to see so many people are attending and again the student were waiting to receive there share of food. The Gram Sabha was going to held immediately after this program so all the elders of the village were also present at that place. That's why I say this year it was some thing different.

Ameliya Gram Sabha:

This is my second visit to this village i had been to this place some time in the January this year and i am going again this time, this village is just next to the ESSAR power Plant being built in MP-Mahan Forest.

I could see this village (at least the people who have gathered in the meeting) Gram Sabha was divided in to  Two groups/ faction, one group of people present just because the company has asked them to be present and they are very much present to intimidate the other group and to ensure that the other group did not get the chance to raise their voice. This Group largely consists of village Sarpanch (Chairmen) of that village Panchayath and his follower mostly they are belongs to upper cast (non-tribe)  people in the village.  

The other group is the people who are just got some knowledge and importance of Gram Sabha who are also largely dependent on the forest alone, though they have bit of land as well. Most of the people in this group are ill-let-rate, who never attended any of such meeting before, never raised their had in front of Sarpanch in the village never questioned for what he is and why he is doing any thing he is doing, and mostly tribe community, and these people are supported by few activist from Greenpeace, and this is where they came to know that their land will be taken away for cole mining and their forest will no more be for them and that also will be taken away for cole mining, and they were also informed by this team that people have a right to participate and raise their issues in the village Gram-Sabha including.

Sarpench insisted that the outsider should not be in the meeting and its only for the insider (villagers) so our team was asked to step out and we were siting in the jeep just outside. The company people are also was siting few yards away from us with their people, who are half drunk, and some of them waiting for after noon chicken and mutton which was getting  ready to feed the people who came to support them in the meeting.

People use to come and constantly update to us of what is happening in the meeting, what we learnt from these people is that the Sarpanch and other officials mostly Patwari asking these people to keep quite as and when they raise the forest rights question and people not giving land to company for mining purpose.

What we could do except telling them to insist on this matter and asking them to take it has an agenda to discuss and discuss the same. probbely its easy for us to say but i know its very difficult for the person who never open the mouth in front of these people and who never questioned the Sarpanch to question him in public is not an easy task.

Finally this drama got over around 3PM, then we had a separate meeting to understand what happened and how thing went wrong.

What was interesting is that there are people saying that we never been to any such meeting and we never questioned our Surpanch, never talked in front of him, but we did it today. Some of them saying we have never saw our village Gramsabha happening for such long, it normally for 10min defiantly not more then that, in that sense its an achievement and its a big achievement. What is also interesting is that they them-self see the lack in understanding the process of Gramsabha and their educational bag-round to question these people, and clear need that they need to learn and thereby challenge these people. Probably this is the achievement of the freedom 66, people are now realizing that they need to learn and need to talk.

Though i was very happy to see the positive strength of the people i was quite disappointed with the company and their attitude towards these tribe people. specially buying people by providing alcohol etc. i was not shocked for the act of company but disappointed that there are people who still go for the day food then the future.

One thing made me to think and think because, though i am born and bought up in this country that day we when we were at this place we were with the constant fear that the people who are drunk, people who are sponsored by the company may come and attack, because, few people who are there to fallow us and use vulgar words and intimidate us constantly, if there was no representation to DC, SP and other people it could have difficult for us to be there.

I would say Company may have won today's gramsabha but they do not know that now people know what is Gramsabha and they also do not know that people have learnt to question, and these question are very difficult to answer.