The MAND Connection- 2

When my office colleague and I were coming back to Delhi in October 2008, we received an SOS message from an activist sent secretly from the prison, informing us that ten of them had been arrested for anti-mining activities and had been put in Quepem prison.

Obviously panicked, we ran helter-skelter in various train compartments trying to get hold of a laptop so that we could draft an appeal for release of these activists, who were not allowed any communication with the outside world, not at that time at least. We also felt equally responsible (and somewhat guilty) for our team’s recent anti-mining activism/visibility that landed them in prison.

It seems to be a hilarious encounter in retrospect but in our anxiety, we nearly snatched a laptop from a group of young boys seated few compartments away from ours, who were dazed with fun-in-Goa or feni or both, who probably had no interest in anti-mining movement anywhere in the world. We must have come across as two (hyper) activists, who pleaded with strangers for their laptop, backed with an impromptu, emphatic lecture on rights of peaceful anti-mining protestors, which could get violated if ‘they delayed’ giving us their laptop. The boys easily parted with their computer-games and music, totally empathizing with the ten arrested, who were completely unknown to them initially, though not anymore.

After taking charge of the machine, we typed out appeals to the CM, President, Governor of Goa and the media, informing the world about arrests (and probable torture) of peaceful protestors. Neither of us had ever imagined that had we stayed on a day longer, we could have been jailed too! (http://mandgoa.blogspot.com/2008/10/demanding-immediate-release-of-ten-anti.html). It was a Sunday the next day but Quepem police station received so many angry phone calls from everywhere that they released all ten activists immediately. Mission accomplished!

However, the second time round, I came to Goa on my own, banking on Mandgoa group again, still willing to move around and participate in anti-mining struggles, especially along with people who lived in the mining belt, facing direct brunt of the mining industry. A visit to Pissurlem, Paira and Sirigao mines was planned. There are few observations that fit all three mining sites, for instance, trees and shrubs should ideally look some shade of green but here, in the mining belt, the foliage looks a dusty red colour.

                              

Not only natural greens look dusty, even the roads look reddish-brown because of large quantities of accumulated dust that uncovered trucks release in the air as they move about freely at all hours of the day. In fact, one of the main occupations of women living in mining belts is of sweeping mining dust off roads, while men tend to become truck drivers, transporting ore from one part of the state to another for a livelihood.

Families actually live in the mining belt, breathing in huge quantities of mining dust as if it were oxygen. While driving down the main road itself, one can see a whole Pissurlem village bustling with activity- children in schools (photo below), people crouching at bus stops or queuing in temples, most probably oblivious to the poison around them. Respiratory diseases like TB are quite common amongst people living in the mining region. Many wells in the region have no water at all or the water available is unfit for consumption.

 

Well water unfit for consumption

           This lake used to feed the all the paddy fields earlier, not anymore. It has stagnated and fields have become infertile because of large mining silt deposits due to mining activity close-by.

Mining in the vicinity of Pissurlem has destroyed paddy fields and water bodies. Many coconut trees have no coconuts or even branches due to exposure to extreme pollution of soil and water. 

 

There are some mine owners also who have houses in Pissurlem, whose houses can be recognised by their flashy cars parked outside.  It also reflects, to an extent, the profit margins in mining business.

A family we interviewed at Pissurlem. Also in the photograph is a researcher from the Human Rights Law Network, New Zealand

Red hills on top are mining deposits by Dempos/Vedanta in Mayem forests

                             

Paira hill and river (Bicholim) are used for dumping mining waste/silt, harming both irreversibly. See a dying tree and a lonely bird perched on it.

We travelled to Sirigao Village (Bicholim) and photographed the mining pits up-close. Gigantic machines dug the mountain deeper so that a large number of trucks could keep travelling down the pit and come out carrying expensive ore. There was only one truck in sight that sprayed water to settle dust released by uncovered ore trucks. Dirty water used during extraction was also being let out in rivers that ran into villages, polluting them big time. Also, a partly infertile field with mining silt deposits can be seen in the last photograph.

For more photos, click here.

The MAND Connection- 1

I have been to Goa a couple of times and every time, there are expected and unexpected lessons. My first trip was in October 2008, on behalf of a Delhi-based NGO I worked for. The visit was spread over few days, limited to exploring the context of the ‘other side’ of Goa, as in, discovering those aspects of Goa which are relatively unknown even today, for instance, dangerous levels of mining in some areas that not only threaten mountains and biodiversity contained in them but also people staying close-by, who are directly dependent on natural resources for a livelihood. Rama Velip is one such person, who continues to fight illegal mining and police atrocities in Quepem, his hometown. We stayed with his joint family and moved around with our team for the next few days.

Preparing authentic Goan food for us at Rama's home

The visit was brief but we managed to get in touch with and collaborate with many protesting voices all over Goa. Not only did we find ourselves participating in local group meetings at Colomb and anti-SEZ protests at Panjim, but we also got an opportunity to witness popular leader-activists- Sebastian (Seby) Rodrigues (Siolim), Cheryl De’Souza (Maina) and Jeraldine (Benaulim), in action. In fact, Seby was our ‘tour guide’ (he’ll kill me if he reads this), who grew up in the mining belt, escaped death as a child to become a full-time anti-mining campaigner. Recently he was awarded the GOA SUDHAROP AWARD, an annual award given to him this year for excellent coverage of local mining issues on his blog http://mandgoa.blogspot.com/.

What is problematic with such excursions by people like us is that 'we outsiders,' sometimes individual researchers and sometimes organized NGOs, tend to come 'touring to Goa' and are selfishly looking for 'bakras' or contacts, whatever you may call it, to make our little, short-term projects work, besides getting an all-expense paid holiday, if we get to stay and roam around with the activists. This is one question we all must ask ourselves, especially the self-proclaimed 'social workers' that do we actually care about people we pretend to be 'helping' by such visits? Rural Goans inform how outsiders or city dwellers, who have no understanding of their context, life and culture, come with pre-determined (NGO) goals, fulfill them at all costs and go back home, never to look back again. It’s sad, but it’s true in most cases.

  

 

                            

These are photos of about 500 villagers adversely affected by mining, raising slogans and banners in protest at Panjim. The rally gathered much attention and media glare as tourists, pedestrians and those hurrying to offices were slowed down by large processions.

Meeting of local activists at Colamb

In this particular public meeting, villagers gathered at Colamb (South Goa) to express solidarity against mining-mafia-local bureaucrats, who have entered their green villages while promoting legal (and illegal) mining activities. This meeting concluded with a decision to gather at Maina Village, in front of Cheryl's house- another anti-mining activist- to protest against mining outside her home.

                               

Machines used outside Cheryl's home to uproot trees for mining

Cheryl is an affluent farmer, who owns thickly forested hills  replete with rare species of flowers and animals distributed around her splendid Maina (South Goa) home. She lives there alone with her mother, daughter and maid, without any other human soul in sight for many kilometers, except the presence of about 200 truck drivers in the vicinity, who intimidate Cheryl and her family as often as 'needed'. These trucks belong to mining companies that transport ore from Maina even during night! Truck owners have no mercy for anything dead or alive that is being dug out by cruel metallic jaws (see picture), since selling this ore gives them an insane amount of money, much more than what the (in)famous Goan tourism industry can generate.

Photo on the right shows Cheryl’s husband, who also invested a lot of time and energy in building up this place for his family, but couldn’t live long enough to enjoy it. So this land is home to three generations of women, braving police-politician-mining mafia nexus, even if it means doing it all alone.
Our last day in Goa was spent at Benaulim, walking through innumerable construction sites on our way to the beach near-by, which we heard was very clean, unlike all other ‘touristy’ beaches that have been taken over by shack owners to make a quick buck. The slow walk revealed many upcoming guest houses/tourist resorts/plush apartment complexes (see pictures) that necessarily require large scale deforestation first.

As we came close to the Benaulim beach, we witnessed many families living close-by, who were entirely dependent on fish, both for purposes of consumption and sale in markets. The powerful tourism industry threatens their lives and livelihoods by constructing lavishly designed concrete jungles, encroaching on as many spaces around the beach as possible, insensitive to the greenery they're destroying in the process. Not only that, fishermen feel doubly theatened since their annual catch is reducing drastically because of high levels of pollution in sea water.

At Benaulim, we spent the night at Patxa Guesthouse, owned by Jeraldine, Convenor of the Bernaulim Village Action Committee. Villagers live as a close-knit community, holding regular public meetings, writing letters to Village Sarpanch and other concerned administrative bodies frequently about issues of unplanned urbanisation (akin to onslaught by builders), roads, bad water supply, spread of diseases like malaria and so on. "Sometimes we succeed in getting our demands fulfilled, sometmes we don't, but the real joy comes from struggling together," says Jeraldine.

At Patxa guest house before boarding train to Delhi the next day

I left the NGO job few months after this visit, but was certain about revisiting Goa sometime soon, not only to meet these committed activists, who had also become good friends by now, but also to learn more about their method of community struggle against a powerful, oppressive state, mining giants and other profit-driven tourism industries. Had it not been for collective people-struggles like these, the greenery of Goa would have been plundered more rapidly and more ruthlessly.

For more pix, click here.

Dr Dasgupta lives on

I am very lucky to have met Dr Dasgupta, briefly though, at one of the NEST conferences in 2008 in Dandeli, Karnataka. Today, I can say that he left a deep impression that no other can live up to. Did hear about him earlier but found it difficult to instantly relate to him but when I met him personally, and saw him in action, I could see the man's genius.

Remember him looking so 'red' in his bright red shirt and cap :). He came across as such a lively person that all the energetic, enthu people I know can probably come together and still fall short of his level of passion and love for new ideas and thought processes. For instance, while we sat for lunch on Day One of the conference, when some of us were completely unknown to each other, he started off with an impromptu quiz, not sparing anyone on the table! Few of us engaged with him while the rest stared into their food plates, not knowing where to look! I was amused at what he was doing but later on realized that his basic questions about ants and elephants were meant to challenge our mundane, rigid thought patterns and rightly set a 'thinking and questioning' tone for the entire conference. Once I understood that, then it was easy to let go and participate in every dialogue or discourse he wanted us to think abt and participate in, in the days that followed. So all in all, Dandeli was a very enriching and memorable experience, thanks to Dasgupta and all others who invested themselves in it.

Btw, it doesn't feel like the man wearing bright red is no more. He lives on through the impressions he left in our hearts.

Posted on http://mandgoa.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-will-rise-up-from-my-ashes.html#comments on January 11, 2010 10:03 PM