‘Socio-economic reasons behind spread of Maoism in tribal areas’
RANCHI: Calling for introspection and research behind reasons for lack of development and mainstreaming of tribes across the country, former Union minister and veteran BJP leader Kariya Munda on Monday underlined that socio-economic reasons and not political causes are behind the spread of Maoism in tribal-dominated areas.
The veteran tribal leader, who represented the reserved Khunti Lok Sabha seat seven times, was addressing the inaugural lecture on the occasion of World Indigenous People’s Day organised by Central University of Jharkhand in Ranchi.
“The governments, policy makers and academia need to ponder and come out with answers over why tribal population could not be mainstreamed in past 75 years. Why real development did not reach tribal pockets? And this has not been a case in India only but also across the world. We need to find solutions to these problems and then only these kind of events would have any meaning,” said Munda, who was conferred the Padma Bhushan by the Narendra Modi goverment in 2019.
The former deputy speaker of Lok Sabha further said that lack of developement helps “anti-social groups in influencing the youth” in joining their cadres. “The reality is that it’s not politics but socio-economic reasons that pushes tribals towards Maoism. Their settlement areas lack in basic development and opportunities, and when interest groups brainwash them with benefits, they join such forces,” said Munda.
Deliberating on the way forward, Munda said while the academia need to research and come out with solutions, those in governance need to change their approach in implementation of schemes. “The current approach is target-oriented, while it should be result-oriented. For example, Swachh Bharat Mission scheme. Several districts were declared open defecation free, but the reality is that many toilets in rural areas did not last. The roads and bridges get washed away within a year of construction. So, every well-meaning person will have to ponder and contribute if we want to uplift the tribals,” said Munda.
Speaking on the occasion, KB Das, who recently took over the charge of CUJ vice-chancellor, underlined that tribal lifestyle that is more sustainable. “There are around 500 million tribals across 90 countries. Out of that, 100 million live in India. The value system and living in consonance with nature and their indigenous wisdom has in fact given us a new model of sustainable development,” said Das.