Latest news with #Adivasis
Scroll.in
2 days ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Goa minister removed from Cabinet weeks after alleging corruption in CM's department
Goa minister Govind Gaude was on Wednesday removed from the state Cabinet, three weeks after he made allegations of corruption in the Department of Tribal Welfare, The Indian Express reported. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant holds the tribal welfare portfolio in the state's Bharatiya Janata Party government. The decision to drop Gaude, the art and culture minister, from the Cabinet was taken unanimously, Goa BJP chief Damu Naik told The Indian Express. 'It was taken after consultations by the government, the party and the party's central leadership,' he was quoted as saying. 'Party discipline is a must.' A gazette notification said that Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai had accepted the chief minister's recommendation to remove Gaude from the Council of Ministers, the newspaper reported. In a social media post, Gaude said that he had been 'rewarded this fate' for standing with the marginalised sections of society on the occasion of Goa Liberation Day, which is celebrated on June 18. चिड्डल्या माडल्या लोकांचो पक्ष घेतलो हाची पावती गोंयच्या क्रांती दिसाक मेळप हाच्या परस व्हडले भाग्य आसपाक शकना. जे गजालीक लागून ह्या सरकारान ही भूमीका घेतल्या त्या संघर्शाक आवाज दिवपाक मेकळो केल्या खातीर म्हज्या सरकाराचें आनी पक्षाचें उपकार आटयता. सत्ता आनी सत्य भीतर निवड करपाची… — Govind Gaude (@Govind_Gaude) June 18, 2025 At a state-level function on May 26, Gaude had alleged that the state tribal welfare department was inefficient, and had claimed that its officials were taking bribes in exchange for signing files, PTI reported. Gaude, an Adivasi leader, had also questioned why the construction of a 'Tribal Bhavan' in the state had been stalled, and said that many Adivasis had given up their land for the project, according to The Indian Express. 'The foundation stone was laid when I was the tribal welfare minister,' Gaude had said. 'The project has been stalled. Why is there no progress in the project?' The BJP leader had claimed that he had been misquoted in the media. However, Sawant had said that action would be taken against him for his 'irresponsible statements', according to The Indian Express. In response to Gaude's allegations, the Congress had urged the governor to dissolve the state government citing 'rampant corruption', PTI reported. Opposition leader Vijai Sardesai said that Gaude had not been removed when there were allegations of corruption against him earlier. 'But, now when he raised allegations of corruption in the tribal department, the government acted against him,' added the Goa Forward Party chief.
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- General
- New Indian Express
Karnataka waste pickers honoured by Hasiru Dala for their contribution to climate action
BENGALURU: At Hasiru Habba (Green Festival) 2025, more than 1,500 waste pickers gathered to celebrate their role as invisible climate warriors and to demand concrete policy support for their contributions to waste management and environmental sustainability, here on Tuesday. Organised by Hasiru Dala, the event marked World Environment Day by highlighting how Karnataka's 4.23 lakh waste pickers, many of them Dalits, Adivasis, and women, power the circular economy. Their work — collecting, sorting, and processing waste — diverts thousands of tonnes of recyclable material from landfills annually. In Bengaluru alone, over 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste are processed by the informal sector each month, according to Hasiru Dala data. Despite this, most waste pickers remain outside formal systems. A staggering 95% lack health insurance, and more than half live without basic infrastructure like electricity, toilets, or drinking water, a press release stated. According to the press release, the community laid out demands aimed at integrating waste pickers into climate and urban policy frameworks. Key demands included the establishment of Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs) in tier-2 cities, three-way waste segregation with pickers involved in sorting, and the creation of safe, well-equipped recycling hubs. Leelavathi, Organising Secretary of Women's Voice, said, "We need to strengthen ourselves. We don't have representation from the governments and we demand that. We demand education and our rights.'
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Indian Express
In Jharkhand, a dispute over royal ‘Ratu' land, at its root a contract from 1960s
For the last 10 days, Jatru Munda in Ranchi's tribal village of Lapung has been nursing pellet wounds on his thighs, stomach, and back. The injuries, allegedly suffered in a confrontation with the police over a land dispute on June 3, are painful, and Munda has been getting treatment from a local quack after the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, sent him back home without removing the pellet. 'I was attending a gram sabha meeting organised to settle an old land dispute when the police firing began. I have no idea how the pellets entered my body,' Munda, 26, tells The Indian Express. Jatra Munda is one of two people who were allegedly wounded when police fired at a gathering of Munda and Oraon tribes on June 3. The meeting was called to settle an old land dispute of 56 acres of agricultural land that locals claim has been handed over to them by the erstwhile Ratu dynasty of Jharkhand. The land dispute, festering for years, came to a head on June 3, when an official and two village residents – including Jatru – were wounded in the alleged confrontation. While the village residents claim that the police action was 'unprovoked', police claim they were forced to fire pellet guns after the mob gathered at the meeting turned violent and attacked the police using 'armed with bows, arrows, swords, and traditional weapons'. An officer, Lapung's police station in-charge Santosh Kumar Yadav, was injured in the incident. 'There was no bullet fired. Only pellet guns were used and that too when one of our officers was about to be attacked with a sword. A mob had gathered, and the situation had spiralled. When the officer was retreating, some people hit him with sticks, and we had to act. Still, the message being spread is that the police opened fire on tribals — which is not true,' DSP Ashok Ram, who's in charge of the Beddo circle under which the village falls, says. An FIR in the case names 50 village residents. There was yet another meeting in the village on June 15. The dispute pertains to land that allegedly belongs to a branch of the Nagvanshi dynasty of the Chota Nagpur Zamindari estate. An ancient dynasty that traces its roots back to the 1st century AD, the dynasty has many branches, and although it primarily ruled the Chota Nagpur Plateau region in the present-day Jharkhand, its influence also extended into areas of present-day Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The zamindari system in Jharkhand was abolished under the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950. According to official documents accessed by The Indian Express, around 56 acres and 66 dismil of land had been gifted by the then king to his daughter-in-law Durgawati Devi. After the abolition of the zamindari system, Durgawati decided to sell the land to the Adivasis. The papers further state that the land was being sold to a few Adivasi families because her children, and the proceeds from these sales were to be used for their education and other essential needs. Vaibhav Shahdeo, Durgawati's grand nephew, is the current claimant of this land. Locals said that when the land that was handed over to the Adivasis, it was on the condition that some part of the agricultural produce should continue to be given to the royal family, with a local 'Brahil' — or overseer — appointed to supervise the land and the transaction. But locals now claim that decades later, the practice continues. 'Even though land belongs to the Oraon and Mundas tribes, we continue producing rice for the Raja Babu and the Brahil (mediator) to date,' Anil Munda, the village pahan (tribal priest), claims, adding that while there is no dispute over the status of the land, it was being projected as disputed. The FIR filed following the June 3 incident claims that the meeting was called. Police said that those attending the meeting wanted Vaibhav Shahdeo, the current claimant of the land, to attend the meeting. 'Lapung's police station in-charge Santosh Kumar Yadav asked Sahdeo not to come. Instead, he decided to go to mediate the dispute without informing senior officials and went to the village.' The FIR said the meeting turned violent when a group of village residents attacked Yadav and injured him on the head. 'The mob, armed with bows, arrows, swords, and traditional weapons, attempted to snatch police rifles, and one assailant fired a round from a desi katta (country-made gun). In response, a constable fired a shot from an SLR (Self-Loading Rifle) into the air in self-defence.' When contacted, DSP Ashok Ram said that the village residents were provoked by a person known to be involved in Maoist activities. On their part, the erstwhile royals claim that they were called to attend a meeting to discuss the land dispute, but the police in-charge advised them not to come 'due to potential law and order issues'. Gopalnath Shahdeo, 31, the younger brother of Vaibhav Lal Shahdeo, said that his family had no idea where the document that the local residents were citing originated from, claiming according to family tradition, 'women were not even allowed to go to court, let alone execute a document like that'. He also claimed the land became a subject of dispute 'only this year that they refused, allegedly under the influence of extremists, causing the losses worth several lakhs'. Meanwhile, Jatru Munda, who was wounded in the skirmish, said that when he was first taken to a local hospital and eventually referred to RIMS. 'While I, accompanied by three, arrived at the hospital in the afternoon, Ranchi police arrested us, yelling: 'Naxalites are here'. They kept us for seven days with no treatment,' he said, adding that he was sent home on June 10. RIMS spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan said, 'The patient had a mid-thigh injury and was advised that surgery wasn't immediately necessary. Once the wound… begins healing, surgery can be considered. Operating now could cause more muscle damage.' 'After the skin began healing and injectable antibiotics were stopped, he was discharged with advice to return later for surgery'. Shubham Tigga hails from Chhattisgarh and studied journalism at the Asian College of Journalism. He previously reported in Chhattisgarh on Indigenous issues and is deeply interested in covering socio-political, human rights, and environmental issues in mainland and NE India. Presently based in Pune, he reports on civil aviation, other transport sectors, urban mobility, the gig economy, commercial matters, and workers' unions. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn ... Read More
Hans India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
India's rapid adoption of AI in governance risks social inequality?
India's rapid adoption of AI in governance and criminal justice promises efficiency—but without proper safeguards, it risks deepening existing social inequalities. From CCTNS to ICJS, tech-led tools are being deployed without a clear legal framework. Yet, the datasets powering AI reflect a narrow and biased view of Indian society—excluding large sections of women, Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, and rural populations. A 2022 Oxfam report noted women use the internet 33% less than men, and only 31% of rural Indians are online—leaving critical voices and experiences missing from AI systems. This skew in representation has grave implications. In criminal justice, where marginalised groups are already overrepresented among undertrials and prisoners, AI tools may reinforce bias. NCRB's 2018 data shows that two-thirds of Indian prisoners are Dalits, Adivasis, or OBCs—groups also underrepresented in digital spaces. AI decisions, built on historical and social bias, may perpetuate discrimination. Globally, the risk is well-documented. The US-based COMPAS algorithm, used for sentencing, was found to label Black defendants as high-risk twice as often as White defendants for similar crimes. In India, the use of ChatGPT in a court's bail rejection and biased AI hiring tools raise red flags about AI's unchecked use. India's digital and data inequality demands urgent regulatory oversight. Without ethical frameworks, AI tools can replicate caste, religious, and class-based hierarchies in policing, sentencing, and beyond. Technology must be developed with transparency, accountability, and diverse representation. Rather than reinforcing stigma, AI should empower the underrepresented and help correct systemic bias in the criminal justice system.
New Indian Express
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Abin Joseph Interview: Gen Z crowd's response to Narivetta is surprising
Abin's familiarity with the Adivasi lifestyle and their struggles began from a young age as he hails from Keezhpally, a region close to the Aaralam farm tribal settlements. Recalling some of his earliest memories about the tribals, he adds, "We used to visit them from school during monsoon time to help with food items, bedsheets, and clothes. They used to live in huts and temporary sheds that were much smaller and congested than the ones we showed in the film. It was much later after the Muthanga incident that some of them got their own land and houses." Abin's familiarity with the community also helped him pen dialogues in the tribal language, with assistance from some locals. Unlike many films that have mocked the language and dialect, it is used effectively in Narivetta to convey the community's struggle to be heard, without ever simplifying it. "Many complain they don't understand the dialogues spoken by the Adivasi characters, but that's the whole politics of the film. We don't understand their language, similar to how we don't understand their struggles." Post-release, there have been divided opinions about the film's decision to narrate the story from a cop's perspective rather than the Adivasis. Many feel this "outsider" perspective doesn't allow the film to get into the details of the strike or the history of injustice meted out to them. Explaining the rationale behind his choice, Abin says he was well aware of the story's potential had it been narrated from the other side, but still opted to tell it through Varghese Peter as the character was conceived as the "society's representative." He adds, "Kerala's so-called mainstream society and the media don't have a proper understanding or empathy towards the Advasis, and Varghese Peter is also one among them. He is initially least interested in their struggles; it's only after being amidst all of it that the harsh realities dawn upon him. The audience is also like him. I wanted them to travel with Varghese and experience similar realisations." Another shared sentiment about the film is the lack of strong roles from the Adivasi community, despite having characters modelled on activists like CK Janu and Geethanandan, who spearheaded the strike. Citing screen space as a problem, Abin says, "If there are multiple important characters in the film, it takes a lot of time to establish an arc for each one of them. My idea was to show them through Varghese's lens. But I still think CK Shanthi was a strong and resolute character. Moreover, with a big star and a huge budget involved, Narivetta was always designed to be part of popular cinema. That's also why I didn't research much on the incident as I felt too many facts and information might make it look like a documentary. I wanted to create a fictional character and generate the intended emotions through him." Besides Varghese, Narivetta also has a strong character in Basheer, a veteran policeman who becomes one of the victims of the revolt. While it was a Dalit constable named KV Vinod, who was killed in the original incident, the decision to fictionalise it as a Muslim character has raised some eyebrows. However, Abin clarifies that the choice to name the character Basheer had nothing to do with representation. "Basheer is the only one in the force who is considerate towards Varghese. He is a mentor figure sharing profound life lessons in very few words, just like Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. So it's just a tribute." When asked if Varghese was also named similarly after Naxal Varghese, who fought for Adivasi rights, Abin chuckles, "I thought it was obvious!"
