a child’s school admission or assistance
for admitting a relative to hospital, Ravi lent a helping hand to
the tribals. His His mission gradually grew from such humble
beginnings, and today, 16 years later, he still hasn’t revived that
aborted job hunt. Ravi met his would-be wife, K. Bhanumati, when she
came to work with the tribals in the area through the Girijan
Cooperative Corporation, after her graduation form the Tata
Institute of Social Sciences in 1991. Says Bhanumati: "In the
beginning I went there to see if I could actually live in a remote
village where even the most basic amenities are a rare luxury." But
she did survive the test and today the couple runs Samata, an
advocacy group fighting to safeguard the rights of the tribals.
"The culture of the tribal people is such that they are normally
not equipped to fight for what is rightfully theirs," says Ravi.
Today, Samata boasts of having touched the lives of hundreds of
tribals in about 350 villages spread across Andhra Pradesh’s East
Godavari and Vishakapatnam districts—it runs regular health camps
and trains local women on basic health and hygiene issues, it has
started several small schools, and Samata has improved drinking
water facilities in the area by laying out a network of bamboo pipes
which connect all these villages to natural springs either deeper in
the jungle or higher up in the mountains. It is also organising the
tribals to resist exploitation and making them aware of their
rights. On the economic front, Samata supports sustainable
development to help the tribal and rural youth find employment
within their own local environments.
Samata has also helped set up a micro-hydel project in an
interior tribal area to serve as a model for alternative energy
generation. The 13-kilowatt project generates enough power during
the day to run a small mill, a grinder and an oil press, and in the
evenings it lights up the entire village between 6 pm and 10 pm.
Says Ravi: "We realised that if we wait for the government to bring
power to the area, this generation will probably never have
electricity."
Ravi and Bhanu have also taken on the powerful mining lobby and
moved the highest court in the country to stop non-tribals from
mining in tribal areas. This 1997 landmark Supreme Court ruling in
their favour, now better known as the "Samata Judgement", is now
being used all over the country to fight against the encroachment on
tribal lands by mining companies. "We just stumbled upon this issue
when we discovered that 17 mining leases had been given out to
various companies in the tribal belt around the Borra Caves," says
Ravi.
Understandably, Samata’s work has also earned it some powerful
enemies in the region. Hounded by the People’s War Group, Ravi and
Bhanu were forced to go underground for two years in 1997. The
couple say the Naxalites felt threatened by their grassroots
activity and feared it was diluting their own influence over the
people in these backward areas.
The conflict with the pwg forced them to leave the village they
had been living in and they have now relocated to Hyderabad to avoid
any conflict with the armed guerrillas. However, this has not
deterred the 150-odd tribal youths employed by Samata from
implementing their community reach programme.
Though Ravi and Bhanu still dream of going back to start their
life afresh in the villages some time soon, they are making use of
their time in Hyderabad by networking with other groups across the
country engaged in a similar fight for tribal rights and lands. "We
try and share our knowledge and expertise with them to help them
better coordinate their own campaigns," says Ravi. The couple can be
contacted at: Samata, Plot No 1249/A, Road 62, Jubilee Hills,
Hyderabad-500033; Tel: 040-3542975 & 6505974; e-mail:
samatha@satyam.net.in
