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The Rediff Special/ Kalahandi's Independence Day

M I Khan in Bhubaneswar

Several thousand villagers in Kalahandi region of Orissa will boycott official Independence Day celebrations this year and declare 'Gram Swaraj' (self-rule) in their villages on August 15.

There will be a flag hoisting ceremony, there will dancing and singing too - but no government officials will be entertained.

"We will boycott I-Day ceremonies to lodge our protest against the government's apathy...by ignoring over needs for 50 years, they have turned Kalahandi into the most backward region in the country," said Khuturam Sunani, the convenor of Gram Swaraj Andolan.

He said the andolan would later be expanded to add 50 new villages in Bolangir and Baud districts. Over 700 villages have already proclaimed 'Garam Swaraj' in Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bargarh, Bolangir and Baud districts.

These villages have vowed to protect their forests, develop water bodies and control liquor trade - all on their own. They will also settle their disputes within themselves, eliminating the need for police and courts.

The villagers call it a fresh fight for Independence and have even been using slogans like - swaraj is my birthright - which were such an integral part of the country's fight against the British rule.

For years these villages, part of the infamous Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput block, have been under the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons - poverty, draught, illiteracy, famine.

"Disillusioned by the tall promises of successive governments, the villagers now appear to have prepared themselves to take control of their lives," said Hemanta Barik, a social worker.

It does not need a social worker to see that nothing has changed in this tribal belt of Orissa since Independence. Every day is a struggle for survival for these tribals. Water resources are scarce, there is a perennial shortage of food and health facilities just don't exist.

The brain behind the 'Gram Swaraj Andolan', Jagdish Pradhan, convenor of the Paschim Orissa Krushijeevi Sangh, believes government control and development never go together.

Citing an example, Pradhan said though the government has constituted 'Gram Sabhas' and vested the control of non-timber forest produce with tribals, these have not helped the villagers, for there is too much bureaucratic control involved.

He said 'Gram Swaraj' would fulfil the aspirations of villagers, give them control of local resources and empower them to take decisions that affect them and their community directly.

"Real freedom as envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi will materialise only when more and more villages declare 'Gram Swaraj' and free themselves from the present exploitative system of governance," he said.

Under this self-rule, several villages have fought successfully against liquor trade. Some have taken up development works without any government assistance, while others have managed to protect and regenerate forests.

Pradhan termed the much touted Rs 4,557-crore long-term action plan for the region as a big joke. "It is a long-term, no-action plan," he said.

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