Terror by Hunger

In India, terror comes in various shapes and sizes. It may be by gun or hunger. Whether terror is by gun or by hunger, it always aims to convey the common messages of human misery and massacre. While gun kills hundreds of people with dramatic suddenness, endemic hunger quietly terminates many more lives. This book focuses on ‘terror by hunger’ among the tribals who are its worst victims due to persistent poverty, exploitation, corruption and bad governance. Looking back to the ‘tryst with tribal destiny’ since independence, they find betrayal of their trust in the administration of justice. The main factors responsible responsible for their pitiable plight include unabated land alternation, exploitation by money lenders, dismal post colonial development process, illusive implementation of the constitutional safeguards and denial of self rule in the scheduled areas. Despite legal and constitutional provisions for the protection and development of the members of the scheduled tribes as also their land in the scheduled areas, the tribal have lost more than 50% land and, now they are struggling for survival. The tribal are now disillusioned with the politics of ‘hollow promises’ of the politicians and hold bad governance responsible for their inpoverishment. They no longer want to treated as fodder for democracy. They demand justice, self respect, protection of human rights, enforcement of the constitutional guarantees, participation in the development process and full quota in all government posts in proportion to their population. They have declared their agenda and demand result oriented affirmative action without any political gimmicks.