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Umh!, Whats this? |
Cover Story February
2001
Orissa, who cares?
The response of the BJP–led central
government to the disaster that has hit Gujarat has made millions of Oriyas
acutely aware of the same government’s lackadaisical response to the cyclone
that devastated Orissa only 15 months ago
BY SUDHIR PATNAIK
Horrifying pictures of the
Gujarat earthquake are still fresh in public memory. None can belittle
the devastation and death that the catastrophic earthquake caused in Gujarat
on the January 26.
But there is a reason to ponder
over the responses this earthquake evoked. It may be true that a natural
disaster does not recognise human frontiers, but its aftermath does. A
disaster, be it a super–cyclone or an earthquake of high intensity, is
normally believed to be a natural phenomenon. But the role of nature does
not extend beyond the immediate happening of the disaster. Then ‘humans’
take over; to be more specific, those ‘humans’ who exercise the powers
of the State and who decide how to make use of its resources in what situation.
Whether it is the super–cyclone
of Orissa or the earthquake of Gujarat, these greater mortals get ample
opportunity to redesign and work out their own political and economic agenda.
They are undoubtedly the direct beneficiaries of any disaster. The Gujarat
earthquake has exposed one such group of beneficiaries — the BJP–led NDA
government at the Centre.
The unprecedented response and the
speed with which the government at the Centre reacted to the Gujarat earthquake
was entirely missing when an equally, if not more, devastating super cyclone
hit the Orissa coast in October, 1999 affecting almost 2/3rds of Orissa’s
population. Union home minister, LK Advani, who owes his parliamentary
berth to the people of Gujarat – Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency in
particular — took up the co-ordination job on to his own shoulder and declared
early on that the losses in Gujarat could be more than Rs 10,000 crore.
Prime Minister AB Vajpayee issued
almost a blank cheque to Gujarat. At least this was the version the media
carried. Immediate assistance of Rs 1,300 crore was released to Gujarat
by the Centre. Besides, the Prime Minister made an appeal to FICCI, CII
etc to adopt all affected villages in Gujarat.
The most significant initiatives
of the Centre were the 2 percent surcharge on Income Tax and Corporate
Tax and the temporary removal of Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA)
provisions by the home ministry to enable free inflow of foreign funds
for earthquake relief. The other policy initiatives of the Centre included,
the formation of a 39–member Central Disaster Mitigation Authority, (which
does not include anyone from Orissa), steps towards a Disaster Mitigation
Act and the formation of a Disaster Mitigation Commission on the lines
of the Election Commission of India.
This brings into focus the point
that the BJP leadership of the Centre has made a direct assault on the
spirit of Indian federalism and democracy by behaving differentially in
similar situations. Since the super cyclone of Orissa has become part of
history for those who neither witnessed it nor experienced its painful
aftermath, it may be useful to recollect what was it all about.
Two cyclones hit the Orissa Coast
in quick succession in October 1999 — one on October 17 and the more devastating
one on October 29. The cyclone of October 29 acquired the distinction of
a super cyclone because of the extent of damage it caused. The wild winds
blowing at speeds of 260–310 km per hour accompanied by tidal waves wrought
unimaginable devastation in the immediate coastal villages.
About two crore people living in
20,000 villages and 46 urban areas were affected by the cyclones. About
21 lakh houses were destroyed, including the 8 lakh houses which were completely
washed away. More than 13,000 school buildings, 2,000 village roads, 300
river embankments also fell victims to the super cyclone. Over 45 lakh
coconut trees got uprooted, 84,000 tube wells were submerged in water for
several days.
In the post–cyclone situation, water
logging was unprecedented. Between 90–100 per cent crop loss was reported
from the affected districts. The cyclone had hit at the most vulnerable
time for paddy crop. This was the crop on which the poorest of the poor
depend the most because it was rain–fed. The loss of stored food, seeds
and crop was overwhelming.
The Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission
has estimated the total loss to be not less than Rs. 20,000 crore, the
same as the officially estimated loss caused to Gujarat now. However, the
Orissa government, while appealing to the Centre made a request for an
assistance of Rs 7,000 crore only. How much did the Centre actually pay?
So far, only Rs 828 crore and 15 lakh. It may sound unbelievable but that
is the truth.
This is despite the fact that Orissa
today is ruled by the BJP along with the Biju Janata Dal. It is well known
that the Orissa government is financially bankrupt. Even the 25 percent
matching contribution it is supposed to make in the case of various centrally
sponsored schemes, it is not in a position to do so.
The state leaderships request to
their own elders in Delhi to waive the criterion of matching contributions
and for deferring the repayment of loan to Centre have been turned down
by the latter. The possibility of any additional ‘favour’ from the Centre
is also quite bleak, as it is evident from the statements of NK Singh,
OSD to Prime Minister who visited Bhubaneswar February 16, 2001. According
to Singh, the Centre will consider any request from the state only when
it is satisfied that the fiscal reforms and power sector reforms are being
carried out at a satisfactory pace.
Why was the central leadership so
indifferent to Orissa and why it is so friendly to Gujarat? This is the
question that the political elite and the press in Orissa are debating
today. In fact, this question is agitating millions of victims of the super
cyclone, who are yet to receive anything by way of reconstruction and rehabilitation
measures. The Union government does not have even a mechanism to assess
the post-cyclone situation as the only structure it created in the name
of ‘Orissa Cyclone Reconstruction Committee’ under the chairmanship of
the defence minister is, expectedly, defunct now. The new structure now
created in the name of Central Disaster Mitigation Authority after the
Gujarat earthquake has 33 members. Interestingly, not one of them represents
Orissa.
In the pre–cyclone situation, the
BJP and other sangh parivar outfits virtually had no presence in the coastal
districts. Immediately after the cyclone, the saffron brigade, playing
the role of a Samaritan (the banner they used was named ‘Utkal Bipanna
Sahayata Samiti’) intruded into the coastal belt and gained considerable
strength within a very short span of time.
More than 70 percent of the 20,000
affected villages, now have RSS presence. Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, RSS–run
schools, are coming up in large numbers. The ‘Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti’
— the saffron brigade’s relief wing — is emerging as one of the biggest
NGOs in the state in terms of the resources it has mobilised in the name
of cyclone relief and rehabilitation.
The inefficiency of the then Congress
government in mobilising resources from the Centre was the main election
issue in coastal Orissa during the assembly election campaign which took
place six months latter. The Congress eventually lost the election while
the BJP emerged as the party benefiting the most out of the assembly elections.
Many, who are not aware of the BJP
game plan, are even now under the illusion that things will change for
the better with the change of guard in Orissa. “They want a Raj completely
for themselves. They will allow the discontent to build up further, so
that, later they can desert the BJD and try to capitalise on the situation
to their advantage. People have lost faith in Congress. They still think
it is BJD, which is ruling Orissa and not BJD–BJP combine. Therefore, BJP
will look for a chance to form a BJP–only government”, says Prafulla Samantara,
president, Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Orissa.
“Don’t think that they are not benefiting
in Gujarat, you make a mistake if you think so”, says RK Sarangi, now the
convenor of Orissa Khadya Adhikar Abhijan and who earlier headed the Orissa
Disaster Mitigation Mission. Who will benefit from the removal of FCRA
regulation for receiving foreign funds? asks Sarangi. Certainly not the
established NGOs already active in relief operations. Nor the Christian
missionaries, whom the saffron brigade normally targets in such situations,
as they operate under the FCR Act of 1976. It is only the Hindu fundamentalist
organisations who will benefit the most out of it, says Sarangi.
The BJP general secretary, Narendra
Modi, has already highlighted the role of these organisations that he calls
NGOs. If a proper inquiry is conducted, it would reveal that the biggest
beneficiary of any foreign fund in any post–disaster situation in recent
times are the Hindu fundamentalist organisations,’’ says Samantara. If
this is true, we have reasons of worry about.
Coming to the two per cent surcharge
on income tax and corporate tax that the Union government so generously
imposed was perhaps more badly needed in the Orissa case. The treasury
of the state is not only empty; it is running on debt. Therefore, the Orissa
government is not in a position to spend any additional rupee on super
cyclone reconstruction work. The income of the state at present is less
than Rs 200 crore a month whereas it has to spend more than Rs 400 crore
to run the state administration. The state can’t afford to pay its matching
contribution of 25 percent for the centrally sponsored schemes, which further
reduces the potential of schemes such as the Indira Was Yojana (IAY) in
meeting the needs of the cyclone affected people.
To what extent pre–designed schemes
meet the real challenge of reconstruction is, of course, another matter.
For example, when 2 million people need support for houses, the Centre
has actually allotted IAYs for Rs 50,000 only and has assured support for
another Rs. 1.5 lakh. As per the government’s own admission, about 1.5
million people have applied for housing support.
The Orissa cyclone reconstruction
committee, which was formed under the chairmanship of the defence minister
George Fernandes, has not been able to mobilise a single paisa for the
state from any other source. This
committee is dead now. The UN system has altogether been able to spend
only Rs 25 crore, says Sidhant Das, the executive director of Orissa State
Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA).
As per the white paper of the state
government, the World Bank is providing a total assistance of Rs 195 crore
and Rs 880 crore in two phases. Out of this, 30 percent will be grant and
70 percent on a 12 per cent per annum interest basis. But, according to
the managing director of OSDMA, Aurobinda Behera, the state is not going
to get any amount from World Bank now. The Bank will only reimburse the
expenses already incurred by the government.
It may be recalled here that even
this amount is not an original grant. The World Bank is only diverting
its earlier loan to Orissa from a different head to the cyclone reconstruction
work. The White Paper estimates the amount of fund spent by all NGOs at
Rs 130 crore.
The situation in Orissa has now
further worsened with a severe drought affecting about two crore people.
There is no sign of any critical central assistance forthcoming for drought
mitigation.
The people of Orissa now have to
face two enemies at the same time — one being the recurrent natural disasters
and the other one being a disastrous central government which makes a mockery
of the whole situation they are forced to live in. The people of Orissa
are not particularly concerned about what others think about them. For
instance, they are least disturbed by the ridiculous statements recently
made against them by JP Mathur, a senior BJP leader.
Thousands of fishermen, who lost
everything in the tidal waves, are not meditating on the seashores, waiting
for the blessings of a Mathurji or an Advaniji. They are venturing into
the sea once again to earn their livelihood. The lakhs of people who had
lost their houses no longer sleep under the open sky. With their own sweat
and skill they have re–build structures, which resembling a house.
Life is once again blooming in the
betel vines which were completely washed away by the cyclone. Even the
most deprived ones and the Dalits in the worst affected Erasama block had
preferred ‘food for work’ to ‘free kitchens’ within days of the disaster.
Whether Gujaratis or Oriyas, common
people everywhere have an unimaginable and perhaps in–built capacity to
recover and recoup from even the most seemingly hopeless situations. Of
course, the process of recovery would be smoother if the greater humans
controlling state power behave rationally and responsibly in a post–disaster
situation. By failing to do so, they only expose themselves as they have
done in the aftermath of the Gujarat earthquake.
P.S.: The vastly different response
of the electronic and mainstream media and also the response of the civil
society to the calamities in Orissa earlier and Gujarat now are no less
noteworthy, Here, ‘capital’ makes all the difference. If, as in Gujarat,
the victims of a disaster are rich and have the potential to invest or
entertain investment, they can be sure of a good response from the media
and civil society in times if distress. If they are poor in the perception
of ‘capital’, they are destined to be looked down upon, irrespective of
the scale of the catastrophe they are confronted with and the dignity and
self–respect with which they deal with their situation.
The responses received by the cyclone
victims of Orissa then and the quake victims of Gujarat now bear ample
testimony to the irony manifest in this era of globalisation. People of
Orissa who have been condemned as poor and backward and who don’t have
the capacity to help in the ‘appreciation’ of capital will not get the
‘benefit’ of a Bill Clinton or a Lara Dutta championing their cause. But,
may be, the cyclone-affected people of Orissa, too, are least bothered
about this discretionary display of humanitarian concern.
(Figures quoted
above are based on the white paper of the state government, and reports
prepared by the government–run OSDMA (Orissa Disaster Mitigation Authority)
and the ODMM (Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission, a collective initiative
of NGOs in Orissa).
(The writer is a Bhubaneswar-based
social activist).
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