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Forest Rights Campaign

SRUTI Fellows are involved in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act. Simultaneously they are also involved in fighting the legal case in the Supreme Court as well as in the different High Courts challenging the validity of the Act itself. The Ministry of Environment and Forests are trying to sabotage the implementation of the Act along with some of the environmentalist groups. SRUTI legal consultants Shomona Khanna and Shrimoyee Ghosh are working with the NCSD (National Campaign for Survival with Dignity) team to prepare the legal challenge against the cases already filed. At the same time they are monitoring the Godavarman case in the Supreme Court.

Campaign for Right to life with Dignity for the Urban Poor and Workers

Delhi Shramik Sangathan is leading the campaign on right to housing and slum policy for urban poor and workers. Continuous and sustained campaign has resulted in political parties taking notice of the housing issues being raised by the campaign. DSS (Delhi Shramik Sangathan) – has been invited by two main political parties for discussion on the issue of housing. Chief Minister of Delhi Shiela Dixit invited DSS and other people for discussions on the whole issue of housing for the urban poor and workers. The campaign met the Chief Minister and apprised of the issues facing the people and demanded positive action from her. She asked the campaign members to have further discussions with the Urban Affairs department of the Delhi government. Discussions with the senior department officials have taken place. DSS is planning a further strategize to take up this issue in the coming elections in Delhi . DSS has also continuously highlighted the issue in the print as well as visual media.

Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chattisgarh

A group of activists, academics, researchers, journalists and students was formed last year to initiate the Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chattisgarh against Salwa Judum. SRUTI is part of the campaign. One of the campaign members Nandini Sundar had filed a case against Salwa Judum in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court asked NHRC to investigate the situation and submit a report.

The NHRC team visited some of the areas affected by Salwa Judum. CPJC members decided to form a team of students and activists to collect testimonies from the area and give it to the NHRC team. A team of 10 people spent a week collecting the testimonies. Two SRUTI team members Pratyush Chandra and Pravin Mote were part of the team. The team visited different areas and villages and interacted with the people. They were prevented from going to many areas and the situation was tense and fear rampant. The impact of Salwa Judum was such that people feared to speak and total reign of terror existed in the region. More than 100 testmonies were collected and compiled. They were handed to the NHRC team. The attitude of the NHRC team was discouraging and their main motive was to find evidence against the Maoists and not look against the excesses of the Salwa Judum. Even the role of journalists and their attitude was appalling in the Press Conference held in Raipur . It seemed that journalists did not want to hear anything against Salwa Judum and branded the team members as supporters of Maoists. The NHRC team has submitted its report to the Supreme Court. As expected the report is broadly in favour of Salwa Judum. The CPJC team is studying the report and preparing to file its response.

The above case assumes significance as the other state governments are trying to emulate the Salwa Judum model. The Government of Orissa has already started this process and more than 2000 SPO's are being appointed from the Adivasi communities. This is going to affect the normal functioning in areas where they will be appointed and also hamper the work of democratic forces in the region. The work of SRUTI Fellows is already being affected. This is a grave situation which warrants serious discussions. SRUTI has already started this discussion with the groups.

Campaign on Communalism

Communalism is another area where SRUTI Fellows are grappling with the situation in the area. In Rajasthan series of meetings have been organised by groups and SRUTI Team member Asif Iqbal is participating in the discussion.

Serious situation exists in some parts of Orissa where some of the SRUTI Fellows are working. The Kandhmal riots have disrupted the normal functioning in some parts of the state. SRUTI Fellows working in neighbouring districts have tried to prevent the riots in their own area. Continuous discussions with people are on. The OJSM team visited some of the riot affected areas of Kandhamal to understand the situation. More visits are planned in the near future. Meanwhile Bhagirathi Nayak, SRUTI personnel based in Bhubneshwar has tried to interact with displaced people from Kandhmal who have come to Bhubneshwar. The govt is also trying to prevent activists to meet the displaced people. OJSM has recently organised a peace rally in Bhubneshwar. The situation requires that long term response to communalism has to be beyond the realm of identity politics which is being followed. Secondly the situation has to be seen in the light of growing fascism in the country and its impact on the working class. One such example is the growing regional intolerance in the country.

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Labour Issues

SRUTI is now focussing on taking up labour issues in different areas. Discussions with Fellows have already started. As a result Fellows are now taking up workers issues and also trying to understand issues related to migration. The thrust is now building up larger labour organisation to get people together. This process is going on in rural areas as well as urban areas. In Orissa some of the Fellows have come together to form the Orissa Khatikia (Labour) Andolan. In Delhi , Nagpur and Talcher SRUTI Fellows are working with migrant labourers. In Delhi and Nagpur the groups have organised the Domestic Workers Union. In the long run, the idea is to develop a broader platform of rural and urban labour.

Research and Documentation, Field Research Centre

SRUTI trying set up a filed research centre to take up different set of studies to understand the field situation. These studies are being undertaken with collaboration with SRUTI Fellows. Following studies are planned on these issues: Rural differentiation studies (sub-topics - Class Formation, Migration, Women labour), Industrialisation, urbanisation and the formation of working class (sub-topic - migration, housing, employment, domestic labour) & Movement studies (to document the experience of Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha)

Apart from this other set of studies have been undertaken. Pratyush Chandra has finalised the paper on the Political economic changes under neo-liberalism in Orissa and will soon be published as an occasional paper. Similarly Shankar Gopal has finalised the booklet on understanding the functioning of the Sangha parivar and its fascist programs. There are other two studies on water, which are part of the AJWS project. Draft of the one study on Water and resource conflict at the Hirakud Dam area in Orissa is ready. The case study is on the Hetawane dam in Maharashtra where conflict over sharing of water resources is going on. The other studies which are ongoing are status of workers in tea plantation and small tea growers in Gudalur Taluk, Nilgiri region, study on sharecropping pattern in the Nagpur region.

Advocacy Fellowships

SRUTI has started short term fellowships called Advocacy fellowship to support researchers, journalists to carry out studies, write articles on issues of interest to Fellows or issues which are not being covered. Advocacy Fellowships are also intended to support media mobilisation for the local sanghatan. This year SRUTI is supporting Prashant Mishra – Journalist to document movement and fellows struggle in Orissa, Jagdish Chandra – Activist to document the womens issues in Majhagawan block, Dist Satna, M.P., Shubranshu Chaudhary – Journalist to study the issue of Farmers Suicide and Agrarian Crisis in Chattisgarh State, Dayamani Barla – Journalist to document displacement in Jharkhand and Dashrath Jadhav to study the Agrarian relations in Udgir Taluk, Dist Latur, Maharashtra.