Posted
02nd July 2001
Pirates In Black Ties
Memories are interactive. As India debates over the selling
of the public sector Bharat Aluminium Company (balco) to a private
company, memories bring the Gandhamardan hills in western Orissa
into national imagination. Fifteen years ago, the Gandhamardan
hills, rich in biodiversity and bauxite equally, were the platform
for one of Indiaís most vocal people struggles to conserve forests
and livelihood. A five-year sustained campaign by the local
people saw BALCO wind up its operation to mine 213 million tonnes
of bauxite. It was a major victory both for the local forest-dependent
people and for the fragile ecology of western Orissa. Gandhamardan
sustains more than a million people and is the source of two
major tributaries of the river Mahanadi. But the battle is far
from over.
The
Gandhamardan ecosystem is still in peril. It faces its worst
threat on many fronts. The current spell of drought, illegal
felling for timber, overexploitation of forest resources and
faulty method of harvesting medicinal plants has already taken
a toll. However, local residents, who led the campaign against
BALCO, still vow to fight for its protection. The Gandhamardan
mountain ranges are a rich source of diversity for medicinal
plants. The Botanical Survey of India has reported the existence
of 220 plant species of medicinal value. Local people, however,
claim that there are more than 500 species of medicinal plants
in this area. The flora of the buffer zone is most vulnerable.
Many medicinal plant species such as Clerodendron indicum, Rauvolfia
serpentina and Plumbago zeylanica, which were once available
in plenty, have become scarce.
A
study by G Panigrahi of the Botanical Survey of India in 1963
recorded 2,700 angiosperms and 125 species of important medicinal
plants, out of a total of 220 species of medicinal and quasi-medicinal
and economically-vital plants. Such is its richness in medicinal
plants that more than 100 traditional healthcare practitioners
live in and around the Gandhamardan hills. These practitioners
provide medical facilities to about 50,000 tribal people. There
are two ayurvedic colleges and hospitals on both side of Gandhamardan
ó one in Bargarh district and the other in Bolangir. Local people
have great faith in ayurvedic practitioners and in many villages,
their main occupation is to collect herbs and supply them to
companies such as Dabur and Zandu. Some of these villages include
Khandijharan, Manbhang, Magurmal and Cherenga jhanj.
A study conducted by M Brahma and H O Saxena of the Regional
Research Laboratory recorded the medicinal uses of nearly 200
species, out of which they found the uses of 77 to be new or
"interesting". Unfortunately, this information has not been
documented comprehensively. Experts fear that in the next 30
years, this knowledge and information could be lost. Besides,
many valuable medicinal species, which have high market value
at the national and international level, can fetch a substantial
income to the tribal people if they are propagated in a big
way in the wasteland available near Gandhamardan. Manbhang,
a village pecked on the foothills of Gandhamardan, has a very
special relationship with these hills. The head of this tribal
village Dhananjay Bhoy is a treasure house, so far as history
of Gandhamardan is concerned. This was the first village to
oppose the arrival of BALCO. "The fight against BALCO was a
fight for survival," recalls the 85-year Subhadra Mallick, who
led the struggle. Worried about the fate of the hills, that
sustains some 1.3 million people, she says: "We are like the
old trees in the forest. Nobody can take it away from us." Gandhamardan
is our mother, father and God, says Dhananjay Bhoy.
The
tribal communities are the most dependent in Gandhamardan says
Arttabandhu Mishra, a professor at Sambalpur University, who
has conducted research on the tribal people of this area. Pradeep
Purohit of the Gandhamardan Surakshya Yuva Praishad claims that
the number of people dependent on the hills for their livelihood
has increased. "The landless people around the hills depend
on the forest throughout the year to such an extent that many
of them do not want to migrate. Around Gandhamardan, about 30
per cent of the people are completely landless and the rest
majority are small and marginal farmers. The major chunk of
land is owned by just two per cent of the population," says
Soubhagya Pradhan, who has done extensive studies on the Gandhamardan.
The abundance of forest wealth has attracted many traders from
far-flung areas to do business. The traders now outnumber the
local tribal population. The outsiders, who donít have any interest
in the forest ecosystem, exploit Gandhamardan. The present threat
to Gandhamardan is the recurrent drought situation in the region.
Due to drought, pressure on Gandhamardan has increased, says
Pradeep Purohit who also led the campaign against BALCO. Moreover,
due to its abundant water resources, nomadic communities from
Rajasthan bring thousands of sheep and camels to Gandhamardan
for grazing, thereby causing harm to its sensitive ecology.
Purohit had brought this to the notice of the local forest officials.
The
issue even came up for discussion in the state assembly. Another
pertinent threat has been the organised smuggling of medicinal
plants from Gandhamardan. It is an open secret that big Ayurvedic
companies have their agents around the hills, who collect rare
plants illegally. Not only do they smuggle these plants, they
cause severe damage to the species, thereby preventing their
further growth, says Suna Vaidyaraj, a local herbal practitioner,
who has been in the business for more than 30 years. The local
forest officials, on the other hand, express helplessness saying
that they donít have proper infrastructure to fight the organised
gangs of smugglers. Medicinal plants from Gandhamardan, as the
epic Ramayana says, saved the life of Laxman, thus making it
possible lord Ramís victory over Ravana, a symbol of devil.
TheBALCO agitation proved the peopleís emotional attachment
to this legendary mountain range. It is just a good wish that
the local residents continue preserve it. ..
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