Campaign 2009

INDIA, COUNTRY OF EXTREMES

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the World. Nevertheless, more than 80% of its population has to get by on less than 2 dollars a day. The gap between rich and poor is tremendously wide. Although there are laws in existence to help forward the most discriminated populations, these laws are seldom put into practice. BD’s partner organisations in India work with dalits (outcasts) and adivasis (indigenous peoples), two populations who find themselves at the absolute bottom of the social scale, and who have to daily cope with discrimination and unequal opportunities.

 

• Download our campaign text (pdf)
• What does Broederlijk Delen do in India? (pdf)
• Our partner organisation PARDS (pdf)
• Our partner organisation NDWM (pdf)
• Our political work in India (pdf)
• India">Read more about Broederlijk Delen in India
  
  

  Maulipadar is located in the Bastar district, in the state Chhattisgarh (Central-India). Bastar is about 9,000 km2 which is almost one third of Belgium’s territory. I was told that this region used to be covered with fertile forests that provided for the entire livelihood of the indigenous people. In them, they found a wide variety of food supplies, building materials, medicinal herbs, in short all they needed. The region is still renowned today for its rich supply in forest produce: bamboo, mango, oils, etc.
  
  The forest is an important part of the culture and identity of indigenous peoples. They still partly live on what this generous treasury offers them, and they feel closely connected to it. However, the past few decades large swaths of wood have disappeared. They had to make way for hydroelectric dams, plantations or mining, causing the territory of the indigenous peoples to diminish increasingly. Thus, they had to find alternative ways to survive. The expulsion of indigenous peoples from their ancestral woods is a tragedy in itself. They have been the inhabitants, users and owners of the forests since time immemorial, but they have no prove of this ownership and therefore the authorities could simply claim the territory or allot it to (inter)national companies. Luckily, a law has been enacted in 2006 that acknowledges their right to their territories and to the management of the woods.
  
  Procuring food or an income in another way than was traditionally the case, was anything but obvious for Maulipadar’s inhabitants. They had no experience whatsoever with agriculture outside the woods or with selling products. With support from PARDS (Participatory Action for Rural Development Society), a Broederlijk Delen project partner, a lot has changed in the life of Tilak and her fellow villagers the past few years.