Abstract

Historically, social movements have been fundamentally responsible for changing the oppressive social, political and economic structures of society. This paper begins with the conceptual ideas of social movements, trade union movements and the fundamental difference between them. This paper draws from field visits, notes and a questionnaire administered among people of the Dhinkia region in Odisha where people across caste, class and gender are up against POSCO – A multinational company aiming to set up a steel plant in the region. The paper looks at the intersectionalites of caste and class and the role played by the ongoing movement in challenging or further strengthening these structures, with a specific focus on women. Finally, an attempt has been made to locate some of the salient features that one would have to focus on if one has to address issues of the Dalits and Adivasis as part of practice through a Dalit and Tribal Social Work perspective.

Introduction

There have been many studies on ‘new’ social movements. A conceptual understanding of these has been generated through research by academicians like T.K. Ommen and others. Social movements in the past have been able to change existing social institutions which were oppressive in nature. There are other movements that have formed a collective consciousness in trying to avoid or resist change that is destructive and oppressive in other forms, and are a threat to the environment and the fundamental right to life.

Trade union movements also work on changing the existing social institutions. Although there are many similarities between the social movements and trade union movements, one fundamental difference is the nature of these movements. While social movements are formed through groups of people articulating for or against something; collectively trade union movements have a very systematic but complex approach. Trade union movements can be classified into trade unions, trade union activities and larger working class movements. Trade unions are institutionalised and conform to a set of existing laws; trade union activities conform to laws prescribed by the state; working class movements focus more on a class based struggle and concentrate on creating class consciousness. With regards to membership, membership to trade unions is closed and pre-determined based on a set of laws and regulations involving members of the working class community, both organised and unorganised. In the case of social movements, membership is more open and depends on similarity in consciousness and belief system of the individual and the collective part of the movement.

In the aftermath of decolonisation, industrialization and the demand for political rights, certain groups emerged questioning the quality of life, need for peaceful coexistence with a strong critique against economic development policies not only in the Indian context but at a global level. They are also conscious about their rights, claims as well as their share over resources. These are fundamentally movements towards reconstructing social, cultural and political identities of historically oppressed groups. The feminist movement and a large section of the environment movement come under this category termed as ‘new’ social movements. These ‘new’ social movements restrict themselves to articulating their rights within the existing power structures without breaking or questioning these power structures.

This article will discuss interactions between caste realities and class structure within new social movements with the POSCO struggle as a case study. The POSCO struggle has been looked at as a new social movement in this paper as opposed to any other form, as the struggle is broad – based in nature, has people from different classes participating in it and challenges a larger economic policy of the Indian state. Data collected as part of a livelihood study has been taken into consideration to understand the intersectional ties between caste and class and the contributions of these intersections towards the ongoing struggle.

About the POSCO Struggle

A community led struggle emerged in the Ersamma Block of Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa (India) almost seven years ago (June 2005) led by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS). The agitation, which continues till day is against the forcible acquisition of land and resources for a 12 million tonne integrated steel plant to be set up by the world’s third largest multinational steel company – the POHANG Steel Company – also known as POSCO.

As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the company would also develop and operate: i) Mining facilities in the areas allocated by the Government of Orissa /Government of India; ii) Road, rail and port infrastructure, including a dedicated railway line from the mine belt to Paradeep; iii) An integrated township; and iv) water supply infrastructure. A total of 1620.496 hectares of land of which 1253.225 hectares is forest land which comes under 3 village panchayats in the Erasama block, Kujang tehsil in the Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha.

The people of the villages of Naugaon, Dhinkia and Gobindpur, conscious that the project will destroy their existing livelihood, have taken up a struggle against POSCO and the state and central government. They have been protesting against the forceful land acquisition and challenging the state’s coercive development strategies. The people in these villages claim that they have a thriving local livelihood which primarily is agriculture and betel cultivation.

A struggle for Right over Land

Ownership and access to land has always been a defining factor in power relations, however, since ‘independence’ and moreover since the Structural Adjustment Programs adopted post 1991, this factor has become increasingly exemplified in the neo-liberal mode of development, leading to large concentration of both land and in turn power to the state. This process of indiscriminate land acquisition and unbridled amassing of wealth and power by the state has created a strong feeling of perpetual resentment and dissent in the hearts of the people.

Historically, the most marginalised communities in India, namely Adivasis, Women and the Scheduled Castes (SC) have been systematically and structurally alienated from access to land. The situation at Jagatsinghpur though is very different and this is due to the historical influence of forest land over the local economy as well as the livelihoods of the people of the region.

When one looks at land holding among castes in the region, one notices a significant number of Dalits (Scheduled Castes) having considerable access to land in this area – be it titled agricultural land for paddy cultivation or forest land for betel cultivation.

The dominant castes have larger land holdings than the SC community in relation to private property but when one compares common property resource, namely access to forest land for betel cultivation, people across caste lines have easy access to forest land as there is hardly any opposition towards using this common property resource.

The situation of the forward castes with regards to land holdings as well as annual income has minimal difference within various caste groups in the community. However, in case of villages around the proposed POSCO plant one can argue that class variations among castes are of significance when one looks at their involvement in the struggle against the project. This was observed as an underlining aspect of various discussions and informal talks in which people from various communities across caste and class spoke about their level of participation in the struggle. “We have been at the forefront of the struggle since the time we have heard about the project, as we have everything to lose if the project is established here”, says a Dalit youth who has been active in the movement since the beginning. His family also has access to both titled agricultural land as well as forest land for betel cultivation.

Land: A direct relation to Livelihoods

The close proximity to the coast also acts as a source of livelihood for people here. The locals in this region involve themselves in more than one form of occupation which enables them to earn enough to purchase land for paddy cultivation. But one notices the predominant dependency for livelihoods is land, be it forest land or titled agricultural land. The fact that the people engage in various livelihoods is proof enough of a thriving local economy which also contributes to the larger economy in the region.

The two major livelihood prospects in this region are betel and paddy cultivation. These two forms also contribute to the income of a large landless workforce, providing them with a minimum 20-25 days of work every month. Their wages are on the higher side and working in betel fields is not as exhaustive as other such professions. It involves working on a small plot of land; as betel leaves need ample shade the entire plot is covered with twigs and bamboo under which people work. Apart from it being a less physically draining, the work also requires a certain amount of skill and better the skill, better is the wage. Another important aspect of betel cultivation is that it is more gender neutral – both the man and woman of the household contribute towards cultivation.

Most secondary requirements for the cultivation of betel including fertilizers are all available at the local market – this in turn boosts the local economy of the region. The forest not only act as a natural shield from the salty coastal wind but also provides for bamboo, twigs and many other such requirements that are used to cover the cultivation area.

Since rice is the staple diet in the region, paddy cultivation is given most importance. People who have no access to agricultural land lease it from those who have a considerably large land-holding. Those who cultivate a large share of paddy also sell it at the local market. Those who take land on lease for paddy cultivation, pay for the same with the income generated through betel cultivation.

A section of people who have no access to land are also engaged in daily wage labour. They usually work as agricultural labourers in betel fields all through the year and in paddy fields during season.

Naugaon: The Epicenter of the Power Struggle

Naugaon was in the forefront of the struggle in the initial days and villagers were able to resist the forceful acquisition of their land and forests. In 2010, land was forcefully acquired by the state with the support of large land-holding, powerful people in the village and internal conflicts between people. The livelihood situation in this village was no different than the other villages before the start of the struggle and was able to sustain the brute force of the state for a considerable amount of time. A year after their lands were forcefully acquired the people of Naugaon started working as agricultural labourers in the villages of Dhinkia and Gobindpur. They now fear that they will also lose their access to the remaining forests which provide them with firewood as well as fruit and some wild vegetables. “ All this has happened due to a select few people in the village who have huge land-holding and wanted to sell their lands and threatened us, making us sell our lands as well, ” laments a former farmer who now works as an agricultural labourer. They have yet again taken up the struggle to protect their forests which is the only remaining source of livelihood apart from what they earn through agricultural labour.

Caste, Class and the POSCO movement

The majority of the core committee of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) consists of people from the Other Backward Caste (OBC) community; there are also a few from the SC community. When one analyses the land holdings of these members, one observes that when both the SC and OBC community are concerned, the ones who are part of the decision making and the planning process are those with large land holdings.

There is one woman member who has been actively involved in the struggle and hence also part of the core committee. The woman member’s contributions in the discussions leading to decision making is limited. However, in the implementation of the action plan she plays a more active role by mobilizing women folk around decisions of the core committee than she did in shaping those decisions. The people of the village also actively participate in the struggle as they believe in their leadership and trust their decisions.

When one looks at the social and cultural relationship of the caste structure, one notices that a large section of the village has moved out of the traditional structure constraints of caste and there is a marked increase in the social and economic mobility among the OBCs, SCs and forward/traditionally dominant castes in the villages. Aspects like inter-dining and members of the SC community being able to move out of their specified demarcated ghettos within the villages to the OBC part of the village have all happened through the course of the struggle. “We do not have any inhibitions in walking up to a Dalit house and interacting with them about the struggle, or even to dine at their place including drink water from the same vessels they use for themselves. The movement has helped me immensely in understanding the members of the Dalit community as the interactions have increased in the last 5 years,” commented a youth who was my interpreter in the initial days.

Access to resources has also improved and there are quite a few members of the SC community who have titled agricultural land. “We used to have very little forest land, but since the struggle has started we have been able to access more forest land with the help of the people from the village,” said a villager whose betel fields had been destroyed by the police. His betel fields are now being restored with the help of the people from the core committee, where some are providing him with monetary resources while others are pitching in with resources like providing labour and material support.

One might consider this inconsequential but when one juxtaposes this reality to the larger reality of the Indian villages and especially the highly casteist villages of Odisha, one realizes much has changed in the traditional caste structure in these villages and this can be attributed to two things. Firstly, betel cultivation has brought in enough revenue to the SC community, thereby enabling them to purchase titled agricultural land from the OBC community, a process which the OBC community has not resisted. Secondly, the struggle against the POSCO project has brought the communities together with the common motive of wanting to save their betel fields which have provided people with livelihood which has not only sustained them but has also facilitated class mobility. Thus we see that quite inadvertently, imperialism has created circumstances which ultimately lead to the undermining of the caste system and increase the unity among traditional divided communities. The need to save their livelihood has welded people from different castes and classes into one fighting force against the POSCO project. This common motive and the united action it necessitated has melted down to some extent, wrought-iron like caste and class barriers which seemed almost eternal otherwise. This has created hope that united participation in a struggle will create the conditions that could lead to the solution of these contradictions among the working masses.

Concluding statements

Historically there has been a conflict for land and access to land, and the state has been at the forefront of grabbing land using the pretext of larger ‘public interest’ and has never listened to the local people whose land and livelihoods are at stake due to the acquisition. For the state, those at the periphery of this form of development are supposed to sacrifice themselves for the select few who will reap profits. This takes place in the guise of ‘public interest’ which is now being supported by the country’s neo-middle class.

Forests have played an important role for many communities across the country in sustaining their lives, livelihoods and culture. Societies have evolved and matured, their dependency on forests has also changed accordingly. There are newer ideas generated on how one uses forests and forest produce judiciously.

The situation in the villages of Dhinkia and Gobindpur is no different where people depend heavily on forests and forest land for their survival. The people of these villages owe it to the forest around their village for being able to provide them with all that they have, as well as it being a major reason for the lesser impact of the super cyclone that devastated much of the area in 1999. On the other hand, the people of Naugaon have been made more vulnerable than before as their lands have been acquired, some with force and some with consent, and this has compelled them to seek other means of livelihood. Having realized their situation they are now struggling to save their forest on which they depend like all the other three villages.

Through betel fields on the forest land villagers have been able to move up the economic ladder. This has also helped members of the SC community to considerably move up the social ladder. The SC community has been able to purchase land as well as break the traditional village communities by moving into the area of the dominant caste.

People have been able to purchase titled agricultural land by working and setting up betel fields which has provided them with all their needs. This has also helped in the land redistribution – a land redistribution of a different kind where the number of landless has been reducing due to their own efforts to access titled agricultural land, which becomes the defining characteristic of one’s identity in village structures. However, the current trend of land acquisition for the POSCO project has left a considerable number of landed farmers landless and forced them to work as agricultural labourers.

Women have a greater role towards contributing to the economic needs of their respective households which has also increased their decision making powers within the households. It is just a matter of time before this transcends into the larger societal spheres.

The movement has also played its part in increasing sustained interactions between people from various castes which has also contributed to the disintegration of the caste system. Keeping all this in mind about the struggle and the empirical realities encountered in the villages, one could safely argue that class mobility within the caste structure has been a major influence in challenging the power structures in the cultural foundations of caste.

All this has been possible due to the current struggle against the POSCO steel plant which is threatening the lives and livelihoods of entire communities across class, caste and gender and has brought all these different groups together in a struggle for protecting the forests around which social, economic and civil lives of the people revolve.

The state on its part has tried all possible ways to dispossess the villagers of their forest land, at times have used force too, but the people of these villages have high resolve and conviction towards protecting their forests which have been their sole lifeline for the past four to five generations.

Multi National Corporations with complete support of the state are pressing hard to acquire forests and land with high mineral wealth as they have realized the abundance of profits in the exploitation of natural resources as compared to manufacturing, which has its own set of problems.

Therefore, this paper not only argues that the POSCO movement has created a platform to break traditional cultural practices of caste based discrimination but also questions the state-capital nexus which is rendering communities across caste lines landless and deprived. This nexus is leading to the exemplification of unequal development which has made the position of the state more fragile and is also the reason for movements like the POSCO struggle to resist this onslaught.

http://www.orissa.gov.in/posco/POSCO-MoU.htm