1.
Introduction
Globalisation
with its varied elements and forms is affecting the lives of the people
especially the lives of the poor and the marginalised. What we are experiencing
today is the third phase of globalisation, the first two being colonialism and
cold war. It is a pro-rich, anti-poor phenomenon, which has added more miseries
to the life and livelihood of the adivasis
of Jharkhand in the process of the so called “development”. In this paper, I
have tried to analyse this phenomenon called globalisation and its impact on
the adivasis of Jharkhand and a faith
reflection is done to see how the faith can answer to such evil elements as
globalisation. The praxis is the outcome of the theological reflection, which
is also a Christian response to the effects of globalisation.
1.1 Globalisation: Definition,
Features and Propagators
Definition: Globalisation as a term is vague and absurd. Each
one can define it according to one’s perception of it and how the impact of it
is experienced by him/her. However, in our context, globalisation can be
defined as the expansion of economic activities across political boundaries of
nations. It refers to a process of increasing economic openness, growing
economic interdependence and deepening economic integration between countries
in the work economy. It is associated with not only a phenomenal spread and
volume of cross-border economic transactions, but also with an organisation of
economic activities which straddles national boundaries. The process is driven
by the greed for maximum profit. [1]
In the last two decades or so, globalisation has led to the widening of the
gulf between the rich and the poor nations.
Features of Globalisation: The following are the main features of
globalisation as seen around us and enumerated by Walter Fernandes. [2]
Ethical Globalisation: Globalisation as seen today, alters the values
system of an individual or/and society. Its economy has “the highest profit at
any cost” as its guiding principle. Such an economy requires a consumerist
society who believes in having more and better things as a measure for success
in life. Individualism and selfishness are two other values prevalent in
globalisation.
Ownership globalisation: In the domain of globalisation change of ownership
from public sectors to private sectors is justified with efficiency. Private
sectors, as seen today, fulfil the wants of the rich rather than the needs of
the poor.
Globalisation of Imports: People of developing countries have a craze for
imported goods. In the name of the “free market” focus is on exporting finished
products from rich countries and not on production and employment generation in
the poor countries. Here the poor countries are expected to remain as suppliers
of raw materials whose price keeps falling.
Financial Globalisation: The focus is on free flow of capital, most of it is
to buy up existing companies or manipulate the stock exchange. In such cases
the so called many multinational corporate invest their money in poor countries
to reap more profit without really contributing to their development. Here the
poor countries often fall prey to “debt trap”.
Labour Globalisation: Though globalisation encourages free flow of
economy from rich to the poor countries, more and more restrictions are put on
the flow of labour in which poor countries are involved. Monopolisation by the
multinationals cause closure of small scale industries resulting in job-loss
and unemployment. However, jobs such as that of BPO though provides rather good
salary to the young graduates, is also a trick to get cheap labour from developing
countries.
Natural Resource
Globalisation: Consumerism being
the backbone of globalisation, overconsumption is done always at the expense of
the other. It has resulted in the rapid extraction of natural resources that
are the livelihood of the poor, to maximise production. Environment
degradation, impoverishment and an unjust national and international economic
order are intrinsic to it.
Communication Globalisation: globalisation is marked by rapid advancement in
communication technology and information sharing. Today information is really
power and internet and other media of communication become the boon for the
affluent. Consumerism is spread by media and also media has very negative
impact on the society’s ways of thinking and acting.
Propagators: In
addition to the MNCs (Multinational Corporations), the structures and
institutions implementing the ideology of globalization are as follows; GATT
(General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), The IMF (International Monetary
Fund), The WB (World Bank), WTO (The World Trade Organization), Group of 8
(G.8) and The Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs).
Hence,
the challenges of globalisation are access to easy “global” money, growing
consumerism, adoption to nuclear family, manipulation and misuse of media,
growing fundamentalism, ecological degradation, debt traps and unemployment to
name a few.
1.2 Adivasis:
World View, Beliefs and Practices
‘Adivasis’ is a collective name used for the many indigenous and
tribal peoples of India. The term derives from the Sanskrit words adi, which means ‘of the earliest times’
and vāsi meaning ‘inhabitant’ or
‘resident’. Officially, they are termed as ‘Scheduled Tribes’. According to the
1981 census, there are about 84 million adivasis,
constituting 8% of the Indian population. About 30 percent adivasis are illiterate though literacy among adivasi women is a mere 18 percent.
Adivasi World View: The
worldview of adivasis comprises a
hierarchy of beings: God, spirits, man, and animals and material creation.
Spirit can be further divided into nature spirits, benevolent spirits,
malevolent spirits and ancestral spirits. God-spirit-man-nature combine is not
a set of fragmented elements, but there is a wholeness and harmony, unity and
togetherness. God is considered to be the source of all good. The tribal
creation myths clearly point out that God created spirits, humans, and nature
and whole universe. He is the Creator, the Father. He is called as Dharmes, Sing Bonga, Ponomesor, Chando Baba etc. He made
the earth (land) and gave to the human beings (the adivasis). God Himself taught the adivasis how to erect the embankments around the fields and to
cultivate them; he gave them the plough, the cattle and the seeds to sow. He
taught them to prepare rice-beer and to worship Him; He Himself imparted to
them the art of procreation. In this sense a tribal community, the land,
forests and rivers owned by it, its rights and rituals, everything is a gift of
God and thus has sacredness attached to it. "Land is the greatest asset for
the adivasis." Children, crops
and the cattle are most prized by the adivasis:
the tribe continues with the children; crops are the produce of the land and
are the basic means of livelihood; the cattle are the indispensable means for
agricultural work.
Adivasi
Beliefs:
Adivasis believe in one Divine
Being, their Creator and Sustainer, and they regularly worship and offer
sacrifices to Him. By performing ritual sacrifices, they desire to remain
radically religious and fundamentally community-centred; for they believe that
their existence and that of the community to which they belong is essentially
connected with the spirit world of their ancestors whom the living members
would like to join after this life of sweat and struggle.[3]
Veneration of ancestral spirits and good spirits, propitiating the neutral
spirits and warding off the evil spirits are very important in their belief
system. The strength, security, success and morality of tribal life depend on
their sense of belonging to the community.
Adivasi
Practices:
Adivasi practices are based on
three principles; the sense of the Divine or the Supreme God, the understanding
of the presence of various spirits and community life. They perceive the
presence of God in everything and they invoke the blessings of God at various
occasions in their life especially at the rites of passages namely, birth,
marriage and death. There are numerous rites and rituals associated with the
rites of passages to invoke the divine. Tribal rites and rituals are rich in
symbolic and these symbols help them to make the transcendent visible and
tangible.
Adivasis do
possess an efficient administration system. The village is headed by the head
of the village with the assistance of panches.
All the disputes are settled in the village itself and punishments are also
given by them. Various rules and regulations are practised without any external
force. Moral life of the adivasis
depend on the welfare of their community life.
Seasonal feasts play very vital role in the life of adivasis.
Adivasis being
indigenous or original means being nature-born or nature-evolved people, being
nature-born or nature-evolved means being close to nature – being so close to
nature that they can easily be termed as imitators of nature. The life-style of
the Adivasis resembling the
life-style of nature would mean being transparent, being true to oneself, which
further would mean being simple, sincere, truthful, honest, etc. in other words
being without crookedness or shrewdness of mind. So also life-style resembling
nature would mean being generous (having the sense of sharing), being
hospitable (having the attitude of welcoming and openness), being non-hoarding
and non-calculating in view of the future, having common ownership, just
fulfilling one’s immediate needs, beings direct democratic with egalitarian
outlook, being together as a community, being ever joyful and content, being
traditional, changeless, etc. all such tribal characteristics resemble the
life-style of nature.[4]
2.
Experience: Impact of globalisation on Adivasis
Introduction: The
third phase of the globalisation as we experience today, has a tremendous
impact on the adivasis of Jharkhand.
In this chapter I would like to pen down my experience of the impact of
globalisation on the adivasis at different
periods and occasions.
2.1
Experience in a Ho Village
During my novitiate days in
March 1995, I had an opportunity to stay one month in a Ho village named
‘Sirkari’ some 25 kilo meters away from Chaibasa town. I stayed in the house of
the munda of the village, Mr Pandit.
Pandit was a farmer owning some 20 acres of land. He had his wife and 7
children; 3 boys and 4 girls. They were Mariam, Seyab, Gulab, Anita, Tony,
Jyoti and Walter. All the children helped their parents in cultivation and
selling of the vegetables. They lived very happily as a united family. I too
enjoyed the good things they could provide for me. All the meals were
tastefully cooked and affectionately served. They used to have enough paddy
cultivated from their field itself. So they were self-sufficient. I used to
join them for watering the vegetable garden, selling the vegetables and
attended all the village programs.
Weekly markets were the places
I really enjoyed to go. As a family we all went there carrying the vegetables
on our heads. There we met many people from other villages and exchanged our
greetings and shared some news. Then we sat and had our food with rice beer in
the beginning. We did some purchasing and still we had enough money to bring
back home. On the way back we used to halt in other villages and spent some
time chatting and having some rice beer. There hospitality was really
appreciable and I was made to feel at home wherever I went. I used to feel the
simplicity, hospitality, adjustability and warmth of the people. I felt that
they were happy and content with whatever they had. They in their own way lived
the fullness of their lives.
In 2004, after nine years,
during the summer vacation, I visited Sirkari again to meet my family members.
During my visit, I found that, it was not the same Sirkari as it was earlier.
The eldest daughter Mariam still remained in the house unmarried as they could
not provide dowry, Soyab went to Nagpur to work in a paper factory, Anita
discontinued her studies and ran away with a boy, Gulab fell seriously sick and
was confined to her room, Tony went to Mumbai in search of some work, Jyoti
joined a religious congregation and Walter discontinued his studies and is
helping his father in the field along with his eldest sister. During the lunch,
I hardly got some rice and daal. On
enquiring, the mother told me that for the last three years there had been
either draught or flood and the crop had been very bad. On asking the father
about the condition of farming he said that he incurred heavy loss and debt due
to the usage of hybrid seeds for farming. He had to invest heavily on
fertilisers and insecticides. The river from which they used to draw water for
irrigation was literarily dried up as there was a dam set up by some private
companies.
The once green, dust free,
clean village had turned to a dusty, barren and dry land in the course of time.
On going around the village, I was told that a few years of back, a prestigious
steel company of Jamshedpur had opened an iron ore mine and an ore treatment
plant which has changed the face of the village. It was started with the
promise that many would get employed there. But jobs were given only in the
beginning to clear the location of the site and once it was cleared and the
mine and factory setup, the whole process was mechanised and hardly anybody got
any job since then. Once the work started, numerous trucks plied across the
village carrying the iron ore and making the place dusty and noisy. Many
outsiders started to come to that village. For skilled and high salaried jobs,
they brought people from outside. Many people experienced various physical
ailments after the setting up of this mine and the treatment plant.
A traditional village like
Sirkari could not cope with the sudden so-called development that took place
around them. They felt that the development had not positively affected them
and that they were not at all a part of the whole development process. Now this
development left them with more misery and poverty. It affected their agriculture,
community life, culture and their land. They did not have the same joy which
they had experienced earlier. Slowly individualism cropped up among them. Each
one was busy with his/her affair. There was hardly any coming together as a
community. Pandit spent most of his time drinking rice-beer alone at home.
2.2
Field Experience at Kuru
For my field experience in
October 2006, I was sent to Kuru, a sarna village in Loherdaga District. This
village had some 40 houses and they all lived on agriculture. Most of the
families have children going to school run by the Sarva Shikshya Abhiyan of the central government.
During my stay in that
village, I found that there are many radical changes that have taken place to
that village in various aspects. The so-called traditional system was not very
much visible or tangible. The children were playing cricket very
enthusiastically, the guests were provided with soft drinks and the youth
danced to the tune of some nagpuri
songs.
For me, the most affected area
was that of agriculture. Literally all the villagers were using hybrid seeds
which according to them yielded more paddies. They added more and more
fertiliser to the field because the more they added the greener the field
appeared and more corns. The financial investment for the crops, fertiliser and
insecticide was rather high.
However, the sight of the Kuru
market was something very surprising. The crop did not fetch much money but the
cost of the seeds such as that of potato, paddy and garlic was very high. The middlemen
played a lot of trick to amass the produces of the farmers and fixing a cheaper
rate without proper consent of the farmers. The middlemen gathered maximum
produces for a particular private company.
2.3
Apostolic Visit to Adivasi Villages:
During my ministry visits to
the sarna villages, many times I had
to listen to the plight of some of the families especially of the youth. The
youth in Ranchi had a real tough time to compete with the outside world.
Unemployment is one of the biggest problems. Migration of youth from other
parts of the state also causes the problem.
Another area of concern for
these families of Churibasti is that they afraid at the rate at which
acquisition of agricultural land by the government and other private companies
taking place near their paddy fields. They have the fear of loosing their land
or getting their land polluted by the waste materials that are dumped into
their field. If done, then their livelihood and even their existence will be at
stake.
Conclusion: These
experiences point me to the fact that there are some forces active and vibrant
in altering the lives and livelihood of the poor in general and adivasis in particular. In the next
chapter, we will analyse the situation in detail to see what is really
happening.
3.
Analysis
Introduction: In
the last chapter I have narrated my experiences of the impact of globalisation on
the adivasis at various situations. Here
I would be taking the stand not of an onlooker but the one who has been
affected by those external elements since my contextualised study of the
theology calls for immersion into the life and culture of the people. So these
experiences are not their experiences alone but they become part and parcel of
my experience and experience can be defined as a
type of knowledge or consciousness derived from an immediate contact with
reality and through which our life is revealed. It builds up my life so that my
history, my existence, my personality are formed by the accumulated experiences
from the first to the present.[5]However,
all
these experiences under our consideration are marked by elements of brokenness,
meaninglessness and helplessness.
Globalisation comes as an
umbrella under which such undesirable things take control over the lives of the
adivasis. We should know that the
phenomenon of globalisation is rather obscure, but what is made tangible is the
concept of ‘development’. Hence globalisation is always given an acceptable and
desirable notion of development. So everything takes place in the name of development.
All the experiences of the
so-called development that I penned down are collective experiences of a group
of people and they are social in nature. So the analysis will be done using the
tools of social analysis. Social analysis is a process of understanding society
critically as why it is as it is, so that concrete measures could be adopted to
bring about a change within it with the values of equality, justice and
fellowship.[6]
In this chapter I would like
to analyse my experiences of the impact of globalisation on the adivasis under the following categories;
socio-cultural, economy, ecology and land.
An immediate analysis of the
experiences points to the fact that a society in general consists of various
groups of people. These various groups are termed as social structure. These
social structures are based on social positions, social status, social roles
and social functions. The division of a society according to the social
structures has its own intended good purpose. However, as we see in our experiences,
these structures do not usually go harmoniously. Here we see that basically
there are two structures where one takes the role of the oppressor and the
other as oppressed. It is quite obvious that the oppressors are rich, powerful,
influential, learned and the oppressed ones are poor, illiterate, choice-less
and powerless. Let us analyse how these phenomena of oppression are taking
place in the domain of globalisation and their impact on the lives of the adivasis.
3.1
Socio-Cultural
In my experience I see that the
major attack of globalisation is on the local culture and social system of adivasis. The culture of globalisation
invades the culture of the local people. Culture gives them unity, dignity,
identity and security. The culture of the adivasis
over the years has attained distinctiveness by fostering a balance between
nature and culture, egalitarianism in social structure, accommodative history,
equal economic sharing, secularism in religious pursuits, a democratic
political thinking and a people – oriented art and literature. Through various
media, the culture of accumulation, technology, wasteful consumerism, western
music, beauty parlours, fashion parades, etc. constantly bombards the innocent
minds of the adivasis especially the adivasi youth migrating to the cities
either for study or work. This is the reason for why the adivasi youth find
western music or nagpuri music more
enchanting than the traditional songs when they dance in the akara. It has also caused the people to
be individualistic and selfish which affects their community life badly and
they fail to remain united to attack the oppressors. In Kuru, the lack of unity
among the farmers is exploited by the middlemen in fixing the prices and
selling produces for rather cheaper rate.
The new industries as we saw
in Sirkari are highly mechanised and they provide few jobs that also for the
highly skilled people. This causes loss of job for the local adivasi people.
Unfortunately, the local people always remain as suppliers of raw materials and
cheap labour. Loss of traditional livelihood, mainly the failure of proper
agricultural system as we saw in the case of the children of Mr Pandit, is
generally accompanied by male migration in search of wage employment, and this
leads to disintegration of the family. It is usually the young and the able
bodied males who migrate, leaving the women to care for the old, the sick and
the young children. Sometimes the entire social structure breaks down, as in
situations of forced displacement, and entire families have to migrate out. [7]
This goes against the tribal values of unity and togetherness among the members
of the family.
Social and cultural
disintegration gets manifested in the increase of alcoholism and violence,
especially against women. Though, for adivasis
drinking rice-beer was a social custom and was done always in the community,
but we see the case of Mr Pandit where he has resorted to alcoholism due to
frustration and disappointment.
Some other effects of
globalisation are increasing materialism, consumerism, greed for power and
money, use of violence, lack of concern for others, dishonesty and trampling
ruthlessly upon the rights of the poor, the weak, women and children. Often land acquisition from the adivasis for the sake of development is
done with force and dishonesty, as happened in Churibasti a few months back. These
are directly opposed to the adivasis
values of honesty, simplicity, hard work, community living, solidarity,
equality and hospitality. All these are signs of socio-cultural degradation of
the adivasi communities under the
impact of globalization.
Hence, in a socio-cultural
point of view the hierarchical social structures of the oppressors are
attacking the collectivity, commonness and equality of the adivasis affecting their social and cultural life.
3.2
Economic
We see that the worst hit area
in the life of the adivasis due to
globalisation is their economic life. For the adivasis the resources are means of livelihood and are to be used
for their subsistence and fulfilment of basic needs. The economic resources
such as agriculture are labour intensive and production is small scale just as
per the requirement. There is also sense of regeneration of such resources.
However, globalisation has other view points on this based on the greed for
maximum economic profit. They use resources as means for production for profit.
Here the value propagated is consumerism. The resources are capital intensive
and the production achieved is large scale resulting in resource depletion. Here
we can see the reason for the collapse of agriculture. Out of greed for maximum
production, the farmers resort to the use of hybrid seeds and chemical
fertilisers. However, the seed producing and fertilizer manufacturing MNCs get
their huge profit, often leaving the farmers at risk of debt for which Mr
Pandit had been a victim.
Globalisation also causes an
increase in the price of necessary commodities and lowers the price of luxury
items. This has a major effect in the economy of the adivasis. Removal of agricultural subsidies and moving from
traditional farming to modern farming have also caused economic retardation in
the adivasi life.
The oppressive structure
always caters to the wants of the rich and the middle class depriving of the adivasis of their basic needs. The
middle class that accepts the effects of globalisation being beneficial focuses
on efficiency and availability of more and better goods as the norm to judge it
but accepts no responsibility for greater poverty it causes by diverting resources
to its own over consumption.
3.3
Ecology
In the beginning I had stated
that adivasi life is rooted with its
surrounding nature. Ecology plays a vital role in the lives of the adivasis. We, however, see that the
village Sirkari had spoiled its ecological balance. Extensive mining, use of
chemicals as fertilisers and insecticides and deforestation cause imbalances in
the ecology. Creation of dams by the private companies and extensive ground
water removal damage the ecology of adivasis
which are supposed to be extreme necessity for their agrarian life. Soil
pollution and air pollution is the greatest threat faced by the farmers like in
Churibasti staying in the outskirts of the city.
Out of greed for more and more
resources and thus for more production, often the nature and its ecology are
neglected. The victims as usual always are the adivasis and the poor. The Iron ore company in Sirkari is an
example for the hundreds of such factories that have mushroomed in Jharkhand
today, damaging the ecological balance of the many of the adivasi villages.
3.4
Land
In the life of the adivasis land plays a very important
role. Land for them is the provider of all things. They plant on this, they
dance on this, play on this, they get their livelihood from it and more than
that their ancestors are buried in the land. Adivasi culture and life have its
essence in land. Unfortunately, the ill effects caused by globalization
especially in the area of industrialization and modernization on the adivasi
lands have been devastating. Displacement has been rampant in Jharkhand for
many decades and the main victims have been adivasis.
Creation of dams, factories and mines causes permanent or temporary
displacement of adivasis from their
land. Again oppressive structure under the vain glory of globalisation with its
craze for increased economy and profit pays no heed to the people who once
enjoyed all the rights of their land.
All these levels of analysis
show that there is a movement of wealth from the poor to the rich. As Julius
Nyerere rightly observed that the poor becomes poorer and the rich richer and
often it happens naturally as a result of the normal working of the social and
economic system men have constructed for themselves. Just as water from the
driest regions of the earth ultimately flows into the ocean where already there
is plenty, so wealth flows from poorest nations and the poorest individuals
into the hands of nations and those individuals who are already wealthy. [8]
Hence, after the analysis we
see that there are two different structures that are opposed to each other, the
oppressors and the oppressed. This oppression which comes as the result of
globalisation is dehumanising and suppressing. It lowers the human dignity of
the poor adivasis leaving them with
no choice. The image and likeness of God is manifested in the faculty of
intellect and will of the human person and having no choice in life but to
perish is anti-life and it voids the faculty of will leaving one less human.
Conclusion: Now
the question before me is whether I should take sides or remain neutral. Should
I join in humanising, liberating side or dehumanising and oppressing side? Yes,
I should take the side of the adivasis
who are being dehumanised and suppressed. As Jesus did, I should be pro-human,
pro-life and pro-poor. In the next session, I try to see how a faith reflection
endorses my decision to humanise and liberate the adivasis from the oppressive elements.
4.
Faith Reflection
Introduction:
Before
entering into the process of faith reflection or theological reflection, let us
see how we can define the term theological reflection. Theological reflection
is the discipline of exploring individual and corporate experience in
conversation with the wisdom of a religious heritage. The conversation is a
genuine dialogue that seeks to hear from our own beliefs, actions and
perspectives, as well as those of the tradition. It respects the integrity of
both. Theological reflection therefore may confirm, challenge, clarify, and
expand how we understand our own experience and how we understand the religious
tradition. The outcome is new truth and meaning for living.[9]
In our analysis we have found
that the adivasis are the oppressed
ones due to the impact of globalisation. Our faith in the Scripture and tradition
tells us that the Lord continues to reveal Himself to us, through
various events, problems, struggles and movements of human history. All that
God has created is good and humans are created in His image and likeness (Gen.
1:26-27). This makes it vital for human beings to accept each other as members
of one family. And whenever this vocation to be a human being is violated, God
intervenes in history and reminds them of their vocation. This is clearly seen in Yahweh’s intervention
in and through the history of oppressed Israel and the prophets and decisively
in Jesus. Today, in and through us, God wants to continue to take the side of
the oppressed against the oppressive and dehumanizing forces of globalisation.
Let me clearly state the
theological question or problem we are investigating into. The life and
livelihood of the adivasis are at
stake. The impact of the globalisation is too imposing on the lives of the adivasis that they feel they are
oppressed and dehumanised by the agents of globalisation.
In this chapter we will see
how the following traditions come in to answer this theological question or
dilemma and give us new insights and thus lead us into salvation. When we speak
about the human person it also includes all that is associated with him/her in
making her life true to his/her dignity and identity as a human person; such as
land, livelihood, cultural set up, traditions and values as cherished by the adivasis.
4.1
Tribal Perspective
How will the adivasis experience the liberative action
of God in their life and history? The
Exodus story of the adivasis and
God’s intervention in the process of their liberation can be seen through
various myths. In the Asur myth[10] Singbonga
takes the side of the adivasis
against the non-adivasi Asurs who were
oppressing them. They snatch the forest wealth from the adivasis and are accumulating wealth to such an extent that there
is no food and water for the living beings.
To bring about a change of heart in the Asurs, Singbonga sends his messengers. But the Asurs
do not listen to anybody. Finally Singbonga
himself comes in the form of Toro-Kora that is a boy covered with itchy
scabies wounds, as a suffering servant to teach conversion. He takes upon himself punishment to teach the
Asurs the right path. Yet they do not listen. Ultimately he
destroys them and liberates the adivasis. Singbonga wanted the Asurs to be liberated from their evil
ways and accept everyone as a human being.
Thus everyone will be able to live a happy community life sharing whatever
one has.
The land of the adivasis is rich in minerals and natural
resources. There are a number of
industries and mining operations established in this area which are not under
the control of the adivasis, but
under the dikkus. As a
consequence, we see an overall degradation of nature (jal, jameen, jungle)
and human life. Hence, we see a
corresponding situation today with the situation described in the myth. It is shown in the lack of food and water for
all living beings. The lack of food and
water is shown as a result of the greed of the Asurs. It is in this
situation that Singbonga is visualized as entering into the human world
and saving the whole of creation.
In the myth Singbonga
is shown as the one who is guiding all the actions of the living beings with a
view to save the earth from the destructive action of the Asurs. First, he sends his
messengers, but they reject him by humiliating his messengers as the Israelites
did to the prophets. Then he takes the
form of a Toro Kora and visits the Asurs
and offers himself to be their servant as Jesus became human to be the servant
of all. The Asurs do not recognize him and reject him as the elite of Judea
rejected Jesus. The adivasis welcome him in their house as a servant, as the poor and
the sinners welcomed Jesus. And He brought them salvation by recognising their
inherent humanity.
The Asurs are portrayed as members of social structure whose only
interest is to make themselves rich.
They worked day and night to amass wealth. In spite of being told by the messengers of Singbonga
to regulate their production and later Singbonga himself trying to make
them change their way of life, they did not change their way of life. They set themselves as masters. A greedy
person assumes the role of master instead of a servant in contrast to a role
assigned by Singbonga for a human being on the earth. The Asur myth questions the life style of
the greedy Asurs who are like the multinational
companies and private enterprises who behave like arrogant masters.
Christianity believes that God cannot be the God of the oppressors but the God
of the oppressed. In the process he
takes the side of the poor and oppressed by sending his only Son to redeem the
world. He does this by self-sacrifice,
dying on the cross.
God who intervened in Jewish
history to liberate the poor and oppressed is the God who has been present and
active in the adivasi history of
oppression and exploitation to liberate them.
He was constantly guiding them to realize their identity as human
beings. In this process there have been prophets and great leaders whom God
used as his mediators. In the life of
the adivasis the missionaries played
the role of human mediators of God. When
the missionaries restored adivasi
identity through conscientising education, fought against the land alienation,
addressed the issues of tribal displacement, opposed inhuman developmental
projects, enabled the adivasis to
revive their language, culture, established communities which are fundamental
to their life, the people recognized the mighty hand of God working on their
behalf.
In the history of the Adivasis of Jharkhand there have been
various socio-cultural and political organisations that asserted the adivasi identity and unity such as Chotanagpur Unnati Samaj (1915), Adivasi Mahasabha (1938), JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) and AJSU. These
organisations fought against the oppressive elements of the society and to
liberate their fellow adivasis. There
are various Acts also supporting the land of the adivasis such as Chotanagpur Tenancy Act.
4.2 Christian
Perspective
Scriptural
Liberation
in the First Testament: Yahweh liberates his people by opting for
and accompanying them and by participating in their lives. The Exodus event
becomes a foundational experience for them where Yahweh takes the side of the
oppressed and works very concretely and definitely for them. Yahweh’s
condemnation of the oppression of the poor (Ex. 3:7-9; Am. 4:13; 5:1-12; 6:4-7;
Mic. 2:1-3; Is. 5:8-10; 3:13-15), His identification with them (Pr.14: 31;
17:5; 19:17) and His saving action of Israel from oppression (Ex. 3:10-12;
6:2-7; 15:20 ff; Dt. 6:20-23; 26:5-9; Jos. 24:2-13) shows us that He is the God
of justice and liberation.
This is very clearly seen in
the Exodus event. "I have seen how
cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt, and I have heard their cry
because of their task masters; I know their suffering and I have come down to
deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians" (Ex. 3: 7-9). Adivasis are the new Israelites who are victims
of globalization and its negative impacts.
And God's option for the oppressed is the mark of justice since Yahweh
takes the side of the oppressed because they are created in His own image.
Yahweh's option for the
oppressed is revealed in the way He demands justice for them. "You shall
not oppress a hired servant, who is poor and needy. You shall give his wage on the same day (Dt
24:14). Yahweh denounces injustice,
"You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you do afflict them they cry out to me, I
will surely hear their cry" (Ex 22:22). Thus God is against globalization
which marginalizes the oppressed and pushes them to the lowest periphery of
society.
In the historical books we see
how God takes the help of various individuals as medium for liberation and
social change. The struggle for liberation of the oppressed is an ongoing
process today. It is the duty of each one of us to partake in the liberative
work of Yahweh.
Liberation in the Second
Testament: We find that the concern for the poor and the
oppressed is carried over to the New Testament in Jesus. He identifies himself with the poor at his
birth and later in his life style. His
mission field was Galilee which is occupied by the poor. His teachings are
basically directed to the poor and the marginalized. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of God" (Mt. 5:3).
While opting for the poor and
the marginalised Jesus also takes a definite stand against the then globalizing
attitude. He considers accumulated wealth
as the fruit of injustice. That is why
Jesus calls for the renunciation of wealth.
In the process of accumulating more and more wealth, people tend to lose
all human values and the lives and livelihood of others. This is the reason why Jesus says that we
cannot serve God and wealth (Mt 6:24).
He also tells the oppressors of the adivasis
that it is impossible for them to enter into God's reign as "it is easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God" (Mk 10:25). Some of
the most severe woes that Jesus utters are directed against the rich (Lk.6:24).
He goes to the extent of calling them ‘you brood of vipers’ (Mt 3:7)
Another dimension of Jesus'
option for the oppressed is his decision to share. He always insists on sharing one's material
possessions with the poor and needy. Jesus tells the rich man to sell what he
has and give the money to the poor to have a place in heaven (Mt 10:21). Zacchaeus, the tax collector understands that
salvation lies not in a private affair, but in living a life of sharing. "Behold Lord half of my goods I give to
the poor and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it
fourfold" (Lk. 19:8). Thus Jesus
clearly tells the rich and the capitalists that they have to make a shift from
the economy of accumulation to an economy of sharing. Today with globalization, the rich nations
are busy with the economy of accumulation. And if Jesus were to be here today,
he would openly condemn these oppressive structures for accumulating profit at
the expense of the poor.
Jesus had a definite mission
to liberate people from the bondage of sin, injustice, exploitation and
oppressive violence. The incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus are
central and fundamental to us. Another
aspect of Jesus’ mission was to establish the kingdom of God on earth, where
everyone lives in dignity, peace and harmony, sharing and loving. Jesus’
activities, associations and life reveal his preferential option for the
exploited and the oppressed. To achieve
this kingdom he becomes the suffering servant (Mt. 12:18-21) to be the power
and hope for the weak to establish a just world. This conflicting picture of
Jesus anticipates his death as the universal victory in the way of the Cross.
Jesus in the ‘culture of silence’ represents the sovereign power of God. Today adivasis are also nailed to the cross
with Jesus when their existence is denied in the face of globalization. But the
servant Jesus at the end is the victor not the victim. Thus he becomes the source for the oppressed
to fight against anti-kingdom values which globalization promote.
Non-Scriptural
Faith and Revelation: God reveals Himself to all the human persons in
numerous ways. However, to understand that revelation, faith is absolute necessary.
Faith is completely abandoning oneself to God or allowing God to take control
of our life. Today, faith is not just believing in God, but it should lead the
believer to action. Faith and Justice are seen as two sides of the same coin.
Authentic faith is a source of life and joy. Faith involves a sincere adherence
to the vision of the Kingdom of God that the Gospel holds for us – an adherence
that reveals itself concretely in the believer’s manner of living and of
dealing with other persons and groups.[11] It shows that the Christian Faith has a
positive bearing on the transformation of the human society. A desired goal
from this point of view is to transform the adivasi
society from the clutches of globalisation.
Grace: According to Karl Rahner, grace is the self-donation
of God to us. It means that God giving Himself to us or revealing Himself to us
through various means.[12]
Our human dignity and identity is a grace from God, because it is through our
faculty of will and intellect we share His image and likeness. Grace hence is a
very positive affirmation to our existence as human person with all the
inherent dignity associated with that. Globalisation with its dehumanising face
tries to suppress this element of grace God is pouring on to us. To acknowledge
God would mean to acknowledge His grace which is pro-human and pro-life.
Human
autonomy, freedom and personhood of the adivasis
are threatened by mechanisms and constraints of globalisation and grace should
be seen as unfolding in this world in terms of these fettering and
depersonalizing factors; as a force that liberates existence, guarantees
autonomy and expands its freedom.[13]
Christian Commitment: We have seen that Christian Commitment is interested
in the implications of Christian Faith for the sorts of person we ought to be
and sorts of action we ought to perform. Doing good and avoiding evil is the
basis for Christian Commitment. Hence, it has lot of implications in our
context of globalisation. Christian commitment supports all good deeds done for
the welfare of the society and rejects all forms of evil. If we wish to be a
morally sound person then we should support the adivasis and stand by their side for building up of their
community. Christian commitment is also pro-life and pro-human person. The
greatest command is love of God and love of neighbour and we can love God only
if we love our neighbours. Christian commitment is also about
harmonising the human dignity of oneself with that of the other thus resulting
in a mutual enhancing and enriching self to build up a new community of love,
peace, fellowship and justice – the Kingdom of God.
Social Teachings of the
Church: The central to the theme of
Social Teachings of the Church is human dignity and human justice. The
encyclical `Pacem in Terris' affirms the right to life. "The right of every human being to life
and worthy manner of living includes a host of basic rights beginning with
food, clothing and shelter."[14]
While highlighting the right
of people to work, Pope Leo XIII in `Rerum Novarum' says, "the
preservation of life is the bounden duty of each and all, and to fail therein
is a crime. It follows that each one has
right to procure what is required in order to live and the poor can procure it in
no other way than by work and wage."[15]
The encyclical `Rerum
Novarum' also speaks about paying a just wage. “Wages should enable a
worker comfortably to support himself, his wife, and his children".[16]
The ultimate aim of the social
teaching of the church is the values of the Kingdom i.e. freedom, fellowship,
love and justice. These are the values we want to retain in the lives of the adivasis today. This Kingdom can come
only when the oppressive structures are overthrown and justice is established.
Hindu Perspective
Though we do find oppressive
elements like caste system propagated by Brahmanism and women subjugation
popularized by Manu, we should not miss the liberative elements in Hindu
spirituality. Here I would like to concentrate in the aspect of Dharma. According to the Mahabharata
(8.49.50), the word dharma comes from
the root dhŗ i.e., ‘to hold or
uphold,’ and dharma holds together
all human beings. The term dharma has
been variously translated as duty, religion, justice, law, ethics, religious
merit, principle, etc. It is the cosmic law which governs all processes in the
universe – including the life of the individual.
The svadharma (dharma of an
individual) has always been community oriented, and it is determined by what
one could give to the community. According to the Gīta, the highest morality is doing one’s duty in complete
detachment and selflessness, “desiring the welfare of the world (lōkasangraha)”
(Gīta 3:25). Hence, the real intent
of the svadharma in the Gīta is the defence of the oppressed and
the upholding of justice.[17]
It indeed is a solid foundation for the liberation of the oppressed adivasis from the evil effects of
globalisation.
Conclusion:
In
this chapter we have seen how the theological reflection tries to answer the
theological question or the problem. We see that all the levels of theologising
categorically support that we should stand with the poor and oppressed adivasis and through the oppressive
structures. It is calling for accompaniment in their life and appreciation for
the good things the adivasi community
offering to us. At the end of the theological reflection, I feel that something
ought to be done to check the exploitation of the adivasis. In the next chapter I will enumerate the praxis i.e. some
of the concrete actions that can be done to alleviate the suffering of the adivasis and to eradicate their
exploitation by the agents of globalisation.
5.
Praxis
We know that our faith should
not remain in mere devotion to God but should manifest in our dealing with
others as love of God should be manifested in the love for the people. When we
take a pro-person, pro-poor stand, this should indeed lead us to a
revolutionary action as the poor are always the victim of exploitation. In this
chapter, after making the faith reflection, I would like to list down few
actions that should be taken to humanise the life of the adivasis and liberate them from the oppressive structures of the
globalisation.
v Conscientising
people about the implications and negative impact of globalization by camps,
awareness programs and media.
v Education
for the youth and children of adivasis.
If there is no school, get the help from Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan and adult literacy programs.
v Networking
with like-minded NGOs and people’s organizations to work for the welfare of the
adivasis.
v Mobilizing
the oppressed against inhuman developmental projects which are sponsored by the
WB, IMF, WTO and other private companies.
v Encouraging
the self-help groups to generate employment opportunities for the economic
empowerment of the oppressed.
v Encouraging
advocacy where people’s elected representatives frame policies in favour of the
oppressed.
v Encouraging
and asserting the self-rule of adivasis
and implementation of panchayathiraj.
v Encouraging
traditional medical care especially of plants and herbs.
v Organizing
and partaking in subaltern protest movements against anti-people policies of
globalisers and governments.
v Encouraging
the networking of local markets and promoting small scale industries.
v Encouraging
the people’s folk art and culture and resisting the ‘western culture’.
v Encouraging
education and technical training to help the oppressed to cope up with the
competition.
v Getting
adivasi youth admitted to various
agricultural, horticultural, fishery, poultry institutions like that of ATC
Namkum, Divyayan Morabadi for proper training.
v Making
them aware of various development schemes at block level and district level.
These are some of the steps
taken to liberate the adivasis from
the evil effects of globalisation and make their life more meaningful and worth
living. This will lead them to salvation, the ultimate end for which we are
moving to.
6.
Conclusion
Jerome Gerald Kujur from
Netarhat region voices as follows:
It seems that the tribes
have the sole responsibility
of developing the country.
Why all the dams,
factories, and firing ranges
are built only in tribal
areas?
I also want to ask them:
Is it the only way you have
to develop the country?[18]
In fact we see that the adivasis are the easy victims of
development and under this they are dehumanised and exploited. A faith inspired
vision of globalisation takes us to the very heart of two important Christian
concerns: unity of the human family or the ideal of universality and the
reality of the poor especially the adivasis.
The impact of globalisation is
such that it has created a big gap between the rich and the poor. The rich is
becoming more and more rich at the expense of the poor. Though we see that we
have to liberate the oppressed poor and adivasis
from the clutches of the agents of globalisation, we should not neglect the
oppressors themselves. Let us be sure that we work for the salvation for all,
for the rich and the poor, for the oppressor and the oppressed, because the
Kingdom of God is for all. In all our theologising process and activities,
salvation for all should be our aim.
Next we should look at the
reality of the poor especially the adivasis.
By all means we have to protect their life and livelihood and preserve their
rich heritage and culture. God’s preferential option for the poor should be our
motivation. Salvation is to be realised in community love, community concern,
community sharing, community justice, and community growth as envisioned by
Jesus. “... The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are
cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead raised up, and the poor have good news
preached to them.” (Mt 11:5)[19].
Hence, the poor are always the sign of God’s special presence among us. It is
through them that the Kingdom is always announced. Jesus identification with
the poor should motivate us to stand by/for the poor and the adivasis to liberate them and humanise
them. It will make them to realise their own human dignity and that they are
really the children of God.
Bibliography
Books:
1.
D’Sa, Thomas. 2005 The Church in India in the Emerging Third
Milliennium. Bangalore: NBCLC.
2.
Fernando, Leonard. 2002 Seeking New Horizons. Delhi: Vidya Jyoti
Educational Society.
3.
Killen, Patricia. 1994 The art of Theological Reflection. New York: CrossRoad.
4.
Watkins, Adrian. 2006
Gospel and Globalisation. New Delhi:
CMS/ISPCK.
5.
Haughey, John. 1977 The Faith that Does Justice. New York: Paulist Press.
6.
Sarini. 2002 Voices of the Adivasis / Indigenous Peoples of India. Delhi:
AICFAIP.
Articles:
Kujur,
Sudhir Kr., “Reaffirming Tribal Beliefs and Practices,”
in Sevartham, Vol-22/1999.
[1] Prakash,
Cedrick. 2005. “Impact of Globalisation on Mission in India,” in Fr Thomas D’Sa
(ed). The Church in India in the Emerging
Third Millennium. (Bangalore: NBCLC Bangalore), p. 114.
[2] Fernandes,
Walter. 2005. “Globalisation, Implications and Church Response,” in Fr Thomas
D’Sa (ed). The Church in India in the
Emerging Third Millennium. (Bangalore: NBCLC Bangalore), pp. 61-68.
[3] Sudhir Kr. Kujur
S J.1999. “Reaffirming Tribal Beliefs and Practices,” in Sevartham
Vol-22/1999. (Ranchi: St Albert’s College), p. 63.
[5] Fr Eric
SJ, Class Notes, (Tarunoday, 16/8/2006)
[7] Lobo, Lancy.
2005. “Impact of Globalisation on the Adivasis,”
in Fr Thomas D’Sa (ed). The Church in
India in the Emerging Third Millennium. (Bangalore: NBCLC Bangalore), p.
139.
[9] Killen Patricia O’Connell. 1994. The art of Theological Reflection (New
York: Cross Road) p. vii.
[10] Fr Agapit Tirkey S J, Class Notes,
13-7-2006.
[11] Haughey, John. 1977. “The Faith that
Does Justice”, (New York: Paulist Press), p. 11.
[12] Fr Michael Kerketta SJ, Class Notes, (Tarunoday, 16/2/2007)
[13] Ibid
[14] Church Documents, Electronic Notes
[15] ibid
[16] ibid
[17] Chennathu, Rekha. 2002. “Svadharma of Jesus,” in Leonard
Fernando, SJ (ed). Seeking New Horizons.
(Delhi: Vidyajyoti Educational and Welfare Society), p. 332.
