Origin Of Salwa Juration Movement

The term ‘Salwa Judum’ in Gondi language translates to “Peace March” or “Purification Hunt”, which started the in the village of Kutru, Dantewada, in 2005. Salwa Judum started off as a peaceful and administrated protest against the Naxalites/Maoists initiated by the locals of Bastar. However the protest soon turned into a political propaganda -or perhaps, was one from the inception of it- which seemed to be the consequence of the government’s long-term counterinsurgency plans. Nevertheless, a more significant issue as opposed to the origin of this movement, addressed in this paper would be- the underling justification and reasoning behind its relation to society, the extent of the state’s investment into this movement and the vicious repercussions
This emphasises on the inevitable interaction between the trades and the officials of the forest department.
It’s true that the people of Dantewada are particularly poor and their conditions are dreadful; however their land is particularly rich, not only in terms of forests but also mining. The initial need for commercial mining was the deposits of iron-ore, which is among the best in terms of quality in the world. The iron-ore is mined wholly for export, and the locals gain nothing from it. All it does for the local region is pollution of the two rivers, Sankini and Dankini. It seems that the efforts to exploit the natural resources have seemingly gained impetus after Chattisghar was separated as a state. The new state government has entered into private agreements with big names such as Tata and Essar to setup steel plants on state leased land. Essar has set a up pipeline that transports 8 hundred million tonnes of iron-ore slurry per annum to the port of Vishakhapatnam, while National Mining Development Corporation (NMDC) has already begun in the Nagarnar village of Bastar, in spite of the local outcry. In response to this outcry the government attempted suppress it, and erect more projects all around Bastar. A sponge iron factory came up in Raikot that emitted thick black smoke into the
In the situation where the state has claimed rights on the span of land, and the people living on that land are treated as periphery to the economy of the nation, a mass crowd of Maoist challenging the state’s plans to make a heavy profit out of this area acts as a threat.
The predecessor of the ‘Salwa Judum’ movement is the called the Jan Jagaran Abhiyan. There are two main reasons for which the Tribals started these movements again the Maoist. The first issue was the creation of the ‘Sanghams’ in the village. And the banning of the collection of ‘Tendu’ leaves.
Authority, in the village level, is wielded by the ‘patel/pedda/mukhia’ (headman) or the priest. In certain instances, the same person performed functions of both. The next in line in the arrangement is the ‘pargan manjhi’, who presides over the collection of villages. The patel in many cases, belong to the family which is the oldest residents of the village, or those who initially founded the