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The view from the bottom of India’s social ladder

The Adivasis are victims of poverty, social exclusion, conflict and their government’s appetite for mineral wealth.

Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
As India barrels down the track to economic greatness, the majority of its people are being left behind [Al Jazeera]
Published On 26 Oct 201126 Oct 2011
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Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
The Adivasis are thought to be India(***)s earliest inhabitants [Al Jazeera]
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Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
A loose collection of tribes, it is estimated that there are about 84 million of these indigenous people, which is about eight per cent of the country(***)s population [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
For generations, they have lived off farming and the spoils of the jungle in eastern India [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
But as those on the lowest rung of India(***)s social and economic ladder, the Adivasis have the odds firmly stacked against them [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
In addition to this, their way of live is under threat as millions of Adivasis have been displaced, partly as a result of conflict between the government and Maoist anti-government groups [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
But they are also victims of the Indian government(***)s voracious appetite for mineral wealth as their land contains mineral deposits estimated to be worth trillions of dollars [Al Jazeera]
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Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
Forests have been cleared and the Indian government has evacuated hundreds of villages to make room for steel plants and mineral refineries [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
And this is not just a recent development. In 1950, 32 Adivasi villages were demolished to make room for a steel plant in India(***)s Orissa province [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
The displaced ended up living in settlement camps - for 60 years. They were all promised jobs and prosperity, but say they were given nothing [Al Jazeera]
AJE Correspondent - India Silent war
Binayak Sen has been fighting for the rights of Adivasis for years and has been arrested by the government numerous times [EPA]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
He says: "These focused processes of expropriation are forcing these people who are already living on the brink of starvation off the land and into more severe poverty." [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
Some turn to alcohol in order to numb the pain of the horrendous poverty in which they live [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
The risk of losing everything they have ever known has made many Adivasis fertile recruits for India(***)s Maoist rebels or Naxalites, who also call these forests home [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
The Maoists(***) fight with the Indian government began 50 years ago, just after India became independent [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
In 2007, it was estimated that Naxalites were active across "half of India(***)s 28 states" - accounting for about 40 per cent of India(***)s geographical area [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
The Maoist ideal of a just society without hierarchy seemed to be the antidote to the Indian government(***)s land grab, so hundreds of disillusioned young Adivasi men and women joined them [Al Jazeera]
AJE Correspondent - India''s Silent war
But the aboriginals soon discovered that their new allies had a very dark side [EPA]
AJE Correspondent - India''s Silent war
In their zeal for undermining the Indian government, Maoist fighters have torched construction equipment, bombed government schools, and de-railed passenger trains, killing hundreds [EPA]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - Adivasis
"It degenerated into a terrorist campaign. It is an exercise in socialism in words, and terrorism in deeds," says Ashim Chatterjee, one of the original members of the Naxalite movement who has since become one of the Maoists(***) harshest critics [EPA]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
India(***)s Maoist uprising and its brutal suppression by the Indian government has claimed more than 10,000 lives since 1980 and displaced millions of Adivasis [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
In the 40-year-long push and pull between the rebels and the Indian government, the biggest losers in this armed struggle have been India(***)s 84 million aboriginals [Al Jazeera]
AJE Correspondent - India''s silent war
New Delhi has labelled the Maoists and their Adivasi collaborators terrorists and started fighting them with government paramilitaries [EPA]
AJE Correspondent - India''s silent war
By many accounts, the government paramilitaries have been indiscriminate in their anti-Maoist operations, targetting innocent Adivasis along with the rebels and striking fear into villagers in central and eastern India [EPA]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
The Indian government says it is fighting the Maoists in order to protect the Adivasis from their violence and exploitation [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
There are reports of government paramilitaries allegedly burning down villages suspected of having Maoist sympathies [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
In some villages many men have been arrested on suspicion of collaborating with the Maoists, leaving the women and children without any income [Al Jazeera]
Al Jazeera Correspondent - India''s silent war - Gallery
Squeezed from all sides, India(***)s once-proud aboriginals have probably hit their lowest point [Al Jazeera]


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