Why The EIA 2020 Draft Means Nothing To Me

Author – Kaveeya Tamizh

Environmental Impact Assessment Act (EIA) 2020 draft, such a terrible move made by the government. How atrocious! It has been sharply criticised by environmental and climate change activists across the country. These activists and environmentalists are encouraging the public to write to the Ministry to recognise its potentially devastating impact. I stress, “potentially.” I personally see my 10-year-old neighbour and even my friends studying in Australia speaking about the problems in this new draft. These potential themes that “might” arise, seem more significant to you than the existing issues and the root cause of all such problems – caste.

It’s a joke, right? Are you really asking the lineage of sanitation workers and forest tribes to be aware of the environmental issues? Really? My people are the ones who clean your trash, your faeces and what not? But you end up calling us “KUPPAIKARAN/KUPPAIKAARI” or “KACHADAWALA/KACHADAWALI”. You deserve such terms, not us.

Now, let me tell you why the Environment Impact Assessment 2020 draft means absolutely nothing to me. Yes, I do not care even if the whole nation dies because of this issue. So please, do not ask us (roughly 30 crore people belonging to the SC/ST community) to speak about this problem.

Why is it that whenever we get ourselves together and speak about our livelihood issues, a new environmental or corruption problem pops up and crumbles our effort? Why aren’t our voices and our cry for help being heard anywhere? Not even to these armchair activists. Why is #dalitlivesmatter not trending as much as #prayforNesamani? Why does a fictional character’s life matter more to you than the 30 crores that are kept unheard? Why? To add to this, all of you sudden environmental activists want our support? We’re sorry.

I have noticed this, why isn’t any environmental activist questioning Modi directly? Yes, you say “government”, but why don’t you just point fingers straight at the man. He has been our prime minister since 2014, and there’s no way this draft was put together without his inputs. It’s not just this issue, we’ve faced problems in demonetisation, the betrayal of our farmers, the rewriting of the Rafale deal, privatisation of institutions, Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), our failing economy and what not? He is the only prime minister who has no time to meet the media, address the people but has enough time to go on foreign trips. But why isn’t anyone voicing out their opinion to dethrone him? I wonder why #dethroneModi is not trending.

Since we’re speaking about Modi, I would also like to ask him this. We all have seen in our school textbooks that India is a “secular” nation, right? And of course, our honourable Narendra Modi is our nation’s head. Why is our head visiting only Hindu temples and promoting yoga which has its origins in the Hindu religion? Why is eating beef a crime in a secular nation? Why isn’t Modi Ji visiting churches, mosques or even villages? Modi Ji, I don’t care that you are a Hindu, I have no objection with you visiting Hindu temples either, but, you’re the leader of a secular nation, I think it’s high time that you begin acting accordingly. As the representative of every citizen of India, you cannot be attaching yourself to one particular religion, you represent India first and only then are you a Hindu. But questioning Modi Ji will be a different article, I shall continue to speak about why I don’t care about EIA 2020.

So tell me, where were all these activists when Arvind Bansode died? Do you have no idea about him? He was a highly educated social activist who was suspiciously found dead, and the police registered his death as a suicide instead of a murder case without proper investigation. Remember Vikas Jatav? I don’t think so. This 17-year old boy was shot dead by 4 upper-class men for entering a temple. These are very recent issues. I’m sure you have no idea about Rohit Vemula or Anitha, both died fighting for Dalit rights.

The National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, an NGO, says over 23% of Dalit women report being raped, and many have reported multiple instances of rape. Four Dalit women are raped every day. A report released by Amnesty International in 2001 found an “extremely high” number of sexual assaults on Dalit women, frequently perpetrated by landlords, upper-caste villagers, and police officers. The study estimates that only about 5 per cent of attacks are registered and that the police dismissed at least 30 per cent of rape complaints as false. Honour killings based on inter-caste marriages happen till date, and the killer walks free because of the privilege his caste gives him. Even though there is no empirically proven correlation between caste and skin-colour, Dalits are perceived as dark-skinned and impure. Over 90 crimes against Dalits have been recorded in Tamil Nadu just during this lockdown period. Our street-cleaners have put their own bodies on the line to keep the nation clean during this pandemic, yet, this is the discrimination they face in doing so. “Social distancing” has been happening in our country for aeons. Till date, no media is switching over to “physical distancing” or even recognising the caste connotation in “social distancing”. These crimes are infinitesimal compared to the multitudes of crimes happening to us every hour. Also, these are the violations that are happening even after laws against these brutal crimes have been brought. This proves that law and justice are only on papers and there’s complete lack of enforcement.

The ‘National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights’ presented caste discrimination as equivalent to racial discrimination at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban 2001. But of course, the Indian government protested and claimed that race is a western concept which cannot be compared to caste, strengthening their official position. They also claimed that caste is an “internal affair” and cannot be confused with racism. Now answer me, if caste is an internal affair, how did the European Parliament acknowledge it? They have sent a strong message of support to hundreds of millions of people all over the world who are subjected to caste discrimination by urging the EU to step up efforts to address this human-rights issue. Also, if caste is an internal affair, what has the government done to eradicate it? Nothing. But instead, it messed with the reservation system and brought in 10% reservation for the so-called poor people belonging to the upper class which violates the purpose of reservation.

Majority of the Hindus still believe that Dalits are impure. We are literally outcastes; a filthy group that is so unworthy and revolting that the mere sight of us is considered “polluting”. Although it is based on religious principles practised for some 1,500 years, the system persists today for economic as much as religious reasons. Hence we strongly urge the United Nations (UN) to recognise and address caste discrimination on par with other grounds of discrimination such as ethnicity, race, religion, gender and sexuality; to include this issue in human-rights policies; and to raise it at the highest level with governments of caste-affected countries.

Again coming back to the topic, where are our wannabe activists when it comes to these Dalit issues? Are you saying the lives of 30 crore people can be ignored or left unheard? Why is everyone who is raising their voice against the EIA 2020 draft oblivious when it comes to our problems? Why is the UN hearing only Greta Thunberg and refusing to acknowledge our difficulties? How dare you, UN? How dare you India?!

I believe that caste is the root cause of all the evils put together in our country. The whole world, including the United Nations, has the time to discuss the environment. But none of them even want to utter a word about the worst form of discrimination called caste.

In the modern world, where everyone speaks about inclusive growth, 30 crore people – a population almost in par with the entire population of the United States of America and five times the size of the United Kingdom’s population is still kept outside India. We are forced to live in slums with hardly any basic necessities and no respect, whereas the rest live inside.

Let me ask you, why should I, an untouchable, who is kept outside India for over 2000 years, speak about an issue that disturbs you? Let this entire casteist nation perish before my eyes for it never heard my pleas and never considered my sufferings. Protect us from caste, and the casteless people will protect the whole world.

Not just this issue, we will not blink an eye at any other themes that are thrown at this nation, for we were not freed when India got independence from the British. Your India is entirely different from where we are forced to live in. Give us a nation free from caste, and we will consider supporting your cause.

I urge you to do the same. We can protect the environment only when we de-caste our society and the nation. India will always only be a “developing” nation and never a “developed” nation as long as this birth-based discrimination exists. No other problem is bigger than the caste issue we face to date. We are a country ruled and represented by a minority. How do you expect them to understand our difficulties? Dr. B. R. Ambedkar fought against caste while the whole nation was fighting for independence, why? Because freedom from the British means nothing to the backward classes unless the country is free from caste discrimination, it was just a transfer of dominance from the British into the hands of Brahmins. So don’t let these trivial environmental issues distract you from the bigger picture.

REFERENCES