Tribal girls relate their experience with the Maoists

Orissa Maoists: Great escape, Great relief

“We can now sleep peacefully. We are now free from a life of hardship and terror,” said a 16 - year - old Shanti Soye, a Maoist, after she had surrendered to the police. Sudra Soye, Basanti Taisam, Sumitra Chattar and Raima Pingua also laid down arms after escaping from a Maoist hide - out in dense forests. The girls spent around two years in the camps.

“What we faced during these two years was exploitation and gruelling work. Our seniors always made us carry their luggage when moving from one camp to another in the jungle. Some of them even tried to molest us in an inebriated state. We complained to the committee head but nothing was done to stop the excesses,” revealed Raima Pingua.

The tribal girls, all of them aged between 15 to 17 years, were lured to join the Maoists with false promises. The leaders assured them of financial support and livelihood. They had also promised to solve the long-standing problems of the tribal people. But, as it turned out later, all that was mere eyewash.

Shanti Soye added, “I was taken to a Maoist camp by a girl of my village named Sabita. She lured me into dense forest in Telkoi area and there I was made a captive of sorts. I was given fitness training for about a month followed by arms training. When I asked them to let me return to my village, they refused.”

According to the police, Shanti, who belonged to Raighati village, was working as a deputy section commander under the direct control of Kaling Nagar Divisional Committee (KNDC) secretary Sushil alias Basanta. She was allegedly involved in several crimes including murder, attack on Police Station at Daitari, ransacking of liquor shops at Akul etc. The other girls, the residents of Ghasipura police station area, were working as cadres under the command of Dhiren, an area committee member of KNDC.

Ashish Kumar Singh, SP Keonjhar said, “The Maoist leaders attract the teenagers to join their organisation by giving false assurances. After spending a pitiable life for more than a year these girls have surrendered to lead a peaceful life. They will be settled as per the government’s rehabilitation policy.”

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Several finance institutions exploit poor farmers

Orissa Agricultural loans: Micro Finance, mega bucks

A debt-ridden tenant farmer Ratnakar Jena of Andara village in Kendrapara district of Orissa committed suicide by consuming insecticide last month. The victim was landless and had taken loan from a local Micro Finance Institution (MFI) to cultivate the land he had taken on agreement. But a poor crop rendered him unable to pay back the loan in the stipulated time. A high rate of interest made the situation worse. And then there was pressure on the poor fellow from the MFI to repay the amount. In these circumstances, Jena had little choice and he chose the easiest way out— he quit! This is just one of the many cases of farmer suicide in the state. Although micro credit system is considered to be a tool for poverty alleviation, but the increasing number of farmer suicides under debt burden tells a different story. It shows that instead of providing relief to farmers, the MFIs are extorting money from them! It has often been complained that many fraud co-operative banks and micro finance institutions are operating in the rural areas of the state, and as expected, they do not go by the RBI guidelines and instead charge huge interest on the money they lend.

Although MFI operations in Orissa are widespread, there are no guidelines regarding the interest rate. In this context, noted economist Santosh Mahapatra opines, “While the banks provide loans to MFIs at 13 per cent (base rate 8 per cent and charge rate 5 per cent) but these MFIs charge 28 per cent to 36 per cent from their clients, which is obviously very high.” Kailash Mishra, chief of Awareness (India) Finance Limited, a micro credit organisation, says, “When MFIs take loans from the nationalised banks at 13 to 16 per cent, they will naturally claim more than 20 per cent from their clients.”

State Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadei says that the government is taking steps to minimise the exploitation of farmers at the hands of unscrupulous financial institutions by entrusting NABARD with a larger role in agriculture sector. NABARD will be the monitoring authority for the MFIs.

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