Mainstream Weekly

Who Am I?

Gladson Dungdung — 2012-05-13T19:46:27Z

An emerging human rights organisation of Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Human Rights Movement, has released the first “Jharkhand Human Rights Report 2001-2011”, which was welcomed from all corners of the society. However, I was just checking to know the reason of the absence of some human rights activists at the report release function held in Ranchi on March 10, 2012. While responding to my queries, one of the noted human rights activists of the State told me: “You have written a lot against us (…)

- 2012

Are these Anti-Naxal Operations, Mr Chidambaram?

Gladson Dungdung — 2011-04-14T10:51:05Z

India's security budget grows up every year and even the economic crisis does not make any difference to it. The Indian Government spends most of its money for the security of its own people. Apart from this, the government also has special budget allocations for dealing with the internal security threat and several State governments also spend the money, allocated for the Tribal Sub-plan, on security. Ironically, the government(s) use the money, which is supposed to be spent for their (…)

- 2011

'Operation NGO Hunt' in Jharkhand

Gladson Dungdung — 2010-12-12T01:47:01Z

The Jharkhand Government has launched a new operation in the State; it can be called “Operation NGO Hunt”. In a latest discovery, the Jharkhand Police have found 1300 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as sympa-thisers of the Naxalites though nobody knows the ‘parameters' of the ‘sympathisers'. However, the way the state is behaving with these organisations, it is very clear that anyone who raises questions against the violation of the rights of the people residing in the Red Corridor is (…)

- 2010

Ensuring Right to Education in the Red Corridor

Gladson Dungdung — 2010-10-30T01:41:00Z

The Indian Government and media are repeatedly telling us that 92,000 square kilometres of geographical area covering 170 districts in nine States of India are out of control of the Indian state. The vicinity is full of natural resources including varieties of minerals, forests and water sources. The territory is ruled by the Maoists; therefore the government has branded it as the ‘Red Corridor'. Actually, the area is highly adivasi dominated, therefore it is supposed to be called the (…)

- 2010

Fake Encounters in Jharkhand

Gladson Dungdung — 2010-09-20T06:37:58Z

In the afternoon on July 5, 2010, the security forces, comprising the JAP and SAF under the leadership of E.H. Siddique, the officer-in-charge of Tamar Police Station, arrived in Gunti village and picked up 45-year-old Etwa Munda of Papirdah village (which comes under Tamar Police Station of Ranchi district in Jharkhand), when he was in the house of his relative Manav Munda. The police also caught a girl, Bengi Kumari, and escorted both of them towards Jabla pahari (forest). After sometime, (…)

- 2010

Constricting Democratic Space through Terror

Gladson Dungdung — 2010-07-22T14:02:27Z

In the midst of the hide-and-seek between the sun and the cloud, the environment at the Jaipal Singh Stadium in Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand, was very tense on June 25, 2010. The reason was that the “Operation Green Hunt Virodhi Nagrik Manch” (Citizens Forum against Operation Green Hunt) had called a rally and mass meeting against the cold blooded murder, rape and torture of innocent villagers by the security forces in the ongoing so-called anti-Naxal operation codified as (…)

- 2010

I Have Seen Her Crying

Gladson Dungdung — 2010-07-10T07:00:46Z

On June 13, 2010, we, 12 human rights activists of Jharkhand, started our journey before dawn. We had heard a horrible story about an Adivasi woman who was killed in crossfire between the security forces and the Maoists. Her name was Jasinta. She was a mere 25-year-old married woman enjoying her life with her family in a village. Of course, she was a mother of three kids whose lives are at stake now. Therefore, we wanted to know the truth. We wanted to know whether she was a Maoist. The most (…)

- 2010

Am I a Maoist?

Gladson Dungdung — 2010-05-10T08:18:08Z

I appeared in public life through my human rights work, writings and speeches. However, I reached to a larger audience when I got a chance to appear in CNN-IBN and NDTV-24×7 debates on the issue of Naxalism last year. After these debates, I got immense positive and negative responses from across the country. I was upset for sometime precisely because of the most negative responses I got from the youth who are running behind the market forces unknowingly. They ruthlessly questioned me about (…)

- 2010