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PP RUEHAST RUEHAT RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHSK RUEHSL
DE RUEHBI #0017/01 0130751
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 130751Z JAN 10
FM AMCONSUL MUMBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7685
INFO RUEHZJ/HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 8895
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1976
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 2189
RUEHC/USAID WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 2923

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MUMBAI 000017 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ASEC PHUM IN EAID EMIN PTER SOCI
SUBJECT: NGOS SEE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AS SOLUTION TO CONFLICT IN 
CHHATTISGARH 
 
REF: 2009 MUMBAI 12 
 
MUMBAI 00000017  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
¶1. (U)  Summary:  The tribal area of the southern part of the 
state of Chhattisgarh, known as the Bastar region, is one of the 
most heavily affected by the Maoist insurgency.  Decades of 
official neglect of social development in this region, as well 
as its remoteness, has made it easy for Maoist groups to 
establish a base.  State and central government officials agree 
that development efforts must complement anti-insurgency 
efforts, now ongoing, in order to reduce the appeal of the 
Maoists.  However, NGOs argue that development should focus on 
tribal needs, rather than economic growth-led development, and 
fear that the prospect of armed conflict would exact a heavy 
toll on the tribal population (septel).  NGOs are working to 
fill the void in basic services, helping schools perform better, 
introducing improved health and hygiene practices and empowering 
village councils to speak up for the communities' needs. 
Observers note that slowly signs are emerging of increased faith 
in government institutions.  If government operations to rout 
the Maoists lead to more armed conflict, however, the NGOs 
providing essential services in the area may flee for safety, 
compounding the toll on the tribal population.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
¶2. (U) Chhattisgarh's remote southern region, known as Bastar, 
comprised of the Kanker, Bastar and Dantewada districts, has 
suffered from decades of official neglect.  Once a far-flung 
district of the state of Madhya Pradesh, it is now part of the 
new state of Chhattisgarh.  Sparsely populated, covered in thick 
forests and hills, the largely tribal population in this area 
has existed on subsistence agriculture and forest products.  For 
state officials and police, the Bastar region was always seen as 
a "punishment posting."  For instance, in a recent visit to 
Chhattisgarh, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) health 
officials in Raipur told Congenoffs that over two thirds of the 
positions for Chhattisgarh state health officials in the region 
were unfilled, or whose incumbents had refused to take up the 
post.  The development indicators for this region are some of 
India's lowest.  According to United Nations Development Program 
(UNDP) measurements, the literacy rates for Bastar and Dantewada 
districts are 43.9 and 30.2 percent, respectively; at 104 deaths 
for 1000 live births, Bastar has one of the country's highest 
infant mortality rates.  According to UNDP's 2001 data, Bastar 
and Dantewada districts' per capita income was 170 USD, and 203 
USD, respectively. 
 
 
 
¶3. (U) NGOs allege that state development plans focus on 
building infrastructure that serves the needs of mining and 
power companies that want to exploit Chhattisgarh's mineral-rich 
southern regions at the expense of investing in education, 
health and good governance.  Sushanta Kumar Bhuyan, Deputy 
General Manager of Naandi Foundation, an NGO focusing on 
girl-child education in Chhattisgarh and other states noted, "a 
road is of no use to people who don't even wear shoes."  At a 
recent forum on the Maoist problem in Mumbai, Himanshu Kumar, 
director of Vanvasi Chetena Ashram (VCA), an NGO implementing 
various foreign-funded projects for social development in Bastar 
- one of which is with UNICEF for primary education in 
Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps -- decried the 
long-standing neglect of tribal people, and argued that these 
people are often left with few options.  (Note:  Kumar is a 
vocal critic of Chhattisgarh's anti-Maoist efforts, and claims 
that the state ordered part of his facility destroyed in May 
¶2009. End Note.)  Ejaz Kaiser, Hindustan Times Bureau Chief in 
Raipur, who has traveled into Bastar region and met with 
villagers, explains that the tribal peoples' needs are simple: 
"They want to preserve their rights to agricultural land, their 
right to harvest forest products, grazing rights for cattle, and 
health and education for their children."  However, he lamented, 
the government is not listening to what the tribals want. 
Instead, they have prioritized a development agenda which 
focuses on roads and basic infrastructure which serve industrial 
and commercial interests and facilitates collusion between 
politicians, officials, contractors, and business interests, he 
argued. 
 
 
 
 
MUMBAI 00000017  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
NGOs Provide Educational Assistance in Most-Neglected Areas 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
 
 
¶4. (U) Though the Chhattisgarh government has largely neglected 
human development in the remote tribal areas, NGOs are active in 
many of the Maoist-affected areas to provide basic human 
development services such as education, health care and good 
governance.  One NGO, Naandi Foundation, works to promote 
education in Chhattisgarh's remote villages, especially for 
girls.  Focusing on children in Kanker District, the northern 
part of the Bastar region, Naandi tutors 9000 students in 
government schools and helps teachers improve their 
instructional capacity.  Most of the students are first 
generation learners with no educational support from home, 
according to Bhuyan, so Naandi must also win the confidence of 
the parents, convincing them of the value of education for their 
children.  Bhuyan reports that Maoists have threatened Naandi's 
tutors, but none have been harmed or prevented from working with 
the students. 
 
 
 
¶5. (U) Education efforts in the Bastar region have been 
challenged by the occasional use of schools as police barracks 
in remote areas, which has invited Maoist attacks.  State 
officials acknowledge that security forces have occupied up to 
12 schools, but claim that over 400 schools have been attacked 
by Maoists over the past decade.  Other interlocutors complained 
that even where Maoists have not destroyed schools, they block 
the schools from operating, threatening the teachers and 
insisting on indoctrinating the youth themselves.  Kaiser 
reports that the state authorized the spending of USD 7.2 
million this fiscal year for the construction of police barracks 
in Bastar and is moving forces out of schools in the region in 
response to the intervention by the National Human Rights 
Commission (NHRC).  (Note:  Shaheen Nilofer, Chief of the Raipur 
field office of UNICEF said her office continues to raise this 
issue with the UN.  End note.) 
 
 
 
¶6. (U) Despite these challenges, Nilofer reports that 
educational levels in Chhattisgarh are improving in primary 
education, with girls attending school at about the same rate as 
boys.  She added that girl-participation drops radically in 
secondary school, however.  The discrepancy is caused by 
societal views of the value of educating girls, family fears for 
the safety of girls when they must travel further for school, 
and girls' concerns about sharing toilet facilities with boys, 
she said.  UNICEF's research found that in tribal areas, school 
attendance of adolescent girls rose appreciably when separate 
bathrooms were provided for girls. 
 
 
 
Healthcare Severely Strained in Bastar 
 
-------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶7. (U)  Nilofer explained that since the Bastar region has a 
high tribal population, (more than 70 percent tribal compared to 
a state-wide proportion of 32.5 percent) and suffers from one of 
the country's highest infant mortality rates, the area qualifies 
for specific central government funds for "backward" areas. 
However, Nilofer said getting medical officers willing to serve 
in strife-torn areas is difficult.  She reported that UNICEF 
programs have made modest progress in improving village health 
conditions by introducing hygiene training and educating girls 
to serve as health outreach workers to encourage those needing 
advanced medical help to go to clinics where they could be 
properly diagnosed and treated. 
 
 
 
NGOs also Focus on Grass Roots Governance 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
MUMBAI 00000017  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
 
¶8.  (U) UNICEF also works in four of the 18 internally 
displaced-persons (IDP) camps in the Bastar region, serving 
approximately 8,000 families. (Note:  IDP camps were created in 
2005-06 when tribals fled Maoist violence, or were moved by the 
state, allegedly for their own protection.  End Note.)  Working 
with village councils, known as panchayats, UNICEF workers help 
assess the community needs and teach leaders to advocate for 
public funding.  While most government funding is distributed 
through state institutions, Nilofer noted that some funding is 
specifically earmarked for projects identified by the 
panchayats.  In addition, UNICEF focuses on "convergence 
planning," the coordination of government services and programs, 
bringing together various departments within state and local 
government.  For example, where a community needs safe drinking 
water, UNICEF brings together health officials, project 
engineers, and those who control funding under the National 
Rural Employment Guarantee Program (NREG) to design and 
implement a solution using local labor and helping to funnel 
wages into the community.  (Note:  Nilofer pointed out that 
although Chhattisgarh is the third-best performing state in 
terms of allocating NREG funds with the least "leakage," 
participation in the employment scheme is low due to high 
illiteracy and malnutrition.  End Note.)  Overall, UNICEF and 
other NGOs are optimistic that their efforts are leading to 
greater, village-level participatory democracy, which could help 
reduce the attraction of the Maoists.  Nilofer noted that 
citizens are increasingly demanding that local decisions be made 
by the full village council in a public forum, instead of behind 
closed doors. 
 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Comment:  With anti-Maoist operations underway, the 
state government may not be able to deliver  needed development 
programs in remote, tribal areas in the near term due to massive 
deficits of personnel, capacity, and political will, let alone 
the security concerns.  As is often the case in many remote 
areas of India, NGOs are taking the lead in implementing 
innovative development programs - sometimes in partnership with 
local government -- in southern Chhattisgarh.  If the 
government's anti-insurgency operations result in major armed 
conflict in the region, NGOs, who provide the bulk of social 
services in the region, may be forced to flee for safety, 
creating a greater vacuum and compounding the difficulties for 
the tribals living in the conflict zone.  If past is precedent, 
the state will likely move forward with major  projects that 
will contribute to the development  of Chhattisgarh's rich 
mineral deposits, considered essential for India's growth. 
While the state will ultimately seek to introduce some 
development in the region, tribals on lands sought by developers 
or the state could be pressured or paid off to move.  End 
Comment. 
FOLMSBEEPA