How cheating is going on

The GO on
Bauxite mining was stalled days after three TDP tribal leaders were released by
the CPI (Maoists) from over a week’s captivity. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu
Naidu had assured the kin of these leaders that no step would be taken without
consent of the tribals. But his intention is very clear on Bauxite mining.

The
intent of the government is clear in its decision to establish a toll-free
number and a website for receiving public opinion, that too when most of the
affected areas do not have access to even a telephone, leave alone access to
the Internet. There are apprehensions that the voice of the tribals would be
drowned in the deluge of responses by urban dwellers who look at tribals as an
impediment to ‘development’.

The
members of the tribes who would be uprooted from their homes and their way of
life disrupted by the loss of hills and forests have been turning out in large
numbers at every public meeting, cutting across the affiliations, to voice
their concerns. They are unable to understand as to why these meetings are not
being considered an opinion by the democratically elected government . They
worrying about the style of Chandrababu*s government