Community Correspondents

Rajesh Gupta

State: CHATTISGARH

Rajesh had ‘secure’ life goals to survive until he saw the desperation to survive and need of justice all around him – in his country, community, even in his own family.

As a young man, Rajesh had always dreamed of having a “secure job and secure earnings, with more than enough to survive.”  That all changed one day when he witnessed a hungry man at the Raigarh station. “This man was on the railway tracks, eyeing a woman’s sandwich. When she threw down the last piece, he rushed to pick it and eat it. His desperation shook me to my bones, ” recalls Rajesh. That moment, Rajesh came to recognise traces of the same desperation of the man from the train station all around him – in his country, community, even in his own family.  It was this new awareness that drove Rajesh to become a Community Correspondent with Video Volunteers (VV).  “As a Community Correspondent,” says Rajesh, “I am dedicated to showing the world the atrocities that are committed towards us, the marginalised living in interior India.”

Rajesh is best known for his work on silicosis deaths in his home state of Chattisgarh, where 26% of the nation’s sponge iron is produced. While India, being the largest producer of sponge iron in the world, has “zero discharge” and proximity to residential locality laws, Rajesh reveals that these laws are rarely followed. This is exemplified in several of Rajesh’s videos, including “Water body turns toxic as factories spew waste in Chhattisgarh,” which takes viewers to Pali, Chattisgarh, where waste is being dumped into the local bathing pond.

Amidst images of children with abscesses and tumours on their face and torsos, Rajesh also reveals that land adjacent to the factory is contaminated over “one foot down” from the surface. One farmer, whose 5 acres traditionally produced “25 bags of rice,” is seen digging into contaminated soil, now lying barren beside the smokestacks of Ma Kali Alloys Udgoy Pvt Ltd.

Another one of Rajesh’s videos which speaks to the effects of unchecked industrialization on the rural poor is “Local Gram Panchayat violates PESA to favour industries in Chhattisgarh,” which reveals the local Sarpanch’s collaboration with the industry despite community opposition. When residents of Saraipali village found out that their Sarpanch and others from the community elite had signed a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to set up a storage facility for gunpowder, over 100-150 villagers signed a petition to oppose it.

With more and more land and forests being devoted to mines, power stations, and factories; and with state and municipal governments favoring the benefits of industrialization to the sustenance of more than 80% of the population, farmers and other local producers have few options. Their voices are not heard by any authority and so they have turned to Rajesh for recourse.

One such story in which Rajesh’s efforts have successfully held government and industry to account, is outlined in the video “Farmers Happy After Getting Their Land Back.” In Bamhanpali, Chattisgarh, Nav Durga Metal Industries bought land “deceptively,” without the consent of the people who owned it. “They (the company) are saying that there are papers that show the company’s ownership, and they said we won’t be getting our land back,” says one resident in the original video which Rajesh made. To follow up on the video he persistently visited the local collector, the Ghargoda court, and the block court. After many such meetings the villagers were permitted to go back to their land.

While not all of Rajesh’s videos have translated into justice, he knows that in many cases his voice will be the only one which speaks to the atrocities faced by the poor in his region.

“I don't think the mainstream media has done much for social development, at least in Raigad. Accidents, cricket and politics – that's all you can read about in newspapers. In Raigad, you don't see much about the poor in the newspapers,” says Rajesh. It is this misrepresentation of what constitutes daily life and the daily concerns of the average Indian that Rajesh applies to his work with VV, and which we know he will apply to his role as a civil servant, which he aspires to be one day.

Videos from Rajesh

Farmers await compensation for damage by wild animals

 
/ March 28, 2016

As rapid urbanization cuts into India’s forests, animals and humans have come into increasing conflict. Apart from in the wild, the human-wildlife conflict is most concentrated and impactful within agricultural regions bordering the wildness. The villages of Saraipali and Gourmudi, which border the vast forests of Chhattisgarh have recently been...

Gram Panchayat disregards laws for rapid industrialization

 
/ March 18, 2016

Chhattisgarh, the ‘Rice Bowl of central India’ witnessed 309 farmer suicides between January 2013 and January 31,  2016  because of crop failures, rising debts and rapid land acquisitions. While agriculture is the chief source of livelihood for the population, Chhattisgarh is on an industrial roller-coaster with more & more coal-based power...

15,000 people fighting for MGNREGA payments

 
/ February 16, 2016

In Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, 15028 people from 61 panchayats in Tamnar block have not received MGNREGA payments for 7 months. The Circle Officer and Programming Officer have been showcasing utter callousness and apathy towards the situation. In a meeting with all the Sarpanchs(village heads) and the Sachiv(administrative secretary), it...

Red and Greasy Water in Pelma – Rajesh Gupta reports for IndiaUnheard

 
/ October 28, 2015

“People suffering red and greasy water coming out from the hand pump from Pelma Village of Tamnar block of Chhattisgarh. Community correspondent Rajesh Gupta reports from Chhattisgarh for Video Volunteers.”

T.B. blights the lives of Factory workers

 
/ April 20, 2015

10th April 2015 | Saraipalli Village, Tamnar Block, Chhattisgarh | Rajesh In the absence of any protective measures, the 15 workers at the Golden Refractories in Tamnar Chhattisgarh have contracted Tuberculosis. At least ten people have died of TB in the past four to five years 2013. Community Correspondent Rajesh...

Russian Roulette on the Road

 
/ March 27, 2015

27th March 2015 | Tamnar Block, Raigarh District, Chhattisgarh | Rajesh Gupta Suberam Yadav lost his young school-going son in a road accident, one that should not have happened. The accident took place on a 7 km long road between Saraipalli and Gerwani villages, a route now frequented by trucks,...