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PRESS RELEASE

Unbridled Violence Against Jhalawar Social Audit of NREGA ! Participants Beaten Up, Chased Out of Villages

Jaipur, February 3,
2008:
Members belonging to four teams who set out to various villages in Manohar Thana block,
Jhalawar district Rajasthan as part of the social audit of NREGA works by the
Abhiyan, were brutally beaten up and chased out of the villages they tried to
enter today, marking unrestrained and increasing violence against attempts by
civil society groups to conduct social audits in a peaceful and participative
manner.

Four to five members of the social audit team which went to
Bhanskhedi village were showered with lathis and stones barely as they arrived and
had to leave the village even before stepping into it. “Our jeep had just
arrived at Banskhedi village and all our members had not even got off the
vehicle when one man came towards us and started shouting abuses, asking us to
go back. He was carrying a lathi in his hand. He came towards me, snatched away
my mobile phone and started beating me up. A little further, another team
member was dragged for a distance on the road and badly wounded. When I rushed
to help him, I got beaten up once more. A woman member was hit with a stone and
was badly bruised; she is in need of stitches. In all, 5-7 people attacked our
team and chased us out of the village. One of them was identified as Phelu, the
up-sarpanch of Bhanskhedi panchayat,” recounted Parasram Banjara (MKSS) who was
part of this team.

A research team of about 7 members, mainly students from G.B Pant University Allahabad
led by noted economist and National Employment Guarantee Council member Jean
Dreze, faced similar violence when they tried to visit NREGA worksites at
Guradi village. “The atmosphere were clearly tense even as we entered the
village. A group of 50-60 people surrounded us, questoning us as to why we we
were there, saying everything was going well and there were no problems with
NREGA. They would not let us talk to anyone else or move around. We finally
managed to get to one worksite but even here people were very hostile and were
not willing to talk. As we started walking back, a group of people attacked
Ramesh, a local activist from Hum Kisan Sangathan who was helping us and
dragged him through the road threatening him all along. Fourtunately for us,
just at that time the Banskhedi team which was returning in a jeep after
themselves being assaulted paased that way, saw us and halted, taking us back,”
said researcher Kiran Bhatty.

Serious incidents of beating up of team members including
women were reported from a third social audit team that visited Bhanskheda
village. The team was badly assaulted and chased up a hill. The team members
had just been found by the police and other Abhiyan members, after a period of
not being able to establish contact with them. Further details were still
awaited at the time of releasing this note.

Condemning these incidents, noted activist and Employment
Guarantee Council member Aruna Roy said “The worst part is that the government
is allowing this to happen. It will corrode the democratic structure and weaken
further the rule of law.” Such planned violence has happened despite the fact
that Aruna Roy had personally handed over a letter to the Chief Minister
Vasundhara Raje on January 25^th informing her of the social audit and
asking for her support. The CM had at that time given her assurance for full
co-operation.

The growing instances of violent protest against social
audits of NREGA works in the last two years since the scheme was launched in a
relatively peaceful state like Rajasthan points to a disconcerting and widening
gap between the state government’s verbal proclamations to ensure transparency
and its actions. Not only has the government made it more and more difficult
for civil society to obtain information as per the NREG Act since the last
audit in Banswara, the alarming rate at which activists and innocent people are
being subject to violent outbursts implicates the government as a silent abettor
to such corrupt and disruptive elements.

Sd/-

Devendra
and Nikhil Dey

(on behalf
of the Abhiyan)

For further
information, please contact:

Devendra - Hum
Kisan Sangathan (07431-270705,09413103171), Richa Audichya - Jan
Chetna Sansthan (09829234886), Hariom - Astha Sansthan (09413831761), Nikhil
Dey – MKSS (09414004180), Shankar Singh – MKSS (09414003247) or

Email: srabhiyan@gmail.com, mkssrajasthan@gmail.com