June 27th, 2022

Author: Preeti Sharma (Content Writer)

Savita Rath was born on May 22, 1976, in Barliya village of Raigarh District of Chattisgarh State. Her father worked for the State Transport Corporation, therefore the family relocated to Korba, Chattisgarh. Savita Rath has a Master's degree in Sociology. Since her childhood, her parents taught her to be respectful to everyone. Savita became involved in social movements and activities when she was 14 years old, in 1991-1992. Savita Rath is a human rights activist with the community-based Jan Chetna Manch, which is also a member of the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) and is a member of Women in Action on Mining in Asia, a joint network of Asian affected women and civil society organizations focusing on women's issues in mining zones.

Savita Rath said to The HULAHUL Times "My first participation for social causes was with the literacy movement, which sought to eliminate old ideas that persisted in the aftermath of the Bhopal Gas tragedy. Harsh Mander, the Raigarh District Collector at the time, was the one who brought us all together. This has had an influence on rural village residents and her family, particularly her father, who has left his job to join this mission. It was first difficult to encourage people for education, but with hard work, it became a successful mission".

Savita always said knowledge is everybody's right and that it should be available to everyone at any time. She joined as a teacher in a government school in 1999, under the Rajiv Gandhi Shisksha Mission, where she noticed low academic performance and absenteeism, as well as a lack of Anganwadi for Adivasi children who live in the forest. She realized that the community was interested in menial jobs; therefore schooling was generally put on hold. Savita was resolute and realized the necessity of education for these people.

In 2002, she quit her job and joined the Jan Chetna group, which strives to safeguard the environment. In 2004, Savita left her job join the protest in Raipur with Jean Drèze, a Nobel Prize Laureate, for pressing issues such as the Employment Act, the Right to Information Act, and the Community Forest Rights Act. She traveled throughout Chattisgarh, but she kept thinking about working for the Oraon Adivasi tribe. Later she worked closely with the local authorities to provide basic needs of agriculture land, Anganwadi, primary school and a midday meal for their children. She completed tasks under the Employment Guarantee Act.

"In January 2008, a public hearing was planned against the Jindal Group, who were ruining the environment and depriving the people of their farmland but ignoring to reimburse the affected families." But, in order to maintain economic interests, the state extended its doors, and the Jindals gathered the cooperation of adjacent villages to guarantee the trial went their way. I decided to make sure that people were aware about it; because the administration was concerned about my conduct, many of my acquaintances advised me to end my revolt against the Jindal group but I stood firm and informed them that no movement can ever be effective without "Jal Jungle Jameen".

In order to maintain constant communication with the government and utilizing social networks, public hearings, Savita launched the "Koyla Satyagraha," a peaceful strike involving hundreds of Raigarh villagers for the right to make choices about their lands in the face of unviable mining. The "Koyla Satyagraha" began in January 2008, when Jindal Steel and Power decided to hold a mandated public hearing about their proposal to obtain 1,200 acres and five nearby villages for mining. The impacted villages were unaware of the hearing, and district officials brought in foreigners in orchestrated sessions that failed to uphold any regulations, prompting local citizens to object. The police charged the crowds, leaving up to 22 people gravely injured and up to 200 others injured, as per various sources.

Despite of a failed Environmental Assessment report, Jindal Steel and Power earned Environmental Clearance, and Jan Chetna, including other companies, filed papers, prompting the Indian Supreme Court to ultimately denounce the allotment of 214 private coal mines, declaring that the actual system by which coal blocks were given out to private entities was subjective and illegal. A gaping dark barren landscape with the noises of vehicles loading, unloading, and carrying coal past of Gare Village in Raigarh, the center of Chhattisgarh's coal region. A few of the villages in the vicinity are only 80 meters away from burning coal pits and blasting sites. "Adivasis in this area make their living primarily via three activities: cultivation, tree planting, and animal husbandry." All three aspects are jeopardized." Savita stated. They have forcibly acquired property in Chhattisgarh, promising development of improved earning possibilities, literacy, and medical services without genuinely telling or involving local communities.

According to Savita Rath, the rains had been deferred, and they were concerned that if rain won't fall in schedule, the villages' crops might perish. In addition to these environmental challenges, direct impacts from nearby coal mines have drastically reduced the crop yield and forest resources that communities rely on for their livelihood. Local women play important roles in these largely unnoticed and unpaid efforts. They are now compelled to work as day laborers since they have lost access to their farmland. Raigarh, which was historically abundant in water resources, is also experiencing a serious water shortage. The Kelo River, which itself is network of waterways that maintain the rainforest has turned black due to mining waste pollution. At least 90 villages in the Tamnar area are suffering from severe scarcity of water.

Jan Chetna Manch, Savita's organization, entails providing Adivasi communities through mass movement, mobilization, and awareness rising on basic protections, health complications and ability to make living rights, includes canvassing for female issues to workforce, restoration. Even now, Savita and the women she works with are in discussions with the government about coal mining situations, and they're also regenerating their land by having started planting trees, collecting crops, improving community communities' procedural and substantive understanding, and trying to advocate to the government about climate warming actions — special handling options for climate policy and declaring their constitutional and customs entitlement.