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At stake is their sole means of livelihoods of their parents and their future as well!
by Sampad Mahapatra / NDTV.
Can a small minority of 4000-odd people hold the state and the country to ransom? Do they have any right to stand in the way of the biggest Foreign Direct Investment in India, the Rs 52,000 crore South Korean project that would generate huge amounts of revenue and employment and benefit millions of people? Should the Orissa government not take the toughest measures against people who are resorting to cheap means of blackmail by using small little children as human shield? And in the process, embarrassing a government which is only trying to take control over the land it owns and for the larger public good.
Valid questions you would say. But travel to Dhinkia, 150 km from Bhubaneswar and your world view may just end up quite different.
On June 9, Govindpur, a small sea-side village hemmed in by sand dunes and hundreds of betel vine farms that dot the sandscape, was fighting both the state and the sun. And what I saw shocked me.
Over 300 school-going children in the age group of 5 to 15 were lying prostrate on the hot sand and shouting slogans. Behind them were rows and rows of women and elderly people sleeping on the sand and joining the chorus : Hataao Hataao Posco Hataao ! Barely 200 feet away, 500 riot-ready policemen were ready to break loose. The SP of the district was busy issuing warnings from a loudspeaker, asking people to disperse or face the music.
The sight was revolting. How could people allow their own children to suffer under the scorching sun, I wondered. Have they joined the barricade voluntarily or have they simply been used as human shield? What if they die of a heatstroke?
Valid questions you would say. But travel to Dhinkia, 150 km from Bhubaneswar and your world view may just end up quite different.
On June 9, Govindpur, a small sea-side village hemmed in by sand dunes and hundreds of betel vine farms that dot the sandscape, was fighting both the state and the sun. And what I saw shocked me.
Over 300 school-going children in the age group of 5 to 15 were lying prostrate on the hot sand and shouting slogans. Behind them were rows and rows of women and elderly people sleeping on the sand and joining the chorus : Hataao Hataao Posco Hataao ! Barely 200 feet away, 500 riot-ready policemen were ready to break loose. The SP of the district was busy issuing warnings from a loudspeaker, asking people to disperse or face the music.
The sight was revolting. How could people allow their own children to suffer under the scorching sun, I wondered. Have they joined the barricade voluntarily or have they simply been used as human shield? What if they die of a heatstroke?
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