INRODUCTION
Kolar Gold
Fields (KGF) is a town in Kolar district which was once the primary gold mines
in the country. Set up by the British, this town this is close to the border of
Andhra Pradesh and has Tamil, Telugu and Anglo-Indian Population. Tamil people
were employed by the British and brought to KGF from Tamil Nadu to work in the
mines. Tamil migrants have been in the mining area of kolar, kgf from1880.
which was initially started by John&Taylor.co.The 120 year old Gold mining center
provided a platform among Tamil community workers of nearly a three generation,
though unfortunately the mining center was closed during 2001 due to the cost
of extraction, but surveys conducted by many institutions and research centers
say that there are still 400 tonnes of gold can be extracted.
THE HISTORY OF TAMIL MIGRANTS
After the fall
of Tipu Sulthan, a large British Army presence in the Cantonment area
(Bangalore) attracted speakers of Tamil, who either were attached to the
military or were military suppliers. In fact, the area was administered
directly by the Madras Presidency, and was handed over to the Mysore State only
in 1949.Today, the erstwhile Cantonment area of Bangalore comprising Ulsoor,
Shivajinagar, Benson Town, Richard’s Town, Frazer Town, Austin Town, Richmond
Town, Cox Town, Murphy Town and others still boast a large Tamil populace. The
boom in the textile industry in the early part of 20th Century also witnessed
migration from the Madras Presidency. Some of the very well-known mills of the
time employed Tamil-speaking people in large numbers, who settled down in areas
in and around Bangalore
Tamil-speaking people are largely found in
the districts of Bengaluru Urban, Bangalore Rural, Ramanagaram, Mysore, Kolar,
and Chamarajanagar in southern Karnataka. Recent migrants speak Tamil while
older migrants are bilingual in Kannada and Tamil. Some who have resided in
Karnataka for generations have even adopted Kannada as their mother tongue. In
1991, Tamils constituted the largest ethno linguistic minority in Bangalore
city making up 21.38% of the total population. Today, Tamil speakers form an
estimated 25-30 percent of the population of Bangalore city. As of 1971, Tamil
formed the second-largest mother tongue in Bengaluru.
Kolar is home to
many communities and represents a mini-India. The primary language spoken here
is Kannada. Other widely spoken language is Urdu. There are also good numbers
of Tamil and Telugu speakers.
SOCIO-CULTURAL CRISIS AMONG THE TAMIL MIGRANTS OVER
THE HISTORY
Gold Mining
Started in the year by 1880 by John Taylor and Co., the Kolar Gold Mines was
taken over by the erstwhile Mysore State Government in 1956, and later, it was
nationalized by the Centre in the early 1960s. A large chunk of mining workers
hail from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. Despite living here for more
than a century, the people of KGF still suffer from linguistic minority complex
apart from a migrant complex. The bad memories of language riots, close on the
heels of Gokak movement in the early ’80s, when the Tamil workers were
harassed, are firmly etched in their minds.
The first
generation of migrant workers faced a lot of problems in coping with the
situation under colonial conditions. Even today their conditions are not very
different despite the mines coming under the public sector that claimed to be a
model employer. Dingy huts in slum-like colonies, without sanitation and
drainage, have been their homes for many generations. It would be heart
breaking to see the labour colonies, which are worse than slums, with one
toilet for every 1520 houses. The so-called houses, made of zinc sheet or asbestos
are of the size 10×20 feet or 15×20 feet. While the summer heat would be
unbearable, it would be a nightmarish experience during the rainy season, as
many colonies do not have proper approach roads. Potable water is scarce for
the labour colonies and the womenfolk have to tread a long way to fetch it. At
any point of time, one can see hundreds of pots in queue near public taps and,
not surprisingly, quarrels over a pot of water are quite common. Moreover,
water here is highly contaminated by “cyanide mud” — chemically treated ore
residue — which flows like streams all around the township. Even the ground
water is highly contaminated. The mountains of “cyanide mud”, visible all over
KGF, also spread lots of dust, contaminating the water and atmosphere.
The management never bothered about safety of
the miners. When the air blast occurs several miners get trapped inside and
many die. The family members wait for several hours keeping their fingers
crossed, to know the fate of the workers. The agony on their faces cannot be
explained in words.
Being a migrant
population and having settled in an alien state, the people of KGF have a
strange culture. Most of the workers are influenced by Christian missionaries,
but the Christian converts observe Hindu festivals also. Their lives are full
of pathos. The culture of professional mourning as shown in the film Rudali
thrives here too. The problem of unemployment has made many government servants
belonging to the SC category hide their Christian identity even after
conversion. Since KGF is a highly cohesive society, where each religious
community observes the festivals of the other, the market here reacts equally
to both Hindu and Christian festivals. The traditions and religious practices
of the people also look quite different. And it is only here that one can find
a Ram Prasad being son of a Benjamin or a David or Victor being the son of an
Anbalagan. It is only here that one can find a “Kannadiga” born to a Tamil
migrant. This is the highly egalitarian culture of the people of KGF. Even
though the Dalit community is a majority they are more united as a class than
as a caste. And, similar to the village community, a person of KGF origin would
be helped by the people here, irrespective of his identity. Many times the
funeral expenses of poor workers are borne by neighbours.
The central and state governments proudly
propagate that they have eradicated many social evils like scavenging. But this
golden city still harbours the evil practice of carrying night soil on head,
with over 100 families engaged in this activity. One major problem faced by the
miners is their indebtedness. With the new generation not getting any jobs
despite having some education, the miners are forced to borrow from
moneylenders to keep their families alive. Apart from this, most of the workers
have taken to drinking, which depletes most of their hard-earned income. The
womenfolk have to bear the brunt. They would be sacrificing everything to
safeguard their families. So the pawnbroker business has thrived successfully
in KGF, with gold ornaments being pledged for perpetuity. Jewellery business
once flourished here in the ‘boom days’, thanks to the ‘leakage’ of gold
through a corrupt management. People used to come from outside to purchase
ornaments from the “gold town”. As a consequence there are more than 200
jewellery shops here and more than 2000 goldsmiths who make ornaments. Now,
with the decline of the mines and Immiseration of the miners, almost all
jewellers have also taken to pawn brokering. Not only gold jewelleries, even
silver, brass and copper utensils are pledged to carry on day-to-day life. The
workers, being unable to pay hefty interest rates, would never get back their
items even after clearing the principal amount. There are instances of copper
brass utensils pledged 50 years back still lying with moneylenders and workers
paying interest till date. The moneylenders, also migrants, have squeezed the
workers to their bones. In fact, the poverty among public sector workers is
unbelievable. One can see rotten vegetables being sold in colonies dirt-cheap
and there are people who purchase them. There are people who survive by
collecting the drainage silt every day and cleaning the same, in the hope of
collecting some gold ore. It is a daily sight here. With Christian missionaries
of all hues working here, there is a plethora of Churches and Church run
schools. Despite the spread of education, poverty is still a stark reality.
THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT, WOMEN EMPOWERNMENT STIL PANICS.
It is this poverty, unemployment,
alienation and deprivation that have contributed to the increasing
criminalization of society. With several rowdy gangs operating with impunity,
murders in broad daylight were very common not long ago. While frustrated
jobless youth with little or no education take to anti-social activities, the
educated youth travel miles to earn a meagre wage. More than 5000 people, half
of them women, travel every day in overcrowded passenger trains to Bangalore,
located 90 kms away, in search of work. Most of them do menial jobs, which may
not be revealed by their attire or smiling faces. Behind these smiling face
lays a lot of grief, desperation and concern about an uncertain future.
GOVERNMENT ACTIONS
The recent order
of the Karnataka High Court, enabling the reopening of Bharat Gold Mines Ltd.,
(BGML), a ‘sick’ public sector enterprise (PSE), has not only ended a year-long
trauma for the people of KGF, but has come as a shot in the arm for the
fighting workers of BGML. The 4000 workers are back to work and the
120-year-old gold mines have found a new lease of life. The people of KGF,
facing an uncertain future, are heaving a sigh of relief. But uncertainty still
looms large because the management continues to pressurize the workers,
threatening that they should either accept voluntary retirement or face
retrenchment.
The BGML, with a strong and dedicated
workforce, has rendered yeoman service to the nation by contributing more than
800 tonnes of gold and, according to one estimate; it is still having reserves
of more than 400 tonnes. But the Central Government led by the “Swadeshi” BJP
is not keen on turning it around; rather it is busy dismantling all PSEs, be it
a profit-making BALCO or a “loss-making” BGML. As far as BGML is concerned, the
government has deliberately made it sick by offering a very low price all these
years for the gold extracted. And now, after considerably depleting the gold
reserves, it is considered a mere tunnel to be shut down, ignoring the plight
of thousands of workers and their families. Since the township is already
facing an acute unemployment crisis, with the workforce coming down from 32000
in the 1960s to 4000 at present, the closure of mines would wreak havoc on the
local community.
Though much has been written about the
“economics” of gold mining, not much is known to the outside public about the
social life of the KGF, a township with a population of more than 2, 00,000,
the overwhelming majority of them being Dalit’s. It is an insular township of a
cohesive but culturally exclusive linguistic minority, solely dependent on the
mines, which has been in decay for several years now. KGF provides an
interesting case study of the impact of downsizing, and ultimate threat of
closure, of a PSE on a closely-knit local community of an industrial township.
IN DEPTH PROBLEMS IN MINING & GOVERNMENT’S
NEGLIGENCE
Apart from BGML,
there is also a broad section of government employees in KGF. Bharat Earth
Movers Limited (BEML) a PSE which employs more than 8000 workers is just 3
kmsaway and almost half of them live here. The Bethamangala Water Works, that
supplies water to KGF town, employs more than 1000. The KPTCL, which has an
exclusive office for BGML, employs more than 1000. The city also has an
engineering college and a large number of schools run by Christian missionaries.
The BGML also has its own hospital for the benefit of workers, employing around
500 staff. In the event of closure of mines, the hospital would be the first
casualty and the rest would follow, crashing like a pack of cards. In that
case, thousands of families would be on the streets. More than 2000 goldsmiths
who depend on jewellery shops would also face their doom.
As mentioned
earlier, under the present atmosphere of globalization and large-scale
privatization, the survival of BGML or the mining industry itself is in
jeopardy. Already, the Government of India has given a deadline for the workers
to either opt for VRS or face retrenchment. The mineworkers numbering 30,000
both retired and working and their families staying in those tiny sheds are
being asked to pay higher rent or vacate the houses. Interestingly, the older
generation workers had to wear a metal bracelet on their left hand, which had
the name of John Taylor and Co., embossed on it along with a number and name of
the mine. It was to ensure that the worker would not run away. The bracelet was
very tight and the workers had no option but to wear it. This practice was
given up in 1940 due to protests from miners. Till the 1930s, 5 to 6 families
were staying in one shed. It was only after a great struggle that the
management provided one house to each family. The workers could get those tiny
houses only after a hundred-day strike in 1946, under AITUC leadership. Till
date, very few miners have left the place. But today the governments resort to
all sorts of tricks to force them to leave.
The contention
of the mineworkers, and also many experts, that 400 tonnes of gold reserves are
still available, is not acceptable to the government. Nor is the government
serious about providing any alternative employment. Some Japanese and
Australian firms have come forward to carry out mining activities. Then how
come the Government of India denies existence of any reserves? Till date, the
BGML has produced 800 tonnes of gold worth Rs. 45000 crore. The company owes
only Rs. 200 crores to several banks. The cost of producing 10 grams of the
metal has gone up to Rs. 1400. In its better days, the BGML paid dividend up to
165%, having produced a maximum of 2200 kgs of gold in 197677. It is a case of
colossal and criminal mismanagement if a gold mine with such reserves cannot be
run profitably. The government would rather free gold imports than revive this
unit. It prefers handing over the reserves to some private company.
Earlier there
were alternative proposals for open cast mining, locomotive industry etc., but
none of them were taken up seriously. People opposed open cast mining as it
would erase their whole town without a trace. Now a pall of gloom is hanging
over the golden city. With no further employment opportunity even for the new
generation, and no new industry coming up, and even BGML slowly sinking, the
people here are a frustrated lot. There is not much scope for self-employment
either, since their indebtedness will keep haunting the workers forever. What
the mine workers of KGF need is not only revival of mines, but also a human
existence, a hygienic atmosphere to live in, good health care, and better civic
amenities, better education and housing, and above all, a secure future.
HEALTH ASAULTS REGARDING MINING WORKERS
Health is being
a troublesome issue in the field of Kgf, especially -suffer with lung and
reciprocity problems like asthma. Earlier before people of Kgf had enjoyed the
facilities of free medicine were available in the dispensaries but
unfortunately after the shutdown of mines, they were all closed. The government
of Karnataka are less bothered now about the mining workers and ask them
indirectly to vacate their houses and move to their native, that is where Tamil
schools were closed , rations and the metro water supply has been emptied.
CONCLUSION
Now a pall of
gloom is hanging over the golden city. With no further employment opportunity
even for the new generation, and no new industry coming up, and even BGML
slowly sinking, the people here are a frustrated lot. There is not much scope
for self-employment either, since their indebtedness will keep haunting the
workers forever. What the mine workers of KGF need is not only revival of
mines, but also a human existence, a hygienic atmosphere to live in, good
health care, and better civic amenities, better education and housing, and
above all, a secure future. The present condition is treated worse, since
people who live in these mining area especially Tamil migrants face lot of political,
economic, cultural and social problems, nevertheless government have never an
idea of rescuing them by giving proper place of stay and lifestyle without any
bias referring to language, region or community.
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