After the disastrous heat waves of the summer even the monsoon has been indifferent to the hopes of the people. The erratic rainfall has caused anxiety among the farmers. Our volunteers who have been assisting the villagers in carrying out different development schemes feel that the farmers are the most fragile victims of the climate change.
Presently all of us at Jagriti Vihara are engrossed in thinking about a shocking message which we got only a few days ago. On Friday, 7th August 2015, in the middle of the night, in an Adivasi village called Kanjiya Maraitoli, a big gang of people armed with sticks, clubs, spears and etc violently entered some of the houses and ruthlessly dragged 5 women out of their houses. After bringing them to a Dhamkudia (local youth centre) they mercilessly tortured all the 5 bewildered women to death. The victims were between 40 to 60 years of age.The news about these brutal murders spread like wild fire. The police rushed to the site and arrested 25 persons. Surprisingly, none of the murderers had escaped. On the contrary, they were agitating against their arrest as they had convinced themselves that they had done the right thing by killing the most dangerous witches who had dealings with the Devil and had used magical powers to harm the people in the locality.
It is really sad that even in the present day world there are such dark corners which have not yet been penetrated by the light of knowledge and reason. We, therefore, expect cooperation from our friends and supporters in order to help people get rid of ignorance, superstition and fanaticism.
The monsoon session of the girls school at Jagriti Vihara is in progress and the rest of the activities are going on as usual.
With warm greetings,
Rajesh
