The 1997 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts

RESPONSE of Mahasweta Devi

Your Excellency, President Fidel V. Ramos; Mrs. Luz Banzon Magsaysay; Members of the Board of Trustees; fellow awardees; distinguished guests; friends; ladies; and gentlemen.

I thank the Ramon Magsaysay for this privilege of being one of the 1997 Awardees. Friends, I accept the honor with humility, keeping in mind the tradition of the award and the good work done by worthier people who have drawn the attention of a wide audience to the condition of the indigenous people of my country, the tribals, as well as those who are not tribals but belong to the marginalized sections any way.

My interaction with these people started many, many years ago, in various parts of my country. I have seen how the tribals are being constantly deprived of their control over forests and lands, their only means of livelihood. The process started under the colonial rule of the country and still continues. In fact, it has accentuated in the name of development. The tribals are being pushed out of their homelands and become bonded and migrant labor. And why the tribals are alone. The landless agricultural laborers, the poor peasants are all being denied the benefits of development despite huge amounts of resources being spent in their name. I have seen how the resources meant for the poor evaporate even before they reach the people for whom they are meant. It would seem that the system has a vested interest in keeping the poor in their poverty. In denying them of their basic rights of food, shelter, clothing, drinking water and literacy.

At the same time I have seen the struggles and protests of the people. For an end to this exploitation. For access to basics which are needed for living with dignity. And I felt that I could not remain a mere writer of fiction without doing anything about it. So I write about them in my works of fiction. I write about them in journalistic reports. I provide a forum for them to write about their own problems. I take up their cause at every level. And, above all, I help them in organizing themselves in groups so that they could take up development activities in their own areas. And I do all this in my own small way.

I will have sense of fulfillment of more and more young writers took to unbeaten tracks. My India still lives behind a curtain of darkness. A curtain that separates the mainstream society from the poor and the deprived. But then why my India alone? Cannot one say the same for so many countries and societies today? As the century comes to an end, it is important that we all make an attempt to tear the curtain of darkness, see the reality that lies beyond and see our own true faces in the process.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Namaste.