인도불가촉천민 여성환경운동가 킨크리 데비(Kinkri Devi)의 환경보호 = Protection of Environment of Indian “Untouchable” Woman Environmentalist Kinkri Devi

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Indian Woman Environmentalist Kinkri Devi was an illiterate and impoverished woman who had waged a long and at least partly successful fight against illegal mining and quarrying in the mountainous northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Ms. Devi was born into a poor Dalit, or untouchable, family in the village of Ghaton in 1925. Her father was a subsistence farmer. That she came from a low caste made her struggle against powerful and politically connected mining interests all the more remarkable.
With no hope of an education, she began working as a servant in early childhood and, at 14, married Shamu Ram, a bonded laborer. He died of typhoid when she was just 22, and she was forced to become a sweeper. Over the years, she watched the world around her change for the worse. Uncontrolled quarrying by indiscriminate grant of mining lease despoiled the fabled hills in many parts of Himachal Pradesh, harming the water supply and destroying once-rich paddy fields. Seeing the damage in her own district, she vowed to take on the mining interests. Backed by People’s Action for People in Need, a local volunteer group, Ms. Devi filed a public interest lawsuit in the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 1987 against 48 mine owners, accusing them of reckless limestone quarrying. The quarry owners dismissed her campaign, saying she was only trying to blackmail them.
After a long period with no response to her suit, she headed for Shimla, the state capital and staged a 19-day hunger strike outside the court until it agreed to take up the issue. The strike won Ms. Devi national and international headlines. In 1987, the High Court not only ordered a stay on mining but also imposed a blanket ban on blasting in the hills. Faced with the prospect of closing their operations, her opponents threatened to kill her, but she continued to fight. The mine owners appealed to the Supreme Court of India, which ruled against them in July 1995, adding to Ms. Devi’s renown.
The same year, still working as a sweeper, she was invited to attend the International Women’s Conference in Beijing because of the keen interest taken in her by Hillary Rodham Clinton, then the first lady. A private organization sponsored her trip to China, where Mrs. Clinton asked her to light the lamp at the inaugural function. She spoke to thunderous applause about how the enchanting Himalayas were being degraded by illegal limestone quarrying and how it was up to ordinary people like her to save the environment.
Ms. Devi could neither read nor write and learned to sign her name in Hindi just a few years ago. But this handicap could never dampen her spirit to protect the area from degradation. Instead, she started a campaign to open a college in Sangrah, the village where she spent most of her life. Though her village has a school, those who want to study further have to travel 65 kilometres to Nahan, where the nearest college is located. “It wasn’t in my destiny to study,” she said, “but I don’t want others to suffer the way I did for want of education.” Even today her will to environment reminds Indian People of realization of Constitution of India Article 51A(g).

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Indian Woman Environmentalist Kinkri Devi was an illiterate and impoverished woman who had waged a long and at least partly successful fight against illegal mining and quarrying in the mountainous northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Ms. Devi was born into a poor Dalit, or untouchable, family in the village of Ghaton in 1925. Her father was a subsistence farmer. That she came from a low caste made her struggle against powerful and politically connected mining interests all the more remarkable.
With no hope of an education, she began working as a servant in early childhood and, at 14, married Shamu Ram, a bonded laborer. He died of typhoid when she was just 22, and she was forced to become a sweeper. Over the years, she watched the world around her change for the worse. Uncontrolled quarrying by indiscriminate grant of mining lease despoiled the fabled hills in many parts of Himachal Pradesh, harming the water supply and destroying once-rich paddy fields. Seeing the damage in her own district, she vowed to take on the mining interests. Backed by People’s Action for People in Need, a local volunteer group, Ms. Devi filed a public interest lawsuit in the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 1987 against 48 mine owners, accusing them of reckless limestone quarrying. The quarry owners dismissed her campaign, saying she was only trying to blackmail them.
After a long period with no response to her suit, she headed for Shimla, the state capital and staged a 19-day hunger strike outside the court until it agreed to take up the issue. The strike won Ms. Devi national and international headlines. In 1987, the High Court not only ordered a stay on mining but also imposed a blanket ban on blasting in the hills. Faced with the prospect of closing their operations, her opponents threatened to kill her, but she continued to fight. The mine owners appealed to the Supreme Court of India, which ruled against them in July 1995, adding to Ms. Devi’s renown.
The same year, still working as a sweeper, she was invited to attend the International Women’s Conference in Beijing because of the keen interest taken in her by Hillary Rodham Clinton, then the first lady. A private organization sponsored her trip to China, where Mrs. Clinton asked her to light the lamp at the inaugural function. She spoke to thunderous applause about how the enchanting Himalayas were being degraded by illegal limestone quarrying and how it was up to ordinary people like her to save the environment.
Ms. Devi could neither read nor write and learned to sign her name in Hindi just a few years ago. But this handicap could never dampen her spirit to protect the area from degradation. Instead, she started a campaign to open a college in Sangrah, the village where she spent most of her life. Though her village has a school, those who want to study further have to travel 65 kilometres to Nahan, where the nearest college is located. “It wasn’t in my destiny to study,” she said, “but I don’t want others to suffer the way I did for want of education.” Even today her will to environment reminds Indian People of realization of Constitution of India Article 51A(g).

참고문헌 (Reference)

• 1 베? 버, "힌두교와 불교" 한국신학연구소 1986
• 2 정채성, "하리잔(Harijan)과 달리트(Dalit): 불가촉천민의 집단의식 형성" 한국인도학회 8 (8): 2003
• 3 강경선, "인도헌법의 형성과 전개" 서울대학교 1999
• 4 백좌흠, "인도헌법의 소유권규정의 변천-토지개혁과 관련된 헌법수정을 중심으로" 한국인도학회 5 : 2000
• 5 박정석, "남인도의 불가촉천민에 관하여" 4 : 1999
• 6 "http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060223/himachal.htm#4"
• 7 "http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3122886.ece"
• 8 "http://www.tehelka.com/story_main.asp?filename=pe031304Kinkri.asp#(VICTIM OF THE SYSTEM : Kinkri Devi"
• 9 "http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/mar/08spec.htm(The Rediff Special/ Ramesh Menon, “I will fight till the mining stops""
• 10 "http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/obituaries/06devi.html?ex=1357275600&en=9623??? 0973d50d0c68&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss(HARESH PANDYA, “Kinkri Devi Is Dead at 82; Fought Illegal Mining in India,”"
• 11 "http://www.nlsenlaw.org/mining/case-laws/supreme-court/kinkri-devi-and-anr-vs-state-of-himachal-pradesh-and-ors-1987/"
• 12 "http://realcostofprisons.org/blog/archives/2008/01/kinkri_devi_fou.html"
• 13 "http://pratyush.instablogs.com/entry/jewel-of-himachal-pradesh-kinkri-devi-dies(Pratyush, New Delhi: Jan 7 2008)"
• 14 "http://lawmin.nic.in/legislative/Art1-242%20(1-88).doc"
• 15 "http://himachal.us/2006/02/22/fight-a-byword-for-kinkri-devi/186/activism/avnish"
• 16 Deliege, Robert, "The World of the ‘Untouchables’, trans. by David Phillips" Oxford Univ. press 1997
• 17 Freeman, James M., "The Consciousness of Freedom among India's Untouchables" Sage 1986
• 18 Oommen, T. K., "Sources of Deprivation and Styles of Protest: the Case of the Dalits in India" 18 (18): 1984
• 19 Pathak, P. C., "Scheduled Castes of Bihar: Constitutional Emergence and Occupational Determination" Concept Pub 1998
• 20 Dumont, Louis, "Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications" University of Chicago Press 1980
• 21 Dubois, Abbe J. A., "Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies" Asian Educational Services 1996
• 22 Vishal Gulati, "Fight, a byword for Kinkri Devi" Tribune News Service 2006
• 23 Moffatt, Michael, "An Untouchable Community in South India, Princeton" Princeton Univ. Press 1979